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| In 1976, Millard and Linda
Fuller started a non-profit Christian organization to rehabilitate and build
homes for families living at or below the poverty level. Over the years
Habitat has built 200,000+ homes around the world. Habitat counts on
donations and volunteers to accomplish its mission. House construction
involves individuals putting in sweat equity on someone else's project
first, before they can be considered eligible for a home themselves. If
selected, the individual is expected to work on their own project as well.
At completion, HFH houses are sold to the family at no profit and financed
with a low interest loan that goes into financing the building of more
homes. Houses go from $800 in undeveloped countries to an average of $60,000
in the United States. HFH-based organizations are located all over the
world. Its a simple fact, Singles will find it almost impossible to qualify, even if impoverished or if a family makes slightly more than HFH guidelines allow. We urge you to try, but understand the limitations both from the HFH home office and HFH affiliates have their own individual qualifiers. However, even if you do not qualify, House & Cottage still encourages you to work on at least two projects from start to finish before you even consider building your own home. The reason is simple, one needs to understand the working mechanics, and to network with others for manpower in the future. There is so much to accomplish before putting that shovel into the ground. Plus financial institutions need to know you have actual working experience in contracting a home building project. Beyond that, its important that you know what you are doing! To find an HFH organization in your area, press here! Next is to encourage your church to start a building club for singles or lower middle class families that do not qualify for HFH help. The group accomplishes two purposes, the ability to provide labor for each other's home building project and to establish a base in which to receive donations and volunteer help. Chances are someone in your parish knows of retired individuals from the construction trades who would enjoy doing something creative with their free time for fun or a feeling of purpose in mentoring projects along. Recognize that each future home owner is on their own for gathering funds and materials for their individual projects - there are no free rides. Interested individuals can recruit fellow future builders by promoting the group through church periodicals and with church involvement, through the media. Speakers at meetings can include financial advisors from banks, building code information from a local city building department, actual construction information from construction workers and planners and project managers and architects. Its a lot of work, however, the end results will pay off many times over. And by networking, you have a chance of landing a much better job than you may have now! At the very least, you'll hopefully end up with your own home! While putting a group together, its important to learn what goes into building a home, that means cracking a book on the subject. House & Cottage feels the best book to own is no longer published, but very likely can be obtained from a book store that handles used copies - Ortho's BASIC HOME BUILDING, An Illustrated Guide, published by Ortho Books! Two good places to hunt online include Alibris Books and Amazon. There are a number of books, but trust us, this is by far the best! If you want to preview an actual copy, check with your local library system - but we urge you to buy your own copy! Think about what kind of home fits your needs and that of your family - be realistic in your expectations based on budget and available manpower. Make the project too complicated or grandeur, and chances are you'll find few if any volunteers to help you build it...which brings us up to actually designing a home. There are two good home design software packages we can recommend from actual usage - Chief Architects' "Better Homes & Garden's Home Designer Deluxe" and Punch's "Architectural Series 4000 Home Design" Suite. Each has its own pluses. If its down to one choice, then we suggest Chief Architects' software package! It tells you when there is not enough room to place objects and has an ability to calculate a materials list made up from your plans. You can expect making a lot of changes in your individual designs and its also a good idea to have some familiarity of local building codes as you progress - few things are worse than putting together a wonderful design that can't be built because it doesn't meet code requirements. Take some non-credit night courses on basic home construction at a local high school, vocational educational facility or community college. Take courses in basic woodworking, plumbing, electrical and landscaping if you can. Everything you learn will not only help in understand the building of a home, but also how to maintain one! ...and that will save you a lot of money down the road! Get a feel for the real estate market...locations, costs and lot sizes...by keeping your eye on the market, you'll have a better understanding to what is available and what you can afford! Start gathering tools using guides in a building construction book to have ready when the actual project begins - better to have the tools at hand, than find yourself having to buy or rent them at the last minute...and yes, during a project, take the tools home with you at the end of the day - things tend to "walk" when unobserved...even in an enclosed house! Have a secure place to store materials in a safe place away from the lot. The more items you can buy for cash before the project begins, the less you'll need to borrow, the more money you'll save. Think about people - friends, family and co-workers where you can store items that you might not be able to store where you live - someone who actually owns their own home. A good idea is to offer the individual a shed to be erected on their lot in a place they prefer at your cost which becomes theirs at the end of the project - free and clear! Don't make any requests until you are seriously ready to start gathering material. Keep in mind, a shed should be 12'x12' and tied down with water proof rope and screw-in anchors. The floor should be made up of stone to allow for drainage and be slightly higher than surrounding ground. Decide to go only with those you feel you can truly trust! Close family or friends are the best choices. Understand that anything that does disappear is your loss - don't blow a good friendship over something for which that individual has no control. If you can store things in an unused portion of a garage or outbuilding or basement, all the better! Remember, all material should be kept off the ground and protected from moisture! ...well, that's a start, we wish you good luck! |
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