A music recording studio conjures up scenes of a lot of noise ` raucous parties and rock and roll mayhem. You wouldn't want one in a quiet suburban street, so you probably wouldn't want one in your house, especially if you were about to have your first baby. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 (PLAYS QUICK, SHORT NOTES) (SCATS TO THE RHYTHM) Real spiccato. Oh yeah. (SHORT NOTES PLAY) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper has devoted his life to music. He started playing violin at the age of 6 and has gone on to become an award-winning musician, composer and producer. (SLOW MUSIC PLAYS) Music ` it's everything. It's absolutely everything. I mean, you know, it becomes who you are. I can't imagine... doing anything else. Now he's turning the perfectionism he's applied to his music to a home he's been planning all his life. (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) (GENTLE MUSIC) But in defiance of common sense, Mahuia and his partner, management consultant Mindy Pilbrow, are taking on two major life challenges at the same time. As well as building their first home, they're expecting their first child. I think when you have children, you stop thinking about yourself. (CHUCKLES) So I'm told. (LAUGHS) LAUGHS: You're yet to find out, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. Do you think our lives are gonna change? No. I think it's been fine. Yeah. The cat will look after her too. Mm. She'll help. I hope she doesn't get jealous. (BOTH CHUCKLE) (INTRIGUING MUSIC) Mahuia and Mindy are making their home where Mahuia spent his own childhood. They're building beside his parents' house under a grove of native trees by Meola Creek ` an urban oasis minutes from Central Auckland. The site is just over there in between those two big pohutukawa trees. So... Oh wow. Let's be honest here, I think anyone would kill for a section like that. I'm extremely privileged and extremely fortunate. How did the family come across the land in the first place? The land was bought by a developer. He proceeded to demolish all the trees that were on there. My parents and friends of theirs found out, and what my mum and her friend did was lie down in front of the bulldozer to say, 'Hey, look, we really wanna try and preserve this environment, 'and we really wanna buy this off you.' And they managed to strike a deal and do that. Wow. Yeah. So what kind of thing have you got in mind? It's just a rectangle box. The big thing with this was to create spaces that are creative. There's going to be a little split level where you can put on a gig. For me, it... Sounds like it's all about me, but there's a studio that's going in there. Mindy's gonna kill me cos she's like, 'It's our house; we've gotta live in it.' From the start, we really wanted a rooftop deck where you can be on top of this box and on the deck and in the trees. Oh, wicked. So the canopy is the roof? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Wow. Oh, that would be beautiful. Yeah. (GENTLE MUSIC) Mahuia and Mindy's music box will be built on poles to suspend it over a water course, which runs right under the house and down to the mangrove swamp. Cocooned in the bush will be a main bedroom and en suite. Behind will sit their baby's bedroom, with only a guest bedroom between it and Mahuia's recording studio. Stairs lead to an open plan living area, where a raised floor will also double as a performance stage. The stairwell will continue to a third-floor-like box and entrance to a rooftop deck. This will look out over a canopy of pohutukawa and provide another performance platform for Mahuia and his musical friends. The house will be clad in black corrugated profiled steel ` a unique performance space and recording studio, not to mention family home, snuggled in a rare slice of waterside bush. What's the budget for the house? We started off, and we thought we can do this for, you know, $500,000. That's not enough. It's not enough. What were you thinking? