Grand Designs NZ S09E01 Waiheke Wonder
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00:00on a steep climb like this you might find yourself wanting a little assistance a free lift to the top
00:17but that wouldn't feel as satisfying as if you'd toiled and suffered to get there
00:23is it the same in architecture can we simply pay for a great design and stand back
00:36or do we need to experience the toil and turmoil of the process in order to imbue your building with
00:43notions of pride personal connection a sense of achievement
00:53so
01:07auckland's concrete jungle peers jealously across the whole wrecky gulf
01:27it dreams of escape to waiheki island
01:34unbutton the collar kick off those heels a glass of the finest wine
01:42fresh oysters balmy weather on a tranquil beach toes in the sand trousers rolled
01:49it's where recruitment consultants maria and dale gray are planning on making their downtown dream
01:59an island reality
02:02it always feels like we're at peace when we're here we always take a breath and slow down when you
02:06arrive on the island you know just it creates a lifestyle that we really want to live you know
02:10and yet we're only 35 40 minutes from auckland so it's got the best of both worlds i think
02:14they've spent nearly 20 years living in the central auckland suburb of mount eden
02:20where they raise daughters hannah and maddie
02:24mum do you want some baguette yes
02:27mum is the sane one she's a bit of a silent assassin she really is you know she calls the shots in the
02:32background come on you want tomatoes i'm not leading from the front you could say yeah i'm supporting from
02:40behind sammy's already hit some of the breeding i think dad's quite a big character he's a very
02:49generous loving guy but at the same time he loves it when there's spotlights on him
02:56the car is definitely another element of that
03:01i find it slightly stressful when we're driving down the street and people are looking that's probably
03:05the worst nightmare it's very much uh yeah don't make eye contact yeah duck the head lay down on
03:13the back there's a big change on the horizon hannah is already living in wellington and maddie is about
03:20to leave home we've worked hard to get to where we've got to now it's the time to just bring a
03:26probably more balance to it all i think yeah yeah a bit more fun we're going to be empty nesters so i guess
03:33you should go to prepare for that don't need it too fast so they've bought a section on waiheke
03:38where they'll be building the empty nest of their dreams and this is a dream with a profound origin
03:47inspired by a truly awful experience dale had in 2001.
03:51i got caught in new york in september 11. um like real close um so by the scenario where i actually
04:04had to um basically run for my life you know you know it's certainly an event that um certainly
04:10shaped me a bit differently it probably just makes me appreciate things a lot more and particularly
04:14family as part of dale's drive to make the most of his life he decided to write down how he saw
04:21his dream future i wrote a story um and you know it involved waiheke i suppose the defining point
04:31was me on a deck um overlooking a beach um having a beer and having the barbecue going and and having
04:38a pool next to me and going this is my house if ever there was a place to live a waiheke dream
04:48this could be it the site they've purchased is in the exclusive palm beach at the top of a stunning
04:56bushfield valley hey how are you yeah hey tom how are you good to see you very good so i think i'm a
05:05bit late i know there's a building site down there that's not yours is it no i wish it was ours no not
05:11at all um ours is the the native bush right behind us that's just trees and a really steep slope isn't
05:17it it certainly is at the moment yeah there could be tigers down there i reckon oh yeah that's um
05:21very steep so um but i think a bit further down you can sort of see the view well let's do that i
05:26want to see these tigers okay cool let's go oh it's beautiful isn't it yes it's green green valley
05:37look at that view i mean that's stunning yeah it's pretty amazing yeah it's a challenging site
05:43because of the steepness but i suppose it's part of the challenge that you undertake when you do
05:46something like this isn't it so what are you going to build here it's going to have to be special yeah
05:50we're going to build a um a modern contemporary sort of house when you work out how to build here
05:54did we mention the site was steep the builders will have to stabilize this precipitous slope
06:05then perform some engineering magic to build up complex foundations piece by piece resting on those
06:12are concrete walls poured in situ including a very unusual splayed wall wider at the top than the bottom
06:18the bedroom level is fully glass fronted with two guest bedrooms an office and a master suite with
