HONESTY BOX

+ Best lessons learned? Dharlia: Do your research online, then visit the suppliers in person to see if the quality matches the price.

+ What would you never do again? We loved the whole process. It was a pretty exciting moment when we could walk through our house after the walls had been erected just two days before!

+ Most memorable experience you have had in your home? We invited all our nearest and dearest to our ‘house-warming’ and surprised everyone by announcing we’d got married the day before! That was a pretty epic celebration of our love in our beautiful new home.

+ How did your budget compare to your actual spend? We came in on budget. We had to!

+ What areas did you save and splurge on?

We saved by only investing in what we needed. New furniture, drapes and a refrigerator will come further down the track. Through saving on construction costs with Durapanel and our wastewater system we were able to up-spec all our kitchen, bathroom and laundry ware.

+ Do you tend to buy high-end or seek out a bargain? We tend to seek out a quality product at a great price. Both our dishwasher and oven were top-of-the-line but outdated shop floor models that came much cheaper than out-of-thebox prices. This enabled us to purchase quality products without breaking our budget.