When Sarah O’Neil, husband Tom and their two children fell in love with 4 hectares of bare, coastal land, their instinct was to build new. “After discovering how little distance our money would go, we thought we’d never be able to have what we wanted.”

But a Christmas Eve search on Trade Me changed everything. “We stumbled across relocatable homes and found a 1930s stucco California bungalow-style home for $29,000.”

It was compliant, insulated and came with a heat pump, curtains, cushions, and a beautiful old cast-iron roll-top bath.

“All up, it cost around $200,000 to build the services, relocate the home and pay for it,” says Sarah, who today loves the outdoor living environment and built-from-scratch garden they’ve been able to create by funneling less funds into their ‘dream house’.

“The house had been moved once before – 10 years prior it had come from Onehunga to Tauranga. Then circumstances meant the property got sold to a developer,” says Sarah.

“So we were really blessed – we didn’t need to do any rewiring, stripping back scrim etc. It was gibbed, had a useable kitchen with new electrics, and a nice new roof. We just had to move it.”

Sarah says there’s still “bit and pieces” to do – “but we spent all of our remaining money on the garden”.

She’s carved a career out of her passion – she’s authored three gardening books, is a gardening columnist and brand ambassador for Yates and Gardena –  so required a garden pronto to keep her ‘day job’.

First, her family lived in a caravan on-site until their home was transported and placed – with one side placed either side of Easter 2018. Sarah says the key was getting a good relocation company.

“We had a fabulous team in Total Relocation. They did such an amazing job. You can’t even see where they cut the house in half [to transport it].”

A nasty storm with winds up to 212km/hr blew through when the house was up on jacks. Amazingly, it didn’t move. “But we realised it was really good to have such a windy experience right at the start – because now we’ve built everything to worst-scenario.”

The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home at Otaua has all kitchen/living areas facing the ocean, while bedrooms face the garden.

This resulted from choosing a home with the right orientation, says Sarah.

“We wanted our living areas facing the ocean, so the house had to come from the right side of a street.

“Also, this style of home has really beautiful fronts but the rear sides are ugly. And we wanted the main entrance by the sea to be beautiful so when you pull in the driveway, you see a nice front door.”

Another upside was the home was compliant in its former location – so Tom and Sarah weren’t required to bring it up to today’s building code.

“You only have to bring it up to the standard of how it was at its former site or better. You don’t have to jump through today’s ‘new building’ hoops, but such projects do still need to be signed off by your local council once all the relocation work has been done.”

This also allowed them to keep character features of the home – like stained glass and high ceilings.

But Sarah warns people considering a relocatable home should ensure they have the funds for it first.

“Banks don’t really lend on relocatables until they’re compliant. So you do have to consider this.”

And while most people renovate kitchens and bathrooms first, Sarah’s focus was her garden. “Our philosophy is we’re going to be here forever – the kitchen, bathroom and laundry are serviceable, and you’ll always find money for a new bathroom if you need one.

“We also did it this way because the land offers such an outdoor living environment. In summer it’s absolutely amazing – so it’s more important to us to get the living of the home right as our kids are teenagers.

“They don’t care about a nice bathroom but having a nice outdoors area they can enjoy – that’s more important to us as a family. And my dream kitchen will come one day.”

Sarah spent months transforming her coastal block of kikuyu, boxthorn and gorse into her dream garden – 36 raised beds with the main feature a geodesic biodome.

The project began May 2018 with a neighbour’s bulldozer clearing kikuyu. With sandy soil not ideal, Sarah says the beds were the ideal solution. “The sand is fine so it does hold moisture better than expected – but it’s not as good as swampland. So I brought six truckloads of swamp soil with me from my old property to fill the beds, which works well in combination with the sand.”

So well last summer Sarah discovered she only needed to water her garden for nine minutes every five days.

Sarah says planning a new garden or renovation before picking up the spade is crucial.

“I was able to sit down and think about what I wanted from it, and ask myself: What does it need to give me? How many plants can I fit in a square metre? Where will it be situated? That sort of thing.”

She also planned her garden’s look. “Gardens don’t need to be ugly, they can be aesthetically pleasing too. Vegetable gardens are usually utilitarian things out the back, but they can be beautiful.”
Now she just manages it. “I know what my plants need, so it’s not trial and error. It’s a cohesive, well-designed system.”

Sarah also says gardens don’t need to be hard work. “What I learnt from my last garden is if you go from weedy bed to weedy bed, you’re chasing your tail.

“What I did – and this can be downscaled – is divided my garden into five sections. Tending to each section once a week means weeds and maintenance don’t get overwhelming.”

Another message from Sarah is grow what you love. “So many people grow things just because it’s on the list. I say if you don’t like them, don’t grow them.”

With her home and her garden in place, Sarah believes relocating a house offers an affordable way of creating a ‘dream home’. “If you get the right home that you can site the way you need it – and you have the funds to finance it – absolutely!”

She says grand old homes on large sections are being pulled out all over the place to make way for housing developments. “Our house was replaced in Tauranga with 17 townhouses.

“It is criminal really because so much work and craftsmanship has gone into these homes – and they have such beautiful character and things you don’t find in modern homes.”