Originally Posted by joydot

i have to make an obs here as am married to an architect and worked in design until recently.

when we had been here a year and knew enough about rotting home situ etc my bartlett trained, 40-under-40, runner up international house of year blah blah blah archie spouse contacted a brit couple newly in nz as he had heard they were looking to build a new glam coastal house that showcased lighting (their biz and he has outstanding relationship with many euro high-end light manufacturers and knows a bit). given the chance to hire him, head of arch at a big firm, they hired an inexperienced and singularly over-blown kiwi duo who are constantly in the press (friends are well placed). i take it they never went to see anything designed by them or checked their cv. a top nz agent said there are 2 things she cannot do - sell PROPERLY built plaster houses and houses by these 2. one by the dynamic duo she currently has listed is recent cv 13mil and the highest offer has been 7mil. the only (initially) happy client story i have heard was from once rich kiwis who insisted these guys were the only ones able to do justice to their latest property aquisition. that 10mil+ purchase is now in mortgagee sale as the costs spiralled waaaay beyond anything they could possibly sell for. they will get 6mil if lucky. when building own home do not assume locals know best - use common sense and check check check. under arb and riba, for example, an architect is responsible for his projects to his dying day, and the arch will have spent many years of sleepless nights acquiring a designation which costs in excess of 1000gbp annually to maintain. in nz architecture students are known to be on more than one course at a time (i'll just fit the arch degree in in my spare time school of design). i dont know how bad it is in oz but imagine not as problematic? here the legal system is in infancy, well everything is in infancy, and there is no real recourse for builds gone wrong. as for design, that war bunker thing is everywhere - low ceilings, bad lighting, crappy flow and terrible use of space. even multi-mil dollar homes feel like cheap apartments. if you drive by a house and it looks like the best thing you have ever seen and in your budget range bang on the door and ask questions.

in nz you cannot trust anyone in matters of housing - even the brit attachee did over brit migrants over sale of former embassy property here in auck - its currently under investigation. migrants need to be careful, esp in the early joyful days when the additional sunshine leaves ones brain perpetually high... if you get your house right it will make for very happy days and will be worth the additional front end research and pain.