About
Our Story
Founded in 2007, HOBANZ (Home Owners and Buyers Association Inc.) evolved out of the experiences of its founding members and the realisation that the interests of home owners and residents are not being well served.
John Gray and Roger Levie who have experienced the ordeal of owning leaky homes have been the driving force behind this organisation since its inception. They were body corporate chairmen of their respective multi-unit complexes at the time that their homes were found to be suffering from major building defects. John and Roger each went on to manage the repair and claims processes on behalf of their owners. Once they had dusted themselves off from that experience, they set out to assist others and advocate for change in an effort to prevent the recurrence of this problem in the future.
As John’s profile grew as a spokesman for leaky home owners, so too did the number of owners approaching him for help in all sorts of unrelated areas. This highlighted the difficulties faced by New Zealanders and the immediate need for an organisation that could understand people’s concerns and represent their collective interests.
In 2006 John and Roger started Lighthouse NZ Limited to provide leaky home owners with guidance and support. At the same time they set about creating HOBANZ, a not-for-profit membership organisation focused on the education, support and protection of New Zealand’s home owners and residents.
HOBANZ was incorporated in 2007 and since then the team has worked hard to establish the relationships and infrastructure required to create a movement in the housing environment. Lighthouse NZ Limited continued to operate and provide a source of funds to assist in the establishment of HOBANZ until 2013 when it merged to become the service arm of HOBANZ as it develops into a leading social enterprise.
Independence from industry, government or private gain gives us the unique freedom to always act in the best interest of those we represent, and work for the common good of all citizens.
Since our inception, we have guided and supported hundreds of owners to restore the value and quality of homes affected by weathertightness problems. We are now building on these experiences to improve consumer knowledge and protection, raise standards throughout the building industry and to develop relationships and services that will benefit all New Zealanders.
At HOBANZ we recognise that ensuring better quality homes for the future requires a holistic approach; one that tackles the many aspects of home ownership and educates New Zealanders about best practice. We are building an ecosystem which connects individuals and organisations; enabling them to work together and create homes that are good for us, good for the environment and good for our communities.
Our Vision
We see a world where every New Zealander is better informed, more fairly treated and feels safe living in a well-built home.
The values that guide our behaviour are also core to the new environment we are part of creating:
Be Compassionate: demonstrate care for those around us by being generous with our time and our listening.
Act with Integrity: conduct our activities with integrity towards all stakeholders as it relates to independence, professionalism, transparency and ethics and also in terms of facilitating whole solutions.
Create Positive Impact: make a positive impact in the lives of New Zealanders through our actions.
Encourage Participation: ensure active engagement of our people, members, partners and the community.
Engage in Intelligent Practice: get actively involved and make things happen in a way that will achieve the best results.
To build a sustainable and ethical housing environment to enable every New Zealand family to have access to a safe and healthy home.
To provide sound independent information and guidance to educate and protect all those owning, buying and living in New Zealand homes.
To represent the interests of all New Zealanders in matters relating to the homes in which we live.
To initiate and participate in housing and community projects that aim to deliver healthy, sustainable and affordable living environments.
To promote the importance of a good home in the overall wellbeing of individuals, families and the wider community.
Provide value added services which generate surplus revenue that can be injected back into the community and the wider ecosystem.
Initiate and facilitate change through the creation of new frameworks that increase efficiency, reduce waste and improve standards and quality of outputs.
Collaborate with others to achieve our objectives based on an inclusive model.
Meet The Team
John Gray
As President and Co-founder, John takes pride in being part of an organisation that is seeking to set higher standards in all aspects related to home ownership.
In delving into the building industry through the failure of his own home, John was disturbed to find the lack of qualified, competent and caring people across a range of building related trades. He discovered the impact of this problem on New Zealanders through his involvement with the Leaky Homes Action Group (LHAG) which exposed the absence of an organisation dedicated to the protection of consumers in the housing market. This motivated John to partner with Roger Levie and develop HOBANZ in an effort to improve standards and provide home owners with cost effective, sound and independent advice.
John spends most of his days as an Airline Pilot, and invests his spare time working closely with Roger looking after the HOBANZ operation. His focus borne out of his knowledge and experience in the aviation industry is to build a system that celebrates all that is good within the housing industry and trains, supports and rewards individuals that work in them.
John brings a unique perspective to the development and resolution of claims. He was first exposed to the building industry and the pride and commitment of those men and women working in it through his father who was a registered electrician. The 20 years spent Chairing his own body corporate and the time spent working with home owners through HOBANZ has allowed him to amass significant knowledge in bodies corporate and dispute resolution.
John is passionate about improving the quality of New Zealand housing by generating trust and creating a greater sense of community. He enjoys being able to make a difference in people’s lives and is excited by the opportunity to build a significant social enterprise that will have a positive impact on all citizens.
