 Welcome back, it's time for one more on our afternoon express where our three design contestants are each creating a beautiful apartment on the Valdivia state and they are working closely with Caesar Stone. Now Sangengalo is the fabrication company that the contestants are using to create their Caesar Stone designs and also responsible for fabricating and installing the entire polo village on the Valdivia where their apartments are located. Today we have the owner Neville Owen to tell us more about this wonderful product and what exactly they do at Sangengalo and how they have been working with our contestants in this contest. Welcome to our loft. Thank you so much. Neville it's so good to have you here because our contestants are working so hard and I think it's time for us to give them a bit of a break in terms of design because they're working on this guest bedroom, lots of things to get done, how have they used Caesar Stone in their rooms? One of the first items that we manufactured for them was a bench which is quite a chunky bench. We created it out of 20mm Caesar Stone. The colour we used was raw concrete and we mitered it up to 40mm to create the look of a chunky bench. That was one of the first items that we manufactured for the designers for the guest bedroom. I thought that was someone who used it as a headboard, how do you use Caesar Stone as a headboard? Explain that. That was a first for us but what we did was again we mitered the 20mm material up to 40mm and we created a headboard and it had an integrated bookshelf above the headboard with the Caesar Stone behind the books and it came out pretty well. It's so cool to see them experimenting so much because our viewers are very excited about the contest because they're going to win one of these homes and know that the fabrications that are inside then all the finishes are going to be theirs at some point. So it is exciting for them and I'm sure you must be excited working with Caesar Stone because it's such a versatile product isn't it? Yeah. So Caesar Stone is a versatile product. I think one of the key factors for me is the stability of the product versus natural products. So Caesar Stone is a product consisting of 93% quartz powder, 7% resin. So when our artisans are working with it, it's a stable product and they actually enjoy what they're doing as they work with it. So we can cut, shape, polish, miter and they do it with confidence. So you mentioned a few things about what fabrication means and excuse my ignorance but fabrication, what exactly does that entail? What we do is we take a slab, so Caesar Stone comes in a slab format about three metres by 1.4, by either 20 or 30 millimetres thick. We go out to the site, we take templates with a three millimetre masonite, comes back to the factory and we cut those slabs up into the different components if you like of the item that's being built. Viewers might be watching now and wondering what is the importance of Caesar Stone in my life and sort of quartz. It's quite an interesting topic to talk about because when I went behind the scenes and learned more about the product, it is incredible. You mentioned how versatile it is but what is so great about quartz and what exactly is quartz and why do we use it? Quartz is the basic component of Caesar Stone. As I say, it's 93% of the stone and what you can do with it then is it creates a stable slab that can be any colour. So you can have pure white, you can have pretty much anything. A lot of these slabs look like marbles which is a fairly new development, it looks good so that you can have the versatility and the appearance of a marble but with the durability of the Caesar Stone. You get it in different finishes so for many years it just was a polished upper surface. Now you can have it with a matte appearance or with a textured appearance which really appeals to the designers. Sure, it's obviously not your first time working in Waldewie. I mean, that estate is absolutely beautiful and everyone's very excited to work on it and to own a house on the estate. Would you have a longer standing relationship with the Polo Village? What was the relationship between your company and Waldewie's Polo Village? In terms of Polo Village, we went in at right from the outset. We engaged with the principal agents together with Caesar Stone and it's been a privilege with us in terms of getting to know their estate and the stature that they have as a residential estate in Africa. I was put on the spot because our contestants have all seen you and they've all thought about how they're going to use these products in their apartments and they're working on that guest bedroom at the moment. Out of what you've seen in terms of creative design, working in fabrication, doing something different, who's got the upper hand? That's a tough one and I wouldn't like to make a poll at the stage. To be honest, I think that the stuff that we're fabricating right now for them is very exciting and again, our auditions are enjoying what they're doing so I think we see there's a lot more to come. OK, so we've seen cutting edge apartments being made, basically. Absolutely. Sure, it's absolutely fascinating. Neville, thanks so much for joining us in the loft. It's an absolute honour to have you with us on Afternoon Express. I think this competition's going to be so exciting. Like I said, a viewer's going to get to win one of those apartments and whichever one you've installed the best goods in, is what they're going to want to win. So thanks for joining us on the show today. Thank you. Guys, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for us to find out what more we have on Afternoon Express and particularly with Winner Home. Exactly. And we can't wait to see what our three contestants do with Caesarstone's beautiful products. Remember, entries for Caesarstone's Kitchen of the Year 2016 are now open. Now, if you have a beautifully designed kitchen which incorporates Caesarstone that was installed any time between the 1st of January 2015 and the 31st of July this year, this can be your opportunity to win big. Simply log on to Caesarstone.co.da where you can enter and find more details as well as the teas and teas. So let's get back to the couch with Danilo. Now, when it comes to selling a home, additional features and details can make all the difference. And so often it's true that you are in fact selling a room. An extra room in the house can easily be utilized as a home office, a workspace, a nursery, or a space for a bedroom for family