RetireJapan

I never did get around to writing a blog of our building process, sure I could probably do it now, and might have better insights looking back, but I just procrastinate too much!

A design/building youtube channel came and did a room tour of our house with our architect, and thought you guys might enjoy it. It was a fully custom house (as in designed from the ground up). The reason I chose our architect was because I was looking for something close to passive house (but not passive house as that would be out of our price range). The house had a final airtightness value (C) of 0.39. We moved in at the end of May, and left the aircon running constantly at 24 degrees, and our power bills were around 9,000yen, with about 5,000yen back from the excess we sold (so it only cost us around 4,000yen). We've yet to turn on the heater, as the house keeps the warmth from the day well.

Anyway, here's the video https://youtu.be/FBGPy8OdRKM

Looks fantastic! I love the balcony/terrace thing off the kitchen

That looks fantastic--congratulations!




(but the railings on the upper balcony do not look to be kid safe)

Thanks. I wanted an open living/dining/kitchen, so that why I opted for it to be on the 2nd floor, and thought it would be nice to have it open onto a balcony. I actually wanted the balcony doors to fully open, but no where in Japan could make those kinds of doors to the spec we wanted (thermal rating etc). I entertained the idea of importing from Europe, but it would have prohibitively expensive. The architect did his best to find a maker in Japan that would fit the requirements and could make as large an opening as possible.

captainspoke wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:44 am (but the railings on the upper balcony do not look to be kid safe)

The architect wanted to prioritize the view. When/if we have kids, we'll install a netting or something!

Great stuff

Wow, beautiful house, and very interesting that that one little aircon in the pantry is sufficient to cool/heat the entire house.
Love the wall and the ceiling in the living room as well.

Would you be willing to share how much this build cost?

That looks great, love the big windows, can imagine it is very bright. No curtains/blinds is a choice or yet to be done?

Wow! Your house looks amazing! Enjoy it (I'm super jealous)

Thank you for the video. I'm still waiting for my PR result but hoping to start the house buying process early next year so this gave me some great ideas about what I want.

I really like the balcony attached to your living area. It has some depth to it so it's spacious enough to relax there and even work from home. That's my dream

How long did the construction part take? Sorry if it was mentioned in the video, my Japanese language ability isn't great and the YouTube auto generated subs are hit n miss but very funny

mighty58 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 4:12 pm Would you be willing to share how much this build cost?

I'm happy to be fairly open about it. It was about 40mil for the house (not including the land).

SZQ wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:05 am How long did the construction part take?

Construction started in October last year, and we moved in at the end of May this year. There were some set backs mostly having to do with the ground ending up being a bit soft and having to put piles in, so the move in date slipped by about a month. Also when we moved in the fence out the back and the entrance approach across the deep gutter hadn't been done, so that construction continued after we'd moved.

Beaglehound wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 12:36 am That looks great, love the big windows, can imagine it is very bright. No curtains/blinds is a choice or yet to be done?

We wanted to see what living here was like before deciding on whether we'd need curtains or not. During summer, as the sun is much higher in the sky, it's actually not too much of a problem. But now the sun is getting lower, it does come straight in, so we are looking at getting some blinds, which would also help keep heat out in the summer, and in in the winter.