- Imagine finding the house of your dreams in the place you always wanted to live for a budget that doesn't break the bank. Sound impossible? What if you could truck the house you want to the section of your choice and maybe save money along the way? - That's my lounge. - Whoo! Love it. - Have you got your arse on the seat? We're rolling. - It's a journey that can be fraught with anxiety,... - (TYRES SCREECH) - What was that? ...pressure,... There's only inches in it, Leonie. - Oh my gosh. - ...and stress. - Yeah, I've got some very unhappy people up here. - From grand old villas to brand-new buildings,... It's on the move. There's no turning back. ...these homes are picked up, sliced up, and trucked down some of New Zealand's most challenging roads. We're even taking them across the water. This is New Zealand's oldest recycling industry. From impassable roads to impossible deadlines, is all the trucking, trauma, and tension really worth it? This time on Moving Houses ` - Aw, shit! - ...global travellers Monique and Graham fall in love with a cottage called Trudy. - I like old. I don't like new. I like different. She was just a bit special, we thought. - It's got everything that we think we need. - It's a cost-effective cutie, but there's a catch. - Monique, you're not that happy about` - I'm not happy about it at all! - Is this going to turn the DIY dream into a nightmare? - It's gonna take me more than a day to fix this. - So come along for the ride. This is Moving Houses. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021 Sometimes moving can get into your blood, and you can find it very difficult to stay still. But there's usually a point where you want to put down roots. Now, after 18 years and moving almost every 18 months, Monique and Graham have decided it's time. South African Monique and Kiwi Graham met and fell in love at first sight on an oil rig 18 years ago. - I arrived on this vessel in Egypt. I saw this young lady down in the administration room. And about two days later, I said, 'You're the one for me, and I know I'm the one for you.' 10 days later, I bought her a house. A month later, I'd moved from New Zealand to South Africa. - He was either very brave or very foolish, or very much in love. - So we opt for option three. - (BOTH LAUGH) - Diving straight into a passionate relationship, they travelled the world to be together. - We moved to Stanmore Bay, Hatfields Beach, Totara North, back to South Africa, Whangarei, I think. - Mm. - We moved to Tamaterau, Whitianga. From Whitianga, we went back to South Africa, back to Whangarei. Huh? Oh, yeah, to Onerahi. But it's got to stop now, because Graham's not working any more. We can't afford to keep moving. - Now retired, their dream is to live close by granddaughter Olive and have enough space for their beloved alpacas. An old-fashioned DIY couple, they think they've found a way to afford their dream, taking on a house project that needs a whole lot of work. They went house shopping ` to Craig Walker's house yard in Auckland, where relocated homes of different styles and eras sit ready and waiting, like cars on a car yard, for people like Monique and Graham to pick them out. And one of those houses is this 1920s Arts and Crafts cottage, which for Graham and Monique was love at first sight. - This is your home. - This is it. - Or soon to be. - Yes, it's not our home yet. It's just a house right now. - Yeah. - But it will be. And it was something about this house, Monique, that just made it stand out from all the rest? - Well, just the way it looks when you come around the corner, because we obviously looked at a whole bunch in the yard, and then we came around the corner, and just the way she looked, for a start was like, 'Oh, that's different. That's cute.' We like something a little bit quirky. I like old. I don't like new. I like different. I mean, just coming along here along the road, there were all these brand new, exactly the same, exactly the same, exactly... Eugh! I can't bear that. So she was just a bit special, we thought. - I like the layout, as well. For such a small house ` and it is small ` it's got everything that we think we need. - And it's that size that makes it so affordable. At just 85m2, Trudy ` as she's been nicknamed by the removal company ` is full of character. And at just a touch over $100,000 relocated and repiled on site, she looks like good value to me. But it's clear Trudy is also showing her age. Shall we go and have a look inside? - These floorboards are magnificent. - I love them. That's one of the things that I fell in love with. - With a hallway right down the middle, Trudy has a traditional cottage layout. The three bedrooms and a bathroom are all off to the left, while on the right is the living room, a kitchen-dining area and laundry. Out the back, the old porch has been closed off as an office sunroom. - This is going to be the main bedroom. - The main bedroom in here? - Yeah. And the idea is that we'll go through that wardrobe into the bathroom. - Because the older you get, the more you need an en-suite at night. - The closer you need everything. - Yeah. And the ceilings are slightly higher