Owners Ian and Sharon Welch show the insulation used in the walls which is polystyrene. Here they have a piece 100mm thick and use two to build the thickness and heat. Photo / Warren Buckland
Owners Ian and Sharon Welch show the insulation used in the walls which is polystyrene. Here they have a piece 100mm thick and use two to build the thickness and heat. Photo / Warren Buckland
Imagine living in a house with no need for a heater or fire and the power bill is no more than $50-$70 a month.
What seems like something unheard of, these homes are being built in New Zealand and even in Hawke's Bay.
Hawke's Bay construction company Welch Builders arebuilding homes that achieve this and so much more.
Owned and operated by Ian Welch and his wife Sharon Welch, the company is qualified to construct PassivHaus buildings, under the eHaus brand, with Ian Welch having more than 40 years' experience in the building industry.
"We came across the idea of it a few years ago and found the idea very interesting and something we could really get on board with and back," he said.
eHaus is a brand of ecoBuild Developments Ltd and was established in 2010 by Baden and Glenda Brown and Jon Iliffe with the dream of creating a New Zealand owned and operated specialist design and construction company using German-made PassivHaus build and design principles.
"To even qualify as a registered PassivHaus builder you have to sit an exam, and let me tell you the Germans don't make things come easy," Welch said.
The house in Havelock North is set to be the first certified PassivHaus in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
A PassivHaus is a German technique that uses double or triple-glazed windows, extra thick walls, abundant insulation and other technologies to create an airtight and energy-efficient building.
As with every PassivHaus, when the doors and windows are closed, the house is airtight, but fresh air is circulated via a mechanical ventilation "air exchange" system that maintains an exceptionally high standard of fresh air.
The air tightness ensures no warm air leaks out in winter, nor cool air in summer, so the temperature inside the house is easily maintained around 20C without heating.
Architects also use climate data collected from Niwa and NASA, appropriate to the building site and design the home to that exact climate.
Each house is then designed to an exact standard which means it is built to fit the environment.
"They are built to fit the environment they are being built in and being used, so this house in Havelock North will have different specifications to a PassivHaus built in Queenstown," he said.
Ian and Sharon are going to move into the house when it is completed. Photo / Warren Buckland
But with extra benefits come extra costs which Welch said comes to about 10-15 per cent more than an average house build.
"The process does come at a cost but the people who are wanting these houses are looking to settle in them for the long term and want to make them a home and not just an investment," he said.
They have already completed six PassivHaus builds in Hawke's Bay but say this house will be the first certified PassivHaus building in the region.
"We build the houses to a PassivHaus standard but it is up to the owners whether they want to get it certified," Welch said.
To reach certification various photos, documents and data are sent to Germany which are then processed and inspected to ensure the house is built to a certain standard.
The house in Havelock North is going to be registered certified because the Welches are building this home as their own.
"It does come with its own hassles having to do the normal things like picking the design, colours and cabinets but we have been building this experience for people for the last few years and want to be part of it ourselves," Sharon Welch said.
The house is set to be finished by late September.
