New builds · Auckland
Your architect drew it. We build it as drawn.
High-end new homes across Auckland. We price from your drawings, raise the buildability questions while they are still questions, and keep the same director and crew on site to handover.
Waiheke · New build
How a new build goes
Most of the cost of a build is decided before anyone picks up a hammer.
01
Priced off your drawings
We price the design your architect actually drew, and flag what is going to be hard to build while it is still cheap to answer, rather than billing it back to you later as a variation.
02
One crew, start to finish
One director, one crew, and subtrades who have worked with Finn for years. That is one of the reasons Glenbuild sites run smoothly.
03
Council handled for you
Consents, inspections and code compliance are our job, not yours. We deal with council directly and keep the paperwork moving, so the build is not sitting stalled waiting on a sign-off.
At a glance
- Based in
- Mount Albert, Auckland
- What we do
- High-end new homes, built from your architect's drawings
- Service area
- Kohimarama, Remuera, Grey Lynn, Mt Eden, Mt Albert, Pt Chevalier and across Auckland
- Experience
- Building since 1994. House of the Year across five competition years, including the 2023 National Supreme.
Behind every Glenbuild job
Who you are dealing with, and what stands behind the work.
Master Build 10-Year Guarantee
Available on your build if you want it.
A Master Builders House of the Year record
Awarded work across five competitions from 2009 to 2023, including the 2023 National Supreme Renovation of the Year.
Building since 1994
Thirty years under the same name, and Finn still takes the first call, prices the job, and is on site through the build.
Common questions
New builds: the questions that come up first.
Do you build from my architect's drawings?
Yes, that is the core of what Glenbuild does. It prices the design your architect actually drew rather than substituting a cheaper version of it, and flags what will be difficult to build while the answer is still a drawing change rather than a variation.
What size new builds do you take on?
Anything from a small, carefully made home upward. Glenbuild's award-winning new builds run from Ema House, a 76sqm two-bedroom bach on Waiheke that took a Regional Category Winner, Regional Gold and a national Top 100 place in 2016, to a 219sqm three-storey home over Huruhi Bay that took Regional Gold and Top 100 in 2023.
What does a new build cost?
It is set by the design, not the floor area, so a per-square-metre figure would mislead you. Structure, ground conditions, glazing, joinery and the finish level move the number far more than size. Send the drawings and Finn will price what is on them.
When should I bring you in?
As early as your architect will allow, and certainly before the design is locked. Most of the cost of a build is decided before anyone picks up a hammer, so the buildability questions that get answered at concept stage are the ones that do not become variations later.
How long does a building consent take for a new build?
The council has 20 working days to grant or refuse it under the Building Act 2004. In practice most new-build consents run longer, because the clock stops every time the council issues a request for further information. Getting the documentation right first time is the main thing that keeps it near the statutory period.
Who is on site day to day?
Finn, along with a project manager and the crew. Finn takes the first call, prices the job, and is on site through the build to handover, so the person who quoted your house is the person you see on it.
Do you offer the Master Build 10-Year Guarantee?
Yes, as an option on your build. The guarantee runs for 10 years and is taken out by the owner rather than applied automatically, so you decide whether to have it and Glenbuild arranges it if you do.
Are you licensed to do restricted building work?
Yes. Glenbuild is a Licensed Building Practitioner and a member of Registered Master Builders. Under the Building Act, restricted building work on a home, which covers the structure and the weathertightness, must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner.
Do you build on difficult or sloping sites?
Yes. The Waiheke house is the clearest example: three storeys and 219sqm on a coastal site, with a concrete ground floor carrying timber-and-steel upper storeys, and louvre shutters and battened screens to handle the sun and the wind off Huruhi Bay.
Which architects have you worked with?
Recent new builds have been designed by EMA Architects, who drew both the Waiheke house and Ema House, and Bull O'Sullivan Architecture, who drew the 2011 Pt Chevalier home. Glenbuild's renovation work has also involved Neu Architecture and Pearson & Associates.
How do you handle variations?
By trying to make fewer of them. The point of raising buildability questions during pricing is that a problem found on the drawings costs a drawing change, and the same problem found on site costs a variation. Where something genuinely changes, it gets priced and agreed rather than absorbed quietly.
Do you build outside central Auckland?
Yes. Glenbuild is based in Mount Albert and builds across Auckland, including on Waiheke, where two of its House of the Year new builds were completed in 2016 and 2023.
How many new builds do you run at once?
Deliberately few. Glenbuild is not a volume builder, and the reason Finn can be on site through a build is that there are not a dozen of them running in parallel. That is also why the trades are the same people job after job.
What happens at the end of the build?
Handover, once the council has issued a Code Compliance Certificate. The council has 20 working days to decide on a CCC application under the Building Act 2004. Finn is on site through to that point rather than handing the last ten percent to someone else.
Have drawings, or nearly there?
Send them through, or call Finn directly. He takes the first call himself.