Building a house back in New Zealand while you’re still in the UK
isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds.
Go online
Harnessing the modern solution to all of life’s problems – the
internet – Stonewood Connect, a New Zealand home building company, now
stores information related to a house build in a web-based system,
which is only accessible to the parties involved.
It offers a great alternative to the paper-intensive process of
setting up a building project, with information, documents, email
communication and – the best part – photos of the progress being made,
all shared online.
No paper trail
Not only are trees spared in this enterprise, but home buyers,
brokers and suppliers are relieved of the time-wasting process of
creating, amending and circulating engineering reports, consent forms
and other documents any time that information needs to be altered.
Pretty pictures
But the real highlight of this system is that all parties involved
can upload and view photos to monitor the progress of the house.
“Throughout a project there are about 300 photos available;
particularly useful for overseas clients who are building here,” says
Stonewood Connect administrator Donella Lloyd.
This means you can see exactly how things are moving along, and know
that when you hit home soil, it’s four walls and a roof, and not bare
timber struts that you’re going to find.
What it costs
Nicky Cranswick, from Stonewood, says a new three-bedroom,
two-bathroom home with double garage and internal access, can cost from
as little as NZ$150,000, excluding the land. The home would include
carpets, white goods, kitchen and bathroom fittings, electrics,
plumbing, alarm and all the bells and whistles.
Get more info at stonewood.co.nz
