Fiona and Nigel built their home on 25 acres of land in New Zealand with views of the Southern Alps mountains and Canterbury plains. Their home took 8 months to construct and features 4 roofs, engineered timbers, and reinforced concrete walls to withstand the high wind, snow, and earthquake zones. The 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home has large windows throughout to take in the scenic views and modern amenities like a kitchen with granite counters, indoor and outdoor living spaces, and an insulated structure built to last.

1. Fiona and Nigel’s house build in New Zealand

4. Our plot - 25 acres Then….

5. Now…. 30000 acre Ashley forest behind us

6. Canterbury plains and southern alps in front

7. Muddy enough for ya? Building site flat area created by removing over 100 cubic metres of soil

8. Home sweet home for 8 months

9. Sun rise on a cloudy morn

10. Sunset

12. Builder asked ‘which way do you want the house to face?” we said “point it at Mount Thomas” – that’s the mountain in the distance!

15. Electric supply – finally heat in caravans!

17. Piping goes into base then damp proof membrane then reinforcing mesh – ready to pour concrete..

18. Drains laid

19. Hi-tech septic tank and dripper lines go in..

20. Wooden walls and roof trusses arrive

21. 2 nd garage (built first) for storage of furniture etc during build

23. This and other photos came from the live webcam on top of our caravan which allowed us to watch the build from work

25. Our 4x4 Hilux, V6 - 3litre, only thing that would pull trailer up our driveway!

28. Very strong engineered timbers for the vaulted ceiling As our house sits on top of a hill and is just above the 200m from sea level , the house is strengthened for highest wind zone AND highest snow zone And.. Because we are on a hill in New Zealand…wait for it…. Highest earth quake zone too…

30. 4 roofs clearly visible – big feature of design

34. Color steel roof and facia goes on

35. Walls are covered in cellcrete – a lightweight reinforced concrete which is then plastered 3 times and 3 coats of paint – more expensive than brick!

36. Chimney and ‘feature’ walls are covered in hardie wetaherboard – a hightech ceramic linea board

37. Insulation goes in, pink for walls and ceiling (250mm), green for sound proof in most internal walls

40. 4’ x 8’ front door- needed 5x 200mm hinges

41. View from top of first hill before drive way goes in Loburn Kowai Road

42. Straight up! 1 in 4 pitch first hill of driveway.. Maximum the council would pass

47. Nearly 1km of driveway cost us $30k and the seller even more! Our driveway is now renown throughout the district 6 power poles and 200m underground cable cost us another $30K !

48. Our house has been entered by our builders for New Zealand house of the year in our category! 2 nd bedroom sliding door Master bedroom sliding door Dining sliding door Living room sliding door

49. Stones from house foundations, which are harder than granite

50. Entrance hall

51. Living and dining Heat pump for heating and cooling

53. Fiona’s little pantry Kitchen with black granite benches

54. All doors are extended to 2.4m high and all ceilings are lifted to a minimum of 2.55m high

56. 23KW log fire in wall with cantilever granite hearth Italian double under sink Kick open double bin SS Dish washer with hidden controls SS fridge with in door crushed ice maker Induction hob – uses magnetic field to heat bottom of pots

57. The ‘man cave’ ie media room

58. 46” plasma Media cabinet with lots of electronic stuff..an a WII Diamond 10.1 wharfedale speaker system (10 speakers + sub-woofer) Yes, this is the sub-woffer

59. bathroom

60. Separate toilet (kiwi thing)

61. Laundry room

62. Hall 1 Auto sensing floor lights

63. Bedroom 2 with patio doors

64. Master Bedroom With En-suite and walk in wardrobe ->

65. En-suite

66. En-suite shower High pressure rain head

67. House double garage (for important stuff!)

68. Builders 4x4s Google satellite photo taken Dec 09

69. Kea & Oscar hard at work

70. Now you have to come visit!