When we last wrote, the house was starting to grow up from the ground and the framing was up. At this stage, we thought everything would go fast and our builder was confident our house would be finished (shell only) before Christmas…early December. The plans were to complete the house when we were in the U.S. Yiiipeee! It was great, we were looking forward to having a surprise on our return! After, 3 weeks in the U.S. we were happy to find doors and windows in, a roof almost completed and the start of what will be our verandah. We were very happy to see this after all the effort we had put into refinishing the windows. They look great on and they work!

We originally planned to leave the external walls made of plywood and battens untreated so that they get naturally weathered. Well, naaa… this ‘new box’ looking house didn’t look right to us, and waiting for it to weather would be too long! We decided to stain it before they completed the cladding. What a great decision! The next week-end, on our late Friday arrival, we were stunned by how good it looks in this chocolate colour. It enhanced the windows and doors and gave it more character.

Since the house was not finished and we couldn’t start any work inside, we did a clean up of the tipi, finding all kinds of weird insects and slugs that made it their home. We also built the water pump box behind the tank. The following weekend we started oiling our timber ceiling. We also enjoyed a lot of good sun after the very cold Atlanta winter… And finally we had our first nights inside our new home! First with the foam mattresses, then with a better bed brought from Auckland, in the loft area under the beautiful tongue and groove timber ceiling.

Now that our builder has finished working inside, we started the flooring project.  We had been looking at options for recycled flooring all across Auckland region. We wanted either Kauri, Rimu or Matai floorboards. Most demolition yards stock such timber in various conditions. We initially made contact and agreed on a stock of 500m of recycled flooring from south Auckland, but on the day of checking the stock, we found out that the boards were in terrible shape, with loads of tongue damaged and holes. We were very disappointed (as we had organized delivery the same week). Seb rushed to another yard he had identified in Helensville (45km north, so close to 80km to were he was!). There, the friendly guy showed him what he had. “Yep, that’s our flooring there!” All their boards are made of recycled joists and beams, so they aren’t full of nail holes. Instead, they have the odd strange holes and defects that make it look very different…gives it character. Overall, a very good product, reconditioned to a good standard, and one that doesn’t initially require sanding! (saving $2000). The next day, the demolition guy and Seb had a great time sorting board by board and piling them for transport, which we managed to organize for the next day. After many phone calls and fine-tuning with Coromandel people for the last leg, the timber arrives safely on our land. Pfffiouu!

Waitangi week-end was spent laying our floorboards. Such hard work! In three days, we managed to do about half of the house, at the expense of 3 broken drill bits, a knocked finger, lots of swearing when the tongue didn’t want to go in the groove, and a 12-pack of beer under the hard sun. The result is an outstanding, and even our builder – usually unimpressed by our shenanigans – said we have done a good job. Good aye? We just another three days to go before it’s done but they then we should have our process down. Then, there are just a few more things to do…plumbing, gas fitting, wiring, bathroom, kitchen, jib, skirtings, etc, etc, etc…

In the meantime, the house will be finished outside. Before the end of February, we should have our verandah finished, waste water pipes in the ground, and the site cleared up!

To be continued…

Holy cow (Oh la vache) time flies. We’ve been a bit slack in the writing and photo uploading department lately but we’re catching up now. There are five, count them FIVE, fresh, new photo albums with loads of fabulous photos. Go check them out!

In the past month there’s been quite a lot of progress on the house. In the beginning of October we saw the piles for the house go in. Then a week later we had a large dance floor. We were nervous about how small the house seemed until the framing went up. I had Seb lay down in our bedroom to make sure our bed would fit and phew! Yes it will! We’re both thrilled with how big the living room/kitchen area is. It will be completely open with a vaulted ceiling so it’s going to be big and spacious while not being overwhelmingly huge…and with a gorgeous view.

Last week Peter (our builder) started on the veranda. It’s taken him just as much time as the house foundation due to ridiculous building regulations that require our veranda to have piles as big as our house…but more of them. Completely insane. It’s so obvious that this regulation was pushed by the timber industry. Our veranda is now stronger than our house. In case of a serious storm I think we’ll just strap ourselves to the deck.