as well, which I really like. I've got really lovely light fittings, enough for every room in this house. - Describe them to me. - Most of them are sort of blue and white. They're not multi-coloured. They're not cheap and nasty. - OK. OK. - You'll see. - Look, I can't wait to see them. Graham, these light fittings ` have you been putting them up and taking them down, each place you go? - These ones I've only had to do once, I think. But the previous ones, which came from South Africa in 2005, they'd gone up into about eight houses. - Wow. Shall we have a look at the rest of the house? - Yeah. Let's go to the lounge. Obviously, there was a fireplace there, which sadly is no longer. We were thinking we'd take this door out. The TV will go on the wall there, because the lounge suite is a corner lounge suite, which will come around here. The colours, I was thinking maybe a bluey grey, but it's gotta be a bluey grey, not a grey grey. Monique, what I like about this is that we've just walked into this room. Graham and I have not said a word, and you have just sort of this stream of your vision for justice this room has been phenomenal. You've really laid awake at night thinking about this. - I know what I like. - (LAUGHS) Clearly. - And I know what I want. - We'll have a look in the kitchen. - Yeah, the kitchen is very dinky. On the plans that we've had approved, this is actually going to get swung around. This doorway is going to get shifted along. - There is a lot to do, and I think it's just working out where we're going to start. - The joy of this house is that it is small enough to be moved in one piece, saving work and money. Trudy has already been shifted once, from the place she was built to the yard, so near the top of Graham's list will be repairing the superficial damage from that move ` fixing the ceiling, re-jibbing and plastering walls, replacing door frames, and removing the over-the-top security measures installed by the previous owner. - This is supposed to be a sunroom, but I think I might use just a little bit of an office space. - There's an extraordinary amount of security for a small house like this. All right. So, from here, we're going to have a step down and a deck out here from that wall to the end of the house, - about 3.5m out, I think, covered. - Lovely. - Windows both ends, then we're going to have a spa pool on that side and my granddaughter's little playhouse on that side. - After 18 years of moving, Monique knows exactly how she wants her forever home. But between the planned renovations and Trudy still suffering the effects of her last move, I worry about how much work they're taking on. - Graham, are you going to do all the building yourself? - Uh, I can do most of it. - Bottom line, to be perfectly honest, we can't afford to pay the rates that people charge to do this sort of stuff. So the answer is yes ` yes, he's going to be doing it himself. - And of course, Graham, as it says on your top, never give up. - Clearly. - (LAUGHS) - The work doesn't all fall on Graham's shoulders. The deal is Monique paints everything. I get the sense that these two are a pretty good team. And as long as they don't hit any unforeseen costs, their DIY spirit should see them through. - And so here the floor plans here, are they? But there's a nasty surprise in the floor plans, left behind by the relocation company. - So, are you aware of this? - No. You've just showed us. (LAUGHS) - 'The movers have a cut planned right down the middle.' - This is the cut. - Oh, wow. - Oh. - To then get back together. - Yes. - Monique, you're not that happy about` - No, I'm not happy about it at all! No. Poor little thing. - The cut means the move will be in two loads and need a second truck. Monique's not happy. - They said it was gonna come as one piece because it was a small house. - Does this mean Graham's workload just got out of hand? (PEACEFUL MUSIC) Monique and Graham have just discovered their relocated home is going to move in two parts, meaning additional costs and more work. Today is a chance to follow the route Trudy will be taking for the move. From Kumeu, we'll head south to State Highway 18, then across to where it hits State Highway 1. From there, we'll go all the way to Whangarei, then Ruatangata ` about 180km all up. I'm excited to visit the site for the first time. But the winding road, one-lane bridge and trees, some of them protected natives that can't be cut, make the last few K's very tight. But when I see their property, I understand why they want to go to the effort. Monique and Graham bought this 4000m2 lifestyle block in Ruatangata, 20 minutes outside Whangarei, and just up the road from granddaughter Olive. It's a big section that already has a two-bedroom ply and batten house at one end. Their plan is to move into the new cottage as soon as it's liveable. They'll rent out the existing house to help fund their retirement. This is lovely. You've got the nice sun. It's certainly a very quiet part of the North Island, isn't it? - It is. It's lovely. With a bit of space and room for some animals and... Yeah. Hello. - Say hello, Olive. - Are those your friends? What's your name? Olive? How