When time permits, John enjoys cooking and entertaining at home or indulging in his hobbies of fishing, hunting, snow skiing, movies, motorsports and recreational flying. Most of all, John loves being with his family and supporting his little boys as they grow up.
John’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: “That home ownership is within the reach of the average New Zealander, and that the quality of the homes in which New Zealanders live are durable, safe and built sustainably, and that the lived in environment is healthy.”
Roger Levie
As a founding member and resident Chief Executive, Roger found his calling in HOBANZ. With a background in marketing and management as well as his own leaky home story, Roger brings rich experience to his role. Before HOBANZ, he spent 15 years in sales and marketing in the computer industry both in New Zealand and overseas, after which he set up a nutritional supplement business which he later sold.
Roger met John Gray when he was chairman of a body corporate with leaky building problems, and together they set about creating HOBANZ to protect and advise home owners and challenge the building industry to improve service and standards.
Roger has invested a huge amount of time to get HOBANZ to where it is today and to develop ideas, build relationships and understand systems so the organisation can grow in size and strength. Roger is a generalist and practical thinker; he likes dealing with strategy but is just as comfortable in the detail getting his hands dirty. His vision is to create an organisation that does good and is there to support people when they need it. But he does not want to do it alone – the model for HOBANZ is strongly focused on partnerships with like minded individuals and organisations working together in what he refers to as a ‘social enterprise consortium’.
His inspiration: his father who escaped persecution in Europe during the Second World War and worked hard to provide for his family and ensure that they had a safe place to call home. This fuels Roger’s passion to fight for the underdog and to ensure Kiwis and their families feel safe and secure in their homes.
When not at HOBANZ, Roger loves to sail, run in the forest or enjoy the surrounds of a good café with friends. In addition to running an organisation that challenges and rewards him, Roger has coached triathletes; completed 14 Ironmans including races in Hawaii, France, Canada and Australia; done more marathons than he cares to remember and stretched out to a few ultra-marathons.
Roger’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: “Healthy and secure homes for all.”
Fraser Hall
Fraser found employment with HOBANZ after his own experience with a leaky home and can relate to the concerns, stress and hardship faced by many of his clients. With 15 years of experience in account management in New Zealand and the UK, Fraser specialises in customers and relationship building. Through his work at HOBANZ, Fraser enjoys doing something that actually makes a difference to people’s lives and this inspires him to keep on giving.
A proud Scotsman and bit of an athlete, Fraser has a keen interest in football and is an avid supporter of his team from back home - Falkirk FC. He is passionate about his friends and family and can be found at the movies, eating out or indulging in the occasional bit of travel in his spare time.
Fraser’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: “NZ needs to live up to its clean green image and build more sustainably. We need to treat our houses more like our cars, most car buyers get a pre-purchase inspection on their car but most home owners don’t. We need to adopt a regime of regular maintenance for our homes.”
Alan Nicol
Alan recently arrived from South Africa with his wife and three children. Their first rental experience involved a cold and damp house with wet mouldy ceilings and sick kids. Fortunately their second property was built to code, properly maintained and exposed to lots of sunshine. Alan and his family have come to love the quality of life that New Zealand so generously provides.
Over the past 10 years Alan has project managed numerous business and IT initiatives for telecommunications, banking, finance, and insurance companies in South Africa. One of his personal projects included demolishing and rebuilding (to code) their home in Johannesburg.
When he met the team and saw the value they added to people’s lives, he felt compelled to join the not-for-profit association and contribute to the good work HOBANZ undertakes.
Alan’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: "To help New Zealanders who are impacted by the weather tightness, building, and property market issues by advocating sustainable and positive change in NZ.”
Deb Shaw
A proud Mum to two beautiful daughters, Deb specialises in managing offices and people. She started her career as a primary school teacher and moved into the world of law as a practice manager of law firms in Auckland and Sydney. After taking some time off to start a family, Deb returned to work as Office Manager here at HOBANZ where she can be found keeping the team in check. Deb is inspired by the passion and commitment that Roger and John bring to the organisation everyday, and is excited to be part of a team that strives to make a difference in people’s lives.
When not in the office Deb can be found spending time with her family and friends and getting out of Auckland to explore the country wherever the surf is good. She is passionate about bringing her girls up to be great women who care about the environment and the people who live in it.
Deb’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: “I’d love everyone to be in a safe, sound home.”
Toni Walker
Prior to joining the HOBANZ team Toni was self-employed. She has spent the last 14 years working in the construction industry as a Project Manager on new builds, building extensions and upgrades. Toni has worked on both the client side and the contractor side giving her good all around knowledge and understanding of the New Zealand commercial construction industry.
