Traveling to Ireland to see my son Thomas and his family was a trip much delayed – almost by five years since the original planning – so it was a much anticipated. In Aotearoa we survived Covid as a community through a lot of goodwill. The rules put on us were followed because we mostly accepted them, even if sometimes we didn’t enjoy them altogether. The consensus fell away when the rest of the world connected and my perception is we’ve lived in a much more divided place. I notice it in micro moments, in traffic, in political discourse and in the unspoken interactions in everyday living.
Crazy traffic outside the hotel in Las Vegas after a four hour drive from LA, driving on the other side of the road. It turned out a concert had just come out – access to the carpark hotel was blocked and 30 minutes to navigate once around the block it was enough: “we’ll take care of it from here, you relax and check in, we’ll look after you” was the relieving narrative from the valet guys.
Rushing from the rental car drop off in the Uber to LA airport to catch the flight to London – anxious about timing: “don’t worry, we’ll get you there real quick”, and he did with help with the baggage onto the trolley too.
Heathrow is an enormous airport, one terminal seems multiples of any local airport. But my experience with four flights is one of kindness, staff checking and rechecking boarding passes for lounge access (first world issues!) and when checking an exception at security, it was warm and done with care.
The experience was repeated almost everywhere – hotel check ins, taxis, the Tube, bus drivers in London who took care to make sure they explained that the bus terminated at Hyde Park Corner – “there’s one right behind if you need to go further”.
It’s the 60th anniversary of James Bond’s “Goldfinger” and the Burlington Arcade in Mayfair has been converted into a haven for Bond fans (me!) including a 007 Store run by Eon Productions – the Producer’s personal assistant during the filing of Skyfall manages the shop – and there’s a very cool bar included. Most people ordered only one drink – shaken of course.
Yes, they had commercial imperatives, but the level of engagement was extraordinary. We’re friends now!
Around the corner in Piccadilly is the jeweller Bentley & Skinner, suppliers to British monarchs since Queen Victoria and recently appointed to King Charles III. It’s also the setting of a great scene from You will meet a tall Dark Stranger and the Sales Manager chatted for ages about the filming, sharing a special moment with the stars of the film and meeting Mr Allen.
It was hard to leave to come back. I hope home is just as kind to me for the rest of the year!
Have you ever tried to have a house built to live it? Don’t! Well maybe.
Anyway, not without some serious reflection on it. I signed up to buy my little bit of paradise in the countryside in mid-2017 and took possession in 2018. I didn’t intend to build straightaway – in fact I wanted to sell my existing home first – which I did at the end of 2019. Concept drawings were done quite early, and looking at them now, they were quite close to what I ended up with. But not before I went all Grand Designs and had an enormous house – far too big for me – designed and priced. The pricing helped to bring a dose of reality and it was back to the original drawings. Modernist, capturing the schoolhouse that once stood on the sight, and looking out to the coast in the distance. Construction started three years ago today.
Concept to drawings that are able to be priced and then get through a Consenting process was a new world for me. Aside from ensuring a guest toilet and laundry were included not much changed in the concept to the ultimate design. Have you heard that Council is quite particular in granting consent? I had, but actually, my experience was that they are rules-based and when the drawings didn’t meet the rules, they pointed it out. That took ages. Pricing was challenging but eventually I was introduced to a project manager who had found a good builder – well sort of – he was actually a project manager himself, but on inspecting his other efforts and speaking to a client he got the tick. Most important thing I did at this stage? Had the contract reviewed by a deals person. Saved me a lot of grief (and money), but more on that later.
In amongst this I grew a tumour in my leg so things got put on hold for a bit. Everyone expressed sympathy (unlucky bugger they thought!) and committed to see the thing through, especially in my limping, crutches state. But the tumour provided clarity: if not now, when?
