A Sunshine Coast couple’s experience with previous home building projects has ensured their latest effort will be one which suits their needs for a long time.

A Sunshine Coast couple’s experience with previous home building projects has ensured their latest effort will be one which suits their needs for a long time.

Steve and Sue Johnson are more experienced than most couples when it comes to having a house designed and built. They’ve done it seven times.

“We bought a 1,200 square metre block of land at Buderim early in 2005 primarily because of its superb bush views located in a unique gated community only minutes from the beach,” Steve Johnson said about the latest project. “Then we had the challenge of designing a home that would suit it."

“It’s on what Maroochy Council calls a hillslope block, so steep that you can’t easily walk on it. To complicate things the council regulations require that nothing can be built more than ten metres above the ground."

“We had a base plan of what we wanted and gave it to our building designer, Phillip Roxburgh, who is my brother-in-law, to ‘architecturalise’ and solve a very difficult design challenge. It’s a collaboration which has worked particularly well on four houses, but none better than this.”

The Johnsons’ new home is a unique design clad almost entirely in LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile rollformed in ZINCALUME® steel and it required a planning regulations relaxation from council.

The main area at street access level includes a garage, lounge, study, powder room, kitchen with integrated laundry, dining, living room and master bedroom suite.There are also two decks, including one with a spa.

Downstairs there are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a large covered deck. The Johnsons live on the upper level and their children, who visit often, use the lower level.

“The house is built on rock, using a type of portal frame spanning six metre segments, so there is a fair bit of flex in it,” Steve Johnson said.

“The LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile wall cladding in ZINCALUME® steel is ideal to cope with any movement there might be. You don’t get unsightly settlement cracks which are so often associated with brick and masonry walls.”

Council regulations prohibiting the removal of trees didn’t deter the Johnsons, who love the bush and are happy to be surrounded by foliage.

“Of course that meant we had to consider exterior cladding materials very carefully, for simple cleaning and maintenance as well as for suitability in a bushfire prone environment,” Steve Johnson said.

“We thought of cladding made from ZINCALUME® steel because we wanted something robust that could cope with gum leaves and tree sap. We’ve used it on previous houses, but not to the same extent as this time.”

Local builder Barrett Constructions wins high praise from the Johnsons. “Butch Barrett was fantastic,” Steve said. “He had built in the area before and he understood the issues. We had less issues with this house than with any of the others we have built. “

The upper level covers 240 square metres and the area on the lower level takes the total area to almost 350 square metres.

“With retirement just a few years ahead we wanted a home that would work for us and require very little maintenance,” Steve said. “In some ways it’s a big house, but we use all of it."

Makesafe Roofing and Plumbing which carried out all the cladding work on the house also played a big role in the quality of the result according to Steve Johnson.

“My brother-in-law produced a superb and detailed design which tied in all the cladding elements perfectly, especially around the roof lines and barge mouldings,” he said.

“From experience with a house we had built in Brisbane we understood how important it was to resolve all the flashing details. The cladding contractor did a magnificent job”

Makesafe Roofing and Plumbing project manager Steve Love said the house was the first on which he had worked where LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile in ZINCALUME® steel had been used for all external cladding.

“We’ve done plenty of others where it has been used to create a feature wall, but I’ve never done one with this much. I’m impressed with the finished effect. The cladding is a feature of the house and although we always finish jobs to a high standard, we took extra care with this one.”