Great things can be accomplished when craftsman building skills combine with skylight installation experience and an understanding of what home buyers want.

Andre Papprill is a master builder with more than 20 years' experience building homes in New Zealand. He operates a residential building company specialising in high-end architectural builds and achieved a Gold award at the 2018 Master Builders Home of the Year competition.

Sunshine, natural light and effective ventilation are always high on every home buyer’s wish list. But buyers also want privacy from the neighbours — something that’s not easy to achieve in a level subdivision.

Andre’s new show home in New Plymouth features a total of 18 skylights installed where eight of them are solar powered, so they can be opened to ease heat gain in summer. “Enhancing features of the home using natural daylight was a key part of our strategy,” Andre explains.

The living room features eight skylights across its ceiling, “When people walk up the stairs to the lounge, they’re like ‘wow, look at this!’ The light you get in here, the mood and the sensation of space, it just feels fantastic,” he adds.

In the bedroom, the skylights are installed over the bed creating a space where “you can watch the stars at night, before you go to sleep”, then close the blinds so the sun doesn't wake you up in the morning.