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18/12-20 Lawrence Drive, Nerang QLD 4211, Australia
This coastal new build was designed for the way our client lives — relaxed, low-maintenance and ready for the Queensland weather. Hard-wearing external materials, generous eaves and cross-ventilation keep the home comfortable year-round, while the open-plan layout connects the kitchen, dining and living areas to a covered outdoor room.
The site sits in a coastal corrosion zone, which rules out standard fixings and finishes if the home is to look after itself for decades. Street access was narrow, making deliveries and crane lifts awkward, and the build ran through a stretch of wet weather that threatened the program.
We specified marine-grade fixings, coated hardware and a cladding profile proven in coastal environments — decisions that cost slightly more upfront and save the owner a fortune in maintenance. Deliveries were re-sequenced into smaller, staged drops, and the program carried weather buffers that absorbed the wet season without cascading into the fit-out trades.
The home has now been through its first full year of salt air and summer storms without a single maintenance call. The program finished within the contracted timeframe, the final account matched the tender, and the owner's verdict — "it feels like it was built for the street it's on" — is exactly what we were aiming for.
Coastal blocks reward clients who think in decades. The marine-grade fixings on this home cost a little more at tender and are invisible at handover — but they are the reason the owner's first annual maintenance bill was close to zero. If you are building near salt water, put corrosion in the tender conversation, ask for product names rather than assurances, and treat narrow access as a logistics question your builder should answer before signing, not after.
Every home we build starts with a conversation. Tell us what you are planning and we will show you how we would approach it.