[Sam B]

My house in Cornwall went on the market on the 10th, and the first viewers put in an offer of the full asking price on the 12th!! They have sold their house so no chain. Can't believe it. Everything keeps happening so quickly. I know there are lots of people on the forum who are desperately trying to sell their houses, so I feel a bit awful saying I have mixed feelings, but I have. I absolutely LOVED that house and it is a wrench to think of other people having it and changing it etc. However, it now clears the way for us to go ahead with our plans to buy land and build an ecohouse (i.e. get someone else to build an ecohouse as I wouldn't have a clue!!).

I have to say that it is turning out to be very easy to sell a house whilst not actually being in the UK. The estate agents are doing everything, I haven't got any friends or family helping out, but it has all gone smoothly so far. This may be useful advice for people who don't want to move out until their house is sold. It is also easier emotionally too, if you are as attached to your house as I am.

[Sam B]

Oh and forgot to say that it sold for 2 and a half times what we bought it for 6 years ago thanks to crazy price rises in Cornwall. No wonder no-one in Cornwall can afford to buy a first home anymore!

[jen]

Wow Sam that's amazing, congratulations! I understand a bit about your mixed feelings - we sold our house to some people who were going to fix it up to resell it & our realtor wanted to know if we'd like pics/updates of what they did. I initially wanted to, but my OH felt we should let it go and move on & I think he was right.

Good luck with your next step, how exciting!

Jen

[Riddley]

I'd be really intersted to read about youe eco house. Are you thinking of "energy Efficient Homes"? I found them on the net and thought - WOW. We'd love to do something like that.
Congrats on the house sale too btw.

[Nienke]

Wow, that was quick! Congratulations!!!:nice1

[nippa&pippa]

Sam, have you heard of strawbale house? We stayed one of them in akaroa, they are fantastic in keeping house very warm (too warm by time we went to bed:laugh) with low heating on during cold days :nice1

[nippa&pippa]

Sam, have you heard of strawbale house? We stayed one of them in akaroa, they are fantastic in keeping house very warm (too warm by time we went to bed:laugh) with low heating on during cold days :nice1

http://www.strawmark.co.nz/images/30.html

[Myrkk]

Congrats on selling the house so quickly. I know what you mean... it'll be a wrench to leave the garden here...... not the house :o)
We've got a brill book by Evans/Smith/Smiley Called "The Hand-Sculpted House" all about cob houses. There are loads of good resources around. Admittedly, mainly UK stuff that I have but I'm sure they would be useful anyhow. If you're interested let me know and I'll pm you the links/addresses. There is now a self-build centre here in the UK just along the road from us and you can get cob bricks ???erm a bit strange but whatever floats your boat!

[Kim39]

Hey well done Sam. It leaves you now to move onto the next stage of your life out here. Good luck with the land and build situ.
Understand what you are saying about the prices down that neck of the woods as we tried our best to move there quite a few years ago but without any success.

Will have to catch up soon for that coffee:yes

Kim

[Sam B]

Riddley - yes, energy efficient homes is exactly what I mean. We've been looking at a company called exactly that and they do Canadian style (I think) wooden homes with solar panels, big windows with double glazing and other technical things that I don't understand. People here have told me about things like the strwbale houses, but I think I want something with big picture windows all on one side to take in the view and not sure traditional cob or bale houses will accommodate this? What do I know though? Certainly nothing about building a house - let's hope the builders know more than me!!

Looking forward to the coffee Kim!

[Jo Jo]

Fantastic news - I'm so pleased for you.

Now, should I send the blueprint for my guest-suite to you or your builder?

[gil]

Fantastic news Sam, I'm really pleased for you :clap:clap and now you can make your dream come true, brilliant! Look forward to hearing progress on the eco-house,
Love

Gil
x

[zardell]

Wonderful news Sam.

Congratulations.

Keep us up to date on the land/building etc won't you.

