The Block NZ winner Ben Crawford’s grand design

Building an architectural home on a tricky section in torrential rain would be enough to keep most couples fully occupied. But The Block NZ’s first-ever winner Ben Crawford and his fiancée Kylie Leydon are obviously no ordinary pair.

Not only have the dynamic duo just put the finishing touches on their self-designed Auckland home, but they’ve also done it at the same time as organising their wedding.

“We’re exhausted and it has been very stressful,” sighs Kylie, 27, as the couple welcome Woman’s Day into their newly finished Scandinavian-inspired home. “But we’d do it all again in a heartbeat,” adds Ben, 34.

Handsome and handy with a hammer, not so long ago, Ben was The Block’s most eligible bachelor. But all that changed in 2012 when he clapped eyes on Kylie as she queued to see the show’s open homes.

Ben and his sister Libby went on to win the competition and, soon after, the smitten builder won Kylie’s heart as well. Last year, Ben popped the question and the pair then embarked on their very own grand design. And finding the section to build their dream home on was almost as accidental as their first meeting.

Ben recalls, “Kylie was poking around on TradeMe and suddenly said, ‘Look at this!’ I remember saying, ‘Don’t tempt me,’ because I’d always dreamed of building my own house one day.”

Tucked into a picturesque valley in Castor Bay on Auckland’s North Shore, the section had potential. But Ben says, “It had been on the market for six years – I guess because it had a stream running through the middle of it and was covered in so much undergrowth, you couldn’t see the ground.

“We went for a bit of a bush bash and almost instantly we had the idea of working with the land instead of against it. We bounded away, sat on the beach with some grid paper and loosely drew our plan.”

Sweat & tears

The work on their cedar-clad, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, complete with a rooftop garden, started last November.

“It had been dry most of the winter,” says Ben. “Then virtually the moment the work started, it began to rain and rain and rain.”

Within days, the heavy machinery used for ramming in the foundation poles was stuck in mud. “It was pretty upsetting, as it ruined our plans of when we’d be moving in,” recalls Kylie.

During the build, the couple lived with Kylie’s parents. As well as making all the day-to-day decisions of building a house from scratch and pitching in with elbow grease whenever they could, Ben also continued to run the advertising agency he owns with Libby, while Kylie continued teaching and also overseeing her baby-clothing label, Buttons Boutique.

Dealing with setbacks was stressful, but the couple say that the process brought them closer together. “We had a few difficult arguments over the curtains as we’re both quite stubborn,” smiles Kylie, “but we came to a compromise. It was quite minor as far as the whole house is concerned. It’s amazing to finally be living in something we created together, which is just ours.”

The pair have just moved into their new abode – comprised of one “bedroom pod” and one “living area pod” linked by a glass walkway – after a last-minute push that brought back memories of Ben’s time on The Block.

“We had 20 tradesmen in the house one day and I took two weeks off work. Sometimes I was painting until five in the morning,” says Ben. “At times, it felt overwhelming, but the show was harder. At least when it’s your own house, if you don’t meet the room-reveal deadline, nothing bad is going to happen!”

Despite being engaged for almost a year, the experience of building a house together has taught Ben and Kylie new things about each other. “I learned that Kylie is very organised and she gets frustrated when things don’t quite go how she planned,” Ben says. “And she found out just how single-minded I can get when I’ve got the bit between my teeth!”

After finally moving into their unique oasis, the couple are looking forward to catching up on lost sleep. Kylie says, “I’m so excited about the little things, like making dinner in the kitchen and watching a movie on the couch.”

But the relaxing won’t last long. Throughout the build, Kylie has also been doing the heavy lifting on another upcoming project – their wedding. They’re set to tie the knot this coming summer on Waiheke Island, where they enjoyed their second date and where Ben proposed.

He says, “It’s been such a whirlwind – getting engaged, building a house and getting married all in 18 months. It’s been a stressful time, but we have created something custom-built just for us and our lives together. And we’re really looking forward to our wedding. It will be formal, but in a relaxed, natural setting. We can’t wait.”