June 2000
Good Afternoon
Wills and trusts:
Wills and trusts; a strange subject for a builder
to write about you might think, but it was one of the topics I
wrote about in my last newsletter. And boy, did I get a huge response
and great feedback. As a matter of interest, these newsletters
go out to well over 2000 people just like yourself who always
find something in each copy to use or pass on, or talk about or
act on.
But back to the subject matter of wills and trusts. There was
another case you'll remember with the fire in Alexandra just over
a year ago that started as a controlled burn-off and ended up
threatening to destroy the whole town. Well the person that started
it was hit with a bill from the fire department of more than $200,000.
Now, I don't know the finer details of the end result and what
the fire service was paid but in most cases, or with most of us,
if we were hit with a bill that size we might have to sell the
family home to pay for it.
One of the letters I got in response to that article
was from Gray Hughson who actually works in the business of setting
up effective wills and trusts for people like you and I. So I
thought I'd ring him just to touch base and we ended up having
quite a lengthy chat. He described a few other horror stories
of what people had got themselves into and put their personal
assets at risk, his stories could have kept me typing for weeks.
At the end of the day, wills and trusts are more like insurance.
Yes, there is a set-up cost and they need fine-tuning
from time to time as your life circumstances change, but it's
an investment, not a cost. My advice would be, if you don't know
anyone to talk to on this subject give Gray a call during business
hours ( free phone on 0800 -627-665) and have a chat to an expert.
He mentioned that anyone that does as a result of reading this
article he'll give his first consultation free (without further
obligation), usually costing round $250. What have you got to
lose?
Heating your home - options
and costs. The "Consumer" article :
I'm always asked or I'll always ask, "what
are our/your heating costs and options"? Surprisingly there
are quite a few. However out of all of the options, the one to
stay well clear of is the portable gas LPG heater. Sure they're
convenient to use and relatively cheap to run, but they'll cause
so much damage to the inside of your home.
Why? Because LPG (that's gas in a bottle) lets
off so much moisture when it's being used. What does moisture
do to the inside of the house? It causes excessive condensation
on your windows and it will also make curtains, floor coverings
and furniture damp with moisture and rot them faster. So if there
is this much moisture being produced and affecting the items I've
mentioned, it will also start to damage other areas of your house.
There's one thing that you should never forget, moisture and water
has caused more damage and destruction to our domestic dwellings
over the past 150 years in this country than any other force of
nature. So have a good read of the article, it's very interesting
but avoid those portable LPG heaters at all cost..
Click here to read the article -
use the back button on your browser to return to this page
The difference between rustic
and rusticated :
Essentially when referring to rustic or rusticated
we are referring to a type of look, style or finish usually associated
with timber weatherboards. Because of this, the explanation I
am about to give will be from a trade opinion, ie: the definition
understood and referred by architects, designers, draughts people,
builders and the like.
A rustic look is one that is usually associated
with boards that are left with a rough-to-touch finish. Or the
boards are fitted without being machined smooth, ie: the surface
is left sawn or rough looking, the same as if it's come straight
off the saw bench.
However rusticated is more of a style or look
requirement. We refer to it as a profile. Rusticated weatherboards
were used for the first time in the late 1800's and early 1900's
in New Zealand because of the abundance of native timber and,
of course, are used extensively today in various shapes, forms
and different types of material.
Just to add more confusion to the equation, rusticated
weatherboards can also be supplied and have often been used or
fitted with rustic finish to the outer surface. Once again, this
is to achieve a preferred look with most of this style attracting
an oil stain finish. Cedar has been a popular product to use in
this instance, but often with disastrous results.
However, most rusticated weatherboards tend to
be painted, and provided the paint is applied in the recommended
way by the paint supplier, weatherboard clad houses can be just
as low maintenance as any other product on the market other than
brick or stone.
Different products used in house construction
tend to suggest the preferred or most popular style of the period.
As mentioned earlier the rusticated weatherboard was first available
for use a little over a 100 years ago, but prior to that the choice
of cladding was very few. So from when the first early European
settlers that had the tools to cut and mill timber up until the
late 1800s the most popular weatherboard was the square sawn plank
(say 8 x 1 or 200 x 25). Today we call it the bevel-back weatherboard.
So in the 1800s when paint became available in this country, you'll
find some magnificent homes and homesteads built that had this
sawn faced bevelled weatherboard. And don't we still admire them.
Today we are still able to achieve that same grand
look because as you're probable aware, our latest showhome has
the appearance of looking more like it was built early last century.
Taking on the appearance of a beautifully maintained old homestead.
I must say, I did toy with the idea of using painted sawn bevel-back
weatherboards on the showhome when we built it, that would have
made it look even older.
Life put in perspective :
Just recently we finished building a new home
for a retired doctor over here in the Wairarapa. And as I say
with the heading, I had life put in perspective for me by him
during the construction.
Very early on in the construction process the
building inspector arrived on site to inspect the foundation before
we poured the footings. The inspector said, "sorry guys,
you can't use a standard foundation because the ground is too
soft". The ground was virgin ground and the digging was very
easy but we would never have believed it to be unsuitable. Some
people would kill for a section like this as the reason for the
ground being considered soft was because the top 2m was the most
beautiful creamy top soil you'll find anywhere, stone free, just
magnificent.
One of the most unpleasant jobs I have to do is
inform the owner that due to unforseen circumstances we have to
do XYZ work to comply with additional council requirements on
their site. Often people are on a budget and the extra expense
can be a real burden, but even if finance is not a problem I'm
still left to be the bearer of bad news and sometimes it can leave
a short term strain in the relationship. Thank goodness it doesn't
happen too often. So I rang the owner and told him I was going
to have to drive piles for the foundation to find bearing solid.
"How much", he asked. I said I don't know, because at
the time we didn't know that it was 2m. It could have been up
to 4 or 5m, you can't tell until you are actually doing it. I
said, worst possible price $14,000., best possible price $4,500.
(extra). Either way you look at it it's a lot of money. His reply
was, do what you have to do.
I went on to explain to him how much I hated being
put in the position of having to tell people about extras that
sometimes are quite large sums of money, to carry out this type
of unseen and unexpected work. And it was his reply that put life
in perspective for me. He said, as you are aware I've just retired
from being a doctor. All my working life I've been faced with
telling the young and old that due to their medical condition
they don't have long to live. Try that on your shoulders. Sure,
the extra cost involved is unfortunate but necessary, at least
(quality of) life goes on.
So although telling my clients occasionally they
are up for unforseen expenses is still a chore I don't enjoy,
there is always someone else far worse off.
Visualise the dream :
One of our best assets is that we draw all our
plans on computer. What the computer can do these days is quite
fantastic, and they continue to improve at lightening speed. Because
a lot of people find it difficult reading plans, what this means
is that you can see exactly what your proposed new home will look
like before it even gets printed on to paper. The benefits for
you are that we can show you and print out for you a 3D model
few form any angle of your new home, it can be from inside or
outside. So take advantage of this new technology and to make
it easier we have enclosed a special offer price if you bring
the attached flier with you when you come to visit and want to
start the planning process.
Regards
Julian Moss
Oh PS: More and more inquires and sales are from
beyond the toll free area of our office. Because of this, for your
convenience I have installed an 0800 Free-Help phone line to our
office. So if you have any questions or queries you can contact
me (that's Julian Moss) on:
0800 MOSS BROS (6677-2767)
And PPS: If you have some burning issues
that you'd like answers to, write or phone me, I'll research your
subject and give my reply in the following newsletter so that thousands
of others may benefit from the information.
|
