To Whom it May Concern

Lovell & O’Connell Architects Ltd (LOCA)

We, Lesley Haines and Rick Wells, are the proud owners of a beautiful new home.  In addition to its very pleasing aesthetics, it affords a seamless connection of the indoors with the outdoors, maximizes sun, is very comfortable and functional, and we expect it to be very durable.  All this was achieved on a moderate budget. 

Tim Lovell and Ana O’Connell of LOCA designed our home.

Choosing the Architect

We began our search for architects, with a combination of web searches and recommendations from friends and others in our network.  LOCA, as a new practice, was suggested to us by a good friend who had recently undertaken major alterations to her home, with Ana as the project architect, prior to the formation of LOCA.  About that time, Tim and Ana’s first new build design as LOCA was a finalist for Home of the Year, and we liked many aspects of that design as portrayed in HOME magazine.

So we included LOCA in our short list of five architects.  We interviewed each of the five, with particular interest in how they would work with us, their preferred architectural style, how they would manage to our budget, and their availability.  We were also influenced by each practice’s keenness to undertake the project and the nature of their post meeting response.

Our initial meeting with LOCA went well. The fact that we met both of the architects we would be working with (compared with larger practices, where we often met just the principal, with no clarity about who the project architect would be) was also a factor in our decision.

Having assessed all five practices we rated LOCA at the top of our list.

We then talked to the builder who built the first home they designed as LOCA, as we wanted to get an independent view on the quality of their detailed design and drawings and how they worked with the builder to solve the inevitable issues that arise during the course of a building project.  The builder rated LOCA’s design, drawings and working style highly.

Working with LOCA

Our initial meetings with LOCA revolved around the development of a design concept. They worked through our written brief carefully and they listened well and were responsive to the style and functionality we were after. 

Beyond the conceptual stage, they engaged us in regular review meetings covering all aspects of the final design. Their approach was systematic with good meeting notes and follow up on action points.  We felt that relationships were healthy and respectful in both directions – they were thorough in considering our suggestions, pointing out the plusses and minuses, identifying options and respecting our final decisions.   We all worked hard to find solutions that would work from all points of view.

Gaining Local Authority Approvals

All of the dealings with the Council went very smoothly.  LOCA worked with the Council to identify any possible hitches up front, and they also worked with our neighbours to gain their support for our resource consent application, as we were away at that time. 

Assistance in Selecting a Builder

In selecting a builder, LOCA advised us on the merits of tender versus negotiated contract. We opted for a negotiated contract and they suggested a method for choosing the builder. 

We interviewed four builders with Tim from LOCA alongside us to help decide which one we wanted to work with, and followed this up with reference checks.  LOCA had recommended two of these builders, including the one we eventually chose. 

Working to Budget

Managing the cost of the project was very important to us.  With LOCA’s advice, we engaged a very practical quantity surveyor who prepared a high level estimate of the build cost from the conceptual design.  Only when we were happy with this cost, did LOCA proceed with the final design phase.

Later on the quantity surveyor came back in again to assist Tim and us in evaluating the builders open schedule of costs, line=by-line.  As we were over budget at this stage, LOCA engaged our builder, the quantity surveyor and our engineer in working openly and cooperatively to reduce the cost, for example by switching to an alternative foundation design. 

LOCA and the builder also enabled us to reduce our costs by agreeing to our undertaking some aspects of the work ourselves e.g. building the decks, and supplying some specially milled timber and joinery. As a result, we ended up with a price we are comfortable with, and feel that we have achieved excellent value for money with a very high quality build.

Managing the Project

The building phase went smoothly. Regular reviews by LOCA as project manager, with the builder and us were well organized and run, minutes and required actions recorded, and issues dealt with promptly.  Under Tim’s leadership all parties, including where appropriate sub contractors, were encouraged to work together and contribute to any problem solving required. This consultative approach resulted in a high degree of cooperation, enhanced outcomes and a very harmonious worksite.

Our Conclusion

In the past we have worked with a number of other architects, in the build of a new house and in two significant sets of alterations of an existing house.  LOCA’s way of working saw them outperform the others we have used – they listened better, worked harder to solve problems to our satisfaction, were always open to thinking outside the square, and took on board a great deal of input from us. We really enjoyed working with them.

The process of design was exciting and fun. It was truly the hard work of Ana and Tim at LOCA, with strong input from us as owners.  The end result surpasses our expectations.  Needless to say, we highly recommend Ana and Tim from LOCA.

Lesley Haines & Rick Wells

Days Bay, Lower Hutt.

July 23, 2016