- 15 minutes ago
br br br RealityRealmUSbr Reality Realm USbr br Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free as soon as possible Reality Insight Hubbr Official Channel httpswwwdailymotioncomTheVisionFramebr THANK YOU br
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00just bricks and mortar. It's also about dreams and aspirations, design and execution,
00:07making memories and mistakes. Ultimately, it takes more than building a house to create
00:13a home. Join us as we go beyond the build.
00:30On this episode of Beyond the Build, there's nothing quite like a deadline to get you over
00:40the line. We see if Jessie and Mel can achieve all their renovation dreams and be finished
00:45before the birth of their first child.
00:47This episode, we're in Windsor, a small pocket of inner-city charm located five kilometres
01:06south-east of Melbourne's CBD. Nestled between Perran and St Kilda, Windsor boasts some of
01:12the city's best shopping and dining options, with a vast array of bars and cafes set up
01:17amongst classic Victorian-era terraces. It's a dream location for many, including this
01:24ambitious young couple, looking to transform this traditional Victorian terrace into a contemporary
01:30family home.
01:31Well, Mel and I have been wanting to buy a house, a period home, since we finished the block.
01:36We love renovating and after looking for about 12 months, we finally found one and Mel did
01:42everything wrong. There's like things you're not supposed to do. Don't tell the real estate
01:47agent, you're interested. Don't tell them that you can afford it. Play it cool. Mel broke
01:51every one of those rules, didn't you?
01:53As soon as I walked into this house, I didn't even get past the first bedroom. I'm like,
01:56I want this house. Give it to me. What do we do?
01:58She goes, how do we buy it? I was like, Mel. Mel.
02:01Jessie and Mel were thrust into Australia's television screens during the 2019 season of
02:08The Block, where after a couple of early run-ins with Foreman Keith, the couple became known
02:15for their hard-working DIY approach while creating a contemporary luxury home. Juggling his job
02:23as a real estate agent with a presenter role on Open Homes Australia, Jessie will have his hands
02:29full again, carrying the reno of his own home. He's got his owner-builder licence and as a former
02:39tiler, will not only be responsible for all the tiling, but laying the floors, digging the holes,
02:45pushing wheelbarrows and just about anything that needs doing. Mel is currently working full-time as a
02:52HR consultant in Melbourne and will be taking the reins on all things budget with this project,
02:57as well as designing the home's nursery. Yep, these young go-getters have some exciting news.
03:04Mel's pregnant for one. Yay! So now we have a deadline, a block deadline.
03:09A block deadline. So first time mum, first time dad, just to be able to start a massive renovation.
03:14Baby's due in five months. You know, we don't have any time to waste. We've got the deadline and so
03:19we're going to have to rely heavily on our trades to be able to get this across the line for us.
03:24It's clear that Jessie and Mel are going to have their work cut out for them, but despite being a
03:31bit rough around the edges and in need of some TLC, it's clear the bones of this house are well intact,
03:37which might be why Mel was ready to buy it as soon as she walked in the door. The first thing I fell in
03:42love with this house is definitely the facade, how pretty it is. And to be honest, I think the size
03:47of it. It's a cute little house. It's perfect for our first renovation on our own as a house. So, and
03:53I saw the plans and I was like, this is something we can achieve. So everything about it just really captured me.
04:04The front part of the home is a beautiful example of a late 19th century Victorian terrace,
04:10with a long hallway giving way to the master bedroom and a second smaller bedroom. While
04:15this part of the house is still in decent shape, Jessie and Mel plan on knocking down the walls
04:19and ceilings between the second bedroom and the kitchen area and completely opening up this part
04:24of the house. Their plan is to renovate and extend this back area of the house into the existing backyard,
04:32transforming what was a small kitchen and laundry into a luxury modern living room, complete with
04:38expansive glass windows and a cathedral ceiling. As if this wasn't ambitious enough within a five
04:45month timeframe, Jessie and Mel will have the added challenge of attempting this reno on a tight block
04:51with very limited site access. The hardest thing about this build is because we're building boundary to
04:57boundary and we have no site access. So everything has to pretty much come through the front door.
05:02There's always a worry when it comes to renovating and I think the biggest thing for me was actually
05:06finding issues that we haven't yet identified. So I'm praying that it's as smooth as it can be,
05:12but I know there could be delays down the track. So I'm keeping an open mind.
05:17Yeah, like we don't know what we're going to find when we start excavating for the footings,
05:20when we start bringing walls down, if it's going to be structurally sound. So there's a few concerns there,
05:25absolutely. Running into unforeseen structural issues can happen when renovating a property
05:32at this age, but for Jessie and Mel, the risk is well worth it. The end result will be a home
05:37packed with period design features in one of Australia's preeminent architectural styles.
