Carpentry students ready to raise roof

Thirty-two carpentry students armed with hammers, nails and some growing building knowledge are only weeks away from roofing the first Waiariki charity house.

Waiariki Institute of Technology's Charity House Project will result in a house being built and sold at auction each year for the next five years, with money raised going to charity.

Waiariki carpentry students are nearing the halfway mark for the first such house in Rotorua.

Project manager and senior tutor Ray Ellis said they had erected the wall frames and would be looking at starting on the roof soon.

"We are just waiting on the scaffolding to be installed," he said. "There is still some timber work to put in around the top of the wall frame but the next stage is the roof."

The plan was to finish the house by the end of October and he believed the students would be "there or thereabouts".

"I think we are running quite well to target, I can't foresee any problems at the moment."

The students had got behind the project and enjoyed working on the building site.

"The house so far is a credit to them. The proof of the pudding is they are there nearly every day, and work away relatively well each day."

He said the 32-week carpentry course was set up to get students industry-ready and the on-site work was doing that.

Waiariki's interior design students are also working on the three-bedroom charity house.

When the house is sold at auction, money raised above the base costs will go to the Rotary Club of Rotorua Sunrise for distribution in the community.

A number of Rotorua businesses have got behind the project, including PlaceMakers Rotorua, where the house is being built.