Te Whare-iti, by Wright Industrial

We worked with Te Whare-iti on a custom build last year and the results have been fabulous. They built a standalone sleepout for our teenage son, who's loving the freedom and the comforts of his 'tree house'. We call it a tree house as thanks to a few landscape complications, the sleepout is sitting up in the trees surrounded by birdlife. The team from Wright Industrial were excellent at solving the challenges of our site - customising the design, building on site, getting the right approaches to compliance, organising the consents and developing the retaining wall solutions. The finishing is excellent and people constantly ask about who built it - we have no hesitation in recommending the team and their solutions. We've ended up with a cost-effective build that adds a new bedroom to our property and has opened up the rear of our property with the addition of a garden shed underneath the tree house. The team were great to work with and lovely people!

It was important to us that we had a simple, sustainably built home. We love the natural wood walls and the quality of the workmanship and resources used in the design of our beautiful new Te Whare-iti home. We’ve been in our home now for the last 6 months ie late summer, autumn and winter. We wanted a warm home and the insulation and double glazing are clearly working well. Given that we live in Naenae where it gets frosty and icy, the indoor temperature has never dropped below 15 at night, when it has been -2 outside! It was also very important to us that there were low levels of VOC off-gassing and we were able to move straight in without worry. We have enjoyed working with Richard, Alex and their team. By choosing one of their modular homes, it was a relief for us to let the team make many of the big decisions that new home builders are often faced with. They also understood our specific needs and happily responded to them.

My husband and I have been living in our Te Whare Iti home for nearly three months now and couldn’t be happier. It’s bright, spacious, thoughtfully designed and crazy well insulated. My Mum has always wanted to build a separate living space out the back of her home in Brooklyn, but due to the tricky nature of the site (Wellington slopes!) and cost of building on site that plan has always been on hold. We discovered Te Whare Iti after they won a home design award and we were sold on the fact it could be built off site, craned in and customized to our needs. Considering the project started during the pandemic, we were really impressed with how quickly it was delivered. We have friends who are doing traditional builds and they’re still ongoing, (some with no end in sight). It was also a big relief for my Mum to have a Project Manager to deal with the ongoing management of the build, including the council consents. We loved being involved in the development and able to customise various elements - fixtures, cabinetry, colours etc. so that it looks stunning onsite nestled in the bush. We were also really impressed when we went to visit their building site to see our house being built, and there was basically no waste! Knowing that the construction industry can be really harmful to the environment, the fact Te Whare Iti is sustainable is a huge plus. Now that we’re living in our new home, you can tell it’s been thoughtfully designed. The built in lighting, wet-room shower, soft close cabinetry, clever windows to ensure ventilation, even the window sill design! Most of our guests come by expecting to find a “tiny home”, but instead find it’s super spacious - the photos don’t do the high ceilings justice. One of our big concerns was storage, but we still haven’t filled out all of the space provided! With NZ housing the way it currently is, I think prefabricated, modular systems like what Te Whare Iti have developed are the solution. I wanted to share our experience in case anyone is considering a similar venture. Would absolutely recommend it if you're looking to build an intelligent, comfortable and quality house.