A mere two hours north of Auckland, and overlooking the Kaipara Harbour, Kaiwaka is one of those small New Zealand towns that still has that rare old-school sense of community.
This is the story of how one accidental developer took a beautiful block of Kaipara land and transformed it into four separate properties built to suit everyone from first home buyers to retirees. And, how none of it would have been possible without a little bit of help of Squirrel.
Two of the finished homes are on the market now, to be sold by auction later this month—check out the listings below.
- Lot 3 – 63 Otara Road, Kaiwaka (3 bedroom, 1 bathroom)
- Lot 4 – 63 Otara Road, Kaiwaka (3 bedroom, 2 bathroom)
The third and final (undeveloped) section is also for sale:
Tired of city living, Dave Thomson and his wife were looking for a change.
So, when they came across a 10-hectare plot of land for sale overlooking the Kaipara Harbour—complete with its own patch of covenanted native forest—they knew they’d found the slice of paradise they wanted to call home.
It was the native bush which really sold them on the property, home to a number of native New Zealand birds, fish and plants—including both longfin and shortfin eels, and the Banded Rail.
Dave says, “Walking through it is incredibly therapeutic, it’s almost as good as a massage. When it’s raining, you can hear the water cascading from leaf to leaf, everything’s just so still and tranquil.
“I haven’t managed to spot a Banded Rail yet, but the Department of Conservation has recorded their songs…so I’m hoping to one day.”
When it came to actually building on the property, the question became: to relocate or build new?
After forking out over $14,000 to an architect and engineer to design a house, Dave quickly realised that building new wasn’t going to be financially viable.
“What a lot of people probably don’t realise is that, to build a house these days, you’re looking at somewhere between $3,500 and $4,500 per square metre. Once we’d run the numbers, it worked out that the resale value was pretty much the same as what it was going to cost to build. Going down that route just didn’t make sense.”
Having worked as a carpenter for over four decades, Dave also knew that older relocatable homes—built simply but to a high standard and with quality materials—could be a great alternative.
“When there’s such a shortage of housing in New Zealand, the idea of demolishing these solidly-built old houses to make way for new developments feels criminal to me. So having the opportunity to take an older house and breathe new life into it was really cool.”
"The biggest obstacle, by far, was financing..." - until Squirrel came to the rescue, that is
Being self-employed meant Dave just didn’t tick the right boxes for traditional lenders.
In fact, despite having been a loyal customer for 15+ years, his bank wouldn’t even consider giving him a mortgage.
“The only reason we were in a position to do any of this in the first place was because we’d worked damn hard, not because being a carpenter is a particularly lucrative line of work.
“When we first started looking at relocating a house, we went to the bank asking for a $380,000 mortgage. Now, at completion, the home was valued at $765,000, so, we’re talking less than half the value. I’ve never been unemployed, but when the bank went to assess our application, they saw that I was self-employed, and our income, and it was an instant no.”
After exploring a raft of other options for funding, Dave got in touch with the team at Squirrel.
“Of all the endeavours we made to get finance from different places, Squirrel were the most pragmatic and easy to deal with. They’re real-world people who actually understand the ins and outs of the build process—not just bean counters coming at it purely from a numbers perspective.
“The banks are just so restrictive you have to wonder where we’d be without the like of non-bank lenders like Squirrel. There’d be way less houses, that’s for sure.”
When funding was locked in, it was full steam ahead
There were two main criteria when it came to choosing the right home for the site:
- It had to be a solid, high quality build.
- It needed to feel right sitting in the landscape. When the project was finished, the goal was for the house to look like it’d been there for decades—not months.
So, the decision was made to go with a relocatable weatherboard home.
“Weatherboard houses are basically indestructible. It’s a cladding system that’s been around for over 100 years, and it’s still the only type of cladding that you’re allowed to apply without a cavity, because it’s never failed.”
They moved an old railway cottage onto the property—built in 1952, with an extension added in 1998—and got stuck into a full renovation. Having worked as a carpenter for most of his life, Dave did the bulk of the work himself, while still holding down a full time job.
“We were up there every spare minute we had, including nights and weekends—and all funded through wages. It took four years from start to finish.”
The renovation included a new kitchen fit-out, with granite benches and brick veneer walls (with the bricks themselves repurposed from a 100-year old chimney in Hamilton). Each of the three bathrooms also got a full makeover—one with a Tudor-style twist—including tiled walk-in showers.
“Every room in the house looks out over the water, and from the lounge you’ve got sweeping views from north to south. It’s pretty special,” says Dave.
Subdividing wasn't even on their radar at first, but after finding out it was a case 'now or never', they decided to go for it
“It was completely by accident that we found out that the property was subdivisible in the first place. Then we got wind of the fact the council was about to change the district plan—which meant we had to act on the opportunity right away, otherwise we couldn’t have done it at all.”
They created three new lots in total, each with a stunning outlook over the Kaipara Harbour, and its own slice of native bush which provides access to the larger forest area.
But then, just as the subdivisions were completed, the property market collapsed.
“Sections just weren’t selling. So, the only real option we had, if we wanted to get anywhere near what they were worth, was to develop the sections and put houses on them.”
Following the success of their first project, the decision was made to use relocatables again
With the help of funding from Squirrel, they found two more solid, old weatherboard homes—this time built in the 1960s—and moved them onto the site.
“One of the homes was really tired inside, so we had to gut it completely. It’s had new Gib board, new insulation, new everything…the only thing we didn’t replace was the weatherboard on the outside. And at no point during that process did we find any sign of water damage.”
Once the bones were in place—including replumbing, rewiring and putting a new roof on each of the houses—the rest of the renovations could get underway.
Dave gave up paid work so he could spend 12 hours a day, seven days a week getting the job done.
“We put in new kitchens, new bathrooms—in Lot 4, we actually installed a second bathroom—and redecorated everything from top to bottom. And of course, they’ve both got their own on-site septic tanks, and two 25,000 litre water tanks.”
The end result: a perfect spot for first-home buyers and retirees alike
If you ask Dave, Kaiwaka is the sort of place that, once you’ve moved there, you’ll never want to leave.
“We’ve got such good neighbours. It’s the sort of town where, if a tree comes down or anything like that, everyone just mucks in to get it sorted. I’ve lived in Picton, Blenheim, Nelson, Upper Hutt, Auckland—all over—and this is by far the friendliest place I’ve ever lived in New Zealand.
And a final word of caution on the process of relocating a home
There’s a lot of risk involved when it comes to picking up a house, putting it on the back of a truck and shipping it from one end of the country to another. Even if you’re working with the best relocation company in the business, it can be nerve-wracking stuff.
To anyone thinking about doing a relocation, Dave’s advice is to always get a structural engineer on board to oversee the uplift and delivery, document the process from start to finish, and make sure everything’s done to a high standard.
“I used to work as a building inspector for Auckland Council, and I’ve seen far too many people absolutely devastated because things have gone wrong as part of their relocation. Typically, that’s down to the quality of the foundations.
“You wouldn’t hesitate to get an inspection done on your car, and the same should be true of your house—particularly when you’re relocating. Getting a structural engineer involved might set you back about $2,500, but it’s probably the best $2,500 you’re going to spend over the course of your whole project.”
If you’re thinking of embarking on a development project and are keen to find out more about how Squirrel could help, get in touch with our team of development experts today.