Backcountry Studio NZ

14/04/2026

Some beautiful pictures sent by Rex building his house in Lake Rotoroa.
Rex took the challenge to build his house under the owner builder exemption, and he is doing a great job at getting it done!

31/07/2025

Looking for a smooth and efficient experience with your bathroom renovations? Check out this fantastic feedback about Nico's work! 👇

"Nico was very swift and efficient with documentation turn around for our bathroom renovations. Great communication and very easy to deal with. Ideal for our purposes. Highly recommend."

13/06/2025

At Backcountry Studio, your satisfaction is our success. Instead of just trusting us, discover what our customers have to say.

Lauren & Dan are building their new home in West Eyreton, and they wrote this wonderful review earlier this week:

"We had the pleasure of working with Nico and Ira at Backcountry Studio, and we couldn’t be more grateful for their help in bringing our dream build to life. From the start, Nico’s communication was exceptional—clear, timely, and always thoughtful. He showed incredible patience throughout the process and impressed us with his high-level knowledge and professionalism. His work ethic is unmatched, and it’s clear he truly cares about the quality of his work and the people he works with.

Ira also played a key role, creating a beautiful sketch of our home that helped us truly visualize the final product. Their creative insight and collaborative approach made the entire experience enjoyable and stress-free.

The pricing was also very reasonable, especially given the level of expertise and care we received. Our house is finally under construction, and we can’t wait to see it all come together. We highly recommend Nico & Ira —they’re an absolute pleasure to work with”

20/03/2025

Contact us today for a free quote.

20/02/2025

New home coming to Eyreton in the Waimakariri District!

This budget friendly home will be built under the owner builder exemption. If you are a hands on tools kind of person, the owner builder exemption is a great way to make substantial savings on a new build.
Our clients provided us with a sketched layout and we turned it into a set of construction drawings.
We assisted them in project management and organized the relevant consultants when required, making the process straight forward and easy to follow.

Feel free to contact us for your next project.

06/02/2025

Last week, Nico and the Backcountry Studio team competed in the MAGNIficent, an epic adventure race taking place around Otago and Southland. They finished 14th over 34 team, cleared 95% of the course and came back home with memories for life. Well done team!

02/10/2024

Focus on Development Contribution Fees.

Council authorities are financing the infrastructures required in your community with development contribution fees. When a new household is created, extra pressure is put on the council assets, such as the stormwater system, the drainage system, the maintenance of parks and reserves etc. That’s why councils are enforcing development contribution fees for every new development.

Creating an additional self contained household on a property which already contains a residential house will be considered as a new development. The new household is self contained when it includes a kitchen and a bathroom. A new sink is enough to define a new kitchen, and sometimes the possibility to swap a plumbing fixture (such as a laundry tub) with a kitchen sink is enough to trigger this policy.

For example, depending where you live, a 60m2 granny flat in Christchurch could cost up to $18K of development contribution fees.

Christchurch is currently reviewing this policy and it is likely going to increase in the future.

20/09/2024

Another project completed, another happy client!
The Simeon Homestead is now ready for Spring.

The original leaky lean-to was fully removed and replaced with a new extension overlooking the sunny backyard.
Tying with the existing 100 years old villa was challenging but it was beautifully achieved by talented builders.

Contact us now if you don't want to spend another Winter in a cold & leaky house!

05/09/2024

Ira is so talented!

Sneak peek at a new piece from Emerging Artist Ira Sizova
Ira is someone to keep your eye on, her work is so detailed but breath-taking! Dont miss out, keep watching our page.
Will post details of title and price once the Limited Edition Prints have arrived in the Gallery, in a few days time.

01/09/2024

A full reclad requires a Building Consent.
We can provide creative solutions for when the existing cladding has failed and no longer meets the minimum Building code requirements.

Backcountry Studio NZ, architectural designers in Christchurch.
Designing homes which do not cost the earth.