“It was a beautiful home. It had won a Silver Award in the Canterbury Master Builders House of the Year. Two months after we received the award, the quake happened. It was pretty disappointing realising we couldn’t live in it again, but you’ve got to move on.”

Ray has now rebuilt his family home in timber.

“I look around, and timber houses seem to have weathered the quakes best. And I like timber. My grandad’s house was built in timber and it’s still good fifty years on. I’m not sure why the New Zealand building industry moved away from it in recent years.”

Ray has used A-lign Concealed Fix, for his new home

“I saw A-lign Concealed Fix on display at the BuildNZ show when I was up there for the Master Builders’ Conference last year. I fell in love with it in about 30 seconds. It was just a no-brainer. I decided on the spot that I wanted to use it to build our new home.”

As Ray finishes building his home, he says he knows he made a really good choice.

“Concealed Fix is so easy to work with, it fits together really nicely, and it looks so good. I’ve never seen timber machined to this level of quality before. The way it was presented on site, the protection of the product, every aspect of it was first class.”

Ray says other builders and homeowners have stopped by to see the A-lign Concealed Fix cladding installed. He says they like what they see.

“I think we’ll being seeing a lot of new timber homes go up around Christchurch over the coming years.”