All over the country, people are moving houses. - Watch that truck, eh? - Wow, this is getting tight now. - Can you swim? - From old villas to modern homes and even historic churches,... - Oh, good work there, Clarke. - Like a glove. - ...they're giving new life to buildings and structures that once faced destruction. - Front wheels are skidding. - Whoa! Oh! - (BLEEP) - There's no obstacle too big. - I only need a millimetre. - ...and no challenge too great... - Up a little bit on the hook, Don. - ...for the people who take this on. - Starting to get very ugly down this hill. - Hold on. Whoa, whoa, whoa! - Whoo! - (HORN TOOTS) How far would you go to match your ideal house to the location of your dreams? This time on Moving Houses ` Oh, wow. This is huge! A historic local landmark is on the move to greener pastures. - We haven't destroyed it. We have dismantled it. - It's the dream restoration project for Chessa and Rob. - RT: Hold. Hold. - But pulling apart at 150-year-old house is a huge undertaking. - I'm just floating that on the outside point. - And this is a move of epic proportions like we've never seen before. - Yeah, come out just a little bit, Matt. - So come along for the ride. This is Moving Houses. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 Just north of Wellington in historic Greytown, Chessa and Rob are looking for their forever home. They've outgrown their two-bedroom cottage, which they relocated and restored a few years ago. Now, with the finishing touches just about done, they're ready to upsize. - We've really loved living here, but we're also really excited to have something... somewhere different. And there is only two of us, but we have a lot of stuff, so it will be nice to have a big house to put the lot of stuff. - Chessa and Rob love old things, and they're not new to relocating old homes. They run a restoration company, which has come in handy each time they've relocated a house. - I am a conservation architect. - I call myself a conservation builder. She has the vision, and then I follow behind her. - So I think it works well for us. - Yeah. - We do clash occasionally. - So with the finishing touches just about done on the cottage, they're ready to move on. And they think they might have found their forever home. - Chessa's always said to me, 'Once we find a two-storey house with a veranda, that's gonna be my forever home.' And then coincidentally, my niece actually rang and says, 'There's a house come on the market. It's two storey. It'd be just you guys. It's just down the valley.' - So they snapped it up quick smart, and now they're about to relocate their ultimate dream house. - This is by far the biggest one we have ever moved. Yep. - The biggest by far. - Yep. - And they found it 30km up the road in Masterton. The region is known for its historic conservation and is full of old homes. And Chessa and Rob have their heart set on the biggest of them all, a 150-year-old former church vicarage. Hey, guys. How are you? This is huge. This is enormous. - It looks bigger today than it has done on previous days. Chessa, does it look bigger today? Because at 4.30 yesterday, it officially became yours. - I think in part, we drove up and we were like, 'Oh, yeah.' It's a very clear view of the size of what we've bought. You get a bit taken aback, but it's also really exciting for us. - I just can't imagine how on earth anyone could possibly dismantle a two-storey vicarage like this and put it on a truck. Plus, it's a heritage building and still currently attached to the retirement complex next door. - We've got a house, really, in several different parts. The first part, which is most of what you can see from this angle at the moment, is the part that was built earliest, in the 1870s ` 1875 to 1876, as the vicarage for St Matthew's Church. And then it was extended almost by double its size in 1910-1911. - I can hear your passion for this area of work in particular. But does this one take on an extra dimension because it's going to be your home? - It's really important for us, as conservators, to listen to the building, but also make it a home that we're really proud of living in and we're really comfortable living in. - Well, shall we have a look inside? - Yeah, absolutely. (GENTLE PIANO MUSIC) That's a great big grand sorta entranceway into... well, what I can see has already been an alteration at some point. I mean, this could have been the back wall of the house through here. Yeah. So, at some point in time, a wall came through here. There was a wall through here. - You kind of writing this house's history as you go. - Yep, absolutely. - The house is a bit of a patchwork of the various renovations over the years. But the original heart rimu timber remains throughout. Downstairs, there's another living room, dining room, a large bedroom and a kitchen, which served the residents next door until yesterday. - So, this is what we believe is the original drawing room or the front room, the formal room of the building. - The receiving room of the house. - Exactly. Exactly. Beautiful old big bay window. Goodness me, it's obviously had quite a few different lives. - Yes. And this part was the kitchen that the residents were using prior to their moving out yesterday. - But Rob and Chessa's home isn't quite all theirs just yet. And it needs to be, for it to be moved successfully. - So how does this work? We're still attached to another building. - That's right. And the demarcation is actually right above your head. That's our building line. So what we have to do is separate this part of the building to our building. - You are tearing this building away from what it was attached to. