About

Here you will find information on the two Forturo companies.

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Who are we

We are two family operated local businesses - Forturo Design and Forturo Build.

We employ only local trades people who have an intimate knowledge of the people and our community, trades people that have grown up and spent their working lives in this special and unique place we call home.

We operate the Forturo companies as two completely separate entities that can work independently of each other or together depending on our client's requirements. We offer the most comprehensive and flexible range of services within the entire Wellington region tailored directly to suit our client's needs.

Our fee structures are all fixed for peace of mind and every step of the construction process is explained fully and clearly to ensure you know exactly what you are committing yourself to when you decide to build.

What we do

In short everything. If you require a stand-alone design service or just a build service we can handle every aspect of your project. Alternatively we can provide a full design and build package taking full advantage of the level of knowledge and expertise our two companies have to offer.

We are in the unique position of being able to offer a full design and build or just design or just a build service. We work with other local building companies direct when a client wishes to use their own contractors - and we also work with other local Architects and designers when we are commissioned to build other peoples designs. This means that we have a very unique insight into the local scene and are able to reassure our clients that they are receiving the highest level of design and or build services available.

Our mission statement

Style represents a beautiful construction with a minimal use of materials.

Our aim

Our first aim is to take the confusion, fuss stress and worry out of building anything from a garden shed or deck to a multimillion dollar housing development. We will work with you and guide you through the maze that is the building industry, answer all your queries and work tirelessly to ensure you achieve everything you want and more.

But our aim for Forturo is not just to be the automatic choice for people when they start to think about building, but to also make ourselves available to everyone for free advise and information, links to other organisations, events in the area related to design - in short we aim to be your one stop shop for everything design and or build, a place where you can come along ask the craziest of questions and obtain solid, reliable and obligation free advise.

Charities we support

Here is a list of charities Forturo currently support:

History - Forturo Design

After completing his Architectural degree at Greenwich University in London England 1998, Simon Law along with co founder Salvatore Zaffuto formed the ambitious design house called Forturo Design. As with any good idea it was talked about for many months before being finally agreed upon in an old English pub in Convent Garden. The name forturo came (all be it with a change in the spelling), from the Italian word for future. Being fresh from university they wanted to try and push design ideas and the latest technology as far as they could but to implement them in a styled and controlled manner.

The pair were however fresh from university and although had a bag full of ideas had no real practical experience in running a business or perhaps even more importantly no clients. The pair quickly gained jobs with a leading medium sized Architectural firm in west London - AccentBDA associates as they are known today. This was a good move as they became the right hand men for the two principles of the practice Mr John Hummerston and Issy Specktor,  who between them had well over 80 years practical experience running their own firms. Issy in particular had grown his practice into a multi discipline firm employing hundreds of staff members before the stock market crash of the 1980's. For many years the pair learnt as much as they could from Issy and John and became extremely valuable members of the organisation, by the end having total freedom to win, design and run projects as they saw fit. "Entering competitions, visiting exhibitions, being part of the London and European Architectural scene and being introduced to the really big players was an extremely exciting, rewarding and fantastic period of time which is looked back upon with very fond memories."

The pair, however, never took their eye off their ultimate goal - to run their own successful Architectural firm.

During this voyage of discovery led by John and Issy the pair slowly but surely built up their own client base outside of the main practice - all done with the full knowledge and indeed blessing of John and Issy. They would see people after work in the evenings, before work in the mornings and at weekends. The practical knowledge learnt in the main office environment was used in the pair's private practice and the enthusiasm and drive that the pair both brought to the table was taken into the office - it was a great trade off which benefited everyone. But finally the decision was made that Simon and Salvatore would go for it, run their own practice full time.

The jump was actually a very small one as the pair had been now used to running all aspects of the business through the unbelievable help and advice gained from John and Issy. The client base very quickly grew and the level of projects rose considerably - through networking, hard work and an element of luck they now had even the Crown as one of there clients along with large advertising companies and residential developers. All of the local builders came to them first and a list of clients willing to wait for their services was as long as your arm. The buildings they were working on had an unbelievable range from foreign embassies next door to and opposite Princess Diana London residence off Hyde Park to a new basement conversion in a Chelsea townhouse. The success story was going well and the pair were achieving more than they ever thought possible in such a short period of time - but there was another big decision about to be made.

Simon had met wife Leanne during his many enjoyable years of study at Greenwich University and had been on the same roller coaster ride as Simon and Salvatore, they now had 3 young children and needed space and room to grow, space in their West London flat was short - it was now time to make a decision as to relocate in New Zealand which was always part of the plan at some stage for the lifestyle or to move to a larger house and a different part of town and put the move overseas off for a while. After the 4th holiday to New Zealand and many discussions with his Forturo Design partner Salvatore the decision was made to move to New Zealand.

In many ways the learning process started all over again (including having his 4th child), New Zealand construction methods needed to be learnt and the design philosophy was also very different. After taking a position with Stapleton Architects in Lower Hutt and entering the team at a rather low to mid range level he quickly rose up the ranks to become a valuable and senior member of the company. By the end he was running projects as his own, had staff members under him and worked on a huge variety of projects from small extensions to multimillion dollar new builds, shopping centres and schools. As with AccentBDA all those years before he now learnt everything he needed to know from people like Mark Young and Nigel Dong - the fact that he keeps in contact with everyone he has worked for and with is testimonial alone to his professionalism, straight forward and friendly way of doing business. As with AccentBDA before he worked on building up his own client base, again with full knowledge and support from Stapleton Architects, until after 3 years the time was right to once again go it alone.

Simon still keeps in regular contact and indeed still works with Salvatore (who is still running Forturo in London extremely successfully), as well as everyone from AccentBDA and Stapleton Architects - but his main concern is to grow the New Zealand branch of Forturo Design. To date this has gone extremely well and he continues to expand the business and provide a level of service not seen in this part of the region until now. His clients range from large corporate nationwide companies to the average house owner, from large $400,000 + size projects to a new garage and workshop. He is defiantly on the up and continues to buck the trend in these uncertain economic times, and he continues to give the personal treatment to each and everyone of his clients. With the recent introduction of the build company the range of services Forturo is now able to offer is limitless.

Who knows what the next 10 years will bring Forturo design but one is for sure - it will be an exciting and rewarding time.

History - Forturo Build

Formed in early 2008 the build company has entered into the construction industry at the beginning of a worldwide global recession. Despite this and some early administrative problems the build company is holding its own (unlike many other construction companies). The aim of the build company over the next 18 months to 2 years is to work on the systems and procedures that are back of house to any build company. If we can maintain the foundations of a good business in these uncertain times and see it through to the other end then the company will be in a fantastic position to take full advantage of the upturn and growth in the region we will no doubt encounter after each and every recession.

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