A Christchurch family is loving the result of upgrading to a new purpose-built home and income property, after already being neighbours for years.
Cayla wanted to upgrade to a larger, contemporary home to share with her daughter, while her mother Gail wanted to downsize.
“We actually had two houses next door to each other. Initially my mum built her house, the one I grew up in, and then I bought the house next door,” Cayla says.
They sold those two properties and combined their funds to enable the three generations to continue to live close together in a home and income property in Claridges Estate, Casebrook, designed by Generation Homes.
“We both sold our separate houses and built this one together. Mum wanted to downsize and I wanted a bigger, newer home,” Cayla says.
Coincidentally, the new homes are in the same road where Gail lived as a child. “Mum believes we have come full circle – it’s meant to be.”
In the future, Cayla could rent her mother’s place out for income, but that plan is decades away.
“Mum has settled in and she is finding it great. It’s lower maintenance. She’s gone from a big backyard with lawn she had to mow and all the gardening to really low maintenance. At this time in her life, that’s just what she wants.”
Gail had built a brand-new home 35 years ago, when Cayla was three years old. So she had some experience. This time around she left the details to Cayla.
“Mum left it up to me to make the decisions, and it kind of fell on me if it didn’t work out, but it did – luckily,” Cayla jokes.
CAYLA
There is really nothing that is existing like our place. Our home is built for a purpose. We did find one out in Rolleston, but it was very low spec, and it looked cheaply and quickly made. When we walked around, we were like ‘Oh, we wouldn’t have put that there. This is not designed practically.’
CAYLA
I followed them for some ideas on Facebook initially, because I liked some of their houses. Then one of the girls I used to work with, she got a job there, and I reached out to her. She recommended New Homes Sales Consultant Hamish Jackson to help us and when I approached him, we clicked straight away.
CAYLA
When we approached Generation Homes, they were very willing to help us talk through everything that we wanted. We approached a couple of other companies, and as soon as we told them what we were after, they weren’t very helpful. They put up a fence straight away, a wall, and said ‘no’. If they don’t build it, or they haven’t built anything like this before, then they don’t really understand the process, I think. Hamish listened to us. He got excited about our ideas. Any time we said we’re thinking about this, he’d say, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea. How can I help?’ His excitement made us excited. He was great.
Generation was able to offer us what we wanted at a great price. The piece of land that I found had Generation Homes advertising on it, randomly, after we had already touched base with Generation. I just came across it. There were maybe seven empty lots that had been available for a while but were out of the price range we wanted. As they had been for sale for a while, Generation Homes were able to negotiate a price decrease for us.
CAYLA
Right from drawing up the plan with the architect and being advised what would work and what wouldn’t, it was stress free. Everyone I talked to was saying, ‘oh, building a home is very stressful, isn’t it?’ It wasn’t at all for us. At no point whatsoever was I ever stressed!
They did all the work, pretty much because we bought it as a turnkey. It was the only way we could do it because we still had two houses to sell. They did all the purchase of the land, the background work. We told them what we wanted and they did everything else.
Everything went smoothly. The only exception was the bench top I picked. When it came to put it in, they had sold out, so I had to pick something else. But that’s okay. We were upgraded, and the new bench top was better than I originally picked. There really was no difficulty at all.
CAYLA
Walking through their show homes, you can see the quality of the workmanship. What I found is the Generation Homes entry level range is other builders’ mid-range. So, you get top quality appliances, carpet, architraves, bullnose corners. People notice that kind of thing when they come into your home and comment on the good quality of the builders.
For example, by each sliding door Generation Homes put a line of thin tile to protect the carpet from water and sun damage, so it doesn’t affect the edge of the carpet that’s there. That’s the norm for them. Mum knew from previous experience, that’s how her carpet was ruined. And so that’s something amazing that they do.
CAYLA
Phenomenal – phenomenal communication, nothing was a problem. They were great to build with. Nothing was a problem and they were always available. They arranged things for us even if it was their day off. If we had any questions queries, they would come back to us fast.
I just trusted them right from the beginning and everything went smoothly.
We liked the fixed price. There were no hidden costs along the way.
We really liked the 18-week guaranteed build time. Every time we told someone about the 18-week build time, they said ‘no one can get it done in that time’. So, it was good to say to people, ‘well, actually, it’s finished.’
I sold my home first, and then moved in with mum for a few weeks, until she then put her home on the market. We then had a settlement date and moving in date.
We were waiting for the code of compliance and that came through. We moved in in December.
CAYLA
We worked with the architect Generation provided and the architect came back with a starting point. We just went from there and amended it to what we wanted. We went back and forth, maybe three times. They were happy to help every time, and they came back with better ideas.
The main dwelling, where I live with my daughter, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and open plan, kitchen, living, dining. Then Mum has a separate entrance down the side path, so she’s got her own front door, and she has a kitchen, living and dining area, then two bedrooms and a bathroom. It’s quite a large bathroom with an inbuilt laundry. It’s hidden inside the bathroom by folding doors.
We share one garage, a double garage, just because of the size of the land. We made the house as big as we could for the size of the land. We will eventually put a fence between the two homes to separate us, but at this stage we haven’t.
The landscaping has been done by a friend of mine and that is all done.
CAYLA
Definitely the kitchen. The bench top is my favourite part of the kitchen and the colour scheme. But I also hid the range hood. It’s covered by a ‘floating box’.
Also, I love my tiled shower – definitely a great choice to upgrade this. The loft in the garage is great for extra storage. 1,000% I would recommend that.
I opted for some upgrades. I went from an in-built bath to a free-standing bath because that’s what I wanted in the house. I upgraded the kitchen bench top. I got sound proofing between my daughter’s room and the lounge, which is actually amazing. She can’t hear anything when I’ve got the TV on. I added an extra socket so I could make the third bedroom into an office. Then I added an extra light because I’ve got a long hallway into my bedroom and that light is a design feature.
CAYLA
It is in Claridges Estate in Casebrook. I wanted to be in the same school zones for my daughter. The new place is two minutes’ drive from our old houses, so it’s still in the same location and still close to our family.
CAYLA
It was surreal. When you first walk on your concrete base you think, ‘Oh, this isn’t big enough.’ And then you go in and the Gibs up and you think, ‘Oh, all the rooms still feel quite small.’ And then you have your final walk through, and you’re like, ‘this is amazing.’
Our homes are exactly what we envisioned. They are perfect. All the colours came together – it’s just amazing.
CAYLA
The fixed price is great but always have in the back of your mind that there may be additional stuff that you want to upgrade – extra lights, electrical sockets, different tiles, upgrading the bath. Or if you go from the entry-level shower to a tiled shower – things that might be important for you for in your home. Fixed price does mean fixed price, but there’s always add-ons.
Pendants over the breakfast bar are for aesthetics – they’re not for lighting. You decide if you want to add in that amount of money or you can put that budget somewhere else.
Budget wise, the set price is a set price. If you don’t add anything, then you will absolutely be happy with what Generation come out with.