05:42This is one of my favourite types of architecture. It's a Hawthorne brick Victorian,
05:47which means you can see the different coloured bricks behind us and then they do what's called
05:51the tuck pointing, which accentuates all the individual bricks. And it's in the perfect
05:55location. We're right in the heart of Windsor, we can walk to Chapel Street, we can walk to St Kilda
06:00in five minutes, Albert Park Lake. It's a dream come true, you know. We never thought that we'd be
06:04able to afford a home like this and somehow we've managed to do it and now we get to create it and build
06:09exactly what we want. Today we've got the demo contractors here, so we're demolishing all the
06:20back of the house. There's a massive brick wall we're going to get rid of. We've built a temporary
06:24wall as well. Hopefully we can get the tiles up and yeah, that'll be a good first day.
06:31Well, the demo contractor Brendan is an absolute weapon. Like, he's going so hard. He got here at
06:36seven o'clock in the morning and come 10 o'clock, like most of the work was already done.
06:42So they'll recycle everything. All the bricks they recycle, all the hardwood timber they send off,
06:46they de-nail it and they sell it to furniture makers who recycle the timber as well. And then all
06:51the lard plaster, which is sand and cement, they take all that, they recycle it to a concrete company
06:56and then they put it in concrete. So they don't throw anything out. Everything they pull down,
06:59they recycle. They call it conscientious demolition. It's going to be a big first week and with only
07:09one day scheduled for the demolition contractors, there's no time to waste. As busy as it's been
07:17today, it was an even bigger weekend away from the building site for Jessie and Mel.
07:21It's been a great weekend. We had our gender reveal yesterday. We found out that we're having a girl,
07:31so I'm pretty pumped. And then to top it off, I've started my Monday. I've walked in the house,
07:36full demo in motion. So I'm kind of liking it because I don't have to do much now. I'm all about
07:42the baby. Jessie thinks that we'll have it done in six months, but if there's anything that I've
07:48learnt from renovations, I always add two to three. So the plan is to get in here about April,
07:54May. If we can get here by June, July, look, I'll be so happy.
08:08A few days later and almost all of the demo is complete. One element of the house that was
08:14never destined for the skit bin is this beautiful brick facade. So the story with the bricks is,
08:20this is a Hawthorne Brick Victorian. Now supposedly, when these bricks are brown,
08:25the reason for that is because they got burnt. They're supposed to be the red brick, but they
08:28got burnt and they charred them. But then obviously people decided that they look really beautiful.
08:33And so they decided to use this as a feature brick. And then what they do here is obviously all the
08:38mortar sort of wears away after time. So this is called tuck pointing. So they go through and they put all the
08:44mortar back in the joins, the same colour as the brick. And then they go through individually by
08:48hand and highlight the joins of the bricks. And it looks incredible. Everybody loves it. Fantastic
08:55street appeal. And probably what made us buy the house, to be honest, because we fell in love with it.
09:02Boasting a variety of period features typical of Victorian era terraces, one of the challenges for
09:08Jesse and Amel will be incorporating modern design features into the existing period architecture of
09:13the home. Unfortunately, it hasn't taken long for them to encounter their first significant design
09:20challenge. So the issue we have with the current design, it's actually got bifold doors. So when
09:25the bifold doors open, yes, the entire space opens, but then it opens up like 1100 into this courtyard.
09:32We don't have that room. We've only got two metres. So the time we put a dining table there,
09:36I want to put a built-in barbecue here. Like it's just the wrong solution. I'm weighing up the option
09:42of having the bifold or having them both open from the middle. The issue with that is then it means we
09:49can't have an L-shaped lounge and you have to walk through the living room every time to open the doors.
09:54So the third option we're looking at is just having two massive pieces of glass as opposed to four.
10:01And then this one piece here just opens all the way back. That means you open it,
10:05you can still walk behind the lounge and there's going to be less obstructions with those sort of the
10:11frame and the window. I think that's going to be the better option. Building on such a narrow block is
10:18not only proving to be a challenge in terms of design, but it's also making site access difficult
10:23and is affecting everything from the delivery of materials to where the tradies use the toilet.
10:29Jessie has started working on building a platform so that the concrete can be transported around the
10:34side of the house in wheelbarrows to fill in the piers for the concrete slab.
10:38So I need to get rid of this pile, build the ramp there. We can get the barrows in,
10:43fill all the holes. Once the holes are filled then we'll get rid of all the soil.