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) I know. How long have you been planning for all of this? About 10 years. I couldn't afford it, but I have always been pretty good at... saving. How much have you managed to save? A bit of a half` half a million, yeah. Wow. You have done well. Yeah. It sounds pretty ambitious to me. So you're taking on a build, and at the same time, you're having a baby. Boy, oh boy. That's, I guess, life, right? I mean, I don't want this to come off the wrong way, but Mindy's looking after our human baby, and I'm dealing with the... The tree baby. Tree baby, yeah. (LAUGHS) Ideally, their new home would have been ready in time for their baby's arrival. But Mahuia spent three years battling to get resource consent to build, then another year perfecting the plans for the house. That's despite having dreamed about it for most of his life. With the baby due any minute, they still haven't finished framing, even though the house is Mahuia's number one priority, for now. I'm sure once this beautiful kid pops out, it's going to be amazing. But, yeah, (CHUCKLES) until then... ...you can only focus on so much. Oh yeah. Yeah. I only have capacity for here. It's all too much. Too much is happening. Yeah. Good answer. It's very cool having this to look forward to. The timing's not necessarily the greatest ` the pregnancy and then a new baby ` but it just is what it is ` it's life. Mahuia and Mindy are living under his parents' house right next door, which is handy because Mahuia wants to keep his perfectionist eye on the build and the budget by helping project-manage the job. But they are already $300,000 over his original $500,000 budget, and they still have a long way to go. I'm just trying to pull it back ` argh ` you know, 100, a grand here or whatever, $20 there. I just can't give up. I can't give up on trying to pull it back. It's a forever home, so we're trying to get it right, but trying to do it... Yeah, what to comp`? Be a little bit thrifty, yeah. What to compromise on and what not. I'm always in between the, sort of, stressing out about the next thing or person I have to ring or sort out or the builder pay, and then just seeing this thing go up. When I saw how tall it was, I totally freaked out, because I thought, 'Oh, what have I done? 'The sun won't hit my parents' property any more. (LAUGHS)' Yeah, it was just` Yeah, I'm not getting much work one at the moment, cos I'm just out here looking at it. (HAMMERING) Mahuia's sharing the project-management with builder Dave Kaneen,... That's the recording studio. ...who is concerned Mahuia and Mindy are biting off more than they can chew. They came to our house ` my wife and myself ` and we'd just finished our build. And we said that that will be probably the hardest thing you'll ever go through. You've got money flooding out the door, and you've got a baby coming. And we thought, 'That'd be probably` You'd be stretching yourselves to do that.' And we said, 'People have this idea that it's gonna be a great build.' There's so many decisions to be made on the way; there's so much pressure that you don't realise. There are plenty of big decisions still to be made, like the design and sound-proofing of the recording studio, which is just down the hall from the baby's bedroom. I did some work in London and New York recording studios, so it gave me a good heads up of what needs to be done. And I don't think Mahuia realises how much has to go into it. Recording studios are loud. I'd be investing in this if my wife and my kids are living upstairs. Mahuia's focus for now is simply to finish the framing. He and Mindy are spending $60,000 on structural steel to avoid internal walls in the open-plan living area. I was trying to push that roof line up so you can stand in that lounge area and get... Yeah, right through. Yeah, uninterrupted views. But they've had ongoing delays getting the final steel delivered. Lucky it's not a steel house. (LAUGHS) It is lucky it's not a steel house. (LAUGHS) With their baby girl due to be induced tomorrow, the clock is ticking on all fronts. Well, there will be three in the family soon. And you'll be at the bottom. Yeah, well... Right? You'll be fine. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Just keep bringing the money in. That's all you have to do. Everyone does it. It's what we're meant to do, right? Reproduce. Yeah, we are. Mm. And build houses, if you're lucky enough. What's built so far is the outer structure of this music box. But it's what happens next that will define this space. Many of us know just how a new baby can blindside our lives. I hope Mahuia and Mindy have lots of stamina, as the next few months are going to be critical to the realisation or not of a lifelong dream. She was due last Saturday. So 12 days over tomorrow. Yeah. And tomorrow's the day. It's all just challenges, and I like a good challenge. Some water. Thank you. Hopefully it's smooth sailing. (JAUNTY MUSIC) Mahuia and Mindy have gone to ground while they adjust to the arrival of their baby girl, Mo. So builder Dave