I think what he did was to decide that
a. he wanted to live out in the bush
b. he wanted his children to have something approaching a normal upbringing
c. he wanted -- or his familly wanted -- to have most of the standard mod cons
d. for his work he needed decent Internet, electricity, etc.
e. he wanted to be independent of power bills, water mains breaks, etc
The "go out and build a log cabin, get water from the creek, have a small solar charger for the communications radio" style simply was not on under those conditions. Also, if he was able to sell a suburban home with a decent profit he might have had the money to just go ahead and do it, get it ready *now*, rather than do it all by himself over a 10 year period.
If I had to start over, but had a bit of money -- say UKP 2-30000 -- I could buy a small cabin around here with a perhaps few acres. Few modern conveniences to be expected for that kind of money, but liveable for me. Then I would gradually add some or most of what he had; some source of electrical power for computer, cell phone, charging batteries, etc. I would stick with wood heat, maybe eventually install a shower (drawback; once you have water installed you must keep the cabin above freezing all winter), etc. If I would develop a social life a guest cabin is nice to have, but a heated woorkshop for green woodwork and minor carpentry would be a priority for me.
But I would still need a job, still need to be able to get to it predictably on a daily basis, etc. A road that could be driven all year with a 4x4, or distances that made 4wheeler/bicycle and snowmobile/skis practical would be a must. And some seasons where that would not be fun if you needed to be at the office by 0800, and look presentable.
I would build a proper earth cellar rather than the pit in the floor that he had, perhaps have the pit as a handy fridge, and the earth cellar for more massive storage.
Ha ha ha ha ha 
