- A run-down house was renovated by 11 Whakatāne teenagers and listed for sale.
- The Trident High School students spent eight months installing a new kitchen, bathroom and roof.
- Profits from the sale will be reinvested into the school’s Allied Trades Training Course.
An ugly, run-down house that was once used for smoko breaks has been brought back to life and listed for sale by a group of 11 teenagers from Whakatāne.
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The property had been rotting away at Champion Flour, in Tauranga Port, at the start of the year, but is now unrecognisable after eight months of hard renovation work by the students at Trident High School.
Champion Flour donated the unwanted house, and Bay of Plenty House Removals transported it free of charge from Mount Maunganui to their yard in Whakatāne in March this year.
Before: Champion Flour donated the house, which required significant repair work. Photo / Supplied
The walls had holes in them, the ceilings were falling apart and the paint on the weatherboards was flaking off. Photo / Supplied
The Trident High School students plan to reinvest any profit they make from next month’s sale back into their school’s Allied Trades Training Course.
Julie Ball, head of careers at Trident High, said the house was in a dismal state when it first arrived.
“Although pretty ugly at first, it had some good bones; all native timber floors and a solid interior.”
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The year 11 and 12 students spent three days a week during the school term bringing the house up to scratch, installing a new kitchen, new bathroom, new laundry, new roof, polished matai floorboards, and double-glazed aluminium joinery.
The course is led by local builder Hamish Galloway, of Galloway Builders, and Ball said the project had put her students’ skills to the test, including in carpentry, concreting, and plastering. They also had to deal with consents after reconfiguring the layout.
Ball said the course was aimed at students who were not engaging with the curriculum and whose attendance at school was low.
The students, pictured with local builder Hamish Galloway, stripped the house back to its frames. Photo / Supplied
The course ran for the first time last year and was so successful that the school continued with it in 2025. The results in the first year spoke for themselves, with some attendances up by 55%. One student went from telling his mum every day that he didn’t want to go to school to turning up early to get stuck into the project, Ball told OneRoof.
The hope is that the skills and knowledge the students built up during the renovation will help them get apprenticeships or lead to further training courses after school.
Ball added: “The project is incredibly important as it not only provides an authentic learning project, but allows students to gain valuable skills in the allied trades, be part of a team, see a project from start to finish, be proud of their efforts, and generally learn in an environment that suits their own needs.”
The layout was reconfigured, and a brand new kitchen installed. Photo / Boundless Vision, The Northern Group
The high school students installed new joinery, relined the walls, and painted throughout. Photo / Boundless Vision, The Northern Group
Northern Group agent Sharnika Dowthwaite offered her marketing skills to help sell the relocatable house. She said she was genuinely impressed with the quality of the students’ work.
“Even though this has been a learning environment for trades students, the finishes are professional and polished.”
The modern, functional kitchen and the exterior of the home painted in a duck-egg colour were real standouts, she said.
Dowthwaite said it could suit families, investors, or anyone looking for a holiday home, as well as owner-occupiers with a section or land ready for relocation.
Last year’s house was sold by tender and bought by a company based in Taneatua to accommodate overseas staff during the hay/crop season.
- Trident House is for sale, tender closing October 24
