Can anyone please suggests some builders who can design a house according to the...

Hi Mahi Look for a local builder. We built with a local builder in Wellington and they recommended an architect. We worked together wih our builder and architect along the process. We had a tight budget, and we wanted a single level house. The coordination among us, the builder and the architect worked really well. In the end we had to do a split level house to minimise earthworks costs. Our builder was really good with cost efficiencies and he worked closely with our architect. Don’t go to a franchise company as it’s too difficult to make off-plan changes.

Hi Mahi, We are in the same situation. We also have a sloppy site and looking for options to build a home there. Did you find any good builder who can suggest some good plans according to the site. Thank you

1 . Contract your own earthworks, great honest dude Anthony of Renshaw Civil limited, then hire GG builders fantastic dudes. They won’t muck you around or RIP you off.

Hi Jc Thank you very much for your reply. Can you please give me the architect name and builder name you built with? It will be really helpful. Thank you Mahi

I am currently building and on a major slop use your own earthworks guys before hiring a building company. Renshaw Civil limited the best service.

Hi Mahi We built with Wellington Builders Ltd, owned by Jeff Guerin. He is a Master Builder. Their office is in Wellington CBD and they do a lot of work within Wellington so I’m not sure if they do house builds as far as Raumati. But worth contacting them. Jeff is very professional and meticulous. We are very happy with our house. It is everything we’ve wanted and more importantly, it was built within our budget. Jeff project managed the build and he has a great team. We had some very minor defects like door locks and raised vinyl tiles, but Jeff was quick to get them sorted. We worked with Design Network for the house plans – they’ve got a great team there. It’s important that whoever builder you choose needs to work closely with your architect as the builder needs to determine that the drawings are aligned with the construction plans, earthworks, costs etc. Also please note that building with a non-franchise builder is a different process from bulk builders. With franchise builders, you choose the colours and design and that’s pretty much it. In our case, we had to decide on a lot of things – paint, carpet, door locks, etc. It seems like a tedious process but it’s all worth it. I guess every situation is different, but in our case, we were very happy with the outcome.

Hi Jc Thank you very much for your reply. It’s really very helpful. I will contact them to find out more. 🙂

Wellington Builder is on Twitter and he offers very good insights and observations. I can’t specifically vouch for his work, but he seems smart and committed to quality. cheers

Hi Mark Yes – he is very knowledgeable. So far we’ve been very happy with the quality of work. I think what also worked well for us is that my husband and I both worked diligently with our builder – everything from engineering to design. I must also say being able to communicate directly with the builder (rather than a sales person) helped to address and prevent potential issues from happening before we even started building. My husband is a civil engineer and I think that was a plus as we were able to understand the engineering part of the build.

Hi there. Can anyone advise on the cost between Attic Trusses and Standard Trusses. My build has a High Pitch roof and I wanted to use the attic space for storage. My building company advises me that Attic Trusses are expenses. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks

Hi Neville The difference between attic trusses and standard trusses are that attic trusses have “beefed up” bottom beams so that they can handle load on top of them as an attic floor essentially. Also the beams going through from top to bottom have to change so that it can create an open area where as standard trusses criss cross and have no space in between for an open area to call an attic. If you stipulate there is going to be an attic area in your roof then any council will require the attic trusses be used in order for your attic to not fall through the ceiling in years to come after you’ve stored a life times worth of stuff in the attic. Its basically like building a 2 storey house, you wouldnt expect the ceiling to be standard if your going to have things on top of it. Hopefully that helps a bit?

Thanks, Kerryn. Any idea in the price difference? Is it marginal or will this cost me an arm and a leg?

I think it depends on the size, as in how many trusses you’ll need and how wide they are. Would definitely be in the thousands. From memory we were quoting $3000 plus for 10m2 of attic area when I was working in pricing and estimation 1 year ago

Hi Kerryn Thank you for this valuable unbiased information. Just 1 last question, can you have a combination of standard trusses and attic trusses? The attic trusses to be over the area where i want to create the storage space? Thank you.

I am pretty sure you can have just attic trusses in the attic area and normal everywhere else. There will be regulations the designers will have to meet with regards to load and where the attic trusses need to go but I’m sure you don’t need them throughout the whole roof.

Yes you will have a combination of standard and attic trusses. The attic trusses will only be in the area you want the storage. The truss designer will design the layout for your builder/architect.