06:24walk-in wardrobe there's also a bathroom and laundry and a compact internal garden catching sunlight from
06:30the stairway above the living level is rotated and oriented towards the views but it means there's
06:36barely a right angle in the whole building another complication made evident by the centerpiece
06:41a lattice roof structure created out of huge beams cut at jaunty angles a drive-on turntable serving a
06:49car stacker adds a touch of rotating theater at one end of the house while at the other end the appetite
06:56for luxury is satisfied by a pool and spa this will be a true challenge for the builders who might just
07:04need a phd in geometry to solve this mind-bending jigsaw puzzle of a house
07:12how do you approach this are you going to be here every day with the builder with on the tools um
07:18i think we're going to let people that are really good at what they do do what they're good at you
07:21know so um from our perspective the least we have to be involved the better personally i'd love a
07:27scenario where they go it's finished so when is that phone call dale maria your house is ready here's
07:33the key yeah look we're estimating a two-year build so middle of 2023 yeah okay so what's the
07:39unknown what worries you it's been a long time in the making you know it's taken the best part of
07:45probably two and a half three years to even get to consenting phase so and you know probably the big
07:50elephant in the room is the cost you know it's things are rapidly changing around building materials
07:54cost to build on the island resource on the island and you know that's a moving target and at the end
08:00of the day you know we have a budget which is yeah i knew you were going to ask that i think i'm going
08:05to ask maria you ask it's a very scary budget i must say um right yeah it's um gosh i can't even say
08:12the number out loud it's it's sort of circa three million and if you get to three million and it
08:20rolls on from there what happens i think the commitment is to is to build our dream and um
08:25like a lot of people we've worked really really hard yeah yeah yeah you know to get to where we are
08:31and look we're just going to do it you know at the end of the day um i'm not going to muck around
08:39we're committed to it and we're gonna we're gonna follow our dream yeah it'll cost what it cost at
08:43the end of the day maria and dale want to be hands off on this project but there's an uncertainty about
08:54cost on top of which they're constructing something incredibly complicated on a terrifyingly steep hill
09:02projects like this have a habit of sucking you in
09:13such design complexity is usually a vice to be wary of but in this case it seems to have been embraced
09:20as a design virtue hey tom how you doing hopefully architectural designer dylan rind
09:28can shed light on how this came to be it's been i suppose one of the most interesting projects
09:34we've really worked on the client wanted to build something special they wanted the joy of living in
09:39our house which has the the detail and the in the unexpected every day there's something changing
09:46even once the building's completed they'll still be finding different interests in the building that
09:50they wouldn't have understood were there from you know their initial impression
09:57dylan's theory is that these oblique angles and fragmented decks and roofs will offer a richness of
10:03detail that will reveal itself slowly as maria and dale inhabit their home
10:10we just happen to be sitting in a proof of this concept one of dylan's recent designs there's a
10:16multiplex of geometries in every vista creating a canvas for light to paint unexpected reflections
10:24and fleeting shadows square meter wise it's not ginormous but it's a tall house a tall structure
10:31on a relatively unstable site as well we've got your local instability issues yeah throw in a elevated
10:38pool sitting on a deck a car stacker all these elevated structures with masses on top yeah yeah
10:44just in the wrong place all on the wrong place yeah this house is a great illustration of the richness of
10:52dylan's architectural style but it's on a flat suburban section replace that with a difficult island
11:00location a precipitous slope and dale and maria have signed up for a real building challenge
11:14it's 10 months later a combination of covid and the delayed engineering reports stalled the project
11:24but now lead builder alex toy is finally starting the retaining walls and is getting to grips with this
11:30seriously difficult site we've got such a steep slope we're like himalayan mountain goats really
11:39with winter just around the corner things are set to get tougher still
11:47as soon as it gets wet it's nigh on impossible to compound his problems after all this time
11:53he still doesn't have final construction drawings well if we're not out of the ground by joan we'll be
