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Vaughan in his Cactus Trade Supershorts & Tee - automatic Builder cred.

Vaughan and Anna are building an off the grid house in Governors Bay, Banks Peninsula and we think it's worth talking about. Not only are the views spectacular, but they've also made some great decisions on architecture, materials and building style.

The house is going to be fully insulated with Maxraft floor slab and underfloor heating while the whole building will be insulated to 2.4 x the building code. The house is completely off-grid, powered with solar panels and batteries and the waste system is a vermiculture system (using worms and stuff). Their water supply is all from roof collection.

Vaughan & Anna looking like natural-born builders.

Vaughan and Anna are building it themselves with help from 'real builders'. Vaughan's day job until now has been building Clip n Climb climbing walls and is part owner of Christchurch bouldering gym, Uprising.

Some of the things Vaughan and Anna have been making from scratch are concrete bench tops, concrete hand basins, kitchen cabinetry, dining table and chairs and all of the internal doors are made of solid rimu recycled from a demolished house.

Not a bad spot to be 'working' every day.

It's certainly an inspiring project which Cactus is keen to follow. Check back here for an update soon.