The fortunes of New Zealand’s busiest builders have diverged in the past year depending on their build locations.
Those with a Christchurch focus have risen up the ranks as the country’s second-largest city has continued to rebound from last decade’s major earthquakes.
But Auckland-based builders have not been so lucky with build rates staying flat or falling despite hefty cuts to interest rates.
The sales market for existing homes remains subdued and data shows some group house builders suffered volume drops of 40% in the past four years.
The latest Real Estate Institute data for June painted a further gloomy picture, with overall conditions remaining subdued and no significant improvement.
House prices halted the gains recorded over the previous seven months, with a decline of 0.3% in June.
G.J. Gardner Homes continues to hold its place as New Zealand’s busiest house builder with a steady flow of 800-plus new homes worth $462 million in the latest year to April.
That is according to BCI’s national study of 152 house-building businesses.
Building consents from local authorities give BCI data to rank companies according to:
BCI sells its house-building data, which is not freely available to the public. The Herald was supplied with the latest results.
Almost all the top 10 are owned by their original Kiwi founders.
They have no corporate presence. Fletcher Residential is the outlier, being owned by NZX-listed Fletcher Building.
Owners are ageing and in some cases passing the business to the next generation, such as Golden Homes’ founders, whose son Shane Helms is active at a management level.
Christchurch is an active, buoyant market with locally-headquartered Mike Greer Homes, Wolfbrook and Oakridge driving big numbers.
1) G.J. Gardner Homes: 837 residences valued at $462m completed in April 2025 year
National house-building chain owned by master franchise Deacon Homes, which is owned by joint managing directors Grant and Ellie Porteous of Auckland.
The average size of a G.J. Gardner home is 164sq m, indicating most are standalone, not apartments, terraces or townhouses.
The average price is relatively high at $552,000, again pointing to mostly standalone houses.
It’s had a steady run in the past two years and in the year to March 2024 it built 824 homes valued at $437m.
Grant Porteous says the business has new franchise teams in:
“We also have two new teams in the Waikato, plus another three appointed in the last 18 months, all doing really well,” he said.
The highest-performing franchises are in rural areas: Manawatū, then Wairarapa.
2) Mike Greer Homes: 795 residences valued at $299m in April 2025 year
The Christchurch-headquartered business, named after executive director and Burnside High School old boy Mike Greer, has 16 outlets nationwide.
Ranked at No 3 in last year’s busiest builders list, Mike Greer Homes has jumped to No 2 after a rise in the number of homes built.
In the year to March 2024, it built 452 homes for a total value of $157m.
“I started my business when I was 20 and started as a sole trader initially,” says Greer, who is originally from the West Coast.
Having built up capital over many years, speculative building is possible.
“We can put our capital where we want it to go. Like if a region is doing very well, we will fill it with money. We’re not a little franchised builder that doesn’t have big capital reserves.”
Nor does the business have to pre-sell houses to build.
The house-building business alone was worth about $350m, Greer says, and has about 300 employees.
The company has a joint venture with Ngāi Tahu at Rangiora and claims strength in numbers from suppliers.
“Due to our large volume of houses under construction, it has enabled us to form partnerships with some of New Zealand’s strongest and best-known leading brands.”
Greer says the BCI numbers don’t truly reflect Mike Greer Homes’ scale.
The company sells house-and-land packages, he clarifies, so it created more than $299m of assets in the year to April.
3) Fletcher Residential: 447 residences valued at $189m completed in April 2025 year
Steve Evans has headed Fletcher Living for more than a decade, bringing experience and stability to this division of a more troubled wider corporate.
Its build rate appears to have dipped relative to last year when it built 573 homes in the year to March 2024.
Fletcher Residential’s largest project is the $500m The Hill at Ellerslie.
Just under 400 new homes are planned off Ladies Mile on ex-Ellerslie racecourse land where the steeplechase once was.
But the 15ha ex-Winstones Three Kings Quarry off Mt Eden Rd is another huge estate for the business, which is active in many parts of Auckland.
4) Golden Homes: 314 residences valued at $103m in April 2025 year
Founded by Tauranga’s Len and Jill Helms 35 years ago, this franchised or licensed business is headquartered on Rosedale Rd, Albany on Auckland’s North Shore.
“We’re a pretty proud New Zealand-owned company,” says Golden Homes’ design manager Calum Stent.
Seven outlets stretch from Northland to Queenstown. Stent said Christchurch had been performing particularly strongly “with so much flat and cheap land”.
Golden Homes has jumped up the ranks from last year when it was the sixth busiest builder. In the year to March 2024 it built 262 homes.
Steel frames and trusses are made in Tauranga and Christchurch.
Len and Jill Helms remain the owners, although Stent said they were passing the legacy on to son, Shane.
Shane Helms is based in Auckland and owns Northland, Auckland and South Auckland franchises, Stent said.
A kitset house-building business founded last decade did not succeed.
In 2019, Len Helms told the Bay of Plenty Times that Ubuilt was planning more than 10,000 kitset properties annually to alleviate the housing crisis.
Now, its website says, “we will be back in the future”.
Stent said he was not directly involved with Ubuilt but it no longer operated.