are you going? So, Olive spends a bit of time here? - She does spend a bit of time here, yes, as Mum and Dad are both working. - Pretty cool backyard to run around in. Did you guys have the section and then decide to put a house on it, or did you just sort of start organically thinking? - No, I think when we bought it, we always thought we'd find a second dwelling, because that one is a bit too small, and because the extra income is always nice when you retired. - They've thought carefully about where Trudy should go so both homes have sun and privacy. The house will be placed so a big rear deck faces north, capturing all-day sun, with a fenced-off garden, then open fields so their much-loved alpacas have room to roam. - Here's the entrance area, with the steps. And then we come in about three steps, and we've got bedroom one. A step and a half, and there's the lounge. And then another step, and we've got the bathroom, bedroom two, bedroom three. - Kitchen, bathroom, which comes to about here. - Mm-hm. - Remember those horrible trolley door things that I said have to go? - Uh-huh. - So, that door is about here. So then you go out through those doors, and this is going to be the deck here. - I'm starting to see the vision that you have for this place coming together, Graham. Is this how you imagined it all laid out? - The house, yes. The idea would be to take a portion down here, fence that off as part of a feature garden. And then, various places, put in vege gardens. - It's a lot of work for Graham, and Monique has her own load, running the books on a project that has no fat. Are you comfortable with, you know, your budgets and where things are...? - No. - No? - No, the budget's blown already. Having to cut it in half, when at first they said they wouldn't have to cut it in half, ended up being 109. But still, I mean, for 109,000, I think it's a sweet little house. And then it's just a question of what we have to spend on it. Our budget was 200,000 for everything. And according to my spreadsheet, we're in at about 220. And yeah, that could end up being even more. - It's the additional things like the Geotech report. - Deeper piles, because of the Geotech report. - Getting the septic tank approved. - Oh, the survey to absolutely site the house in the correct position. - Right. - It's not great, because that's our savings there. We have a little, little tiny we nest egg that was supposed to be still there when the house was finished, And it's looking like it ain't gonna be there at all. - Well, at least didn't have to lose sleep over who's running the move. Craig Walker is the doyenne of house relocation, with his family business based in Kumeu. - I'm quite confident we'll get it to the site. - They pick up unwanted houses, give them a name, and store them until they find a home. - So, my daughter Kylie runs the admin side of it. My son-in-law Dave, he runs the operational side of the business. Thankfully, it doesn't leave a whole lot for me to do, at the end of the day. I get to play with the machinery ` trucks and trailers and diggers and tractors and whatever. So that side of it's a lot of fun. - It's Craig's call to cut Graham and Monique's house in half for the move. He didn't make the decision lightly. - We route survey prior to shifting the oversized load. You're looking for trees, power poles, street lights, and navigating that load through that passage. And the route does have issues. - Monique and Graham are here to get an update from Craig. - You obviously went up there and did the route visit. - Yep. - And all of a sudden the house had to be cut in half, and it was a bit of a disappointment. - It was about 4km from your site that the road bends in tight. And cutting trees is not an option. They're owned by other people and by the council. I think we were up there for about three hours, chasing side roads, just seeing if there was another possible way. But at the end of the day, we ruled it out, so I'm... - But you do guarantee that it'll be the same once you put it back together. - Absolutely. We'll join it together with tender loving care. - All right, because I do hate the thought of it being in two pieces. - Basically, we'll go down the front hallway, because that gives us could strength in the house. Where we haven't got hallway support, we'll put a lot of bracing into it. - It'll be a professional job done well. - We're counting on it. - It's a week to the move, and Craig Walker's team swing into action, prepping the house for transport. First, the house is braced to hold its shape. Then the interior walls and non-structural beams are carefully cut. The extra $8000-odd needed to cut and rejoin the house may seem like a lot, but it's easy to see where the money goes. Moving day. The roof has to come apart to avoid catching low-hanging phone and power lines on route. And soon Trudy will be getting the big chop. But Monique and Graham aren't here. Monique couldn't bear the thought of watching Trudy being cut in half. But nothing was going to keep me away. - Watching this, I can see why Monique didn't want to be here. - Look, Clarke, it's a process. - So, do a lot of people just choose