10:47I'd usually use a bigger shovel not this little teaspoon but because it's clay it's so hard so
10:56the big shovel wasn't working so it's not a lot of dirt to move. It's crucial that everything goes
11:02smoothly today so the rest of the concrete slab can be poured on schedule next week. There's no room
11:09for improvising with plans like this. The details have to be checked down to the millimetre and then
11:15checked again. So we had to put some board piers in so because there's a tree there there's like you
11:20know sort of a critical root zone and so the engineer specified putting some piers in to just beef up
11:26the slab. So this is a massive milestone to get to this stage because once the piers are done
11:31we can do the site cut for the plumbing and the slab. Having the site cleared has also given Jesse a
11:39clear idea of the yard dimensions boundary to boundary helping provide the solution for how
11:45to incorporate the bifold doors into the existing plans in the backyard. I've just worked it out like
11:51with the the way the hallway goes with the l-shaped lounge it's not going to work having the doors
11:57open in the middle because you have to be blocking by the lounge it means you'll have to have a smaller
12:01lounge suite to walk around so it's going to go one massive sliding door that's like two metres it'll
12:05look super impressive two by three metre glass panel just slides all the way open that's a go.
12:14A week later and it's a big day at the Rayburn residence after a tonne of design and engineering
12:20and far too many wheelbarrows full of soil around the side of the house to count the backyard is finally
12:26ready for the slab to be poured. So today's a massive milestone in the pour because we're pouring the
12:32concrete slab so much work has to go into that engineering and everything's come together so
12:38could not be more excited about this pour.
12:43Yeah like it's so difficult because we've got no access to the site so even to get to here we had to
12:47take out six six metre bins of soil it's 36 cubic metres of soil by hand even the demo everything had
12:54to come out the front door so there was like another half a dozen bins just with bricks and rubble and
12:59then you need engineers to come we need to screw board do board piers there's just so much involved
13:04to get to the slab. Despite the huge amount of work that's needed to prepare the property for the
13:11pouring of the concrete slab the pour itself usually only takes a couple of hours that is if everything
13:18goes to plan. Well because we're pouring a hob we had to increase the strength of the concrete and it's
13:23also got a xypex additive which makes it waterproof and so just when it came out it was too thick
13:30and it blocked the line so we had to yeah pull that off clean out the pipe add a bit of water
13:35to it to slurry up the mix and then we could pump it through. Yeah lucky the boys know what they're
13:39doing because i was just like why is the concrete stopped but the pumpy like they sit there and listen
13:43to it they got an ear for it and he knew exactly what was wrong with it so we sorted that out within about 15 minutes.
13:48Despite a brief setback early in the pour everything goes smoothly and the team is on track to finish
13:56today's work without a hiccup. It's going to be a big week coming up for Jesse and Mel. Despite all the
14:03progress that's already been made the hard work is just beginning. So next week we're going to start
14:08with the brickwork that should only take them a few days. I don't foresee any issues the only issue is
14:14we're going to carry in three and a half thousand bricks by hand. So I've allowed a couple days for
14:21that because it's a big job and then after that we'll be getting the timber frame up and ideally
14:26getting the roof on after that so it's happening.
14:30It's been three weeks since our last visit and there's been a ton of progress. The concrete slab
14:40has well and truly set by now and the renovation out the back is really starting to take shape.
14:45The bricks are up, the timber frame is in and this stunning cathedral ceiling is well underway.
14:50It feels like I'm back on the block. I'm starting at six, I'm finishing at six, we're working six,
14:54seven days a week. I'm selling houses in between, filming TV, looking after Mel and her mood swings.
15:01I don't have any mood swings. You're the one who has mood swings. That's true.
15:06No, you've been pretty good haven't you Mel? I'm living my best life. I'm pregnant,
15:09I don't have to do anything. I just come back every couple of days and there's more stuff done. I'm like,
15:13yes. It looks awesome now. You can see the height of the ceiling. It's just phenomenal. So high. I love it.
15:19Yeah, like this whole space, like it's not a big space, but now with that oversized ceiling,
15:23it feels massive. It feels so much bigger now that the roof's on, you can actually see the height.
15:28With Australia still adjusting to life after COVID induced lockdowns, there's been shortages of
15:34everything from tradies to timber. It's meant Jesse and Mel have had to be flexible with organising
15:39their trades, saving money by doing as much work themselves as they can. It's also meant they've
15:45needed to be flexible with materials, opting to use a hardwood for the timber frame rather than
15:50the LVLs they had originally planned. Well, it's no secret that there's a timber shortage
15:56in Australia and there's massive weights on LVLs. And so we spent a bit more money,
16:02but it meant that we could get them like on time without having to wait three to six months. It's
16:06crazy. And we could actually get the frame up because time is money. So it meant we could keep
16:11building. We didn't have to wait. And it means we can get out of the rental sooner as well. With the baby on
16:16the way, it's going to be full steam ahead over the next eight weeks in the hope that Jesse and Mel
16:21will be able to move in before Barbie's born.
16:29Six weeks later, and we're in the midst of Melbourne summer. After taking a couple of weeks
16:35off over Christmas and New Year, Jesse and Mel have been full steam ahead and the transformation is
16:40quite incredible. There has been so much work happening in this tiny space for the last month.
