NB ? on Miraz Jordan

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:00:31 +1300

Well, we're moved in! 🏡

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 16:15:37 +1300

Another very big milestone with our new house today. 🏡 At 11 am the building inspector visited for the final inspection and by 2.30 pm we had the Code of Compliance certificate.

Next, of course, we received our final invoice from the building company, and now we're fully paid up.

🥳

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 16:07:00 +1300

We weren't expecting these landscaping rocks in the garden, but they're a very nice addition. 🏡

We're also taking up a couple of bags of pumice and a few small bits of driftwood collected over the years from Waikawa Beach.

I wonder how they curve that wooden edging?

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:30:46 +1300

Our new house is nearly done. 🏡 Just as well since we move in soon. 😆

The deal included basic landscaping. We've started with privacy panels across the front.

We expect grass to be planted in the new layer of topsoil.

We need bushy, 'soft' plants to counteract all the severe straight lines too.

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 16:59:11 +1300

We decided to go upmarket on the light over the kitchen island in our new build. 🏡

Months ago a lighting shop had a big sale and we bought this flash lamp.

So pleasing to see it in place.

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 15:30:50 +1300

Hmmm, the builder's photo of the Family Room on our new build is interesting. The space is 3.6 metres wide. 🏡

I'm incapable of visualising how our 3-seater sofa, couple of chairs and some side tables can be arranged in any useful way.

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:52:22 +1300

Things are coming together very quickly as our new house is in the final stages of being built. 🏡

The builder hadn't specifically mentioned adding a load of topsoil to the property, but it seems that's happening. And presumably it'll be grassed once the soil has been smoothed off.

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 19:15:25 +1300

I've been watching videos about food forests on the YouTube channel Byron Grows.

We're going to have an approx 15 m² food forest at our new place. 🏡 That's rather exciting.

A food forest, also called a forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants that attempts to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature.

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 18:01:17 +1300

More photos from the builder, who tells us carpet is going in next week. We have a fancy letterbox, and fans in some rooms. 🏡

Fan in a bedroom that has an ensuite and a feature wall.

Front of house with fancy letterbox.

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:07:12 +1300

Our new house has a posh al fresco area on the east and north corner. 🏡

I digitally removed a worker in this photo from the builder.

Looks like at 2 pm in winter there's still plenty of sun to enjoy.

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:17:14 +1300

One of the things we're really looking forward to in our new house is the pantry with plenty of shelves for our food, crockery etc. 🏡

Looks like these are adjustable too.

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 17:23:14 +1300

The builder sent us a swag of exciting photos today as our house nears completion. 🏡

The kitchen isn't quite finished yet, but it's looking so good. It even has a warning to the builders not to put their gear on the surfaces.

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 10:17:01 +1300

Last week the tilers were busy working on our new bathrooms. 🏡

This photo was slightly surprising. Those are the tiles we chose months ago. Because our friends have black tiles in their bathroom I kept thinking ours would be black too …

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 07:38:25 +1300

Our new build in Ruakākā is nearly done. This week the kitchen's going in, electricians are doing lights etc, tiling is starting on the bathrooms and outside more concrete is being poured. 🏡

The builder sent photos of bathrooms and a pile of kitchen cabinets. The walls shouldn't look quite so green.

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 17:38:38 +1300

The fence on the south side of our new house has been finished. 🏡

There will eventually be one on the east side too (there's already one on the north) but not while the land behind is not yet even for sale.

It's an optical illusion that the fence appears to take a turn in front of the house.

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:13:13 +1300

An enormous loss when we move will be the (lack of) views. 🏡

Here we look over paddocks or greenery to the hills, or barely visible neighbours. Every window has a view.

In the new place there will be a 1.8 metre wooden fence only a short distance away.

Fence being erected on the south side.

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:41:15 +1300

The painters have been at work inside our new build at Ruakākā. 🏡 This photo from the builder puzzled me until I worked out the painters have stood up some internal doors in the main living area, presumably to make painting easier.

Meanwhile our designer sent me this photo of a worker starting to erect the fence on the south side.

The lot next door is on the market too.

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 14:35:12 +1300

LOL, our builder said the painters are working on the inside of our new house and wouldn't let him in because he'd track in dirt and muck. I'm glad they want their work to be best quality. 🏡

Meanwhile, someone from the firm who stays at a nearby house sent me this photo of the windows all screened off. Apparently the painters spray these days rather than brush or roll.

Also, the temporary fence has been taken down.

