Hey there! Stumbled on your thread looking up Surfmist roof, and a few other things here interested me too:
1) I'm unsure about Surfmist, but my wife lives it. For me it's the glare, but I think west front-facing wont be as bad. More research on this.
2) Good decision on the render. So many bad cement render jobs out there. Either upgrade to acrylic (as we did) or go face brick.
3) Services manager at work was talking up heat pump and talking down solar panel. From a purist view maybe he's right. But from practical residential view, heat pump way too expensive (thanks for that tip) and solar panels do equal money back on your electricity bill.
4) Last one - solar hot water, look at gas boosted, close-coupled (roof mounted), and stainless steel drum for longest warranties and best life-cycle costing. Got pricing from One Earth Outlet (Balcatta) which is looking good. If not too late, get builder to put dedicated line to kitchen and laundry and have tmv only installed on the line to the bathrooms.