11:59snookered there he is maria and dale can finally see some broken ground but the stresses are not far
12:06beneath the surface we're pretty excited to be here have a bit of a look yeah it was awesome come
12:13for a walk yeah it's probably start to get a feel for the level of the house maybe oh most definitely
12:17and how bloody steep it is it would be the steepest site i've ever built on oh you love a challenge don't
12:23yeah yeah totally no the challenge is cool it's just i know we i know we keep we keep bringing up the
12:31drawings we really need the drawings maria and dale's courage and urgency to live their dreams have
12:37been a recipe for success in life but those very same qualities have pushed them into building before
12:44things have been fully planned or costed and that may just be a recipe for disaster
12:50it's the middle of new zealand's wettest july on record have i got the weight distributed all right and
13:05the delays have meant that builder alex is living his fears and building foundations in a mud bath
13:12you come up anymore it's been relentless if it's wet if we go home effectively it's just too dangerous
13:19today they're preparing their first concrete pour for the foundations but these are no ordinary
13:25foundations what you're seeing here at the minute shows you quite the complexity and tells a bit of
13:32a story of how much work we've got to do just to get to the framing
13:3850 concrete piles up to 7.5 meters deep stop this house sliding down the 30 degree slope
13:45but after that's done there's no nice flat concrete pad oh no there are several levels on different
13:52orientations as well as significant concrete retaining walls you'll see the landslide effectively
13:59that's just after like a week's rain dale's plan was to stay away from site as much as possible
14:10but there's an old boxing adage everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face
14:16watch your footing mate yep we've probably spent you know in excess of just over a million dollars
14:23already on the build costs it's crazy yep already one third of the budget has been spent on the
14:31retaining work and covert related stockpiling of building materials without even one concrete pile
14:37to show for it it's quite overwhelming for me oh i don't doubt it i said no idea there was so much
14:48involved as dale's dream home begins to rise from the mud so does the realization of the true complexity
14:57of what he's signed up for back in auckland dale has signed up for another building project but one
15:16he has a little more control over so i'm building up to a bodybuilding competition so into the hard yards
15:25now too easy nice job you've got to be unwavering in your commitment to it so once you flick the
15:32switch there's sort of no going back it is a little bit like building once you start you can't stop
15:39but the difficulties of house and bodybuilding are about to be put firmly in perspective
15:51maria is dealing with troubles that occlude all others she's moved back to toranga
15:56to nurse her mother who is terminally ill i've been here for a couple of months and i'm just here
16:03looking after mum um until we're no longer here so yeah so however long that takes i'll be here for mum
16:13yeah maria has turned her mother's embroidery room into an office where she's dealing with the invoices
16:20for the build and they have no sympathy for her situation
16:26yes we've had some whoppers come in recently
16:28and they keep coming in they come in with monotonous regularity and they're still digging holes
16:38we know we've got some really tough decisions and compromises ahead of us
16:44it seems an uncomfortable truth is emerging this build is going to be a lot more demanding and expensive
16:51than maria and dale ever imagined
17:01the wettest july on record turned into the wettest winter on record it's now spring and the rain hasn't
17:08let up the concrete work is even further behind it's left alex emotionally scarred
17:15now we're good this is a this is a big day for us that's because they're finally ready for one of
17:23the most difficult concrete pours of the entire build let's come back real slow with me
17:30we're pouring about 19 cubic meters today and i don't know somewhat a quarter of the walls that are
17:35on this job the concrete walls will be 4.5 meters tall and so the bottom of the wooden formwork will need
17:43to withstand an extraordinary amount of pressure are we losing any concrete down there anywhere so
17:51any little bit of seepage is dealt with quick sharp corey can we get bolts in here bro real quick
18:00who's got the diner drill the consequences of a blowout on this slope would be disastrous
18:06so far so good we're at the mercy of the concrete gods and those gods reign supreme as concrete work
18:16rises fragment by fragment through the spring and the summer until summer turns to another autumn
