Design & build: A tale of two pods

Ben and Kylie on bedroom side where progress is moving ahead nicely. Photo / Ben Crawford

The Block NZ 2012 winner Ben Crawford and his girlfriend Kylie are building their dream home. Share their proud moments and pitfalls here every week.

Mud. Such a simple word. Just three humble letters. It's such a simple material too. Just wet dirt. But who would have predicted the impact it would have on the construction of our house?

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. There have been a lot worse things happen to men at sea, but for Kylie and I, the past week has been frustratingly slow. It's been like watching mud dry. Literally.

You may recall from last week's column that we had a wee hiccup on the living side of our house. The 14 tonne piling rig needed to drive our piles into the ground unfortunately turned the building platform into a huge hole of knee-deep mud and sludge. Then it rained for the better part of three days, compounding the mess, and making that area of the house unworkable until things dried out.

Since then we've been watching the water painstakingly recede and the goopy mud progressively turn into parched, cracked earth as the sun finally decided to come to the party. As I write this, the contractors are back on site tidying up the muck and filling it with gravel so construction can begin again.

So what does that mean for our build? Essentially it's put our living room side behind by about two weeks. Building relies heavily on a construction schedule and in this case, the block layers can't come in to erect the retaining walls until the footings for them can be laid, which won't happen until the mud is gone, the area is filled with metal and the levels are set. The sub floor can't be started until the retaining walls are built because they are acting as foundations for the house. It goes on and on and on.

Fortunately things are still steaming ahead on the bedroom side of the house. In hindsight our design of two distinct and separate pods was a genius idea come construction time. Had our house been two storeys, situated on the troublesome side of the stream, the whole build would have ground to a halt.

This week the builders levelled off our piles to their finished heights and began constructing the sub floor of the bedroom pod. It has been cool to see the pod's profile appear, tucking into the bush and I can't wait for the back third to be built because this whole area cantilevers across the stream.

Builders Garrick & Ray from Haven Renovations checking plans for bedroom pod. Photo / Ben Crawford

Pile layout of bedroom pod. Photo / Ben Crawford

We also met Peter Bilcich from Rylock on the section to finalise the construction detailing for our windows and doors, along with our builders.

Because of our pre-fabricated building method, our windows and doors are being made off the plans instead of after the walls have been erected and a site measure can be done, meaning perfect calculations, flawless construction and clear communication is required, but it'll save a lot of time and our expert team is up for the challenge.

However the biggest disappointment this delay has caused us is our prefabricated SIPs panels will now go up in two stages. The bedroom side first, followed by the living area once it's ready.

From the moment we met with the Method Build team in Christchurch and learnt about the speed of construction using SIPs, we have eagerly anticipated the magical day when the walls of our whole house would go up.

Left: Builder Garrick Henderson cutting piles on bedroom side to height. Right: Builder Ray Sale marks the piles to their final heights on bedroom side. Photos / Ben Crawford

Alas we won't have the satisfaction of watching that but it's still going to be mightily impressive seeing the bedroom side appear within the space of a few short hours, and the living, kitchen and dining areas shortly thereafter.

In the scheme of things our build is still motoring along. We are on track to have the exterior of the house finished before Christmas. That's clad with the roof on and windows in - impressive progress for less than two months' work and muddy delays.

Our pre-fabricated SIPs panels will speed the build along incredibly quickly. Then we'll be pushing our builders, Ray and Garrick, into overdrive for the next month. Spurred on with the promise of beer and Kylie's homemade baking for good behaviour and high performance.

The bad weather's delayed our new video. Check out the site soon for an up-to-the-minute video diary about Ben and Kylie's Brave New Build.

• Find out more about Ben and Kylie's dream home at ourdreamhome.co.nz

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For more information on the Kiwibank First Home Buyer's Guide visit: kiwibank.co.nz and search for "first home".