Residence, Corlette

The publishers commenced the article with these words,  “Seeing is believing is a known comment when one inspects the home of such quality.  The best of photography cannot depict the quality of this featured custom built waterfront residence at Port Stephens built primarily as a holiday home and a potential retirement location for the owners.  However, when you walk up to the marine blue painted front door you know you are in for a memorable visit.”

This project involved a “knock down and rebuild” in an established residential neighbourhood.  The 1970’s residence previously on the site had been used by the owners for many years, enjoying family holidays there.  In re-building, they had plans for a substantial new dwelling which would similarly accommodate their now adult children and their grandchildren, and perhaps provide a more permanent place of abode in their retirement years.

The owners came to Graph on the recommendation of one of Graph’s longstanding commercial clients, who was very familiar with “what we do and how we do it.”  Graph had also previously constructed a high-end house for this same client.

The owners were planning to tender the project, and met with Graph with a view to assessing Graph’s suitability for inclusion on the proposed tender panel, but decided to run with Graph without conducting any further interviews.  The project was undertaken on the basis of a cost-plus contract, which suited the documentation which was available and the nature of the project.

John King, Graph’s Construction Manager, had a close involvement in the project, and comments, “One of the pleasures in constructing a building like this is the close interaction with the client and the architect.  It’s vital to give attention to fine detail, and to deliver high-quality finishes that everyone is happy with, yet to do so at reasonable cost.  Whatever price level a building may be pitched at, delivering real value for money is still an important responsibility of the builder.”

Graph continues to respect the privacy of this client, as we did throughout the course of construction, but they won’t mind us using one quote, “The team are great to deal with.”

The residence won the 2017 MBA Excellence in Building Award for Custom Built Homes Over $3m, plus the 2017 MBA Judges Award for Best Use of Glass.