When Karlos and Jemma Barltrop watched recent television reality show The Block NZ, the memories came flooding back.
And if not for their own experience in another home renovation show nearly a decade ago, they reckon they would not be where they are today.
Mr and Mrs Barltrop, both in their 30s, own CT Business Solutions, a division of Computer Troubleshooters Dunedin, and have just marked two years in business.
The couple have fond memories of their involvement as the winning "yellow" team in Mitre 10 Dream Home.
Mrs Barltrop described it as an "absolutely life-changing" experience and she was still overwhelmed by the support they received.
"If we could have written a letter to Dunedin to say thank you, we would have," she said.
Her husband remembered it as "extremely stressful" but also fantastic. He felt for the contestants on The Block as he knew what it was like.
With the arrival of more children, the family outgrew their winning "dream home" in Corstorphine and sold it.
For Mr and Mrs Barltrop, going into business was a big move, but they also saw it as an opportunity to "create something bigger and better" than what was out there.
Mr Barltrop believed there was a gap in the market for small to medium-sized businesses.
Those business owners were often getting "geek speak", when it came to IT matters, that they did not understand and ended up with the wrong solutions.
Computer Troubleshooters is a global franchise, with about 480 worldwide and 30 in New Zealand. Being part of a global franchise meant they had the benefit of having so much knowledge behind them, but they also had the ability to tailor themselves to their target market, Mr Barltrop said.
The couple, who have three children - Mya (10), Ethan (7) and Iszac (6) - are originally from Oamaru.
After completing his secondary schooling, Mr Barltrop headed to Dunedin to study architectural draughting.
He discovered he did not want to pursue that path, but it did open up an area he became interested in - talking to people.
He did some sales work and he learned he was a good communicator. He also wanted to help people and found "his calling" in IT.
He graduated with a bachelor of commerce degree, majoring in information science, and worked for Mainland Products and then Computerland. In 2008, he joined the team at Computer Troubleshooters.
Two years ago, the franchise owner wanted to move back home to Auckland. Although the Barltrops had a young family, they decided the time was right.
The business had grown "massively" since, from three positions to 7.5. It continued to grow, and they are looking at getting more technicians.
And now their children were all at school, Mrs Barltrop had become more involved in the business. She worked during school hours, looking after administrative work.
The business acquisition came along at the perfect time, as she wanted to be a stay-at-home mother while her children were preschoolers, but was then keen to get back into the workforce once they were at school.
She also enjoyed working with her husband. "It's amazing watching the person you're married to be so good at something. Most people don't realise what their people do at work, do they?
I get to see it in action."
At the same time, it was "hard to turn the talk off sometimes".
And it was also a 24-hour, seven-day-week type business, which meant that it was a juggle with work and family life, she said.
But it was also "fantastic" owning a business and being able to make decisions.
In an employee role, there were things Mr Barltrop said he wanted to do but did not have the opportunity to do.
Their clients were in business and education, from Timaru to as far south as Invercargill.
Along with schools, there was a wide range of businesses, as diverse as plumbers and accountants, builders and real estate firms. Clients had anywhere from five computers or users to 150 users.
They dealt with everything from network design and large-scale wireless deployment to corporate security, back-up solutions - which had become increasingly important since the Canterbury earthquakes - and mobile management.
Their big focus was on managed services, fixing a problem before it became a problem, so the client did not have any down time.
About 70% of jobs could be accessed remotely, which also cut down on travelling costs.
Computers were now a necessity for most companies yet there were business owners who did not understand them.
By training them so they could use their devices properly and by making sure they had the right solutions, productivity increased, Mr Barltrop said.
It was a family business and they wanted to keep it that way.
Their youngest son, Iszac, already appeared to be following in their footsteps.
The 6-year-old tried to fix the computers at school - "I think they call him their IT champion" - and often Mr Barltrop would get home to find him with the screwdriver out "undoing something and trying to fix it".
As a small-to-medium business themselves, they had an understanding of the challenges that all businesses faced, they said.
While continuing to grow, they wanted to keep the personal connections with clients and did not want to be "a big huge corporate conglomerate".