not to come and watch this part of the process? - Some want to get involved. Some don't. People get a little bit stressed, and they get a bit emotional, and that's understandable, and that's to be expected. But to make the omelette, you break the eggs, so, yeah. (CHUCKLES) To make the omelette, you break the eggs. Well, the egg is certainly cracked in half right now. Now it's the moment of truth. Structural cuts to the ceiling and floor joists slice the 100-year-old cottage in half. - When you're cutting a house in half, if you can see it, cut it with a fines saw; if you can't see it, cut it with a chainsaw. So a fine cut into the floorboards, and then just a little nick into the floor joists, then below that, whack it with a chainsaw. And when you bring it back together, the fine cut will come tight, which is what you want. So people will walk into the house after it's been rejoined and not be able to actually see the cut. - That's the magic of what happens here, right? The house looks a bit broken, pulled apart, but at the other end, we try and bring it back together, make it look like you were never there. - We don't try, we do ` we put it back together. - We do. OK. - Now, Monique and Graham are already worried about how rough their house looks. Graham's worried about how much work he has to do, particularly now it's been cut up by a chainsaw and looks even worse. And so as we get ready to hit the road tonight, they'll be hitting their pillows in Ruatangata. And I do hope that they get a good night's sleep because they might be in for a little bit of a shock when they see their poor, beaten-up house arrive. (CRICKETS CHIRP) Graham and Monique's 100-year-old cottage, Trudy, is in two pieces, ready to be trucked 180km to their site near Whangarei. Craig Walker estimates it's a six-hour trip, and our permit says we've got to be off the road by daybreak. We're at the yard for an 11pm departure, and the rain is bucketing down. - CRAIG: It's not nice when it's raining. The wind's a little bit of a mystery to us - It's not just rain tonight. The wind is picking up, too. And with the cottage in two pieces, it's vulnerable. Wrapped tightly in tarpaulins, I just hope those high winds don't catch them like a sail. And here we go. The bedroom half is on the front truck. I'm travelling in the second truck tonight, carrying the lounge and kitchen. Craig's anticipating some challenging conditions on the road. Visibility is everything, so the rain's making me nervous. - We've got nice new wiper blades on. - OK. The weather isn't the only hazard. It's also other traffic on the road. - We noticed a big increase in night-time traffic volumes. Deliveries try and get done at night. Trucking companies trying to move stuff at night, rather than flog the traffic through the day. - We've got two pilot vehicles out in front, one between the trucks and one following behind. Their guidance is key to getting Monique and Graham's house safely to Ruatangata. - The pilots you use are actually not part of the company, are they? - No. It costs a little bit more, but I think, overall, for my peace of mind, it's a safer operation. If they were company pilots, they would be thinking about the job, the loads, the traffic. All we want them to do is to warn the forward motorists that there's a roadblock coming their way, and to deal with them. - It doesn't take long for them to spot a catastrophe in the making ` - RT: Watch out for this dude on the left here. He's a bit intoxicated. - What may be a drunk driver coming straight towards us. (TRUCK HORN BLARES) - (CAR SPEEDS PAST) - Whoo, doggie! - It's a near miss. Drunk drivers are a house mover's worst nightmare. As we head out of Auckland, the wind and rain, are back and forth. - That rain's annoying. It would be nice if that rain went away. It makes visibility... harder. - Then we spot something coming loose on the lead truck. - RT: Craigie's tarp's come a little bit loose on the side. They've folded it so it's catching the wind. They should've folded it backwards, not forwards. So it's just gonna blow like hell. - If the tarp comes off, it'll be a road hazard, and the cottage will get soaked. - We'll go up by the football club, sort it out there. - We'll address that at the rugby club. - The benefit of being the boss, Craig gets to stay warm and dry in the cab. Craig, what do you think New Zealanders kind of embraced and developed this whole moving houses thing? - It's been going for such a long time. Soldiers coming back from the First World War started moving houses. It was a means to get a cheap house. And it still is. I mean, that's the primary driver. - Why New Zealand? Why not in other...? - We built wooden houses. Europe's all block and brick, so you don't move. - Right. - RT: Let's rock and roll. - The tarp is secured, and Monique and Graham's cottage is once again watertight. But as we battle the driving wind and rain, it's slow going. Just up ahead, the pilots warn us of another problem. - RT: Yeah, Craig, I'm coming up on another house that's going slow as, and it's massive. - There's not a lot we can do. - It's a big load, spread across two trucks. And we can't