Julie

xx

[sarahw]

I have to say that it is turning out to be very easy to sell a house whilst not actually being in the UK. The estate agents are doing everything, I haven't got any friends or family helping out, but it has all gone smoothly so far. This may be useful advice for people who don't want to move out until their house is sold. It is also easier emotionally too, if you are as attached to your house as I am.

Congratulations!! That's great news!!! Here's to the new ecohouse!! Very exciting. I agree about the emotional attachment to the house being easier to separate from when you're over here.

However, I do have to say you have been extremely lucky - I know its a different market now to when we left & houses are shifting a lot quicker, but we lived through extreme stress selling our house from overseas - took 6 months, a heck of a lot of our savings & we had completely useless agents (they seemed extremely professional when we got them in at first...). My poor parents ended up doing a heck of a lot even though we told them it would be minimal when we left. I just wanted to warn people considering doing it to make sure they have the right agents & support in place - its not always as easy as you have had it.

[Sam B]

Yes, Sarah, you're right, I have been lucky. Actually, the most helpful people have been the property management agency we used to rent our house out initially. They have managed to get our tenants to move out quickly, arrange to have the garden maintained, got us 3 quotes from estate agents and recommended the ones we went with. They have also liaised with the estate agents and the shipping company for us. They have been great, and not even expensive.

Another factor has been that the property market in Cornwall is extremely buoyant, also our house is a period stone cottage, in village with excellent primary, shop, pub, postoffice and not far from A30, close to sea etc, so was always bound to sell quickly. So our circumstances have been such that it has been easy for us. I perhaps should be more cautious in recommending others to do it this way.

[Riddley]

Yes - that's the firm I found and I thought the houses looked great. Are you able to see any that have actually been erected? And have you actually started talking build prices yet?
I think they look amazing. Unfortunately we're tied to Auckland initially so I doubt we could afford land+house+build up there, but I'd be really interested to hear how you get on. Good luck.

[Sam B]

Hi Riddley - I've p.m.ed you.

[Moorf]

Really looking forward to tracking your progress - an eco-house is something hubby has been keen to do for a long while and I'm slowly coming round to the idea of building our own, unique space. He likes the geo-design - but I can't help thinking we'll end up with a "Space 1999" complex somewhere :laugh

Do you have a link for the energy efficient homes people? I can add it to his list!

Cheers and good luck!

Moorf

Edit: Found the link - OH now drooling over the Vermont (smallest one!)! :roll

[Sam B]

The website is www.eehnz.co.nz

I like the suncastle and the surfside (sometimes called the Oamaru)

We're in touch with the company, and they can change the designs to suit your requirements and budget. Feel a mixture of scared and v excited. Have always lived in v old houses with character++, but suddenly struck by urge to have loads of space and big windows...

[speckythecky]

Congrats on the sale and good luck with the build. You must start a thread on the whole eco build process. It is something we have looked into and reading some of the posts hear, others have thought about it to.

[Sam B]

Well, we've put in our final offer on the land, our first offer was refused. We can't go any higher, or we won't be able to build the house! We will find out if successful by friday. I'll start a new thread if we are...

[Riddley]

Fingers, toes and other associated bits crossed for you. Good luck.

[KerryS]

Oooh - how exciting! I hope your offer gets accepted.

And congrats on selling your place in Cornwall so quickly too.

[thezorbster]

Definitely keep us all informed on the eco-house progress, it seems it's something quite a few of us would like to do and we have always dreamed of a Canadian style log house too so keep us posted!

[Sam B]

Well, up-date on the eco-house side of things. We may not do it. Energy Efficient Homes are based in Wellington, which means that they would provide the design and materials, but would not oversee the building, and I really need someone to manage it from start to finish as I know NOTHING. The other problem is that although the designs are lovely, they are still classed as a kit home, and the land we will hopefully buy has covenants on it, because it is so close to Karapiro and Maungatautari. So kit homes are not allowed. So, we are using a local designer/builder, and we will get him to incorporate as many energy efficient featues as possible, but we could hardly call it an eco-home any more. Compromises, compromises...

