Vermilion Stone is an Auckland property developer. Almost a decade ago I left advertising, picked up the tools, and worked my way from labourer to developer — three completed townhouse developments, taken from bare dirt to handover. Along the way I built something more valuable than any single project: a network of trades I’d trust on my own home, a real understanding of what a build truly costs, and a way of running a job that expects problems before they happen. Now I bring that same standard to homeowners — not always a new house, often just more out of the one you already have.