16:48It has been full on. What have we done? We've done the roughing in of the plumbing,
16:56plumbing, the electrical, redone the floors, rebuilt all the walls, had the gas plumbed in,
17:04the hydronic heating plumbed in, we had the roof go on. The window frames. The window frames. We've
17:12done a lot in the last month really. It's been full on, like there's been no days off.
17:21It's really exciting the level we're at now because we've actually put some doorways in
17:25so you can see where every room is whereas beforehand everything was all closed off. And even just having
17:30the roof on out the back with the skylights, you can actually get a sense of what it's going to feel
17:34like now when you move in. Yeah, we've already started like planning where everything's going to
17:38go. The vanities, the toilet, the wardrobes, the bed. It's great. We can actually visualise which is
17:43what I need. Otherwise it doesn't work in my head. With the plastering due to start next week,
17:48Mel and Jesse need to finalise the plan for their kitchen design as soon as possible,
17:53as it will be between four and six weeks in production. The showroom features a fully guided audio
17:58tour through nine different kitchens, guiding guests through the various features of each piece
18:03of cabinetry. You put the audio on, it tells you to go to step one, go to step two. You can push the
18:09cabinets and they open. I love it. I was like, I felt like a kid. It's everything I wanted. I could
18:14visualise which is what I need. And I think I've been through the tour four times and I still love it
18:18every time. Despite having no issues with their kitchen design, not everything over the past month
18:33has gone exactly to plan. Somehow I forgot to order insulation. So I called around like 10 different
18:39places trying to get some. Nobody had any. I finally found a place that had some inso and I was like,
18:44can you deliver it in three weeks? And they said, there's no way of holding it. Like either take it
18:48today and we'll deliver it. Otherwise it would just be sold in the next phone call. So we had
18:52all the insulation for under the floor, all the walls and the ceiling. The whole extension was just
18:56full of bags of insulation with nowhere to move. It was, it was really quite a pigsty. It was
19:02embarrassing, wasn't it? It was such a mess. The timeline is looking on time, pretty shaky.
19:11Bubz is due in 11 weeks. We've got about 10 weeks left of the renovation. So we're hoping
19:16for the best but expecting the worst because you have to. But we're quietly optimistic that we'll
19:20get it done on time. I'm going pretty well with the pregnancy. Everything's been good. I haven't
19:26really had to help too much at the house either. I'm actually, I think I've got the easiest job.
19:30Part of me does believe that the week we finish is the week she'll be here. I do ask if she stays in
19:36for another couple of weeks extra. So we're praying. Of all the good ideas I've had, probably
19:42renting the house across the street from where we're building is the best one ever. The only
19:47thing is the baby's due on the 8th of May and we have to be out of there by the 5th of May. So not
19:52only do we have to get the renovation finished in time, we have to move and then have the bubs. So
19:56there is a bit of time pressure on us.
20:05It's two weeks since our last visit and there's been a ton of work carried out. Jesse and Mel are
20:11well and truly getting stuck into work inside the house, juggling multiple trays at the same time.
20:17There is a lot happening on site at the moment. Blastering is getting done, the waterproofing got done
20:22today, the cladding is getting done, we have tiles arrived, all the sleepers for the retaining wall
20:28arrived. It's just been flat out. It's more like what isn't getting done at the moment which is great.
20:33Every day I come back and it's like 10 things going on, it's all happening. It's very intense at the
20:38moment. There's a lot of organisation which has to go on and I'm not very good at organising. Well you're
20:43doing all right babe. I'm doing all right. You're getting it done. I'm not the best at it.
20:52I'm going good. I think we've got about eight and a half weeks before the baby comes. I'm very calm
20:57which is, it's a good thing. But I think I'm pretty surprised on how quick the house has come about.
21:02So I feel like we're going to get it done before the baby arrives. Fingers crossed. I keep telling Mel
21:08that we're not going to get it done now before the baby because I'm just putting way too much pressure
21:11on myself and touch wood like nothing's gone wrong. So far we've been very fortunate given like the
21:19material shortages and like labour shortages. Building a house is like making a cake. There's
21:26just layers to it. You can't put the icing on before you, you know, get the bun ready. I don't
21:31know a lot about baking either. I enjoyed watching you try. You like that? Why don't you try the cake analogy?
21:38I don't even cook. I don't bake. Ain't nobody got time for that. Let's just wake and bake.
21:47Mel's passion for baking hasn't affected her eye for detail.
21:52Today Jesse gave me a call like he's always paying me out saying I have baby brain which I do but he
21:56had baby brain today. We realised he ordered the wrong tiles. Luckily I took pictures of them so I
22:01sent them through and Jesse gave him a call. They're going to pick up the wrong ones and give us the new
22:06ones so thank god it's all worked out but this is why I should check your work.
22:12It was so embarrassing like like I ordered the wrong floor tiles, wrong wall tiles, like everything's wrong.
