S/pick

Can anyone give advice. If you are in the process of building, thinking about or already built a house what is it like obtaining planning and what is the average cost of building a 4 bed house with 2 bathrooms. Any advice or useful websites would be much appreciated.

Thankyou

Gra.B

Hi spick,

We're thinking about building, we may buy somewhere cheap first to live then look at plots etc.

I don't know much about it but I'm hoping it's a bit more straight forward than over here as it seems so common.

This site gives the actual build costs of it's plans & inclusions - www.stonewoodhomes.co.nz although we'd probably look at designing something from scratch. It will give you an idea of costs though.
This ones interesting too, I've asked on here before for any views on it but didn't get any response, would like to know what you think...- www.maximbuilding.co.nz

Cheers Gra..

deedee

we're just in the process of building a new house,or starting to(still covered in snow at the moment)This must be the only thing about NZ i don't like.....the houses are all pretty poor.There are hardly any stone buildings and the typical style house is wooden and not anything like as solid as anything in the UK.(they look nice mind!)As for new kit homes,they really are poor,made with the cheapest of materials and thrown up.They may look modern but you can tell in 20 to 30 years time they will need pulling down.
We have spent a long time looking at just about every alternative and the kitset houses came at the bottom of the list and builders here are in great demand so they want to charge accordingly too.So we have decided to build ourselves,the planning rules are simple,building code is quite clear and pretty much anything goes in the rural areas.Stone,its the only way to go for us Partly because of the high wind speed area and partly because i don't like the whole house shaking when a door slams.
Try having hardwood windows made in NZ!If any more joiners shops tell me that aluminium windows are the best and the only way to go i'm going to go live with my sheep in the tussock block and not come out.
kitset ones we went to see,mcraeway homes,clutha homes,colonial homes and a1 homes...all the same really,very poor in comparrison to homes in the UK.

Roger

Having likewise thoughts to yourselves. Am planning to build when in Wellington. However don't fancy timberframe.

Did live in a new-build property in UK and didn't like the thin walls etc. Moved to a 1970s house and loved the thick walls etc. Can't even drive picture hooks into the walls.

There are Masonry Building Firms, and Steel Frame firms in NZ. Apparently Masonry can work out the same price. I'll find the links on my computer at home and post them - I'm at work baby sitting drunks in A&E now.

Roger

Flyboy

Dont build anything too sturdy down here - you have to allow for a bit of wobble in an earthquake!!

Carpenter

I am considering building my home in NZ.
The following link http://www.tristyle.co.nz/housestyles.php shows 3 differant ways to go.
I would go for the InsulFrame® 2 x 4 if using these. But I will probably build it myself in this style instead of buying a kit.

The standard 4x2 is how most of the timber frame construction is done in NZ. I would not build a house this way. Too flimsy and not enough insulation.

Cheers

Ian

deedee

tristyle homes,flimsy,naf,utter rubbish.There should be laws against building houses like that.I should know as i'm living in the same thing now!As for the fake log cabin look,thats the most tacky thing i've seen since coming to NZ.How anyone can say proper log cabins are not very good quite simply has not lived in one.If anybody wants ours when we've built our new house they can have it when i've driven through it with the tractor...it really is that bad.

TonyQ

Before Buying I would definately read Emigrating With Caution by Nicola Butler

Hope it all goes well for you

Tony

Roger

Is Nicola Butler a building expert?

Try www.firthhomes.co.nz

There are links to relevant builders. Such as:
http://www.masonryvillas.co.nz/

Also see. Apparently Masonry is good for insulation and seismic activity.

http://www.standards.co.nz/news/archive/concrete.htm

Roger

P.S. With the way the currency is going I may need to buy the second hand log cabin.

southerner

DeeDee

I am fascinated and would love to hear more about your plans to build in stone. I have always dreamt of building a holiday home in Central, and using the local stone. I think it looks great and am amazed that more homes are not built with it. I remember there is at least one stonemason based in Q'town, he did a lot of work for an ex client of mine who renovated some of the better buildings in the Mall. The key I think was getting a good quarry to supply the stone.

Are you going to build a sort of replica of any of the original style cottages around your area, or perhaps are you going more contemporary, or a mixture even?

Have you been skiing yet? I read that they were turning people away at Cardrona, and the snow was really good.

Regards,

Southerner

deedee

Yeah,went up Coronet Peak last week but at the moment we're having fun on our own farm behind the quad bike.You just can't beat slithering around on an upturned plastic table whilst been towed at 60kph down a paddock
As for building a house,we're going to use Alexandra Stone(trade name but from Alexandra)We have seen a few people use it and providing its not done too perfectly i think it looks really nice.That combined with a proper log cabin section and all the internal roof timber from our own douglas fir trees,cut roughly and untreated.We are also wanting to make use of the huge amounts of sunshine central otago has so we are going(hopefully)solar,heating the floor via water.Its not going to be fast process and having said that we're not really in that much of a rush but we are now starting and today i was marking all the timber to fell,drag out and start drying.Whilst thats drying i hope to be stacking about 200 tonnes of stone:scared:
If you can picture a traditional French or Scottish farmhouse......thats what we're building,a sort of hybrid of the two.Our main aim is just to live where we are,the rest will just evolve and although i had a little moan about the state of our current house i would still live in a tent up here before living anywhere else.I 'll try get a few pictures on webshots of the progress if your interested,cheers.

southerner

Deedee,

Great to hear about your plans. 200 tonnes of stone - that should not blow away in a storm.

I read there are new building requirements for treated timber coming in that might be a problem for Douglas Fir - how are you hoping to get around that.

Love to see the photos.

Southerner

deedee

because our timber will be internal and external(huge logs just trimmmed of bark really) it does not need to be tannalised.This isn't a problem with proper log cabins although the outside will require a moisture controller but that will be an enviromentally and human friendly one!Because the house is going to be mostly stone and everything vertically load bearing will be stone it does'nt come in to the same catagory as the wooden framed houses been built around NZ.They are all timber(4x2) as structural and because of the recent "leaky building syndrome"a knee jerk reaction has been to make everything out of tannalised timber!The rules makers are sort of missing the point,no ventilation in sealed cavity walls(you know,partical board,mdf,all full of toxic chemicals....)will always cause a decrease in the life span of any timber.The leaky building syndome highlighted this year was down to bad workmanship and poor draftspeople/architects combined with humid temeratures and loads of rain....upper North Island exactly!.Its been funny really,having spoke to the planners many times they are so helpful it makes me suspisous.We explained what we were thinking and they were more keen than we were

The chap in charge said "why would we want to work against you,your the rate payers,its our job to keep you happy"Having built in the UK this is the exact opposite of my experiences there.
Having said that,i think it might be a South Island thing as i have a feeling the more populated areas might look on planning and development differently,plus,he's right we pay thousands in rates(not complaining,its still less than the UK )

Roger

In the Uk self-building press there has been alot of interest in alternative methods of house building. Such as concrete-filled polystyrene (Beco Wallform and Styro Stone), structurally insulated panels (TekHaus), and Thermasteel from the States which is a steel frame with the insulation properties of polystyreme forms.

These are good from an insulation aspect and are easier to build. Any experience of them in NZ?

Roger
(desperately trying to keep it going)

TIZUS

Read it......!!! think they should have researched things a lttle more!
Tori