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 15:55:40 +1300

Luckily before we firmed up dates with the moving company we checked with the builder for our new house. Seems our moving in date is some 2 weeks later than we expected. 🏡

Oh, well, our tidying and sorting and disposing of no longer useful items continues.

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:15:53 +1300

In the southeast corner of our new property is an attenuation tank 🏡 :

Stormwater attenuation is the storage of excess stormwater during the peak of a storm, followed by controlled release of the stored water.
The rate of release is designed to be lower than the rate of runoff from a site prior to development, effectively mimicking the natural flows from the site.

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:28:12 +1300

Our new house build is inspected at certain progress points. Yesterday was drainage. The report we received contains this: Your next inspection will be: Final. Woohoo! 🏡

The builder sent us 19 photos yesterday.

The garage has a door; architraves etc in place.

Drainage work underway.

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:19:33 +1300

Heavy edits on this photo from the builder of our new home. I lightened shadows, straightened the image, and casually 'magic-removed' two workers from the left side, so the post looks a bit odd. 🏡

This is the main bedroom with gib stopping complete. This will roughly be the view from the bed.

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:06:20 +1300

Another build update for our new house. 🏡

I think the photo from the builder shows Gib stopping and plastering progress.

With the door at the end slid back and 'doubled up' it really shows the effect of having tinted windows.

We get to see a bit of greenery around the place too, with trees nearby.

Sat, 31 May 2025 07:38:08 +1300

The builder on our new house tells us: 🏡

This week all the Gib fixing has been completed and now the guys have started Plastering. [After the plaster dries, the workers] will start the Finishing Lines and Hanging Interior Doors.

Apparently, Finishing Lines are the Architraves around the door frames and the Skirting around the floor.

The builder's photo shows a bathroom.

OMG: we're going to have a house! That we'll live in! It's getting real.

Mon, 26 May 2025 17:24:08 +1300

Looks like the builders have put up all the gib on our new build. 🏡 Photo by the builder, as usual.

Next up, plastering:

The Plastering will take approx 1.5 weeks, now the temperature has cooled down the Plaster takes a bit longer to dry between coats, if you add another coat too early it can cause shrinkage.

Looking across the lounge and kitchen areas to the front door.

Sun, 25 May 2025 10:36:17 +1300

Putting up gib board continues at our new build. 🏡

The builder was standing at the front door to take this photo through to the back of the house.

Thu, 22 May 2025 20:09:38 +1300

Today the builder sent us more progress photos of gib board being put up in our new house. I've digitally removed a worker from the photo below. 🏡

Wed, 21 May 2025 09:58:50 +1300

The builders have started putting up Gib board in our new house. 🏡

Photo by the builder. There was a better photo but it shows three workers too clearly and it doesn't feel OK to me to put that online.

Fri, 16 May 2025 17:26:22 +1300

An exciting time today as we saw our new house for the first time "in the flesh". 🏡

We didn't know it had already been insulated and today it passed the inspection that allows gib board to go up next week.

The north side of the house. A slight oddity near the front door where some people were removed from the shot.

Looking down the length of the house inside. Walls are to go up next.

Thu, 15 May 2025 17:31:04 +1300

We flew over our new house as we came in to land at Whangārei. It's in the green area in the bottom right quadrant of the photo. 🏡

Threading through the top half is the Ruakākā River flowing from right to left. The riverbank walk is only a couple of minutes on foot from our place.

Tue, 13 May 2025 19:21:01 +1300

This morning the bricks were half way up the wall on our new build. By the end of the afternoon the photo from our builder's rep shows a lot has been done. 🏡

This photo from the south.

Tue, 13 May 2025 08:25:08 +1300

Our building company rep sent a photo of bricklayers hard at work this morning on our new place. 🏡

This is a view from the east.

I guess once the brickwork is complete the house will be 'weathertight', triggering another progress payment.

Thu, 08 May 2025 16:06:03 +1300

This week painters have been working on the wooden parts of the cladding on our new house. 🏡

This photo from the builder shows the north side of the house: BGC Duragroove in the (dark) Karaka and BGC Innova NuLine Plus Horizontal in 1/8 Tana (pale).

Thu, 01 May 2025 16:03:53 +1300

This week the photos from the builder show they've been working on the cladding of our new house; next week brickwork. 🏡

Cladding north side of house.

Lounge area inside the house, looking east.

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:55:09 +1300

I believe tomorrow the pre-wire of our new house will take place. Meanwhile, here's our front door from the inside. Photo by the builder. 🏡

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 14:50:49 +1300

In the last few days our new house gained windows and doors. I've processed the photo from the builder to bring out the red of the new front door. 🏡

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 15:56:16 +1300

Our new house is coming along. The builder sent photos on a couple of days. 🏡

I had Apple Photos magically remove a worker. Look closely and you'll see where, but it's not a bad job.

