At the age of 10, Charles Blair’s favourite reading material was the property brochure.
Growing up in Balclutha, Mr Blair (32) also used to create elaborate houses from his Lego bricks.
Aptly, the accountant has now combined both those childhood interests into a career, co-founding Dunedin-based TGC Homes which is both a development and building business.
His and his two partners’ goal was to meet the significant changes in housing needs in the city, driven by changing lifestyles, and what they believed was a need for increased diversity rather than Dunedin’s traditional three-bedroom bungalow, Mr Blair said.
TGC Homes — the name being the founders’ three initials — was established in 2016 by three "very young and hungry" men who had a desire to provide quality accommodation options in Dunedin.
Their primary focus now was to deliver between 50 and 100 homes a year, which was a "huge" number given the number of consents issued for new residential builds, Mr Blair said.
George Hercus (31), Tom Nailard (32) and Mr Blair all met through mutual friends.
Mr Hercus, originally from Invercargill and now living in Christchurch, is an aeronautical engineer.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr Nailard moved to Dunedin with his family and is a builder and commercial project manager.
Mr Hercus did most of the company’s "back-office" work and did not have to be physically in Dunedin, visiting for about a week a month, Mr Blair said.
Mr Nailard was responsible for running the projects on-site while he did the business-related work, including finances and marketing.
All three were workaholics, who were "reasonably well-heeled" when they got together in their mid-20s.
Mr Nailard had bought his first house when he was 18 and was "flipping homes".
His first renovation project was later demolished by TGC Homes for a townhouse development, while Mr Hercus was a keen share trader.
Mr Blair said he built his first house with his brothers, in Queenstown, when he was in his early 20s.
He had also travelled to Western Australia during his holidays for harvest and mustering work and made "crazy money".
In his last year, he saved more than his graduate salary as an accountant.
Mr Blair met Mr Nailard at a party and they talked about how so much more could be achieved — and much quicker — when people worked together and combined their resources. But they did not exchange contact details.
Later on, they bumped into each other running up Signal Hill and the run quickly turned into a walk as they continued that conversation.
It was a similar experience with Mr Hercus — Mr Blair’s best friend — when the pair travelled to Melbourne to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
On the plane trip there and back, they discussed launching a business.
Their first acquisition was a meth-contaminated apartment, which they gutted and rebuilt into New York-style apartments featuring exposed brick.
After various renovation projects, they turned their hand to inner-city new builds after identifying a gap in the market.
TGC Homes delivered 12 homes in 2021, 19 homes in 2022, was on track to finish 33 homes this year and had a further 50 homes in design for 2024.
Among its developments is the 36-home Grand Vesta townhouse development in David St, Caversham, next to the Kew dog exercise park, and sold to a mix of owner-occupiers and investors.
The site was once home to the New Zealand Wax Vesta Company, which produced wax matches there from the early 20th century.
Their purchase of the site was settled on March 14, 2020 and, a few days later, the country went into Covid-19 lockdown.
Asked how stressed they were, Mr Blair quipped "there was a lot of undie changing".
Reflecting on the last three years, it had been a challenging time, he said.
They had built a business during the biggest building boom in the country, shortages and rationing of materials, a credit crunch and the market moving under their feet every six months.
But being a developer-builder meant they project managed their projects themselves so they had a lot more control and were able to react instantly, he said.
The well-documented gib shortage forced the trio to think "outside the box" and they discovered a product being manufactured in Tauranga which minimised their gib use.
The trio also believed the success of TGC came down to getting the fundamentals right.
It was about getting the right home in the right location at the right price.
Mr Blair believed Caversham was one of the best suburbs in the city. It was a "sun trap", on the flat and close to services which was vital for townhouse developments.
Dunedin had some of the oldest housing stock in New Zealand and cold and inefficient homes could have negative impacts when it came to health and wellbeing.
They believed inner-city redevelopment was going to be essential to improve community outcomes.
A range of projects was in the pipeline from social housing initiatives to high-end homes.
They recently bought a site in Albert St, St Clair, which would be their first foray into higher-end homes, targeting those downsizing and looking for a premium location.
But there would always be a core of value houses targeted at first-home buyers and investors, Mr Blair said.
Dunedin did not have a huge population base so they could not "cut and copy" the same design again and again.
"We’re just really trying to build the best product in the best location that the market wants at that time," he said.
