Renovations done properly, from first quote to final coat.

Major renovations and extensions to character and high-end homes, not small cosmetic work. The Rawhitiroa renovation in Remuera is the reference project: a 460sqm masonry home reworked around a new 60sqm extension, which took the 2023 National Supreme Renovation of the Year.

It is the top renovation award in the House of the Year competition, judged nationally. Glenbuild won it in 2023 for Rawhitiroa, alongside a National Category award, a place in the national Top 100, and Gold.

Yes, and on a character home that is usually the brief. On the Grey Lynn villa, an early-1900s house, the street frontage kept its character while the rear was completely reworked into open-plan living under a skylight, with a glassed outdoor room and a built-in bar. It took Regional Gold and a national Top 100 place in 2018.

Usually yes for structural work, plumbing and drainage, though Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004 exempts some minor work. Councils have 20 working days to grant or refuse a consent, with the clock pausing whenever they request further information.

The Auckland Unitary Plan applies a Special Character Areas Overlay and pre-1944 demolition controls across much of the older central suburbs, including Grey Lynn, Mt Eden and Pt Chevalier, and parts of Remuera. In practice that constrains what can be removed from the street elevation, which is why character work is usually kept at the front and the change happens at the rear.

By opening it up early rather than guessing. Older homes hide their surprises in the structure, the services and the ground, and the honest approach is to expose the real scope and price it, rather than discovering it mid-build and pricing it under pressure.

Sometimes, depending on the scope and how the work can be staged. Where it is possible, Glenbuild stages the work, keeps the site tidy and secure, and keeps you informed week to week. Where the scope makes it impractical, it is better to know that at pricing rather than three weeks in.

Yes. On Rawhitiroa, structural walls came out and steel beams went in, which is the work that decides whether a renovation reads as an addition or reads as though the house was always that way. All three bathrooms were also rebuilt.

It depends on scope, and on the consent. The statutory consent period is 20 working days under the Building Act 2004, but that pauses on every request for further information, and on a character home the unknowns behind the linings affect the programme more than the paperwork does.

Yes, on almost every job. Rawhitiroa was designed by Neu Architecture, the Grey Lynn villa by EMA Architects, and the Challinor renovation in Mt Albert by Pearson & Associates. Glenbuild prices and builds from their drawings.

The Master Build 10-Year Guarantee is available as an option on builds, taken out by the owner rather than applied automatically. Ask Finn what it covers on your particular scope, since that depends on what the work involves.

Yes, and often together. Rawhitiroa was a 60sqm extension to a 460sqm home, done as one piece of work with the internal reworking, so the new part and the old part were resolved together rather than bolted on.

There is no useful average, because on character homes the cost sits in the structure and the finish rather than the floor area. Two houses the same size can differ by a wide margin once you know what is holding them up. Finn prices the actual scope once it is clear.

Send an enquiry describing the house and where your thinking is up to, or call Finn directly. Finn reads them himself, and will be straight with you about the heritage constraints and the budget before you commit to anything. Send an enquiry