overtake, so there's no choice but to hit the brakes. If we don't get past, we're not gonna make it to Ruatangata in our permitted time on the road. - Bugger. - Then good news comes through from our lead pilot. - And these guys are pulling over, so just keep rolling, keep the hammer down. - We're back up to speed ` 80 K's on the open road. (TRUCK HORN TOOTS) - A lot of thanks being shared right now. We've managed to pass. - Hallelujah! - Hallelujah! It's been an eventful journey so far. What will State Highway 1 throw at us next? (HORN TOOTS) RT: Craig, he's come right around the side of us, completely ignored us. He's coming straight for you. - It's another idiot driver, overtaking a truck heading towards us on a treacherous uphill. It's a moment of total madness. - RT: He's got a short lifespan. - We were lucky we didn't just wipe him out. Otherwise we'd be picking up bits off the highway. - We very nearly ended up sandwiching him between us. That was close. At 2am, the highway's ghostly quiet. And we're making good time, with roughly 55km left to go. My mind jumps ahead to the last tricky stretch near Monique and Graham's. Those big trees encroaching on the road still pose a problem. The skids running across the top of Graham and Monique's cottage help us slide under power lines, but they won't stand up to really solid branches. - (CLANG!) - It sounds like something's snapped. Now, we'd just made comments about the good time we were making, and then this happens. This is the big beam across the top that picks up any power lines or tree branches and just pushes them out of the way. We haven't hit anything, so I think it's just the vibration of going along that's popped this off, and here we are, at 20 to 3 in the morning, fixing things up on the side of the road. - Coming through. No surprises, Craig and the team have a spare skid to bolt on. But all this takes time, when we have to be off the road in just three hours. Hopefully back underway. As we inch ever closer to the house's new home, the events of the evening start to catch up with me. These nights can be hell on your body clock, as Craig can vouch. - I was a young man working 100 hours a week, and I had to go to the dentist on a Friday afternoon. I had quite a nasty bit of dental work to be done, and I sat in the chair. Before he could offer me an anaesthetic, I fell asleep. And he woke me up. He said, 'I've been a dentist for 40 years. I've never ever had that happen to me before.' - But there's still 20 K's to go, and the trees that meant Craig had to cut Monique and Graham's house in two loom large up ahead. They're protected natives, so taking to them with a chainsaw is not an option. - RT: Coming off the back there, that tree, that branch. And it's sliding over nicely, and clear of that lot. - Our mates in front make it through. But our load is a different shape. (BRANCHES CREAK) (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) (BRANCHES BANG, HOUSE RATTLES) - RT: Looking good. Good line. - (WHISTLES) You see what I mean? If we'd added to our width, we'd be cutting all those trees. I believe Whangarei jail's not a nice place to be. - RT: Coming up to the bridge. - Now we're going over a very narrow single-lane bridge. For the trailer to fit, Craig has to come on to it at exactly at the right angle, or else he risks getting the house stuck. - Looks like a good line there. Yeah, you're above the undercut on the left side. - There's just centimetres to spare. - A couple of metres to go. A metre. And clear of the bridge. - We've just 400m to go, but one last hurdle to clear. - Just watch those low wires that we're going under. - Oh, I see ` low wires. Taking out the district's power isn't the best way to announce our arrival. - RT: Yeah he's picking them up. They're coming across. - And clear. - Thank you. - We're here. - We are. We're just along here on the right-hand side. - All right. This is exciting. Half past 4 in the morning. And Monique and Graham down there, I imagine they've woken up just now. They would have heard the sound of the truck pull up, and they'll be leaping out of bed and coming out to see their new home arriving. It's quite a moment. (TRUCK DOOR CLOSES) - Good morning, Monique. - Hello, Clarke. You didn't manage to sleep through this? - No. I didn't sleep very well, anticipating it, either. - Yeah, I bet. 'Is it here yet? Is it here yet?' - (BOTH CHUCKLE) Finally, your home's here. By the look of Monique's face, she's forgotten all the pain of having her house cut in half. By the look on Graham's, he's just seeing hard work. Do you see a home right now, or do you just see a long list of things to do? - Yes, a long a long list of things to do. - No turning back now. - No, not at all. - Graham's not the only one with work to do. The crew still have to manoeuvre the house into position. It's wet and slippery, and it all has to be done in the dark. (TENSE MUSIC) The rain is bucketing down in Ruatangata. It's muddy and greasy underfoot, and that can be a recipe for disaster with heavy machinery. The crew has to place Monique Graham's house precisely in place to match the council-approved plans. It's not easy in the