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. - Wow. - So you don't own this. This is part of the` - Jump the wall. - But you do own this. - Yes. - I like the way Rob's optimistically talking about 'our building' and 'their building'. But at the moment, well, it's the same building. Upstairs are four bedrooms and another bathroom. Two of the bedrooms open on to Chessa's precious two-storey veranda. It's hard for me to understand how they're gonna keep these beautiful parts intact when it comes to the move. Wow! The balcony. - Yeah. - And this was a real selling point for you, wasn't it? - It was. - One question I have about all this is, how much does an old house like this cost? - We picked up the house for just over 50 grand. - But it's the removal costs that pump it up. - Yeah. - So we'll hopefully have it landed for probably 275. - Yeah. Ballpark 300. - That includes the house as well? - The house, yeah. - House and move 275, plus land. - Yeah. Let's fast forward past all of the work ` mountain of work that there is to do. This house is on-site. What am I looking out at here? - You're looking at the Tararua Ranges and farmland, essentially. - But just to clarify, Rob, you had the house before the site. - Yes. Yes, we did. It took us a while, but yeah, the right section came up, and we're really happy with it. Once we can come up here and have our breakfast on this balcony, straight out of our bedroom, boom. - Boom. Chessa and Rob found their dream site in Greytown. It's an area known for its heritage homes and stunning landscapes. What happened, Rob? Did you just sorta pull up here and think, 'Actually, this might fit the bill?' - It ticked a lot of boxes, because it's two-storey with a veranda, we wanted the outlook. We wanted the close proximity to town. Yeah, and it kind of just knitted together, worked well. So, yeah, really, really happy with it. - With an outlook to the Tararua Ranges the one-acre block sits just outside the centre of Greytown. So, did you bring a cherry picker down and hoist yourself up to check the view out? - No, I stood on the roof of the ute. (CHUCKLES) - Right. Good. - Stood up there and just looked around and thought, 'Yeah, no, this is us.' - It's one of the things that we're quite looking forward to once we get the house here, is really getting that confirmation of what we're gonna see and how those views are gonna work, and also how the light's gonna work and shift and change around the house. So, yeah, it will be a nice surprise. - And these two don't just do things by halves. Rob also has some pretty grand plans for the section. - Eventually we'll have an entranceway through here, and we'll have brick columns and a brick wall to create quite a fancy entranceway. This area around here, it's all gravel is actually going to be our turnaround parking area. So access to the workshop and garage, access to the house, and then in the middle ` ideally, if I'm allowed ` - is I'd quite like to do quite a nice fountain driveway. - Fountain. Right. I can see with all the love and care and craft that Rob and Chessa are gonna lavish on the old vicarage, once it's here, in just a few years, the grand old building, well, it'll look like it's always meant to be here, here on the site of their dreams. But between now and then, there's a man with a chainsaw who is gonna be cutting the house into, well, we think five or possibly six or maybe even seven pieces before bringing them all here and putting them back together again ` we hope. - Hey, Kyle. (MELANCHOLY MUSIC) - If you're lagging behind in the conversation, you might... - Morning! - ...have bad net. This amazing historic house from Masterton will soon be on the move. - They've filled that in with plaster. - And Chessa and Rob have a bit of work to do before that happens. They've decided to peel back the years of renovations before the move. It's gonna be a huge job discovering what's behind these old walls. - It looks like we've got plenty of bricks completely stacked up here. - They've obviously just chucked them down the chimney. - Thrown them all in. - The house relocation company is about to arrive, and Rob and Chessa are anxious to hear the moving plan. - What do you think? - It's a big house. - A bit of a challenge. - Yeah, big challenge for you, mate. - Matt from Central House Movers will be responsible for transporting Rob and Chessa's new home safely to the site. First up is figuring out how many pieces the vicarage will be cut into. - That'll be our cut line for the top, through that internal valley. - Yeah. - We just need to decide and whether we can keep that whole section as one. Otherwise we will do another cut. - So worst-case