'It's crazy' - Children's sketches of their dream houses turned into reality by apprentices

May 1, 2018

It’s part of a bid to inspire kids to get into the trades.

A group of apprentices brought together from across the country have turned Wellington children's drawings of their dream house into a reality.

Seven Sharp reported the ultimate aim of the project over the last few months is to inspire more young people to get a trade.

Primary school age siblings Xavier and Tui Rererangi Aitken drew their dream house - a sort of king-sized playhouse.

They explained it included an attic for each of them, an art room, a sports room, a grass couch, a balcony, and even a lava floor.

The apprentices - men and women - went to work and built the house to the young architects' requirements, not forgetting the slide out the window they'd also included in their drawing.

"That's what we do," said Warwick Quinn of the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation.

"As a career and as a trade, we build people's dreams. And this project is a fantastic example of taking a kid's drawing and how we can convert that dream into reality. And I'm just dying to see the look on these kids faces when we show it to them."

Mr Quinn says as well as enticing new apprentices, there's also a focus on those already in the industry to "trade up". 

"If you look at the opportunity's available to you, you can do pretty much anything you like. You can work as a trade's person, you can go in and own your own business, you can become a supervisor, you can go into corporates, you can go into all sorts of areas. It's vast."

So what was the kids' verdict on how their sketches were turned into reality?

"It's crazy and great," Tui declared in front of the house.

For Xavier, it was "nearly" everything he dreamed of, sister Tui adding the only thing the builders hadn't included were "unicorns".

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