Accomodation at Willinga Lodge in the genuine Bali Style imported from Indonesia

This is the story of 2 people who had a dream and managed to realize their dream.

A "Grand design" right here in South Africa.

When Will and Ingrid Laarman went to Bali for the 1st time in September of 2001 they could not have imagined the way their life would change forever.

It had always been Ingrid's dream to go to Indonesia, as her father had been born there.
He grew up on a tobacco plantation on Sumatra close to Medan, back in the early 1920's when Indonesia was still a Dutch colony.

As a young child Ingrid used to page through her grandmother's old photo albums, she was always totally intrigued by the different looking people, landscapes and houses depicted in the old black and white photographs.

Little did she know what would come out of that first trip to Bali in September 2001.

In many ways that 1st tour of Bali was a real eye opener for both Ingrid and Will, however it was particularly the architecture that really fascinated both of them.

The Bali style building trend had just started in South Africa and Will and Ingrid realized that looking at houses and hotels in Bali, that what they were looking at was the "real thing".

They both fell in love with the whole tropical look of high pitched roofs, carved wooden beam open roof trusses with woven bamboo ceilings.

Running a successful Lodge in Kosmos for many years (opened Feb 1996) there now was room for expansion at the Lodge.

They had space on the property to add 2 new suites.

Because the lodge had a thatched roof they were used to the open look of a beamed roof, that is the main reason why the Bali style roofs in Bali appealed to them.

Ingrid and Will decided once they got back from Bali, they would now set things in motion to see how to get a genuine Bali roof to South Africa.

They started the process with a young architect who had designed the new plans for the expansion of the lodge on their property in such a way that the building could be built in 2 stages.

The 1st stage would be to build the two de-luxe suites that would bring in the income, to then, later
build the new lounge, dining room, kitchen as well as a double garage with a private bedroom on top.

Stage 2 would be to build all that and then the whole roof area would be covered with the three genuine Bali roofs that would come from Bali.

Once the 1st stage was completed in 2002 the 2 suites were then named the "Bali" and "Lombok" suites after the 2 Indonesian islands where they were getting the building materials from.

The suites became very popular with Ingrid's guests coming to the lodge and their income helped to fund the building materials for stage 2.

In the mean time Will had registered a CC called Bali Style "the real thing". He then investigated the costs of containers, shipping costs, import duties and all else it would entail to import the roof into South Africa.

A year later Will and Ingrid went back to Bali to try to find a local Balinese architect who would be able to realize their dream and make it all happen.

Staying in a small hotel in northern Bali they chatted to the hotel manager about finding an architect.

By chance he recently had contact with a local architect who was doing some work for their hotel.

Will and Ingrid made an appointment and were then introduced to Nengh, a local Balinese architect .

Will explained what they wanted to do in South Africa and showed Nengh the plans of their house in Kosmos.

Nengh told them that he had done this kind of thing before and that a tailor made roof could be designed to the footprint of their house.

The wooden roof structure would then be built by hand on a field in Bali, once the roof was completed each section would be clearly marked, disassembled and loaded into a container for shipping to South Africa.

Will and Ingrid then arranged to meet Nengh in a couple of days, so that he would have time to have a good look at their plans.

He then would be able to give them a provisional estimation of cost of constructing of their dream Bali roof.

After enjoying a wonderful couple of days of snorkeling in Northern Bali they travelled back to the main tourist area close to Den Passar where they met with Nengh at their hotel.

He had drawn an artist impression of their dream home and they were very impressed with the drawings he had done.

He had completely understood what Will had explained to him.

He had not as yet finished the total costing estimation, but would manage to let them know later that day.

Will and Ingrid decided to go and see one of the most famous temples in Bali called Taneh Loth, while they waited in great anticipation for the quote for their roof.

As they were walking around the temple gardens Wills phone rang, it was Nengh with the roof cost estimation!

Ingrid pulled out her notebook, and will had his lap top at the ready and they started to jot down the figures Will called out.

As soon as Will put down the phone, they sat down, and Will's laptop worked overtime with a quick spread sheet that totaled all roof material costs, and feverishly added the estimated container costs as well as the import duties and taxes.

The total figure was within the budget limit which they had set themselves of how much they could afford to spend to have their dream Bali roof in Kosmos.

Jubilation and joy.!!! They could do it .A little later they went to the temple cave at the sea and got a blessing form the local priest of Taneh Loth temple.

It just seemed the right thing to do.

Now the real work could begin.

Once they were back in Kosmos, Will communicated with Nengh via emails and sms. Nengh's forte was designing on the drawing board and the other members of his team in his office worked on the computer.

Will managed to familiarize himself with the CAD program so he could also understand the drawings that were now coming to our local young architect. Sandro.

We were then asked many questions of how we would like our roof rafters to be, what configuration of the beams, what carvings we would like etc.

Then the final quote of the cost arrived and Will and Ingrid were shocked that the total cost had escalated to a lot above the estimation given in Bali.

