Aware of the perceived concerns around the affordability of healthy, energy-efficient homes, Chatterton Homes complemented their design-build service with the development of a high-performance plan range – designed to tackle this issue head-on.
Each plan is fully priced and energy-modelled, with a range of upgrade options to suit different budgets and performance goals. A significant number of unknowns have been removed and replaced with clear, tangible figures.
All plans incorporate the core principles of Passive House, with a strong focus on the building envelope, and every home is air tightness tested. It’s proof that high performance can be achieved at a competitive price – you don’t have to settle for a minimum code-built home.
‘Having built bespoke high-performance homes for well over a decade, and reaping the benefits of living in one ourselves, it was important for us to remove as many barriers as possible, and developing a plan range was top of that list.’
Brent Chatterton, Director-Chatterton Homes.
PLANS TO COME?
As more people began to question whether there’s a better way to build, the next step was to provide an opportunity to experience a true high-performance home.
The idea of a healthier, more comfortable home is incredibly appealing – but does it actually work? Is it worth the extra investment? Do you need to go all the way?
Our answer was to build one of our own plans as a show home. Almost everyone who walks through is blown away – the calm, the quiet, the consistent comfort throughout the entire house, all year round. Breathing in fresh air, with no draughts, no humidity. The difference is immediate and obvious the moment you step inside.
As more people began to question whether there’s a better way to build, the next step was to provide an opportunity to experience a true high-performance home.
The idea of a healthier, more comfortable home is incredibly appealing – but does it actually work? Is it worth the extra investment? Do you need to go all the way?
Our answer was to build one of our own plans as a show home. Almost everyone who walks through is blown away – the calm, the quiet, the consistent comfort throughout the entire house, all year round. Breathing in fresh air, with no draughts, no humidity. The difference is immediate and obvious the moment you step inside.
HOMEOWNER'S COMMENTS
WEST COAST
“Being able to have a house built that not just suits our space needs, but feels healthy, has been so special to us. We have zero intention of leaving it.
This house is very efficient in heat retention. We hardly have to use heating at all, and if we do, it’s only for a few minutes to take the edge off things in winter. Marius still laughs when he remembers Brent begging him not to install a fireplace!
I don’t miss the musty, damp smell at all, and now hardly remember it. That’s one of the biggest pluses for me – the air feels healthy indoors.
It’s also great not having fogged up mirrors after a shower.”
CUST – PHPP
“The best adjective to describe our home is extremely ‘liveable’. You move between rooms in the same equitable warmth for four seasons of the year, with no need to keep doors closed. No cold draughts.
We have installed 12 solar panels on the car port roof, so cost savings are harder to quantify. In the sunnier and warmer months our power bills (which cover cooking, heating, water heating and spa pool) are usually below $10 or even in credit. In the colder months we pass on our winter heating supplement payment to our son’s family as we don’t need it.
We are a retired couple. Our motto is “we’re too old to be cold”. After 20 years living in a beautiful but draughty and cold wooden villa on the shady side of Lyttelton, we deliberately chose to build a modern, passively heated and efficient house with the right orientation. It is wonderful to wear light clothing indoors and not forever be shutting doors ‘to keep the heat in.’ It is lovely to see the condensation on the outside of the bedroom window on a frosty morning. Returning to a warm home is wonderful.”
HALSWELL – No PHPP
“It is an extremely comfortable home and doesn’t get the temperature fluctuations that family members new build homes just around the corner from me do. It is quiet with the thicker walls and better windows. I feel the air is much cleaner which I think helps seasonal allergies.”
CASHMERE – HIGH END HILLSIDE HOME
No PHPP but likely would have been certified PH.
“You get home and you just immediately relax and feel calm. It is so peaceful and it’s hard to explain the calmness of these homes – you need to experience it. It’s quite something.
We absolutely get a great night’s sleep. It is particularly noticeable in the winter or summer. No restless nights or disturbed sleep. This could be because there is no heaviness to the air, or stuffiness. The temperature is comfortable and uniform – no hot stuffy nights. Plus, it is so quiet – there is no background noise.
Anecdotally, we feel that when anyone is sick it does not spread as much as it used to – probably as a result of the (heat recovery) ventilation system and constant replacement of the indoor air with fresh filtered air.
Practically, living in the house is so easy. The big thing for us is the uniform temperatures throughout the whole home all the time, with little to no heating and not having to have layers of clothing.’
OLD HOUSE
180m2
11,000 litre swim spa set to 32C (on in the summer)
No Solar
Log Burner and Electric heaters in kids rooms in winter
$4,386 full year
Condensate on windows (Yes, we owned a Karcher Window Vac and used it daily in winter)
NEW HOUSE
240m2
11,000 litre swim spa set to 32C (on in the summer)
7.2kW solar array
Year 3 = $283 Yes that is a full year total! I checked it twice
BOWENVALE AVE – PHPP
Having the whole house at a comfortable temperature year-round makes a huge difference. There is some variation in temperature between rooms at different times of year but this is only by 2 or 3 degrees which means that all rooms are usable and comfortable. One of the key points is that the improved levels of insulation mean that temperatures inside only change very slowly in the course of 24 hours. Below is an example where the outside temperature reached 23 degrees yesterday at around 2:00pm and dropped to around 9 degrees at 8:00am this morning. You can see from the graph that over the same period the temperature inside dropped very slowly to a minimum of ~21 degrees overnight before starting to rise again when the sun came up. Note that no heating energy was necessary.
RANGIORA
“We are PHPP but just missed out on certification 6 years ago (may qualify now).
Can also add the fact that have been in our home for 6 years and have only needed my ‘preventer’ asthma inhaler when we go away and used to take it all the time.”
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