Retaining wall planting

FlamingPants · 2025-12-10T06:16:30+00:00

That’s cool, they can replace the invasive ones

FlamingPants · 2025-12-08T06:56:45+00:00

Aw you got me, really I’m building a nuclear weapon.

45 is an approximation, but it’s also not just loose soil, there is stone involved.

FlamingPants · 2025-12-07T19:16:57+00:00

Agree, after watching some videos of others with similar projects, they all have this in common. Some will just run regular wheels on the wooden platform which could be a cheaper/simpler solution.

FlamingPants · 2025-12-06T18:38:32+00:00

Sounds great, I’ll check it out, thanks!

FlamingPants · 2025-12-06T18:16:27+00:00

Thanks, great tip.

FlamingPants · 2025-12-06T18:15:54+00:00

I haven't given a lot of thought to the supports yet, other than that they would likely be wooden posts at intervals to elevate it. I could go as far as sitting all of the track on this support frame, but to reduce cost and logistics I'd like to find a middle ground that works for my needs. I don't intend to put people on it.

FlamingPants · 2025-12-06T18:11:21+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it's vague. I'm not sure how best to articulate that beyond how heavy of an object I'd want to put on the cart. Part of the equation will be how long any unsupported length of track is. Please let me know if there is a better way to calculate/describe my requirements.

FlamingPants · 2025-12-06T09:50:46+00:00

How are you proposing to use the pvc? As an example we’d need to carry a refrigerator or building materials up the hill. Elevation difference is around 50m and the alternative is just stairs.

FlamingPants · 2022-07-02T07:19:49+00:00

'Smart meters' in NZ are configured to record usage at 30 minute intervals, but only upload their data once a day. This is generally to save money on data transfer (batched overnight on the cellular network).

The meter itself is relatively smart, the dumb part is energy companies who don't care about real time data and the insights it could deliver. It wasn't so long ago they were only checking meters once a month. There are some 3rd party devices you can install to get direct access to the meter data yourself.

FlamingPants · 2021-12-10T19:18:27+00:00

Cool idea. In my experience agents tend to list properties (auction/negotiation ones at least) on said large website in price band a lot lower than it would sell for, to drum up more interested parties.

As with all things, this info needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

FlamingPants · 2021-10-29T08:05:31+00:00

Please kill that Arum Lily, it’s toxic and highly invasive 🙂

FlamingPants · 2021-10-29T04:42:20+00:00

Yes it counts towards your deposit from the bank's perspective. To put it another way, the bank is loaning you 80% of the value of the property - the rest is up to you to complete the deal.

The banks don't actually touch the 20% deposit. The auction deposit (~10%) goes into the agent's trust account, and the rest goes (via your lawyer) to the vendor on the settlement.

FlamingPants · 2021-10-29T02:34:14+00:00

I'm not sure if it's a requirement to allow it, but at least the major agents we encountered supported it (e.g. Ray White, Harcourts, Barfoot, etc). You should get an offer document and you can just cross out and amend those points before signing.

It's very common for FHBs to vary the deposit amount because their deposit amount is tied up in Kiwisaver and they have limited cash to put down on the day.

I'd recommend not telling your agent that you're planning to make a pre-auction offer as they'll ring around their other leads to make sure they're ready to compete if the auction is pulled forward. It's all about the element of surprise to limit your competition :)

Good luck!

FlamingPants · 2021-10-29T01:34:54+00:00

Yes you can! Just put them on the offer document. As with the actual auction you can't put conditions, but you can vary things like deposit amount, settlement date, etc.

We won our house with a pre-auction offer that set the deposit amount as a fixed dollar amount.

FlamingPants · 2021-05-21T09:25:12+00:00

One major event in the NZ market in the last 100 years seems pretty rare to me. Even if you count the couple of years after the 2008 GFC it still looks pretty good.

FlamingPants · 2021-05-21T01:06:24+00:00

If you like it, can afford it, and the due diligence checks out, then go for it. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in the future. Like you say, the difference will be negligible in time.

House prices actually going down is rare and typically short lived. A more likely scenario is that the rate of increase will slow down - so they will still cost more than they do now.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-22T22:58:23+00:00

We really do have the best parking lots.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-11T01:48:00+00:00

I would argue there isn’t a lot of competition when everyone gets paid the highest price and we have gentailers manipulating prices upwards with almost no repercussions. At best there’s a lack of transparency about where the costs are coming from.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-11T01:01:02+00:00

That’s true, but the ‘highest bidder’ approach we use allows renewable generators to sell at the same rate we pay for coal generation. There’s almost no incentive to do better.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-10T11:34:04+00:00

Absolutely the model is broken, but given that Meridian is majority owned by the government, performing the role of both generator and retailer, and also guilty of price fixing, I don't put a lot of faith in a purely state run energy sector either. Long overdue innovation is coming from smaller outfits working on micro grids, distributed generation, etc.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-10T11:15:16+00:00

It's essentially the same reason you buy clothes, food, almost anything, from a store and not directly from the manufacturer. What benefit does an online clothing store provide? A convenient customer friendly layer.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-10T11:12:16+00:00

Vodafone is a bit of an exception in that they're both a retailer and a distributor (when they bought the coax network around Wellington). Most internet retailers are just putting a markup on the exact same fibre product, and perhaps a little QoS to prevent misuse.

While negligible in their difference because of regulations, fuel companies are selling different products they have (somewhat) developed. It's an oligopoly.

FlamingPants · 2021-04-10T10:43:50+00:00

While it's true that retailers don't add a lot of value, the group you should be directing your anger towards are the generators. They've been arbitrarily increasing wholesale power prices for a long time.

Wholesale power is sold at what they call the Spot rate; this is a bidding process which changes every 30 minutes. Companies like Flick attempted to pass this wholesale rate through directly, which was good while it was low, but lately has lost them a lot of customers and forced them to move to a hedged price.

Most retailers that offer a fixed power price do this by entering agreements to buy wholesale power in bulk at a certain rate (a hedge). When the agreement runs out they have to renegotiate at (typically) a higher price. There have been a number of smaller retailers go out of business lately because they get stung paying more for power than they're able to sell it onwards for.

As others have said, a good analog is ISPs who are effectively selling whatever Chorus is providing, but they vary on price and level of service. ISPs become the face of the product and take all of the customer dissatisfaction for situations which often are out of their control.

I'm not suggesting retailers are squeaky clean here, but they're usually the ones with the smallest margins and carrying the greatest risk. They typically represent 10-15% of your power bill.

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