He knew it was meant to be their house.

But in the almost three years since, the house has firmly become home for the radio host and TV personality, his wife, journalist Jodie Speers, and their children — Freddy, who just turned four, and two-year-old Pearl.

Their door is always open. Neighbourhood kids run in and out for a swim, their parents pop in for a chat, work colleagues gather around the kitchen table for breakfast meetings.

There’s Helen next door — she’s feeding little Freddy’s big chocolate biscuit habit.

Then there’s Zacky and Ash across the road — Ben gives them $5 to delete old shows when the TV’s storage is full, and more to water his lawn every weekend.

Beau from up the street may only be 12, but Ben says he’s ‘got it’, and is locked in to do work experience at Channel 9 when he gets older.

This is home. And people on the street are family.

In fact, when Freddy’s preschool asked the confident youngster the five safest people in his life, he said Mummy, Daddy — and Molly who lives around the corner, as well as Jasper and Odie, who live up the street.

“This was the second house we looked at and when I walked in I said this is the one,” the 2GB Sydney Live commentator and Channel 9 Ninja Warrior host told The North Shore Times, as Freddy made his own Ninja course on their comfy cream couch.

“When we bought it, I said to Matt and Meg who sold the house to us, can we share some champagne to celebrate?

“He goes ‘it’s cold — you bought chilled champagne to an auction?’ — I said ‘mate — I was buying this house’.”

Freddy was 18 months when they moved in, and Jodie was pregnant with Pearl. They were welcomed by the community from day one.

“The day the removalists arrived, there were some kids jumping out of a tree on to an old mattress and as I walked in I said hello,” Ben recalled, smiling.

“They asked if it was my house, and if they could come in and have a look around.

“I said sure, so they came in and walked straight out the back and said ‘can we go in the pool’ — and jumped in.

“Jodie came downstairs and said ‘who are those kids?’ — I said ‘I don’t know’ — and ever since, the kids have never left.

“Neighbours bring Christmas and birthday presents for the kids, and all the kids have been to Channel 9 — we got a van and all the kids came and watched the Sunday night Footy Show, and will end up doing work experience with us at some point.

“They’ve become great friends of ours and really part of our family.”

More than friends, the Cammeray youngsters have even become Fordham employees.

“They all have jobs with me,” the 42-year-old laughed.

“Things like — for deleting Foxtel when the memory is full, they get $5.

“I pay them for cleaning out the attic, cleaning out the pool filter, walking Pearl when she was a little baby to help get her off to sleep — even the Saturday morning coffee run.

“I have a signed contract with Zacky and Ash from across the road to water my lawn every weekend — but it runs out on December 31 so it’s up for renegotiation.

“We were even going away on holidays once and we lost the remote for the Apple TV — so I said to the kids there’s $10 for whoever finds it, and I let them in — and sure enough, Kai found it under the couch.

“Honestly, we have been so impressed by the kids in this street and this neighbourhood.

“The way they have embraced our kids and taken them under their wings — they’re wonderful kids.”

Displaying similar entrepreneurial qualities from an early age, Ben and his little brother Nick also grew up doing odd jobs, even starting their own lawn mowing business.

The Fordhams lived in Frenchs Forest, Belrose and then Gordon, with Ben going to Chatswood’s St Pius for Years 5 and 6 before attending St Ignatius College, Riverview, from Year 7.

His brother Nick, 39, now runs the Fordham Company, taking over the family celebrity management business started by their parents John and Veronica.

The boys have a sister, Sarah, who has been a successful contemporary artist for more than 20 years. Recently expanding into design with homewares brand SAFO, her paintings merge with products — just like the pair of bright, colourful cushions that sit proudly in Ben and Jodie’s home.

“They tried to kick me out of Riverview from time to time, except now I get asked back all the time to do careers nights and careers speeches,” Ben laughed.

“But I was very lucky to go there and many years on from school all my mates are all still very tight.”

Jodie is no stranger to the spotlight, being a journalist on the Seven Network.

She grew up in Longueville, where her parents continue to live in the house she was raised in, and attended Lane Cove Public before high school at North Sydney’s Monte Sant Angelo Mercy College.

It was her love of the north shore and dream of a green backyard that saw the growing family leave their Redfern home and re-establish themselves north of the bridge.

“I was just going a bit crazy with the inner city living and I realised properly how much I missed the trees and the greenery,” Jodie said, multi-tasking as she read Freddy a book about farts. Yes, farts — one of the many prized possessions from his recent four-year-old pool party, even featuring real-life lifesavers.

“It’s nice being near my parents again, and I love the fact that here all the kids ride their bikes in the street and it’s safe, and the schools are great.”

The pair has been married for seven years, together for 10. And for Ben at least, it was love before they’d even met.

“I heard Jodie on the radio and I thought she was the best news reporter going around and I mentioned that to my mate and he said ‘wait til you see her’,” Ben laughed.

“Some time went past and it was his 40th birthday, and Jodie walked in wearing an apricot dress — I said to someone ‘who is that?’ — and he goes, that’s Jodie Speers.”

He got her number and asked her out — their first date happening to fall on Jodie’s birthday.

“I made up some lame excuse to have dinner — I didn’t know it was her birthday, until I asked how old she was.”

Jodie, now 35, is up for work at an unsightly 3am — but, ideal for the life of a mother, she’s home by 6am — before the kids even wake up. She took over the morning shift after Ben announced he would stop his work on the Today Show to be around more for his young family.

“I get up at 3am and go in to do the early morning show — it sounds crazy but is actually awesome — the kids barely know I’m gone, except I come home with a full face of make up,” she laughed.

“Then I take over from Ben — he is around in the morning and works from home getting his show ready.

“He is home at about 7pm when these two go to bed — and I need to start thinking about bed around 8pm.”

On weekends, there’s no work. It’s long, sunny days swimming in the pool with whatever neighbours care to join them and early barbecues with longtime friends.

“We love our house and our street, we spend a lot of time here,” Jodie continued.

“We hang out here a lot and do stuff with the kids, we’re close to Balmoral, and go out for breakfast — Maggio’s and The Alchemist Espresso are some of our favourite coffee shops.”

After hosting for the last two years, this Christmas Day will start excitedly opening Santa’s haul with Freddy and Pearl before a morning with the Speers in Longueville. Then it’s home for a nap, and off to the Fordhams for a traditional Christmas dinner. Then it’s a family holiday in Queensland and back to start 2019 with a bang.

“We love parenthood and are really lucky — we have a lot of time together,” Jodie said.