22:19Jesse will be spending plenty of time laying the tiles when they eventually get here and as a former
22:24tiler this will be his time to shine. Today however the priority is plastering and there's plenty of it.
22:32Today's really exciting that the plaster is here on site they started about a week ago.
22:35They're concentrating on the back section first so they're just putting the top coat on and then
22:39tomorrow they'll stand and then we can clean out that master bedroom because at the moment it looks
22:43like a dump site.
22:51If we didn't have the baby here like we would not be talking about trying to finish in six weeks like
22:55it would be probably still a couple months away. Maybe even like three months away really. It's turned
23:01out to be a blessing in disguise because all the trades know that Mel's pregnant. They know we have
23:04like a deadline and so everybody's been helping us as much as they can to get it done for the baby.
23:09It hasn't been the best week. We had a bit of rain for the first time in months and realised our whole
23:24roof leaks and so now it's like four weeks until the baby's here. We're going to try to find
23:30someone who can do the slate roof and someone who can do the cori roof. It's just it's so frustrating.
23:36I was up at like four o'clock in the morning heard rain. I'm running around the house with buckets trying
23:40to catch water. It just yeah it hasn't been a good week. No we um yeah we've struggled a little
23:46bit haven't we now and we're we're at the final stages which is frustrating but fingers crossed you
23:51can find someone. Sort it out. I haven't stopped for four months every single day. Saturday, Sunday,
23:56like I'm killing myself on the project. I'm just getting tired now.
24:03I think it's going to take a miracle for us to be able to move in before the baby.
24:06I'm really praying that it does but I don't look I think we've come to the realisation
24:11it's probably not going to happen.
24:15We've smashed so many things like we've finished all the tiling.
24:19We're about to finish all the flooring. The painting's going to be finished in a few days so
24:24all the stuff that I can physically do myself will be finished in about a week's time.
24:28But there's just things that I can't do like I can't make the cabinets. They can't be made any faster.
24:32We can't get the stone until the cabinets go in. We can't get the roof done until like four weeks
24:40time so that may or may not even get done. We need to find another roofer to do the slate roof.
24:45If you haven't even done any of that yet. It's just yeah.
24:5012 week wait. Oh no. Drawrunners. It's just crazy.
24:57Anyway, this is what it is. I don't think people would know it was me. No it wasn't mate.
25:02While Billy swears to keep the wait time on Drawrunners to himself, Jesse and Mel fill us in on how
25:10their furniture selections are coming along. We haven't even thought about furniture yet. It's
25:14been on the back burner and there's like 12 week waits on furniture so we could be moving into an
25:20empty house. Bean bags. Lucky we've got a bed and we've got a nursery so I guess we're all in the one
25:26room. We've got a lounge suite at home. Mel said there's no way in hell that thing is coming to
25:31the new house. Now I'd prefer to sit on the floor than let that thing come into our house.
25:40We actually are doing really good. Like we have done the tiling. We're laying the flooring, the skirts,
25:45the doors. We've done a bit of landscaping. We've finished putting on the exterior walls.
25:51The cladding, yeah. The cladding. We've actually done a lot which is quite awesome but yeah it's just
25:57those little touches that we're still waiting on. But yeah I'm actually quite surprised how much we've
26:01achieved in probably the last month. It's starting to look like a house. If we don't finish it's not
26:06going to be because of things like that we can control. Everything that we can control we will do.
26:13It's just some things we can't and that's just life.
26:22It's been four weeks since our last visit and fortunately Jesse and Mel look like they've
26:27bounced back from the disappointment of the roof and the repairs are almost finished.
26:32We put a new roof on. We decided that the best thing was to do to replace the old slate roofs.
26:37They were starting to delaminate. They looked all rusted. So we put a new slate roof on the front and a
26:42new corrugated iron roof on out the back and it's awesome now. All the attic has been insulated.
26:47It's 100% watertight and it's just going to be much more enjoyable living here.
26:51With Australia still adjusting to the life after the COVID pandemic, supply chain problems have been
26:57a huge challenge for Jesse and Mel since the start of the project. Unfortunately, things aren't getting
27:03any easier as they approach the finish line. There's no wool in Australia, like supply chain issues,
27:09so the carpet's been delayed. The stone's been delayed because of Easter and then look at the
27:14place. It's an absolute dump. The good news is that all of the cabinetry has been made without any
27:19hiccups and with most of the major appliances already installed, the kitchen area is really
27:25starting to take shape. Yeah, the kitchen cabinets are looking fantastic. They've started to install all
27:29the appliances, the fridge gone in. We're now putting the aircon in which looks really nice behind the
27:33custom grill and our wardrobe doors are all right. They've got two packed, they're matte,
27:37they look absolutely fantastic. Not everything will be complete, but at least we have the TV.
