News, Manchester
People buying homes on a new housing estate were able to get £10,000 off their mortgages by mucking in to help build them.
They laboured, landscaped, painted and decorated at the St William’s Church and Presbytery site in Wigan to get the reduction.
The scheme, run by housing association Prima and charity Housing People Building Communities (HPBC), is known as “sweat equity”.
While mother-of-two Chloe Radcliffe, 28, said saving for a deposit had been impossible, putting the hours in on site had “given me the chance as a single parent to realise my dream”.
She added: “Me, my mum, dad and sister loved working on my home and building a great little community.
“Other people who did the same are now my neighbours.”
People who took part volunteered 500 hours each towards the shared-ownership development.
They helped create 13 apartments and 14 new-build houses.
Rachael McCoy, 35, a nurse who also works alongside Ms Radcliffe at her nearby beauty salon, said getting on the property ladder would have been difficult without the scheme.
“It meant we could get our home without saving for a deposit,” she added.
Prima Group chief executive John Ghader said sweat equity was a “great alternative to the Bank of Mum and Dad”.
He added: “Instead of putting their hands in their pocket to help with a deposit – something not every parent can afford – some have got their hands on a shovel and contributed to their children’s on-site sweat equity hours.”
HPBC chairwoman Reverend Dr Shannon Ledbetter said the project had help “provided affordable, accessible homes for those who might otherwise never have dreamt of it”.
