The Renovation Team: Renovation during COVID-19

Some would say that with the challenges we face, comes creativity, and unknown situations can bring blessings. This is the story of The Renovation Team under Lockdown.

In the past couple of months, we have faced the COVID-19 Pandemic which had a huge impact on the Real Estate arena. This includes home renovations, home
sales, home purchases, residential and commercial development projects. We have seen overseas suppliers, especially in China closing their business
for a period of time, and some have not reopened yet. Products arrival has been delayed, which meant that construction projects had to be put on hold,
and it affected their progress. In New Zealand, suppliers and builders could not operate under Level-4. Only essential services could continue working
under the COVID-19 tight government restrictions.

While things have been on hold, many Kiwi homeowners started working from home, questioning the functionality of their home, location, needs and with that
came ideas to change where they live, expand or improve. With working from home, people realised they needed extra space, or perhaps they were not
comfortable with their design. That opened opportunities for change.

While some people have faced losing jobs, and banks have tightened their belts around lending, Home improvement is usually more welcomed by the lenders.
By renovating, you immediately increase the value of your property.

Despite the break, some of the renovation and building companies have had to come up with creative ideas and prepare for the unknown.

“We had to create more dimensions to the existing service, and we walked through people’s properties on video calls to be able to advise them what they
could do with their home”. Says James.

The Renovation team CEO, James Goren, took this time to create new opportunities for his clients and his business. This meant improving infrastructure
and providing online services to potential and existing customers.

With his extensive knowledge in IT, and the ability to work via video calls, the team was able to communicate effectively and provide online quotes and
give advice while working from home, which allowed better planning. “

With Level- 3, The Renovation Team has been set up to work effectively based on the government guidelines, to keep the property and the team safe. “The
Renovation Team is equipped with an advanced online project management system that allows our work to proceed remotely and smoothly,” says James.

“We were approached by people wanting to create changes as they might not move soon, or decided not to sell their home, so they rather invest in improving
what they already have and create their dream home with more functional space to work from home. The biggest challenges we have faced is working on
a few projects at a time, because of the delays,” says James.

For example, “Just the other day a customer called and asked to convert his attic to a home office. We offered practical solutions.”