scenario would be six? - Yeah, worst-case scenario, six loads. - Good-case scenario five. - Yep. It's a big house. Cutting them up into sort of a lot of pieces like this is not something we do every day. It's all doable in one bit if you could fit it up the road, but this thing's going a bit of a distance, so... let's bring the cranes in and pull it apart, basically, and put it back together at the other end. - 30km might not sound far, but this home is from the Victorian era. With its verandas, bay window and steeply pitched roofs, it wasn't made to be moved. The final 2km stretch of tight country road and the neighbour's paddocks will be the toughest part. - We've worked with Rob before on a couple of other jobs. He's been good to deal with. He knows his way around old buildings, so he's gonna get his teeth into this. We'll show him where the cuts go, and he'll cut it, and it's gonna save us a lot of time when we turn up here, having all that prep work already done for us. - It's a massive role for Rob to take on, and it's not that straightforward. But there's a problem that the relocation company can't help with, and that's helping Rob figure out how to safely separate the vicarage from the building. - We obviously have to go through the separation of what's here, which is part of Abbeyfield, and where we are here. - Part of the relocation agreement is that the vicarage is already separated before move day ` a job Rob's taken on himself, with the guidance from the Abbeyfield property team. And with live power and water connections in the mix, Rob needs to make sure there's no risk to the residents next door. - Until we open that up, we don't know what's going on, so it may be a bit of a major, in regard to shutting off the water, rerouting it. - The house is going to be cut into at least five pieces for the move, which means the biggest load will now be 9.5m wide. So Rob's next job is to take a trip down the road to measure the tightest point of the route, just a few hundred metres from the new site. - From there... Yeah, I think we're gonna be too tight. All of this is in the way, so it might be a plan B. - Unfortunately, the road access to the new site just isn't wide enough for the vicarage. So Rob's meeting up with the relocation company to go over Plan B. - What we've gotta do is we obviously can't go down Hawke St, because it's just so narrow with those trees. So I've spoken to the neighbours, and we're gonna cut across this paddock. So they're OK with that. - But crossing the neighbour's paddock is going to rely completely on firm ground. And with delays mounting up, the window for dry weather is getting smaller. - Once we get everything in here, like, we'll fill your paddock with gear, cos by the time you get four truck and trailers in here, cranes, all our jack trucks, this paddock will just be a haze of vehicles. - There's no big complication, as long as the weather's right. - Yeah. - I don't wanna be here in wet weather. - No. - Today is the first day of prep for the move. The council consents are through, and in the next week the vicarage will be prepped, cut and braced for the big day. Inside, the upstairs has been stripped out completely. - We have... dismantled it. We haven't destroyed it. We haven't wrecked it. We haven't ripped it apart. We have dismantled it. - It's an important distinction for Rob and Chessa, but it's costing them a lot of prep time for the move. So the relocation team have been called in early to give Rob a hand. - I was, to be fair, feeling a little bit nervous last week, because we've had so much rain. Probably my biggest concern now is the amount of vehicles and heavy machinery we're gonna have here ` where we're gonna put it, how it's all gonna work and where we're gonna park it all. - There's only 24 hours to go, and the first two trailers are locked and loaded. - Oh, wow. This actually looks quite advanced. I wasn't expecting the trucks to be here already. And there's some good news. The vicarage has been safely separated from the building next door. It's a huge relief for Rob. - Doesn't get much tighter than that, does it? (LAUGHS) - There's also been a few unexpected trims. - I'm good to come down there. - RT: Take a little bit of weight now. - And so that bay window is gone. - Yep, we had to pull that off for a couple of poles we've got on Wood St that we've only got 9.7m clearance to get between those two poles. And even with taking that bay window off, we're at 9.6m, so we've got 100mm clearance to get through those two poles. - The extra cut to the precious bay window is a hard pill for Rob to swallow. - Chessa's not here, and I don't want to actually tell her, because this was her little baby. It's probably just a little bit more invasive than I envisaged. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - The vicarage has been cut into four large pieces and two smaller ones ` the entrance annexe and the bay window. But Chessa and Rob's commitment to the restoration means the team aren't making just any old cuts. I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this sort of dedication to detail, where we're not just running a skilsaw or a chainsaw through a building, we're actually following the joints. - Yeah, just pop the floorboards. - But you know what this means, Rob. At the other end, it's gonna be a hell of a process to get that to line back up. - I'm pretty sure I've got total confidence I can put it back together. - Rather you than me. - (LAUGHS) - Now it's time for the cranes to do their job. To support the lift, giant steel beams are being spread through the top storey. It's difficult and dangerous. - I hope they don't take any more out. - Matt, do you come to a job like this and think, 'Oh, where do we even start?' - There's always different ways of doing every different building. We crane them apart differently, but this is how we chose to set this building up, with steel beams, rather than slings. But this has definitely got complexities to it, doesn't it? - Yeah, it's definitely one of the older ones that we've done. And having the major addition on the sides, sort of two different buildings, which is where we have separated the building in half, is where it was originally added on to. (TENSE MUSIC) - The steel beams are in, the cuts are made, and it's time to inch the first truck forward. (WOOD CREAKS) - You can actually see right through there now. - The plan is to move the front half of the house just 5m, so there's room for the other crane to come in tomorrow morning. It's incredible watching the vicarage being pulled apart. But it's time-consuming, and the rest of the craning will have to be done tomorrow before the move. It's moving day. - I'm glad it's not raining, so... We were expecting that it might, and it still might turn a bit later on today, but so far, so good. So... fingers crossed it will stay that way. (PIGEONS COO) - And there's no shortage of interest from the neighbours. - I reckon it's the most amazing thing I've seen for a long time. - And lifting a load like that, it's all out of balance, it's all wobbling about, it's... it's a miracle, if you like. - The council have dictated a start time of 10.30pm tonight, so the team have about 10 hours of daylight left to get the main section of the vicarage into four pieces, on four separate trucks. And so now, with yet another truck on site, there's pretty much not a spare inch left on this entire property, as they get the whole building ready to move. The plan is to get the front half of the vicarage on to trailers and moved out of the way, to allow space for the cranes to lift the back half. The team launch into final checks for the first load. The front upstairs piece is first to lift off. The timber in the house is strong, but it's over 150 years old. (WOOD CREAKS) The crane is operating close to maximum height and weight limits, and the team are struggling to keep the load level. All four lift points need to be perfectly balanced to clear the rest of the vicarage. - I'm just floating, Matt, on the outside point. It's probably more the centre of your gooseneck now. - OK. - I reckon you want to push your load back a bit. - Up a little bit more? - Up a little bit on the hook, Don. - Any lean in the load means a piece of Rob and Chessa's dream could split apart at any moment. - I'm clear of the load now. - We're all good up top here. - The top piece is finally lifted clear. But the team are taking it slowly and carefully. The plan now is to pull the bottom half forward and out of the way, while the top half is suspended, so that it can be lowered directly on to the trailer. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) Finally, the top piece is down. That's a relief for everyone, especially Chessa's mum. It's a pretty exciting day for Chessa, isn't it? - This is what lights their life and spins their dials. And I'm sorry ` look how emotional I'm getting. It's just a joy. It's a joy to see them working on these projects. (UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC) - We've built up to the moment for quite a long time, and now it's happening quite quickly. Somewhere something's happening all the time, and I don't want to miss anything. - I'm actually chomping at the bit. I'm kind of looking for something to do, so I'm actually shovelling pigeon poo to keep myself occupied. - And after more than a hundred years of pigeon inhabitation, I suspect Rob might be there a while. One half done, one to go. Look at that. They're bringing the second crane into position now. It's up precariously close to the most treasured part of the whole building for Rob and Chessa ` the veranda that sold it to them. The dimensions of the precious upstairs veranda are making this load harder... - RT: We can both gently come up a bit together. - (WOOD CREAKS) - ...and more dangerous. - Yep. - The team are taking it as slowly as possible. - It could be a little church hall like that, couldn't it? - But mid-air, the team spot a potentially huge problem. Their precious last piece may have to go under the knife. - Hold, hold, hold. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) Rob and Chessa's upstairs veranda is going to sit too high on the truck for the low hanging power lines on the route. - Just come down both cranes a little bit. Down on the hooks. - Something needs to be done. - Drivers, hold, hold, hold. We're hard against the chassis, so we can't go any more for it. (TENSE MUSIC) - The team have no choice. They're cutting the middle section of weatherboards to allow the load to sit lower on the trailer. They had to drop the weatherboards out of the middle section, so that this top half of the building can hang either side of the trailer, because with that pitched roof, it's simply too high. With 14 tons of fragile house hanging, the team are working quickly to create a gap large enough for the trailer. - We need to get it down a bit closer. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - It's a tight fit, without any clearance. - It should be good there, Don. Hold it here. We'll get those shackles unhooked, mate. - The council has dictated a start time of 10.30pm. Right on the dot, the first three loads are rolling out carefully, one by one. I'm delighted to see the first three trailers roll out. It's been here 150 years, right? It's probably an identifiable landmark that people have used to navigate, - and now it's about to head off. - Yeah. - So it's not just the pigeons that use it to work their way around town. - No. - We were expecting a lot of people, but there are definitely more people than we thought there would be. - That balcony that you so love and cherish is looking quite vulnerable. - I know. Each piece is gonna present its own challenges, I think, so it's gonna be an interesting drive. - The three big loads have made it on to the street. Now all eyes are on the last one. Look at the crazy lean that that's on already. And at 5.65m, it's one of the highest loads I've ever been involved with, so it's gonna have to lean like that all the way there, just to get to our destination. It's taken us over an hour just to move the first three loads out. Each piece is a different dimension, so it's essentially like moving four houses at the same time. (BLUES ROCK MUSIC) This is really a good example of just how much prep work goes into these moves ` that eyebrow and all of the bracing. - Get out of it! - (LAUGHS) And Rob in the background getting all excited about it. Oh, it's cos there's a pigeon still in there. - Get out of it! - (LAUGHTER) - It's yours now, Rob. - I don't want it! - That's your pigeon. When it pulls out on to the road, you get a full scale of just the width of the load. So not only is it exceptionally high, but wide as well. I've got a funny feeling that even though it's a short journey, it's gonna have all sorts of problems. (LAID-BACK ROCK MUSIC) And here we go. Finally, just after 11.30, we're on the road. The first challenge is negotiating the central streets of Masterton, which weren't made for a convoy of oversized loads. And tonight? Well, they're lined with spectators. (ALL CHEER) - RT: Righto, we're on the road. - The little window. It just looks so sad and lonely by itself. - I'm riding up front with Matt in the widest and highest load of the big rigs. We're carrying the front piece of the ground floor. Behind us is Rob and Roy, with the front top storey; behind that is the upstairs, with Chessa's beloved second-storey veranda; and at the rear is the downstairs veranda. Including the pilots and flat-deck trucks carrying the bay window and the entrance annexe, there's a total of 18 vehicles in tonight's 30km convoy to the outskirts of Greytown. We're taking the widest route possible. But tonight the width isn't the only concern. Where's the highest part of your load? - Right at the back. - Oh, right. - Every load's different, which is a bit of a pain. This one's sorta high at the back. The other one's high out on the outside. - And what's the peak height in the middle? - 5.7m. - It's 5.7m? - Yeah. - Whoo! - We've got the power board here, just to watch. - Does that mean we're gonna be pushing under nearly ever power line? - Yep. Wow. I dunno, man. Maths has never been my strong point, but I don't know how you're gonna fit under those. - We're pretty good under this set. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - Matt and the team have placed wooden skim boards, or eyebrows, on each load to help the wires slide over. But we're only just making it under. Bringing down a live power line here would put Matt and his team in extreme danger and cut power to the wider area. - Nice and tight, these ones. - Yeah, pretty high, this one. They sag down a lot more in the summer. They get a little bit droopy. - In the summer, they sag? Yeah, right. But years of practice mean Matt and his pilots are pretty spot on. - Yeah, we're under, Matt. All good. - It's slow going, as each load navigates us past the precarious power lines. But we're through. So, here we are, right on the edge of town. It has taken us almost an hour to get here. And after that, hopefully a few more open roads until we hit our next town. - Right in, over to the passenger's. - I'm hoping we'll hit an easy stretch of highway in between towns, as long as the forecast heavy rain doesn't arrive. - Is that it starting to rain again? - Yeah. - A little bit of drizzle. - Yep. Hopefully we don't get too much in that first paddock we've gotta go through tonight. - Yeah. (TENSE MUSIC) - My goodness. It's going to be the talk of the town, darling. There are so many people watching. - We're on the outskirts of Carterton now. Just 10km to go, and so far the rain is holding out. But up ahead there's a tight pinch point that's got the team worried. We're just approaching a pedestrian crossing, and they've got, like, lollipop reflectors coming out the side, and this is gonna be tight. We're the widest load. If we get stuck, the rest of the convoy gets stuck too. This is a game of millimetres. