Newsletter September 2007

Good Afternoon

We’ve Had More Complaints In The Last Year Then In The Last 20 Years That Moss Brothers Has Been In Business.

Where to start? With an apology

I’m sincerely sorry

When I first started writing articles and sending them to our database, about 10 years ago, my goal was to produce about 5 every year. This is the first in 18 months. Because they are generally well received but stopped being sent the complaints started to come in – when is the next newsletter article coming out, we haven’t seen one for a while. The reason is that I have been working on restructuring the business and now that is largely complete I’m back on the typewriter.
So once again, sorry to those that have missed me and welcome if you’ve not received one of these in the past. My aim is to supply enquirers, like you, with useful hints and tips and ideas of interest if building a new home is an option to you some day. I need to make it interesting enough so that you don’t just file it in the RB (you know what I mean), and if you like it enough you can pass it on to a friend or family member for their benefit too.

A couple of interesting topics this month:
What insurance companies don’t tell you?
Reminder – don’t do it without a building permit

First - What insurance companies don’t tell you?
This topic was to be in the next article I was to write back in 2006 and it’s so important that it’s where I will carry on. If you are like me your opinion on insurance companies and the perceived way they do business makes us just a little suspicious – the same public standing as used car sales-persons and politicians. Most of us usually pay out a lot in premiums, try to do the right thing with our documentation and claim very little over our lifetimes. However when we do need to make a claim we know deep down inside that the insurance company is going to try and find something in the small or fine print to reduce the claim or reject payment altogether.
What I want to do here is flag your attention to a very grey area that could cause you grief if you are not aware or do nothing about it. Most Moss Brothers homes have verandas, we love verandas because they not only look fantastic but provide an excellent extension of living space and give sun protection while enjoying the outside. I’ve never heard a negative or complaint from a client after completing and handing over a new house suggesting that their house is too dark on the inside because of shading from the veranda roof.
My point to all of this is, there is a huge amount of work and expense in the construction of your veranda but the shocking truth is that unless you insist that your insurance company tags to your policy that verandas (and decks) are included they are not seen as part of the house. Yes, your replacement policy might replace your house (in some form) but it most likely won’t include the veranda. What would your place look like without a veranda? I know it would take the character and charm away from mine. And the cost, depending on what is involved, and how it was built, if you take our current showhome, as example, allow about $1300.00 per square meter. So regardless of the age of your existing home, do yourself a favour and check out your policy or ring your insurance company.
And another point of interest:
Replacement does not mean replacement. What do I mean? If you have a magnificent older home, say 75 years old, in the event it is destroyed in a fire it won’t be replaced back to its original state. Or they won’t even replace it with a brand new replica like what Moss Brothers specialise in. All they will pay out on is a replacement home of the same size but probably only with a 2.4m (8ft) ceiling and using industry minimum standards and building materials.
If you want a policy that is a true replacement of what you want then you would need to get the house valued accordingly and have your insurance policy tagged to reflect your understanding of what your replacement expectations are. Of course the other problem with a true replacement is; some of the materials used 75 years ago are simply no longer available. In this instance matching replicas can be manufactured out of readily available timbers and coloured using stains and varnish.
Reminder – don’t do it without a building permit
If you are thinking of doing any type of construction work, even if it’s only very minor, to you house, or building anything on your property, for heavens sake find out from the council if you need a building permit.
It’s very tempting with smaller projects to just go ahead and just built it because of the perceived hassle and expense of getting the correct plans drawn, dealing with the council and then paying the perceived ridiculously high fees they are likely to charge, but by not doing so is courting disaster.
Here are the main risks; if you do build something that is attached to your home and it catches fire, during or after construction, you won’t have insurance cover on the work under construction and could even loose the insurance cover on you house. Or if the structure you build is destroyed in a storm and pieces of the debris damages the neighbour’s property, or even worse (could be worth it in some cases) injures the neighbour, you could find yourself liable.
Our website
Don’t forget there are years of newsletters back-copies posted on our website <www.moss-brothers.co.nz or nzvilla.co.nz>. I’m sure you’ll find something of interest to read. 

Rewards for referrals
Much of our business comes form word-of-mouth, recommendation and referral. Not only do we appreciate this but we recognise that it should not go un-rewarded. The building of a new home is a very large ticket item so when we are successful in securing a building project as a result of referral we believe a tangible ‘thankyou’ is very much in order. And in fact in the past we’ve done such things as sent couples off on a mystery weekend for two as our way of saying thanks.

The trick to recognizing a referral is for us to be told a referral has been made. We just record this and do nothing until contact is made to us. We certainly don’t chase it or follow-up unless requested. If the referred person/couple become clients that build with us, we then reward the referrer. It’s our way of showing our appreciation.

Free Architectural Design Consultation

When thinking about building a new home or construction project, where do you start? Well, it’s very simple, try this. Gather up your thoughts, ideas, and any information you have and come and have a chat with Mark Jerling, our in-house architectural design maestro. The first meeting is free and absolutely no conditions apply. The benefit of doing this means you can pick the brains of an expert to find out if what you propose will work, or how it can be made to work without feeling pressured by a pushy salesperson. After the meeting you’ll be informed enough to either want to keep talking with us or simply walk away – no pressure. It costs nothing except an hour or two of your time.

Yours faithfully

Julian Moss
For Moss Brothers Residential Wellington-Wairarapa Limited (MBRW-WL).
Trading as: Moss Brothers Residential

PS: And a special offer to kick the newsletter off again.
The cost of designer’s fees and preparing plans and specifications for a proposed new home can be expensive, even more so now with all of the new building industry rules and regulations. If you agree to employ Moss Brothers to design and prepare permit plans for your new home (house extensions and renovations excluded) we will start by deducting $2,000.00 off the cost of the design fees. If you go on to employ Moss Brothers to build your new home we will supply a Kitchen cooking range of your choice to value of $2,500.00 - free. Building a new home is a large ticket item so to take advantage of this offer all you need to do is come and have a free discussion and consultation with Mark and agree to have us prepare your building consent plans. Offer ends 31st December 2007.

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