Riverhead’s promise of a relaxed semi-rural lifestyle, combined with an easy commute to Auckland City and the North Shore, proved to be the perfect match for Steve and Lyn Tiney’s stylish new property.
The former Auckland residents wanted to downsize their large two-storey, high-maintenance family home in Henderson Heights for a modern single-level property that could be customised to suit their changing lifestyle. Breaking their 30-year bond with Auckland was never going to be easy, so it was critical that their preferred building partner ticked all the right boxes.
“When we decided to sell our home, a key condition was aligning the sale date with the completion of our new home build,” said Steve.
“We wanted to move out and move in, and Generation Homes achieved that for us on time and on budget. Because we had a fixed price and on-time delivery contract, we had a zero-stress build. Everything went like clockwork.”
Lyn couldn’t agree more, saying: “To be perfectly honest we were in love with our house, the suburb and the surroundings before it was even completed. It was one of those places you walked into and it just felt perfect.”
Fast forward three years, and the Tiney’s relationship with Generation Homes is still as strong as ever.
“It was such an easy transition moving from our family home in Henderson Heights to a smaller architecturally-designed property that is now much better suited to our needs,” said Lyn.
“For us, the thing that stands out most about Generation Homes is that they’ve never forgotten us. Even years after our build, we still have a fantastic relationship with the team. The fact that they consistently made a big effort to keep in contact with us speaks volumes about the company’s integrity. We have a beautiful, modern home and we are very, very happy.”
Generation Homes sat down with Steve and Lyn to ask them a few questions about their building experience and how their new home has improved their lifestyle.
STEVE
We looked at a number of houses that were on the market at the time, and we either liked the kitchen but not the rest of the house, or we just didn’t like the layout. That’s when we started considering the idea of building a new property. Riverhead had always been in the back of our mind.
LYN
We viewed lots of s by a range of different builders, but the Generation Homes’ in Riverhead had the feel we were looking for. We also considered several new residential developments, but Riverhead just felt right – it was friendly, relaxed and it had a rural feel. There was also no pressure or hard sell with Generation Homes. Their 14-step build process was really easy to understand, which gave us a lot of confidence.
STEVE
When Generation Homes told us what sections were available, we chose a section and put a deposit down. We then went away and over the weekend we started to think that the initial section we had picked wasn’t ideal for us.
LYN
Privacy is important to us and when we asked a few more questions about the site, we realised there was no way we could have the level of privacy that would have been acceptable to us, so we asked if we could change sections – and we did! It was absolutely no problem at all. Our new section offers all the privacy we need.
LYN
Generation Homes gave us a couple of different plans, which they let us take away so we could play with the design and see how it worked for us. That’s when Steve started sketching our ideas and moving the floor plan around so we could squeeze things in and take other things out. Once we decided on our final design, we sat down and costed it with the team. From there on out, Generation Homes was absolutely on-the-mark with timing. They handed us the keys to our new home on November 27, which was the exact date they promised.
STEVE
We had a clear vision for the property because we wanted to build a home that we could grow old in. Some key features included a walk-in pantry off the kitchen, a separate laundry, and an alcove in the garage to store all of our audio-visual equipment. None of these variations were a problem for Generation Homes.
LYN
We only wanted a three-bedroom house, but with a large outdoor entertaining area so our section is 20 metres wide by 40 metres deep. Hence it’s a long thin house in the shape of a Roman number one. The living areas are to the east and west, and we have a large outdoor area to the west with a beautiful louvre canopy over it – it’s awesome.
STEVE
We also had our outdoor deck built before we moved in and we included large double ranch sliders, so we can have the whole area completely open. We’re really big on barbeques and entertaining. It’s truly is a great space and we use it all-year round.
Generation Homes is an award-winning national top 10 residential builder by volume. The established company has successfully delivered more than 4,000 home nationwide since 1997, and offers all customers a fixed priced and guaranteed move-in date.
CLICK HERE to find out more or contact one of our consultants for an obligation free chat – you could be living in your brand new home this year!
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