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) (WHACK!) - Jesus! That couldn't be much tighter, could it? - Would you call that a light brush? - Yeah. Yeah, that's only light. - This is one of the biggest moves the district has ever seen. - It is, I tell you, better than any Christmas parade ever. - Yeah. - We've just pulled up outside the old Royal Oak Hotel in Carterton, the pub. There's a whole lot of cars outside, so they've had to whip into the pub and go, 'Oi! Can go and move your cars, please, so we can get past?' Oh, there they are, playing darts with the tallies. Good on them. It's not bad for Tuesday night, the turn-out in there. Here's a moment. This is our first turn off the main road in Greytown. We've gotta do a bit of a dogleg to get round the back of some streets, because of course we've gotta approach Rob and Chessa's property from the reverse side and go through the neighbour's place. In fact, we're sneaking through the supermarket car park to avoid more low wires. Could be just stopping for some bread and cheese. Finally, after three hours, we're turning off the main highway. There's only one road and three paddocks to go. We're so close. - I reckon I'll cut one, Matt, because it'll be a bugger for Roy. - But this is the section Rob's worried about. There's overgrowth both sides, power poles, and that's not the worst of it. - Now comes the rain, eh? - The vicarage is getting soaked. And the rest of the convoy is backed up behind us. We've just had to pause there, as we've turned down a critical street here in Greytown. And the first obstacle is the tree overhanging, which doesn't look like we'll be able to make it past, so out come the saws. The pole saw allows the team to trim the highest branches, but it's dangerous work in the wet. - RT: Yeah, past the worst of it now. Coming through good. - Finally, the team clear the way through and we make it past. The rest of the convoy have to negotiate their way now. - You're all right on your right. Down a bit. - So, as often the case with these moves, we've really slowed to a crawl for the last part. (TENSE MUSIC) We're still crawling. The overgrown trees are forcing us to travel hard against the fence line. And the rain isn't stopping, which could cause the timber structures to swell. - Yeah. Come out this way a little bit, Matt. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) (QUIET HISSING) - Can you hear that? That's the sound of air escaping the tyres. Actually, I can smell it coming out. And we're doing that on purpose. By letting the tyres go down, it gives you better traction and better grip. And as we come to the end of the road, we literally go off it and into these grassy verges. And we need to keep the grip up to, well, keep going. Turning off the road and into the grass paddock. The rain has been consistently falling for the last at least an hour and a half, so we know that the ground's starting to get soft. We're slipping already. - Yeah, it's a bit slippery on top of that grass. - But we've barely made it on to the paddock, and we're forced to pull the trailer forward with the ram. The ground is just too soft. - The guys have just walked over to the next paddock to grab the digger to hook on to pull us through. - Right, so we might need the digger. - Yeah, we're gonna need the digger. - Matt gives it one more go. - We're going sweet as. - Oh, great. - Managed to get a bit of traction again. - Yep, we're good. I guess the idea is not to stop. Because if we do have to bring the digger in, it's gonna slow everything down, as every truck will need to be towed after us. Whoo. All right. We're gonna try and make our way through this fence. - Sweet. We're clear of the fence. We're over. Yeah. Clear of the fence. - Tell the next one to come through. - So we've made it through the first paddock. Now sitting up on the gravel, and all things going well, we've still got traction. We're in the clear for now, but behind us, the rest of the convoy aren't as lucky. The second load has lost traction at exactly the same place. But this time the digger is standing by, and the team work quickly to pull the loads to firmer ground before it all gets too soft. And finally, at 1.45am, we make it through the second paddock and Matt calls it a night. - Mate, it's all yours. - The plan is to park the trucks up here, and then we're back at 8am to make the final crossing on to Rob and Chessa's new site. (UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC) Day two. It's all hands on deck. The rain is gone, and the ground is making it easier going. And the cranes roll in to stitch the old vicarage back together. - Morning, guys. - Morning, Clarke. - Morning. - Did