Master Builder Vanuatu – Vanuatu Homes delivers custom designs by qualified builders.
We are a full service project development company putting together custom-built homes in Vanuatu and organising all the ancillary needs, including permits for building and construction. We plan, source, and build homes for a range of applications, from residential to commercial and every island building option in-between using our team of well-trained master builders here in Vanuatu. Our main focus is architectural design, importing and sales of building materials and project management but we provide support for our clients in the following areas:
- General governmental regulations: investment in Vanuatu, establishing residency, moving to Vanuatu, duty exemptions (personal and project specific) and more
- Starting a Business: company structure, VIPA approval, business license, VAT registration and reporting, superannuation registration and reporting, labour law compliance and more
- Project Development: business plan development, property issues, financial projections, conceptual visualisations, executive summary, market analysis, building permit applications, utilities planning and service establishment as well as sub-contractor evaluations
- Renovation and repair – using our qualified and experienced builders to bring units up to standard. For example, many dwellings now need to be hurricane-proofed following Cyclone Pam.
Fixed Price Contracts
At Vanuatu Homes, we mostly deliver fixed price contracts carried out by qualified builders. We also arrange engineering, cyclone, and earthquake integrity certification, simple payment schedules and we project manage the whole job. All in all, we work with you to realise your dream of a Pacific Island getaway.
Building in Paradise, Made Easy
Vanuatu Homes makes it easy to establish a home in Vanuatu by offering:
- Architectural design working within the superior earthquake and cyclone-proof standards of Queensland and New Zealand
- Designing structures in consultation with Harold Qualao, Consultant, of Port Vila
- Offering quantity surveying
- Landscape design options for clients
- Consultation to help clients with Vanuatu Investment Promotion Authority(VIPA) approvals, residency and banking
- We offer project management, turnkey completed homes, and everything in between. We get homes built conscientiously with regular site visits and building inspections to ensure the project is being built in accordance with warranties and specifications. We’re dedicated to delivering clients peace of mind.
- We select reliable subcontractors and go out of our way to help you get your appliances installed expertly
- The proof of our pudding came in March 2015, when all of our fully constructed homes survived the category 5+ Cyclone Cyclone Pam, which packed winds of over 350km/hr
- We offer fixed price contracts with only a few provisional cost items like earthworks, plus simple and easy to understand payments at specific milestones
- If you as a client are overseas, we’ll constantly update you with photos, notes, teleconferences and whatever else it takes to prove your Vanuatu Home is built to last.
Renovate or Modernise
At Vanuatu Homes, we help our clients to renovate or modernise their home at the best possible rates, delivering renovations which will last for decades in the Vanuatu climate. Our design options range from one room units to multi-room resort complexes.
About Vanuatu Homes director Stewart McEwen
Stu McEwen was born and raised in Masterton, near Wellington, New Zealand. Stu worked for an architect draughting residential and small commercial building designs after graduating high school then studied architecture. He then moved into commercial and high rise draughting and structural design, before teaching woodwork, graphics and technical drawing in high school. In 2000, Stu went out on his own as an architectural designer.
Stu began visiting Vanuatu in 2005 at the request of the Vanuatu Teachers Union and established what was then known Vanua Disaen Ltd with Doug Bailey. Doug had already been in Vanuatu for years, managing projects such as Emua Wharf, Kakula Island project and Tamanu on the Beach.
The National Bank of Vanuatu was an early client of Stu and Doug’s building services, as Vanuatu’s government appreciated the ease of working with fixed price contracts.
Stu became a resident of the Republic of Vanuatu in April 2007 and continued to develop Vanua Disaen, offering architectural design, project management and building material procurement services.
The company now known as Vanuatu Homes now employs Ni-Vanautu locals full time, has upskilled four local building companies and enjoys a reputation for environmental innovation.
In his spare time, Stu enjoys playing music in bands in NZ and Vanuatu, organising live jams, fundraising for charities including Promedical Vanuatu, the Women’s Refuge Centre and Vanuatu’s beach volleyball team. It’s a lifestyle devoted to work and community which truly captures the spirit of Vanuatu Homes: living in paradise, made easy.
