BUILDING - CANTERBURY » Minson Builders
Business South
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Happy home-building in Hanmer Kelly Deeks Hanmer Springs’ Minson Builders focuses on satisfaction on the building site for everyone involved – total customer satisfaction for each client, and job satisfaction for the team building on site. Mark Minson headed up to Hanmer from Christchurch in 1998 to build a holiday home for his parents. He then found some more work in the alpine village and he has stayed there ever since. Although he’d been building since he left school in 1981, when he first moved to Hanmer Springs Mark was the new guy on the block, and had to make a name for himself as a reputable builder. “I didn’t really know anyone when I first came into town, but as I got to know people and make friends through work and sport they’ve stayed with me and the business has grown from there,” he says. Minson Builders runs a team of builders, plus Mark’s wife Sara-Jane in the office, and completes residential and light commercial construction projects, mainly around Hanmer Springs but also further into North Canterbury as the need arises. “Some people think Hanmer is really isolated but it’s not,” Mark says. “It’s very busy here. We have a local Hammer Hardware where we get some materials and our main sources of materials are from Christchurch,” he says. “It takes a bit more organisation to get the right materials here at the right time, but in saying that it only takes one day to get materials up here with freight trucks going up and down to Christchurch every day.” There will always be an extra freight cost when building in Hanmer, but one of the major additional costs to building in the township is usually due to bringing in staff who need to be fed, travelled, and accommodated while working remotely. “That’s usually the biggest cost for not using a local builder,” Mark says. As a holiday destination, many homes in Hanmer Springs are owned by out-of-towners, and Minson Builders does about 50% of its work for clients who aren’t living in town. As such the company aims to make these projects run the same as they would for a local
Minson Builders has built up a reputation for delivering top quality and client satisfaction in Hanmer Srpings.
client, keeping in constant contact via phone and email and providing progress reports with photos. “We want our clients to have as much involvement in their project as they want to have,” Mark says. “The most important thing for us is satisfaction.” Minson Builders is now keeping busy with regular expansions and alterations to holiday homes, new residential builds, and a current fit out to a retail unit. Minson Builder are Licensed Building Practitioners and also a member of Certified Builders.
“I didn’t really know anyone when I first came into town, but as I got to know people and make friends through work and sport they’ve stayed with me and the business has grown from there.”
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