Repairs now and for the future

Seven years ago, Honey and Rochelle purchased their first home; a three-bedroom house with a sleepout. They’ve spent a lot of time and love renovating it into a home that works for their whānau.

About three years ago they hired a handyman to work on their bathroom, but when they noticed water leaking into their hallway carpet, alarm bells started ringing. Honey and Rochelle discovered issues which meant they’d need to replace the shower and carry out repairs to the surrounding walls and hallway floor.

With Rochelle undergoing cancer treatment at the time, the whānau were living on one income and didn’t have the funds available to complete the work. At the suggestion of a friend who had repairs carried out by Habitat for Humanity’s Home Repair programme, the couple got in touch with Habitat Central Region.

Habitat’s Home Repair programme offers affordable, interest-free loans to homeowners in need of critical repairs or maintenance. Having an affordable payment plan was a motivating factor in their decision to apply, along with the knowledge the work would be completed by Habitat’s qualified building team and contractors.

To ensure the bathroom would suit the couple’s needs now and into the future, Habitat replaced the shower with a new, larger cubicle with space for a support chair. They created extra space by cutting back the wall adjoining the toilet and bathroom, creating a new entrance off the hallway.

“The bathroom is amazing,” Honey says. “We knew, with Rochelle being unwell, we were going to need a bathroom that was fit for purpose and that was going to help with her ongoing health issues, so this is also about ensuring we’re set up for that.”

In addition to the bathroom renos, Habitat also supported Honey and Rochelle with fixing a ranch slider and carpentry work around a manhole cover.

“It’s just awesome, we were just so blown away by how quickly they did the job, and also by the quality. You can feel it when you go into the bathroom – we actually really enjoy being in there.”

Regular communication from the Habitat team kept them well-informed of where things were at, and they felt like they were involved in the whole process – including being able to select the flooring so it would match the rest of the house.

“The comms were really good from the start,” Rochelle says. “They were always contacting us to see it’s a good time to come around. I was surprised how quick the turn-around was.”

Honey and Rochelle’s repairs were supported by Waikato-Tainui, who work in partnership with Habitat to make referrals for tribal members and cover a portion of the repair costs. Habitat’s Operations Manager, Alayne, put forward their application after seeing Honey affiliated to Waikato-Tainui.

“That was all arranged by Habitat,” Rochelle says. “We sort of knew that funding was available, then Alayne rung and asked if she could submit our application as she’d seen Honey was eligible.”

The couple describe Waikato-Tainui’s support as a “massive, massive help”.

Honey says, “We’re just so grateful and feel forever indebted to everyone who’s helped us – Habitat, the iwi, and the team who came and did the work. It’s exceeded our expectations.”