is stepping up in his role as joint project manager. She's in hospital for a week. I heard they had quite a traumatic time. They're home now, so we'll push on. I've given them updates, what needs to be done, and we're sort of working through that. Waterproofing's the main thing. That's basically what we've gotta do right now. We've sort of kept up with all the other trades, and I've kept them all informed, so he knows what's going on and they know what's going on. Today, despite the imminent arrival of Cyclone Debbie, Dave's trying to make up for some lost time. We're putting the last bit of steel up for the atrium. We've been waiting for steel for a wee while. And this weather's not the best. There's a lot of risk with water and electricity. So we're pleased that the clouds have parted. It's fantastic, actually. There's going to be a big storm come through tonight. 100mm, so I've been told. I would be totally sealed in by now. I'd say we're about three weeks behind. And I think it's basically to do with the steel. Just getting steel here on time. Now it's put us into this winter. (JAUNTY MUSIC) With the budget already blown out, Mahuia's trying to arrange deals and favours wherever he can. That's between disrupted sleep, trying to work and life as a new dad. Well, Mindy,... yeah, went for a bit of a rough time, so we were five days in hospital. But the baby is very healthy, and she's raring to go, so that's great. Yeah. Despite the upheavals, Mahuia's determined to keep a firm rein on the build, the design and the budget. He's had creative control of this home even before he hired designer Hamish Stirrat. Looking at this thing and the way that it is trying to navigate this crazy site, what kind of brief did Mahuia give you? He wanted... a New York warehouse, basically, in the middle of the trees. Wow. I've worked with many creative people, but I haven't worked with a musician before. And what I found is that they're incredibly interested in the detail. For him, a note to a song is just as important as the whole composition. When he came to me, he had downloaded a CAD program. And he'd formulated a house design for himself. The house was all on one level, and quite early on, I proposed that we split the house in a portion, which he didn't initially like, but then understood that he could create a little stage in the living area. I think I've got it now. The house is underneath, isn't it? It's been kind of pushed under. Mm. The living is that musical amphitheatre, oh, and by the way, you get another one on the roof. On the roof, yeah. (LAUGHS) So there's two. It's the box seat. The music box seat. The music box seat, yeah. Hamish convinced Mahuia to build the crow's nest on top of the deck, allowing more light into the centre of the house but taking Mahuia's single-storey plan to three levels. We basically took what looked like the Love Boat, and we turned it into a tanker. Love Boat. My God. (CHUCKLES) And you turned it into a tanker! (TENSE MUSIC) But can this tanker stand up to a cyclone? (MUSIC CONTINUES) Cool. I like this little makeshift canopy. It's like a little scout hut. The rooftop deck needs waterproofing that's near bulletproof, as it will drain to internal gutters. To fix it in place, the timber must be bone dry. Mahuia and Mindy's friend Rod is coming from Wellington to apply it the day after the cyclone is due to pass. He calls me every day, and he's like, 'Is it down? And is it dry?' He can't stress enough how dry it has to be, and we're about to get Cyclone Debbie tomorrow, so I think it feels pretty dry, but if he comes up here and Debbie has ripped the roof off, then we're in trouble. Apprentices! Before heading home for the day, the builders create a makeshift polythene shelter. Just put a couple of staples in the bottom to hold it in place. I'm actually a bit nervous about this. It should stay, but it's not really designed for that. So who knows. The morning after Cyclone Debbie hits is one of trepidation. I think it made it. I was surprised myself, actually. Last night was pretty heavy, wasn't it? Under there is the ply that we need for the roof. And now we're going to find out ` the big reveal. And we have success. We are dry. We were all worried about last night. But there was a bit of wind, and I thought the wind would probably get it. The rain's not so bad. So it was there. I was expecting to see it, maybe in the bushes. All right. Let's clean up. Sure. Let's hope that this rain doesn't continue, cos we need to get the gutters in. With no rain, you