Almost the same photo, but now soffits have been added. Look underneath the roof of the al fresco area and the eaves.

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:13:09 +1300

Our new house is being wrapped. 🏡

This photo by the builder shows the south (cold) side of the house — garage window and door, bedrooms and bathrooms.

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 20:00:42 +1300

Well, well, well. I spotted the photo below with its caption about a new tsunami siren at Ruakākā. When I checked the map it turns out it will be … right next door to our new house. 😆

At least I guess we'll be the first to know about a tsunami, and won't fail to hear the warning.

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 11:35:40 +1300

Every Friday our builder gives us a report on the new house. Now the roof is on, the next payment milestone is watertight, except for the garage. Our builder, Steve, says:

First the guys will wrap, then do soffits, install window joinery, fit cavity battens and have a cavity inspection with Council, install cladding, scribers and flashings. Once this part is complete then the Brickwork will start, half high brick inspection with Council and once passed then the brickwork can be completed.

I don't know exactly what some of that means, but it's good to know. 🏡

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:23:06 +1300

Invoice time: Trusses & Roof Stood milestone on our new build achieved. 🏡

This builder's photo shows the north side of the house, where the kitchen and living room areas will be.

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:28:33 +1300

Our new house now has a roof, as the photos from the builder show. 🏡

Across the longrun Colorsteel monopitch roof from the northwest corner.

Across the longrun Colorsteel monopitch roof from the southwest corner.

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 13:49:26 +1300

Our new house passed another inspection today. 🏡

I'm not quite sure what these builders photos show, but they were working on roof trusses. One seems to show some lengths of the long run Colorsteel that will cover the building.

Next steps are roofing cladding and building wrap.

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 13:41:08 +1300

Work continues on our new house up north. 🏡

This week the roof trusses were put in place.

Photos courtesy of the builder.

House with roof trusses in place, looking east and north.

Roof trusses detail. Looking west and south.

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 15:53:57 +1300

About a week before we expected it the frames on our new house were stood. The panorama photo from the builder gives a probably much more accurate impression of the size — after all, it'll be twice as long as our current house and somewhat wider. 🏡

It does also include a garage.

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 07:20:51 +1300

We now have a concrete floor. 🏡

Now nothing happens for a couple of weeks while the concrete cures.

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 16:08:34 +1300

The raft foundation went in today ready for concrete to be poured this week. 🏡

a polystyrene ‘pod’ with hardfill, laid over an under-slab polythene ground sheet. This type of foundation is quicker and easier to construct, with less excavation and earthworks, while the polystyrene offers superior insulation.

Via: Conventional vs raft foundations.

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 05:33:14 +1300

Having completed the earthworks not long ago, the builders dug chunks of it up again to install the ducting required below the concrete slab to be poured soon. 🏡

Photos supplied by the builder make it look like everything's much closer together than I think (hope) it will be in real life.

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 10:51:32 +1300

House building always seems to progress in fits and starts. After earthworks were completed, the next step was boxing, ready for underslab plumbing and then the concrete pour. 🏡

I suspect the lens and the angle of the photo make the house appear to take up much more of the whole section than it really does. Photo supplied by builder.

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 13:02:06 +1300

Yay. Our building company uses a service called BuilderTrend. They started sharing photos of our new build with us. 🏡

All the empty land behind and beside our new place will eventually have houses on it, but until then we get a bit of a view.

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 17:25:31 +1300

Before they can start building our new house they have to add some height to the building platform. 🏡

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 12:38:35 +1300

Big day today. In theory they've started breaking ground at our new Ruakākā property. Meanwhile we just signed all the million forms to engage an estate agent to sell our Waikawa Beach place.

Nope, not a meth lab.
Nope, no one died here.
Nope, no hazardous waste stored here.
…

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 10:52:36 +1300

Might not look like much, but that Portaloo near the white sign marks the corner of our new property at Ruakākā, and indicates that work is about to start on our new house. 👯‍♀️

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 13:31:40 +1300

We don't yet have a start date for the house build at Ruakākā, but we expect to move perhaps mid-2025.

Now that 2024 has come to a close we're turning our thoughts to selling up here at Waikawa Beach. And so we're beginning the process of cleaning up and clearing out.

A little bit every day …

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 12:23:08 +1300

Well, at long last it's official — all signed up for a land and house package at Ruakākā on the east coast, a 20 minute drive south of Whangārei.

We expect to be living there by this time in 2025. 🏡