The high-end Hawke’s Bay builders making the building journey enjoyable

The most common thing you hear about building new is that it’s stressful and unpredictable. In fact, the build process is known to be so dramatic and eventful, there’s a slew of reality TV shows dedicated to showcasing the bumpy ride of creating a dream home.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. According to DC Construction director and builder Dylan Cossey (who is no stranger to building drama – you may recognise him as one half of the Dylz and Dyls duo on season five of The Block NZ) building your dream home should be anything but stressful.

In fact, he’s created a business that is driven by his joy for building and a passion for creating a wonderful building experience for clients.

“I fixate on giving my clients an enjoyable experience for the building process, because all too often I’d hear people say ‘I'm building a house and it's the most horrible thing in the world. I'm so stressed, I'll never do it again’,” says Dylan. “I got sick of hearing it — it should be fun! It should be like the biggest present you've ever given yourself, and you shouldn't be stressed.”

For the Hawke’s Bay construction crew, the client experience is top of mind and this starts the second the first sod is turned.

“When the diggers turn up on site, and it's all been cleared, we find old picks, shovels or crowbars and we spray paint them gold, and then we get the clients to stab them in the ground, and we take a photo of them right in the middle of where there house is going to be.”

Involving the clients in the build process is a very important aspect of the build for DC construction. They even take drone footage of the build process which they cut into a film for the clients at the end of the build, and offer clients the opportunity to take part in certain aspects of construction.

Dylan says this gives clients the opportunity to get involved with their build and to feel like they’re part of creating their dream home.

Wherever possible, they go the extra mile to make the build and the materials personal to the place and the people. For a recent build, this meant harvesting timber from the site to use in the home.

“It was a family farm that had been in the family for three generations and we got a licence to fell some of their native kauris and totara. We felled the timber and milled it ourselves, and we've put all these floating shelves throughout their house, made vanity tops for their bathrooms, worktops in the kitchen, and then we've got these two big totara posts out the front – it’s a homage from the farm to the new home.”

The personal nature of working with DC Construction is one of its most important assets. The company has eight builders who work in teams of three on only two projects at one time, which means they have the time and attention to detail to fulfil the most detailed of high-end designs.

Dylan himself has 20 years of experience in the trade, having worked around the globe in Europe, the UK, the US and Australia. All of these experiences have shown him different construction methods and materials that he is able to integrate into his work.

He also sits on the Master Builders’ Association executive committee, which means he’s involved in increasing the standards of building in New Zealand.

For his clients it means he has a vast amount of knowledge around alternative products and materials to achieve the best possible result in performance and aesthetics.

“We sit down with the client and we go through and we say “We could chop this out and change this” and I'll always give them three options.”

Another string in the bow of DC Construction comes in the form of Dylan’s wife Elizabeth Cossey, who is currently undertaking a degree in architecture, with the aim of adding a design arm to the business.

For Dylan, this is the icing on the cake of a life dedicated to his business and building practice.

“Two years from now, she'll be fully qualified. We sit down and have little design chats at night and that's really cool. She's into it just as much as I am!”

It makes perfect sense for DC Construction, as it’s very much a family-oriented business, with people at its core.

“For me, carpentry and building is not just a job. I was told when I was a real young fella by my grandfather: “If you enjoy what you do, you never have to work a day in your life” and it rings true. I don't even feel like I go to work. We do some incredible stuff and I get to come home and gloat about it.”

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