A building consent was issued. I was still hobbling a bit, but it was up to the land and sit around it for an afternoon, with some pegs and rope to actually look at the position. It didn’t feel right. And it wasn’t. Looking back at the original drawing and a penned outline I’d done on a scrap of paper using my phone compass the building had been swivelled away from the view. Not sure even now how that happened. But it did and it meant a new building consent and waiting until two weeks before the Auckland lockdown of August 2021 to start. Of course no one knew that the six week lockdown was coming, but it was a justifiable excuse for not meeting the December 2021 deadline for practical completion.
Small detail – you should have a ground survey done before building, especially on a hill. Stepping out from the veranda onto ground level pavers turned out to be a two metre drop. More plans and an expensive deck.
If you don’t want to lose money if it all goes wrong, don’t let the builder claim for construction items not on site. If you do, you’re their banker and holding a lot of risk. The value of that contract review can’t be understated. On the only two occasions I relented and permitted payment for items off-site, it went wrong, but fortunately it was at a stage where it didn’t have significant financial implications. First time were the windows – I agreed to pay the 50% deposit for their manufacture on the basis that I could take them over if there was an insolvency event. However, after payment was made the builder didn’t order them at all, rather they held the deposit and in the end the delay caused many other delays – timing is everything and something project managers know – or should know. The second time was a payment for electronics I had selected from a supplier. Fully paid to the builder, so they could be picked up. Eight weeks later the ominous email “Hi Stephen, are you actually wanting this gear, we’ve not received payment”. An administrative error I was told.
More detailed design was required on the way for various enhancements and clarifications.
Quite a few things got forgotten – a handrail for the stairs – even the Council Inspector missed it, but Mum didn’t on her first visit! Drainage according to plans, and plans with drainage that grappled with the actual land levels. Getting a building consent for the large deck! And weird stuff happened – some guttering came off during Cyclone Gabrielle and it was quickly established that it was due to the wrong clips. Builder’s response: “The shop said they’d be ok!” and “Claim insurance”.
Some things were a more sinister – subcontractors asking me to be paid. Ouch. A review of claims and payments over the first 6 or 7 months (by which time it was supposed to be long finished), uncovered errors in the claims meaning I had paid $40k more than I should have. More administrative errors.
Practical completion in November 2022, which was really “non-completion but here’s a form”, was pushed through to enable me to use the new house for a special birthday celebration. A couple of weeks later I had to bail to allow scaffolding to be installed in the entrance way so painting could be completed.
At the three year mark today since the commencement of construction it’s almost done. I’ve been living there off and on and two projects remain – a small capping on top of an external wall, and my gate entrance way, both underway this month (I hope).
There’s been some nastiness too. After the Cyclone Gabrielle damage, completion stalled, and the implications that subcontractors hadn’t been paid started to play out. I was said to be the cause of that. One went bust and I’ve had to redo some substantial works as a result, and the builder went into liquidation too. There’s been letters demanding additional payments and replies that have carefully explained the reality, but I still exist in “will they have a crack again” zone.
I just finished Sam Neil’s autobiography Did I ever tell you this?, written during his cancer treatment and he expresses the satisfaction of building something special, that’s there for good. I get that, and despite it all, I’m really happy I did it, and dare I say it, I’d do it again. Seems a waste of experience to not use it!
Stephen
*Skyfall reflects the view out over the Tasman, especially at sunset. And I’m a big James Bond fan!
A year ago last week “Practical Completion” of my new build allowed me to insure my new home in the country and move in. It was the day of Mum and Dad’s 70th wedding anniversary so a big day all around. Quite a few things didn’t work – automation is a great thing until it’s not – but it was (and still is) sparkly and the views are really quite special. Lots of green, some sea, more green, farms, some livestock, and green. Oh, and gorgeous sunsets.
There seems to be two types of people in the country where I am – locals, who wave like I’m their best friend – and everyone wants to help – they really do – but most of the people waving are strangers who wave when I’m out walking. Then there’s those passing through to the beach, generally in a big rush to get there very quickly and then relax quickly I assume.
