House v Dream House

It’s funny to think about building a house.

With image-filled house and garden mags ambushing us in every newsagents, hairdressers and doc’s waiting room we are encouraged to fantasize about the house we would like to live in if we won the lottery.

Take New Zealand and the holiday bach. New Zealand has a small population and a big coastline. Up until fairly recently holiday houses and land have been available. Now suddenly they are not. Land has been bought. Prices have skyrocketed. If it hasn’t been handed down through the family then it isn’t going to happen. Not everyone can be a part of the holiday house by the sea fantasy.

More to the point let’s talk Australia. With prices beyond the nightmares of many and interest rates going off, people are lucky if they are able to continue paying off their first homes.

And what has this got to do with the dream house? Well… the dream house backing on to lush hillside overlooking the sea with acres of wilderness and a lake on the edge of the property is one thing.

Building on a narrow surburban block is another.

Both are exciting opportunities and challenges. But whereas Dream House 1 is likely to have few building and design restraints, Reality House 2 is likely to have many. I will discuss this further on a post on some of the more pertinent aspects of the R Codes or Residential Codes that detail issues such as cones of vision, overlooking and height to boundary regulations.

Things start to look different. That great mental picture of your dream house is going through a severe editing function. If you’re lucky it will come out with a few changes - but the dream intact. If you’re not it will more likely go into the shredder. And a fresh piece of paper will subtly be positioned in front of you.

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