Auckland's home renovation specialists — built on transparency, driven by passion

About us

You’re in great hands

We're more than just builders; we're like a family, united by our passion for renovations and dedicated to making your dreams a reality. We thrive on working together positively, communicating openly with you, your architect, our team, and everyone involved in your project.

 

Contact

No budget blowouts

Our business is based on experience, transparency and great communication. We believe in identifying the true cost of your proposed renovation from the get-go, with the aim of saving you time, money and energy. Our in-house Quantity Surveyor, Peter Chen develops a realistic and accurate budget early on, giving you control over cost savings, scope and your stress levels! Find out how we work.

An experienced, qualified team

Our hard-working, friendly crew firmly believes in bringing renovation dreams to life through teamwork and a shared love of creating unforgettable homes. We’re supported by a trusted, core team of qualified tradespeople and subcontractors that goes the extra mile, offering exceptional service and quality craftsmanship.

Full project management

We’re with you every step of the way. Licensed Renovations provides quality building and project management services from go to whoa. Owner and Managing Director Russell Clark and our experienced foreman Ollie Thurlby are hands on with expert advice and direction from the early days of your designs or existing plans, right through to project completion. Meet the team.

Registered Master Builders

Enjoy peace of mind knowing Licensed Renovations is a proud member of the Master Builders Association of New Zealand. Only qualified or personally trained building apprentices are renovating your home. Plus, we’re residential renovation specialists and always have been. That’s our focus and our passion.
We encourage our team to upskill wherever possible

Training apprentices

A keen advocate of apprenticeships, we support the training and development of young builders, offering them opportunities to learn, grow and progress as part of the Licensed Renovations family. 

Why choose us

Licensed Building Practitioner
Our standards are always high. Managing Director Russell Clark, our Quantity Surveyor Peter Chen and our site managers are all Licensed Building Practitioners. Plus, all our builders are trade qualified. This means we’re building and renovating homes to New Zealand’s high quality standards.
Quality Assurance
We dot the i’s and cross the t’s! We check, double check and check again. Working to our own detailed 97 point checklist, the team is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve your renovation. You can be confident your renovation.
Save money, time and energy
No more budget blowouts. We believe in transparent cost breakdowns that allow you maximum flexibility during the design and build process. Identifying the true cost and scope of your proposed renovation at an early stage saves you time, money and headaches.
Our Guarantee
We’re building and renovating to New Zealand’s highest standards and back our work with a 7 Star Guarantee. This means you’re reaping the rewards of working with a team with 35+ years of unrivalled residential renovating experience. Enjoy your renovation project with dedicated, communication-focused site managers and trade qualified builders.
Renovation specialists
We’re experts in residential renovations and we love our work! We believe transparent communication, seamless project management and smart budgeting means you'll fulfil your renovation dreams with less stress and more time to enjoy the results. Read what our happy clients have to say.
Seamless communication
No secrets, no games. From pre-construction meetings to regular follow ups, we keep you in the loop on timeframes, budgeting, delivery and updates. Using professional, simple systems that maintain transparency and momentum, you’re always kept in the loop. Talk to us now.

Let the Adventure Begin

Our first step will be a phone call to follow up your enquiry. We’ll chat about your building project goals and work out how we can offer the services you need. We make a time and place to meet for a more in-depth discussion.

Got renovation ideas? We’re all ears! Our Director, Russell Clark, will come to your home for a renovation consultation to discuss thoughts, ideas, wishes, budgets and time frames.

A good design process is key to a successful project. Your design will evolve over time as you and your architect discuss, digest, think and rework ideas until the best solution is found. If you don’t have an architect, we’ll introduce you to our own. It’s important that we be kept in the loop at this stage to ensure your design and scope are in line with your budget.

Bright idea: How about using sustainable building features at this concept stage? Making your home more eco-friendly and energy efficient saves you long term costs while adding value to your home. Ask us for ideas.

Once the concept drawings are completed, our Quantity Surveyor Peter Chen will evaluate the drawings and visit the site to ensure an accurate and in depth estimate is prepared. In some cases, our electrician and plumber come along as well to provide their expertise at this early stage.

We’ll now present you with the preliminary budget, which is a detailed breakdown of your costs based on the concept drawings. This is key to a successful renovation and protects you from budget blow out. Depending on your budget, we may need to work with the architect to amend your sketches until your budget and the drawings are perfectly matched.

Once your scope and budget are aligned, the architect is given approval to start the working drawings and prepare documentation for the application for building consent and resource consent, if required.

Once you’re happy with your working drawings and documents from the architect, Licensed Renovations will provide you with a fixed price quotation and go through it with you line by line to ensure you understand the full cost and scope of your project.

The Licensed Renovations fixed price building contract is signed and all other documentation is put in place (i.e. Master Builders guarantee, builders risk insurance, etc)

It’s now time to meet the team. Our foreman will run through a health and safety briefing for your family.

Communication is key! Throughout the building process, we will:

  • Communicate with you, the architect and subcontractors on a weekly basis
  • Make sure your renovation project flows in a timely and coordinated manner.
  • Update the job schedule frequently so you’re well informed of progress and able to schedule in the people you are working with outside of our contract.
  • Keep you informed of the health and safety site plan.

Licensed Renovations will have completed the scope of work as per the contract.

We’ll then:

  • arrange for the final inspection with council to ensure the renovation complies with required plans and specs
  • put together the final paperwork and apply for the code of compliance on your behalf

You’re part of our family

We’re a friendly bunch and always do our best to welcome our clients into the Licensed Renovations family. Our connection with you, your family and your renovation is personal and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Building trust is just as important to us as building your home.

Many of our clients become fast friends and we love banter and an excuse to enjoy a beverage or banana cake!

Our Partners

Our crew are tried, tested and trusted. We work with a chosen team of contractors and sub-contractors, over and over again. Why? Because we know they’ll give you the best result.
What this means for you:
This means you get a close knit bunch who’ve worked together on a diverse range of Auckland-wide renovation projects, all year round. Our plumbers, electricians, painters, builders, gib stoppers, tilers, flooring team and more know each other well.
Best of all, they know our expectations. They work to our quality control procedures, keep the lines of communication open and respect our time constraints. Every contractor in the Licensed Renovations team meets our exacting standards for quality workmanship, friendly service, hard work and the willingness to go the extra mile. They’re family.
We’re extremely proud to work alongside these fine contractors, subcontractors, trade qualified builders and proven partners. Find out more about Licensed Building Practitioners’ standards and our designation as a Master Builder by clicking the logos below.

What our clients say about us

Russ, Jen and the entire crew were an absolute pleasure to work with! They came into a flood damaged home, with half walls missing and have worked alongside us to create a modern and upgraded home to our dreams! As our first time renovating they really have made it easy for us to renovate in the future and we even picked up some new skills along the way from the team! Big shout out to Tony, Jordy, Ben and Finn for the hard work to the house and even being super respectful while I was doing overnights! Can't thank them enough and so happy to have our home back after over a year!

Meredith and Faris

“The team at Licensed Renovations were great to deal with. Their brief was to manage the renovation of our existing bathroom and addition of a new en suite. We are delighted with the end result, they managed the entire process and communicated well throughout the build. Will definitely use them again.”

Sarah H

“I just wanted to say before the house is completed how happy I am with the workmanship and quality of the renovation! My wife and I are really impressed and glad we chose you guys. I had a good look around yesterday and please tell all your tradies they have done a first class job. The plumbing, electrical work and painting are first class. And your advice on colours and floorings was spot on. Lastly my wife and I are going to sell the house and we’re looking forward to getting a good price. Please thank the team for a great job.”

Ken T

See all testimonials