The weather hasn’t been flash this month. We’ve had many days of rain…and even sleet two weeks ago. Spring seems to come to the mountains a little later than it does to the city. The weather systems get stuck in the hills and release their rain on us constantly. What this ultimately means is that it’s now unlikely that the house will be finished by the time Seb and I leave for the U.S. for Christmas. Damn! I’m quite sad about that but when we get back it will be like a huge Christmas surprise.

In the month of October we also had our first guest. David, our super helpful friend spent the weekend with us on the land. He helped Seb with the windows and managed to avoid the ice cold “showers” Seb enjoys in the mornings. While David was there we hiked along our stream from the mid-point down to the bottom and discovered we have a few waterfalls and swimming holes! It was a gorgeous hike and we have plans of making a path to one of the swimming holes for use in the summer. It’s going to be fabulous!

In New Zealand, the building sector has been crazy for a decade. The country was for sale, signs everywhere advertising for the best building spot, the best house to renovate, the blank canvas..It was said that finding a builder in all that building/renovating party would be a nightmare…So at an early stage, we started to look around for a builder that could build our house in the time frame we had set for our project. The first reflex for computer addicts like us was to go on the internet. There are quite a few builder websites out there, all trying to convince you that their listings are free of building ‘cowboys’. One of the more serious sites, the registered builder association, had a little section on Coromandel builders. From this list we chose one that seemed to be well established and professional, we rang him and had an appointment the next week-end on the land.

Our first meeting was full of promise. The Builder seemed very confident , knowledgeable, trustworthy and his schedule seemed to match perfectly with ours. “What a pick”, we thought! The first one we meet is the one, how lucky we are!

Thanks to him, we found our architect and had a great time designing our house. In the meantime, the earth movers cleared the land, we built the shed, and the consent process was started. Then came the quoting time…

We provided the Builder with plans, specifications, and our choice of materials. According to the budget we drafted, from speaking with people and doing research on the Internet, we had a good idea of how much we were going to have to invest to get to the lockup stage. After weeks of delays due to slow responses from the material providers, the Builder sent us his quote.

We fell from our chairs.

The Builders quote was 40% more than we estimated and we were stunned. Were we being totally unrealistic with our budget? We thought it could be this or perhaps he didn’t really want the job…or even that he was taking advantage of the fact that we’re not kiwis and (gasp!) that we’re Aucklanders. Not only were the figures excessive for ‘travel to site’, ‘insurance’ or ‘preliminary work’(?) but we would have to pay a solicitor extra to lock the money into a trust account and sign up a complete set of contracts and appendix.

A storm of thoughts and talks went through our place. We then decided to do what we should have done from the beginning…ask for other quotes. We decided to talk with builders on the Coromandel side instead of Whitianga. After many unsuccessful calls, we managed to find two builders to come up to our land the next week-end. Our hopes were up again!

Builder 2 and Builder 3 arrived on time that Saturday. After a brief look at the site, the plans and the schedule, it seemed each of them could jump on board. The questions then were…when and for how much!

That next week, the wait was unbearable. Eventually, on Thursday, Builder 2 rang and gave us a price that was perfectly inline with our budget and with what our research told us we should expect to pay. We were thrilled and at the same time cautious. “Is that material AND labour included?” All included, as per plans, and he could start early September. A faxed confirmation later and this time we were jumping from the chair!

Unlike the first builder, Builder 2 was very keen to show us his work and we were excited to see it. Considering the difference in his price from the first quote we also thought it best to see the handiwork of the magician we were going to give our dream project to, so we popped over to his place on the way to Coromandel Town the following weekend. Our first impression was that his house and lifestyle agreed with us. He took us for a ride around the area, showing us the many houses he built – half of the town really – and then he took us to his masterpiece. Hidden in a valley, he proudly guided us to a huge American Barn which took him a year to build. It was gorgeous and enormous. We spent half an hour admiring the job, inside out. All beautifully hand crafted in timber, from floor to roof. We couldn’t have been happier after seeing his work and especially the barn.

Not only did we like the guy, but he didn’t require a contract or financial securities, in a good old kiwi style. We felt very comfortable with him. In an effort to minimize any misunderstandings we did draft up a short contract that he signed with a grin.

On Tuesday 18th of September 2008, the house started to rise from the ground…