27:49It's only a small outdoor area, so we wanted to create as much greener as possible, so we put the
27:53AstroTurf in between the pavers. We've got some beautiful trees that we've just planted and eventually
27:59that's going to start to cascade over the edges and this whole room will just be full of lush,
28:03green plants. The electrical work is also almost finished and the lights are on and working.
28:10It really gives us a chance to appreciate some of the design choices Jesse and Mel have made
28:15and the way they've been able to use contemporary lighting to highlight the intricacy of the home's
28:20period features. All the lights are working, they're turning on, they're turning off,
28:24the power points are working so really we are literally so close to finishing. Speaking of
28:31finishing, how's Mel going? Well it's come down to the absolute wire. We're about a week away from
28:36finishing and Mel is now officially due, so she's just gone a day over. Not sure how long she's going
28:42to be late, but it's still a chance we might finish in time.
28:55On a spectacular spring day in Windsor, Melbourne, architect Sean Lockyer gets a special tour of
29:00Jesse and Mel's finished home.
29:07It's a credit to Jesse and Mel who've not only completed this renovation within a six-month period,
29:13they've done it while they've been working and getting ready for the arrival of their daughter
29:16Chloe, which is just an amazing achievement. And standing here in this lovely quiet street,
29:21this gorgeous Victorian facade gives very little away about the transformation. I'm hoping that
29:28behind this front door lies an architectural journey that's going to take us back to the 21st century.
29:32Hey! You made it, how are you? Lovely to see you. How are you Sean? Great to see you mate. Fantastic.
29:52Jesse and Mel, congratulations. Six months you've done this. How'd you manage to get it all done?
29:58Well it wasn't supposed to be six months Sean. It was supposed to be a nice leisurely 12-month build.
30:03Mel and I can do it together and enjoy it. But a week after we got the building permit and we're
30:09due to start in a week, Mel, bless her soul and ours, we found out that she was pregnant with our
30:14daughter Chloe. And so what's supposed to be a 12-month build had to be done in six months.
30:20That's incredible. And did you literally just go, we're just going to shorten this time frame and
30:29we're just going to give it our best? Or did you actually change the way that you were doing the
30:32project or change your aspiration at all? Well it did because obviously Mel and I both work full-time
30:37as well. So I made the decision to sell less houses and just build full-time. And it was kind of like
30:44a dream come true because I've always wanted to build my own home. We did it on the block but this
30:47was the first one for ourselves together. And so we rented the house across the street.
30:52Yeah. I got my owner-builder licence and organised most of the trades that we actually have worked
30:57with before on the block. Yeah. And we told them the timeline and now they're very used to working
31:02to a short timeline. Chloe was born on the 19th of May and we moved in a week after.
31:08I've also realised I do best managing him. He's really good at building and designing but he needs
31:18to be told what to do and budget and timelines and that's where I come in and make sure he's
31:24doing everything on track. We realised that through our previous experience renovating on the block,
31:29our roles are very clearly defined. We don't lap over. And one of Mel's most important role is to manage
31:35me because I'm doing a million things at once and I'm not the most organised person. So with Mel,
31:41she's very organised and structured and then that combination with my sort of can-do attitude and
31:47you know, I would probably say overconfident enthusiasm and optimism that everything will work out.
31:56Yeah. I think what really impresses me is you guys seem to have the holy trinity of
32:07passion for what you do, the ability to actually physically be able to do it as a builder,
32:12but then also the organisational skills to be able to pull it off and I mean that's a pretty
32:16rare combination and obviously it's significant that you've had a baby while this is happening.
32:21How has that been for you guys through the process as well?
32:24Surprisingly, even though I was pregnant most of the reno, it wasn't that bad but I think because
32:30he's amazing, like he went above and beyond and then I just felt ease. I felt calm and I'd come and
32:35check on the place every day, see how he's tracking. I'm like, what do I need to do? And I don't know,
32:40he was so relaxed so it made me relax and then but literally, I think two weeks after she was born,
32:45we were moving everything across the road. I'd be like, you hold her, I'm going to take some stuff over.
32:49Then I'm like, I'll hold her and you take some stuff over. So we were pretty fortunate in regards to
32:54finishing the build before she was here. But yeah, honestly, he's what calms me.
33:08That's sensational. I mean, I think it's really lovely in these sorts of shows and these endeavours,
33:12it's not uncommon for couples to kind of really feel the stresses of either the differences with which
33:18they tackle these things or how they take on the information or how they handle actual physical
33:22heavy lifting of these things. And I know that there's something amazing waiting for us. I've
33:28got to tell you on a personal level, this project really connects with me because I grew up in Cape
33:32Town where the Victorian Terrace House is a sort of vernacular housing stock. So I spent half my life
33:38in houses like this, they're foraging underneath, understanding the sub floors, understanding that
33:42walls can't just be pulled out. Well, I appreciate Sean that this is quite nostalgic. For me,
33:46I grew up in Queensland. I'd never seen a Hawthorne Brick Victorian before until I moved to Melbourne
33:52eight years ago. And I just stopped working as a tradie. I started real estate. I literally had
33:57no income for a whole year. And my dream was to own a single front Hawthorne Brick Victorian,
34:03because I think they're the prettiest facades. I love the tuck pointing. And to me, that was honestly
34:08like a pipe dream that I thought may not be achievable because obviously price as a property is so
34:12expensive, let alone to be able to renovate one because that's obviously quite expensive as well.