can cover them and make sure they don't get wet. I don't know how that is going to happen, really, but... OK, I'm going up. I just heard on the radio it's gonna rain. Thunderstorms again. It's the forecast, isn't it? Not a very good one. The builders are still racing to finish forming the roof and gutters before the waterproofers arrive. The tail end of the cyclone is threatening to disrupt them, but with less than a day to go, there's another hitch. They've just discovered they've been working to the wrong plans. There's been an amended plan sent out which we didn't know about ` a downpipe that's been moved. We'll have a look at them today and change it. Mahuia's picking them up now. Just rushing into council. I think they put a V in my name or something so I never got the email that the amendment had been completed and was ready to be picked up. So it's all down to the wire now. I spoke to Dave this morning, and he was... he was pretty good about it, even though I know it's gotta be frustrating. It's gotta be really frustrating. Because they'd put that gutter in already, so it means they had to take it out. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Thank you. What do you need? Was it just the downpipes or was there other stuff you put through? Uh, (LAUGHS) to be honest, I don't know. You don't know? I don't know. Oh gosh. This botch-up may be due to a bureaucratic bungle, but I'm sensing there is now some confusion over who's in charge of this build. Rod ` have you spoken to him at all? Yeah. He, um, is going to... Well, he needs confirmation today... on whether he should come up, and I've been telling him, 'Friday. Yep.' So it's all gonna happen. It's all gonna happen. Yeah. Am I calling him or are you calling him? I think you should call him. OK. At the start, it was relatively organic. I didn't even understand how much time and what it actually involved to project-manage. Hi, Hamish. It's Mahuia here. Just ringing up about the drain pipe. It's saved money, whatever way you look at it, because I've put a huge amount of hours. But this whole idea of DIY project-managing and how naive it is ` yeah, it has been incredibly stressful. (JAUNTY MUSIC) (BIRDS CHIRP) With the cyclone fully past, Mahuia and Mindy's family friend, Rod Burke, has arrived to apply the waterproofing membrane for the roof and internal gutters. I caught up with them last night, and they were heading off to Mindy's brother's wedding down at Ohau in the South Island, with an 11-day-old baby, yeah. The makeshift polythene tent has mostly survived the storm. And now the builders are under the pump to frame new guttering as per the late plan changes and keep it dry. We though we could actually install the gutters today, he'd be able to lay it, and we wouldn't have to polythene it. But it's not working like that. It's got showers coming through every 20 minutes. But it's just Auckland, isn't it? Cloud comes past, and it's just got thousands of litres of water that comes down in a second. If the ply gets wet, he cannot lay the waterproofing down, and we're basically back to square one. (CHUCKLES) It's a lot of pressure to get it done. Rod has travelled all the way from Wellington and put aside two days to seal the roof for Mahuia and Mindy. If he can't get the job done now, it's a waste of time and money. We've been with the weather all week, and I think it's on our side now. So we're lucky the applicators are going really well with the waterproofing, so we're quite happy. I think Mindy and Mahuia ` when they come back on Monday, they'll be rapt. I'll be rapt too. Roof's wrapped. With the framing complete, Mahuia now needs to start making plans for his new studio, which he hopes will be much grander than his current set-up beneath his parents' house. (LAUGHS) Yeah, a little bit limited. Yeah, lots of moving around, especially if it involves making any kind of music with anyone else. Music, for me, has always been about collaboration. This is a one-man space at the moment. I'm interested to find out what it takes to make a professional studio work. So I'm visiting Roundhead ` a top of the line studio built and owned by musician Neil Finn. Acoustic engineer Chris Day helped design this studio, and he's just agreed to help Mahuia with his. Wow. Listen to that silence. Yeah, I know. It is a really quiet room. Everything you see is completely built inside a hollow core when they stripped it out. We've built a floating concrete floor on top of the existing concrete floor, so it's 100mm of concrete floating