Rosie and Larry Graham are prolific home builders. Their perfect, four-bedroom retirement home in Taupō is their eighth new build and best home building experience.
The couple wholeheartedly recommend Generation Homes because their final new home is the best yet in their 49 years of marriage which has seen them move every four years or so.
“We’ve had a long time to get the building process right. This will be our last one now,” Rosie says.
“This home is a combination of all of the things we’ve learned over the years,” she says.
It’s a huge contrast to their first place built in Whanganui in 1974 when they moved in with no plasterboard on the walls and a concrete floor.
ROSIE
We moved to Taupō to retire from Wellington. Even though Larry still works in Wellington and flies down each week for a couple of days.
Four years ago we built a home in rural Taupō and then the farm that was next to us came on the market as a development, so we bought the paddock next door to be able to control what was built beside us. After seeing a Generation Homes show home, we’ve now built a new place in that paddock. We love the location and it’s a beautiful rural setting.
LARRY
To be honest, the last house we built wore me out physically. It was a big build and I was helping the solo builder with some things. It was a lot of work and Rosie created amazing gardens. I saw this build as a chance to build another house without me having to lift a shovel or hammer. The price we achieved for the last house allowed us to do the things we wanted to do with this house.
ROSIE
We have visited show homes occasionally over the years to see what’s around. I always look at the layout and Larry looks at the finish. We walked into the Generation Taupō show home and we knew instantly we could live in it just like it is. Larry said the finish was brilliant so he would be more than happy to build with Generation Homes. We didn’t really know much about the company at the time.
LARRY
We had friends from Wellington visit and say that they would build this house in a heartbeat. We went to look and it felt great, and the people were easy to talk to. Generation Homes staff made the process easy at the start and we could jump forward to the finish and say that it was a hell of a good experience. We love what we have, and we can’t find a bad word to say about Generation Homes!
ROSIE
We walked into the show home in Taupō and it was just beautiful and exactly what we wanted for the floor plan. We only made a few tweaks to it, such as flipping the plan over because we’ve got a hill on our section and wanted to build on the flat.
You always have a budget in your mind and the fixed price quote fell within our budget, so we were more than happy with that.
LARRY
It was the first time we’ve ever built a house under a fixed price arrangement and it was stress free. Discussions around money and agreeing to specifics went perfectly.
When you build you usually don’t know how deep the hole is. It’s like a fast-flowing river. Once you get in, you can’t get out. But we know now, with hindsight, that Generation Homes were bang on budget and as the contract says, any extras were ours. We were mindful of extras because we’d built a few houses before. If I had to build again, a fixed-price is how I would do it.
ROSIE
We were renting while the building was underway. It was important for me to have the timetable and structure - a date to aim for. They were spot on. It was amazing. At one point I woke up and thought they were never going to do it on time. But honestly it just all came together because of the way they work in their teams. One finishes and another comes in to do another area. It was phenomenal.
LARRY
All the subcontractors were excellent. The process meant we were dealing with one company and I liked that.
LARRY
Organising previous subcontractors for our last house really scared me. It ended well, but this time we didn’t have to worry about that. It was great to not have to worry about getting the electrician, the plumber, and the sewerage people because it’s a rural property. There are so many things to think about. With a project manager it was seamless – I wouldn’t do it any other way.
ROSIE
Every home you build, there is something you feel let down by. With Generation Homes, there was absolutely nothing.
LARRY
We don’t hesitate to talk about the great experience we’ve had and would never hesitate to recommend them to anybody.
ROSIE
This home is more traditional than what we have built in the past. We tend to build quite modern and minimalist places with flat roofs and things like that. This place is gabled, so it’s actually got a roof. It has a traditional Generation Homes look. The gabled roofline enabled us to put solar energy panels in this house and air conditioning.
LARRY
We haven’t been able to do that before with flat roofs. We’ve got 20 solar panels and an amazing battery. We wanted to have things like a spa pool so the solar energy can subsidise that and we’re thrilled.
ROSIE
We added a second double garage. To do that we took away a bedroom. We also made the bedrooms a metre wider so they are spacious.
LARRY
We have some unusual things in the house – it’s quite black. It looks fabulous.
ROSIE
In the kitchen we added a TV into the cabinetry because we like to sit at the kitchen bench and watch the breakfast show in the morning. We added a window in the kitchen too. We added hot and cold separate water taps so the hot water comes out boiling straight away. We’re thrilled with it. We also have a black sink which I love.
ROSIE
There’s so much to love about the place as it has aspects of what we’ve had in previous homes that we’ve loved. The show home was our style of home and reflects how we like to live. We especially like the open plan and we have a lot of decking for outdoor living.
The layout flows nicely. We’ve always had our room and ensuite down one end of the house and then the family area down the other end. That works well around the kids and grandkids now. We can actually close our area off as we have a family room and a TV room, meaning we can cut the half house in half. It’s easy to live in.
The family room looks out over trees and our reserve and paddocks. We also like our little lounge that has black walls, and it’s quite snug – it’s fantastic.
LARRY
I like the garages!
LARRY
We’ve got 5000 square metres and no immediate neighbours. We're privileged with our privacy.
ROSIE
The setting is just beautiful for this home. It fits into the landscape and is a perfect design for this paddock.
LARRY
With an undulating section, most people flatten a piece on top of the land for the house site. We tucked the house behind the small hill. In the end we’ve got a really good result.
ROSIE
Stick to your budget and work with your builder. Expect extras. You’ve got to give yourself a budget for extras if you can do it. It can be as much as $5,000 or it could be as little as $200. That doesn’t matter. It might cover an upgrade such as a vanity unit in your bathroom or something that you want.
LARRY
Research the stuff that is included in your contract. Make sure you know what brand you’re getting. These guys do a great job and everything is itemised.
ROSIE
Be prepared to start small and minimal with your first home and then progress to more elaborate places. I can remember the first time we felt we actually could afford to put a filled driveway down – so many times over the years we were left with gravel and no driveway.
LARRY
Both of us have done a lot of work outside our houses. I can do patios and fences and all that sort of stuff and Rosie can do landscaping. Rosie and I as a couple always had the intention to be mortgage free as soon as we could and that’s a good goal for young people today.