and friends. So here to give us his expert advice is private property CEO and Winner Home judge, Simon Bray. We're spending a lot of time together and I'm looking forward to learning some things more about this guest bedroom. Welcome. Thank you, Danilo. Thank you, yeah. Okay, so Simon, let's first begin with this idea of a spare room in a house. Is it something that actually adds value to a property when it's being sold or bought? Absolutely. I mean, I think, you know, you've done a property search. We've all done a property search. You often start with a few key criteria in mind, right? You've got your price point in mind. You've got the size of the house in mind. And room counts is how people justify house size. So, you know, we've been doing some pretty fun data modeling of private property, just trying to understand from a global perspective what really influences asking price and what doesn't. And room counts, the number of rooms in a house is certainly one of the most statistically relevant elements when it comes to the asking price and what affects it. I can imagine. So, our contestants at the moment are working hard on that guest bedroom and a lot of them have their mind stuck in this idea that it needs to have a bed in it. But that spare room, does it add extra value, whether it's a bedroom or whether it's an office or whether it's anything else like a nursery? What is the one that adds the most value to selling a property? Well, I think what's interesting about this particular apartment and where it's positioned, you know, it's out of town. You're talking about buyers or owners that are probably going to be working from home, at least a couple of days of the week. So, a home office makes a lot of sense for that space. But why can't you have both, you know? If you do have a guest from out of town, why can't that office that you use double as a bedroom for your guest? Indeed. Last time we spoke to you about this, you said that there needs to be the sort of Swiss army knife of rooms. It needs to be versatile for anything, for any type of guest that wants to come and stay. But besides that kind of advice, what other advice do you have for our contestants who are preparing that guest bedroom as we speak? Well, I think what's critical about this room is it's the first room. It's easy to overlook it. It's easy to think, OK, this is just the opening solver. We'll walk past it. But this is probably going to be the difference when you get to the end. You know, everyone kind of thinks of the big rooms, but it's doing something clever with a multi-purpose room like this that really proves design and design talent. Anyone could put a bed in a room, but it's the one who's got that keen, focused eye who's doing the detail that I think will top them in this competition. Absolutely. And I think there's the opportunity in a room like this to think about the European trends around space-saving and small spaces and conceptual furniture ideas. All of that fits nicely with a room like this. Sure. Speaking of which, presentation is key when it comes to one of these spaces. How do you go about presenting a room in a way that's going to make it valuable to sell? First impressions are anything. I mean, you think of a website like Private Property, it's effectively a dating website for your property. You know, people pass past yours so quickly. It's really important to stand out. And 1600-odd listings come into Private Property every single day. So if yours isn't punchy, if it doesn't have something fresh and innovative to offer, then it can easily get lost in the noise. Oh, I see. So obviously, speaking about the way that... Obviously, I'm interested in is the idea of selling a house and making sure that it's an investment piece. And a lot of people are moving towards a property market and are looking at that. Spaces are limited at the moment. So when is it an ideal time? Or is it ever an ideal time to turn your house into an extra bedroom to break down walls in the garage and turn that into another room? When do we make that call? Well, I think that's the great thing about design. You know, good design unlocks the potential and maximises the value of a property. So if you've got a house and you've got an area that you think could be a great additional room, get a good quality designer in, have a look, see what you can do, and I absolutely think it could add value to your own home. Sure. So we've spoken a lot about the sort of buying, selling investment pieces. But a lot of people are in that renting market. How does a spare bedroom or a guest bedroom affect rentals from the sort of less see and the less source perspective? Well, I mean, South Africa has traditionally been a buy first market, but we're certainly moving into this time where rentals are far more popular than buying, mainly just because it's too expensive to buy and own your own home these days. So additional spaces unlocking the potential of a home can elevate your property's potential with potential tenants. And ultimately, you need the best tenants to maximise your investment. So certainly a design like this is important. Sure. So these contestants actually got a lot to put to work here because their guest bedroom seems to be one of the most popular rooms in the house and it's going to add a lot of value to the resale of that property. It's going to add to the aesthetics of the property. It's going to add to the versatility of the property itself. No pressure. Ultimately, it could be the difference between all of the apartments. So I'm looking forward to see what the guys produce. Private property.co.z offers a world of options at your fingertips when it comes to finding the perfect home for you, situated in the neighbourhood that fits your needs. While visiting the site, you can also enter the standard chance of winning an apartment on the Valdivia State by simply answering an easy question. Ah, Danilo, such a little ninja. That's right. This week's question is, what is your favourite guest bedroom? By casting your vote, you stand at a chance to win paint from Plaskon to the value of 5,000 round. You will also be automatically entered into the grand prize draw where you could win an apartment at Valdivia, valued at over 3 million round. So keep your eyes on Afternoon Express every weekday as our three design contestants gradually transform three properties at Valdivia State using finishes provided by Ceasar Stone and Plaskon. Now, Winner Home is proudly brought to you by Private Property in association with Nedbank.