Aleasha's Journey to Build

We started planning our build in 2020, some hazy time during the beginning of the pandemic while living in Seattle. Schools were indefinitely closed, and we were working from home and homeschooling our 2 young children. We started to feel that after many years living overseas, it was time to move closer to family in New Zealand as things felt very uncertain at that time. 

We reached out to an architect who had designed a beautiful award-winning home in North Canterbury and we initially started designing a compact, family home which we felt we could hunker down in close to family, for a short period of time and use as a sort of barn-style, country batch until we figured out what our future looked like.  Our jobs were in the USA but everyone was working remotely at the time so we figured we might as well give our dream of working from New Zealand a shot. It was something we had discussed for many years, and it felt like it was now or never!

We also realised that the home we had spent time designing, although beautiful, was spatially not very practical for our way of life. It had open plan areas and didn't take into account the fact that we now spent a lot of time working permanently at home.

We spent time reconsidering our options and looking at homes for sale and realised we needed to be smarter with our design. We took lessons from our first design and went back to the drawing board with a clearer idea of what we needed.

We started working with local architect Gareth Ritchie from Archo Architecture who had designed something aligned with a new brief. Life in New Zealand was starting to look more permanent for us, so we also realised we needed a home that we could grow with and have extended family to stay.

Here we are in July 2023 and only now laying the foundation for our home in New Zealand. We have had many moments along the way where we have wondered whether this build is meant to happen, however we know that when we finally get our new build it will be worth the long wait. 

Here are some of the things I have learnt from planning our first build in New Zealand.

-Everything takes at least twice as long as you imagine during the planning phase. Prepare for delays!

-You need to stay focused on the end goal. You are playing the long game. Have patience!! (My husband is laughing at this tip as admittedly I have found this very hard)

-Discussing Budget with your architect and design team first can save you time and money. It's easy to get carried away designing something which is the home of dreams, but unrealistic in budget. 

-Some businesses will charge for a consultation, and some are more transparent about pricing. It's best to be clear early on in the process so that you don't waste time and money.

-Choose a reputable builder who makes the process easy. Speak to past clients! Our builder at Coldstream Builders came with glowing recommendations and has been a breeze to work with.

-Get three quotes for your build. It is then easy to spot who is realistic about pricing and those who don't put energy into your quote. (That would be a red flag!)

-Trust Your Gut. If you have communication breakdowns early on. This is definitely an indication that things will be complicated later. Good relationships are key!

-We have tried to do as much planning ourselves as possible and be clear on your brief. Spreadsheets and Pinterest are your best friends!

-Figure out the areas that you want to spend on and those where you can save. This will be different for everyone, building is often about making compromises.

-We started some light landscaping to get some trees into the ground so that they can start establishing while we wait for the build. Take action in the areas that you can control.

-A landscaping master plan is a worthwhile investment especially if you are building rurally. We used NK Landscape Architecture and found Nic's knowledge invaluable.

Thanks for reading. We'll keep you posted how things go from here! Our builder assures us that building is the easy part! Let's hope he's right!

Aleasha 

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