29/10/2026
Meet Mike and Kristina, two of the faces behind McBrimar.
Mike started McBrimar back in 2014. He was hunting for a house and came across a plot of untouched land in Oamaru. McBrimar began with Mike, his dad Brian and family friend Mark, which is where the name comes from: Mc for Mike, Bri for Brian, Mar for Mark.
Kristina’s part of the story starts at Scott’s Brewery, where she met Mike while she was down from Auckland for a wedding. This was back in the days of bachelor Mike, commuting between Oamaru and Auckland. A couple of weekends later they ended up at another wedding together, and that was that.
Not long after, Mike took on a second job in Auckland to help fund the Waiareka Park subdivision. Two jobs, two ends of the country, one very busy man.
As things got serious, they had a decision to make: wind McBrimar up and build a life in Auckland, or move south and give McBrimar and Oamaru a proper shot.
You can guess how that went. Kristina still reckons Mike was a bit cunning about it. He got her involved in designing the first show home, then offered for them to live in it. Hard to say no to that, and it worked: these days she’s part of the McBrimar team.
The show home is where they brought their first baby, Austin, home to, and they loved it so much they’re now designing their forever home from the same plan, with a few tweaks for lifestyle block living, starting with a mudroom.
Today McBrimar is a Registered Master Builder with a growing local team, building around 20 homes a year. The goal hasn’t changed since day one: great homes, stress free.
Turns out giving it a proper shot was the right call.
