- Chris Warren has listed his lakeside home in Upper Moutere for $5 million to reduce his workload.
- Warren worked seven days a week for four years, sourcing materials and designing the property himself.
- The property includes 11 bedrooms, five cottages, and is nearly off-grid, needing only batteries and an inverter.
An entrepreneur who worked seven days a week for four years on his lakeside home has listed it for sale – to stop himself working so hard.
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Chris Warren worked every waking hour to complete his unique home at 21 Tarrant Road in Upper Moutere, Tasman.
The former deep sea diver told OneRoof he’d be messaging American and Chinese suppliers late into the night trying to source materials – the shaker-style kitchen cabinetry alone took more than 750 WhatsApp messages and 150 emails to find.
Warren’s dream property has a total of 11 bedrooms split across the main home and five cottages and has a $5 million price tag.
The property, which comes with five cottages and a main residence, can be run as a boutique accommodation business. Photo / Supplied
The home and cottages, which sit on 6.06 hectares of land and ponds, are only one step away from going off-grid, just needing batteries and an inverter.
Warren is well-versed in property development. He started with the Lazy Fish backpackers in Queen Charlotte Sound, which he turned from a farmhouse into boutique accommodation.
With three months overseas each year in the Lazy Fish’s off season, Warren had plenty of time to work on 21 Tarrant Road.
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He hired builders to help him with the foundations, frame and roof but everything else is his own work, from the design and quantity surveying to the painting, interior design and sourcing of the furniture.
“I bought the land about eight or nine years ago and then after about four or five years of planting I knew I wanted to do the cottages, but I didn’t quite know how it was going to look,” Warren told OneRoof.
“What I initially wanted was triangular type tiles. I’d seen them over in Europe. They were almost like a dragon’s skin. I thought I might try making them myself. But it was going to be way, way too expensive.”
The owner, Chris Warren, sourced all the materials himself. Photo / Supplied
The main residence overlooks a large natural pool. Photo / Supplied
Postings Warren saw on Pinterest led him instead to a 3D brickwork style. “I started playing around with designs. Instead of just choosing one, I thought each cottage [would] have a different design.” The dimensions of the windows had to be tweaked in each of the cottages to fit the brickwork pattern.
“All the floors are 20mm American oak,” he said. “I contacted a sawmill [in the US] and organised it that way. It was a lot cheaper than going through someone in New Zealand, because they just do what I did and send an email then clip the ticket.
“I got the skirting boards and architraves made up in China. The skirting boards are 30mm thick and 250mm high, and the architraves are [a similar] design. I appreciated the size of the project when I worked out I needed 900 metres. I didn’t have any left over when I finished.”
The original timeline for the project was two years, and even though the Covid pandemic allowed Warren to work full tilt the timeline blew out to five years.
As well as the building work itself, sourcing materials from overseas was incredibly time-consuming. “If you want your kitchen cabinetry made in New Zealand, you’d go and see a kitchen person, you’d get a plan, you’d discuss it for half an hour [with the designer], you’d make a phone call with a few other questions, and then it would be done. With my kitchen cabinet work, I had a rough look and there were over 750 WhatsApp messages [to China] and 150 emails.
“I’d be working [on the build] all day, and then from about five o'clock at night to about 10pm I’d be messaging back and forwards. It would just go on and on, and drive you nuts. But it was well worth it.”
The property is largely self-sufficient. Photo / Supplied
Warren estimated he spent a fraction on his kitchens compared to what he would have paid through a local kitchen company. “It’s real shaker joinery. The frames are spruce and the panels float. They’re not glued in. They’ve made them properly. I wouldn’t be able to afford one kitchen [here] for what I paid for seven kitchens [in China].”
Looking back, Warren estimated that he’d worked pretty much seven days a week for four years on the property. “I’d have the odd day off, but not really.”
Asked what he would do differently if he had his time over again, Warren said he might use tradies a bit more, otherwise it would be more of the same. “I’m pretty happy with it. Everything works. I’m used to managing my own stuff so that wouldn’t change. The China thing and then how long it took that was tiring, but that was well worth it. I’d definitely buy stuff over there again.”
At age 65, Warren said this would be his last big project. He realised that he was not going to slow down unless he sold the property. He wants to give himself time to do other things. “I’m nearly 66. I really want to go travelling and do other things because I tend to work all the time.”
- 21 Tarrant Road, in Upper Moutere, Tasman, is for sale for $5m
