Kaitangata. It's a small spot near the coast of South Otago, tucked between some hills and the banks of the Clutha River.

Population: Roughly 800. A pub. A takeaway shop. A motor camp. A coal mine. A few other amenities.

In 2016 a plan was hatched to revitalise the small town: the Kaitangata District Promotions house and land package.

It was bold and unique and so ambitious that it attracted international media attention - when some began wrongly claiming that the local council would pay people $160,000 to move there.

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That wasn't the case, of course. But to be fair, the real house and land package still sounded too good to be true. Starting at $230,000, you could get a three-bedroom house and some land.

Clutha Development chief executive Linda Moore said the economic promotion group was at one point getting up to 200 emails a day from people who wanted to move to Kaitangata. There was a time when Clutha District Council Mayor Bryan Cadogan had 40,000 messages in his inbox.

There were 12 packages up for grabs and they were all snaffled up - some by locals, some by buyers from Auckland or Taranaki. But Clutha Development is still receiving up to 20 emails a week, many from overseas buyers.

SUPPLIED A couple of years ago, an ambitious plan was hatched to revitalise Kaitangata, a small south Otago town that was "stagnating".

In June last year, it was hoped the houses would be built and the families would be moving in within 12 months. At one point, there were plans to find more sections and build more homes under the scheme.

But it's late May and building work hasn't started yet - although builders did install toilets for the workers on the first sites this week, in preparation for things to get underway.

The man behind the plan, Kaitangata dairy farmer Evan Dick, said things hadn't progressed as quickly as hoped. There have been hold-ups around obtaining mortgages and building consent, and a shortage of available builders.

Regardless, Dick and other residents say there's already "buzz" in the small town. "It's been amazing ... but turning it into reality is a different thing than having an idea."

MARY-JO TOHILL/STUFF Kaitangata District Promotions member Evan Dick. He's the man with the plan, and he's poured years of hard work - and his own money - into the house and land scheme.

Dick has put his own cash into the cause, as well as his time. "When [the story] went viral, people said 'put your money where your mouth is', and I thought f... yeah, I will."

He bought a block of land and developed three sections for the project. "I sold them at exactly what it cost me. I make any money on it. I just showed people this is what you can do."

He says the homes, when built to the original spec, came in for under $240,000. "I just did it to show people we could do it for what I said we could."

SUPPLIED A bustling Kaitangata in its coal mining heyday.

WHAT'S THE HOLD UP?

"It's a lot of frustration with bloody everyone getting themselves organised," says Dick. "The biggest problem is ... it's hard to come to Kai[tangata], buy a section, especially if you're a younger couple. The banks - they don't want to see any unknowns.

"I'll give you an [example]. I did three sections, the top section, the young fella brought that, he's got his Kiwisaver [but] the banks wouldn't look at him because there was too much uncertainty - we couldn't guarantee a price."

They found a solution, but it was time-consuming, says Dick. "It's going to happen, it's just going to take time."

The consent process had taken a while but the local council was "not too bad" to work with. "They've been really good actually ... they want to see growth."

Booked-up builders had been a problem, however. Cadogan said construction had been delayed because builders in the district were so busy.

MARY-JO TOHILL/STUFF Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan says there's a "buzz" about Kaitangata. He's proud of the south Otago town.

"If you came to Clutha now and said 'I want to built a house', you'd probably have to wait until the end of 2020, which is a phenomenon we've never heard of.

"It's good and it's bad, I suppose ... everything is still all go but we're just waiting for the builders to turn up, for the cogs to turn.

"I know I'm getting from a lot of people 'where are the houses?' ... it's not just as easy as we'll build the houses tomorrow."

MARY-JO TOHILL/STUFF Big River Homes director Mark van Asperen of Balclutha will be working with South Otago High School students in a new learning collaboration with Otago Polytechnic.

Balclutha-based builder Mark van Asperen recently told Stuff the industry was struggling to fill apprenticeships. That was partly why he recently launched a pre-tertiary level training initiative, the Big River Homes Trades Academy, in conjunction with Otago Polytechnic.

"The situation is going to get worse before it gets better, so that's why training locally is going to help, not just builders but other trades as well."

Van Asperen is a key player in the house and land package scheme - Big River Homes are involved in some of the builds - and Dick has praised him for his support. Dick said the turn-around on a Big River Homes build was about three months.

ARE THE OWNERS HAPPY?

Dave Ferguson got involved because he wanted to move back to the town where he grew up. He was one of the first three to buy one of the packages.

MARY-JO TOHILL/STUFF Former Kai boy Dave Ferguson is returning home to build on the section he bought from the Kaitangata District Promotions land and house package scheme.

Ferguson said he was at least a month away from starting the build on his home thanks to small town delays.

"I didn't realise it was going to take so long to get prices and that. I'm used to being up in Christchurch where everything happens pretty quick," he said. "Down here it's exactly the opposite. The average quote down here was taking me three weeks. Some longer.

"I'm probably a hell of a lot further through my process than most of them because I've done retaining walls, I've put [down] 20 tonne of gravel, I've got the power and everything into the boundary and the boundary fence up the south wall ... It will be all pretty quick once it starts."

He'd heard there was a two-year wait list for builders in the area and guessed there would be 10-12 homes built by the end of 2019 - if everything went well. Ferguson had organised local workers to lay the concrete pad and put the roof on but his son - a builder - would be doing the bulk of the work.

Ferguson is still looking on the bright side. He was keen to get into the house and hoped that would be by October, or Christmas at the latest.

"There's a wee bit of a buzz going around with the new community centre going, of course you've got the skate park and all that for the kids.

"You probably won't get much change until some of the houses start going up ... I think once you see some actual houses go on the land then things might change a wee bit. You always get a bit of negative stuff but most of it is pretty positive I think."

'REDEFINED'

Cadogan said the town had been "redefined" by the resettling initiative, despite the delays.

"It's driven them ... pride has gone into the town. There's been a redefining that the town is for the young people where you can raise a family, where you can get a chance," he said.

"Kaitangata, it's got a beautiful view out over the delta. It was always a lovely position for a town. But I think the awareness of what they really had came to light through (recent projects).

A recently completed skate park and bike jump park helped make it a place for kids, teenagers and young people, he said. Kaitangata received $100,000 in 2017 to go towards the development of a new community hub.

Amanda Tiedemann has just opened a preschool in Kaitangata. She and her husband purchased a property a few years ago and holidayed tin the area, but moved permanently from Whangarei in September 2017.

RICHARD DAVISON/STUFF Kai Kids Preschool owner Amanda Tiedemann has opened Kaitangata's first new early childhood facility for the past five years.

"It's humming. People are looking forward to it [the house and land project] going forward.

"I don't have the comparison of what it was before ... but There's definitely a positive attitude and I guess a bit of a buzz that things are moving forward for Kaitangata."

Dick is - after all his years of effort - still enthusiastic.

"I've taken a bit of flak here and there but I know what's happening and it's going to happen. There's a lot happening in our wee town and we can be proud of it.

"Our town's been stagnant for so many years. But I think once we turn a corner it's going to do its thing."