One of the reasons for us taking several more months than we expected to be ready to build is the loss of our builder.
Seeking Guidance
During early 2010 we started talking to architects, with varying degrees of success. We roughly knew what we were after, and had a "brief" of sorts, and narrowed our list down to two or three which we had confidence could design us the house we wanted. However we couldn't escape the fact that there is a vast divide in the house building market.
On the one hand, around 90% of the build market doesn't use architects directly - everyone else building in our street for example has rung up Masterton etc., selected the "Victorian Executive #3" or whatever, and made some small changes then signed up. Masterton themselves used architects you'd like to hope to arrive at the designs they peddle. This approach produces houses in the realm of $500-$1500 per m2.
On the other hand, the remaining 10% of the market appears to be heavily skewed to the million dollar plus mansions in Sydney's Eastern suburbs. The figures we were getting back started around $3000 per m2 and some were up around $5000. Both of these figures we got the strong feeling were rather low compared to the clients they usually worked with. That's not to say that they weren't prepared to design a house to be built for lower costs, but given our strong sustainability brief we didn't know how well we could achieve affordable and well performing going down this path.
Somewhere during this time frame, a colleague pointed out
Viva Homes, based in Lawson in the Blue Mountains. Their packages were appealing - pre-architect-designed houses of varying sizes and shapes, using materials such as strawbale and earth (cob and render). To top it off, the houses were built fixed cost and time with a rough target of $2000 per m2.
A Direction at Last!
It didn't take us long to set up a meeting with Simone and Sam - the two person powerhouse behind the business. It rapidly became clear that they completely understood what we were trying to do - they don't use nasty glues or paints that off-gas, or fit the houses with airconditioning, and are passionate about sustainability themselves - living in a house designed to these specifications. Around half of the items on our architectural brief were already done - given how many ideas we had put down there this was quite an achievement.
The fact that the look and feel of the houses are
absolutely stunning (browse the site for more pictures) just sealed the deal in our mind.
During late 2010 we got Sam on site, where he said that it didn't appear any of their standard designs were going to quite provide what we were after, and given what we had told him thus far he showed a sketch outline of house designed just for us to a "Boomerang" shape. The interior didn't meet many of our ideas, but the shape was perfect for our highly windy site atop Razorback - prevailing winds are directed along the house creating a usable oasis for our outdoor living area behind the house.
I spent many many hours taking this shape and putting together a draft version as best as my non-architect brain could muster, then we handed it to the architect that already understood Viva's way of operating - Jamie Brennan from Six B Design in Katoomba. There were many details beyond my abilities, and Jamie added a huge amount of value for not a lot of money.
Our goal was to get the accompanying plans into council before Christmas 2010, however the supporting engineering drawings didn't arrive in time so we missed this goal considerably.
Back to the Drawing Board?
It didn't end up mattering too much, because in early 2011 we got a call from Sam and Simone which threw us all into disarray - they were over-committed and had lost staff unexpectedly and as such regrettably weren't able to take on our project after all.
By this stage of the project we'd been working with Viva for so long that the concept of starting again with another builder was deeply depressing. We had had some conversations with other builders basically to judge whether Viva's prices were realistic, but the feedback was that none of them were really interested.
However in our favour, we'd made it very clear throughout the process that the drawings Jamie did for us were owned by us, and as such we weren't completely buggered. The other major plus was that the strawbale and earth render part of their building was done by a subcontractor - Frank Thomas from
Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow. This part contributes most to the finished feel of the building, and compared to accepted "normal" building practices is the most non-standard, so having Frank on board gave us the confidence to head off into the market. His advice was to find a good carpenter and he could look after the rest.
Back to the Locals
One of the "brief" items that Viva had sorta-kinda filled was to use local labour where possible. We decided to look more local, and contacted pretty much every local builder that Google and Jamie (via his contacts) could find us. Many conversations were had, promises made, but in the end many didn't bother to continue the quoting process.
One however, has done. Mick Kennedy (and his son) from BenAyla constructions - based about 10 minutes from our site in Camden South - stood out from the crowd immediately. He's a country boy through and through, running horses when he's not building, and has the contract for working on the local heritage buildings like
Elizabeth Macarthur's original Belgenny Farm. There he replaces original 1820s work with the same old hand techniques, and is clearly a skilled operator. That ticked Frank's requirement and into negotiations we went. Never once has Mick looked phased at the non-standard materials or our sustainability requirements like many other builders have - he's clear that if that's what we want, that's what we'll get.
His quoting process has been very transparent, and we're happy with the figure we have arrived at. It even arrived just in time to allow our finance approval (secured just before Viva's fateful call months earlier) expired, which has reduced headaches. Since we signed the contract last week, the contract has gone to the bank to finalise the approval, and as at late last week we're all lined up to go.
Despite building many houses over the years, he hasn't done any for some time now due to changes in the warranty system making it not worth his time. Plus with the cushy government contract just at the end of his road for Belgenny he hasn't had to bother. We feel somewhat lucky that our project has drawn him out of his not-quite-"retirement".
Mick's start date is 14th June, just after the long weekend. Can't wait.