Sweat equity builds a dream house

Press, 29 July 1987, Page 16

Sweat equity builds a dream house

In Residence

by

Sarah Sands

At the end of a hard day at work, most of us just want to go home and relax. In the summer months those with a little more energy may dig the garden or do minor maintenance about the house, but few of us would consider going home to spend a few hours each evening rebuilding the house.

For the past 18 months, Philip Tompkins, a leading hand carpenter with the Fletcher Development Corporation, has been doing just that. Philip and Julie Tompkins are the proud owners of the first “sweat equity” house to be offered in Christchurch by the Housing Corporation. Under the sweat equity scheme, the Housing Corporation buys houses badly in need of renovation. These are then made available to young families with a modest income.

The families rent the house while renovating, then purchase the home from the corporation. The work they have put into the house is taken into account in the purchase price.

The Tompkins house was bought by the corporation in 1985 for just under $30,000. The keys were handed to them by the Minister of Housing, Mr Goff, on December 18, 1985.

Since then, Philip has spent nearly all his spare time turning the rundown, 80-year-old, weatherboard house into the family dream home.

In total, the couple were advanced $20,000 to renovate the property. Julie Tompkins explains that this has now all been spent, most of the work on the house is finished, and all that remains is for the fully renovated home to be decorated.

The couple started at the back of the house which included the kitchen, dining area, laundry, toilet, bathroom, and an old sleep-out. This was completely demolished, rebuilt and modernished. A concrete floor was put in, and the laundry is now where the sleepout used to be. The bathroom and toilet have been rebuilt to better utilise the small space, and a new hot water cylinder installed. The kitchen is bigger and now includes a lot

more bench space and a small breakfast bar. The wall between the kitchen and what was previously a bedroom has been removed. This area is now a large, open-plan dining room leading into

the lounge. The fireplace from that room was removed and the wall moved back to make the previous lounge into a bedroom for the couple’s two sons, Matthew, aged four, and

Nicholas, aged three. French doors from that room have been replaced with conventional windows. Other windows in the house have been replaced and/or moved to allow plenty of light to get in. Many of the doorways throughout the house have been altered to maximise the living space, and the ceilings have been lowered to a more economic height for heating. Julie Tompkins says the ceiling within a ceiling lined with fibreglass has made the house very cosy.

“The house seems to hold the heat now even with no curtains at the windows.” The front of the house

has been clad with bricks aqd a verandah put up. Iron on the roof has been replaced with pre-coated steel. Almost all that remains to be done, she says, is another row of weatherboards around the bottom of the rest of the house. This has been delayed because Philip broke his elbow, then had trouble with his back. “It is now just the small fiddly things such as skirting boards and edging round the doors.” Julie is thrilled with the way the house has turned out, but says Philip has

not found it easy. “Often working around the existing building has been difficult — he has sometimes said that it would be so much easier just to knock it all down and start again.” One of her own complaints is that her husband is always working. “There has not been many days when he has been able to stop and do nothing — there is always something to be done. "But it has all been worth it when you look at what we are getting —- all we have to do now Is work towards decorating

and finishing it off.” Money for decorating is not provided by the corporation so Philip is working 12 hours a day three days a week as well as Saturdays’ to get the money, says Julie. “The house is cosy enough now and secure enough that the wee bits and pieces can wait till we get the money." Charles Consedlne, the corporation’s rental manager, says the sweat equity scheme is working very well. There are at present three houses, including the Tompkins’ home, beine renovated under the

scheme in Christchurch. “The difficulty at the moment is isolating pro-; positions which are .basically sound structurally ! for a reasonable cost > . “The ’ over-all' cost of > the house, including the renovations, has got to be within the servicing abili-, ties of the average in-' come earner. If you have to pay $40,000 for the property and spend $20,000 on renovating, it is very difficult for an average income earner to service that $60,000.” He believes the Tompkins’ house has turned out very well. ’