18:28and the concrete crawls close to a conclusion
18:38one of the final pieces is a wall that for purely aesthetic reasons splayed from narrow at the bottom
18:45to wide at the top this piece of concrete gymnastics was poured yesterday and is setting behind some
18:53extremely serious wooden formwork we've come to see the grand reveal but before we can even get our
19:00gum boots on alex greets us with some bad news we just didn't quite go to plan yeah we had a
19:09reasonably good concrete kaboom we lost three meters of concrete down the back yeah oh it's either going to
19:17be a real nice story for your house and add character or and you can blame me no i want to be buried in
19:26that concrete down there probably organized significant leaks like this usually result in ugly seams in the
19:36concrete but for now the consequences are concealed behind the wooden formwork this wall will defy physics
19:45and is substantially thicker at the top than the bottom it's remarkable isn't it a skinny little wall
19:53turns into that at the top did you know it was going to be like this no no i knew it was complex yeah
20:00well alex told me that yeah before he built it yeah but the level of complexity has been a surprise oh yeah
20:07yeah absolutely okay you got the top the damage can't hide forever time for the big reveal
20:21all right another big one off
20:26yes there's a little bit there so you got a little bit of uh air
20:30what do you do now i'll probably call the the concrete gods potentially monday i'll probably
20:40hit that with a sander and see if i can just sand out that seam
20:48this wall is an aesthetic centerpiece and its floors might become more apparent once the house is complete
20:54it's a bitter pill to swallow after a tough year of building i think originally we speak sort of like
21:07a three million dollar build the reality is that's going to be closer to five gosh that's enormous yes
21:14for most people that would be too much to handle do you still worry about that budget changing even more
21:21oh every month every at the end of every month we worry about it yeah being over budget will not
21:26define us and i won't let it it was never about bricks and mortar it was about you know having a
21:31dream that we brought to fruition and creating a life that is richer for both of us and our family
21:38the greys have this wonderful ability to turn lemons into lemonade but no matter how much sugar you pour in
21:46a lemon a lemon is still a bitter fruit and i'm beginning to worry that once they're in their house
21:54finally it's the bitter taste that will linger
22:05another spring rolls around and the complications of the concrete walls and foundations are a thing of
22:20the past jesus look at that wow holy moly god that's stunning isn't it i'll say the build has reached the
22:32living level and they can now stand on the deck that dale once dreamed of i could stand here all day
22:43without that noise
22:48downstairs a home is just beginning to emerge from the building chaos watch out for those stairs there
22:55where they are going to go somewhere i'm sure at some point so this is maddie's bedroom she's got
23:01the pick of the rooms that's for sure that's right little monkey
23:07so this is our master bedroom it feels very peaceful it's like a little sanctuary because you're
23:13sort of stuck in amongst the trees a little bit it's the reason why isn't it it's why we're doing what
23:19we're doing i think you need to remember that it's easy to forget when the bills are rolling in and
23:25there's stresses and strains
23:32but this tranquil moment flatters to deceive the site is only quiet because there's been another delay
23:39with some steel framing and delays are always costly putting more pressure on the massively inflated budget
23:50in this quiet moment maria can turn her attention to a smaller gesture with a big meaning
23:58she's heading to a picture framers with a special piece of art for the new house
24:03how can i help you i've got a piece of um my mother's embroidery oh wow let's have a look
24:10she won an award for it at the embroiderers new zealand embroiderers guild quite a few years ago now
24:17oh my goodness look at that what she got now is mom still with no she passed last year oh right okay
24:26this is her most precious piece that um she was particularly proud of right yeah okay it might even
24:34be my wedding dress silk really i think it might be yeah so this is precious so this is precious yeah
24:40yeah absolutely bringing precious memories into a new house is a great way of making it feel like a home
24:49and perhaps banishing unwanted memories of a difficult build
24:52it's the height of summer and an all-weather wrap covers the now framed up top floor alex is working
25:05on possibly the most striking feature of this building mate i'm gonna have a really sore arm after this
