A New Driveway

I got the call to say the drive was done! YAY! 

It was like Christmas morning as a kid, I was so excited, I couldn't wait to go up to Kaiwaka and play with my new toys! Well in this case... go and drive on my new drive.

This has to have been one of the more exciting moments so far! A new driveway!  

It's awesome to see some progress... albeit just a driveway... but progress!

Up until now, our land has just been a bare paddock. We did not even have a gate to enter the property! We've had to negotiate a poorly built fence to climb over to get onto our land.

We had a couple of local contractor's price the job. We didn't have much of a budget for the drive.. I allowed $2000, but both quotes came in around $5000.  

So we've managed to negotiate a price of $3500 for a smaller and simpler drive.  The drive is about 40 meters long and we required a turning area at the end. The top soil had to be scrapped off, and a good base of crushed limestone was to go down, along with a small culvert installed at the top of the drive. I also asked the contractors to give a "light" scrap over the building site and to level a small area for where the water tank is to sit.

Although to save some cost... I have to deal with the top soil they scrapped off.  For now the soil is left in about 6 very large heaps.  See the pic's below.  But I have some ideas on how to use this soil.... we just need to move it! Anyone want to lend a hand??

I'm very happy with the job done.

TIP: When dealing with contractors, get at least 2 quotes as a bare minimum, get the quotes in writing, and have the contractors explain in full detail as to exactly what the quote includes. Make sure both you and your contractor fully understand what is being provided, so there are no miss-understandings at the end of the job.

After the house has been built and the contractors/builders trucks have finished onsite, and once the new limestone has compacted down, we will have to do some more work to the driveway, but we will work that in with the landscaping.

 But for now... I have drive... and I can now drive onto our land! AWESOME!!!!!

UPDATE: Just like magic we have delt to the dirt, by hand....

Big Dreams On A Low Budget!

 From the start we didn’t want to build our dream lifestyle to end up massively in debt to the bank.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than giving up something we have invested so much of ourselves in and then not to be able to enjoy it whilst we are “Working For The Man” for the rest of our lives to pay for our dream.

Life is of course to be enjoyed... today and for every day forward.

            “Every Man Dies. Not Every Man Lives”. By William Ross Wallace

So we have set ourselves a goal, we are not to get in over our heads and to come in on budget!

Including buying the land and completing the build, we have set ourselves a tight budget of $300,000 NZD, which is basically a split of 60% for the build and 40% for the land. This is going to be a challenge considering the average house price in Auckland is around $630,000 NZD. Ok so we are 1 hour north of Auckland, not exactly in Auckland, but still the $300,000 NZD budget is a challenge, especially as my list of things that I want for the house is growing!

We are just like everyone else… we like the nice things in life.  So we want the best we can get, for the least amount of money. Doesn’t everyone?

I will return to this subject once the house is built and I will let you all know whether we achieved our build on budget or not :)

Some Tips When Shopping:

1). Research, Research, Research, find what it is that you like and what you want and need.  Discuss the product with the shop assistants, your builder, compare models, search product reviews, www.consumer.org.nz 

Once you've decided on what you want... get to know the product's price, and then sit patiently for a sale.

For example, I fell in love with this Bosch Oven, the price varied between $2200-$2500 NZD, but I wanted it!  You couldn't sell me on any other oven!  Then one day I was in www.harveynorman.co.nz and I purchased my dream oven for $1800 NZD! A Bargain! 

2).  Also keep a shopping list of what you want & need on you at all times along with your building plans.  This way when you are out and about, you are prepared for any sales that you might come across.

Gary wanted to go to Rebel Sport last weekend, and next door to Rebel Sport we come across a bathroom sale.  We ended up purchasing our new bathroom & toilet vanities! Below is the vanity for the toilet.

3). Ask the hardware stores if they have discount cards etc. www.mitre10.co.nz Both Henderson & Glenfield branches have offered us a loyalty card of 5% discount, plus I still get Flybuy's points. Every little saving helps.

If I come across any more tips on saving money, I will add them to the above list.

Building Contract Finally Signed!

Well it’s taken sometime, but we have finally signed the building contact with our chosen building company.  www.homeworld.co.nz

Another step forward! YAY!

The final plans are being drawn up by Homeworld’s draftsman and then the final plans will be submitted along with the building application to the Kaipara District Council to get the building consent underway… so it will be about a 6-8 week process before Homeworld can actually start the build.  This is really the boring part of the entire process. Waiting!   

We’re still hoping to be in our new house by Christmas… but that deadline is looking a little unlikely now.

We’ve decided not to go for standard off the shelf building plans.  We wanted something a little more tailored to our desires, needs and wants.  So we started off by taking all the things that we have liked about our previous homes that we have lived in, from layouts, to room sizes, finishes and furnishing that we wanted. We’re not building a big house, but it is big enough for 2 people.  Technically… it is actually rather small, only 87sqm with 2 bedrooms and an office/3^rd bedroom. But we’ve managed to add in a storage room, separate bath & toilet, and a good sized open kitchen/dining & living room area. All very functional, and all the main living rooms are all north to north east facing to get the sun and the rural valley views. In time we will add extensive decking to enjoy summer barbeques outside.

With our sketches we approached 3 different building companies to get their ideas and more importantly the quote for the build.  The first company we approached was a local building company, and in the end their quote was some $15K more than the other building companies.  The second building company was very competitive but only competitive in that they were building the home on a concrete slab which tends to be a cheaper build and I personally don’t like. I want our house built on piles, above the ground.  To me it seems more natural to be above the ground.  The other requirement that we were looking for, was that we wanted the building company to be a little more flexible with us doing our own thing. Kiwibank requires the build to be a complete build contract, but we wanted the building company to be a little flexible so we can paint the interior/exterior ourselves to save a little money.

Homeworld the 3^rd building company has allowed us to do just that, they will give us a credit back for any work we do, or if we want to purchase something for the house, then they will give us a credit back on that, which will come off the total build cost.  This is awesome! This has given us a lot of flexibility to arrange our own kitchen, carpets and vinyl’s, water tank, vanities in bathroom & toilet, fireplace, oven, etc.  For example the vinyl we will get a credit of $1200 from Homeworld.  So we contacted a flooring retailer that we’ve used in the past, they will do us a deal for about half that allowance! So our build is now $600 less already!  YAY... I have more money to spend on something else! haha

Ohh… and some not so exciting but important factors in choosing Homeworld… they have been around for 30 years, offer the Master Builders Guarantee, are Licensed Building Practitioners and have building insurance cover.