"It's a wonderful feeling where I just want to stand outside and just look at the house. Just stare at the house and constantly say 'Is this really true?'" Habitat Wake Homeowner
Habitat Wake Homes
Through volunteer labor and donations of money and materials, Habitat Wake builds safe, decent, affordable houses in partnership with families and individuals who don’t quality for traditional mortgages. Scenes of homes currently under construction show the fun and teamwork of being on site.Photo by Bob Chapman, volunteer house leader.
Volunteers and future homeowners perform most of the labor on Habitat homes including all carpentry, roofing, siding, interior trim, painting, and landscaping. Habitat Wake usually hires subcontractors for the site and foundation work, electrical, plumbing and Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC).
Building Methods
Habitat construction standards make homes environmentally-friendly while reducing operations costs. The Advanced Energy SystemVision™ program is stressed in the construction of all of Habitat Wake homes. Building homes to SystemVision™ standards allows homeowners to participate in a program that lowers heating and cooling bills.
Our community dedicated the 300th Habitat Wake home in May 2007. By construction standards, building 300 homes in 22 years may not seem remarkable. But, involving our diverse and broad community to create opportunities for more than 1,000 individual family members (two-thirds of whom are children) is an amazing accomplishment. A few facts on Habitat Wake homes:
- Habitat Wake homes meet or exceed the standards of the for-profit building community.
- The total cost of each Habitat Wake house varies due to the location and how the land was acquired, but it averages $105,000.
- A two-bedroom Habitat Wake house is 780 – 900 ft2; a six-bedroom Habitat Wake house is approximately 1,610 ft2
- The homes reflect the style of the neighborhood and historical detail when applicable.