She has joined HOBANZ hoping to make a difference. We have people today dealing with mistakes the building industry made over 15 years ago and she would like to help ensure her grandchildren are able to buy their first home in 30 years time without fear of wondering if they are making a mistake.
Outside of work she believes in squeezing in as much as she can out of life with her motto being, “There are 24hrs in the day, use them as you want”.
Toni’s vision for housing in New Zealand: “The continued development of our cities is important in supporting the development of the country. This is done in part by creating living environments that people are proud to be a part of and proud to live in.”
Sandre Nicol
Sandré and her family relocated to New Zealand at the beginning of 2014. The family of five loves traveling and are excited about the beauty and magnificence that the country has to offer and the many local places to visit, see and experience.
With 13 years of Key Account Management experience in the Telecommunications and Insurance industries in South Africa, Sandré enjoys relationship building and growing businesses. Seeing the value that HOBANZ adds to so many people’s lives who experience leaky or defective home problems inspires her to be involved in finding solutions and opportunities in this not-for-profit association.
When not at the office, she enjoys reading, photography, a bit of scuba diving and spending time with her husband and children.
Sandré’s vision for housing in New Zealand: “It should not be a privilege of the fortunate, but a basic right to a healthy, safe home for all children to flourish and grow.”
Catherine Mason
With a career that spans across land and sea, Catherine brings a unique set of skills to the HOBANZ team. She started her working life before the mast with the Spirit of Adventure Trust and went on to sail the world as a Navigator on container ships until she earned her Foreign-Going Master’s certificate. She returned to the shores of Auckland to start a family and completed her BA/LLB (hons) whilst having her three children.
Equipped with strong analytical and problem solving skills; Catherine enjoys making sense of complex situations and understanding the legal issues at the core of people’s struggles. Through her work with HOBANZ, she is eager to help people in difficult situations find solutions to life-changing problems.
Catherine enjoys having family adventures and loves finding new places to explore by bike or boat. In the summer, she can be found yacht racing in the Women’s series or cruising on their catamaran; whilst the slopes of Mt.Ruapehu keep her family occupied in the colder months.
Catherine’s big vision for housing in New Zealand: “I think everyone deserves to live in a warm, dry and safe house. Our cities would be more vibrant with higher densities in the centres but only if the design and building is high quality and puts people at the centre of the equation.”
Bevan Tse
Originally from Hong Kong, Bevan migrated to New Zealand with his family at a young age back in 1999. Bevan attained his Architectural degree from the University of Auckland in 2008 but due to the global financial crisis, his Architectural career was forced to a halt.
He quickly sought a different career option and has worked in the customer service and administration fields for the past seven years. Bevan was working in the public sector as a government officer prior to joining HOBANZ. His passion for the building industry and ability to think logically is the main driving force behind his union with HOBANZ.
During his off time you can expect to see Bevan busy pampering his 18 months daughter. He also enjoys watching sports, namely rugby, cricket, and the NBA.
Bevan’s vision for housing in New Zealand: “Buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption globally and we as users spend around 80%-90% of our time inside buildings. So it should be logical for us to expect buildings to be safe, efficient, and sustainable as we spend most of our time in them.”
Greer Harding
Greer is driven by her interest in ethical business practices and in the politics of social equality and environmental sustainability. Her background is in the development and management of innovative businesses, ranging from a hospitality based loyalty programme, to Importing and Distribution, to co-founding a Strategic HR consultancy. She has a degree in Political Science, and a Master’s degree in International Relations and World Affairs.
Greer first became passionate about the building industry when she had her first home designed and built in 2005. As a consequence of that experience, she spent several years researching and designing a business called Trilogy SmartHomes which she launched in 2008 in Whanganui. The name of the business represents its three key areas of focus: energy efficiency, thermal performance, and sustainability. After some years of managing Trilogy SmartHomes, Greer moved to Auckland and discovered HOBANZ. She found that she resonated deeply with the values and goals of the organisation, so she gladly took up the role of developing and managing our Project Office.
From her years of managing residential construction projects, Greer brings with her a solid understanding of how to design and build quality homes that have a high level of performance. She is keenly aware of the systemic problems that are prevalent within the construction industry, and the many opportunities that exist for massive improvement. Since her appointment with HOBANZ, she has also amassed significant knowledge of the issues and solutions that exist around leaky and defective homes. In this immensely stressful situation, Greer finds it deeply fulfilling to be able to help people through a well thought through, cost effect repair process that will leave them in the best position possible.
When she is not working, Greer enjoys relaxing with her partner, friends, and two beautiful dogs. She loves nature, music, and appreciates good food and wine.
Greer's big vision for housing in New Zealand: "To cause a positive disruptive force that will lead to the transformation of the residential design and build industry, enabling it to take a quantum leap forward in professionalism and management capability, and in the sustainability, quality, and performance of NZ homes."
Governance
John Hagen
