84 | Canterbury - TR Stack Building BUILDING Large home an enjoyable challenge Kelly Deeks The build was not only complex, but big, at 400 square metres and 45 metres in length. Small town and mostly rural builder Terrence Stack has big capabilities when it comes to those large residential projects, with the recent completion of a Chilton + Mayne Architecture 400sqm plaster, cedar, and stone clad home right at the foot of Mt Hutt. TR Stack Building has been in business in Ashburton for nine years, starting out with spec builds before building up a base of loyal and regular clients, mainly in the agricultural sector. One such client had Terrence build farm houses and farm buildings and complete maintenance projects on their farm over a few years, before letting him loose on their own architecturally designed family home last year. “It was far bigger of a project and far more of a challenge than I’ve ever taken on before,” Terrence says. “We spent a lot of time around a table at the beginning, probably about six months looking at different ideas. They are very good clients to have, happy to ask questions, have feedback, and put their own ideas in. They definitely made the challenge of it easier being so organised and doing their own research.” Key to taking on a big project is having a good team of subcontractors around you and for Terrence, his team all knew this was a lot bigger than anything they had worked on before with him. “They were great and they always have been. Just the same as having good clients, having good subcontractors that look after you makes life a whole lot easier.” The project was not only big, but also complex, with a high level of architectural detail and engineering for wind and snow loading, since it was located so close to the mountain. The home is about 45m long and as such, the floor slab had to be poured in two separate pours. “When the frames turned up on site, a truck and trailer came around the corner and I just thought holy cow! I have never seen that amount of frames in my life, and now I’ve got to stand them all up!” Multiple gables all at the same pitch and negative detail in the Hardie cladding products meant Terrence had to have his eye on the detail all the way around the house. Internally, the long floor translates to a 150sqm living area, and the underfloor heating system allows for half of the home to be closed off when no-one is visiting, so the owner couple can conserve energy. Glazing features heavily across the front of the home, with views from the living area straight to Mt Hutt and from the kitchen, across the farm. Terrence enjoyed the whole project from start to finish but the pitched cedar ceiling in the living area and the structural requirements for the wind and snow loading were particularly satisfying to achieve. Terrence doesn’t employ any staff but like other one man band building firms in Ashburton, they call on each other for help when needed. Kyle Anderson of Anderson Building and Tom Baird of Baird Construction both worked full time with Terrence on this project. Terrence went on from the Mt Hutt build to smaller projects, and says with the current state of the supply chain, the timing of last year’s build couldn’t have been better. “Today, builders are getting houses framed up and then having to wait months for cladding products. “You’ve got to be so organised. As a one man band, I have to find the right balance of time between the office and the building site.” www.classicstone.co.nz Proud tobe associatedwithTRStackBuilding M: 021 494 574 P: 0800 278 663 E: info@classicstone.co.nz NZ’s Premium Stone Veneer
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