"Two months after receiving an award for the house in the Canterbury Master Builders House of the Year, the quake hit. It was pretty disappointing realising we couldn't live in it again, but you've got to move on," says Fabish.

Fabish is now rebuilding his family home in timber.

"I look around, and timber houses seem to have weathered the quakes best. And I like timber. My granddad's house was built in timber and it's still good fifty years on. I'm not sure why the New Zealand building industry moved away from it in recent years."

Fabish is using an innovative New Zealand-developed timber weatherboard cladding, Jenkin A-lign Concealed Fix, for his new home. The system combines precision-cut timber weatherboards, remove baseboards, internal and external scribers and prefabricated box corners, facings, weatherheads and sills. A patented locking system holds the weatherboards tightly in place without the use of nails, so the surface of the weatherboard is unbroken. That means high moisture protection, no filling and puttying of nail holes, lower painting costs and a superior face finish.

"I saw A-lign Concealed Fix on display at the Auckland Home Show when I was up there for the Master Builders' Conference last year. I fell in love with it in about 30 seconds. It was just a no-brainer. I decided on the spot that I wanted to use it to build our new home."

As Fabish finishes building his home, he says he knows he has made a really good choice.

"Concealed Fix is so easy to work with, it fits together really nicely, and it looks so good. I've never seen timber machined to this level of quality before. The way it was presented on site, the protection of the product - every aspect of it was first class."

Fabish says other builders and homeowners have stopped by to see the Jenkin A-lign Concealed Fix cladding installed. He says they like what they see. "I think we'll being seeing a lot of new timber homes go up around Christchurch over the coming years."