Special Publications: June 30, 2022

home & leisure | ?? home & leisure | 71
After purchasing a 10,000sqm rural
flat site in the Maniototo, an Otago
couple were considering whether to
design and build themselves or look
for a company that would take care
of the full project.
"Having previously built our own
homes over the years, we were
looking at the least stressful, and
easily managed remotely,” the
husband explains.
“We live in Queenstown and
were building a holiday house two
hours away. We both have busy
jobs. We wanted the most seamless
construction process within a budget.”
Their online research brought up
several building companies offering a
one-stop package, among which was
Genius Homes.
“Their website presented some smart
designs that seemed to be well priced,”
he says.
“One of these was the option of
a complete ‘off-site build’ with a
transportable option, and that seemed
to fit our situation perfectly. The
website was easy to look through, their
designs offered what we were looking
for and when we made initial contact
to discuss options, they responded to
us in a timely manner.”
The sales agent met the couple at
their home, where they discussed the
brief and the design they had in mind.
“The agent showed us the likely
benefits of another design that would
require less changes to meet our brief,
so was cost effective. In chatting to
him he was attentive and responded
quickly to questions. We found that
Genius as a team have a solid variety
of members from sales to design, to
project management and that gave us
the confidence to choose Genius for
this remote-build project.”
He also notes that when choosing
what they would have for their new
holiday home, Genius made the whole
decision-making process easy.
Sliding doors provide the indoor/outdoor flow the couple wanted.
“We received all the samples for colour
choices, laminates, kitchen design,
plumbing and electrical options all
packaged and delivered to us to have
for a week to make our selections. The
process was fun, and then it was all
brought together with their design
consultant, who was able to finalise
anything with her knowledge of their
brand, their previous builds and similar
projects to keep things cost effective.
“We made a few changes that were
an option on the standard design.
These were all drawn up and provided
to us for approval prior to any final
decision. Their project manager met
with us on site, and then kept us up to
date with progress.”
The Covid situation meant the start
date for the project was delayed by a
few months, but when the project got
underway, the timeline was met as
per the agreement. The couple were
encouraged to visit the factory once
the house build began and were shown
a recently completed house in the
same design.
“This gave us the confidence
with the choices we had made. The
project manager assisted us with
recommended choices and ensured
these were followed through.”
The design chosen was Benmore.
“The house design was a good sqm
for our large rural site,” the owner says.
“The three bedrooms and two
bathrooms was in our brief and the
kitchen/dining/living space was a good
size for our needs. Overall, the design
was a good fit for the rural setting.
“We opted for the upgrade of cedar
weatherboards on the front of the
house, which we feel makes the house
really ‘pop’ against the remaining iron
cladding. Because of our location
in Central Otago with its extreme
temperature variances, we decided to
remove the decking from the project
and complete this ourselves.
“We chose and constructed the deck
in a composite finish, which has less
movement than timber in the harsh
conditions and extreme weather
variances. And we have increased the
size of the standard deck to allow for
even greater outdoor living area.”
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