you get any sleep? - No. No. Just wired. - Way too excited. Yep. - Yeah, I'm like a cat on a hot tin roof at the moment. - Well, there's a small indication of that down there. You've built a viewing platform in the meantime. Is that to keep you busy? - I came down yesterday afternoon, and I kind of got impatient. I thought, 'I wonder what it looks like so high.' (LAUGHS) - The vicarage has held up well, and so far there's no damage. But now for the big moment. They're gonna put the largest pieces together while they're still on the trailer. Have they got these bits around the right way? - Yeah, that's always a big start, isn't it? - RT: Come up a little bit higher on the crane. - Just change your brakes again, Matt. Bring the front up a bit. - It's meticulous work getting the corners matching along with Rob's jigsaw cuts. This isn't easy. - Yep, hold it there. It needs to twist. No, lost it. Yep. That's spot on there. - And it's down. One half together, one to go. It's a nerve-racking wait for Chessa and Rob, who are desperate to step inside the vicarage on the new site for the first time. And then at that moment, your precious balcony... - I know! - ...will be able to take in its magnificent view. - Amazing, isn't it? Yeah, it'll be really cool to actually get up there, so I can't wait for that. - With rain clouds still threatening, the team are working quickly to bring the second half of the couple's new home back together. The size of this craning job is routine for these guys, but I've never seen anything like it. - Yeah, we're about 300 there. We're pretty good there to come back. - The team are up against the same challenges. But second time around, they're quick to react, and now there's just centimetres to go. - Where do you want it? (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) - Here we go. Touchdown. About that much to go. This will never get old, seeing something like this on this scale, all coming back together ` it's just amazing. (WOOD CREAKS) - Yep, that's pretty good there. - Finally, it's down. Now to manoeuvre the two big pieces together for the last time. - Probably right hand down just a whisker, in your truck out there. Yep. - It's an enormous weight on each trailer, and the team are engaging the hydraulics to inch the two halves into the joins. (DRAMATIC ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) Look at that ` only about 200mm in it. Of course, it's so much more difficult bringing an old building together again like this, when Rob has insisted on protecting the integrity of the floorboards, making it a literal jigsaw puzzle. - Yeah, I dunno, if you could... - Want me to push it down? - Yeah. - You're just about to get it, Clarke. - All right. - Just go two up, a little bit out. - Luckily, I'm in the right place at the right time. - Oh, good work there, Clarke. - (CHUCKLES) Like a glove. The vicarage is back together. (UPLIFTING MUSIC) - Oh, wow! - That is great. This elevation has just opened up all that beautiful countryside. - It's a completely different perspective on the section that we didn't... We didn't know what we were gonna see when we got up here, so it's amazing. - Now for the hard work. It's so easy to get swept up in Rob and Chessa's enthusiasm for this project, and I've got complete confidence in their abilities. But when you have a moment to step back and understand the scale of what they're attempting to do, you realise that it's a very long road ahead. Conservation architect Chessa and her hard-working partner, Rob, moved their 150-year-old heritage vicarage from Masterton to Greytown over a year ago. Now, I hear that it is still very much a work in progress, but I am really keen to know whether Chessa has had her breakfast out on that balcony. They did warn me our summer of rain had delayed their paint job. But seeing the majestic home now, I can tell they haven't been sitting on their hands. It's great to see the bay windows have been reattached, and the porch ` impressive stuff. - Hello. - Hello. - Good to see you. - Hey, Rob. Chessa. - Welcome. - Man, I'd forgotten how big this place was. Mind you, you guys must have a much better understanding of all of the nooks and crannies now. - We know every stick of timber. - Absolutely, yes, we do. Very intimately. - What have you guys been up to since I've last seen you? - We've been working on the inside and chipping away at small areas of the outside. Because it's so big, we don't want to overawe ourselves. We just do a little face at a time, so the first face was the porch, so we've actually finished that. Pretty happy how it's come up, and that's basically our colour scheme. - I did some paint scrapings and tried to work through what colours of the house, how it had been painted and repainted over time. There were a couple of colours in there that we did talk about potentially using. The one that we've settled on is what I can establish as the scheme that was most likely used when the addition was done in 1910, '11, '12. - So, the main colour is Putty. The doors, sashes and all the deck are Pioneer Red. The trim is all one-eighths Putty. - What has been some of your most favourite