on rubber pads. We've got curved surfaces that diffuse the sounds, and then we've got absorption in different areas. We've got these curtains, which can flow anywhere around the room and change the liveness of the room, depending on what the musician wants. And I see there's a rather special ceiling as well. Yes, that's an acoustic plaster. That'll absorb the mid-frequencies. Right. This is one of the best studios in the world. It's in the many millions of dollars. Mahuia has only budgeted $30,000 for his recording studio, and he's left it to last while his budget for the rest of the house blows out. So he's looking something in between the bedroom studio and a professional studio. It is a little bit later than we normally like to get involved. We can do that, but it'll be a combination of some of the same concepts, but within budget constraints. I guess the other thing that intrigues me is that they've got a brand new baby. Yeah, well, they produce high levels of high-frequency noise. And so getting these sound insulation issues sorted out will help that, certainly in terms of a frantic lifestyle, trying to do a project like this and having a young baby. I empathise with him. Empathise? Or do you think he's mad? (LAUGHS) Both. (GENTLE MUSIC) By the middle of autumn, Mahuia and Mindy's house is a month behind schedule and still not closed in. And despite the makeshift polythene tent, it's soaked from continuous bad weather. We're at 10km/h or 20km/h winds. So we're trying to protect the central part of the house. Yeah, we're getting hammered by the weather at the moment. We're going to have an issue with moisture in the timber frames. We've got corrugated iron coming next week; we'll probably have to start putting a dehumidifier on, get the windows in, gas heaters, and try and dry this place out. The latest delay is sorting out a tricky window fashion detail Mahuia is insisting upon. While the cladding is due to go on in a week, the window design needs to be resolved before it can go ahead. We've got the second cyclone coming through. So we're basically just trying to batten down the hatches. It's all we can do at the moment. (SWIFT MUSIC) When I visit the site two weeks later, the building paper is on. But Mahuia's tricky window detailing is still causing hold-ups. And the rain is still getting inside. Ah. Where is everybody? We're running out of things to do here, Chris. No way. We're waiting for the roof and windows, so that means we can waterproof it so it's all enclosed. And we can't do that at the moment. And you're right on the edge of winter. Yep. I mean, it's pouring with rain every other day. Yeah, it is. So, yeah, it's frustrating. I'm almost over it. The delays are happening because it's not been managed by me. It's sort of, like, the client's taken control of the job, sort of thing. The plumbers are due here to start doing pre-lining and that kind of stuff, and sparkies, and we're still finalising what materials he wants to use in the toilets and that. He's pedantic. It's his dream home, and it's gotta look right. He's making all the decisions, sort of thing, so I've just basically got to adhere to what he wants done. For you, that must feel so incredibly frustrating. I've lost control of the job. Sharing the project-management role is creating uncertainty and conflict. I'm worried the train's already left the station, and if nobody is sure who is driving it, the whole project could be derailed. (GENTLE MUSIC) (BIRDS CHIRP) Mahuia and Mindy had hoped to finish their home in time for the arrival of their first child. But the gestation of a baby has proved much faster. Aw, nice to see you. How're you going? Hey, Chris. Oh, she's beautiful. This is Mo. Hello, Mo. Very happy, sleepy little creature. Sure is. At the moment. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. (ALL LAUGH) Their baby girl, Mo, is now 2 months old. But with ongoing delays, the house is still months away from completion. So, are you enjoying the process so far? Yes and no, but probably more no. More no? Yeah. The stress has been unreal. Everyone said we're a bit crazy having a baby at the same time, and we thought it would be OK. But turns out we were a bit crazy. Well, the fact that we're doing it all at once is the ultimate, kind of... Is it just that? Or is it that you chose to be so hands-on? The majority of people building their own home don't do that. Don't they? No. Not to the level that you do. (BOTH LAUGH) I mean, this is, kind of, this once-in-a-lifetime thing. You know, 10 