[John Z]

Hi Sam,

I'm an architectural designer, specialised in light-weight eco-design. We're heading towards Waikato somewhere in the near future but that doesn't help you now.
What I do not understand is why any local designer couldn't design you an eco-house as it will be your design isn't it? I'm not very familiar with the local market yet but I do know there should be some award-winning designers around.
The problem with builders is (no exception...) that they prefer to stay on the (very) safe side of (their presumed) possibilities, so there is very little room for improvement, new strategies, new constructionmethods, new materials.

The simple best way is to educate yourself, it's your house, where you spend most of your time? I think it should contribute to YOUR kiwi-experience. I do not know you so I cannot tell where or what to look for, but I do know that "your designer" should be your interpreter of dreams, your keyholder of "endless" possibilities.

Cheers, John Z.

[Sam B]

Hey John Z

You sound like the very man! Let me know when you reach the Waikato and we will talk dream eco-houses. I have not completely given up on my dream, it's just hibernating a little whilst I cope with the stress of the fact that WE STILL HAVEN'T EXCHANGED ON OU UK HOUSE SALE - AAARRRGGGHHH.

When are you coming?

Sam

[John Z]

Hi Sam,

As soon as we've sold our house + 3 months.... We may be even selling our house below cost te get moving. Though I'm not licensed (yet) for NZ I already worked out a plan for our own house: for residential constructions I need a builder who is licensed and one real estate agent told me he knew a local engineer who was designing houses because of the lack of designers, who would be happy to check my designs for local NZ regulations. That should keep me happy intil I get my own license in NZ.

As you may see that could maybe take half a year from now and if I were you I don't know if I could wait that long to actually do something.

As for "the way I sound": please don't be fooled by the way designers sound: I've been horrified by students who could "talk the talk" just by mimicking, but actually only made bad copies without understanding the concept, the essence.

Designing a house is like transferring "you", who you are (or who/what you wish to be) into a structural building (the way I see it). For you that would mean "knowing who you are". For my thesis (in Dutch...) I tried to find out if integrated building design is related to "integrated personalities" (my wife is a psychiatrist) and found there really is a profound relation between them. Hence my first remark: educate yourself. Whether I'm coming in time to rescue you :laugh or not, it's a journey, your journey. It's a journey where you will meet yourselve, your partner, children (?), friends in a refreshing way.

What would be fine to know whether you do not know how to check if your house is being built the way it should or one step back, you do not know what you really want. You know of strawbale houses so I presume you're not really a "beginner"?

I read you've lived in an old house. Our former house was a mansion from 1841 and by restoring it I learned so much about structures, façades and ways of living by former owners. As you put it: such houses have character. I hate corrugated steel in/on most houses because it mostly feels like the wrong material in/on the wrong place. Because of that, character drips away from such a building. But I have to admit I'm not a New Zealander (yet) and therefore my scope has been influenced by other ways of building and materials. Who knows I may like to use it when I live in NZ?

Well, I should get working now.

Cheers, John Z.

[Sam B]

John Z

Believe me, I AM a beginner! I have bought a villa here in Cambridge which we will move into soon, and I plan to take my time with the whole land buying, house-building thing now. I think I can wait 6 months!

Sam

[John Z]

John Z

Believe me, I AM a beginner! I have bought a villa here in Cambridge which we will move into soon, and I plan to take my time with the whole land buying, house-building thing now. I think I can wait 6 months!

Sam

Oh dear, is this good or is this bad... :exit

Cheers, John Z.

[Sam B]

Too late - you're hired!!

[Lupin]

We LOVED the EEH designs but alas they were out of our budget. However we have incorporated a few eco-design features into our budget kitsit, which anyone building in NZ ought to do really.


