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Japan Homes Blog

  • Site Life Line Plan 18/08/2019

      2019/08/18    The Way We Work 仕事のこだわり

    HI All,   Before we start construction of new building we prepare a site life line plan that show how we set up the site. (Example of Life Line Plan) If we do not make this type of plan the site can be chaos and it sometimes cause a delay in the construction schedule because we may repeatedly need to spend time to tidy and organise the site. For example, if we one of our subs leaves their construction materials (e.g. tiles) in a place where another contractor (e.g. painter) needs to park their car, we will need to move the materials to create the space for carpark, causing a delay in the schedule because the painter cannot begin their work. (Example of Life Line […]

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  • 3 Types Of Kaizen 11/08/2019

      2019/08/11    The Way We Work 仕事のこだわり

    Hi all,   I have recently realised that there are 3 types of Kaizen (improvement). （日本語訳下にあります）   Namely, Kaizan that  Saves time Simplifies work Makes work more enjoyable   Examples of these Kaizen are: Time saving: utilize IT, make template of documentation, eliminate unnecessary work (Muda), etc. Simplifying work: Review work procedures, arrange necessary meetings, review material purchase system and costs, etc. Enjoyable work: Provide New business ideas, provide impressive options for our design and construction proposals, etc.   As a result, we can expect to have benefits including: Reduce stress, have more free time, easy to understand what to do, improve gross margin, improve Kaizen performance, increase sales contract rate, reduce operating expenses and increase imagination. At the same time we check the performance […]

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  • Dog Wash 28/07/2019

      2019/07/28    Landscape ランドスケープ

    Hi All,   A Dog Wash is one of our selections that is not described in our Selection youtube clip. However, if you have a dog who normally stays outside the dog wash could be a very good option for both you and your dog when you plan to do landscape for your own home. (Japan Homes’ Dog Wash) The dog wash has a shower with a nice small deck so that you can wash your dog nicely and easily. Of course you can use hotwater just like a shower for humans so your dog can be comfortably washed. Below is the dog wash we have recently built for the new home in Northshore. You see, the owner’s dog loves our dog wash!!   Thanks […]

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  • Simple Small Japanese Garden 21/07/2019

      2019/07/21    New Home 新築, Site Work Progress 工事進捗

    Hi All,   Thanks for your time. We have created a simple Japanese Style Garden for a new home in Northshore. We could not have a very large landscape area at this property but a Japanese Garden can be still created. The rocks are very important feature so we searched and found very attractive rocks. The grid pattern of the pavers and lawn is a contemporary style of Japanese Garden.   Nowadays, more and more medium density housing with limited garden space like this property are built so we are trying to have a beautiful, simple and modern Japanese Garden that can fit in the small outdoor space.   Thank you for reading.    

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  • Finishing Items 29/06/2019

      2019/06/29    What I feel 自分が感じたこと

    Hi there,   In Japan, finishing items (bathware, electric fixtures, appliance, floor coverings, etc.) are normally decided on product catalogs. However, Products in New Zealand often become out of stock so using catalogs to decide items are quite difficult. I think that the reason is that the market is too small in NZ. We do not want to keep stock because of aiming at the method of “just-in-time of Toyota” so need to use our brain to get the best timing to get these items. Of course, you can pay a bond to a supplier to keep stock, but Due to problems with the supplier’s internal system, other customers sometimes purchase them first and eventually there will be no stock. At the moment we need […]

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  • 5 New Homes In Northshore About To Complete 22/06/2019

      2019/06/22    New Home 新築

    HI All, The 5 new homes which we have started building late last year are about to be complete soon. Project 1: A Two Storey 160m2 New Home This house is designed and built by Japan Homes. There is a bit difficult time to go through the Building Consent stage due to building over public stormwater and wastewater lines but finally we are reaching Council Final Inspection to finish the whole build work.   Project 2: Subdivision + 2 Storey New Homes These houses are also designed and built by Japan Homes. This is a 2 lot subdivision project and our design started for Resource Consent through EPA to Building Consent. The driveway is nicely complete after these photos are taken. Owner is waiting to […]

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  • Five New Home + Subdivision Project 15/06/2019

      2019/06/15    New Home 新築

    HI all, Thanks for your time. We have a new construction project going on in East of Auckland.   5 Lot New Home Project This is a 5-New Home construction on subdivision as the below image shows.   The land is subdivided and there will be 5 small but well designed homes on it.   (Lot 1 Floor Plans) The civil work has been complete and we Japan Homes have just started to build these new homes at the moment. The civil contractor and our clients are so nice that the site is perfectly set up for the new home build which makes our work so much easier than otherwise. Foundation work is going on these days. Since last year we have had 4 subdivision […]

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  • Ability Required By Project Manager 01/06/2019

      2019/06/01    What I feel 自分が感じたこと

    HI All,   Most important ability required for Project Management is to plan the whole construction project = ability for work preparation. It is to plan the project without any type of waste (time, money, resources, etc.) and troubles. A project manager needs to understand needs and wants of all relevant parties including clients, the head contractor, SUBs, Neighbors, property Buyers. After all, if some part of the project is planned unreasonably the project will be eventually delayed or get stack. Also it is important to understand the whole picture of supply chains. Major important works needs to be done by a Project Manager Develop a detailed project plan with some schedule allowance Assign a right job to a right person Prepare a backup plan […]

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