years in the making. So there's a lot more of you guys invested in it? Definitely. Yeah. It would be how I treat a record ` you know, making a record. It's that special type of thing. Whoa. OK. I'm wondering, Mindy, if you are like Mahuia in the sense that you have to learn everything and know it intimately. No, I'm nothing like that. I'm nothing like that. And I'm probably more open to taking advice and guidance and that kind of thing, whereas Mahuia's a bit more... challenging. Yeah. Sometimes. (LAUGHTER) (FAST-PACED MUSIC) After spending weeks resolving Mahuia's tricky window detailing, the home is about to be clad. Mahuia and Mindy want their three-storey home to disappear into the bush, so have chosen a dark steel cladding. Installing it is no mean feat for the roofers, who have to squeeze long sheets of corrugated steel between the scaffolding and the house without getting them scratched. I've got the sheet; you get the carpet. Coming down, Chris. No. Sweet. (DRILL WHIRRS) How's it looking down there, Chris? Sweet as? Yep, beautiful. The design of the inset windows Mahuia has agonised over may be lost on most people, but his roofers will never forget it. I think it's probably two nights I've spent fully awake, thinking about it, trying to come up with it. So, basically, he never wants to see a cut edge of the iron. So that's got a large fold in it so it's a rounded corner. But... yeah, it's worked out. Mahuia's not just trying to get this house right for himself and Mindy but also for his parents, who will be his neighbours. Mahuia has already reduced the roof of the light in an attempt to make the height less imposing. It would be nice if it was a couple of metres lower, I think. But I think once the trees are there... I had, you know, this moment several months ago when we saw the frames up and we saw that final height, and I thought, 'Oh... 'God, if it actually blocks out any of the winter sun, I've totally failed and it would be a disaster.' In our old age,... (BOTH LAUGH) ...sitting out on our veranda... BOTH: ...in the dark. (LAUGH) But, no, they're` they're here, and I think we're pleasantly surprised that they are gonna be here. Mahuia is fine-tuning every note of this architectural composition, and he's still tweaking the plans for the downstairs recording studio and how it will sit alongside the bedrooms. You're changing the door details as well, aren't you? Because there's some beautiful vistas out this way, we'll just have a continuous ceiling. And if this door is open, that ceiling will lead you right out and you'll get... So there's no door frame? No door frame, yeah. Then acoustically, it's basically transparent. So the sound goes straight through. You're incredibly close. I mean, that's the music studio right there. Mm-hm. And I assume this is Mo's room, is it? This is Mo's room, yeah. How do you feel about this proximity to having the office so close? I'm OK with it, but I've been assured that it's, uh, (LAUGHS) been taken care of. So, yeah, I haven't really worried about it too much. Yet. Oh yeah. Maybe... Maybe I'll have a nasty surprise when we move in. Yeah. Yeah, well, I think it's gonna be fine. I think, yeah, we'll get the professionals in to treat it properly. Yeah. Yeah. Could be a good idea. LAUGHS: Yeah. (LAUGHTER) (COOS) And I'm not the only one trying to help Mahuia help himself. Oh, I like the gold. I know, isn't it beautiful? Yeah. Builder Dave's partner, Fran Smith, is an interior consultant who's offered to lend a hand. I asked them how they were going with the interiors, with the bathrooms, tapware, flooring, window treatments, and there was basically no response. (CHUCKLES) They didn't have a clue. Mahuia said he's in a rabbit hole about tapware and he had dragged Mindy around for three days looking at taps. And I said, 'Rightio, let me bring some things to you, 'and I think we can streamline this process slightly better.' Don't like that. Don't like that. Don't like that. Especially don't like... It's been really great with Fran coming on board. I think, um, she knew we were pretty stretched for time, with a new baby and everything, and she's been really great for helping some of our ideas come alive. These are much nicer, mm. Yeah. I really like them. I think they're quite elegant but just a little bit different. Yeah, very stylish. Because they're quite quirky characters, it's really important to let that come through and to show them how to be bold about it. They don't want this house to be ordinary because they're not ordinary