Patrick Wilde and his partner Rebecca Ward trusted award-winning builder Generation Homes to construct their first home in the burgeoning town of Riverhead, located about 20 minutes north of Auckland city.
The location was ideal for them and their lifestyle as it’s close to Muriwai Beach so that Patrick can surf, and rural enough for them to enjoy a more relaxed style of living outside of the city. Like many first home buyers Patrick, a truck driver, and Rebecca, an Account Director, tapped into their Kiwisaver to fast-track their plans to get onto the property ladder. The decision to partner with Generation Homes proved to be invaluable as the team guided them through every step, making the application process easy and stress-free.
The couple met almost five years ago. Rebecca is an avid pet lover and their four legged family includes a 1-year-old English Bull Terrier named Amber and two cats: a rescue from the SPCA named Harvey, and a half rag-doll named Zara.
With a love of entertaining, Rebecca and Patrick’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom home with dual living areas and large outdoor entertaining area was the perfect fit.
Generation Homes, has the experience to guide and support you through the decision making process, making sure any desires and wants are included, while keeping within your budget.
REBECCA
As this was our first home and our first home building experience, we had to use our Kiwisaver to purchase the house and land package. One of the things that we really liked about Generation Homes was the time they took up-front to understand our needs and wants from a home. They were patient with the extra time involved to draw down our Kiwisaver and they went out of their way to educate us on the steps and processes involved with the build.
REBECCA
We initially went with another company in Riverhead, but we had a really poor experience with them. We didn’t feel that they were professional, or that we were getting the best price for any of the variations we made. Because of this we started questioning the integrity of the company. My concern was that we were having reservations before we even went into the build process with the other company. We didn’t have that feeling with Generation Homes at all. I think it is important that you are dealing with a professional organisation, and we really felt that with Generation Homes.
PATRICK
That whole first experience put us off building for a year, and we went away and looked at other areas. We ended up with a better house in the end so we are glad that we had a poor experience because it led us to Generation Homes. Their section was exactly what we wanted. It was north facing, the right price; we liked the , and everything was included. We felt Generation Homes were a step above what the other building companies offered.
REBECCA
We were at the maximum lending rate, so for us to go into an existing property we needed a higher deposit and we didn’t have that available. With a new build, we could go in and have the lower deposit requirement.
PATRICK
It was also the amount of time, effort and money we would have to put into maintaining and upgrading an existing property. We both work long hours and didn’t want to be coming home from work or spending our weekends working on the property. Maintaining an existing home, particularly when you have a tight budget wasn’t worth the stress. Our new home comes with a 10-year building guarantee and 12-month warranty for maintenance, so we can sit back and enjoy it.
REBECCA
I’ve always lived close by and wanted to stay semi-rural. What really drew us to Riverhead was the quality of the houses in the subdivision. We wanted to be in an area which had single story housing that was of a certain standard; it would be secure for us from an investment point of view and be seen as a desirable suburb to live in. Working in the city makes it so much nicer when we come to Riverhead because we are away from the fast-paced moving aspect of city living.
PATRICK
We had looked at other areas, but we didn’t like the high density housing and we felt like Riverhead was a better fit for the type of environment that we wanted to be in. Generation Homes has created a nice community. All the houses are unique, and it has a nice look and feel to it. I had some friends come over the other day and they couldn’t believe how peaceful it is out here.
REBECCA
I really like the Hamptons/beachy kind of look, so we kept everything very neutral. I’m not big on loud colors. I’m into grays, browns and whites. It is very white inside and we kept that same theme for the bathrooms and bedrooms too. We don’t see ourselves being here forever – it is our first home after all, so we wanted to make the interior neutral enough that it wouldn’t matter if it was us living in here or someone else.
REBECCA
Yes, we based some decisions around the fact that we had animals. We decided to tile the dining, family and kitchen area completely because we didn’t want the animals on the carpet. Everything had to be durable, so if they came inside with dirty paws things weren’t going to get damaged. Tiles are also much easier to clean, which is a definite bonus. The exterior had to suit our dog too. There had to be enough grass for her to be able to run around on.
PATRICK
We love to have people over and entertain guests, so we extended the deck to have a big outdoor area to use. It’s nice for people not to worry about having to take their shoes off or getting the floors dirty, so tiling around the indoor-outdoor areas was important. I also have motorbikes, so we added double gates to enable us to easily access the back of the house. I can come and go no matter the weather and not take up garage space.
REBECCA
Some other modifications included upgrading one of the showers and the laundry. We also insulated and double glazed the garage, added a door to shut off the lounge from the bedroom wing of the house and we included in an extra heat pump.
REBECCA
Really good, and I have to take my hat off to the Generation Homes team. They have to deal with people’s expectations and everything that’s going on behind the scenes. I think they did an exceptional job. Building a home can be stressful and you never realise the 101 decisions that need to be made until you are right in the middle of it all. Generation Homes were very mindful of our needs, and the fact this was our first home. They were willing to work with us and took the time to educate and explain the process of taking out our Kiwisaver. How much support they gave us really made the difference to me.
PATRICK
Mine would have to be the garage. We carpeted and insulated it, and when I get up to go to work at 4am in the morning, it makes a huge difference.
REBECCA
Mine is having a hot water tap, it sounds silly, but it means we don’t need to boil a jug, and it takes two seconds to make a cup of coffee. It’s the little things that have made our lives just so much easier to be honest with you. The quality of finishing and other details by the Generation Homes team was such a high standard. Those are the kind of things we enjoy.
REBECCA
You must be flexible because sometimes your perceptions aren’t reality. An experienced building company, such as Generation Homes, has the experience to guide and support you through the decision making process, making sure any desires and wants are included, while keeping within your budget.
PATRICK
Financially saving for a house can be tough. Rebecca and I had to live apart for a while. She moved in with her dad and I moved in with some friends, because it was the only way we knew we would be able to save enough money to get a deposit. You have to make some sacrifices. We also invested in some things that would help our equity, but it was the support of our friends and family that really helped us achieve our goal.
REBECCA
Yes absolutely. The whole process and the house, we are really happy with it.