25:12the roof of the living area is built from exposed beams of up to 200 kilos and will eventually form an
25:19impressive grid like structure we'll hook on and hang but true to this house's form it's complicated
25:36this roof structure has a subtle rake of two degrees and none of the walls it sits on are parallel
25:43so there isn't a single right angle in over 120 joints
25:47which each have to be routed out by hand to conceal the very expensive fixings
25:54we are around 1600 screws it countersink into here and there's about two and a half thousand nails
26:02so yeah very expensive stainless steel so this is like five dollars
26:09ten dollars
26:10the roof will take over a month to finish more time and money than necessary certainly but it's shaping
26:20up to be the striking centerpiece at the heart of this design one down 50 to go all right
26:28in mount eden an interesting sign has appeared outside maria and dale's home
26:41ah tom how are you good to see you do you want to buy a house
26:43the financial pressure is forcing the greys to put their family home of 15 years to auction
26:54in a few weeks time so you need to sell this in order to pay those uh those big bills yeah over on
27:01the island i think you were of the opinion that this was a project that could be managed by other
27:06people and you were going to turn up when the house was finished and and have a delivered product to
27:11you but now you're much more involved yeah we've really had to manage the budget tightly so we you
27:18know we had a budget that we set that we know you know went from three million to five million so
27:23we're still sort of recovering from that um that's that's where we were when i saw you last at five
27:28million that's still the case yeah that's still the case and it's will be the case
27:33so i think you probably understand the process a lot better than at the beginning is that true
27:38to say yes probably yeah knowing what i know now i think we should have been devil in the detail a
27:46wee bit more yeah it's been shit man it's been pretty challenging right there's some other stuff
27:50that we you know i've had some family challenges you have along the way yeah so when we get there
27:58we've kind of got to flush the dunny on on the journey a bit to getting there because i don't
28:02want to go there and live there and be a bit bitter and twisted that it's been hard and challenging
28:07and and bring all this negativity to that house because it doesn't deserve that and we don't deserve
28:12that maria and dale are now all over the budget they've gone from distant managers to intimate
28:20collaborators on their dream home and i for one think that's a very good thing indeed
28:32another winter is looming but the build is gathering momentum the roof has been sealed
28:44an absolute madness of electrical cabling and ducting for a state-of-the-art heating and cooling
28:49system has been installed and alex has completed his masterpiece i'm not interested in doing another one
28:57anytime soon but um now we're getting visual progress dale and maria can see what we've done
29:03day in day out they're like wow
29:08and this isn't the only building project that's made visual progress
29:16over in auckland it's dale's big night his bodybuilding competition for which he starved and dehydrated
29:25himself to extreme levels yeah i'm feeling a bit um a bit blurry but here i guess a bit grumpy
29:34and that can be attested to by housemate maddie i won't lie he's been difficult to live with over
29:40the past couple months he's been hungry tired cold any any small thing becomes a very big issue in our
29:48house at the moment welcome on stage dale dale has gone through physical torture for this competition
30:00but it must make the win all the more satisfying middle to dale bray who's the masters athletic 50 plus champion
30:16hopefully the same will be true of the financial and emotional torture caused by the waiheke build
30:30it's been a full three years since i first looked down on a wild bush section now i'm finally looking
30:39at a double height garage almost ready for the car stacker and a swimming pool
30:46well it's lots of stimulation here lots of complexity incredible window opening look at that
30:53but also angles and angles and angles and angles look at this thing and that's a little sliver of
31:00ceiling but it's not even horizontal is it it kind of tilts that way and how do you frame that up
31:08with difficulty the furniture is going to help zone the space but at the moment i don't know where
31:14the kitchen goes where the kitchen goes where do i sit yeah it's confusing it's striking but confusing
31:26heading downstairs is almost a relief where the rooms are more square recognizable
31:32easier to understand hey hello hi hi good to see you you too and we're here hi good to see you again
31:39yeah well look at you two on site yes you're now hands-on aren't you so you know everything that's
