"RESIDENTS of a model housing estate bankrolled by Hollywood celebrities and hand-built by Jimmy Carter, the former US president, are complaining that it is falling apart.
"Fairway Oaks was built on northern Florida wasteland by 10,000 volunteers, including Carter, in a record 17-day "blitz" organized by the charity Habitat for Humanity.
"Eight years later it is better known for cockroaches, mildew and mysterious skin rashes."
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I don't see how volunteers could be responsible for the cockroaches...
It would be funny if it was not so sad. I often wonder how well built the houses are on Extreme Makeover. It may be possible to build a house in 7 days, but that does not mean it is smart to do so. It takes time to install plumbing systems, etc, no matter how many people.
10,000 volunteers is just to many to manage over 17 days.
I have often wondered how well some of those quick rebuilds hold up. I have seen some of the house flipping programs and in a week or two the whole house has been rebuilt. Doesn't it take time for the plaster to dry before painting ? Maybe more time for other things to setup such as the floor tiles.
I think that might be because part of the n'hood was built over a trash dump, which seems in one case to be immediately below a kitchen.
OTOH, I don't see how one bad set of 86 homes, now matter how bad it was (and the article says some people say they're ok) could "challenge the bedrock philosophy behind Habitat for Humanity, claiming that using volunteers, rather than professional builders, is causing as many problems as it solves." You would need a lot more valid complaints spread out over a lot more projects to even start to do this.
Habitat is negligent and did not give them their food, work, free medical, clean the houses, take out the garbage, shower the kids, give them a car, camera and playstation.
Is this more of the '2 nations divided by a common language'? To me they just said Carter built the whole damn thing hisself-- then they say there were 10000 volunteers.
Here's another story on it from June 2007.
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Friggin' Florida. Does this sound a bit political; "April Charney, a lawyer representing many of the 85 homeowners in Fairway Oaks, said she had no problems taking on Habitat for Humanity, despite its status as a 'darling of liberal social activists.' "
Diennal Fields sums it up nicely- "Some residents dismiss their neighbours? worries. Diennal Fields, 51, said people did not know how to look after their homes: ?It?s simple stuff: if there is mildew, don?t get a lawyer, get a bottle of bleach.?
To round some numbers off-- 100 homes built 8 yrs ago have 100 complaints brought to the builder & a couple were unresolvable. Is that a bad record? [I don't know- I've never gotten involved in mass-produced housing]
For the rest of the folks they are living in $90K houses with a mortgage/insurance 'burden' of $300/month.
That sounds like a success to me.
People are involved so it ain't perfect. But it sure beats any government program I can think of.
I was once invited to invest in a sand pit. The promoter said there would not be a proft, but there would be a huge tax benefits. Here's how the scheme worked:
As sand was sold from the sand pit, investors had a tangible asset that could be depreciated (the sand).
When the sand was exhausted, investors now had a big, honkin' hole in the ground. The company could charge folks to dump stuff in the hole (concrete, tree stumps, etc.). This asset (the hole) could now be depreciated as the asset was used up by people dumping stuff.
When the hole was almost filled, the site would be covered with topsoil and sold to a developer as a low-cost housing site.
I passed and invested my money in swamp reclamation - displaced alligators don't sue.
I have participated in more than one "Parade of Homes" or "Builder/Remodeler Showcase" type of projects over the years.
Way to many people working too closely together to try and meet some unrealistic deadline. I have installed drapery hardware over wall paper that had only been on the wall for a literal minute. Witnessed so many shortcuts being taken by others because of the need for speed.
My advice is to Never Ever buy one of those homes.
Your drapery hardware may have been holding the paper in place.
I can see where having a good plan and experienced people you can get certain things done very fast. If you sweat a joint, it is only seconds and it is as set as it well ever be. Drywall mud, concrete, paint, tile adhesives all take a little time to cure or set. A 3500 sq. ft. house in a week is too fast for me.
I wonder how well set the concrete is on the foundations and basement walls that have been pored? Do they have an onsite inspector, geez it takes me a couple of days to get one out to look at my work.
When my wife was building houses they had two "habitat" homes the national builder was sponsoring. The typical procedure was to have a weekend with volunteers in there on TV, then most of the next week was taken up by pro's fixing or simply ripping out and replacing all the volunteer work. The real inspections took place after that (even if they did have an inspector on TV talking about how great a job "habitat" was doing). Most of the value of the habitat program is in the amount of professional labor and the materials that get donated. The volunteer input is largely just for publicity. In a union state you will need a paid journeyman shadowing every volunteer anyway.
Houses built fast and probably fairly cheaply and by volunteers who are willing don't always know what they are doing! But under Habitat for Humanity people who otherwise would 'never' own a house; even a run down older one get a new home.
But they may be occupied by people who either and/or don't have the income or the common know- how or incentive to look after their own house. We have had examples here of identical and good quality housing just a few units apart in same residential area being in opposite condition.
For example unit A. Occupied by a widow lady, low income is immaculate, it's dry, not dusty and everything inside is well cared for. There is very little maintenance required; besides the widow there is one daughter who works part time and also attends school and AFIK a son. Three people. Residence was 'nice' there were a few flowering plants growing etc.
