Watts & Hughes Construction Company Limited were the contractor on our project at 98 Remuera Road, Auckland from March 2006 until completion in August 2007. The project involved the construction of seven luxury residential apartments in a four level building along with a basement carpark with a construction cost in excess of $5 million.

From commencement to completion Watts & Hughes have given us the commitment and professionalism that has produced a building of exceptional quality. The calibre of the people from the project manager, the quantity surveyor, the chief estimator to the construction director has been outstanding.

I have no hesitation in recommending Watts & Hughes as the principal contractor for any quality residential project and we look forward to further projects with them in the future.

"We are architects engaged by Symphony Projects to complete the architectural design, documentation and observation during construction of the Vibe and Lumina apartment buildings in Pakenham Street, Viaduct Basin, Auckland. We also provided contract administration services for the Vibe Project.

VIBE: This project is designed with 41 medium-priced apartments on five levels and was constructed by Watts & Hughes Construction. The construction period was from September 2005 to November 2006.

LUMINA: This project is designed with 21 medium-priced apartments on five levels and was constructed by Watts & Hughes Construction. The construction period was from August 2006 to August 2007.

In both cases Watts & Hughes were able to make a worthwhile contribution in value engineering for our client, and our experience has been that the director Rob Murphy, the chief estimator Bruce Bowater, the contracts manager Karl Sutton and their key personnel were very straightforward to deal with, well organised and diligent in their quality control processes.

We at mga innovation limited have no hesitation in selecting Watts & Hughes again for other projects."

Last year (2006) Kay & Keys Architects worked with Watts and Hughes on the construction of a new Head Office and Workshop for Higgins Contractors.

The project involved the redevelopment of a site including a 500m2 two storey office building and a 600m2 workshop and laboratory Building. The site development also included the inclusion of environmental disposal equipment including sand filters and API's. The total project value was in the order of $3.0M.

Watts and Hughes demonstrated a thoroughly professional and dedicated approach to the construction management on this project. They brought top level Project Management to the site in the form of Jim Wylie as Project Manager and Aaron Dobbie as Site Foreman. They were also ably supported by Andrew Davies as Watts and Hughes QS.

Thanks to their approach to the job Watts and Hughes ensured that a strong bond was formed between Client, Architect and Contractor. The project was completed on time and on budget.

With the result that they have achieved on this project Watts and Hughes have not only completed the project successfully for our client they have also brought success to us as architects.

We look forward to other opportunities to work with Watts and Hughes on future projects."

"We have over the past 3 years acted as Project Manager on three successful projects where Watts and Hughes have been appointed as Main Contractor:
Building, 4, Domain Centre, was a 5 level office building with 2 level basement car parking. Watts and Hughes were appointed on a fixed price lump sum Contract, following client negotiation. Watts and Hughes also completed the fitout for ANZ under a separate Contract.

Project ICE, was a 2,800sqm industrial cool store with 1,000sqm office plus associated site works. Watts and Hughes were appointed on a fixed price lump sum Contract following a tender process.

The Fox Outlet Centre, involved the redevelopment of a derelict building into a 56 tenancy shopping centre. Watts and Hughes were appointed following an open book Contract negotiation, with agreement on P&G, margin and trade packages.
Each of these projects were very different in nature, with Watts and Hughes appointed through a different procurement strategy, to suit the individual project demands, and ranged in value from approximately $2m to $11m.

We have found Watts and Hughes to be a very professional contractor with a strong client focus and an open, approachable management style. The company was able to provide and maintain good site management and construction teams on the projects and these were supported by strong leadership from senior management, actively involved throughout all the projects.

We would have no hesitation in recommending Watts and Hughes and/or working with them again on any project. In our experience they have fully lived up to their reputation and have demonstrated a quality of management and teamwork expected from such a reputable firm."

"Watts and Hughes Construction were appointed as Main Contractors to the New Clendon Library for the Manukau City Council.

This appointment was on a collaborative basis with the Contractor assisting in both the design (buildability issues) and costing disciplines.

We have found Watts and Hughes to be extremely easy to work alongside of, to be pro-active and very keen to put the Client's interests to the forefront.

They proved to control the construction phase in a professional and firm manner achieving the end goal on time, within budget and high quality. The end result being a building the Client is proud of.

We have no hesitation in recommending Watts and Hughes Construction for a similar project."

"JASMAX LTD has worked previously - and continues to work - with Watts a Hughes Limited on a number of significant building projects in Auckland city. These include the recently completed KPMG Centre, a Property Council Supreme Award winner on Fanshawe Street and the Vodafone building - currently under construction.

My involvement with Watts & Hughes has been limited to the Bo Concept Store, a five storey, mixed-use development in Normanby Road, Mt Eden. Completed last year, this project was initiated by developers, Redwood Group and the holders of the Bo Concept, Danish furniture franchise in New Zealand. The Mt Eden store is intended to be Bo Concept's flagship retail premises and distribution centre for new stores throughout the country. For these reasons the brief was complex, entailing a two level showroom, a mid level warehouse with container handling capacity, and an upper level car park and offices. The corner site on Normanby Road is further complicated by a steep rise on its Enfield Street frontage and the presence of heavily contaminated soils resulting from early shot manufacture on the adjacent property.

This project was also characterised by an extremely tight budget and programme. Given this and the complexity of the brief and site, Watts & Hughes did an admirable job. It is worth noting that they undertook the project after another construction company involved with the earlier design development was unable to meet the budget expectations. Despite these circumstances, the building has received both an NZIA Local Award and a New Zealand Award for building excellence and we believe that this is a fair testament to its builders.

Key to the successful resolution of this project has been the cooperative and personable staff contributed by Watts & Hughes. The willingness of the foremen and Watts & Hughes personnel to engage positively and constructively with the building's challenges has helped contribute to a successful project. We would certainly consider using Watts & Hughes on future projects and are happy to recommend them as worthy and competent building contractors."

"I wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation with regard to our new building at 107 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket.

In particular we would like to thank your construction team for putting in the extra effort required in these times of abundant construction activity to insure that sufficient resources were applied to the various elements as necessary to maintain the overall project time without comprising quality.

The final product is an attractive, well finished building meeting the same high quality standards set in the previous 3 developments.

We also note that the new tenants are delighted with their accommodation and this naturally reflects well on us both."

“The PCNZ Supreme Award winning KPMG Centre was constructed by Watts & Hughes who completed the works within a very close collaboration with Newcrest and the project team. W&H responded well to changes that occurred throughout the project and completed the works to a very high standard. We enjoyed our relationship with W&H’s team and their efforts certainly contributed to the quality of the outcome.”