Companies Office records show U Built Homes has been removed from the register.
Shane Helms said Ubuilt had been absorbed into Golden Homes, a move prompted by the licensed building practitioner regime.
5) Signature Homes: 293 homes valued at $173m in April 2025 year
An Auckland couple own this business, which is behind 10,000-plus New Zealand homes.
Anneta and Gavin Hunt have a national presence.
Gavin Hunt is a former Bay of Plenty carpenter now in his early 70s.
In May, Signature won a Deloitte best-managed-company award, Hunt said.
Paul Bull is CEO but Hunt remains active in Signature Homes, Signature Residential on the North Shore and at Rodney, Signature Construction and Signature Developments.
It has dropped one place from last year when it ranked as the fourth busiest, building 310 homes in the year to March 2024.
6) HouseMe: 287 residences valued at $36m in April 2025 year
This relative newcomer, headquartered in Takanini, specialises in off-site manufacturing.
Compact Homes is the registered company, while HouseMe is its trading name.
Ryan Eagar of New Plymouth and Tim Fahey of Pukekohe are directors, with Eagar serving as chairman and Fahey as managing director.
Ryan and Susan Eagar own just over 50% of the company, while Tim and Naomi-ruth Fahey own 28%.
Bryce Glover, HouseMe’s general manager, sales and marketing has a 9.8% shareholding and technical manager Grant Burton owns 7.76%.
HouseMe builds tiny homes in its South Auckland factory, which has been expanded lately.
It trucks completely built homes, fitted with kitchens and bathrooms, on to sites.
HouseMe has been increasing output and revenue, and was twice listed in the Deloitte Fast 50 for expansion this decade.
It targets the budget-conscious and homes are priced from $49,000.
Last year it was ranked the fifth busiest builder. It built a similar number of homes in the year to March 2024 at 285.
7) Classic Builders: 254 residences valued at $121m in April 2025 year
Matt Lagerberg and Peter Cooney started Classic Builders in 1996, saying they believed Kiwis deserved the opportunity to own their own home.
It was founded in the Bay of Plenty and has been highly successful over many years.
The company has built more than 7500 homes and been running for more than 25 years.
Despite the fluctuating nature of the sector, Classic has remained in the top 10 consistently.
It was ranked the seventh busiest builder last year after building 256 homes in the year to March 2024.
8) Wolfbrook Residential: 250 homes valued at $50m in April 2025 year
This Christchurch-headquartered national builder is owned by founders Steve Brooks and James Cooney, who met in 2013.
Ex-All Blacks captain Kieran Read is the company’s brand ambassador.
While Wolfbrook primarily does multi-unit developments, it says it has taken its expertise one step further to deliver design-and-build homes.
Wolfbrook has built more than 1100 homes.
In February, the business bought the property management business of the failed Du Val group.
Investment Portfolio Management Limited Partnership managed about 450 places and was one of 70 Du Val entities put into statutory management in August last year.
Wolfbrook Property Management has 2686 properties and has bought three new property management businesses this year and opened its first Dunedin office in June.
Wolfbrook Capital has $105m of wholesale investors’ money, paying 10% annually on a weekly basis.
The Canterbury company has a big name in the southern city.
Wolfbrook Arena in Addington is one of New Zealand’s largest indoor entertainment venues.
Guy Randall is Wolfbrook Residential’s chief executive. The company is up one place on last year when it was ranked as the ninth busiest, building 219 homes in the year to March 2024.
9) Oakridge Homes: 186 homes valued at $55m in April 2025 year
This Riccarton-headquartered company is the newest of the 10.
British migrant James Parker arrived here after the earthquakes and founded it in 2021.
He owns the company and came here from Australia to work on the recovery.
“We’re locally owned and operated. We just build in the Canterbury area so it’s a huge achievement to be in the top 10,” Parker said.
No apartments or townhouses are built: only standalone homes that are typically three to four bedrooms with double garages.
“We’ve seen a lot of buyers not looking for townhouses. Our product works well with where the market is at.”
Peripheral city areas are its speciality, such as Rolleston, Halswell, Lincoln and Belfast.
“Young families like to live in these areas.”
Sale prices average $700,000 to $800,000.
Parker is a quantity surveyor and project manager, formerly of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.
“We’re getting bigger as well,” he said of Oakridge’s growing house-building activity.
It has jumped up the ranks from 12th last year when it built 153 homes in the year to March 2024.
10) Venture Developments: 181 homes for $55m in April 2025 year
This business is headquartered in Pāpāmoa and headed by CEO Jarod Thorpe. The company was founded in 2008 by Mark Fraser-Jones and Ben Graham.
Thorpe has a 15% stake and the other two own the rest of the non-franchised business.
Last year, it bought Smiths Farm in Bethlehem from the Tauranga City Council for $34m.
About 355 homes are planned on 41ha and house-building will start in late 2027, Thorpe said.
Other Venture Developments offices are in Waikato, Rotorua, Masterton, Christchurch and Ashburton.
The company also builds retirement units. It has risen up the ranks from last year when it was 13th. Venture Developments built 143 homes in the year to March 2024.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.