“We lived in the same house in Auckland for 40 years; a California bungalow nearly a hundred years old. You were always having to keep it heated in the winter. Even though we had central gas heating, it was on pretty much 24/7. It cost a fortune. And it had condensation and mildew. We’d done a lot of work and insulated, but it was still a challenge. In our new home, the atmosphere is lovely and it's consistent in every room. Winter's a thing of the past. We moved in at the end of winter, so we had some cold days where it was seven degrees overnight and the coldest it’s been in this house is probably about 19-20 degrees. It's just fantastic. Val’s put away the winter linen never to be seen again.” 

“We've been here for a year so we've been through all the seasons. It's a really lovely house to live in. It's warm. And certainly, in terms of how the product's performed, it’s better than we expected. We run the fireplace in the evenings, partly because we like the ambience. And if we run the fireplace too high, which is easy to do, we end up nine o'clock at night, opening windows and flushing the place with fresh air because it's too hot inside, which is pretty unusual for most New Zealand homes in the middle of winter.”

“Sometimes it's really cold outside in the mornings. We’ve a thermometer in the bedrooms where there's no heating at all and 16 degrees would be the lowest that it gets without any heating. It just retains the heat. We put under floor heating in the bathrooms. We don't use it. We've never turned it on. Out here in the living area I'll put the heat pump on for a couple of hours. But because we've built for the sun, if there's any sun, you’re opening windows. I go to bed at one o'clock at night and the house is still warm. It's just amazing how it holds the heat.” 

“We absolutely love living in a Formance home. How warm it is, but also the solidness of it. It feels bullet proof in here, which is really cool. The main difference living in a Formance home is the warmth and comfort and consistency of temperature. This morning it was about six degrees when we were all getting up, and inside the house it was 20 degrees. You come home and you relax in your shorts and t-shirt. We've been in here now since last August, and it's just beautiful to come home to.”

“When we moved in, our daughter Emily had had a cold for about a month. She just couldn't shake it because we were in such a damp house. And within three days of moving into our new home, she was better. The girls don't have to use inhalers anymore. My youngest was born 10 months ago in the new house, he's never had anything wrong with his health, and when he picks up bugs from day-care, he gets better so much quicker than his sisters did.” 

“For us the main thing is being warm and not sick all the time. The house is a good temperature constantly. I remember, in our last rental, the nursery got to 35 degrees and I had no way of cooling it. The sun just baked that particular room during the day, it was just horrendous. Now our son’s room is nice and cool when we need it to be, and nice and warm in winter. Compared to the rentals we were living in, it’s just a higher standard. And we don't have mould growing in places it shouldn't be growing.”