For Architects and Designers
Most of what Marchand does happens before a board is sold: reading plans, answering detailing questions, sending samples, and writing the specification clause so the floor that is drawn is the floor that arrives. This page sets out what an architect, designer or builder can expect from us, and where to find each thing.
Specification
Marchand is a Masterspec Product Partner with our own branded work section, with product data flowing from miproducts. Search Marchand inside Masterspec and the clause is there and current; we will review a draft section against your project before it goes out, and supply a written specification clause where a project is not in Masterspec. The full specification is published as a page, and every test result behind it (slip, fire, moisture, VOC, acoustic, formaldehyde) is on Specification and Compliance, in full rather than in summary.
Fire performance
The flooring has a critical radiant flux of 5.0 kW/m², tested by CSIRO, which sits above both Building Code floor thresholds with the factory lacquer alone. The 12mm wall and ceiling board is Group 3 as supplied and achieves Group 1-S with FireZone 92, applied by an approved applicator. The fire performance page sets out the evidence and includes specification wording you can use directly.
Documents
Everything is on the Resources page: installation guide, underfloor heating declaration, warranty, care guide, the NZBC E3 alternative solution, the CSIRO fire report and the independent slip and VOC tests. Section details for the floor build-up, thresholds and stair nosings are supplied on request; tell us the substrate and the adjoining finishes and we will send what you need.
Plans and quantities
Send us the floor plans or sqm and we will return a take-off: the flooring area, the wall and ceiling board area where those are drawn, waste allowance, pack counts and stair treads. We read plans daily and can usually turn one round within a working day. It is the fastest way to move from a concept to a number.
Samples
Samples are free and unlimited, sent anywhere in New Zealand. Ask for the colours you are considering and the wall and ceiling board alongside them; the same oak and lacquer runs across floor, wall, ceiling and stair, which is what makes a cohesive timber interior straightforward to specify. Coated samples of the Group 1-S wall board are available on request.
Studios and consultations
Our Christchurch, Queenstown and Auckland studios hold the full range laid on the floor, so a client can walk on it and see it in daylight. Design consultations are for the decisions that will not settle: colour against joinery and stone, board direction, where the floor meets the stair. We are happy to sit in on a client meeting.
Detailing
The questions we are asked most, and answer most gladly: floor build-ups over concrete and over timber; thresholds at bathrooms and entries; brass and metal transition bars between oak and tile or carpet; board direction through open-plan spaces; stair treads, nosings and wraps; and wall and ceiling boards set out against the floor. We would rather answer these at drawing stage than on site.
During construction
We recommend installers we trust across NZ, supply the installation guide to the site, and answer moisture, acclimatisation and underfloor heating questions as they arise. If conditions on site are in doubt, we will say so before the floor goes down rather than after.
Credits
Completed work with the architect credited is on our Projects page. If you would like a project photographed and published, with the practice named, tell us.
Frequently asked questions
Is Marchand in Masterspec?
Yes. Marchand is a Masterspec Product Partner with its own branded work section, with product data from miproducts.
Can Marchand oak be used where a Group 1-S lining is required?
Yes. The 12mm wall and ceiling board achieves Group 1-S with FireZone 92, applied by an approved applicator. See fire performance.
Can Marchand supply CAD details?
Section details for the floor build-up, thresholds and stair nosings are supplied on request for the substrate and finishes on your project.
Will Marchand do a take-off from plans?
Yes. Send the floor plans and we return area, waste, pack counts and stair quantities, usually within a working day.
Are samples free for architects?
Yes, free and unlimited, sent anywhere in New Zealand.
Does Marchand help with detailing?
Yes: build-ups, thresholds, transition bars, board direction, stairs and wall and ceiling set-out, at drawing stage.
Where can a client see the floor?
Studios in Christchurch, Queenstown and Auckland, with the full range laid on the floor.
Get in touch
Contact us with the project name and what you need, or book a design consultation.
Last reviewed September 2026.
For specifiers
Your scheme. Our samples. One box.
The same service, briefed from a desk rather than ordered from a product page, and at no charge to the practice. We enable the scheme you have in mind; we do not replace it.
Architects
When one architect saw the service before launch, the reaction was about time: the hours their junior designers spend each week driving around town matching veneer, carpet and cladding samples to a floor for a client, then doing it again when the client changes their mind. Brief us once and that round happens in our studio instead.
Interior designers
The scheme is yours. You set the palette and the direction; we hold the samples. Send us the floor and the finishes you have already chosen, and we match the tones you are still deciding from what we hold, coordinated to the oak, and send it as one box under your name. We do not put forward a scheme of our own unless you ask us to.
Builders and developers
One box for the selections meeting: floor, wall board, cladding, cabinetry and stone tones together, so the client sees the house rather than a stack of samples. It shortens the selections round, and the decisions hold, because they were made as a set.
Brief a concept box
Tell us the floor and the finishes you have already chosen. We match the rest from the samples we hold in the studio and send it as one box, to your office or straight to the client. No charge to the practice.
Thank you. The brief has reached us and one of our interior designers will call you to confirm the details before the box is collated, usually the same day.