people. We wanted to do something a bit different in the en suite. Yeah. We've just got all of these to choose from. So you can customise it. Yeah. I think I should just do it on my own. Yeah, no, I think that would be great. And then for the rest of my life, Mahuia will be going, 'I hate that green.' (LAUGHS) Yeah, but Dave does that to me about the house, too. He's like, 'That's yours.' Own it. No, I love it. I think it's a great idea. Yeah. Mahuia clearly has a passion for this home and is committed to getting each piece of the puzzle right. But as Winston Churchill once said, perfection is the enemy of progress. Yeah, this is the mixer. Look at that. (CHUCKLES) Chrome and black. What a saga. And I can't help wondering if Mahuia's overthinking may be tying himself and his builders in knots. That's hard. It's absolutely hard. I wouldn't want to do this again. Ever. But there is progress. Today, glaziers are dodging the scaffolding to shimmy huge panels of glass around the front of the house. The walls on this side of the home will be almost entirely windows, looking out through the trees to the inlet and mangroves. You still get butterflies because we're dealing with scaff, um, tight corners, steel screws, nails. It's a building site. This particular one's about 124 kilos. MAN: That one'd be 150. Oh, OK. I was a bit lightweight there. 154? Just a baby (!) Lovely. It's happening. It's so neat. Today marks a turning point as the house becomes fully closed in. But the progress is bittersweet, as Mahuia and Mindy have hit a financial wall. It will be... It'll probably be a million dollars by the end of it. Every scrap of money I've earnt since October has been put into it. The house is still amazing, and it will be amazing, but if it means that to have gone through this year and get it done and then have either a crazy mortgage to have to service so we're just working all the time, we realise it's not actually worth it. I haven't really hung out with the baby much at the moment. So, yeah, hmmm. They're even contemplating putting the build on hold so they can revisit their plans and have a break from the stress. Mahuia's dealing with it day to day, but I'm living with it, and, um, it's pretty hard to get away from. It's... untold sleepless nights, you know? Yeah. I guess this year has been pretty testing for us. It is so tiring, yeah. With so much on their plates, I understand why they'd like to pause to take stock, but with the finish line so close, it does seem a shame. I just hope their home is worth the stress in the long run. (CHUCKLES) All right. You ready? (HAMMER THUDS) (SAW WHIZZES) (CHUCKLES) All right. You ready? (GASPS) (GENTLE MUSIC SWELLS) So that's how he's getting in. Mahuia's commitment to his dream home has been nothing short of phenomenal. Yet two months ago, he and Mindy were about to put the whole thing on hold. I can't understand why they got so stressed. I mean, they're only building their first home having a new baby, spending their life savings... Oh, and the building had to be as perfect as a carefully crafted album. So I'm eager to see how much progress they've made. (RELAXED, UPBEAT MUSIC) Looking sharp. Hi. Hi, Chris. Wow. How's it going? I'm great. I can't believe it. Neither can we. It looks finished. Yeah. You guys must be so happy. And overwhelmed. Yeah. Overwhelmed, yeah. Driving down the street, it just looks awesome; this, kind of, curious black box floating in amongst the trees. If I saw it from the road, I'd want to see what's inside. Yeah. Well, I certainly do. Great. Come in. Let's check it out. So, here we are. Boy, this isn't what I was expecting. This space and the way that it connects out into the trees is beautiful. I was thinking of the living space being quite separate from the stage, and that this would be a lot darker somehow. And these two things would be almost like complementary opposites, but instead it's one big, unified space. The reverb and the sound that you hear, it will be beautiful for a violin, for a string quartet or a guitar, you know? What I'm hearing straight away is, 'This could be great as a music space.' - (LAUGHTER) - Did you catch that? - Less for living. This is not to live in. It's not to live in. Yeah, yeah. Look at this. Goodness. It's magic. There's something kind of special about having the windows open up, rather than a deck. It's a different kind of feeling. I love this view. I love that it's so private. Central Auckland, but you feel like you're in the trees and you can't see the neighbours. And