DCD

Dennis Dowling – Founding Director 

A family man with two teenage boys, Dennis knows from personal experience the benefits of having a house that is warm and ‘works’ – and how important the small details can be (ask his wife). Dennis’ career has spanned more than 20 years across six different countries, working in the forefront of the building and construction industry. His extensive experience includes:

• Working in remote international locations constructing everything from roads, drainage systems and fresh water wells to nursing homes and schools.
• Overseeing the completion of more than $200M of remedial, seismic retrofit and new build works internationally, including multi-unit residential apartments, hospitals, retail centres and high-rise office buildings
• Overseeing the completion of more than $35M of remedial and seismic retrofit work in New Zealand, often in fully or partially occupied buildings while capital works projects were carried out
• Serving as a construction methodology expert witness for leaky building mediation
• Assisting the Ministry of Education in reviewing their construction standard
• Providing advice to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
• Speaking at industry professional body forums and maintaining strong ties with experts across the construction industry, including the South Pacific Passive House Conference 2019.
• Lecturing at Unitec 

With valuable experience across a variety of commercial, residential and remedial builds, it is Dennis’ passion for building beautiful, high-performing homes that motivated him to relocate to the stunning backdrop that is Central Otago.

DCD. Craftsmanship without Compromise.

We’re forging an outstanding reputation as being the innovative leaders in building New Zealand's most beautiful homes that perform to or near Passive House level.

We have a deep connection with our clients and the homes we design and build. Every DCD home is delivered with the same passion: integrity without exception; craftsmanship without compromise.

Our expert team ensures our innovative designs and energy efficient systems make your home not only beautiful, but comfortable all year round.

The distinctive benefits of building with a premier, boutique-style company with an expertise like ours are many, including:

• Expert advice to empower decision-making that results in the best performing home that meets the client's brief
• Clear and consistent communication (with unlimited remote access to progress reports)
• Integrity and transparency at every stage 
• Exceptional post-construction service
• Certification, Passive House, NZGBC Homestar Rating

Expertly crafted, the bespoke homes we build exceed expectations in both workmanship and performance. 

DCD are experts in retrofitting existing homes to benefit from thermally-efficient design and methodology, as well as remediating moisture issues.

Dennis served as expert witness in leaky building remediation in Auckland for seven years.  Our solid background in leaky building repair means we can provide you with the best possible solution, and weather-tight construction, for your building repair project.

We have the knowledge and experience you need.

With a history of navigating a range of 8-200 unit body corporates through the complexities of the claim, investigation and repair process, we also offer body corporates assistance in achieving consensus.

Certification - Passive House and/or Homestar

Building a warm house comes with endless benefits, including better comfort, health, and lower running and maintenance costs.

Proving that a home has met the performance standards it intended to at design stage comes with a host of additional benefits, including providing independent buyer assurance and increased returns on the property market.

The greatest incentive to certify is to ensure that the outcome of the construction process fulfills the scope of the brief to build a drier, warmer, healthier home.

Passive House offers a stringent option based strictly on building science that will ensure thermal modelling at the design stage dictates how the home is built and how it will perform.  DCD is the builder of choice in the Queenstown area for Passive House certified architects as we have the knowledge, craftsmanship and ability to collaborate to guarantee a successful outcome.

Homestar is the New Zealand Green Building Council tool for assessing the energy-efficiency and sustainability of a new home.  Taking a more comprehensive approach, Homestar offers flexibility through a rating system ranging from 6 to 10 Stars.  DCD has a Homestar Assessor, avialable to complete Design or Built assessments, which can also be used to complement Passive House.