We asked a similar question when we bought our piece of bare land. We were advised that building a simple shape would reduce costs... so we've built a t shape. Single story is almost always cheaper. We have a builder who is happy to let us do a lot of work with him. We also choose to live on site, which saves us a lot in fuel. The kids and I clean up the building site most days. We've been able to separate the rubbish out between actual rubbish and recyclable material. As for cladding, we were going to do a mix of corrugated iron with plywood board and batten. But given some of the additional hassles, I don't think there's much in it cost wise. However, in saying all that, we chose to invest in long term benefits, so our house is exactly what we want and should be cheap to run. We were hoping to build for $1800 /sq m but we're still coming out at about the $2000 mark.

Distributed by Timspec, Accoya was used chosen as the ideal material to clad a show home in Auckland. Accoya was selected for the black coated weatherboards on the front section of the house, due to its durability and stability benefits. Because of Accoya’s modification technique it is the ideal wood for external cladding such as this. Generally, problems can occur with darker coatings on cladding, due to shrink and swell being exasperated by the solar gain. But, Accoya wood’s superior dimensional stability negates this problem and maintenance intervals are dramatically extended. The cladding needed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as highly durable in order to withstand the extreme climates in New Zealand. Accoya was also chosen due to its rot resistant benefits and its ability to deter insects in these types of environments.

Hey, Had our hot water cylinder replaced with an infinity. Unfortunately, the plumber we used didn’t explain that the install would leave ugly pipes across the front of our house.... if we’d have known this we wouldn’t have bothered at all.... Anyway - all is installed now, does anyone have advice on how to hide these pipes? Apparently the plastic coating won’t allow paint to stick to it so that’s not a viable option. any help welcome!!

I desperately in need of advice as I cannot make a decission.... sorry, pics are in comments as I could not attach them here, new to this.... 1. I am unsure which colour to paint the front door, the wooden has an ugly stained brownish colour, happy to sand or to paint, but mental block about colour - grey/black or white? 2. Thinking about recladding the bricks with horizontal wooden slates as per last pic.Is that a good idea? Not suited? Friends say too expansive here in NZ but i am happy to pay if it will suit the house. 3.Shall we put a deck in front of the french door connecting the entrance, which I would then cover with wood as well to get rid of the concrete. Too much wood? And what about the planters, leave the bricks, cover as well, I prefer to cover them.Input much appriciate as my dear partner would leave it as is:) House specs: 1951 house, render, with the bit of fake brick in the front. The entrance face the front garden, it is visible from the street through trees.I love the good size garden, obviously the deck will take a bit away, hence I would not choose a big deck. My thought deck and then one step down to sit on as well, if that makes sense.Thanks for everybodies input - i am in the brainstorming phase. We are in the South Island New Zealand. Sorry, struggling with uploading pics. I will keep trying to get the photo of the whole house up.Screen just turns white when i try to upload