Nelson builders helping Kāinga Ora to house families in need

Dan, who works for master builders Johnson Residential, recalls the push to complete the home in time for a whānau to spend their first Christmas there.

“About a month out, Sam (Johnson Residential director) said to me: “Do you think we can do it?”, Dan says.

“It was rewarding when we heard the Mum and kids were just blown away to be in their home. We never met them, it was just the idea of it which was so rewarding because we finished the home well ahead of schedule.”

Kāinga Ora is continuing to provide new homes as part of its housing renewals programme, which aims to replace or extensively renovate about 2,000 homes annually over the next few years.

Dan, Sam and project manager Emma and the team have now completed four Kāinga Ora developments in the Nelson Tasman region.

The team’s first project, a Nelson South development, was opened by Nelson Mayor Nick Smith early last year.

Sam, a builder by trade who has owned Johnson Residential for 7 years, says hearing the Mayor talk about how the development had reduced the social housing register by 10% was a proud moment.

“To find out that people had come off the street and into the homes was pretty special,” Emma adds.

Dan and Emma work closely together to ensure projects are running smoothly and construction milestones are hit. They say each Kāinga Ora project has helped to refine their approach.

“We’ve learnt a lot over the last four years,” Dan says. “We’ve been able to do things differently with our latest development. At a previous development, we did the drains last. At our latest development, we made the call to do the drains first. Once we got on site, it was a faster development, which meant we could tick everything off quicker.”

Sam says working on Kāinga Ora developments also provides steady work for his team of 12 and local subcontractors. His mum and dad also work in the business.

“The job starts with us. We produce the development and the subbies contract to us. They’re relying on us to feed their workflow. We’re very lucky to be busy so we can give subbies work and they can grow their teams. If they’ve got workflow, they’ve got the confidence to take on apprentices,” Sam says.