Sometimes people - and by people, that usually means their own families - can be unfair about builders' houses: that old chestnut that they are always a work in progress, never finished.
But builder Todd Wickenden had strict instructions from his wife Clare for the reno on their 1970s house in Birkenhead three years ago: it had to be finished before their second baby was born. He made it by a week.
"These are my rules," says Clare, who runs the business and marketing side of their construction company.
"This is the third house that we've done up and lived in. So we do have it down pat.
"We figure out what needs doing, get an architect to do the drawings for consents, we see a lot of places and have a lot of ideas. This time we also called in Todd's cousin, Hayley Dryland from August and Co, to detail the kitchen and joinery."
Clare laughs that when she last came to visit Hayley was still fiddling, rearranging the furniture to swap out dining and sitting areas.
The original house, on a cul de sac of mid-century 'dream houses', was smart in its time, but the spaces needed tweaking for modern lifestyles.
They could see that beneath a mass of pastel tiles, tired bay windows, coloured bathrooms and a shiny rimu kitchen cut off from the rest of the living spaces that there was a sunny house that would benefit from their skills.
And with stunning views across the city and sea to Rangitoto, plenty of surrounding bush parks, and positioned an easy drive from Birkenhead and Northcote, it was a place to pour their energy into.
First they needed to solve the site issues: the sloping lawn and scruffy shrubs at street front, while the back yard had no appeal for the kids (Lila, now 3, and Nico, 6).
A confusing front porch had visitors struggling to find the front door, while the tacked on covered upper decks spoiled the lines (and sun) of the original house.
Todd reconfigured the entrance, enclosing it to bring a grand front door to face the street, terracing the yard and adding cool wide-plank timber and plant-fringed steps from the footpath.
A new driveway and a shuttered concrete letter box pillar finished the entrance.
They simplified the upper facade into one sleek line - a horizontal sweep of window in the kitchen replaced odd bays, the deck cleaned into a simple cedar with glass balustrades.
Whole walls to the front and rear were replaced with sliding walls of glass, opening the entire living in the summer to the views, breezes and sun.
The rear deck was reconfigured to give privacy from neighbours for the spa pool right next to the couple's master bedroom doors, and the wedge-shaped back yard terraced to include vege beds, a sunken trampoline and a children's play house.
Inside, Clare and Todd's renovating experience shows, too. A jumble of separate kitchen, dining and living rooms was opened out into one room (cue structural steel and new oak floors).
As Hayley's furniture moving showed, the spaces are interchangeable between the sitting area (currently next to the kitchen so that the children can play near their parents while they cook) and dining.
The feature wall of the living room has a black panel to house/hide the television and complement the gas fireplace.
Above and below are hidden cabinets for electronic gear, but Clare says that the whole house has so much storage that they didn't need any extra cupboards.
The renovation included new insulation, double glazing, heating and all the modern underpinnings.
In the kitchen, Hayley's clever use of cabinet finishes and layout came to the fore. There is more matching cabinetry around the corner in the spacious old-school laundry (behind a bold yellow door, one of the few breaks from the Scandi-style neutral palette of pale oak floors and white walls).
Every last inch of the semi-gloss white touch-latch drawer cabinetry was detailed, including the hidden dishwasher, clever tiling and frosted glass upper cabinets.
Hayley and Clare insisted on table legs on the island, complete with striking black 'feet' that the children liken to horses' hooves.
Similarly detailed cabinetry, this time in warm oak, finishes the white tile and dark floors of the new bathrooms.
The private end of the house didn't need quite as much floor plan juggling - a little cribbing off the large living room to add storage to Lila's room (and a new, more private window), a slight realignment of the master bedroom closet to make the en suite work a little better (the pink carpet went, too).
Oh, and Todd's concrete headboard for the couple's bedroom, which won't be going anywhere - shuttered and textured in the same style as the letter box.
Downstairs, the large bedroom has a nicely finished en suite and generous living area - perfect for long stays for the family's visiting grandparents, but also ideal for a nanny, teenager or work-from-home set up, as it has its own entrance.
There's also a good office with tons of storage, and the carpeted single garage is the warehouse for Clare's on-line business selling children's designer gear.
Like many a building couple, Clare and Todd have found another renovation project and are off to do more creative and clever things.
