"Nice to be able to say - we built that"
Phil and Cath Snitch of Rockley, near Bathurst, seized the bull by the horns and built their own home, despite living busy professional and family lives.
The couple tackled all the construction tasks themselves, with the exception of concreting, Gyprocking, plumbing and electrical wiring. They had nothing but praise for the Paal building process.
“The great thing about Paal was that they were always happy to help if we needed it. We were never left on our own,” Phil said.

The Snitches looked at many kit home catalogues, but what sold them on Paal was that the company supplied all the internals, whereas a number of the other companies provided incomplete kits.
The couple worked on the project during evenings, weekends and school holidays, and moved in within a year of starting construction.
Phil and Cath are both school music teachers and performers, as well as running their own music academy. Yet Phil admits to being easily bored, so the challenge of building a home was irresistible.
Not that it was always simple going. Their home is two and a half metres off the ground at the rear, so they had to lift the joists and bearers onto metal pylons.
Building a house isn’t a small job, but Phil and Cath found that when looking back, it took only a short time.
“Now that it’s finished, there’s a fantastic feeling of satisfaction. It’s nice to be able to say ‘We built that’,” Phil said.
The Snitches’ home is finished in typically Australian bush colours of tan and Eucalyptus Grey. Situated on a bushy block above a valley, the house can barely been seen from off the property.
“It blends into the surroundings extremely well and leaves a small footprint. That’s what we wanted. If you sit on the verandah, you look out across the tree tops. Beautiful!” he said.