34:17And so we saw this home. I only showed Mel one property. I said, hey, I found this house.
34:22I think you're going to like it. Yeah. Like, let's go and have a look at it. I want to buy it.
34:26Mel's like, we haven't looked at any. We went and had a look at it. Mel broke the cardinal sin of real
34:30estate. She opened the door, said to the real estate agent, I love it. I want to buy it. And I was like,
34:34okay, no problem. We can do that. So I got the contract and that was on the Saturday. We bought
34:39it on the Friday. And it was a dream come true. But yeah, there are a lot of difficulties when
34:47renovating a double brick Victorian home. Obviously, you don't really want to move too many internal
34:53walls because they are so integral to the structure. And so we did add a few doorways, but we left pretty
35:00much all the existing brick walls where they were and just made sure it worked with our design.
35:06And then where the end of the home is, that is where we sort of knocked off the back and did a big
35:11extension. But we were so fortunate that three previous owners before us had owned this beautiful
35:19home, tried to renovate and then gave up, put it in the too hard basket. There's no access,
35:25there's no parking, they've got joint sewers, there's easements, party walls, all the things that
35:30you know, that make building and renovating quite difficult. The previous owner, bless his soul,
35:35spent a lot of time and money on making the house beautiful, but not practical. So they actually did
35:42the tuck pointing before we purchased it, which is one of the things that we fell in love with, that so
35:46many people fall in love with, that beautiful brick facade with the tuck pointing. They did these oversized
35:51corners in the hallways in the bedroom as well. This type of architecture is something that I really
35:58love and I'm dying to see where you've gone with it. So are you happy to show me through? Well I hope
36:02that we live up to your expectations, so I'd love to show you through. Cheers, off to you guys.
36:09After the break, Sean continues the tour. Both of you have given up a lot of your time to do this,
36:14you're juggling a lot of things while it happened. Are you happy to talk about the costs that it took to
36:19get it to here?
36:32We're in Windsor, Melbourne to see this spectacular transformation. In only five months, Jesse and Mel
36:39have managed to completely transform the back of this house into a perfect space for a young family
36:45and breathe new life into this classic Victorian facade. Sean continues the tour.
36:54Jesse and Mel, wow, we've come through the house. We're sitting in this main living space and I've got
36:58to tell you I'm not disappointed. I really am not disappointed. I think the seamlessness with which
37:04you've stitched the old and the new together I think is really smart. There's this beautifully handled little
37:09courtyard which not only brings light but brings a moment of joy to the kitchen through that lovely window.
37:15But just all these sort of elements of the skylights above, I think the way that you've handled the
37:19transition of all this sort of ornate Victorian detail through to a space that's really paired back.
37:26But done in such a way that there's not a real sense of old and new. There really is quite a beautiful
37:31kind of flow between the two and you know it culminating with this amazing living space which
37:36I mean it really is an incredibly joyous space and a very you know positive place to be in. I mean honestly as
37:42an architect I really think you should you guys should be incredibly commended so you know well
37:46done on that. Well thank you Sean. We put a lot of thought into every space and we're very consistent
37:55with our design so you'll see like a lot of the timber joiner that we use in this kitchen space on
38:01the island bench we also use in our bathroom vanities. We've used the same volarcus marble throughout
38:07all the wet areas as well in the you know the niches as well as in the kitchen area out here in the
38:11island benches the same chevron flooring in the hallway so to make that because I've seen a lot
38:17of homes where it goes to old to new and it feels like they're like juxtaposed it feels like you're
38:21walking into a different property yeah they're not cohesive and I don't like that so we wanted to
38:27make sure that everything tied in and it felt like one home even though there is a stark contrast between
38:32the old and the new because the old is got lots of really rich period details and the new is very
38:37contemporary but I think by blending those you know finishing touches throughout it does feel quite
38:43cohesive. How much of what you've done here is about you guys thinking look this is our ideal house
38:53and it is a beautiful house and how much of it is you guys thinking we want this to be accessible to
38:58other people and something that we think other people will identify with. Can I just chime in
39:03just say one thing that's the best thing about Jesse working real estate yeah he sees hundreds of
39:07thousands of homes so he knows what people want so I feel like that is the greatest asset when it
39:14comes to us designing homes he sees what people want he sees what sells and he goes how can we build
39:19that into like our design and kills it. So our dream home would be an all black kitchen yeah yeah right
39:25but when we were designing this home we know it wasn't going to be our forever home and so we were
39:30very conscious of that you're right having that real estate sort of mindset and being pragmatic in
39:36not just what we want but what is going to sell well but I think for our forever home we would probably
39:40do something a little bit more extravagant. I think it's been a long-held belief of mine that when you
