Canterbury builders since 2009
Built by the peoplewho priced it.
Three or four houses a year, on purpose. The person who quotes your job runs it on site, and we finish one before we start the next.
Cover photograph: A finished timber home at dusk, lit from inside.
01
Seven people. Three or four houses a year. Every one of them finished by the same hands that started it.
- Established 2009
- New builds, renovations, extensions
- Christchurch and North Canterbury
- Fixed-price contracts, qualified and insured
02 The build
How a Stonecourt home comes together
Nine to twelve months on site for a new home of around 200 sqm. Scroll through it the way it happens.
Every stage, plainly
- 01We come and lookWeek one
- 02A fixed priceTwo to four weeks
- 03Building consentCouncil has 20 working days
- 04FoundationsFive to seven weeks
- 05Frame and roofSeven to nine weeks
- 06Closed inEight to ten weeks
- 07Fit-outFourteen to eighteen weeks
- 08HandoverThe last fortnight
- 09Three months onAfter you move in
The land comes first.
Before anyone draws a line we walk the section: where the sun goes, where the wind comes from, what the ground is doing. A house should look as if it was always going to be there.
03 Work
Recent work
Black house, Governors Bay
Cedar rain screen stained black, a gabled form set into the slope so the road side is single storey and the harbour side is two. Eleven months on site.
Polished concrete, Halswell
Exposed laminated beams and a polished slab, with the whole north wall glazed. The owners wanted one room that did everything.
Extension, St Albans
A 1950s bungalow with a new flat-roofed wing on the back. We deliberately did not try to make the new part match the old one.
04 Estimate
Price an extension before you ring anyone
Set the new floor area and the kind of finish. You get the range most extensions like it land in. It is an estimate, not a quote: a firm price needs us on site.
- Extensions only. New builds are priced from plans.
- Excludes design, engineering and consent fees.
- All figures are + GST.
Estimated investment
$126,000–$162,000 + GST
30 sqm · Considered finish
Estimate only. Final price confirmed after a consultation.
05 About
Who you are dealing with
Stonecourt is a small Canterbury building company. There are seven of us, and there have been for a while. We take on three or four builds a year plus a couple of renovations, which is as much as we can do without handing your job to somebody you have never met.
Most of our work comes from people who saw a house we built and asked who did it. That is a slower way to grow a business, and it is the only one we have found that keeps the standard where we want it.
They started when they said they would and finished when they said they would. After two previous builds, I did not think that happened.
The price in the contract was the price at the end. The two changes we asked for were priced before anyone picked up a tool.
The three month visit found a sticking door and a crack in the garage lining. Both were fixed that same week without us chasing.
Example reviews for an invented business.
Questions we get asked
Is the price really fixed?
Yes, apart from the allowances, which are written into the contract with a number beside each one. If you change something during the build, we price the change before we do it.
Do you handle the building consent?
We lodge it or work alongside your designer, whichever suits the job. The council has 20 working days to process a consent, and we answer its questions the same day.
Can you work with my architect or designer?
Most of our builds start with somebody else's plans. We price them as drawn, and we tell you early if something will cost more to build than it looks.
Why only three or four houses a year?
Because that is what seven people can build without handing your job to somebody you have never met.
06 Contact
Tell us about the job
Three short steps. If it is not something we are right for, we will say so and point you at somebody who is.
- Christchurch and North Canterbury
- Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm
- Quotes are free