In March 2022 we were approached by a client looking to extend their newly purchased cottage in Dalefield, Queenstown. As a family of five the current small space of two-bedrooms and single bathroom wouldn't cut the mustard for long.

Like the construction industry nationwide, it was almost impossible to do it fast - with lead times in the Queenstown area of 12-18 month to start construction.

Our solution a 3-bedroom, and bathroom module – Kōwhai - this unit would of course be built offsite in our prefab facility and designed around being low-energy use and environmental conscious. 

On site we would construct a linkway, build a large deck and cut through to the existing house splitting that bathroom in two: 1.Hallway / 2. Laundry and toilet.



Why Árbol?
A better quality, healthier, comfier, and more affordable home in the long run.
Less interruption for the family - only a few weeks onsite with loud drills, nail guns and builders banter.

Fast. Our deadline, seven months finished, impossible? We didn’t think so, but as we found out, not everything goes to plan.

Between signing of the contract and the start of the build – all hell broke loose with Covid again, after nine months in the quite ‘eye of the storm’, Cromwell became the epicenter for the Otago area.
Everything was delayed, first the architects, then the insulation crew, the roofers, material suppliers and finally our team, one by one we were stuck down like flies, at home sick for days to weeks.

This hindered our ability to finish current builds on-time and delayed detailed designs, consent submission, in turn leading to delayed material orders and so on – couple that with an admin error, a somewhat difficult to navigate council, bereavements, miss-shipped materials, and a couple of finishing mistakes - there was no two ways about it, the project would be late!

We don’t hide it, it’s hard to scale a new business with unprecedent demand and intentions of doing things differently, making a real change, in market with labour and material shortage, but we kept growing the team to keep up, pushed hard with long hours, weekends, and asking more of our suppliers, designers, councils, and subtrades.



A couple of months later than planned the Kōwhai was under construction. Framing material arrived on a Wednesday afternoon, by Friday we had an insulated floor, the walls were standing, and only 10 weeks later it was delivered to site.

A few important details in our builds separate us from others.

-Pro Clima Intello Airtight Vapor barrier: This stops moisture migrating into your primary insulation layer.

-Stiebel Eltron internally ducted MVHR - extracts excess moisture from the environment, introduces clean air, and captures heat for reuse.

3. Our roof design: Significantly mitigates the risk of condensation forming in your insulation layer from roofing materials, by moving the dew point further away. 

From initial contact to completed project, nine months total, yes 10 weeks longer than expected, but still 60% faster than the industry average.

We are sharing this project to acknowledge we made mistakes, but most importantly we learnt from them. Over the last six months, we have added new members to our team including a process specialist, in house book-keeper, rotated the build team, and strengthened our supply chain network.

We have also gone back to our roots, focusing on our in-house designs and material selections - we have done the heavy lifting of costs with architects, engineers, and insuring the products and methods are the best fit, for on-time supply, long durability, best cost, and most straight forward installation, ensuring the most effective solution for you. All this has lead to better planning, communication, clear expectations from all parties, delivering and on time and on budget build to you.