Country home build diary (part 2)

Meet the McCrosties

• The McCrostie family – Dominique and Daryl (both 30) and children Shaun (4) and Jessica (nearly 2) – are building their dream home off SH63 in Marlborough.
• Their home is being designed and built by Hybrid Homes and Claymore Construction respectively. Their budget for the build, including solar power system and amenities such as rainwater collection and sewage, is $530,000.
• The McCrosties’ aim is to get back to the simple life by being self-sustaining and having a minimal impact on the wider environment.

Dominique: The consent process was pretty straightforward initially. We got what they called the working drawings from Hybrid Homes and that had the plan of the house, the site layout. It was all technical stuff. Everything they were using to build the house – all the materials – they were in the working drawings. Basically we just had to sign-off on those and then Hybrid submitted it all to council

What we found out after submitting it for building consent though was that we were also going to need resource consent because the house was placed within 100m of a commercial forestry boundary. That meant we had to go to the owner of the forest and ask approval for us to build there.

The guy that owned it was an ex-fire marshal. He said he wanted a formal contract and a high-pressure pump on the water tank for their use, and for us to take out public liability on their land. But we didn’t want to pay public liability insurance for the rest of our lives.

Daryl: There were only two options. Either we moved the house or we did what he asked. We had chosen the initial spot for the house because we liked the views from there. It was one of the highest positions in the paddock. We had just thought, ‘This looks good, we’ll stick it here’.

Dominique: But because we have so much land we were able to move the house within the site and get it outside the 100m from the forest boundary. It wasn’t too much of a problem.

We had to go back to Hybrid and they had to redo the working drawings and then resubmit them to council.

Daryl: It was probably a month of hold-ups to that point. Things have started kicking into action now though. The builder has drawn out the site, so it’s the first progress on the land that you can see. Until now it had just been on paper and behind-the-scenes. But now they’ve pegged out the house site and the boundary lines for the edge of the house.

Late changes slow up consents

Dominique: You can see where everything is placed, with all the rooms and what kind of views you’ll have from each room.

We went up to see where they had painted the boundary lines this weekend and it wasn’t quite where we had envisioned they were going to be placed. So we are going to move the house again. We had a discussion about getting it in the right place, which we think we have done now.

The other thing was, with taking a closer look at the plans and being out there and looking at the views, we suddenly realised that we’ve got small windows where we really want to have big windows to maximise the views. It’s very annoying and frustrating that we didn’t pick it up earlier.

We had to weigh up the cost of changing the windows now against spending 40 to 50 years in a house with something that is just going to bug us.

We’ve been talking with Hybrid Homes to try and get them changed, which means that it’s going to have to go back for an amendment to the consent process again.

Daryl: They’ve assured us that at this point in time it’s not going to hold us up. It’s no problem for them, just a bit more work.

Dominique: We’re just kicking ourselves that we didn’t pick it up earlier. We were so concentrated on everything else: the room sizes, the placement of the main windows. You don’t think about the side windows. It’s a little bit frustrating.

Daryl: The thing is, how do you keep an eye on everything? Life doesn’t stop just because you’re building a home. We’ve still got two young kids and a business to run. You can’t give it all your attention.

Although there have been a few hiccups and a few delays, I try and look at a silver lining for everything. We’ve been able to save a bit more money and it’s given us a bit more time to get ready, so that’s been good.

The diggers are coming in at the end of this week to level the site, level the gradient for the foundations, and then the builder will be into it. It’s very exciting. It’s been a long time coming.

Building consent – what’s involved?

• Usually your architect or design professional will apply to the local council for building consent on your behalf.
• If restricted building work is taking place, you will also be required to provide a certificate of design from a licensed building practitioner.
• Council issues a project information memorandum, if requested, advising on site-specific hazards and whether you will need to apply for resource consent.
• Your building consent application is processed by council, usually within 20 working days. The building consent is reviewed against the New Zealand Building Code and the relevant District Plan.
• Building work must commence within 12 months from the building consent date of issue.
• It is expected that you complete building work within two years.

Catch the next country home build diary where the McCrosties explain their passive heating approach.

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