Wunderbar Passive House – We are not a company and don’t build houses. We are just a young couple wanting to inspire others. Join us in our journey of building our home that will be energy-efficient and warm with small ecological footprints.

Guest room is now available for bookings

Posted on 11. July 202511. July 2025 by Team Wunderbar

As of now, we are the 2nd out of 160+ certified passive houses in New Zealand that offer a guest room for you to book and stay overnight.

Anyone can book, and of course to all the architects, builders, component suppliers, and others in New Zealand, you now can tell your potential clients to stay at ours here in Orewa in case they need a little help making their final decision. To have a genuine healthy home is an international human right, which emphasises that housing is more than just shelter; it’s a fundamental aspect of well-being and dignity.

You may see the cost to stay as a help to ease our difficult financial position from the unexpected and challenging house build journey we experienced. We are more than happy to share our journey over a glass of beverage but with a focus on the benefits of a passive house.

Book here:

https://www.booking.com/…/nz/wunderbar-passive-house.html

1 year houseiversary!

Posted on 10. June 202510. June 2025 by Team Wunderbar

We moved in without functional bathrooms, running water, or flooring. Dust sheets covered the concrete and beach mats brought by our friends were used to create a small walkway for our kids. I showered outside with a garden hose in the middle of New Zealand winter. Now, one year later, we are proud of what we’ve accomplished. It is a house that needs little or no heating/cooling. It’s an incredible experience and soon you will be able to experience it too, as our guest room is nearly ready for bookings.

Certified Passive House achieved!

Posted on 4. May 20254. May 2025 by Team Wunderbar

We are now the 160+ certified passive house in New Zealand!

Thank you so much to those who helped us achieve this!

Count of certified Passive Houses in New Zealand:

https://sustainableengineering.co.nz/nzphcount/

We’ve got CCC for our house!

Posted on 19. February 202519. February 2025 by Team Wunderbar

There are unfortunately people in the New Zealand building industry (we hope are few) who placed obstacles in our way and ripped us off despite my family bleeding out under life-threatening conditions. We hope there is real justice in this life at the end.

Despite the bad people, more importantly, we want to thank all the genuine people who had their hearts in the right place and supported us in our passive house-building journey.

The next and final step is to complete the passive house certification. Hopefully, we can share more positive news soon.

Manufacturer – Izodom 2000 Polska

Posted on 30. December 202419. February 2025 by Team Wunderbar

As a part of our building journey and closing off the year 2024, we would like to start sharing more about the products and businesses we worked with and that supported us.

We want to begin with an international company Izodom 2000 Polska (www.izodom.pl) established in 1991. This is the main structure of our house and is called ICF (Insulated Concrete Formwork). The Izodom walls require no thermal insulation, and provide a building with no thermal bridges, which is fast, resistant to moisture and fungi growth, and durability lasting over 150 years. The technology has a certificate of the Certified Passive House Components issued by the Passive House Institute in Germany.

Cheers to the year 2025!

A sign of life, 15 months later . . .

Posted on 20. August 2024 by Team Wunderbar

At the bottom of hopelessness and life-threatening hurdles in our passive house-build journey, we want to believe there are a mountain of opportunities. We are still alive and closer to finishing. We wanted to share a small glimpse of our house and the beautiful moment caught on camera today.

It’s a pity that we couldn’t find the pot of gold as folktales tell.

Could we promise that we will be back? No, and if we do, we will not be the same. Soon the tales of our unexpected journey will be brought to daylight the good, the bad, and the ugly ones.

As for now, we enjoy this rare moment of beauty and hope.

Richtfest celebration

Posted on 7. May 20237. May 2023 by Team Wunderbar

The roof shout (Richtfest) is considered a long-standing tradition and milestone in construction.

We celebrated it and hope that smashing traditionally a glass will turn off some of the bad luck and negative experiences with our building journey. There is still some work to be done until we can finally move in and share more to help others have a smoother building journey.

2nd Open Construction Day – Roof Shout

Posted on 29. April 2023 by Team Wunderbar

Our next open Passive House Construction Day is on 6 May!

We celebrate the completion of the next construction stage – the house envelope and roof shout! 😀

Here is the link to register on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/6xfcv38Bp

We hope you can be inspired and build a passive house that is energy-efficient, warm, and lasts for generations.

We look forward to seeing you there!

1st Open Construction Day

Posted on 23. September 2022 by Team Wunderbar

Are you interested to consume up to 90% less heating energy than a conventional house in New Zealand?

Come check out our passive house during construction in Orewa this Saturday (01 October 2022)

Here is the link to register on Facebook:

https://fb.me/e/2b9Rrd8Ij

We hope you can be inspired and build a passive house that is energy-efficient, warm, and lasts for generations.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Retaining walls have been passed by Council

Posted on 27. March 202227. March 2022 by Team Wunderbar

Our two retaining walls have been passed by Council, hitting the 2nd milestone of our building journey!

The first of 2 Izodom New Zealand containers will be on site this week. The foundation earthworks and slab for our house are about to begin.

Watch out for our next post for the first open construction day, coming soon.