31:46going on here right we do well we think we do i think for the project yeah and for actually for
31:51making your own home it kind of has to be like that yeah you've got to be fully invested no matter
31:56how that happened this is the fun part it's got real now like we've um yeah when you're picking
32:02flooring and tiles and bathroom fittings electrical fittings it's sort of brought it to life for us
32:06a bit more tangible i'll tell you what being on this level rather than upstairs this place which
32:11has you know right angle walls uh this is uh much more understandable as a house for me upstairs i'm
32:18still that's a little bit at sea i mean yeah do you know what that's going to look like
32:24no it's a little more difficult i think it's probably more the space out there that's hard to get
32:28into around yeah not so much them i think i've got to feel for a lot it's just the spaces yeah yeah
32:36it's really great to see maria and dale down there in the dust and wreck at a site
32:44they're finally connecting with their home but is it too late this is the 11th hour isn't it
32:51the house is almost finished how well do they know it will they feel at home amongst all those eccentric
33:00angles late winter and the build is flying along
33:20the covers are down revealing the black aluminium cladding
33:23that's beginning to bed this house into the native bush the tyler is here hard at work
33:34and the deck so central to dale's vision of his dream life is being laid
33:43we'll make this meeting very brief today lorraine and amongst the chaos are maria and dale they've
33:48managed to sell their mount eden home and can now focus on completing the build is that all sorted or
33:54not not quite it's being revised isn't it there's been times when we felt like we disliked this house
34:03because of i think all the stuff that was going on and now you sort of feel um like the end is in
34:11sight so it's starting to feel like a house palm beach was where this all began what better place to
34:25reflect on the journey when we first met you it was here actually on this beach and you talked about
34:33that holiday feeling does that feel like a distant concept not not for me there's many a time that we
34:40have said this is going to be amazing all right we can't wait like i think i think the relief will
34:44be initial and then the enjoyment will come a bit later that's a longer term when we've got over
34:51the fact that we've spent so much money yeah yeah on a building yeah yeah yeah i don't think i spoke
34:56to somebody the other day he'd been through a similar situation and said you've got to really
34:59learn to cleanse yourself quite quick uh quite quickly of of that you can't carry that you know
35:04challenge and a bit of baggage maybe whatever it is into the new house you've got to wash yourself
35:08cleanse yourself and be positive and enjoy what it is and i think when we when people come across
35:14to see it it'll just reinforce it over and over again because they will see see it for what it is
35:19as opposed to what's been yeah which i think will will be quite good as well can you see the end
35:25well it's going to be october come hella high water now okay
35:28there's a battle going on within de la maria isn't there on the one hand they want to love this
35:40house on the other this has been an incredibly difficult traumatic and financially crippling journey
35:49for all of that to be worthwhile this is going to have to be one hell of a house
36:05maria and dale have crossed a literal gulf to get to this point in time
36:09they had hoped to be hands off with this whole project but the storm certainly rolled in
36:15i mean goodness four years and a two million dollar overspend let's just hope that by battling and
36:22ultimately seeing out that storm they've managed to make a real connection with their new home
36:29oh yeah look at that that's thunderbirds isn't it well see if i can do this right
36:52well that's intriguing and there's a real machine like quality to this house isn't there not just the
36:58gadgets but the way this place is finished the materials muted matching in color and then this
37:05wall tilting and tessellating and snaking down the hill it promises something very special inside
37:14doesn't it oh there's movement hi hello hey well let's meet on the turntable good to see you hey tom
37:22hey good to see you this house looks fabulous we're absolutely delighted you know yeah yeah i've done
37:28a fabulous job but you deserve it right it's been a long time yes come on come on have a look
37:40now that is a showstopper that's amazing your lattice ceiling
37:45yeah it's it's an incredible feature of this property it's huge it is it's so dramatic it's so
37:50dramatic it feels big yeah it feels a lot bigger than it sort of goes in and out when different
37:58stages hey and now it's gone out yeah it's gone out again right yeah gosh it's so visually exciting
