- Jeff Williams transformed his dairy farm using regenerative practices, boosting profits significantly.
- He then built an off-grid, self-sufficient home in Palmerston North, featuring solar and wind energy systems.
- The property, with an RV of $2.6m, is unique and difficult to price due to its features.
Retired farmer Jeff Williams used to worry about the number of cows on his dairy farm. These days, he spends his time looking for more and more ways to go off-grid.
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“It has been a journey,” the Palmerston North retiree told OneRoof as he put his 10ha estate on the market for sale.
Williams said he went down the intensification route, thinking, like many, it was the only way to make dairy farming profitable.
“But when the vet says, ‘I think we’d better put some low doses of antibiotic in the feed’, that was the ‘aha’ moment for me that it wasn’t the right way to go,” he told OneRoof.
The property is stylishly presented and a standout in the market. Photo / Supplied
“My [late] wife Janice wanted to go organic. But I couldn’t handle seeing thistles around the place. That’s when we looked at regenerative farming.”
Williams reduced the herd and released 200 hens onto the fields daily to stimulate and enrich the soil. The farm started supplying produce to Kāpati Milks and turned in its biggest profits in years as a result of the change. It even appeared on TVNZ’s Country Calendar in the 2010s.
Williams has never been afraid to go against the grain. “My father was an early adopter. I think I inherited some of his DNA,” he told OneRoof. “He converted a sheep farm to a dairy farm back in the 70s when nobody else did it, and he had the first rotary cow shed in the Manawatū. We had the first centre pivot irrigation in New Zealand.”
With retirement looming, the couple took stock of how they wanted to live. “We sold the farm and thought, right, we’re going to build our forever home. We wanted to future-proof it.”
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6/454 Stoney Creek Road, in Kelvin Grove, was completed in stages. One of the biggest challenges at the beginning of the project was choosing where to put the house - beside the gate, where the service points were located, or deep into the section, which Williams thought was the best place to build.
“We got a price for putting in mains power to the site, which was about 800–900 metres from the gateway,” he said. “It was going to cost about $80,000, so we thought, ‘Oh, we’ll put that money into off-grid’.”
There were hiccups as the couple severed themselves from the grid. “When you’ve got mains power, you can slap some solar up and some batteries on, and it’s all easy. But when you’re off-grid, it’s a different beast,” Williams said.
Owner Jeff Williams has invested heavily in off-grid tech. "We’ve got more power than we know what to do with." Photo / Supplied
“We moved in, and that first winter, the generator didn’t work. We went to see an outfit in Palmerston North that specialises in solar, and they said what we proposed couldn’t be done. So that made me more determined to prove them wrong.”
A forward-thinking young electrician suggested changes that worked. They also added what Williams believes was the first one-bladed Thinair wind turbine in the North Island. “It complements the solar because at night, when there’s no sun, you can at least get some wind.”
“The turbines trickle power in. About a kilowatt and a half each when the wind’s blowing. We’ve got more power than we know what to do with.”
When the climatically controlled batteries are full, the surplus electricity is directed into the cars in the garage.
The four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 285sqm home was built by passive house designers and builders eHaus Manawatū. “Janice designed the house. At the time it was built, it was the first of its kind - polystyrene blocks with concrete and reinforcing.”
The home has a KNX automation system where the lights are on sensors rather than switches. “When you walk into the hallway, the lights come on. And when the lights come on, the computer recognises there’s somebody in the room. So it turns the heated mirror on, and it turns on the expel air to get rid of the steam. You can dedicate that the towel rail comes on at seven in the morning and turns off at 11. Then the same thing with the heated floors.”
The house was supposed to be Jeff’s forever home, but the death of his wife five years ago has led to changes in his life. Photo / Supplied
Williams has spent many hours trawling the internet looking for technology that works for the home and chats with experts from around the world. He said the home was so self-sufficient, it could withstand almost any weather disaster.
“Cyclone Gabrielle a few years ago was a real example of how we rely on power and the internet. And if Gabrielle happened in Palmerston North, I’d just carry on as usual. We could have, you know, Armageddon and I’d still be OK.
“I’ve got my own water. I’ve got land to grow stuff on. I’ve got Starlink, which is not affected by power outages. So the internet is always available.”
When the Williams built the home, it was meant to be their forever home. “It was really working well until I lost my wife to cancer, five years ago.
“I’m very lucky that I’ve had a chance of another life, and that’s the reason the place is on the market.”
The home, which has an RV of $2.6 million, is listed with Bayleys agents Jack and Mark Monckton. Jack told OneRoof that the property was difficult to price because it was such an unusual home for Palmerston North.
“Maybe a university lecturer or an expat with an affinity to the Manawatū will buy it,” he said, noting that the area lacked similar prime properties to benchmark it against.
He said even though it was off-grid, the property was still only a three-minute drive to the nearest shopping centre. “The magic with it is, it’s not lock up and leave, but it’s about as close to that as you’ll get on 10ha. The house just takes care of itself.”
- 6/454 Stoney Creek Road, Kelvin Grove, Palmerston North, is for sale, tender closing May 7
