It’s funny how a dinner with friends can lead to a life changing moment. That’s exactly what brought my partner Josh and I to joining the Fraemohs family and taking on the franchise for greater Wellington in February 2022.
We live in a rather beautiful valley near Upper Hutt that is filled with lifestyle properties and our friends were sharing their plans for building eco-friendly, sustainable houses on their land.
They got to sharing their recent trip to Christchurch and how impressed they were with the home building company Fraemohs who aligned with all their values for quality homes, built from local natural timber. Being carbon negative and zero waste, as well as having exceptional architectural designs.
I remember we turned to each other and said “Frame-ohs like the framing of a house?”.
They laughed and shared the story of Danish born, Monni Fraemohs and his desire to allow every Kiwi to create homes they love, inspired by nature and the beauty of New Zealand.
We immediately googled the website and were instantly impressed at the gorgeous house designs that lay before us.
Then they casually dropped into the conversation that Fraemohs were on the hunt for the right type of people to start the Wellington franchise. And that they thought we’d be ideal and had mentioned that to Fraemohs Business Development Manager, Amanda van der Kley, after doing a tour of the show home and factory a few weeks earlier.
Over the course of dinner it dawned on both of us that we could be seriously interested. Between us we have 30 years experience as entrepreneurs building our businesses in the tech education and women’s business coaching industries, and we were keen to apply our business building acumen to a totally different industry, and one where the company was already firmly established for over 50 years with a great reputation.
After so many startups, it appealed to us to tap into the expertise of an existing team, their excellent systems, marketing and processes, versus creating all that ourselves.
What really piqued my interest though, that’s Natalie here, was that I have been obsessed with real estate since a young age and since buying my first house at age 21, had gone on to invest in, buy, sell and renovate several homes and apartments in and around Wellington, Wairarapa, Gisborne and even Portugal.
I could talk property, beautiful homes and interior design all day. I could also get right behind the financials and investment deals to look for, and how to make the most of your property both from a long term perspective or for residual income through an extra dwelling.
Above: one of the Solid Timber show homes in Christchurch visited by Nat and Josh which helped them make up their mind to come onboard
Josh, a recent convert to enjoying properties after meeting me, was very interested in the entire ecosystem underpinning the housing market in New Zealand and loved the idea of getting behind a New Zealand company, using New Zealand products and materials, to build quality, healthy homes that were affordable, at a time when many Kiwis are being priced out of the market.
We really got behind Fraemohs purpose to provide sustainable timber building to protect the New Zealand environment and way of life, so that future generations of New Zealanders can enjoy life as we do.
We both also had dreams of developing around the area we lived in and helping others to live on their dream lifestyle property like we do, in the home they see as their forever home.
And with our young son Leonardo in our lives for just 6 months at the time, we also felt like this was time for a fresh start and a family business we could put our hearts and energy behind to transform the greater Wellington Region and build quality relationships with tradespeople and help make clients dreams come true.
Above: the EV used by Fraemohs Wellington which you might just see zipping around the place..
So here we are, bringing Fraemohs Homes to Wellington, Hutt Valley, Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa. Growing up in Wellington, I’m personally excited that Solid Timber homes by Fraemohs homes are earthquake proof too!
Follow us on our Facebook page and Instagram to come along on our journey and find out when we will have a show home built for you to come and visit. Or contact us here to share your dreamy plans with us.