We are most delighted to have the opportunity to write a review of our building experience with Winton Nicholson who was the general contractor for our 5,000 sq. ft. custom home nestled in between the Fairmont Orchid and Mauna Lani Hotels. It turned out that we were really lucky when we were ready to build our Hawaiian Dream Home at Pauoa Beach, though before meeting Winton we thought the opposite. It was 2006 and the real estate market everywhere, and especially on the Big Island, was going nuts. We would probably have to wait a year or more just to find an interested builder who could handle yet another new custom home-building project and pay double what we thought it would cost per square foot. Then our good friend, a builder himself, turned us on to Winton. He was young and we worried he might be too inexperienced, but we were so wrong. Winton met us at our one-acre lot with his heavy carpenter's belt secured around his waist running back and forth and up and down to mark off exactly where our buildable area sat on the lot. He had familiarized himself with the lot and the plans and wanted this job. His bid was attractive compared to some of the better-known custom home builders there but he turned out to be so capable that even our well-known architect, Lucky Bennett, called us to ask whether or not Winton had even started building as he hadn't heard a peep from him. We told Lucky that the house was well under way and all was fine but he was certainly welcome to go check it out. Lucky found the project to be orderly, clean, and found Winton to have no issues or questions. Lucky called us back to report such and expressed that he was very impressed with Nicholson's work. In fact, we never had to fly back and forth as most do to check on things as Winton never seemed to have questions or need assistance with anything. I think we only went four times altogether, and I know he would have finished the house in under a year were it not for a couple of unforeseen delays, both of which were caused by us, not Winton. And not only was he able to build a very complicated "Lucky house" without assistance, which was a feat we had heard for any good builder to be able to accomplish without some questions for Lucky or his draftsmen, but Winton even improved on it in so many ways, was amazingly fast and always kept within the budget. Even the closets were impressive. We had expected poles and a couple of shelves, but he created mahogany compartments and open shelves on three sides of every walk-in closet that rendered them beautifully finished without ever having closet plans or a "closet design company" involved. And they were all stained and ready for hangers and guests before we had a chance to even think about such details.
In addition, we had made a lot of changes to the plans Winton was given. We enlarged many of the originally smaller drawn windows, enlarged one of the guest bedrooms to accommodate two queens and a crib or two, eliminated all the one-step up and down features that Lucky liked but we didn't, we changed the master bath countless times until we finally decided to create an outdoor private garden with a soaking tub and outdoor shower. Our San Francisco interior designer had made some significant changes to the kitchen design as well as designed custom bathroom vanities in every bathroom, but Winton got everything perfect and his stone fabricators for all our French limestone (shipped from San Francisco) kitchen counters/island and bathroom vanities were absolutely beautifully fabricated and installed. They still look as good today. In fact, we have not had to redo or replace a single thing that Winton or his subs built or installed. He even found a retired antique tile roofing contractor on the island after we foolishly purchased old terra cotta roof tiles from a San Francisco distributor and shipped them to the site without thinking that there may not be anyone on-island who would know how to install them. There was not and we were about to go into contract with a California roofer at three times the price we had expected to pay, but somehow Winton put the word out and found a retired roofing contractor who had his own roofing business in the Bay Area and was very experienced in installing these specialized antique Italian tile roofs! He told Winton, "Sure, I'll do it." And he did an amazing job. That roof is still perfect and the most attractive feature of the exterior of the home.
We remain friends and in contact with Winton and his beautiful family. Winton went on to build the fabulous and very high-end Clubhouse at Kukio's newer annex development, he did the commercial TI build-out for Norio's Monstera Japanese Restaurant at the Shops at Mauna Lani and built some of the custom homes at Kukio and other fabulous gated enclaves along the Kohala Coast. We would definitely want him to build another home for us should the opportunity ever present itself. We think of Winton every time we arrive from the mainland and gaze at his magnificent creation. I don't think we can ever thank him enough for what he did for us.
Most sincerely, Joanne and Skip Cashin
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