THE construction of three brand new homes in Lami Heights, Suva by International Wise Property Developments soon is a stepping stone for the Australian-based company and a boost for the local economy in terms of increasing development and providing employment for locals.
Speaking to this newspaper, chief executive officer Grant Cullen said key staff at the company in Australia were expected to arrive in Fiji soon and work with locals on the construction processes.
"We will be taking on a lot of locals from two tertiary institutions. These students are learning the New Zealand and Australian building standards in theory and once they come out, they're not learning the practical side of it," he said.
"We'll take them onboard and put them with key people in our company so they can continue their skill development. We are not here to flood the country with Australian workers."
Company CEO Anil Mishra said their aim was to make dreams a reality and with a rigid process in place to ensure every home built was strong enough to withstand earthquakes and flooding, home owners could rest assured repayments were also less stressful.
"We estimate building 1000 homes a year but we want to increase that to 1500 to 2000 homes a year so you can imagine how many staff we'd need."
"For the home owners, they are required to look for their own piece of land. They come to us with a copy of their title and proof of ownership, pay an initial deposit and that engages our services," Mr Cullen added.
"Another feature of our homes is it's termite resistant. Biosecurity here tested our products last year. They took six samples of our house models and put it into a controlled environment with the aggressive termites in Fiji, and within three days, the termites were dead but the structures were untouched." Meanwhile, the company has set up a stage payment system that allows the lender to pay in four stages until the house is complete. They are located close to The Fiji Times office along Victoria Parade.