Waikato Business News July/August 2018

HOLAH HOMES
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS July/August 2018
3
Craftmanship a key
for Supreme House
of the Year winners
Winning Waikato Master Builders 2018
Supreme House of the Year for the first
time was a huge moment for Hamilton
construction company Holah Homes.
But just as special – for
personal reasons - was
one of the other six
awards the firm collected for
a Pauanui beach house – the
Regional Craftmanship Award.
Enscribed on the Craftmanship
Award is the name
Clyde Holah, Phil, Marty and
Grant Holah’s grandfather who
with their father Alan set up
the business in 1962 and who
was part of a small group of
Waikato Master Builders members
who donated the Craftsmanship
Award.
Secondly the award reflects
the pure carpentry element
which every good builder
strives for. It means a lot to
Holah Homes which prides
itself on its quality and finishing.
Holah Homes are design
builders. Each build is different
and for the last 20 years
the company has preferred to
employ its own builders rather
than sub-contract out to ensure
quality is maintained.
“It was a bit of a surprise
to win so many awards,” says
managing director Phil of
the Waikato Master Builders
Awards night at Claudelands
Event Centre on July 13.
“We kind of hoped for a
gold and a category win but to
get seven was a surprise. And
the Supreme and the Craftmanship
Awards are the big ones
for us.”
Holah Homes’ Barrett
house in Pauanui also netted
the company a Gold Award,
a Category Award for a home
over $2 million and Regional
Lifestyle Award for Kitchen,
Bathroom and Outdoor Living.
The beachfront house
which scooped so many
awards was a labour of love
for the Holah brothers: nine
months in the planning and 13
months in construction. Features
included its extensive
use of exposed natural timber
inside and out, floor to ceiling
windows to allow sea views
from either side of the house
and an in-ground wine cellar
accessed by a spiral staircase.
The judges said the modern
family home impressed
them with its well thought-out
design with the natural timber
finishes to the internal walls
and ceilings providing a warm,
ambient feel and a strong textural
element.
That’s why we always
design and build
because we don’t
believe the one house
fits all approach.
“The use of floor-to-ceiling
windows opens the house up
to extensive sea views. It also
allows this relatively small
home to appear more expansive.”
Phil says what probably
helped Holah Homes land the
Craftmanship Award was the
emphasis on carpentry with the
sheer amount of timber used on
the house.
“The shining star of the
whole thing is the timber -
there’s so much of it. It’s not
done in a way where you walk
into a house and think there’s
so much timber. Everything
has been so well finished and
the interior designer and architect
did such a great job that
when you merge everything
together it just feels right,”
says Phil.
With all the beams exposed
he says builders spent “a truckload
of time” making sure all
the detail was right.
“With this style of house
there is nowhere to hide.
Everything is there to be seen
and if it is wrong you see it.”
The scale or exposed beams
also made electrical work challenging
with no place to hide
cabling.
For Holah Homes, the
Supreme Award is the culmination
of massive planning on the
project and tremendous communication
between the three
Holah brothers, architects Peddle
Thorp and the client.
Nine months of painstaking
planning was followed by
a 13 month stint on-site led
by Grant Holah who with the
other builders endured some
horrendous days of continuous
rain.
Phil credits architects Peddle
Thorp for the beach house’s
ingenious design which allows
residents to sit on the sheltered
side of the house but still look
through glass out on to the
beach.
Installing the wine cellar
imported from the United
Kingdom proved a challenge,
particularly the task of digging
the cellar into unstable beach
soil.
Holah Homes – now 56
years old - has about 20 staff
including office staff, quantity
surveyors and builders.
Phil feels that a key to the
company’s success is that the
three directors have a lot of
knowledge in each of their
fields and can cover a lot of
ground. They are very visible
for clients.
“It doesn’t matter what
stage it is, the client is always
dealing with a director.”
Another key is the company’s
philosophy that everything
should be designed for
the people who are building
the house.
“That’s why we always
design and build because we
don’t believe the one house fits
all approach.”
Phil acknowledges the
approach can be challenging
as the team never builds the
same house twice. In fact in the
company’s whole history it has
never repeated a house exactly
the same. But the difficulty
and complexity of some of
the builds and the satisfaction
of clients is reward in itself.
Awards are just the icing on
the cake.