it's, um, pretty special, yeah. It's really a hidden slice of wilderness, isn't it? It is, it is, yeah. (LYRICAL PIANO) This is pretty cool. My goodness, what a great spot! Yeah. It's beautiful. Isn't it magic? I'm just thinking of your parents, you know? Oh, oh. Yeah. It does kind of look over my parents, but I think they'll grow to love it. You think they'll grow to love it? Yeah. (LAUGHTER) Come down and see where the magic happens ` or will happen. So, this is the studio space. It's a work in progress in terms of making it a functioning room. So the floor, then, is, what, a suspended floor? Yeah, it's a floating floor. So it's really like a completely independent structure inside the house. Yeah, yeah. We've still got a lot of treatment to do on the walls to get a good, clean audio signal. It's a little bit too slick. You're gonna grunge it up a bit? Yeah. I'm sure if Mo's here for a while on her own, she'll sort it for you. Oh yeah. Nothing like baby spew to create a vibe, right? So, this is the bathroom. That's pretty cool. Pretty fruity. Uh, there's Mo's room. Ohh, look at that. Cute. Magic world. And, yeah, this is the master. This gives you a completely different slice of the trees. You're much more down with the mangroves and the coming and going of the tide and the bottom of the pohutukawa. The thing that I was always concerned about was whether the music box and the house and family living just wouldn't work. Can we test it? Let's... give it a go, eh? Yeah, I'd be really intrigued. I'll be` I won't be back; I'll test it. What do you think? I am hopeful. (MUSIC PLAYS LOUDLY) - (MUFFLED MUSICAL BEAT) - Oh, you can just hear it. - Only just. Did you hear that? Vaguely, yes, we could ` just. Oh, damn. What came through the most? Bass or treble? Oh, bass. But it was very, very, very faint. I mean, the thing that is in my mind, of course, is Mo next door. Because, of course, she's closer. But you know what? I'm more worried about the noise that we hear from her room. (LAUGHTER) Watching you guys from the beginning till now has been an extraordinary journey. At one point, you've got Dave saying he thinks you'd lost control of the project. What do you think was going on there? I think, in our case, there was just a need for more communication and collaboration I can understand it would be frustrating at times dealing with... BOTH: ...us. We were able to sit down with Dave and work through the issues. There was, yeah, a bit at the beginning where we didn't think it would happen, wouldn't be possible. So it's pretty surreal sitting here today. I remember having a conversation with you at the beginning with all your savings of roughly half a million. And you already said, 'Uh, we need a little bit more than that.' So what did it end up at? Yeah, just under 950. Really? That's all? That's all? I think most people looking at this house would go, 'Under a million? How did you pull that off?' Really? Well, hello! (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) It's all around you ` the quality of the finishes, the quality of the materials, the scale of the house ` it is three storeys, despite what you think. (CHUCKLES) Well, that's all credit to Mahuia. If I'd been in charge of this, it'd be a very different house. It would not be this magnificent, that's for sure. It's been extremely challenging in terms of the stress and the anxiety and everything it's created. - Still want to live with him? - (LAUGHTER) I'm pretty trapped now. (LAUGHTER) It feels like an art piece. It really does. And I really wanted it to be. And, yeah, so you go kinda deep and you forget about it being a practical home that you've gotta live in. Lots of stress on my partner. I'm sure, with anyone else, it probably would've fallen apart. In the context of the biggest city in New Zealand, where housing is incredibly difficult to find, but yet the impact on the fragile ecology that Auckland has, you two have shown an extraordinary example of how to do it with deep respect. I think you've done something quite unique and special. Congratulations. Thanks, Chris. Very kind words. The challenge here was how to create harmony between three radically different notes ` inserting a new building into a fragile habitat, creating an inspirational music space, and a place for family. Through stubborn perseverance, obsession with detail and huge support from all those around them, I reckon they've pulled it off. (POP!) (LAUGHTER, CHATTER) Captions by June Yeow and Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017