Back when Terena and Tony Anderson had three young sons and Tony was a fireman, the couple were constantly building homes.

“We moved every nine months for six years when the kids were little. During Tony’s days off, we would build a home, move in, complete it, sell it, rent and do it all over again,” recalls Terena.

They estimate the 378sqm four-bedroom Kumeu home, complete with movie room, covered portico and swimming pool backing on to a pine forest, which they built and moved into two years ago is their latest family home. It is a house that works perfectly for get-togethers with their seven grandchildren.

It was inevitable the couple ended up in the construction business, owning architectural design and build company Maddren Homes. It’s a family affair with their sons – two qualified builders and one electrician – now involved as shareholders. With experience building their own homes and their business, which sees an average of 32 homes built each year, they had a good idea of what they wanted.

“You always say, ‘Oh, I should have done that,’ but not so much here,” says Tony, the company’s director. The Taranaki pine weatherboard and black paint-stained vertical cedar home was meant to be their last build, but with their sons moving away from the area, they’re not so sure now.

However, if they do decide to build again, it would be similar to this H-shaped home with the bedrooms in one wing, a covered portico and living in the other, a stud of 4.2 metres and generous use of windows and sliding doors throughout.

Tony’s favourite part of the house is being able to look out of the Vantage Residential Series windows and sliding doors across to the pine forest.

“Tony is big on loyalty and Vantage has been very good to us over the years. Their products are beautiful,” says Terena. “I don’t think you’d find better products. These windows have finer lines so you’re not closing the views and there are so many colours. We chose the black profile. It’s really popular at the moment and has given the exterior a bit of a zap, plus it doesn’t show any muck on the windowsills.”

They also wanted leather granite worktops for the kitchen. It’s a luxurious material that elevates the humble Melteca joinery and transforms it into more than the sum of its parts.

“If you spend a little more on the small details, you can get away with economising elsewhere,” says Terena. That’s sage advice from the couple who have been building for themselves and others most of their lives.