dark. - RT: Bring it... Yeah, bring it back. Jesus, I can't see shit. - It'll never not feel like a scene from Mad Max, seeing half a home go past on this great big... structure of a truck trailer. - Yeah. Yeah, come on. Yeah, keep him coming. Yep, hold it there. Craig, first half's in place. - Yep, that's right on the pegs now. - Yeah. - So that's the survey set out, and she's spot in position. - With Monique Graham's lounge and kitchen positioned, the race is on to get the bedroom half alongside, so the whole structure can be made watertight. It's a game of centimetres, getting the two pieces of the house next to each other without damaging them. - Yeah, bring it forward just a touch. I reckon another few inches there. Yep, that's great. - And as dawn breaks, the crew get both halves of many Graham's cottage in position. Now the job of stitching the home back together can really get underway. Graham's keeping a close eye on the action. In just a couple of days, it will all be on him. - RT: Yeah, mate, just bring it back a little bit. Yep. Almost. Hang on, no, take it forward a little bit ` a couple of inches. Yep. Yep, stop. Yeah, good. - The crew carefully manoeuvre the two pieces of the house into alignment using the hydraulic pistons on the trailers. The precision is incredible. (HYDRAULIC MOTORS WHINE) After a tense 20 minutes,... - Yeah, bang on. - ...it's back together. Gotta be happy with that, though. They've got that pretty much back exactly as it was. - Yes. - Just a little bit of a cosmetic touch-up there. You'll never know it was in two. Now the house can be put up on jacks, piles put in, and most important of all in this rain, the roof goes on. - It's not gonna happen in a hurry. Wow. - Have you seen how fast these guys are going? - Yeah, this part is going extremely fast, yes. - (CHUCKLES) - I'm not even awake yet. - Well, I know. - We've got a house. - I know. Before you've even woken up, you might have a tool belt on, and you'll be in there. - (LAUGHS) - What are you dying to do first? - Uh, whatever the boss says. - (CHUCKLES) That's the right answer. - It's stopped raining for the first time in about 10 hours. - Almost stopped. Not quite. - Things are looking up. - Mm-hm. - Although a good big, hard downpour might clean up the back end of the house. - I think it depends which side you're looking at. This side looks OK. But when you look at the back, it really looks pretty manky, with all that mud on it and broken gutter, and there's a bit of plant growth coming out of that gutter. Ugh. - Is it coming together as you expected? I guess so. You know what? Craig promised she'd be good as 'new', in inverted commas, so I'm gonna hold him to that. - She'll be worth it. - She'll absolutely be worth it. And still, you know, for what was it ` $107,000, to get this home here on site, that's not bad at all. So now that the home is in place, you can start visualising all of the add-ons that you require. - Yeah. I've been really dying to put something in the ground. - And I had to wait. - Graham wouldn't let you? - No. No, he said we just don't know where they're gonna be, with all the machines and everything. He was right, of course. - Right now, the only things getting planted in the ground are house piles. This little pile driver is genius. (MOTOR RUMBLES) Placing the piles right where they need to be, with the house already in position above, can save all sorts of headaches. The joists that hold the house together are doubled up and strengthened, and Monique's happy to see the roof watertight once more. As the moving trucks roll out, the building crew are in full swing, joining the house back together again with the tender loving care Craig promised. It's all coming together for Monique and Graham. (PEACEFUL MUSIC) Two days later, the moving crew is almost finished, leaving Monique and Graham with the daunting task of turning this cute but tired cottage into their forever home. - Mm-hm. - Oh my God. We'll have to do that window. - So... - Oh dear. - This windowsill certainly looks like it needs... - Oh yes. - (CHUCKLES) - Very rotten. - Oh well. - Oh well. It'll go on the list. The very, very long list. (LAUGHS) Ha-ha... - (SIGHS) - Don't worry. Stop with all the deep sighs. - (CHUCKLES) Yeah. - And it's not just the rotten windowsill. There's broken spouting, peeling paint, a new skirt to hide the piles. Graham's list is growing. - More and more overwhelmed. - (LAUGHS) But, you know, Rome wasn't built in a day. And... it's gonna take me more than a day to fix this. - And while the outside needs work, it's inside where both Graham and Monique need to roll their sleeves up. - Ooh, goodness! Right. And also, I'm curious to see what it's gonna look like when they finished. