A house built from scratch in just 21 days sold for $783,000 at auction on Sunday with all proceeds going to the Children's Cancer Institute Australia.
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The crowd of 200 burst into applause when the hammer fell. Many had expected it to fetch just over $700,000, but spirited bidding from five bidders pushed the price $83,000 above the reserve.
The Glenmore Park home was bought by Rosemary Dorakay and her son Stefan, who owns a local coffee shop. They are going to live in the four-bedroom property along with Ms Dorakay's daughter.
"We drove past during the build, seeing all the tradies working so hard – we never thought at the time we would be its first owners," said Ms Dorakay.
"We're thrilled to have bought a house that will have such a positive impact on childhood cancer."
As part of the Build for a Cure campaign, the home was built using donated land, labour and materials with celebrity backing by Scott Cam from Channel 9's The Block.
The renovation show host previously told Domain that the contestants of the latest series would have had "no chance" in replicating the speedy build. "This is a superhuman effort," he said.
On a 500-square-metre plot of land gifted by the Wearn Brothers Group, an army of volunteer tradespeople worked around the clock and managed to finish the build in just 12 days. The build was co-ordinated by McDonald Jones Homes but the winners of the 2012 season of The Block, Brad and Lara Cranfield, also lent a hand.
Once the frame was up the team used a technique called "wrapping", which effectively weatherproofs the site, preventing any delays.
But those hoping for their own three-week build will be disappointed. Construction manager Mick White said even if people could afford to bring on so many tradespeople, councils typically would not let them work such long hours.
The quick build gave representatives from Freedom, Electrolux and Panasonic plenty of time to kit out the house with furniture and mod cons, all of which were included in the sale.
Selling agent Daniel Latty from PRD Nationwide donated his services for the sale campaign and Damien Cooley from Cooley Auctions also lent his support on the day.
While many in the crowd were would-be buyers, others were there to see what the windfall for the institute would be.
One of those was Tabitha Baker, who knows first hand how critical the research conducted by the institute is. Her daughter Laelani was diagnosed with neuroblastoma while still in the womb. Laelani is now one and the family are in a wait-and-see holding pattern.
Ms Baker is hoping the campaign will raise awareness "so that maybe one day when we do find a cure we won't have to go through this".
The head of fundraising at the institute, Anne Johnston, said the sale price would pay for 56 children like Laelani to undergo testing for childhood cancer in the future.