ICF Designer wasn't built by a software company.

Where it started

I started in construction in Auckland in 1993 — building and selling townhouses, then larger subdivisions and multi-level developments across the North Shore. By the time we moved to the South Island, we'd built across a wide range of project types and scales.

The Clearwater Golf Resort in Christchurch was the first time I used Nudura ICF at scale — 15 townhouses with full ICF basements and three-level party walls. That's when I started to understand what ICF actually required to quote and build properly.

Clearwater Golf Resort, Christchurch  ·  15 ICF townhouses, full basements and three-level party walls

15 years as the NZ distributor

PHD Building became New Zealand's Nudura ICF distributor, supplying and supporting projects across the country — from Queenstown to Auckland, Wānaka to Nelson. As Australasia's ICF trainer, working with builders at every experience level showed me exactly where the pain always sat: getting the layout right to the module at concept stage, and getting the take-off right before a single block arrives on site.

Why I built it

Every ICF project needs four questions answered before anything can move:

• → Can this layout be built efficiently in ICF?
• → How many blocks?
• → How much concrete and rebar?
• → What will it cost to build?

ICF Designer answers all four — from a concept layout, in minutes. A few minutes from an IFC file, or around half an hour for a typical home drawn from scratch. We'd wanted this tool for years. We finally built it — and it does more than we ever expected. Today it's the same software we use ourselves when pricing and planning real ICF projects.

The problems I kept seeing — on every project

Designs that ignored the module

Nobody cuts Lego bricks to build a complex model — you design within the system. ICF is exactly the same: wall lengths, opening widths and heights all have a natural sweet spot that minimises cuts and waste. What I kept seeing was buildings treated like timber framing, cut and adapted to fit drawings that had never considered the blocks. Every cut block is waste. Every adapted opening is extra labour. And by the time I was engaged, the drawings were set in stone. ICF Designer puts the module check at the very beginning, when a 30mm adjustment costs nothing.

The take-off had to be done by hand

The rebar was almost always wrong

Almost every pre-cut steel delivery I've seen on an ICF site has had problems — not because the fabricator made mistakes, but because the specifier was working from structural drawings that didn't account for actual block geometry. On site that meant recutting bars, wasted labour, and corners that didn't fit.

Te Toka — once the concrete is in, the walls are done. Every decision made well or badly before this point is now permanent.

Why trust the numbers?

Te Toka, Lake Wakatipu — the same view, before and after  ·  2022 International ICF Award Winner

Projects across Queenstown and the South Island

ICF suits alpine environments well — thermal performance, structural strength, and build quality where expectations are high. A few of the projects we've been part of.

Alba house, Crystal Lane, Queenstown

Jacks Point, Queenstown

Residence Du Parc, Arthurs Point, Queenstown

PHD Building

PHD Building is New Zealand's Nudura ICF distributor, based in the South Island. We supply blocks, provide design and engineering coordination, and offer site support for residential and commercial ICF projects across New Zealand. Visit phdbuilding.co.nz →