Day 19 - RibRaft Installation & Heavy Metal

At last, the driveway has been metaled!  So we were able to drive down it right up to what will be the garage door!

In addition, the layout for the RibRaft foundation has been put into place, pretty much all done aside from the pouring of the concrete.

  From up on the pile of topsoil, you can get a good view of the driveway loop and foundation.

 Good overview of the foundation.  I'll have to start getting regular shots from up there as well, in future.

 And finally a closeup of the RibRaft foundation thus far.

Day 12 - Foundation Framing

Not a huge amount photo-wise today, but five days have passed since our last visit and the framework for the foundation has been laid, the utilities trenched in and the drive ready for graveling (or, as they would say here, metaling).

Above, you can see the general shape starting to take form.

Here is the view down the drive from near the road, massive trench for cables filled in, looking like a driveway once again.

Brie and her dad inspecting the foundation frame.  Pipes for the plumbing installed and ready to go.  Temporary builder's power supply slightly visible just beyond the far corner of the house.  This is looking from the corner of the master bedroom towards the garage end of the house.

Day 7 - Building platform and trenching

A week in and a few more bits and pieces have been done.

The building platform itself has been cut, leveled, smoothed, and generally prepared.

And here's a wide angel view of the platform area.

In addition, the trench for the utilities has been dug, in preparation for cables being put in tomorrow.

Brie decided that she was a utility.

And then we hung out in the kitchen.

Things are happening!

Day 1 - Cutting the drive

A proper Day 1 has finally arrived with the initial cutting of the driveway.
Here is the view from the road:

 And the view from halfway down:

At the end of the drive will be a loop for turning, with the garage being located in front of where Brie is standing in the photo:

 Here is the view looking back towards the road, taking in the curve of the drive as it angles towards the build site:

And finally, the enormous pile of fantastically friable and rich topsoil, which is going to form the basis for quite a few raised vegetable beds as well as for mounding when planting avocado trees and the like.

Next comes the trenching in of utilities and metaling of the drive (for archaic and incomprehensible reasons, New Zealanders refer to gravel as 'metal'.)  After which can begin the actual construction on the house!

It's still a good way off yet, but the ball is now well and truly rolling!

Day 0 - Fruitful Endeavours

Hopefully this will be updated regularly with photos and information about the progress of our house!  (And surrounding landscape, and so forth.)

For now, here is the plan.  The house will be shaped like this:

 Though we're thinking colors more like this:

And the inside will be something quite similar to this: 

So that's the plan.

Here is the reality:

That's the view from very roughly 15m (50ft) south of the northern property line, facing towards the to be house site.

And this is the view looking north (towards the house site) from the trough in the middle of the paddock.
There are good shelter belts on the north and east sides of the property.  Unfortunately all the winds come from the south and west, so that's problematic.  First task will be planting out some shelter on the south side of the paddock in which the house is going up, so we can start preparing things for the fruit trees.