Craftsmanship at Hamilton Builders – Urban Homes

Creating with passion, care, and attention to detail

Hamilton and Coromandel builders, Urban Homes, are consistently recognised for excellence at the Registered Master Builders House of the Year Awards. One of the awards they feel most proud of, is the craftsmanship award – for superior attention to detail in all aspects of the build project, including selection, innovation, and suitability of products. It also rewards exceptional quality of finish throughout and degree of difficulty of the complete building project.

Urban Homes founder and director, Daniel Klinkenberg says their team were thrilled to be honoured with the Regional Craftsmanship award.

“We were up against some incredible competition in the Waikato. This award is testament to the ownership our team takes of every project, and the quality of our workmanship. It’s really humbling to be recognised alongside our peers.”

Master builders in Hamilton for over 10 years, Urban are renowned for being the most awarded Hamilton builders. More recently they have expanded to building beautiful homes in Thames, Coromandel, Whitianga, and Whangamata – in fact, throughout the Coromandel Peninsula.

Quality by Design

As proof of their commitment to craftsmanship, all new homes meet the Urban Quality Standard (UQS) 197-point checklist. The key to this exceptional quality is the entire team being committed to building quality homes for their clients. Leading the charge are Urban Homes’ project managers. Affectionately called the Men in Blue, they’re smart, savvy and have a real passion for the building industry. They love building honest and personal relationships with clients whilst on the journey to building their dream home.

“As a project manager I’m responsible for all construction activity on site, from consent approval at the very beginning of the process through to the day we hand over the keys to our clients,” explains project managers, Darryn Herapath.

“And for me, the best part of the job is being able to create a masterpiece for our clients, ensuring their new home build is as stress free as possible. I want to exceed my clients’ expectations with regards to the overall process and quality of finish of their new home.”

Craftsmanship has as much do with planning and design as it does technique and quality finishing. Chris and Caroline Lewis and their two children live on their farm in Pukeatua, a 30minute drive east of Te Awamutu at the base of Maungatautari Mountain. They’d built their house more than 10 years earlier but were ready for a change. The cost of renovating their existing house was on par with building a new one so they had plans drawn up and were ready to take the next step.

The Lewis’s already had architectural plans for their new house but were open to suggestions. “Our architect had gone into a lot of detail and done a wonderful job, but the Urban team made suggestions that meant we could significantly reduce the cost of our build without losing any of the design,” says Chris.

One of these suggestions was a slight change to the roofline. “Chris and Caroline’s home was unique in that the placement of the house meant the roof itself would be a major feature. As you drive down their driveway, the roof of the house is the first thing you see – and you see all of it,” says Urban Homes project manager, Jordan Harding.

“The roof design was extremely intricate and required significant engineering and cantilever work. We saw a way we could keep the look and style of the roofline without needing that extra engineering and save Chris and Caroline around $200,000.”

Craig suggested increasing the height of the stud in Chris and Caroline’s home to 2550mm. This helps to create a feeling of space and openness. A distinguishing feature in the lounge is the use of recycled Canterbury bricks behind the fireplace.

“About two or three years ago, we bought 8,000 recycled Canterbury bricks,” says Chris. “The truck driver who came and stored them in our haybarn said ‘what do you want these for?’. He came back not that long ago and saw how we’ve used them on the house and said ‘Oh, I see!’”

“We’ve used three different types of cladding on the home and incorporated the Canterbury bricks into an indoor feature wall too. Urban were great at incorporating our ideas into the home,” Chris says. “Jordan was outstanding. He’s got a sense of humour similar to ours, is very efficient and there’s no mucking about.”

In fact, it was the willingness of the Urban team to work together that most impressed Chris and Caroline. “Craig guided us throughout the whole process and helped ensure we made good decisions,” says Chris. “The building journey was seamless. It was more stressful leading up to it to be honest, but we’ve built before so know what good process looks like and Urban definitely have good processes.”

“We were also impressed how well everything was finished,” adds Chris. “Everything is finished to a very high standard, both inside and out.”

Do you have architectural plans for your dream home but want a cost-effective way to bring them to reality? Give the Urban team a call today and challenge them to work their magic on your design.

Now in Coromandel

Start building your dream home with award-winning builders in Whangamata and Whitianga – in fact, Urban Homes are your Coromandel builders!

Visit their show homes in Hamilton, Cambridge and Whitianga, and ask us about house and land packages.