Tipa Road, Waiheke Island

The install on this one was ordinary. Getting there was the job.

Tipa Road at Ostend is a high-end architectural home on Waiheke Island, delivered for Global Linings under Placemakers Waiheke. Pink Batts thermal through the walls and ceiling and to the midfloors.

The insulation scope would take a competent crew a predictable amount of time on the mainland. Nothing about the products or the assemblies is unusual. What is unusual is that Waiheke is an island, and every logistical assumption you carry from mainland work stops being true.

Material had to be coordinated through on-island merchants rather than trucked from an Auckland supplier on the morning we needed it. Vehicles cross on the car ferry, so the crew's van was on a timetable rather than a road, and a missed sailing is not a delay of minutes. Accommodation had to be arranged for the crew across each install window, because you cannot run a Waiheke day as a commute at either end and still get a full day's work out of it.

None of that is difficult. All of it is expensive if you discover it after you have quoted.

That is the point of putting this job on the site. Island and off-Auckland work goes wrong at the pricing stage, not the install stage. A number built on mainland assumptions, with ferry crossings, on-island supply and crew accommodation added afterwards as a surprise, is a number that either loses money or turns into an awkward conversation with the main contractor. We priced the travel and the supply chain into the job from day one because they are part of the job.

The install itself ran exactly as it would on the mainland: Pink Batts fitted tight to the wall framing, the ceiling and the midfloors, no gaps, no compression. Delivered to scope.

Waiheke, Great Barrier and off-Auckland work: we will price it properly the first time.