Invest in the environment
Rammed earth homes have a much ligher carbon footprint than many conventional homes. It comes down to using locally sourced materials that are as natural and eco-friendly as possible, while still meeting building and structural safety requirements.
Invest in your health
We use eco-building materials and techniques that dramatically reduce the likelihood of asthma and allergies. Rammed earth walls are permeable, meaning they absorb and transfer heat, cool, and moisture. This creates a stable indoor environment that’s good for your health.
Invest in durability
When something is durable, it lasts. Rammed earth walls are built to last hundreds, if not thousands of years with minimal maintenance. This long lifecycle dramatically lightens the impact that rammed earth buildings have on the environment and your finances.
Healthier for you
Understand how we create homes and buildings that contain less toxins than conventional homes – from the earth mix in the walls to the wood stain or oil on the windowsills. Learn how the 350mm + thick walls keep indoor humidity at healthy levels for you and your family and, due to using the sun’s warmth, require less mechanical heating and cooling.
Hear how it worksHealthier for the planet
Learn how rammed earth buildings produce less carbon in the both build and life-cycle stages than conventional buildings. We build homes with a light carbon footprint. A rammed earth home embodies significantly less energy than a conventional house due to the sourcing of natural, local resources and incredible durablity. We build homes that last.
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Our Recent Projects
More Projects
Thames house
Piha Home
Mahurangi West Cottage
Kaiaua home
Recent News
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Our current project
Here we are working on Peter and Jo Birch’s fantastic property in Thames. Terra Firma CEO Paul Geraets might design the homes but he’s still capable of being on the tools! This is ‘how we do’ rammed earth – layers of earth being compacted into wooden forms to create strong, stunning, natural walls.
Testimonial
Paul and his team of workers have been busily building our new home in Thames. These guys are just great to work with and to have around. Their passion for what they do and the attention to detail is making this whole journey such a pleasure. Our home has been admired by so many people in the neighbourhood and that’s before we even move in!
Thames 2021
The house has definitely lived up to expectation and we wouldn’t have left expect for our age. Four acres of quarry land was too much. We’ve been there 25 years and it has always felt very healing. My daughter who does psychology always says when she comes back home to visit she feels it is very healing in this house “everything disappears” she says of other stresses.
Cambridge 2019
Everybody we met who has built with Paul loves their homes…I’m a farmer and I could help with the practical stuff when building the home – Paul was very open to this. For a 240m2 house, I only took away one trailer load of rubbish. We have no maintenance, we put oil on the wood and joinery every 3 – 5 years. No paint to chip. The walls breathe, the air in the house always seems clean.
Mangawaka 2008
People say that when they visit our home it smells lovely from the oiled timber. It’s warm in winter and cool in summer. We have no condensation at all…we have been healthier with fewer colds since we have been here. It is also not unnaturally dry; the walls perform as a self-regulating indoor climate control. Paul is the most knowledgeable in this type of building in this country and we would like to encourage more people to build in this way
Karapiro 2009
