Discounted land and cost-price building are not terms that immediately spring to mind when discussing western Sydney real estate, but that’s exactly what’s being leveraged by one enterprising builder to help raise a quarter of a million dollars for kids in need.
G.J. Gardner Homes Sydney West has started construction of a brand new four bedroom family home, destined for a charity auction, on land at North Richmond’s new Redbank development in the picturesque Hawkesbury region of New South Wales.
The ‘Variety Freedom House’ is on track for completion by August with a public auction scheduled to take place in September. All profits from the auction will be donated to Variety – the Children’s Charity to help Aussie children who are sick, disadvantaged or living with a disability.
David and Belinda Hogan from G.J. Gardner Homes Sydney West said by building the home for cost only, and with the help of partners and suppliers, they hoped to raise upwards of $250,000 for Variety.
“This is the third year G.J. Gardner has been involved in the Variety Freedom House initiative, with $175,000 raised at auction last year by our Tamworth G.J. Gardner franchisee,” Mr Hogan said. “We’d love to go that little bit extra this year and get that figure up to $250,000”.
The builders look on track to achieve their ambitious goal with over 30 local suppliers throwing their support behind the project by providing materials and services.
“New suppliers are coming on board almost every day which means more money for Variety and more money for the kids who need it the most,” Mr Hogan said. “It’s been really heartening to see how positively Sydney businesses have responded to the fundraiser. We wouldn’t be able to do it without their help and I can’t thank them enough.”
Adding to the chorus of thanks was CEO of Variety – The Children’s Charity NSW, David Sexton.
“The Freedom House initiative is a great boost to our fundraising efforts in NSW and the money raised will go towards helping some kids in serious need,” Mr Sexton said. “Our sincere thanks go to everyone involved in the project.
“G.J. Gardner has raised close to $500,000 for us over the past three years, which enables us to assist over 10,000 plus children in NSW every year.”
Mr Hogan said the project really made the leap from concept to reality when North Richmond Joint Venture committed to the project by providing land at a generously discounted price.
“We have a great relationship with North Richmond Joint Venture, the developers of Redbank, so when we approached them with the idea they were immediately receptive,” Mr Hogan said. “You couldn’t embark on a project of this scale without that level of support.”
Mr Hogan thanked local suppliers involved in the project including Michelle from JML Designs (colour selection & consultancy), Markwater Plumbing, Bluescope, Electwest Electrical, Westair Conditioning, McTavish Design, C.A.D. Consulting, Ideal Corp, Residential Engineering, Grove Hire, D-Bulls Excavations, MCDA Concreting, Western Suburbs Concrete, Bradnams, Superior Seal, Home Timber & Hardware, Tankworks, Reece, Rinnai, YHC / HPM, Platinum Security Systems, CSR Gyprock, Beaumont Tiles, HTH, Blue Mountains Kitchens, Caesarstone, Shriro, B&D Doors, Daikin and Choices Flooring Blacktown.