Unit B. just down the street is a different matter. An identical unit. The siding and outside wall adjacent to their kitchen had rotted out. Apparently due to water spillage and not using the exhaust fan while cooking. The front door had been damaged and didn't fit correctly and so on. The whole place was damp! There was extensive minor damage to walls, door handles bathroom fixtures etc. Clothes were being dried in basement area without ventilation. Place was a mess, tin cans parts of a car out front etc. basically all the makings of a slum. Same number of occupants one of whom was 'said' to drink a bit?
And these people unlike the rest of us don't even have to fix stuff themselves! Some are low income, some on 'welfare' or disability etc. etc.
A report, initially critical of the authority responsible, concluded that it was 'Life style' that caused the problems reported in the press. For example: If the people in unit B didn't have the gumption to run a fan or open a window for ventilation while boiling stuff on the stove for hours .................. !
So while the comment does sound very political and critical; "Oh look at those do-gooders; falling down on the job and possibly not allowing unionised workers (or cheap migrant workers?) a chance to work ................ etc. ". and there may be grain of truth in poorly and quickly built problems; let's be more generous.
Since 1960 we've persoanlly built homes twice without mortgages and it takes time, effort, sweat equity, living without certain things, at least for a while, making mistakes (Wish I'd done it that way. Oh well!), fixing some mistakes, but overall providing your family with a safe and comfortable home. Family grown up and gone now; but what a sense of achievement!
'Be it ever so humble and so forth ...... ".all the best to everyone for 2009. Could be a difficult year or two; so live careful and economically.
The Habitat houses in our area are very well built - with perhaps fewer deficiencies than many "pro-built" homes. There are always well qualified supervisors making sure it is done right. The fact that the majority of these homes go to low-income families who have in most cases never owned a home or lived in one for more than a few years at a time means there is often a lower level of maintenance on some of them. That said, the pride of ownership shown by many Habitat home recipients in our area is incredible.
Also, building on Florida swampland almost guarantees cockroaches and mildew. I've been in "high class " hotels in Florida where the coackroaches would almost carry your luggage out for you.
I would think the residents are culpable too. Maybe HFH has the deepest pockets, but if your motis operandi is to have the home owners contribute sweat equity, then those homeowners must also share in the liability of shoddy construction. Insulating the homeowners from all liability is not right, mildew, roaches and skin rashes can easily be due to poor maintenance as well as construction. I've volunteered for two HFH projects, not to feel good, but simply because my employer solicited volunteers and I like to build stuff while drinking a beer in the sun. Personally I feel my yearly contribution to United Way did more than those weekends and cost me much less. The projects were managed well enough, but the women being housed didn't have a clue about home ownership and the responsibilities involved down the road, having lived in public housing. The houses were very bland vinyl- sided frame units not much stronger than if you parked a row of double- wide mobile homes there. That community today is deteriorating, sadly due more to the lack of responsible men than shoddy construction.
Most of these homes IF they actually have problems, is most likely cause by lack of proper maintenance. These type homes are given or sold at a low price to lo-life type people who think it's a maintenance free palace. They never do anything to prevent the alledged problems they are now reporting.
Brother Jimmy is a better carpenter than he was a president, and was fine at hammering nails. (And now in his dotage, he probably can't even do that any more.) But while trained as an engineer, it wasn't in civil engineering- if the people that set up the project were stupid enough to put it on poorly drained uncompacted fill land, well, problems are inevitable. You can't build in a swamp. (I have firsthand experience with that, owning a house in Louisiana. Even on high ground, the climate rots everything.) And pretty much everywhere in the far southland, bugs and termites are everywhere.
But yes, the HforH houses are low-end at best, and even supervised amateurs do make more mistakes than 'real' carpenters. But even a low-end house can be made to last, as long as it is on solid ground, and properly maintained. Part of the HforH process is that the recipients have to put in sweat equity, on their own and other houses. Supposedly, this also gives them the skill set to do basic upkeep down the road. Sad to hear it didn't work out in this case. The HforH houses around here seem to be doing okay, with few public complaints, and a very low default rate.
I do agree with the others- I'd also be wary of a speed-record blitz house. QC is an important part of the build process, and doing rework is pretty hard if 3 more layers of building materials are covering the work.
As a crew chief for Habitat in my area, I see a good bit of work that has to be redone. Our motto is, "We do it right the last time."
I'm supposed to train and supervise several groups of volunteers at the job site. For example, I'll get some kids started painting siding on racks in the back yard, a few people putting up siding, and some more installing sub-fascia. My job is to constantly inspect their work to make sure it's done right. If it's wrong, it's my fault, not the volunteers'.
On my last house, a crew of men was putting up Hardi lap siding. They had been told to leave no more than 1/8" gap at the ends. When I checked, the first two rows looked OK, but I made them re-do the third, because it had too big a gap on one end. When I came back again, I was amazed how quickly they finished the wall. Then I figured out they were fast because, though the right end looked great, the left end had gaps I could put my thumb in. They had to tear it all off and do it over.
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