As the directors of Nightingales, Len and I take pride in ensuring that we offer the best possible service to both the owners of the properties that we manage, and the tenants living in the properties.

We offer a number of points of difference to other property management companies; one of these is our respective construction industry backgrounds which means we know a lot about houses.

Len and the construction industry

Len gained his initial building experience through renovating of his first home. Purchased in 1980, the Aro Valley house was uninhabitable at the time of purchase, but over the next 2-3 years he created a stylish home with modern kitchen and bathrooms while retaining the original Victorian/Edwardian features.

Over this time he was a partner in a small building company, which undertook new residential building work as well as renovations. He went on to work for Firth Construction, a mid-sized building company where his role primarily involved pricing and tendering, and project management.

Since then (after he moved into real estate and subsequently property management), Len’s building work has been on our current home. When we purchased the house in 1990, it was a single-storey, Edwardian bay villa with very few redeeming features. Over the years, Len has largely rebuilt the exterior walls, added a second storey, replaced the lean-to and built a porch. The interior has also been renovated (including moving and removing walls) to the extent that the house is almost unrecognisable from the original. All of the building work has been done by Len (with some help from friends on the larger projects) and we now have a large, comfortable and elegant home.

Alide and the construction industry

My career began in architectural design. After three years of part-time study at Wellington Polytechnic while working for an architectural firm, The Haughton Partnership (now Bulleyment-Fortune Architects), I gained a NZ Certificate in Architectural Draughting (NZCAD). I left there to work for an interior design firm (Inscape Design), then taught architectural drawing and construction part-time at The Open Polytechnic of NZ, while our children were young. Over the years I have also continued to do some architectural design work.

For the past 10 years I have been a freelance technical writer, primarily but not exclusively writing for BRANZ (Building Research Association of NZ). Publication series I have been involved in writing include:

• Renovate – renovating older homes to improve energy efficiency and reduce heat loss to create homes that are warmer and healthier– link to the BRANZ Renovate website.
• Level – building sustainable homes including passive solar design, insulation, heating and cooling – link to the BRANZ Level website.

I also write regular articles for BRANZ Build magazine on a wide range of topics. These are available on the BRANZ website. Links to a few articles are below:

• Is that asbestos?
• Internal gutters
• Verandah design and construction
• Waterproofing tiled showers
• Construction details

…… and there are many more.

The benefits for owners

The combination of skills and knowledge that Len and I have mean that we are very well qualified to:

• give advice on work that your rental property needs
• provide advice, scheduling and management of future work
• oversee smaller repair and maintenance projects
• project manage larger building projects
• ensure that all building work to your property is carried out to a high standard of workmanship