This one-bedroom abode in Geraldton’s outskirts is truly one-of-a-kind. Custom-built to suit the lifestyle of our client, the home makes use of multipurpose spaces and sustainable elements to run completely off-grid. Building your first home is a big deal. You’re investing your life savings into bricks and mortar and you want to ensure it’s everything you’ve imagined and more. When Nelson Building Company was approached to build this contemporary home for a first-time home-owner, we knew right away this would not be an average build.
The Brief
The brief was to build a home designed for a single occupant on a large 7.5-acre block overlooking the ocean and surrounding farmland. The home had to be small, yet refined, and include all the essentials with a few added luxuries.
The initial 60sqm floorplan was drawn up by the client to encompass multipurpose spaces, such as a bathroom/laundry wet area, high ceilings, and an additional 40sqm deck.
One of the primary challenges of the build was overcoming the abundance of capstone on the block. Instead of digging down the septic system and leach drains, we decided to elevate the house pad, and have the septic system sitting just above the original earth.
The block was also positioned on a high slope with very little flat ground. By bringing in additional earth, we elevated the block to make room for a large amount of flat “useable space”.
Special Features
At first glance, the home oozes warmth, combining rustic elements and materials with modern edge. Interestingly, the client forwent a common request of having a home with ‘resale value’, and instead gave us full creative license to build the home exactly how the client liked to live; a home they could enjoy for decades to come.
The standout feature is, of course, a large limestone wall that penetrates the living space, running across one end of the home, connecting the inside with the out. The wall was built using rocks collected from the property, and paired beautifully with an outdoor limestone retaining wall.
The idea was to use natural, robust materials that would be able to withstand the harsh coastal climate, while blending in effortlessly with the natural landscape and nearby bushland.
Natural material and colour selection also feature through other areas of the home. A termite resistant, long-life cladding, Weathertex, was chosen for the external façade, and a Merbau deck was also selected for its fire-resistant properties.
Moving indoors, hard wood engineered timber flooring made from NSW spotted gum extends through the living and bedroom space, and is complemented by floor-mounted LED strip lighting that illuminates the feature rock wall. The pairing of smooth and rough surfaces involved additional detailed scribing work.
The earthy aesthetics continue into the kitchen, where a custom single piece poured concrete benchtop stands proud alongside an exposed timber beam. In the effort of keeping things modern, quality cabinetry with painted matte doors and soft closing drawers and cupboards was chosen.
The bathroom and bedroom also have their fair share of custom features. A ceiling window above the bed brings in natural light by day and a window for star gazing at night. In the bathroom, a timber-lined wall is the centrepiece and is paired beautifully alongside the custom concrete benchtop and white cabinetry.
Automatic louvers were also installed to allow air or light in while keeping sunshine or moisture out.
Sustainable Elements
Due to the home’s distance from the grid and high costs that would have been incurred connecting to mains power, we built the home so it could be powered by its own energy sources. Building an off-grid system was more viable and would pay off quicker.
Our solution was installing 20x327watt SunPower Mono solar panels – a 6.54kW system complemented by four Gen Z 3kwh batteries (12kWh storage/10kWh usable), which was purchased from Infinite Energy.
The solar panels power the home during the day, and at night the batteries keep the home independent from the grid, reducing emissions.
To conceal the battery and inverter from the external façade of the home, we established a nook featuring custom aluminium and cladding doors that presented adequate airflow.
Other sustainable features employed include a 28,000L rainwater tank to provide much of the occupant’s annual water use. A light Colorbond roof was also chosen for minimal heat absorption to keep the home cool all-year-long to meet the client’s brief and personal preference for cooler temperatures.
