Company backed by experience
Kevin Norris has come a long way from being an apprentice builder.
Kevin and his wife Chris have owned the Stonewood Homes franchise for the Matamata Piako area for the past eight years.
But the pair have been in the building industry for a few more years than that.
Kevin has been a local builder since leaving school.
He began an apprenticeship, then his own building company 17 years ago.
Nearly a decade ago he had the opportunity to become one of the very first Stonewood franchisees. There are now 21 nationwide.
Stonewood Homes offers a huge range of standard building plans that can be manipulated to client’s personal needs.
‘‘We also have a percentage of homes we build designed through our Tauranga architect and we have people who bring us their own plans for pricing,’’ Chris said.
‘‘We have great buying power as we, as a nationwide company, build approximately 700 homes a year and with this comes massive buying power that we pass on to our clients with competitive pricing and a Stonewood-specific nationwide two-year warranty, along with our Masterbuilders 10-year guarantee.’’
The local building company employs 12 office staff.
Chris does all the interior design and colour work for their clients and for the new show homes for Waikato and Tauranga areas.
She said this was a busy role with at least one show home being built in either area at any one time.
Besides Matamata-Piako the company also covers South Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Eastern Bay of Plenty and Coromandel.
Chris said Stonewood Homes is the only New Zealand company which offers its own two-year warranty on a new home.
‘‘We love bringing the plans on paper to reality for our clients; our repeat business and referrals is testament to not only to our team at Stonewood Homes but also our sub-contractors, whether it’s our builders, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians or decorators and the many other hands that touch a new home in construction.’’
The Stonewood Homes sales team have had a successful year.
At the company’s sales prizegiving the team claimed a number of awards including North Island salesman of the year, highest number of sales and highest sales volume or turnover.
The business was also named in the top four for highest single sale and percentage of market share.
Stonewood Homes has two new show homes opening next year in Tauranga.
One at The Lakes will replace the very successful show home which has been open for two years. The other is at Golden Sands in Papamoa.
Chris said Stonewood Homes’ point of difference was a revolutionary piece of technology.
The Stonewoodconnect system uses computer technology to keep the home owner in touch with their home’s progress through the company’s website.
‘‘You get your own log-in and password and receive weekly updates, plus actual photos of your home in progress. You are always in touch with your new home no matter where in the world you are.’’ she said.