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MARTIN: There was a design in the Platinum range that we particularly liked and so we
thought, “Well hmm, we’ll investigate this further”.
Dean the franchise owner of Top End Homes came and had a look at the sites for us, and
he gave us a good, honest opinion of the different sites that we had, which gave us a lot of
confidence about what he was prepared to do and the time he was prepared to give us, even
before we’d actually signed up for the build.
[pause]
>> LEIGH: While we’ve been in Auckland we’ve managed to manage the build from our perspective.
We come up to Kerikeri about once a month and we plan it when there’s been a major
activity. For example, when the concrete floor was being laid we were able to watch that.
It’s not been a major problem to them if we’ve wanted to change something. But we
have had a lot of involvement, both of us, through every part of the process.
I was really impressed with just the basic kitchen. But then we sat down with the designer
and she and I added a few things and we took things out and within three hours I had the
kitchen of my dreams.
>> MARTIN: The thing I liked about Dean from day one was he wasn’t frightened to say,
“No, I don’t agree with that”. So it wasn’t just taking everything we said and
just nodding and saying, “Yes, we’ll do that”. When he thought it wasn’t appropriate,
he would say so. To me that spelt honesty.
He has on more than one occasion said to me that the thing he wants to be able to do is
to be in a restaurant in Whangarei and for people to say, (happily) “Oh, hi Dean! How
are you doing?” Rather than, (sadly) “Oh, there’s Dean. The guy who built our house.”
And I totally believe him, that he believes that and everything he’s done shows me that
that is what he does believe.
>> LEIGH: He’s just kept us informed through email, phone calls and he’s always been
available.
[pause]
Yes, I’d just like to thank the team at top end homes for all of their support, their
friendship.
>> MARTIN: You can trust these guys. They are good builders, they do a very professional
job but at the same time they are very approachable, they have good processes that make you feel
comfortable with the whole build. They are honest and they are truthful about what they
are going to do.
>> LEIGH: They have been so helpful and they’ve just made it a very unstressful process for
us. And we’ve really enjoyed working with Top End Homes.