Building on a budget
HOMEOWNERS Isaac Hensman and Chloe Ritchie kept costs down partly by doing the interior finishing themselves and delaying some things, such as builtin bunks and storage, until later.
‘‘A significant portion of the cost of a build is often the kitchens and bathrooms and we did that as cheaply as possible,’’ Mr Hensman explains.
The stainless steel kitchen bench was one that friends were ripping out of their house. The pantry is a metal filing cabinet. Builder Mac McDonald used bamboo planks to make open shelving.
Ceilings, stairs and the back wall in the kitchen are ply, which is more expensive than plasterboard but does not require gibstopping. It also doubles as bracing. All other interior walls are MDF.
The house is a simple rectangle, which is cheaper to build than other shapes, and the windows are all standard sizes. The corrugated iron cladding provided the look the couple were after, as well as being affordable.
The ground floor is only 60sq m. The upstairs bedroom sits above about a third of this and takes the total area to 78sq m.
Where windows were removed from the plans to save money, polycarbonate was a costeffective alternative. Inside, translucent acrylic provides a soft, even light, which reminds the couple of the light that shines through the translucent paper of Japanese shoji screens.
Landscaping will come later.
‘‘The digger driver made the section as flat as he could without us spending any more money; then we just left it,’’ Ms Ritchie says. ‘‘But eventually there’ll be a deck that wraps around [the house] and we’ll extend the lawn out too.’’