39:46look at the amount of resources that go into building a house not only the cost and the physical
39:51material but your guys energy you know labor you know one of the most responsible things we can do
39:56is make sure that the houses that we build are ones that not only are you know beautiful and do all
40:02the sustainable things that they should do but also that they can be taken on by other people and
40:08loved in such a way that they're not continually being rehashed. While it's technically a two-bedroom
40:16house it is a three-bedroom house because there's this beautiful quirk and for me anyone that loves
40:22cats is a good person in my book but you've got a cat bedroom. That was one of the most important
40:27features of the home because in our previous property we didn't have a cat room most people
40:31don't have a cat room they have a kitty litter that goes in the bathroom or somewhere in the laundry
40:35and it's always on display and it smells that was just one of the things that we were able to do that
40:39was really important to us and everyone who comes here you're not the only person who loves cats
40:45Sean so many of our friends love cats and that's probably one of the most talked about features
40:50of our home. I have to hand it to you the the level of execution here really is first class I must say
41:00walking through here the word I use is tightness there's a there's a real control of all the detail
41:05it's an amazing effort I must say. So my background being tiling as you know in tiling everything works to
41:10the millimeter yeah and so that was my where I did my apprenticeship my trade and now obviously in
41:17real estate I have a really keen eye for things that I know have been thought of and considered
41:23as to just thrown in place yeah I think you would see that as well you can you know like our television
41:29unit yeah right like there's a reason that it stops 150 millimeters away from the glazing because it
41:35allows for the curtains and the blinds like that thing doesn't happen by accident yeah the wall
41:42ovens and microwaves you know like the line of the wall oven lines up perfectly with the island bench and
41:47then the microwave on top yeah in our bathrooms we lowered the ceilings by 40 millimeters so it allowed
41:53us to get a full tile at the ceiling height on top of the shaving cabinet on top of the vanities
41:58on the niche all of those things don't happen by chance when you walk into the home as you do you look
42:03at it and go this feels great you can see it's done well but you're like how is it done so well
42:08why does this feel different to other homes yeah so we put a lot of emphasis and effort into making sure
42:15all of those details like matched up yeah and we're very proud of it because it's a lot of it's not easy
42:20to do it's been really lovely to see how you guys have worked together having done this for many years
42:29and seeing a lot of projects at the end where the millimeters do matter the only way you get there
42:34is by collaboration you don't get there by throwing things at each other and the house really does talk
42:39of that kind of optimism and that creativity now obviously all of that doesn't come for free and
42:45you've given up both of you have given up a lot of your time to do this you're juggling a lot of
42:49things while it happened are you happy to talk about the costs that it took to get it to here yeah
42:54certainly so i guess the the hard cost for the build with all the building materials cost of labor
43:02came in at about half a million dollars but that doesn't allow any of my time like you know i did
43:10chevron flooring i did the tiling i did the carpentry i did a lot of the work myself i essentially had six
43:14months off work and it was here every single day so there was no cost for my time as well as you know
43:19actually the design of the place selecting all the fixtures and finishes yeah so i think we were
43:24fortunate we were able to get away with it for about half a million dollars but i think if you
43:27were to replicate this build you probably would be looking at close to 650 or 700 000. one of the
43:35things that i i find i'm interested in the house almost more than anything of the relationships and
43:41the people the creative energy and the goodwill and the memories and the friendships and the kind of
43:46the energy that gets created in a positive building is something that for me is actually
43:51manifest in a space it sits here like a piece of furniture and when you walk through the space and
43:56you meet you guys and you see the love and the care that's gone into this
44:10it's something that you can actually feel it's physically palpable in my experience of it and i think
44:14that's a very very difficult thing to achieve and really congratulations to both of you deserve
44:20it and you've done an amazing job well thank you thank you so much that's all we want for people
44:24to love this home as much as we do yeah yeah congratulations
44:30well for me this project is a breath of fresh air in the built environment we're so used to hearing all
44:37the bad news stories about people that tackle the project without the right knowledge without the
44:42experience without the planning and they get it wrong it strains relationships they simply just
44:47don't get the outcome that they want what jesse and mel have done here in a six month period is nothing
44:53short of extraordinary their attention to detail the level of execution through the build and the passion
45:01that they've brought to this project to build a home for themselves and their new daughter in this
45:06heavily constrained site is just an absolute triumph and in a world where we're so used to bad news
45:12stories it's a really lovely thing to be part of a really good one
Be the first to comment