It was getting very close to being above their budget and they were worried.

Then in the middle of the night Will woke up with a start and told Ingrid I know why the estimation has increased such a lot.

Its just like buying a car.

When we were in Bali we were quoted for the basics, every extra beam in the configuration and extra carving are the extras, exactly like when you buy a car, you add on aircon and the airbags and the radio/cd player.etc.

Once they realized that it was in their hands of how elaborate they wanted the roof, they knew what to do to keep within the budget they had set themselves.

The building of the walls on top of the 2 suites commenced as well as the double garage and the walls for the bedroom and bathroom on top of the garage.

In the mean time in Bali the building of the roofs had also started on a plot of land rented by Nengah close to his office.

Regular updates via email and sms were made to Nengah the architect.

Once the roof was about 80% ready Will and Ingrid went back to Bali in January 2005 to see the roof's progress and to also find other pieces of for their Bali house like the front door, carved wall panels as well as some special pieces of furniture. Ingrid even fitted in a Balinese cooking course.

Walking onto the plot of land where their roof was being constructed was a very emotional moment for both of them, to be able to stand inside their nearly completed roof. It gave them a real sense of what their house was going to look like. Their dream was coming true.

Then the building progression for the rest of the house hit mayor crises when their builder decided to quit the job. Here they were with their roof coming on nicely in Bali and their building in Kosmos had come to a standstill!

Luckily they did manage to find another builder at short notice to carry on with the construction. However the rate of the work took much longer than expected and was told to wait with sending the roofs over to South Africa.

Finally in August 2005 Will went back to Bali with our local architect to make sure that all was in order size wise, before the roof parts were marked and packed into the container to be shipped of to South Africa.

Due to the delay of the local building construction the container only left Bali at the end of May 2006 arriving in Brits July 2006. The building of the house was still not completed!
Will managed to rent a aircraft hanger in Brits to put the roof pieces in until he needed them.

Later the whole lot was moved to a warehouse close to Kosmos. This was easier, once all spread out the wrapped individual pieces could be easily located when needed.

Will in the mean time had also managed to find a local carpenter and his team who were prepared to tackle the job of erecting the Bali roof trusses. They were a team of three people who worked up on the scaffolding while the head supervisor carpenter was on the floor keeping an eye on the installation.

Luckily the installation instructions given by the Bali team were excellent and very clear to follow. All the pieces were very clearly marked. Will would have a look at the plan every day and then rent a trailer and some helpers to go to the warehouse to pick up the pieces necessary for the next couple of days.

The first roof trusses went up in September 2006 and the wall plate fitted perfectly on the wall construction! It was like a big puzzle being put together. All the holes for the bolts were predrilled and lined up correctly!

The whole truss and beam installation only took 3 weeks, and then the woven bamboo matting was put on.

When you look up it is what you see when you look at the roof from inside. This material is called bedeck and it is a matting made from split and woven bamboo. This comes in wide sheets and is secured on top of the trusses. It is really a beautiful finish that will mellow to a warm honey color over the years.
Once this part of the installation was completed the roofs were finished off on top with clay tiles. These were manufactured in South Africa.

To complete the picture the last very important finishes were added to the roof, as well as on top of the roof. These are called the earrings of the house and they are embellishments that are made from clay and imported from Bali.
Each corner of the roof has a row of three ornamental ridge tiles and top of the roof is the crown.
Now their genuine Bali roof was complete and it looked exactly as they had hoped it would look.

It then took Will and Ingrid more than a year to finish off their house and then once it was, they moved the dining room of the lodge up into the new Bali house.
Now all their guests have their breakfast while they enjoy looking at the beautiful unique Bali roof as well as a wonderful view of Hartbeespoortdam.

The carpenter team moved on to their next job which was the installation of the 2nd roof from Bali that Will and Ingrid had imported.
It was for another house in Kosmos that had made some very big alterations to their house by taking off their thatch roof and then replacing it with an imported Bali roof.( by doing this they vastly improved the value of their house.)

This 2nd roof came about because of the fact that, over the years, all the contacts Will and Ingrid had made in Bali. They then decided to start a new company. This company would import the roofs and other building finishes for people who would be interested in a real Bali roof.
They called the company Bali- Style 'the real thing"
This was then the 2nd roof they had built in Bali, shipped and imported to South Africa. They also imported three small roofs for a Spa of a local hotel.
Unfortunately then the recession hit the South Africa and this part of the business was very quiet in 2009. Lots of interest but nobody was building.
This year with the improvement of the economic climate, the next big step for Will and Ingrid is to build a Bali- Style show house in the spectacular "Islands estate" at Hartbeespoortdam.
In an up market development like this, is where the original type of Balinese architecture will be very suitable and fitting style to build.
Will and Ingrid hope that people will be able to view their original Bali show house to get the true feel of a genuine Bali house. They then can make their own dreams come true, with their own unique real Bali roof, just like they did!

" If you can dream it you can build it "