Building experiences & knowledge?

[gwigs]

as others have said steer clear of the housing companies, get a good builder who will be on site 99% of the time

Ask around usually the best builders don,t need to advertise ,word of mouth and good service usually gets them work.
If you lived in Auck I could recommend a few...

[Laava]

meh, if the white man needs his wad of cash to allow me to live in one, then the white man shall have his wad of cash. Much easier if it were all free [/QUOTE]

Of course, should you choose to build outside of the consent parameters, things are VERY different and you can build a cheap house. But you can't get away with it in a built up area.

[mashman]

Of course, should you choose to build outside of the consent parameters, things are VERY different and you can build a cheap house. But you can't get away with it in a built up area.

Yeah, if I was gonna try anything like that it'd cost me more than 10k to buy the missus off

[Smifffy]

Some good ideas and discussion over here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=145073

Be warned, it's a mammoth thread and easy to just keep reading and reading. When you see the winter conditions you begin to understand the importance of the insulation to the project.

[JimO]

Not at all. But you need to be vigilant. I used to work for one of NZs biggest group housing companies and you would struggle to do better, apples for apples, doing it on your own. Plus all you have to do is choose fixtures and colours, no organising tradies.
Horses for courses.

they have a habit of going tits up, pick the lowest price or screw people down so the best job isnt what your going to get

[Laava]

they have a habit of going tits up, pick the lowest price or screw people down so the best job isnt what your going to get

Same as any other business, bank or investor etc.
My experience working for them as both a contractor and also as supervisor tells me that most times they are people of integrity pricing a job competitively to make a profit. what is wrong with that? Most tradesman don't allow themselves to get screwed down, rather compromise on their price based on a continuance of work or other factors. Of course there are always going to be people that will rip you off or go under because of their own stupidity and that can hurt..That has happened to me also. Was David Reid homes. The clients never missed out tho, their houses were all done. A million dollars never made into many accounts. Up until that time the money was good so there you go, it can just go tits up. You would struggle to build a comparable home cheaper than the likes of Jennian, GJ, Golden Homes for example. You just may be a bit more restricted with design etc
But you cannot beat a good reference either way, that is for sure. If you know people who have had a good experience, they are the best people to take advice from.

[BMWST?]

as a supplier to a few companies like GJ Garrdner etc i can tell you we give them a very good deal.They build many houses a year with us so why wouldnt we?Those savings are built into their pricing

[Laava]

GJ Garrdner

Their scottish branch?

[BMWST?]

Their scottish branch?

yes the ones who really get you value!

[jim.cox]

Block base ,brick veneer,tile roof..equals not too much maintenance...
.

But not so good in earthquakes

Wood and Tin for me

[dangerous]

That has happened to me also. Was David Reid homes.

missed a bit there, you had a house built or you worked for?
Many a year ago I built for them (artecual rather than basics), quality was good organisation was good... then as below

the likes of Jennian, GJ, Golden Homes, Horncastle for example.

These days I wouldnt go near them, mainley due to the age of those building, and this is about here in canterbury due to most decent builders moving on to desk jobs cos of the quakes... now young dickheads build these houses, if they are not smoking pot on the job then tey are asleep in the corner, eg I was on a horncastle site the other day and the 'boys' there had no idea, couldnt even work out how to make and fit a head flashing to the meter box...
canterbury building has to be different to elsewere in NZ, Id expect there quality would be beter.

[unstuck]

Quality of training must of gone down or something within the building industry. We have a childcare center across the road from us that got extensive work done last year. Part of that work was to install a 6ft high wooden fence around the property, at the time I commented on the construction methods to my wife, the posts just looked too far apart. 100x100 wooden posts, spaced at around 3....3 1/2 mtrs with two 100x50 rails between the posts and 150x 25 wooden boards to finish it off. Whats happened to the fence???

Anybody care to guess.

[Ocean1]

Quality of training must of gone down or something within the building industry. We have a childcare center across the road from us that got extensive work done last year. Part of that work was to install a 6ft high wooden fence around the property, at the time I commented on the construction methods to my wife, the posts just looked too far apart. 100x100 wooden posts, spaced at around 3....3 1/2 mtrs with two 100x50 rails between the posts and 150x 25 wooden boards to finish it off. Whats happened to the fence???

Anybody care to guess.

Fell over.

One of mine is the same spec's, but posts at 1.8M.

There used to be universally known and understood standards covering such basic stuff. What happened?

[oneofsix]

Fell over.

One of mine is the same spec's, but posts at 1.8M.

There used to be universally known and understood standards covering such basic stuff. What happened?

Still is, just pick up a pamphlet from Mitre 10 or Placemakers, the councils even used to have pamphlets for this basic stuff.

My guess is that the Childcare Centre have a fence to rebuild.

[unstuck]

Got sags worse than a grannys titties, looks hideous. All the weight between the posts with minimum support from rails. Would of maybe worked out alright if they would of run a concrete footing between the posts to support the bottoms of the 150x25 pailings. There are no gaps between the boards, so the rails are full loaded. I could see it happening as the put it up. The way in which they have left the airconditioners sitting on a couple of 4x2 boxing pegs nailed to the roof, does not look good from here either.