M & S Construction owner Marty Hulsman counts himself fortunate to employ highly experienced builders capable of tackling some of Queenstown’s more technically challenging residential projects.
“They are invaluable. You can’t buy that sort of experience; I couldn’t do the type of houses that we do without them on board,” Marty Hulsman says.
Whether a client’s vision is a stunning, but complicated architecturally designed dream home, a modest three-bedroom family pad or a minor alteration, the award-winning team at M & S Construction brings the same dedication and accuracy to each and every project.
Established in 2009, the company’s tradesmen who are Licensed Building Practitioners have considerable experience building homes in the Wakatipu area and are as confident building on challenging hillside terrain or the “bowling green” flat.
Having skilled and seasoned tradesmen is a win-win situation because, while it allows the company to undertake complex architectural work, its builders also benefit in job satisfaction, Marty says.
“They enjoy them thoroughly, they thoroughly enjoy the challenge of the more difficult projects. We are pretty proud of what we produce. It’s nice to be able to have something people can recognise and talk about.”
One of those recognised and talked about places is a Christine Hall-designed home that won the 2016 Master Builders Southern Region Supreme Award, a National Gold Reserve Award, as well as The multiple award-winning Queenstown home built by M & S Construction features a shade sail style inverted roof. being a Local Category Award winner and the Local Craftsmanship Award winner.
A striking feature of the house is its shade-sail style inverted curved roof planes; just seven of its 16 corners which make up the perimeter of the ground floor are 90-degree corners, while the remaining nine individual angles range from 115 degrees through to 83.5 degrees.
A semi-circular sunken lounge is among many other features in what was a far-from-average build.
While some projects are intensely architecturally driven and can require considerable engineering and building expertise, M & S Construction’s philosophy is that the client remains king and queen. “Every project is client-led. They come first.”
“At the end of the day you are building a house for the client and for them, they’re investing a lot of time and effort and money into it and you want to make sure they get what they want.”
Marty advises those considering a bespoke build to ideally involve both the builder and architect from the start, as a builder can provide practical construction advice to complement design concepts, potentially reducing construction costs.
M & S Construction is presently working on another complex project, a 311 square metre house on Queenstown hill for a Hamilton couple, also designed by Auckland-based Christine Hall.
“It’ has six different floor levels, four angles of orientation stepped around a hill, and about 10 roof planes.”
The three-bedroom house provides outstanding views over Lake Wakatipu and includes an upstairs guest wing.
The clients will become neighbours of the Hulsman’s as the house is on an adjacent section; after being shown the award-winning house by Marty, the clients asked M & S Construction to build their new home.
This provided the ideal opportunity for Marty to be granted some input into the design process by Christine Hall over an 18 month period.
Construction started early this year; the considerable complexity of the $2 million-plus project means it will take two years to complete.
