Thirty years, thousands of homes and a business still rooted in the Bay.

Thirty years after starting in Tauranga, Classic Builders has opened a new local office at 590 Cameron Road, a sign of its continued commitment to the Bay following a challenging period for the building industry.

Founded in 1996 by Peter Cooney and Matt Lagerberg, the locally owned and operated business has delivered more than 9,000 homes nationwide. It has grown into one of New Zealand’s largest residential builders while retaining its head office in the Bay, where many of the relationships behind its success began.

For the Tauranga and Eastern Bay of Plenty team, those relationships help explain the business’s longevity. Customers have returned to build again and introduced family and friends, while some builders and contractors have worked alongside Classic for more than two decades.

“You can’t be in this industry for 30 years and not be looking after people,” says Matt Elliot, Aftercare Manager.

For longstanding staff, the business’s growth has also been personal. Colleagues have watched each other’s children grow up, developed lasting friendships and supported one another as their roles and responsibilities changed.

“We actually all grew together,” says Elliot.

That connection has helped the team through the building boom and changing market conditions. During the busiest periods, colleagues helped one another manage demanding workloads while keeping sight of the people waiting for their homes. Reflecting on those years, one team member says that shared focus made the difference.

“It was about who was going to live in that house, not about how busy we were,” says Simon Robinson,

Working together over many years has also built a depth of knowledge that customers can draw on today. The local operations team includes builders who have progressed from working on the tools to managing the delivery of homes. Their experience helps shape projects well before construction starts, with building consultants and construction staff visiting sections together to consider access, levels, orientation and potential challenges.

Having built across the region, they can often draw on experience from a nearby property or a similar project, bringing in planners and engineers where specialist advice is needed. For customers, that can mean understanding a section’s limitations before becoming attached to a design, or discovering a workable option they had not considered.

The team says these early conversations are increasingly important as people seek greater confidence about what they can achieve and what it will cost.

“In the current market, people need to be a lot more certain that we can deliver what we say we’re going to do,” says Errol Hotham, Building Consultant.

Design + Build has been part of Classic’s work since its early years, giving the team experience across homes that reflect very different priorities and personalities. One particularly memorable client arrived with a detailed cardboard model of his proposed home. The finished build included a large curved window capturing the view and a kitchen splashback featuring a photograph he had taken from the section at night. It is a project the team still recalls for its technical demands and the trust the customer placed in them to realise his vision.

Whether helping someone build their first home or working through a complex custom design, they say understanding what matters to the customer is where the work begins.

Alongside these individual builds, Classic has played a significant role in meeting the Bay’s demand for new homes through House + Land packages. Its work in major developments such as The Lakes in Tauriko, and across the coastal communities of Pāpāmoa and Ōmokoroa, has helped accommodate the region’s growth. These homes have welcomed people relocating from Auckland and elsewhere for the Bay’s climate and lifestyle, while giving locals opportunities to buy their first home, make room for a growing family or find a home better suited to their next stage of life.

“We’ve grown alongside the Bay, and we’re proud to have helped so many people make their home here. Delivering House + Land at scale, alongside individual Design + Build homes, means we can respond to the different ways people want to live,” says Cameron McCallum, Regional Manager, Tauranga and Eastern Bay of Plenty.

For the team, watching those neighbourhoods become established gives the work lasting meaning. Homes handed over years ago are now part of familiar streets, where gardens have matured and neighbours have become friends. Behind them is a network of local suppliers and tradespeople, some of whom have worked with Classic for more than 20 years and chosen the business to build their own homes.

“We’ve supported them and they support us,” says Hotham.

That continuity brings experience and established working relationships to each new project, giving customers a team that knows both the region and how to deliver together.

“Our strength is having those longstanding local relationships, backed by a national business whose roots are right here,” says McCallum. “The new office is an investment in our team and in the next generation of homes we’ll build in the Bay.”

The new Cameron Road office gives that collaboration a new home, bringing sales, operations and a product design centre into one accessible base. Customers can explore available homes, discuss ideas for their own section and meet the people involved in delivering the finished result.

“We want people to come into our office,” says McCallum.

For Classic Builders Tauranga and Eastern Bay of Plenty team, the move builds on the experience and relationships that have sustained the business for 30 years, while opening the doors to the next generation of Bay of Plenty homebuyers.