We have now owned a piece of land in Wanaka for over a year and have been umming and ahhhing as to what we do with it? Shall we build or sell? I decided to ask a friend about their experience with building……..

Only 8 weeks out from potentially moving into our house, I feel like my views on things may differ if I was writing this from my verandah with a glass of pinot, enjoying the views and feeling the warmth of my underfloor heating in my new home. But I am not. I am sitting in my rental waiting patiently to get it finished!

Architect or Draftsman?

A lot of it came down to price for us as we had a budget and that was our main driver. In my experience budget can be overtaken by the need for the house and to have the best of everything.

Home builder or Independent builder?

We went and saw every home builder in Wanaka, we spoke with 3 independent builders and had many in-depth discussions with tradies and people who had built.

Finding someone who could see our vision was the key. Building is hard but extremely rewarding.

Trades and Suppliers

Man oh man, oh boy this is the key, communicating with the team is what makes or breaks your day, every week, every month. We will be on site next week usually means Thursday 12.30pm! I was watching Grand Designs NZ and this quote stuck with me ‘you can plan and schedule the build as much as you like but if you can’t handle delays, changes, or formulating new ways forward then building is not for you.’

My hot tips

1. After every meeting be it re windows, the builder, the electrician or the plumber, send an email reiterating everything you spoke about.
2. Book your kitchen design straight away. It took us weeks/months to lock in a kitchen joiner but once we found the right one it was amazing.
3. Read the fine print, pay attention to detail, read everything twice or even three times to be sure.

Orders, delivery, and expertise

Low stock, long delivery times and Covid all made for hard decisions.

So 8 weeks out we just have the painting inside, and all the fittings to be completed. Would I build again I hear you ask?

‘Men at some times are masters of their fates’ choose wisely my friends and be kind.

Thank you my friend for that view…I’ll update you next month on my decision on to build or not to build!

Hannah

You can read the full blog here.

Tyson Walker

Managing Director

www.proppy.co.nz

Hannah Walker

Co-founder & Sales Consultant

021 2222 589

[email protected]

www.proppy.co.nz

Salesperson license: 20059383