If Bill Beck, general manager of The Renovation Company was to rummage through his store of old family photos, he would find a photo of himself aged five or so helping his father out on a building site.
Today, Bill and the team are based in Tauranga, having relocated the original Wellington renovation business his parents Doug and Margaret started 26 years ago.
The range of projects the company takes on is split between residential, retail and commercial builds and includes speciality renovations, alterations, strengthening and restorative projects.
“At the moment on the commercial side we are doing a lot of work for Property Managers including remedial, fire-proofing, earthquake strengthening, and large reclad’s and renovations,” says Bill.
A team of 10 full time staff form the core of the company. This relatively small number, Bill says, is paramount in ensuring a high level of quality is maintained on all jobs. The business has built its name on delivering consistently high quality.
“We’ve worked together for years now and we all understand how important the quality of our builds are. Many of them are challenging and complex in nature. When we take on a very extensive project, we will contract in additional qualified builders as needed.”
Another core strength of the company is that it has evolved, over the years, strong relationships with the sub-trades. They use these same companies over and over again.
“When you consider that home renovations often happen while the owners continue to live at the address, it is incredibly important to know that the specialised trades going in, deliver top quality work in that environment.”
At a day-to-day level Bill’s responsibilities extend to finding new work, maintaining relationships with existing clients, dealing with construction contracts, health and safety and keeping constantly up dated from Michael Easton, Construction Manager.
Advances in building technologies means there is very little The Renovation Company can’t do. “If you can dream it, we can do it,” says Bill.
Often the conversation begins with trying to tie an owners’ vision to their budget. This is where the experiences and competencies the company has come into play.
Bill’s also observed over the years in the Bay of Plenty a shift away from selling a property to keeping ownership, partly driven by the spiralling cost of new homes and the growing lack of great building sites.
“The old family home becomes a massive family asset and there is a real desire from the market to retain the home but modify it and bring it into a new era of design and feel.”
When asked how the next couple of years are shaping up Bill says The Renovation Company is busier than ever.
“As much as possible we do our best to undertake smaller renovations also, such as bathrooms and kitchens while working on larger projects.” Being part of a family business is something Bill is very proud of.
“Mum and Dad are trying to retire, however I would describe Doug, who is our full-time consultant, as Yoda, when it comes to understanding renovation. He has a lot of respect in the Bay. History takes him back to the start of the Mount boom, installing joinery on the first twin towers.”
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