Site for passive solar heating. The sun is NZ's most squandered resource in terms of heating. We spent several early mornings and late evenings on our land tracking the sun and agonised over exactly how to face it. If budget allowed I'd have looked for a different design but we have managed to get it so the sun rises and bathes the breakfast deck and living area, then the living area and kids bedrooms are in all day sun and our bedroom and bedroom deck in the evening (not ideal in summer but rather ours than the kids)

Water! Especially important if you live on the east coast, off the town supply and can't afford a bore! We are using a grey water recycling unit that takes from the bath, shower and washing machine only and treats the water to return to the loos for flushing. If budget had allowed I would have liked dry composting loos (not festival style long drops...proper loos), but it wasn't to be. We are also buying a few readily available water saving devices from Australia (shower head for kitchen tap and water saving shower heads for the shower, tap flow reducers etc, etc), use a water smart frontloader and will plant a virtually drought resistant garden except for the "productive" area, which will hopefully get some irrigation from the waste water treatment. We've put a big bit of our budget into a decent water treatment system rather than a septic tank, given the failure rate of septic tanks.

Ideally we'll have a wet back and a solar unit on the roof (found a company that use your existing tank and not a roof storage one), but we'll have to see. I would have wanted double glazing too even though that would be very radical for Hawkes Bay. We will be insulated all over, to the maximum depth we can afford.

Obviously the actual construction methods for our house leave a lot to be desired eco-wise :o , but we've done our best within the confines of our budget.

I passed through Cambridge yesterday, I should have pm'd you and we could have met up for coffee and chatted eco-home dreams!

[Sam B]

Oh you should have, it would have been great to meet up, although, I was at work in Tokoroa, so probably wouldn't have been available. I want to definitely use the same things as you in our new house, and definitely compost loos, we tried one when we stayed in a National Trust cottage in the UK and it was great - nothing like a long drop, v civilised.

[John Z]

Am I dreaming?

Not even in NZ and already a client!
(And hardly anyone in NZ, especially on this forum, has seen my designs yet ...)

That will be something to remember! :cheers

ALL GLOBAL VIBES UNITE AND GET ME (AND MY FAMILY) TO NZ, PLEASE!

(Oh, and permanent)

Pinch me.

John Z.

[Sam B]

Well hurry up and get your PR sorted, and then get over here and design my house!

[John Z]

...................., is everything going in the fast lane!

:raebanana

Talked to 2 very large building companies and 1 responded the same day; :raebanana they know of my building-patent and are interested to discuss when I'm in NZ... :raebanana

This is starting to make the waiting very exciting, did anyone mention "rollercoaster" before? Well, this one goes up-up-up...:eek: And I know when it's "going down": when we finally land in Auckland.

Hey Sam, how do you drink your coffee?

John Z

(reminder, things to do: sell my house first thing in the morning)

[dragon56]

Hi Sam
What part of Cornwall are you from? We have just (Nov) put our house in Hayle on the market, not too much interest so far but then it has been Christmas & New Year. It will be a wrench leaving West Penwith, our house is 200 years old & steeped in history, we have owned it for nearly 30 years. Cornwall is changing fast though & a lot of the things we love will soon be gone or inaccessible.

Our philosophy is "if we make the break then go the whole hog" so we plan to buy a mobile home when we arrive and just drive until we find the right spot and then build our own house. Ambitious I know but I am a carpenter by trade and have run my own small building company for many years.
http://www.juniperbuilding.co.uk

Best regards to all you wonderful posters on this forum I wish I had found it sooner

Duncan

[Sam B]

Hi Duncan

Our house was just outside the village of Rose, near Goonhavern. It was a 100 year old cottage with an acre of garden, all in good condition, so I did expect it to sell fast. But it sounds like the market has gone flat since then, we got in at just the right time.

I worked in Camborne. I do miss Cornwall, especially some of the beaches and the coast path, but we are very happy here, there are lots of great beaches too, and the scenery is generally wonderful, and great to not have to share it with so many people (August in Cornwall - ugh). The weather (in Cambridge where we have settled) is also miles better.

