James Turnbull has had a passion for building and design since college.

Starting with an in school work experience in building and overseas schooling experiences in design, he knew this was the path he was going to take in life.

After school, James moved to the heritage rich Wellington, in hopes of pursuing his love of building. He found a full time day job and volunteered any spare hours he had to gaining worksite experience. Volunteer work led into a long awaited, hands on building apprenticeship.

James did years of commercial building, working on student accommodations, police buildings and by far his favourite: working on old heritage buildings, such as churches and Mount Vic school.

He moved to residential building for further experience, finding his true passion in the building industry. James loves that residential building and renovation was thought inducing, every job required a unique approach and problem solving. He enjoyed renovating a space into something new, while still maintaining its original aesthetic. He appreciates the balance between old and new and making it look seamless.

After working in commercial, residential building and gaining his qualifications, James decided it was time to move on from being a sole trader, into being a business owner. Turnbuilding was established in 2020 and has been going strong ever since.
Turnbuiling has allowed James to expand his knowledge, skillset and experience as a Carpenter.

James takes pride in the professional relationships formed in the building industry. Working with other trades, suppliers, industry representatives and most importantly, clients is a valued part of his work process. Maintaining professional relationships and seeing repeat business is a mark of success.

James is a BCITO qualified Carpenter, as well a Licensed Building Practitioner. He proudly holds these qualifications as an industry standard to maintain and uphold the highest level of work. These standards are reviewed and assessed annually for James to continue to keep his title of LBP (Licensed Building Practitioner).