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to be left. - Yeah, we'll have a look at it once they've decided they've done what they've contracted to do. - And then we'll go, 'Ohh!' - (BOTH CHUCKLE) - But there's better news outside. The posts for the new deck are underway. - I can get the feeling of the deck already. I can see that could really work. It's gonna be really nice out there. - And looking at the timber floorboards, you can almost imagine the cut never happened. - At least the floor's still in pretty good nick, eh? - It's lovely. - Just hoping they're not gonna leave too many scratches on it. - We'll make it nice. - We'll make it a nice home. - It'll be nice. It'll be nice. Yeah. - Craig's team are contracted to leave the house in the condition it was purchased, giving Graham and Monique the plastering, painting, replacing rot, moving doorways and building the deck. I just hope it doesn't overwhelm them. Six weeks later, I'm heading back to see if Graham needs a hand with the new deck. It's Monique's birthday, so I've come prepared. - Clarke brought a birthday cake. - Gidday, Graham. How are you? - Good, thank you. - I'll give you this, Monique. - Thank you. - And so you're builder Steve, are you? - Yeah, I'm helping Graham out. - Just assisting him with this sorta stuff ` the deck and stuff. - OK. Just some of the major external stuff? 'I'm happy to see that Graham has help. 'I was worried about him doing all the building alone.' How has the workload matched up to your expectations of what you were gonna be doing? - (SIGHS) I think there's a little bit more than I originally expected. Um... But we've... we've coped OK. - Well, the sun's come out. Looks like that rain's past. Do you need a need a hand with anything, Graham? - Well, we're putting up these rafters. They're not light. - They're not light? All right. You got a tool belt? - We can find you one. - OK. - You all right there? - Yep. It's very satisfying to help out on this build. Monique and Graham still have a lot to do, turning this house into their forever home, and all the while sticking to their budget. I can't wait to see it all finished. Next time I come up, I hope I'll be bringing champagne. - I like to think that taking the COVID injection will keep you around The expression 'a rolling stone gathers no moss' could have been made for Monique and Graham. Since they met and fell in love at first sight, they've been on the move, quite literally, every 18 months since. They swear, though, that this last move into their cute little relocated cottage is the one. They've been living here for over four months now, so I'm really keen to find out how permanent forever is. Trudy has had herself a complete makeover. Monique and Graham have this 100-year-old Arts and Crafts cottage looking cute as a button. - Hi, Clarke. - How are you? - All right. How are you? - Good to see you again. - Hey, Graham. Hey, Monique. - I thought you were gonna give me a hug. - I was, but I was also distracted by this. It feels so bedded in. Does it feel like that for you? - Yes. - Yeah. Looking good. I'm very happy. - And Graham, are you happy with how much you've done yourself? - Little changes are happening all the time. It's at a point where every time you look back, you think, 'Oh, gosh, OK, it looks a little bit more like Trudy.' - The rotten sills are repaired and painted. The cut line is imperceptible. There are new paths and a new chimney. But the big part of the house's new charm are the personal touches Monique's made through planting and decorating. But what I really want to see is what you've done with the place. - Can we have a look inside? - Yeah, go ahead, yes. - Oh, look at this! - (CHUCKLES) The hallway is just so welcoming. The duck egg blue paint is a huge improvement on the old muddy beige that used to dominate the interior. Graham has blocked off the old lounge doorway. Instead, there's a bookshelf full of family photos and treasures picked up from their years of travel. Craig was as good as his word. The cut line has vanished. - I can't even see the cut. - No, the plasterers did a good job. It was right down there, right along the floor. - Wow. All put back together. - All put back together beautifully. And it's the main bedroom where Graham's handiwork really shines. The old wardrobe has been removed to access the second toilet, creating an en-suite. And those sliding doors into the living room have been cleverly repurposed as closet doors. - Oh, that is cool. This whole room is just... - Yeah, it's a nice room. Yeah. Amazing what straightening things out, some plaster and paint, brings everything back to life. - It was a big job. - You did it. You did well. - I did well, yeah. (BOTH CHUCKLE) - Those light shades that Monique could visualise in place when she saw Trudy for the first time add real character. Monique's flair continues into the kitchen and dining space. Oh wow! Wow, look at this. It just feels like a totally different house. - Yeah, I've kinda forgotten what it looked like before. And every now and again, when I remind myself, I think, yeah, it's a lot better. - Yeah. This part of the house was in a real state. The ceilings were a wreck, the gap left by the fireplace needed fixing, and the door frames had to be reattached and repainted. Graham's done all that, and more. A dresser for Monique's treasures fills the ugly gap left by the missing fireplace. - You just can't build character like this, can you? - No. No, that's the point. I'm happy that we got this old girl. - But most impressive of all is the lounge. Just so cosy with that