Over the past 15 years Francis and Teneaki Nawaia have moved house eight times… but now, thanks to CrestClean, they finally have a place to call their own.
The North Harbour franchisees are proud to have become the owners of a beautiful, brand new, four-bedroom home in Wellsford.
Originally from Kiribati, the couple moved to New Zealand in 2007 to build a new life for themselves and their eight children.
They purchased a CrestClean franchise in 2011 and, while profitable, they were unable to save for a home until recent years, as their main focus was on raising and educating their children.
“We had a lot of kids to support so we didn’t start saving for a home until about three years ago, when everybody had finished college and university,” says Francis.
Now they have a spacious, modern home that they enjoy filling with love, laughter and their eight grandchildren.
“It’s good to have our own house compared to shifting around all the time, which is quite a lot of work and costs a lot of money too,” says Francis.
“At Christmas and New Year, we had a lot of fun here. All our grandchildren love to come and stay here. They like our house because their houses are a bit older… sometimes we are overcrowded with grandchildren, so they all sleep in the lounge. It’s the island way!”
Francis and Teneaki are not the only ones in their family who are enjoying success through owning a CrestClean business.
“We call ourselves a CrestClean family because we have two daughters who have their own businesses with CrestClean and one of my nephews also, I introduced him to CrestClean, so there are four of us,” says Francis.
“My first daughter got a home before us, and my nephew has got his own house too.”
Francis says when they arrived in New Zealand they didn’t know if it would be possible to own their own home here.
“We had no idea if we could buy a house because the lifestyle is quite different. In Kiribati you have your own land, and you can build a house with whatever materials you like. Here it’s quite different, you can have a very nice, hygienic house.”
CrestClean’s North Harbour Regional Manager Neil Kumar congratulated Francis and Teneaki on their new home.
“They have been with CrestClean for 11 years and they are amazing people, very friendly and liked by all their customers,” says Neil.
‘This is a fantastic achievement and I’m very happy for them.”