38:05you can see the back of the breeze block there and at a slight different angle from the ceiling
38:11there's a lot going on in this area a big part must be about being out here it's lovely yeah
38:20it's mind-bogglingly beautiful isn't it and look the deck has this sort of prowl pointing out into
38:26that big sea of green like a ship yeah yeah it's gorgeous and it's gorgeous definitely a lot better
38:32than what it was originally when we were on the dirt track yeah it's incredible feeling yeah on the top
38:38of the world yeah that's great to hear because i know the couple seriously questioned whether some
38:45of the complexities of this house could possibly be worth it but now the more i explore the more the
38:52house reveals itself and the value of its intricate design becomes clear i love this layering effect and
39:00in the little pockets now this is alex's wall isn't it it certainly is concrete wall this must be
39:07where it went wrong there's a wee blemish nothing too bad thank god and of course a bit of natural
39:13light as well trickling through for the garden under here yeah right in the guts of the house
39:18yeah a bit of greenery inside yeah what next yeah i don't know oh come and have a look yeah
39:24in contrast to the dark wood and golden light upstairs the muted tones and textures down here
39:35create a spa-like serenity a looping corridor enhances the feeling of free flow movement
39:42and wraps around the family bathroom with its bespoke vanity and soft opaque reeded glass
39:47there are two guest bedrooms calm and relaxing with wonderful views and at the far end dale and maria's
39:55bedroom and ensuite the master oh we're in a little paradise we're surrounded by green yeah yeah it's
40:08very calming because you've got like the trees that sort of hold you close in the room it's really
40:12lovely a little tree cuddle yeah this lower level is all about understated elegance and quiet
40:22sophistication but if you're ready for a bit of adventure there's not far to go i love this whole
40:28space actually it's a sort of transitional space it blurs the line between being inside and out
40:34particularly with that garden back there yeah yeah
40:36it's a house where you find something new around every corner yeah and you know everywhere you look
40:46there's something different going on
40:55i have to say sitting here this house now makes a lot of sense it was quite hard to get your head
41:00around i think we're all in the same boat but um how do you feel now i love it yeah yeah it's it's
41:07incredible you know the features of this of this house are just never ending way way more grand than
41:11what we thought yeah everything is not like a normal house no yes geometry is the big one absolutely
41:22yeah and from the outsider's perspective the person who hasn't paid for the house uh it's a real joy
41:28but i wonder would you have taken a simpler house having gone through the turmoil of this
41:34journey to get here no no no way no we were entrusting of the architect and the interior design
41:40and the builder and we sort of held firm and and did what we need to do to do the house to the standard
41:45that it should have been done to and thank god we did an expensive endeavor then chasing the dream
41:58so where did you end up the house itself 5.5 million yeah 5.5 million dollars that's another
42:06half a million dollars on top of the five million you got to which is already much more than the
42:12three million that you couldn't even say at the beginning rare yes she made my eyes water somewhat
42:18but i think at the end of the day we we were committed and we stayed committed to finishing it to what we
42:24needed to and yeah we've got the air but you know not without a few sleepless nights
42:36so the big question then is this dream of yours it was you on the balcony next to a pool with a barbecue
42:45and a beer yeah saying this is my house yeah um have you had that moment yeah yes yeah you do not
42:55have had it more than once right um yeah totally it's um it is a wee bit pinch yourself sometimes but
43:02yeah we stand out there and it's just incredible absolutely fabulous yeah so it sounds like you now
43:08sharing that dream maria yeah yeah you know there's a take out for for myself and others that if you do
43:15dare to dream um you know you can you can pull it off for me this house has been a real revelation
43:27i had serious doubts that dale and maria's hands-off approach would ultimately get them what they wanted
43:32in such a personal project but even when they did get involved they had the wisdom to leave the most
43:40important element alone the designer's vision and so the vision has flourished and delivered that
43:48architectural fundamental to surprise and delight and to enrich the experience of being here
43:56in this most dreamlike island location
44:26so
44:34you
44:34you