Good luck with your dream. We have bought some land and are having a house built, it's much more common to do that here.

[dragon56]

Hi Sam (and John Z)

We visited Cambridge in 2004 and took in the Waitomo Caves, I seem to remember that there was a pretty exhilarating luge in the area as well. We spent a couple of months touring then. The trouble was that everywhere we went (almost without exception) we wanted to stay, it is going to be a tough choice when we do arrive.

The problem with builders is (no exception...) that they prefer to stay on the (very) safe side of (their presumed) possibilities, so there is very little room for improvement, new strategies, new constructionmethods, new materials.

The above is a pretty unfair comment John, most builders I know (and I have worked in the building trade a very long time) are very keen to try out new and innovative ideas. The trouble is that our work is budget driven, Designers and Architects tend to have most contact with clients at the start of a project when imagination is fired and everyone is full of hope and dreams.

We live, eat and breathe the project, through the rain, droughts and every other problem that can (and so often do) beset any build. Generally about half to threequarters of the way through the client starts to worry about cost, even though you may be on target and in budget. From that point we are constantly asked to find cheaper ways of doing things. the same finish is expected though so we end up trying to build a Rolls Royce for the price of a Fiat Uno.
That is certainly true in Cornwall and I suspect it is a universal truism.

Enough moaning, I love my work really and many of my ex clients are now close friends.
I was also a little shocked at first with the use of corrugated iron for roofing, I had only thought of it for sheds and agricultural buildings, but after a while I became used to it and was in some cases impressed with the imaginative ways it had been put to use. Have you seen the car sculpture all done with corrugated iron in Auckland Museum?
Steel is being used quite a bit in the commercial world now, with good insulation and planning it is quite effective.

Ah well I guess I can only talk until our house sells!

Kind regards Duncan

[John Z]

Hi Duncan,

Hopefully you're the exception to the rule, as there are always exceptions!:cheers

We're in NZ now since a few months and we're in the proces of buying our own half of a small mountain (sounds impressive doesn't it? ;-) to build an even more impressive integrated designed house. (I like a challenge...)

I am amazed however how "easy" it is for some people to destroy native bush/land and replace it with a "10 a penny" house (even the "contemporary" ones) sitting in a nice flowerbed lawn. With a little more effort you can respect the native environment and even make it work to make a house design more powerfull!

We live in Tamahere (in between Hamilton and Cambridge) where it is said to be "upmarket". Well, if "upmarket" means replacing native bush with "look how wealthy I am houses on manicured lawns" it really gets me DOWN.

But, to end this little rant a bit more positive for you Duncan:
While being in NZ now I've been talking to some builders who seem to be more open to new designs than I was used to.

Cheers, JohnZ.

[Smiler]

We're in NZ now since a few months and we're in the proces of buying our own half of a small mountain (sounds impressive doesn't it? ;-) to build an even more impressive integrated designed house. (I like a challenge...)

I am amazed however how "easy" it is for some people to destroy native bush/land and replace it with a "10 a penny" house (even the "contemporary" ones) sitting in a nice flowerbed lawn. With a little more effort you can respect the native environment and even make it work to make a house design more powerfull!

We live in Tamahere (in between Hamilton and Cambridge) where it is said to be "upmarket". Well, if "upmarket" means replacing native bush with "look how wealthy I am houses on manicured lawns" it really gets me DOWN.

But, to end this little rant a bit more positive for you Duncan:
While being in NZ now I've been talking to some builders who seem to be more open to new designs than I was used to.

Cheers, JohnZ.

Hi John

Are you working in NZ now then? Are your designs 'on the market' yet please? ;)

[John Z]

As you may guess Smiler, I'm in the proces of:

1. dealing with a large building company to implement my buildingsystem.
2. trying to land half a (small) mountain.
3. trying to figure out what direction the design of our new house should get.
4. trying not to tell too much, yet.

Cheers, John.