October 1998
Good Afternoon
The object of the newsletters I write is to inform, suggest options
through good or bad experience from the coal face of the new home
construction industry and give hints and tips and suggestions
to those people, like yourself, who have made contact with this
firm through an advertising promotion, our showhomes, word of
mouth or recommendation and referral. Today we have a database
of over 1300 in just 3 years, with everyone being asked if this
type of information could be useful some day. I suppose the proof
that it is very well received is that the database grows daily.
But remember the newsletters are free and I certainly don't want
to send them if they are discarded before they're read or you
find the content objectionable, as was the case with (only) one
reader last month. The content of the letter did disturb her because
she had just spent a lot of money purchasing some household items
that could have an effect on her health. You must realise that
the sorts of things that I talked about will have no further adverse
effect on your body if you're not taking care of it in other ways.
For example, smoking, excessive drinking, poor diet, lack of exercise
etc. Let's face it, we all want a long and healthy life and the
place where we live, with the materials and appliances around
us, is the field in which I specialise - so I offer you the benefit
of my experience. However, I don't wish to continue to build or
add to my database to swell my own ego so if you don't wish take
advantage or benefit from my free articles, please phone us (0800
MOSS BROS) to have yourself removed from the database like the
above person wanted. Unfortunately she didn't leave her name or
address so I can't oblige her.
The average square cost of building a new
home :
Several newsletters ago I discussed how you could get an easy
estimate on costings for the construction of a new home. It was
intended as a guide only for budgeting purposes. I suggested that
as a guide of an average construction you could work on about
$900 (including GST) per m² of floor area but in fact I should
have stated plus GST. I get these average figures from data provided
by the New Zealand Institute Of Valuers that comes out in a bi-monthly
magazine. I think that it's very important to understand that
these figures are based on a specification (ie; what the house
is made from) provided by the institute, and that the size of
a new home is probably half the reason for a house costing what
it does. It's the specification that does all of the damage. As
an example we have put together three specifications, The Pioneer,
The Settlers and The Colonial Villa of which most of our work
is based around, but these are only three specifications out of
literally millions of combinations. Take a 180m²/1944ft²
new home built based around our three standard specifications
- it could have a cost variation of as much as $35,000, and this
is based on an identical floor plan. In fact what I tend to suggest
these days is that it's even safer to budget between $1000 and
$1,100 (including GST) per m² at the initial planning stage,
this way (unless you've got very expensive tastes) you're more
likely to have money over or enough to cover obstacles that may
be unique to your site. I think you'd agree it's far better be
on the high side than the low side. You'll always get cowboys
that will tell you to budget between $800 and $900 a m²,
but you get what you pay for or deserve if you don't do your home
work.
Dual wet-back. Half for HWC and half for
passage radiator:
I've often referred to Mr Bill Wilson in the past. He's the guy
that developed the special wet back pump called, a "Pulse
Flow" pump. If you missed out on past newsletters that talked
about the Pulse Flow pump, basically it's a clever little device
that is attached to the wet back fittings inside the fire box
of your wood fire. Its pumps hot water heated by the wet-back
back to the hot water cylinder without electricity, even though
the cylinder may be at the other end of the house to the wood
fire. In effect, it gave far more design options in floor plan
layouts as the hot water cylinder no longer had to be located
just behind the wood fire to be effective.
Bill has now come up with an add-on to his tricky little pulse
flow pump. He has divided the wet back fitting into two separate
parts. I suppose, to put it more simply, he has attached two wet-back
fittings together. Half the system is used for heating water for
day-to-day household use and the other half is used to supply
hot water to radiators that would probably be located in the passage
or in some central location ie; it's designed as a space heater,
once again the radiators are operated by the technology of the
pulse flow pump located in the wood fire. I think it must be remembered
that wet-back fittings take a lot of heat out of a fire, so if
you're going to use this type of technology for space heating,
then it's important that the wood fire is large enough to generate
enough heat and you always have a good supply of dry fire wood.
The company that manufactures the valve is Reid Technologies.
They can be contacted on: telephone: (09) 489 8100 ,Fax: (09) 448
1631, http://www.reidtechnology.co.nz/logfire.htm
Appliance purchasing tips:
A few tips to remember when purchasing new household appliances
during and for the construction of your new home, especially items
that are going to be placed in storage for more that one month,
things like stoves, ovens, dishwashers, fridges etc. I've known
people to store appliances for up to eight months and longer because
they've managed to get a fantastic deal by buying in bulk. Always
make it a condition of purchase that the warranty starts on the
day the appliances are installed. Who knows, the warranty could
have expired before you even get to use them.
Before taking them out of their box, inspect the box for visible
signs of damage. Immediately after taking them out of the box,
once again carry out a thorough visual inspection for damage.
If possible, carry out your inspection with a second person to
verify a damage. Getting compensation on damaged items could otherwise
be impossible. Stick to Kiwi or Aussie made appliances. We've
seen and had clients with all kinds of problems by purchasing
European or Continental appliances. From lengthy time delays in
receiving the goods, to the same problems if there are faulty
or damaged parts. You may find that the local product doesn't
have the same styling as some of the northern hemisphere products,
but they are reliable and easy to have repaired. Besides, the
styling are improving all the time. Another advantage with local
products is they are made for local cooking styles, eg; we have
a client that purchased an Italian wall oven and hob (very expensive),
after having all of the problems I mentioned above, she also found
that the accessories that came with the oven were not compatible
to Kiwi style cooking, ie; in short, there were no dishes that
could handle a good old Kiwi roast.
An interesting point I mentioned above about the price, most
of us are happy to pay more for something if we believe we are
getting value for money, or that a product or service has a distinct
advantage or benefit over others. The fact is, I don't see many
benefits from Continental products except a few fancy knobs and
whistles and a racing strip across the side. But there is one
noticeable difference, the price.
Free site visits:
I've mentioned this before in past newsletters. Regardless of
where you are in the country, because we do build throughout NZ.
If you would like me to view your existing and proposed building
site or you're thinking of purchasing a property and not sure
about its suitability for building or what the options are, and
the likely costs of the sewerage, mains power, water and other
services, take advantage of my experience and give me a call.
If you're wanting to purchase a property, being able to receive
a few hints and tips from a design and build perspective who is
totally removed from the purchasing process (like the present
owner, a land agent or other interested party) the information
I'm able to give could become very powerful when it comes time
to negotiating the purchase price of the land. I can do this free
for two reasons. If my time table permits, my wife and I use the
longer distance site visits as a way of getting a tax deductable
weekend away, (quite legal and above board, she is my secretary)
and if you're close by then I just stop by on the way to other
business. Remember it's obligation free, and costs you nothing.
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)
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