MT EDEN: EXTENSION & SHIFTING

We purchased a property in Mt Eden in October 2015 with a view to restoring and renovating a villa that had been divided into flats at some point in its history. With such an immense task and a relatively tight time-frame we knew the choice of builders was important. After talking to our architect he recommended John McNaught from McNaught Construction. As with many building projects, there were some delays in getting Council consents so the building work did not start until early 2016.

The project started out as a renovation but essentially turned into almost a complete rebuild as more discoveries were made along the way about the state of the original building, and other unanticipated problems – which are seemingly an inevitable part of any building project. Inevitably also, once the project was underway we made different decisions than we originally thought we would at the outset. For example, we ended up replacing the roof rather than repairing the old one, and replacing the wooden floors entirely due to damage to the original one.

John and the team managed the entire project, from cleaning out the old house and moving rubbish left behind by a previous occupant, to moving the house forward on the site, and doing the complete renovation/rebuild.

Throughout the process, John and the team gave us excellent advice, accommodated all the variations with minimal fuss, and ultimately we ended up with a much better outcome.

Overall, the quality of the build was fantastic; the team did a great job and stayed on budget.

We were happy to be able to move in over Labour Weekend 2016. We highly recommend John McNaught and McNaught Construction.

W Walker & P Beattie

SHIFTING AND EXTENDING A HISTORICAL HOME

In 2016, we moved and added extensions to a small house located on a large section in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden.
Our client had purchased the land as an investment. The plan was to build two new houses; however, there was a ‘spanner in the works’ in the shape of a small house in the middle of the property.
A simple solution would be to demolish the house. However, it was classified as a historic home, and that was not an option.

The process

So, because of the historic zoning, the house had to stay. Therefore, our job was to move it to the front of the section to make room for a second home. We then turned this small house comprising two separate units into a modern open-plan three-bedroom house with a stairwell and a double garage with living quarters above. Though we made major changes, to maintain the historic look, the entire front façade of the house remained the same.

The challenge

A big challenge with this project was its location. There is a lot of volcanic rock at Mount Eden, and with old houses, the rock lies just below the surface. So, to ensure the house was stable and up to code, we literally bolted its foundations to the rock.

The result

Upon completion, we had modernized the home to become more liveable yet still historically true. The home is now also more stable and meets today’s building code. Needless to say, our client is super happy because he now has room for a second home, which he wants us to build.

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