Stonewood Homes NZ case study, 7 Homestar show home, Sustainable Housing Summit New Zealand

1. BRENT
METTRICK
• title
STONEWOOD
HOMES
7 HOMESTAR™
SHOWHOME

2. Who are we?

3. The Home You Deserve
Who we are
• New home builder
• Build mainly on owners land to order
• Some house and land packages
• Established 25 years ago in Christchurch
• Originally a timber interior home franchise
• Established Stonewood as a retail brand in
1998
• Now 4,000 homes later

4. The Home You Deserve
Who we are
• Currently 21 franchises both North and
South Islands
• 34 current show homes and 27 office
outlets
• Last year we sold 440 homes
• 38% rise in a 11% declining market
• Now placed as number 2 in residential
homes NZ wide

5. The Home You Deserve
Our green journey
• Builders shows in USA 1995
• 2001 started to work up the ideas
• (In 2003 double glazing was standard all batts
were upgraded)
• 2004 did our first green advertising
• 2005 released our “Ecosure” brand
• Progressed from there……

6. Selling a house
• Solid element of trust
• Convinced of track record
• Offer of a value to the customer
• Analytical proposition
• Sale is conceptual
• Well considered and planned
• Large ticket item
• In our case it tends to be an emotionally driven
• Product is tangible in the end

7. • For our business ‘green’ is a given
• We believe green will become the new
quality differentiator for customers

8. Why 3rd party verification?
• For a brand to have strength it has to stand
scrutiny
• Ecosure in our view was not strong enough
• It is a fine line between green and greenwash
• We need to tread the path to green in a manner
that takes our market with us
• We needed to skill our team and show them we
are serious also.

9. What had to be done
differently?
• Design
• Architect – Bob Burnett
– Start with a standard plan
– Give it a new look
– Exterior
– Interior configuration
– model
– Full homestar workup (this was the hard part)
– Material alternatives
– New suppliers and educate our original suppliers
– Understand that points and $ are not equal
– Tension of cost vs. the market and rating goal.

10. What had to be done
differently?
• Lighting
– LED,s
– Droplights
• Windows
– Thermal suite
• Council RFI,s
• Plumbing
– Wc,s, taps, rainwater recovery
• Waste reduction

11. Devil is in the detail
1 Rainwater harvesting to toilets, laundry and irrigation
2 Level entry to exterior doors gives easy access
3 Chemical free framing so you can breath easier
4 Thermally broken window joinery with upgraded glass
5 Surface mounted low energy lighting
6 Future proof wiring Cat 6
7 Insulated foundation perimeters and thermally broken slab
8 Over height doors for passive heat transfer
9 Double layered ceiling and wall insulation
10 Vented extractor fan to all wet areas
11 Energy efficient appliances
12 Non toxic paints and glues
13 Ring main water system
14 Water efficient plumbing fittings – WELS rated
15 Poly insulated internal doors
16 Sustainable timber & recycled cement
17 Sound insulation to main living area
18 Responsible contracting keeping construction waste to a minimum

12. The Home You Deserve
What had to be done
differently?
• We had to test and argue each rule!!!
• We were slow to realise that every project
will have easy points and as many hard
points.
• Waste reduction saves money, Fire
extinguisher costs nothing, other items
over $2000 per point (max 100 points)

13. Outcome
• A great home
• 80 groups a week visiting the home
– Many questions asked
– Sales people gaining skills every day
– Critics turned to advocates

14. The Home You Deserve
Outcome
• Everyone comments on the easy warm
feel on the home
• The home has sold with leaseback to a
staff member at full price
• Full return on outlay
• Our profile has raised through publicity via
other parties
• Other showhomes being planned

15. The Home You Deserve
Customer
• A warm energy efficient home
• Economic to run
• Intact investment
• Not compromised in any way

16. The Home You Deserve
Lessons learned
• Have faith
• Don’t screw the points
– Whilst points cost $ they don’t relate.
• More effort in planning would pay (another 7
points!!)
• There is a learning curve for your staff, trades,
suppliers and the realestate agents and
customers
• The next is easy and there will be many more

19. Thank you