We offer a selection of cladding, roofing, colours and other options to give you that look & feel that you desire for your new home.
All Compass Homes plans can be customised to suit your own style and to maximise the potential of your building site to capture the best sun,views and utilise outdoor living space.
Yes, under controlled circumstances. Although this is your property, Compass Homes has legal obligations to many parties with regards to Health and Safety regulations, and to ensure that any hazards are identified and controlled. We have very good systems and procedures to enable us to manage these issues safely and effectively.
There are a number of hazards associated with building in New Zealand which, if not carefully managed, could cause serious injury or worse to those who encounter them. During the construction of your new home a fence will be erected and secured around your site. This ensures that we can control access to the site and that the site is more secure when unattended. Only suitably qualified and authorised persons can access the site, and subsequently to ensure any hazards are contained within it.
We still want you to be able to access the site and view the progress and we have processes that will make it easier for you to do this. Site visits can be arranged through your new home consultant. You will have online access to our construction management program called Rave that will allow you to monitor progress and receive updates directly from our construction managers on site.
Under the Building Act 2004, all Councils and Territorial Authorities have 20 working days to issue a Code of Compliance Certificate. Prior to handing the home over to you, a Notice of Inspection will have been completed by your local council. This means your home has been completed to Code Compliance as per the Building Consent requirements.
Not having the Code of Compliance issued does not prevent you from moving into your home, but you should be aware that your Code of Compliance Certificate may not arrive prior to the expiration of the 20 working day timeframe. If you are drawing down mortgage funds, your Bank will most likely require to see the Notice of Inspection, a copy of which your Project Supervisor will provide to you.
If you wish to take possession prior to the Code of Compliance Certificate having been issued, you will also be required to sign an agreement under Section 364(2) of the Building Act 2004. This possibility is covered in your Building Agreement. Your Project Supervisor will give you this agreement prior to handover.
We allow about eight weeks for the council to approve your building consent and as a guide, we allow up to 20 weeks for a single level mid-sized home built. Usually it is faster than this. Once you have confirmed the concept plan your sales consultant will be able to give you an accurate build timeframe.
Like most complex processes, building your home depends on many factors. Sometimes, due to factors outside our control, there are delays. We factor these in and work with delays as part of the building process. We look to minimise them and always work so that there is the least amount of impact on the build time as possible. Our online construction management tool, Rave will keep you up to date with timeframes and notify you of any changes that may arise.
Learn more about Rave
Many, many customers have trusted us to deliver. Our build teams are ready to start as soon as possible after the building consent is issued. Once we start on a building project we stay on the project until it’s completed. We don’t leave a project until the job is done and we are handing over the keys.
Your design and build consultant will lead you through the process.
We’ll work with you to develop working drawings, and then we’ll apply for a building consent. We have very good relationships with local authorities and are able to resolve any issues with the consent quickly. We track the consents process so we’re ready to go as soon as the paperwork comes through with a building project manager and team fully briefed. At the same time, our interior designer/colour consultant will help you refine your selections for interior and exterior decisions, adding your personal touch to your new home.
For all our years of building, Compass Homes have never failed to complete a home to practical completion. You have our 100% commitment that your home will be completed as defined in your Residential Building Contract. Compass Homes have never let down a customer, and have never left a single house uncompleted. You can trust in us!
The good news is that you already have! You’re on the Compass Homes website, you’ve thought about building – but more than that, you’ve taken some action to move your ideas along. Now it’s time for the next step – call our New Home Consultants for an obligation free chat, or pop in to one of our many showhome locations.
We’ll discuss the options available to you, from house and land packages, ‘off the shelf concepts’ to developing unique plans on your own site. We will assess your needs and take you through the decisions you’ll need to think about at this early stage. Bring your scrapbook, wish lists and ideas.
There are three main aspects involved in planning your dream home.
1. Section
Your entire design will revolve around the land that you are planning to build on.
Orientation – where is North facing?
Access – where does the driveway enter the section,
Slope – does the land slope?
Services – where is the storm water or waste water located?
Once these have been defined you have the basis to put a concept plan together. For example, a north facing section with the road and entrance on the south side is a completely different proposition to a north facing section with the entrance on the north side.
2. Your needs, wants and likes.
Once you have your land, it is important to decide on your list of ‘needs’ (things that we must have), ‘wants’ (things we really want) and ‘likes’ (things that we would like to have once we have all our ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ fulfilled). How can you do this? Simple: write it down! This forms a list with your highest priorities, your needs, coming first.
The process of defining what you want in your Compass Home may take a few days to refine, however that’s OK, as any time spent at this stage is well spent. You will find that some things on your list are definable, and some aren’t. For example, definable outcomes are measurable things like 4 bedrooms or a double garage. Some things that aren’t measurable are items such as ‘more sun’ or ‘better privacy’. This is OK, you can probably have everything in your ‘needs’ list, as Compass Homes has a large variety of plans that include almost every need you have.
3. Budget.
Obviously you need to know how much you can spend on a new home. Your bank, or our building finance specialists will be able to assist you in determining what your building budget will be. Once you have a good idea of your section, your needs, wants and likes, and the budget you have to work within, you’re in a good position to start getting lines on paper and planning your Compass dream home. This is the time to browse through our plan section.
You’ll no doubt have a short list of 3 or 4 plans that would meet your requirements. Print these out, draw on them and write notes. Alternatively visit one of our showhomes and talk to our staff. They are very experienced in matching your needs, wants and likes list to your section and specifications. When you visit one of our showhomes we can also show you options for interior and exterior colours and textures, carpets, bench tops, window joinery, roof lines and tile finishes.
Once you have these three aspects defined you will be able to decide on a floor plan that best suits your family’s requirements, provides privacy, achieves good sunlight and takes advantage of any views. You can then start to make decisions around the style of the house, including roof lines, window sizes and cladding. Houses can be any colour with a multitude of exterior and interior products available. Use your Compass Homes colour consultant to help you make those fun decisions. Then all you need to do is sit back and watch your home come to life!
Compass Homes don’t just build our own designs, we can work with you to come up with a suitable plan, or work with an existing plan.
Depending on what the conditions of the building consent are, you may have to do things to the house or site which council have specifically requested, but it is unlikely we would be able to know what it is in advance. There are other factors such as earthworks that are not included in the website price (as each section is different).
Sites that are a long distance from services (power, water, phone, sewerage, etc.) and sites that are sloping or require extra earth-works will be more expensive to build on.
There may also be regional variations in labour costs, materials, and local council building requirements, and specific product choices can have an influence on the price too.
It’s always best to contact us directly for an estimation of your build cost – we’re always happy to discuss the actual details of your site and needs, which will give you a good idea of what your individual cost will be.
The contract price is made up of fixed costs and PC sums (see below). The fixed costs will not change. There will be PC Sums included for some items such as your earthworks, services and kitchen / bathroom etc. which will cover the standard costs only.
If you’re serious about building a brand new home and you don’t want to compromise on either quality or price, speak with us now.
