A striking modern house on the hills above Piha is the second house from the 2020 season of TV show Grand Designs NZ to go on the market this year.
It follows the penthouse apartment built in the former heritage tearooms of Auckland’s Farmers department store in the city, which was listed in June but is yet to sell.
The ColorSteel, concrete and cedar house at 81 Piha Road took nearly two years to build as costs ballooned from the initial estimate of $1.3 million to well over $2m, and counting, in the way of almost all Grand Designs projects.
That does not include earthworks and on-going landscaping for the project, which hit pause for 18 months in the middle of filming, before host Chris Moller and the crew returned for the grand reveal.
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Since then, the owners Susannah and Joseph Hardie have used the two years of lockdown to work on landscaping the sloping 3010sqm site – a job that could go another 10 years on the bush-clad site, Susannah reckons, but are now selling to do another project.
The multi-level four-bedroom house on the hills above Piha overlooks the beach and Tasman Sea. Photo / Supplied
“We accomplished something really great, we’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished,” she told OneRoof.
“We are looking forward to doing something all over again, and someone else loving this house as much as we do.”
Harcourts agent Glen Foster, who is bringing the property to auction on September 11, said he is blown away by the house.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it’s a must-see,” he said.
“This is probably the most exclusive and sought-after location in all of Piha."
The steel and Brazilian slate kitchen, which cost $70,000, includes a butler's pantry, three dishwashers and a wine fridge. Photo / Supplied
Foster would not be drawn on the price, as the property is being auctioned, but did expect it to top earlier sales records for the West Coast beach town.
OneRoof records show Piha’s highest settled sale price was the $4.595m paid in March this year for a 465sqm four-bedroom, eco-luxury house with Passivhaus certification on a 8391sqm site on Seaview Road. In nearby Muriwai, the record was set over four years ago when a six-bedroom 480sqm home on 6.6ha on Oaia Road sold for $5.8m.
The Hardie family had lived in the original quirky bach since they bought the property they’d always admired nine years ago. Records show they paid $708,000 for the site.
The outdoor kitchen beside the pool and spa pool has an Argentinian flame cooker, a pizza dome, a smoker and grill, and beer on tap. Photo / Supplied
They'd “fiddled around” with the layout as their two children grew, Hardie said, but abandoned big plans to renovate the old house after a neighbour chimed in with a reality check, she told OneRoof.
“We were six months down the track and a neighbour asked ‘is this what you’d build if you were starting again? What are you doing?’ Next thing, we go ‘let’s bowl it and start again’,” she said.
Unlike in many Grand Designs episodes, the Hardies kept up a great relationship with their architect Hamish Gunns, and Susannah raves about their builder Al Sanders and tradies as “the A team”.
“What a blessing, Hamish is brilliant, I’d use him over and over again,” she said.
“He got to know us and designed exactly right, the flow just works, it’s zoned for the children who are now teenagers. We can entertain, or go away for our own quiet spaces.
“For the build, nothing was hard, it was enjoyable and I loved doing it.”
The living room and dining room are wrapped in a macrocarpa ceiling which 'waterfalls' down the walls. Photo / Supplied
The four-bedroom building, cantilevered over the hillside to make the most of the spectacular views over Piha beach, is anchored on concrete piles that were sunk some 8m into the land.
“It’s Fort Knox below the surface, I suspect that the house is holding the hill up, it’s not going anywhere,” Hardie said.
Piha firsts also included a crane to lift materials on-site, and a one-in-a-hundred-years storm that had builder Al Sanders be on site at 3am to make sure the crane didn’t blow over.
Inside, the specifications kept ramping up as the build progressed. The designer steel kitchen from New Zealand brand IMO, with Brazilian slate tiles, a butler’s pantry, three dishwashers and a wine fridge came in at $70,000.
The principal bedroom has magnificent sea views. Photo / Supplied
“It was an investment, but we thought let’s invest in where we spend the most time,” Hardie said. “I notice every detail that’s gone in.”
She insisted on leather-wrapped stair handrails as a nod to high-end saddlery from her beloved horses, there are German light fixtures, macrocarpa waterfall ceilings in the main living room and in-built speakers for sound.
The couple, both of whom are musicians who enjoy entertaining, also insisted on their dream outdoor kitchen, fitting an Argentinian wood-fired barbecue they’d seen in celebrity chef Al Brown’s own outdoor kitchen, along with a pizza dome, a smoker and grill, and beer on tap. The in-ground infinity heated pool and spa, and an outdoor shower, were a must to make the most of the spectacular views.
The outdoor living room, next to the spa and swimming pool. Photo / Supplied
Underpinning the high-performance windows, insulation and ventilation system are 50,000 litres of water tanks, a new sewage and septic system and under-floor heating in the bathrooms. The Hardies found the house so warm they did not activate the under-floor living room heat.
But it is the heart of the house that Susannah Hardie says they will miss.
“What you don’t get from the photos is the expansiveness of the view, it takes your breath away. The Tasman Sea, the expanse of sky, wrapping around to the Waitakere Ranges. The storms from the sea, the mist coming up the valley – the West Coast just has energy.
The previous Piha record price of $4.595m was set in March this year for an eco-luxury house on Seaview Road. Photo / Supplied
“I’ll miss lying in bed looking at the stars. The magnetic shifts in light as it moves across art and objects.”
“You just have to breathe it,” she said.
“But now it’s new beginnings and new projects.”
- 81 Piha Road, Piha, Auckland, will be auctioned on September 11.
