Building Their First Home: Kima & Faye’s Experience
Building for the first time
Building a Home on Family Land
Kima and his partner, Faye, set out on their homeownership journey at a time when finding a suitable house on the market was proving difficult. With the opportunity to subdivide a portion of property from Kima’s parents, they decided that building a home might be the best solution for them.
Turning an Idea into Reality
Initially unsure about building, they explored the possibility after a feasibility consultation with Ashcroft Homes. The guidance they received helped them understand the process, from site feasibility to budgeting and timelines, making their vision feel achievable. Opting for the Luton Plan, they worked within a pre-designed layout but made key modifications to better suit their lifestyle. One significant change was converting the garage into a rumpus room, providing a flexible space for family and friends to gather. They also enhanced their home with carefully chosen upgrades, selecting high-quality finishes and design elements that reflected their style and made the space uniquely their own
Support Throughout the Process
From start to finish, Kima and Faye worked closely with their Ashcroft Homes Property Development Consultant, who guided them through planning decisions, product selections, and the overall build process. While challenges arose along the way, clear communication and problem-solving helped keep the project on track.
A Home to Call Their Own
Now completed, their home is a reflection of their aspirations, combining practicality with personal style. Built on family land, it provides them with the space and functionality they were looking for. Their journey highlights how, with the right support, building a home can be a rewarding and achievable alternative to buying on the open market.
Kima and I approached Ashcroft Homes some time in 2020 after having no luck finding a house to buy in the property market that fit our needs. We didn’t think too much of building but decided to take our chances of querying about it. We met up with Marc Abbott who ran through a feasibility report with us in our first consultation and the idea became a vision which turned into a goal.
We walked away feeling somewhat, inspired and motivated to get the ball rolling after our consultation and continued to work closely with Marc who we found very proactive and passionate about our onboarding journey. He ran through some aspects on timeline and gave us different stages of our first project. He was very thorough and clear with all reports, ensured that some expected out comes and possible turbulence may occur through the process and to prepare for these things, he introduced us to many staff members of the Ashcroft Homes team onsite and referred us to certain contractors and other external parties involved with the process.
When the foundation started, we worked closely with Laurie who we met at Ashcroft Homes office and ran through a presentation together, followed by a walk through to their samples on exterior and interior design palettes. She also gave us options about exploring other designs for our house and referred us through to their suppliers. We took the opportunity to meet with professionals such as Ken from iKitchen, Chloe from The Tile Depot, Sean from Wardrobe World, Raelene from Resene and Caitlin from Franklins. We then came up with the decision to go hard and all in on upgrading everything from the exterior to the interior. All designs and products were chosen on suppliers’ site with the advice of these professionals. Laurie got all addendum’s and variations done efficiently and ensured to follow up with Kima and I for anything that needed to be reviewed or amended before signing contracts off. If it wasn’t for Laurie, I don’t think we would’ve gone too far with this project without her so we’re very ecstatic to work with someone who not only… is the best client liaison manager in Auckland but she’s genuinely passionate about bringing her clients vision to life and it’s really good to see that Ashcroft Homes have created a good strong team to assist their clients with a good onboarding experience.
We also worked with Adam Wood who project managed our home build and did exceptionally well considering this property wasn’t an ordinary Ashcroft Home, some of the designs and products Kima and I chose seem merely impossible to achieve but not once did Adam tell us that we couldn’t do this or do that.
We did encounter a few hiccups through the process but the Ashcroft team who dealt with us were quite open and very considerate about our feedback and ensured to fix or follow up with certain errors addressed.
Would we build again with Ashcroft? Of course! 😊
Thanks Ashcroft for turning our vision into reality!
Kima & Faye
More Clients
Insider Knowledge Results in Ashcroft Appointment
Operating a large earthwork moving business Mike van Hest works with many Auckland building companies which provides him with a great insight into their day-to-day practices on site.
A House to Call Home… Home of the Year!
David and Aimee were looking to build a new home for their young family. The couple owned a large site in Mt Albert which contained an existing weatherboard home. They planned to move this home to the rear of the site and build a new home on the front. With Aimee’s father being a builder himself and a member of the Master Builder Association, they knew they had a great sounding board to help with their decisions.
Turning Grass into Gold!
Tom Tang and his wife Li Zhang had owned a large family home in Epsom for many years. They loved their home and the location. But once their children had grown, the garden was no longer getting the use it once did. The couple contemplated selling but were reluctant to move from the home they’d treasured.