fire going. Just like the kitchen, this room needed masses of work. And Graham's done an amazing job making it look so seamless. - I like sitting here and looking through there, and then I can see the flowers on the table and the flowers in Ollie's room, and I find that aesthetically very pleasing. - Monique's eye for colour and detail has really made this house their own. - Total charge of colour. I have no concept of colour whatsoever. - And the restful tones continue into the spare bedroom. - Monique did just about everything. Removed the wallpaper. The paint. - And I made this too. - You made the bedspread? - Yeah. - Monique's done a terrific job here. What was once a drab bedroom has come together with fresh paint, art and linen. Granddaughter Olive's bedroom has really come alive. - This is the only one that's not blue, really. - Yeah. (LAUGHS) This was once a grim, unappealing room. The ugly security grille has made way for toys and artwork. - And it's just really nice for her to have her own space. - Yeah. I like what you've done with the light shade. A nice touch with the dried flowers around it. - I like it. - For Monique, being close to her granddaughter meant creating a warm and inviting space for her when she stays. Security doors have also been removed from the sunroom, giving uninterrupted access to the garden. Olive has her little doll's house out there. I can see, you know, you put in that lovely fence. Some plantings out here. How did it feel when you finally had a deck in place, and you could sit out here with a glass of wine? - Oh, that made a huge difference. We'd have our two little chairs there, and we'd bring our sundowners over from the cottage and sit looking out, thinking how nice it would be when we have a deck. - The back of the house is north-facing, so the deck is well positioned to catch the sun. They've found the perfect period balustrades to blend the deck with the house. And the one thing that you always talked about was know wanting to sit on a deck, - look out, and to see your alpacas sitting there looking back. - Yeah. Mm-hm. Yeah, we've got that now. - To lay it all down ` just over 100 for the house here on site, in place, weatherproof, back together. You think you've spent probably around another hundred on top of that, - to arrive here at having a home. - Yeah. That's not taking into consideration, obviously, the land and the other dwelling. Would you do it all again? - You know,... (SIGHS) - Trick question? Pass? - I think I would, actually. - It's good to know Graham has a real sense of satisfaction. With their tight budget and doing as much as they could themselves, they've achieved something really special. But their dream was also about retiring with security. So I've invited valuer Avella to give Graham and Monique a sense of whether the project has made financial as well as emotional sense. Not that there's any plan to sell up. Well, I hope. - So, you've had a good chance to look around? - Yeah, I have, definitely. And what a difference you guys have made to this charming little cottage. You know, it's got the three bedrooms, the two bathrooms, all the painting work you've done, opening up this living area on to the kitchen-dining just makes it seem so much bigger. It gives you the indoor-outdoor flow out on to the deck. And then the additional income from the minor dwelling is also a really attractive quality for this property. So based off the sales evidence within the area, I see the value sitting within the early to mid $700,000 range. - Oh, wow. That's very interesting. Thank you. - I guess it's also a relief to know that you're up ` or haven't gone backwards on all of that hard work that you've put in. - We're glad. We're happy. - Yeah. - And we'll improve it more. For 18 years, Monique and Graham couldn't stay still. Then family and retirement convinced them to put down roots. They bought a 4000m2 property in Ruatangata and moved a 100-year-old cottage on to the section. And now, with alpacas and family nearby, everything they need is right where they want it. The only thing left to do is celebrate with daughter Saskia and granddaughter Olive, in what we hope will be Monique and Graham's forever home. So, what do you like best about this place? - Alpacas! - The alpacas. So good. - (LAUGHTER) - Hey, well, well done, guys. - Cheers, Olive. - Congratulations. I'm gonna hand this over to Graham to open. - It's a little something that might be an addition to the house. - Oh. Oh, thank you very much. - Well, don't thank me. You haven't seen it yet. - SASKIA: That's pretty cool. - (CHUCKLES) - Oh, wow! - In honour of all of the moves that you've made ` every 18 months, over 18 years, 12 different moves, different continents, different parts around the world, we thought we would mark out all of your destinations, where you've been, back and forth, and where you met. Lovely to have witnessed this process, and to have seen the highs and a couple of lows, and to have arrived here. - This is great. Cheers, everybody. - Thanks, Clarke. - ALL: Cheers! - 'Graham and Monique haven't quite finished working on Trudy. 'But I think that they've finally settled down.