New block owner near Aotea

Hi we just brought a rough 23 acres bare land and Manuka overlooking Aotea harbour. Planning a cheapish batch build or container batch soon. Tricky hill site to build on but view will be worthwhile. Thinking of going off grid with solar power too as no connection but lines are on road at boundary. Interesting times ahead...

Welcome! Nice part of the country. I used to surf at Raglan back in the day. I'm sure you'll have fun developing your block. There is a ton of accumulated experience and know-how on this forum to help you on your quest!

I would go for off grid, power will get more and more expensive as more people choose to opt out of the wired network. With led lighting you don't need much. You can get solar powered water pumps as well now.
Also look at satellite Internet then you don't need to dig the trench from the gate to the house....
First thing to do is to make friends with local building inspector and find out what your options are! If you need a pole house because of the slope, then digging the holes is a major task.....

tonybaker wrote: . . . Also look at satellite Internet then you don't need to dig the trench from the gate to the house....

Or wireless 3G / 4G rural broadband - then you get a phone as well!

Thanks for your comments. I'm going to look more into solar costs vs mains power connection which being about 300m from the nearest line and likely needing a transformer I'd expect a large bill for that which would probably pay for a decent solar system without monthly bills.
I'm sure all the answers are here somewhere....?