High Country Homes Ltd

08/05/2026

23/02/2026

So we are doing the kitchen and bathrooms on a house we built 25 years ago and the boys found this in the wall...sigh.

26/11/2025

Our greatest achievement to date! Taking home the Master Builders House of the Year National Category Award as well as an occasionally presented Special Award for our lodge style property in Loburn

12/11/2025

The Environmental and Sustainable Excellence Award is achieved when a builder shows dedication to incorporating sustainable principles in the homes design, choice of materials, and the way in which it’s built. At High Country Homes we view sustainability as more than just ‘energy efficiency’. It is a way to consider future generations and leave a legacy of value. Our winning home was truly an example of this, using no treatment chemicals, polystyrene or plastic during construction. NZ sourced timber, solar panels and a rainwater collection system are just a few of the many sustainable details that earned us this award. Read more about this build and others at highcountryhomes.co.nz

28/10/2025

Absolutely thrilled to have received the Canterbury Regional Craftsmanship Award at this years Master Builders House of the Year.
Visit our website to view our award winning work.

20/10/2025

A wee family vacation front pointing up Gloriana's SE couloir. Unfortunately there was actually a NW hurricane at the top and the girls couldnt do the final peak.
Check out the clip of the chamois escaping up the hill like it was nothing. Watch the middle two who decide to have a fight over whos going first.

16/07/2025

We had a great night on friday at the Canterbury House of the Year Awards.
We were honoured to recieve 3 major awards!
- Builders own home: Gold Award & Category Win
- Environment and Sustainable Excellence Award.
- & The Craftsmanship Award!.

This continues an unbroken stream of 7 entries receiving 7 gold awards over 18 years. This has included 4 category wins, two lifestyle awards and the coveted Craftsmanship award.

It was before the Pandemic since we last entered HOY and it’s great to find out we haven’t lost our touch!

Get in touch with us for architectural plans with the option of either building yourself or using our expert team.
Clever designs for new houses, alterations, units, farms, lifestyle, barns, sheds, post & beam and log homes.

25/02/2025

High Country Homes are a boutique design and build service specialising in big timber work. If you're looking for a new home featuring alpine barn and lodge themes - come and see our design team! Check out our project gallery at highcountryhomes.co.nz

19/02/2025

Rare sight - a stunning asphalt tile roof! Not often you see these, and it pairs beautifully with the logs. The whole crew was on deck to get the sarking, batts, and ply covered. Next up: The Garage…

20/01/2025

Why do houses continue to get more expensive?
One recent reason is the changes to the H1 standard for insulation.
In the olden days one $100 bale of batts would cover about 10m2 and cost about $50 to install achieving R3.6.
Today we need about R6.6 to comply with recent mandates which equates to batts waist deep in most ceilings. In skillion spaces however there is no room for waist deep batts so how do we get around this problem? Heres how:
Monday 7.30 leave Loburn and pick up trailer from yard in Rangiora. Drive to Wigram to pick up 5 sheets of PIR board at $250 each ( $1250 + GST) then drive to site at Waimak Gorge. Its now lunch time (after pies at Sheffield). Cutting 150mm deep foam on site turns out to be quite difficult as theres no way to hold a 150mm blade square over 150mm. More accuracy is involved as the product is rigid and will not expand into gaps like batts. Rough cut and scribe insitu. Cover the entire site in petrochemical dust and fiberglass. Finally contemplate how when you were last at the dump how the staff didnt want polystyrene off cuts and suggested we take them back to the retailer.
5.30pm return to Caltex to fill up as ive blown a tank in two days. Drop trailer back to yard...a whole day on 10m2
Extrapolate this insulation standard through foundations, walls, windows and roofs along with the condesation problems created with this we now have a 8 - 10% cost increase in houses depending on design.
So an $800k house now costs $880.
($80k extra might have bought quite a few wool blankets...)
So think twice when somebody confuses energy efficiency with sustainability. Two very different things.