What you need to make sure of right up front – key things to factor in from the start
It will often be something you don’t see – what’s behind the walls or under the floor
Get the basic elements in place – things that will be difficult or costly to change later on
“Building a house is not easy. It can be overwhelming for homeowners who don't know which is the most important part. Sometimes the important parts are the parts that you can't see - such as design and structure, some of the parts you can't change later.”
Honshu Li: Warmth.nz
“There is still that real budget focus, people don’t want to spend an extra 5 grand or 2 grand or a grand on something they can’t see or doesn’t look really cool, can’t show off – they’re choosing the cheaper option which isn’t as good, then they’ll put in a $3000 bath upstairs.”
Victoria Mitchell: Statement Homes
“it’s more expensive to rip out all your walls and beef up that insulation than it is to rip out a bath – it is a bit tricky to talk to people about those improvements that you can’t see. All your walls just get covered up, you spend hours and days and weeks running pipes and all sorts of things throughout your house, and then you cover it all up, it’s gone.”
Clayton Mitchell: Statement Homes
“When we build a Superhome there are certain pathways. You can go the whole length, or you can just go a certain step at a time. But, there are minimum things that you should do that are not negotiable. The minimum basic standards I always tell my clients are; airtightness, the insulation value, the heat recovery system and windows.”
Andrew Krupa: Koffman Windows
“New zealanders still trapped in trying to reduce that up front cost as much as possible, still thinking short term. Trying to reduce costs as much as possible, the things that you choose to spend money on might be the flashy things that are going to appeal to a potential buyer, not so much the things that you can’t see like airtightness, membranes or insulation.”
Rob d'Auvergne: Foley Group
“It's good to work with a designer that's familiar with the principles of high-performance homes and getting things right early on. Up-front is critical – it's a lot more difficult and costly to try and put a ventilation system in further down the line.”
Marcus South: Warmth.nz (Moisture Master - 2024)
“It doesn’t matter if you do a feature wall because the next buyer can change it if they want to. They can’t go back and change the insulation, not quickly anyway without alot of pain.”
Victoria Mitchell: Statement Homes