I didn’t really realise but building on the top of hill with a valley below has features in the country you might not necessarily think of. Or maybe I was a bit naive. Everyone can see you! Well not me personally or close up (I hope), but the house, what I’m doing on the land, and whether I have visitors. Walking and looking back up at my house it sticks out a lot more than when I’m looking out. And it’s not a massive house by any measure, but noticable.
“They’re watching what you’re doing Stephen” my local friend and farming advisor Philip tells me. “Watching what?“, “Well they like what you’re doing, making that land something, the planting, the silage and that sort of thing“. I hope they like it! Being a silage farmer isn’t exactly the sort of earning you might give up your day job for. More like getting paid (eventually) an amount that is similar to what you might pay to mow the grass.
As best as I can tell the last building to inhabit my site was a school in the 1940s, so I guess it’s something new. Building a home and making it just right seems to be a forever thing. Firstly, getting beyond “Practical Completion” to the elusive Code of Compliance Certificate is a topic for another day otherwise this blog might turn into something slightly less friendly! In the country on a little bit of land – yes everyone told me – it’s never done. Not like a satisfying few hours in a city house where the garden can be brought into shape, with time to wash the car and hose the driveway for good measure on a Sunday afternoon. Nope, it’s a journey.
And I’ve had to get my head around not every corner is always as I want it – in fact no corner is really. But I’ve got a massive list of mini and major projects and I just get at them when I can – one step at a time, and I can see a difference. I remember attending a session at Cornwall Park on their 100 year plan once and the vision that the designers have is awesome. I’m not that grand by any means but having a master plan has meant progress is actually not too bad, and helps me to relax about the bits that still need attention, or won’t get done until 2025 say.
The country – you can see further, and you need to think further too.
Back in the day while staying at Grandma’s the clock was ever present, chiming every fifteen minutes and the announcing the hour with chimes on the hour. It seemed like Grandma never heard it – she slept through it all night while we seemed to be restless and eventually settled when Dad shoved a handkerchief in the mechanics to disrupt the timing mechanism.
I don’t remember exactly how I came to be the guardian of the clock, but it was put under the house in Kingsland in 1990 after Grandma died. It wasn’t working. It took ten years until I had the mechanism overhauled and assumed a pride of place in several houses. It stopped working again after several years and the verdict was “a complete overhaul” which I had completed.
When I recently moved, I forgot to take the weight out that you must do when moving a clock like this and it stopped working. So it was out to a watch and clock repairer in New Lynn for an overhaul. They agreed to also restore the wooden casing and the gold lettering and face. “Could be three months” I was warned. No problem I said. It was a year actually – the watchmaker who was to do the work sadly died – “quite inconvenient” I was told – but when I collected it recently it was an unexpected moment of joy. My very own “The Repair Shop” moment!
The watchmaker was as proud as I was satisfied
It’s got pride of place in the landing at my home and keeps almost perfect time. Living in a new modernist style home the chimes transport me to another place and time. A place of warmth, care, holiday excitement and the anticipation of what each day might hold – sometimes the amazing and quite new St Lukes Mall with its beads of water cascading down invisible plastic threads from ceiling to ground, Waiwera Hot Pools, Stanmore Bay for swimming, and the Auckland Zoo.
The original instruction booklet
I don’t really enjoy the burden of physical objects that might fit the category of “take if the house is burning down”, but I definitely have one now. Well two actually, but that’s for another day. For now, finally, it’s back to its former glory, functional, and permanently home. A contented feeling.
Stephen
The style of the Clock is known as a Striking Mantel Clock. It is “The Enfield Full Quarter Westminster Chime” and the instructions which I still have record “Give yourself Time!“. It appears to have been popular in the 1940s and 1950s when it is thought that Grandma and Grandad purchased the unit. You can purchase a good second-hand one for $600 in New Zealand, but if you want to restore one be prepared for a multiple of that figure! I am hopeful that one of my sons will one day take guardianship of it for another generation of memories. The Westminster Chimes come from Big Ben’s chimes in London.
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