"We were driving around Christchurch and ... we were watching a digger smash a beautiful old house into tiny little pieces," said Jamie.
"We both kind of went, 'Oh, we should have one of those before they destroy them'.
"Before we knew it, we had one."
They'd found a 130-year-old house with damaged foundations that was set to be demolished, but had a staircase they liked.
Their plan was to take the staircase and build an entirely new home around it. That's when they encountered their first problem: the home's owners wouldn't let them.
"The current owners said, 'You can't have the staircase, you have to have the whole house'," said Melissa.
They paid $16,000 for it, demolished and flatpacked the home's entire second story, then contracted a house relocation team.
That's when the second problem struck: they didn't have consent to make the changes to the house they wanted to - including raising the roof and adding a turret to the second floor.
After five months of negotiations, the Queenstown council finally okayed their plans and the house was allowed to be moved onto their site.
But it was the middle of winter, leading to some hair-raising scenes as the truck carrying their home negotiated the dramatic 450km trek - including over the slippery Lindis Pass.
With the home finally on site, Jamie - who Moller described as a "man without a plan" - suddenly sounded a little dismayed at the task ahead.
He also suggested that a plan for the build might finally be a good idea.
"There's a lot of work to do. It looks pretty awful really. I'm just trying to figure out which bits of wall goes where ... and come up with a plan. I haven't thought about it too much."
As for the budget, Jamie and Melissa admitted they finally had to settle on one after the bank requested it.
And while they didn't admit what it was, Melissa revealed it was "double the amount of what we thought we'd spend on it".
The house included an "adult's retreat" turret room, a large dining area, an opening with the home's original floor tilings laid down, and a garage with a "modern theatre" above it.
When it was finished, Moller said the home was "breathtaking" and praised it as "gracious, beautiful and stately".
And the pair, who welcomed a second daughter called Matilda during the build, said they didn't regret any of it - and even suggested they may do it again.
"We need to catch our breath for the immediate future," said Melissa. "Stay tuned."
"Relaxing's definitely on the cards," said Jamie.
