Most people who have acquired property in Bermuda refer to at least one stroke of good fortune which put them on the road to home ownership.

In Nicholas Kempe's case, he was lucky enough to have inherited a piece of land in Warwick.

But it was also fortuitous that Nicholas is an architectural engineer and able to design a house and project manage its construction himself. He works as a registered surveyor (land and buildings) for Woodbourne Associates.

The property that Nicholas and his wife Alison acquired consisted of an old family house surrounded by some residential and some arable land.

"My grandfather bought the property in 1947," said Nicholas, adding that the house is now dilapidated and needs a new roof and other upgrading.

Instead of immediately renovating the original house, Nicholas decided it would make more sense to build a new, smaller cottage for his family on another part of the property.

Later projects will be to renovate the old house and rent that out to generate some income. Nicholas also has plans for the third lot which he hopes one day will accommodate another cottage and allow another family member to live close by.

Construction started in May, 2001 and while it was going on the family, including Andrew and new addition, Robyn, lived in the old house.

The three-bedroom, partial two-storey cottage was completed in May, 2001 and bears a strong resemblance to the original house. This was deliberate, said Nicholas.

"The idea was to keep everything as Bermudian as possible."

He used a natural cement wash to achieve an aged external appearance and tried to pick up on some of the design elements of the older building.

They excavated their own slate on the site and used some old dead cedar trees on the property for fencing.

They also took advantage of the natural contours of the land, making use of the excavated area to make a safe outside space for the two young children.

Being in the business has its advantages - Nicholas knows a lot of contractors and picked a company, Century Construction, whom he knew professionally.

Asked whether the house was completed on time, Nicholas said: "I wouldn't say it was within time, but it wasn't too bad."

In terms of financing, he was able to get a family loan and managed to avoid going to a bank.

He managed to keep the costs down by sourcing the construction materials himself. Construction materials such as timber and roofing materials were bought locally, but he flew to the US for two container loads of finishing materials.

"If you can get your hands on materials, shopping yourself can pay off, but you have to do a lot of research."

He added that supplying construction materials for a project can be very tricky and non-professionals would probably need help: "You have to stay way ahead of the contractor. If you're late, you'll hold them back."

He also got stuck into other areas such as paving, laying trenches and landscaping. "If there was anything I could do myself, I did it."

He emphasised the need to keep abreast of the construction process and said he saved a lot of time by always spending an hour on site before going to work and stopping by when he got home to make sure everything was on track.

Asked how he fitted all this in with a full time job, he grimaced and said: "A lot of long, late nights. Sometimes working through the night."