Founded by brothers Nathan and Ryan Strawbridge, Our Projects is an Auckland building company that truly lives up to its name.
Each renovation or new build they undertake is approached with the same level of attention and care as if it were their own project. A level of service that is rare these days.
“The name for our business wasn’t chosen randomly,” says Nathan, co-founder, and director of Our Projects. “After years of working in the construction industry, my brother Ryan, and I, saw that there was a gap in the market for builders who really cared about the project from beginning-to-end and who worked closely with the clients so that their needs and desires were met throughout the whole process. So, the name ‘Our Projects’ matches our intention to treat our clients’ projects as if they were our own.”
Hailing from the flat lands of the mighty Manawatu, brothers Nathan and Ryan come from multiple generations of ‘farming tradesmen’. “Tradesmen that seem to enjoy the added stress of also being farmers,” says Nathan. Despite initially resisting their predetermined destiny, the pull to pick up the tools was too hard to resist, and both brothers ended up becoming builders after leaving school. “My dad ran a construction company so you could say it’s in our DNA,” adds Nathan. “Building homes for people is just second nature for us.”
For Ryan (co-founder and project manager of Our Projects), his early building years were spent in the lower half of the north island learning to build character homes, villa renovations, and undertaking light commercial work. He then travelled to the UK on his OE where he was able to further his skills working on loft conversions and historic buildings. For Nathan, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 inspired him to take a break from building and embark on an electrical engineering course, which resulted in a job at KiwiRail, designing and project-managing the installation of control systems.
With building in Nathan’s blood, however, when Ryan returned to New Zealand, the brothers got talking about how things could be improved in the building industry. Together they brainstormed how they could build people’s dream homes in a way that met the client’s every need.
“We really felt that the building industry in New Zealand didn’t put enough emphasis on customer service – there was a level of communication and professionalism missing,” says Nathan. “The focus wasn’t around the client and builder relationship. People would hire a builder, have very little communication with them, have their house built, have numerous hiccups along the way, and then end up paying more than they expected and being disappointed. We were confident that we could turn this situation around by running a company that was instead almost like a partnership with the client. We wanted our clients to enjoy the journey of transforming or building their home from scratch, rather than fearing the journey.”
And so, in 2019, Our Projects was born – a building company with a point of difference. From initial consultation to final walk-through, the idea is that the team at Our Projects will keep the client in the loop every step of the way, providing their expert advice and guidance where and when its needed to ensure the end result is a success. “When we take on our clients, we take on a level of ownership. We sit down together at the beginning of the project and discuss exactly what it is they want to achieve,” says Nathan. “We continue communicating the whole way through the project. We help our clients economise where they can, as well as offering different product solutions that we know will enhance the features of their house and their experience when living in it. Clients aren’t necessarily aware of what choices are out there and so this is something we really excel in.
“Another thing we pride ourselves on is having integrity. Sometimes it’s tough to kill people’s dreams when they think they can achieve a renovation within a certain budget, but we know they will thank us for being honest in the long run as we save them from having to go back to the bank to borrow more money.”
From large villa renovations to smaller bespoke builds, and multi-million dollar architectural masterpieces, and with a fabulous team of builders working for them, both Nathan and Ryan feel as if they have really found their feet with Our Projects. Working in construction was a calling that was never able to be ignored, but one that they were destined for. “It makes us feel so proud to be following in our dad’s footsteps and to be improving and building homes that people love, not only during the process of creating, but also living in.”
