David Reid Homes Waikato Building Homes of Hope

A pimped-out playhouse hit the market yesterday with the aim of raising funds to provide homes for families in Mexico.

David Reid Homes Waikato director Ben Green and a team of tradies and suppliers have spent the past weeks building the playhouse to sell on TradeMe for charity.

Money raised from the sale of the home will go towards building a home for a family in Baja, Mexico, with the help of charity Homes of Hope.

Ben and his family will be part of a group heading to Mexico on December 23rd, where they will give their time to build two homes for two families in need, free of charge.

Homes of Hope organises volunteers to build homes for families from different backgrounds, who own their land, but need some help building their house.
The cost of building these homes is $12,000nzd, Ben says.

“Part of the initiative has been to fundraise [for the project]. I ended up suggesting the idea of doing a playhouse to try and raise the funds.

“Twelve thousand New Zealand dollars will get these families a brand new home, fully furnished and stocked with a month's worth of food for the family,” he says.

So far, the team have raised just over $22,000 for the cause, almost enough to build two homes, and are hoping to raise the rest needed with the sale of the playhouse, which thanks to the generous Waikato tradie community, has been built free of charge.

“We’ve had four different building crews working on it, PlaceMakers donated the materials, we’ve had roofers, from Diamond Roofing and Peter Lloyd Roofing, windows and doors from Alitech … paint and labour from AD Painting for free, it just goes on, really,” Ben says.

Complete with double glazed windows, the result is a “pimped out playhouse”, which has become more of a little home than a playhouse.

The playhouse went live on TradeMe yesterday at a $1 reserve, and thanks to McLeod Hiabs Ltd, it will be delivered to the winner of the auction for free within the greater Waikato region.

McLeod Hiabs Ltd have also moved the playhouse from the David Reid Homes Waikato yard to their showhome on Hukanui Road, where it can be viewed until it has sold.