HANSE HAUS Buyer Guide - Ecobuild

Has your new home met your expectations
‘Yes, the house has certainly met our expectations. We feel a real
sense of calm and tranquility here. It’s really quiet and even though
there are train lines nearby, we can’t hear them at all. This house is
quite a selfish house in that, we designed it especially for us. It works
for our lifestyle and felt like our home as soon as it went up.‘
Given your experience, can you offer any tips to other
self builders
‘It’s really important that you know what you’re signing up for from
the outset. If you’re hoping that when you move into your new home,
you’ll walk in and get your TV to work at the press of a button, be
aware that, even with a turnkey service, this isn’t always the case.
We had many issues with all the utilities companies (not just BT),
which meant days of hanging around waiting for them to arrive with the
right team of workers and the right equipment to make the necessary
connections. This of course all amounts to extra time and cost.
We would also recommend a ‘condition survey’ on neighbours’ houses,
especially when you’re building a basement as this can prevent any
argument further down the line about potential damage to foundations/
building.’
Coupled with the insulated shell, and the solar panels, the house is
very economical to run. There is absolutely no wastage here. In fact,
we’re our own little power station. Our project manager was excellent.
Despite the problems with the plumbing and electrical work, he did
everything he possibly could to assist the process and never once said
it wasn’t his responsibility. HANSE HAUS have been a very dedicated
company and are determined to leave us with a high standard product.
At times this has even meant flying an engineer over from Germany at
the drop of a hat, to fit a simple part.
All in all, it’s been a really good experience. We would recommend
HANSE HAUS and would build with them again ourselves. We placed
our confidence in them from the start, and would do that again.’
COMPLETE START TO FINISH BUILD TIME – 20 weeks
(including basement)
So, what are your overall thoughts on building with
HANSE HAUS
‘From the start, HANSE HAUS stood out in saying that they can build
almost anything in terms of design and they followed through on this.
They have a can-do attitude, which is very appealing. They also offer
a great range of fixtures and fittings – even the standard spec is top
quality. We found that the staff at their sample centre gave excellent
guidance and were very clear and honest about what was needed
and what wasn’t – they didn’t try to sell us anything we didn’t need or
want. HANSE HAUS really know what they’re doing when it comes
to building energy efficient homes. Although our house doesn’t
meet passive standards, (mainly because we wanted so many doors
and extra windows) it does have passivhaus features, including the
entrance lobby which acts as an airlock, and the heat pump.
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