gozzy

Hi everyone.
we have just arrived in newzealand and are looking around at property but most of it in the area we are us 2 and 3 bed bachs. we are now thinking about building our own house , i have some experience as we built our own in britian. A section is easy to find there are heaps here but can i just build it myself or do i have to get a local builder to do it for me as i have been told?
Also does anyone have an idea of build costs as the ones i have been quoted are wildly varied and imaginitive
Cheers gozzy

aalls73

Hi we've been lookig around at doing the same thing and we foun that A1 Homes were the best by far just go and see them and tell them exactly what you want and how much you want to do yourself and they'll give you a quote, we're pretty much in the same boat as OH is a plumber/electrician who isn't affaid of hard work and would also like to look back once it's finished an say "I did that

CarolineSwan

We are looking to do same , and have got quotes from A1, to be honest if you can , i would look around yourself for kit as they add quite abit of margin on ,all they do as a company is call round and book all the contractors, look through quick find and do it your self and save money , i think we are going to do this though we dolove a plan from a1 homes and may use it or one like it

caz

gozzy

Thanks
Will try to do most of the work myself as have done some elecrtrics and plumbing in the uk. But am unsure of the regs over here.
Cheers gozzy

TeamEmbo

Don't you have to have any work done and signed off by a registered electrician / plumber? I thought that you did for the property's LIM for yours and future purchasers guarantees of work (I don't know how many years it is down the line but I thought whoever does the work is liable for any faults for a number of years). I know you can negiotiate a drop on A1, Golden Homes etc's prices for doing some work yourself, but thought that was like blockwork or gibbing or getting in your own preferred electrician. Would be good to know what the regs actually are.

aalls73

Hi yeah it is pretty much the same as in the Uk reg's wise!!!
but thats okay if your a registered electrician!!!!

BEVS

Here we go.

The link for building compliance in NZ.

You can negociate with the likes of G&J, Golden Homes etc to reduce the build cost if you are able to do some of the work yourselves. That work will have to be signed off and passed by the building inspector.

All electrical and plumbing work must be done by a registered tradesman and signed off by a craftsman. Same for drainlaying.

CarolineSwan

yea you couldnt just do it yourselve unless you are regestered..but when we spoke to A1 they told us we would be much cheaper to just buy kitset or to lock up as gary a spark, his pal a joiner/ builer etc,the thing for us here is we dont know the people we did at the uk, we were going to build an extension our self onto our property and it wasall his work colleagues that were going to do it casual kinda thing,here theres only sparks on his job

any one any exp with fowlar homes before?, we have found a plan that we both love and they quite reasonable, we thinking bout just letting them dofull build so we dont have the stress, after all thats not why we came here

caz

TeamEmbo

Is your OH a registered electrician and plumber here in NZ? Wow, you'll be sweet

CAN2NZ

Hi, price of building will vary a little around the country. We spent someting over 300,000 on our place not including the land. However, your cost will depend on size and fit out.

nzfarmers

Hi, we have built two houses here in the last 4 years with the first one being a spec home at a budget price similar to golden homes with basic fittings. On the second house we built with Fowler Homes Christchurch and also contracted a few of the trades ourselves which saved us thousands. Also differences included the quality and spec comprising of the roof and wall insulation, pc sums, fittings, heating, kitchens, floor slab with polystyrene and steel reinforcing, roofing felt under the tiles, joinery, carpets to name but a few examples. What we found was the cheaper the builder the lower the spec and pc sums and the higher the cost to up grade to a better speck.
Cheers Jules

aalls73

hi not at the mo but he's doing his reg exams pretty soon so he will by the time it comes around to finding the land we want....

bourbon-biscuit

I'm sorry to say I had a nightmare build with A1 homes, although the spec was good for the price band. Go for it if you're building yourself, but I feel bound to pass on that our build with A1 was a sorry tale of woe, delays and escalating costs coupled with frustrating communication between project manager and builders and so on and so on.

But the end result was lovely, so I would recommend for self building. There's a build your own home forum out there somewhere where A1 is discussed by peeps doing self build.

For self build I'd suggest starting with a chat with the council- don't miss this bit out, it's essential! The red tape is prolific but council can be very helpful indeed. Also, before making an offer on your section make sure you word it "subject to finance, survey (not sure that's the right word- get your solicitor to help) AND ALL DUE DILIGENCE" and set yourself a good couple of weeks (we went for 20 working days) until unconditional to really suss things out.

gozzy

hi
Been on that forum and there are some good things and some bad said for A1 . the good is they are cheap, the bad they are not good at communication and some of there estimate on build cost can be low and over run on budget.
Regards Gozzy

Kiwiprincess

A1 (like many others I suppose) are franchised. Not sure if that is totally clear on the forums?

I wish franchised operations weren't an excuse for cr*ppy customer service but sometimes they are. Perhaps look at those who have had good or bad customer service and check which franchise area they are?