One home for one family in one week: Professional Home Builders Blitz successfully completed in five days.

Story by www.habitatcapecod.org

Wall-raising began slightly before the 7 a.m. start time on Monday September 23; the certificate of occupancy was issued Friday afternoon September 27. Participants, contributors, friends, family, interested community members gathered at 1 PM on Saturday to celebrate and join in a house blessing and collectively welcome the Richards family to their new home. The moving van pulled up to the house at 3:15 PM.

The now-completed home at 8 Bevan Way is part of a small 5-home Habitat for Humanity subdivision on land purchased with Town Community Preservation Act funds. The Richards family, who will purchase the home for $133,800 from Habitat, will close on the home as soon as the rest of their 500 hours of sweat equity is complete. By the blitz week, they had finished 80% of this requirement, helping to build Habitat homes in Mashpee and Centerville. The last 100 hours will be done helping their new neighbors on Bevan Way to build their homes with Habitat volunteers. The home will be deed restricted to be affordable in perpetuity upon any resale.

The Blitz home was fully sponsored by the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod (HB&RACC), and was the first partnership of this kind between the local home builders association and the local Habitat. Although there has been one 1-week blitz in Habitat Cape Cod's history (1996), as well as a 2-week WomenBuild blitz (2007), this was the first blitz entirely by professional tradespeople, either volunteering as individuals or working as crews contributed by their company. In some instances, one company completed an entire phase or sub-phase of construction, such as framing, in other instances, such as landscaping, crews and individuals from several companies worked together. In several instances, such as two of the on-site project managers, professionals used up to a week's vacation time to dedicate themselves to the blitz.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity

More numbers, facts and background information:

200 companies or individuals contributed crews, supplies, cash, food, or other services related to the blitz.

120 professionals built the home.

35 companies provided the supplies and materials to build it.

Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod fully funded this house. All construction was contributed by companies or individuals. Almost all supplies were donated or deeply discounted. Fundraisers and dedicated donations are paying the remaining cash costs of this house.

Habitat for Humanity arranged and obtained the building permit, site work, underground utilities and a capped foundation. From there the building professionals did the rest.

2006 was the start of the national partnership between National Association of Home Builders and Habitat for Humanity International. This initiative encourages local partnership between Home Builders and Habitat affiliates for professionally built blitz houses every two years in June – coordinated for the same week all over the country. The two organizations on Cape Cod made the decision to do their first partnership blitz off-schedule with the national – in September – as a more favorable season for builders in a tourist economy who are often on hard deadlines from private customers in June.

The national and local partnerships between Home Builders and Habitat for Humanity serves to put a spotlight on the critical need for affordable homes; demonstrate what a concerned community can accomplish; enhance the capacity of the local Habitat affiliate by building new relationships with more building professionals; build community awareness, highlight the good work of both organizations – and, provide the opportunity for affordable home ownership to one more family living in some circumstance of critical housing need.

Purchasing a Habitat for Humanity home, with an affordable monthly mortgage, will allow the Richards family to continue to live and work and raise their children here on Cape Cod. Heidi and Michael, parents of two small children, both grew up in the Lower Cape. They are supporting their family working three jobs – in Orleans and Brewster.