teebrown

Just wanted to share my excitement with you all, we managed to secure 1200m2 (1/4 acre) section of prime land in Rolleston (christchurch), we got it for an excellent price so well chuffed. We are hoping to start building our dream house on it next month. We are currently meeting with the builders and moving walls extra on the plans to get it the way we want it and then they will start. I never ever thought we would build our own home in our lifetime - fantastic.

MooMoo290373

Congratulations:thumbsup

Wellington Will

sound's very exciting. congratulations.

Have a look at http://www.domestic-executive.com It's a blog by a UK couple who built their dream home on a section near Upper Hutt. It could be useful.

We've been thinking along these lines too, but it's early days for us.

good luck.

Lee Lee

Congratulations, how exciting.

Is the land buying process quite easy over there, any tips for us?

Great to hear you can move the walls about on those plans. Can I ask, what builders have you decided to go with, on our recent trip we visited quite a few show homes and in the end they all became a bit of a blur - which one had what??? what one was built by who???!!!

teebrown

Hi, yes land buying is very easy, we looked around in the area we wanted and on Trademe and got sent through several sections. Went to look at one we thought maybe nice in the area we wanted and fell in love with it, it really had a great feel, only a couple of houses up at the moment and we got it for a brilliant price. We put an offer in to the real estate agent and you sign a contract making sure it's got a 10 days get out clause just in case your house doesn't fit right or the council are going to put a motor way outside your front door, so within those 10 days you do your homework and make sure it's what you want etc and then after 10 days you put a deposit down and then another 10 days or so after that you pay the balance (we are lucky we are cash buyers for the land, but if you needed a mortgage for this you can go to a bank). We found a local lawyer who is liaising with the real estate for the Titles for the land and then once everything is singed it's all ours.

We have chosen GJ gardeners to go with, we have been told to be very careful which building company we use as there are a few going under. We have a show home here in Rolleston and we really like it so we are going to build that one, but you can change anything you want, and I mean anything, we are putting bi-fold doors in etc and making the bedroom a little bigger and moving the study around, but we like the basic plan of it. this is the house:

http://www.gjgardner.co.nz/cms/modul...lleston_GJ.swf

I will keep you up dated on the progress and what we do.

Suzbits

Congrats to you all - very exciting. The house looks great and all being well you should be in towards the end of Spring???

We are renting in ChCh at the moment, but have started to dream about building so keep us updated on how you are getting on.

RobDon

Congratulations and good luck in your new home

Lee Lee

WOW, thats a lovely house you've picked. Thanks for the info, I look forward to the updates. We're in the very early stages but its great to hear about the process because its something we defo want to do when we get out there. I already picked the house i like, got loads of brochures while i was there, but theres plenty of time to change my mind over & over again

I think we drove past that show home but it happened to be closed that day, we did go in the stonewood homes show home around the corner, i was really impressed with that one. Liked it in Rolleston, if i remember right they had i nice little group of shops and ale house very close to those homes, lovely place.

Thanks again and wish you lots of happiness in your new home... once its built!

Wiz'n'Ton

Oooooooh I am SO jealous! Congrats on the land - it's SUCH a buzz isn't it? All that possibility - all the stunning house plans on offer, and features you can put into your very own purpose built house. You are living our dream as we originally bought a massive 2050 m2 section on Kajens in Rolly, and planned on a 250m2 house of dreams. Then UK property dropped, cost of building went up, interest rates here went up here.... you get the picture. We sold it to buy our current place in Hoon Hay.

So I am writing this nursing just a smidge of jealousy that you are doing what we always wanted to. We've no regrets though, as dreams move on - just make the very best of it and enjoy every step. Oh - and make sure you share it with us as I for one will be very interested in how you get on.

Good luck to ya!

teebrown

Hi all, well so far so good, we have now finalized the floor plans for the house, I have attached it. We have paid our deposit to the Builders, we have chosen GJ Gardeners to do our work. They will now go and get planning permission from the council, hopefully this will only take approx 4 weeks then the build starts. In the meantime we will sit down with them and choose all the finishing touches, we have gone for the bigger bath, as hubby is 6ft 4 and wants to lay down in it! We design the kitchen, pick where we want all the lights to go, choose the colours, door handles, tiles etc etc. I was given a tip on here from AlanMac who has built himself, and we can save money on anything, I mean if an electrician can do the wiring cheaper we can choose to go with them and it will get knocked off the price of the house, same with the fencing, driveway etc, so we will look into that.

People are asking us what we paid and how much things are, so i will list it for you, I don't mind you all knowing.

Land = 1200m2 (1/4 acre) = $134,000
House (without drive, landscaping & fencing) = $283,000 - this will change a little if we add anything more or take things away.

The price for the house does include, all carpets, tiles, paint, wood pellet burner, wool insulation, bi-fold doors and basically everything that goes into a house ready for you to move in.

I will let you know the next stage of the build and keep you all updated.

alanmacc

Hi Tee

Congrats on it all, house looks fab and I see Gardner have it well positioned for the sun, same as they did for us, before you know it you will have a house to walk into, we took pics of all the stages of ours for posterity from the land to the finished house.

Persephone

Us too! Most of them were closed when we drove round Rolleston.

Teebrown, good luck with the build and let us know how it all goes and any useful tips We are considering it, possibly next year if all goes to plan.

zummerzet_lou

Wow - will cetainly be following your progress with interest - sounds as though you got quite a bargain on the land!

Lou

CarolineSwan

hey Tee

Thats great you getting all sorted.

We like you bought a 1/4 acre and are putting a 254 m2 house on it, by the looks it costing the same , though gary doing electrics his self... we hoping to start in next few weeks too

only difference is we designed ours from total scratch , only cos i wanted so much from different plans in our house.

i will put plans up once back from planning and we know it definete

how good is it to be builing your own home though, we so excited .. we only live one street away the now so we always going on wee drive byes to our land lol

any idea on when you should be in it for?

hope it all runs smooth

caz

teebrown

Excellent, they have told us it will take 20 weeks from the dig. So we hope to be in by Christmas, pushing it, but fingers crossed. It will be great if we are as both our mothers are coming over for Christmas for the first time, so it will be great to celebrate in our new house. Keep us all updated on your progress, it's good we can share the experience with everyone.