Beach baches get full makeover treatment
Roughing it at the beach is being consigned to history in the Coromandel.
Coromandel builder Mark Judd said bach owners are spending a lot of money rebuilding and developing.
He and other builders are working on new builds, too – and $2 million is not unheard of, given sections on or near the beach are going for $900,000, he said.
‘‘I think people just realise it’s worthwhile injecting money into these properties because it’s so rich in value anyway,’’ he said.
‘‘They’ve bought it back in the day and then they realise that the neighbour’s property next door, which may be similar, sells for X amount and they think, we’ve got so much equity in this, it’s worth making it right.
‘‘They ring the likes of an architect or a draughtsperson and we get on board and go and do the building work and just upgrade it.’’
Judd’s seen a lot of changes in the beach house market since he began working as a builder in Whangamata in 1978.
Mostly he does kitchen and bathroom upgrades, but he’s also doing major rebuilds of old baches in good locations.
Judd, who runs his building business with son Josh, did the work on Liz and Bert Laing’s rental apartment.
Just metres from Whangamata’s ocean beach, the apartment rebuild was architecturally designed and comes with all the mod cons – even electric blankets on the beds.
‘‘It’s got the things that people like to make their holiday easy,’’ Liz said.
The Laings’ apartment cleaned up in BookaBach’s Bach of the Year awards, where it was voted the best bach in the country.
Liz describes the apartment as a ‘‘fun holiday pad’’ with character, decorated with splashes of bright colour to complement the view.