HI! WE ARE SHARYN & DWAYNE, THIS IS OUR STORY.
Welcome to Developing 509.
This is our passion project turning an old, earthquake prone commercial building, into a multi-level modern pairing of commercial below and a residential apartment above.
We are sharing our story so that others can see the journey unfold, read the good, the bad and the ugly of project managing a job of this size and the pros and cons of working with corporates.
eading Developing 509 will either make you laugh, cry, or decide you won’t ever make the same mistakes we did along the way if you are brave enough to tackle a project of this size!
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We are just a pretty average couple really. We have been together over 20 years, with 3 children (24, 12 & 7) between us, many ups and downs. We've faced tragedies and loss and no matter what comes our way we've come out of everything stronger so far.
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Dwayne is a retired professional freestyle BMXer who rides motocross and bmx for fun now. He runs their primary business and is the brawn of the operation.
Sharyn also rides motocross, skates and plays airsoft. She divides her time with educating nail technicians, does a select number of nail clients, runs the house, manages the tiny (and not so tiny) humans and runs both businesses. She's the brains behind the operation.
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After the loss of Dwayne's Dad, best friend and business partner. We had a lot of pieces to pickup which included finding out the premises we owned had been added to the list of earthquake prone buildings in Wellington. In 2016 when John passed away we realised that there was a deadline on this work which was fast approaching! So we were motivated to not only take on the required earthquake strengthening work we had to do, but we also decided to go big or go bust. And I'm still not entirely sure which way we will end up but it's been an absolute journey so far and one which we are almost at the end of.
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We live to work and work to live, like anyone else. Both of us are very family oriented and having a space to call home, which fits our family and extended family is really important to us.
But because work is central to everything we do, we have always put up with our unusual lifestyle because of the huge benefits of time and how much time we can spend with the kids, while still keeping up with life/work demands.
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So we took a simple strengthening job, and added to it to create our forever home.
Which is a 4 bedroom apartment with it's own movie theatre, 2 bathrooms, outside deck space, a working studio for Sharyn and it's right on top of work for Dwayne.
Building the apartment means we get the best of everything for our children and us, as we are both able to work from home this way.
The deck and backyard offer safe spaces for the kids to play and they have access to an entire public reserve next door.
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Once the build is finished, we will have an amazing space, which will be relaxing and enjoyable. Giving us everything we need in the comfort which we've worked all our lives to achieve.
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While it's been one heck of a ride, as you will learn as you read.... we keep on pushing because we know all the battles will be worth it in the end.
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Our new home is dedicated to John. This one's for you old man, we love and miss you and we hope we're doing you proud.
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