aspects to work on or to see develop? - I've really enjoyed working on the window and door joinery, taking everything right back and reconditioning. - Yeah, Chessa's actually quite expert on double-hung windows now. - Are you living here? - No, but we could actually be in within a couple of weeks. So, downstairs is basically probably 90% finished. - We've got no joinery. - But both the kitchen and the laundry... - Pretty bespoke in what we're doing. - It's a very specific kind of design. We have a flushing toilet and a working shower, and that was my bottom line for moving in, so we've achieved that. - Right, well, I am looking forward to having a look inside. - Come on in. (GENTLE PIANO MUSIC) Come into our vestibule, Clarke. - LAUGHS: Wow! - Are these original floorboards? - Yes. - They've got that beautiful, rich colour. They're stunning. - Indeed. - I'm trying to get my bearings, because it's just such a departure from what this place started as. - Yeah. - The downstairs area has been completely refigured, the walls removed to create a cavernous living space. I can see Chessa and Rob's design expertise everywhere. - So, we tried to utilise where the wall was through this space originally, and we tried to use that transition point as a marker to separate the spaces, and then we've got a sort of formal end, and a more informal space, and then the dining closest to the kitchen. - I'm so blown away with where it's come from. Is that original ceiling? - It was actually buried underneath the Gib. It's come up really well. - What are we gonna go and find down here? - Well, we're gonna go to the transition where we walked into the old building, originally. - Oh, yeah, right, of course. Yes, where it was still attached. OK. The transition is seamless. I wouldn't have even realised. I feel like this wallpaper has got a story, Chessa. - Oh, it was a little bit of an indulgence. It's Arts and Crafts period, which is aligned with the period of the 1910 to '12 part of the house. - And this will be the kitchen. - It will be the kitchen, yes ` eventually. - It's a big centrepiece, sort of home, wood-burner style oven. - Plenty to go in here, right? - A large kitchen island. - And then pantries either side of where the cooker is, like that kind of Edwardian kitchen space was. It was more of a table and your coal range, kind of integrated situation. - The results of the couple's expert eye are on display in the beautiful bathroom. Behind me here, I mean, that was a dining room area, and it looks like you put a bedroom in. - Yes, it will be our bedroom for a little while. Eventually it will be the library or our study where we work out of. - Then, of course, there's the matter of the reattached bay window. This was a point of contention, wasn't it, Rob? - Yes, that's the infamous bay window that I didn't really want it to be taken off, but it did. But it's come back and all lined up beautifully. - And do the windows work? - That's fixed. That opens. That opens. - (WHISTLES) Look at that. - Shall we have a look upstairs? - Yeah, absolutely. - Upstairs is clearly still very much a work in progress. All the sarking's gone back. - Yes, I've been given strict instructions from my architects to retain as much original fabric as possible. - I do hope that many, many, many years from now, someone investigating this will appreciate the level of detail that you've gone to. - So do I. - Now, the balcony. Can we go and have a look? - Let's go. - So, Clarke, after a cold start, a little bit of sun for you. - Last time I was out here, it was raining. - True. - But this is something. Have you had breakfast out here yet, Chessa? - Yes. Breakfast and lunch and wine and cheese. - So we've done quite well, yes. - Wow. Can I ask, has the journey so far stuck to your budget? - No. No, we would be probably 350. - Well, let's not do any more wallpapering, shall we? - No, no. No more wallpapering. That's quite right. - Chessa and Rob paid $760,000 for their land and $275,000 for their home and move. - It's a challenge to relocate a historic building. You change its value. Its context is different. And so for me, it becomes that much more important for us to do the best possible job that we can. - I always knew you were gonna do a good job, but seeing that level of detail downstairs and knowing that it's gonna flow through to up here, you should both be really proud of what you've done. - And more importantly, did any of your pet pigeons stick around? - No. - No, they didn't? - None have turned up so far. - We're pretty happy about that. - Yeah. - OK. Well, when you say none have turned up so far, I wondered perhaps, if these two... - Oh! - Oh! (LAUGHS) - A little addition. - Brilliant! - I mean, guaranteed for 100% less poo than the last lot. - Happy days. They're gorgeous. - Great. (LAUGHS) Love it. - Those two are simply amazing. Their attention to detail is second to none. And while they might still have a long way to go, I've got nothing but admiration for their dogged determination just to get up each day and to get stuck into it. I'm really looking forward to coming back here in a couple of years' time to knock on the door and to see who answers,