P2L

Hi T

sorry I never got the chance to catch up with you at the end of term. I just wanted to say well done and I'm really pleased to hear that the builders came through for you so you get to spend your first Kiwi Xmas in your own home

Enjoy a very Merry Xmas all of you

See you next term

Sarah x

nero

Congratulations on the house build it looks great. Just a couple of questions re your windows. Are they double glazed? Do the window closures have locks on them. It is just that we are looking for a company here in NZ that is able to provide this type of window.

Happy 2010

teebrown

Hi, yes the windows are double glazed, but they don't have locks on them. we have put security openings on the bathroom windows so they can be left open.

Hope this helps.

nero

Thanks for that do you know who the makers of the windows are and would you recommend?

teebrown

Not sure of the make, it does say Vantage on the inside of the window, but not sure if that is who makes them. GJ Gardners ordered all the windows for us. We are really pleased with them, the best one is the bi-fold door, it's a 3 leaf and a normal door, when they are all open it opens up the whole side of one wall - really beautiful.

nero

Cheers for that - found the company Vantage Windows (NZ/Oz) company. Look really good

BEVS

That is nice to read T. Mr Bevs does plumbing work for GJ up here.

donnisons

Wow that seems great value for how much house you got. Congratulations, hope you are settled in and had a lovely Christmas in your new house. Looking at your timeline I can't believe how much you have achieved in such a short time.

I've been following your thread with great interest, because we would really like to build ourselves, not that we have even arrived yet or been accepted!

Can I ask did you take furniture with you or did you buy it there? I'd like to bring stuff with us, but feel we wouldn't know what size we would need to fill a house we hadn't built yet.

Would love to see some more photos.

E x

teebrown

Glad you like it, hee are some more pictures, various views from the master bedroom deck, family room and Media rooms and also along the corridor. We did take all our funiture with us and we are glad we did, but some of the furniture wont now fit in the house or doesnt quite look right in the house due to so many window, but it's not a problem to put it on Trademe. You don't know what you need/want until you build I suppose, we have had to buy yet another sofa to fill a room.

It's all great though, and we are loving it.

teebrown

Some more.....

donnisons

Thanks for posting more pictures, it looks fantastic. Can I ask what the quality/cost of new stuff is like over there and how easy is it to get hold of? TBH most of our furniture is due for renewal and I don't know whether we should do it here or wait til we get there - if they let us in! I have searched on NZ websites, but so far haven't seen much that takes my fancy. Things we would be looking to replace would be sofas, dining room furniture, bedroom furniture, so pretty much everything!

Also what is the build quality like? Did you consider many builders before you started. I have looked at your builder's website and another I found on this forum for energy efficient homes. I have so many questions, think I'm going to read over the other posts in this thread before I ask you any more you have already answered.

E x

teebrown

Hi, there are lots of furniture shops around, that cover all tastes and qualities, we bought all of our furniture over as we didn't want the expense of having to pay out loads all new things right from the off, and it's worked out well.

We did speak to people about the different builders around, we even went to one of the member houses on here (AlanMac) house to have a look around. We stopped at houses that were being built and spoke with people. In the end it came down to reputation and design, we choose GJ Gardners as they are one of the largest this side of the world and their reputation was very good. we also looked at Today Homes, Stonewood both of which friends had built with and also had a good reputation. But do go with someone who is a member of the Master Builders.

Good luck with everything.

spankysparkle

teebrown, your house is absolutely lovely! a dream come true. can you imagine how gorgeous it will be once the lawn is established? wow