Having made a career developing properties for other people to enjoy, Anthony and Teresa relished the opportunity to use everything they’ve learnt to create a dream home for themselves

WORDS CAROLINE FOSTER

PHOTOS CHRIS SNOOK

FACT FILE

NAMES Anthony & Teresa Ralph

OCCUPATIONS Developers

LOCATION Kent

TYPE OF PROJECT Self build

STYLE Contemporary

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Timber frame

PROJECT ROUTE Employed architect & homeowners project managed

PLOT SIZE 896m²

LAND COST £287,000

BOUGHT 2015

HOUSE SIZE 356m² (incl. 44m² office/annex)

PROJECT COST £519,675

PROJECT COST PER M2 £1,460

TOTAL COST £806,675

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED January 2016

BUILDING WORK TOOK 17 weeks

CURRENT VALUE £1,200,000

As a property development team, Teresa and Anthony Ralph are no strangers to moving home, as they have updated and built new houses together many times over the years. “We relocated from one renovation to another regularly,” says Teresa. “It’s always exciting to complete a project, but after many years we both began yearning to put down some roots.”

Finding a forever home was never going to be easy, but an unexpected call from an old friend brought them back to familiar ground. “Fourteen years ago we purchased a house to renovate in a lovely street close to Botany Bay in Broadstairs, Kent,” says Teresa. “A couple bought the plot next door and we have all been friends ever since. They’d kept an eye open for other renovation projects for us, as they really wanted us to move back to the street, and rang to let us know that a building plot had just come on the market.”

Lucky find

Acting on their friend’s tip off, the Ralphs revisited their old street to view the patch of land, which was surrounded by a high wall. The couple were curious to know what lay behind. “Anthony lifted me up so I could peer over the top and I was surprised to see a beautifully maintained croquet lawn,” says Teresa. “The site was surrounded by trees and we could hear the sea. The land was flat and just magical.”

Putting forward an offer through a sealed bid system, the couple received a phone call the day before they were due to go on holiday and were shocked to hear that they’d submitted the winning bid. “It threw us completely, as we were in holiday mode and had to start thinking about planning permission, builders and everything that goes with a house build,” says Teresa. “Fortunately, we had a great team of builders that we’d worked with for years and we were able to design the house ourselves, using architects On Architecture to draw up formal plans for the planning application.”