Design & build: The first fix

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.

Sensational lighting is a showstopper. You know the kind I mean. You're browsing page after page of ho-hum, dimly lit houses for sale in a real estate mag. Then, bam, you're stopped in your tracks by an illuminated work of art.

A warm glow radiates from the living room. Perfectly lit stairs lead your eyes to the oversized front door. Beams wash up and down exterior walls and illuminate trees, creating some street-side swag.

Kylie and I have always wanted to maximise the impact of our setting and design through great lighting.

As well as adding accents and drama to our internal spaces, we want to ensure the uniqueness of our stream and trees are still a feature of our home at night as well as during the day.

We had also been researching smart homes and how they can be designed to suit your lifestyle and daily living patterns. This appealed not for the potential gimmicky features of it but rather the practicality, safety and energy-efficiency of a smart home.

Examples include a pre-determined bank of lights that can turn on automatically 30 minutes before dusk, so if Kylie arrives home alone, she feels safe and secure or appliances and heating that activate only when you need them, thereby reducing our energy needs and maximising the thermal savings gained through our SIPs panels and double-glazing.

It was while watching the The Block NZ last year that we started paying attention to the electricians working on Maree and James' house. We liked the professional advice they provided and the quality of their work, particularly the smart integration of technology to control lighting, heating and security.

Matt Slater from EAV running cables into our en suite during the first fix of our bedroom pod. Photo / Ben Crawford

So we noted down the name of the company, EAV Electrical and AV Solutions, then did a quick Google search to find their website - eav.co.nz and contact details, filing them away for future reference.

Just before Christmas I called Matt Slater, one of EAV's directors and the main electrician we'd seen working on The Block NZ. We chatted about our house plans and what we were hoping to achieve.

Watch episode nine of Kylie and Ben's Brave New Build here:

Matt then explained what EAV could provide and I quickly realised they could be our one-stop-shop for all our electrical, lighting, AV and security needs as well as being experienced in creating smart homes. Perfect. We'd found our guys.

Last week Kylie and I met Matt on-site to walk through the bedroom pod, look at our options and confirm what was going where.

We'd already spent hours making a lighting and electrical plan then, as we went through each zone, Matt's input confirmed to us that we had the right guys on board.

EAV's Matt Slater talking through our lighting and electrical plans with Kylie. Photo / Ben Crawford

He gave us great advice, helping tweak and fine-tune our plan in each room, from a functional perspective as well as an aesthetic one. He recommended we install sensors on our hallway tread lights and under our vanities - great for light-sensitive, sleepy eyes during the night or for children further down the track.

He also ensured our home would be future proofed and set up to accommodate the smart features we were after by recommending we put Cat 6 structured cabling into each room and running it all back to a central location. This would provide a backbone for our data, phone, internet and TV needs now and also give us the flexibility to easily change any outlet's function in the future.

Future proofing our home with smart cabling - here the blue Cat 6 cable is run into one of our bedrooms, providing flexibility to easily change the outlet's functionality down the track. Photo / Ben Crawford

Ninety minutes later, Kylie and I both had decent headaches as we had to confirm the exact location of every light fitting, switch and power point to the exact millimetre before Matt and his guys could start - a mind-boggling exercise when each room is still a building site - but an invaluable one to ensure nothing is overlooked.

By the end of the following day the whole pod was completely pre-wired without any problems. Running cabling through the SIPs panels also proved to be a breeze, although a special type of cable had to be used, given it would be in contact with the panel's polystyrene insulation.

That leaves us with only one thing to do before the guys come back in a few weeks to do the final fit off. Light shopping.

Wiring through our SIP wall panels was a breeze with the pre-cut electrical chases while a special type of cable was used since it would be in contact with the wall's polystyrene. Photo / Ben Crawford

• 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".