Habitat for Humanity Unlike almost everywhere on this Web site, on this page I mean to be serious continuously. Habitat for Humanity is a fine not-for profit organization that you should consider enjoying. HFH builds houses for deserving, low-income families that are in sub-standard or overcrowded housing now. The homeowner owes a relatively low principal payment and no interest, which makes the house much more affordable. HFH makes up that deficit through donations of money, objects and labor. And as mortgage payments flow in, they are used to fund more houses and keep the whole enterprise moving forward. Money. Some people donate a few dollars once, and some organizations such as THRIVENT sponsor many houses every year, which in the Kansas City affiliate as of 2010 cost around $100,000 each. Objects. Some people donate a few tools (whether knowingly or not:), and some businesses donate many thousands of dollars worth of tools and supplies such as paint and housewrap and drywall. Labor. But most people's experience with Habitat for Humanity is through volunteering on a construction job site. As for me, I've volunteered a few dozen hours to the Heartland affiliate's job sites. I've also put in some time in behalf of the Kansas City affiliate. I was on the payroll for some weeks in 2000, being 99% in charge of the rehab house at 3232 Highland, about which you should read more here. And since 1997 I've put in a few volunteer hours.
I figure roughly way over a couple thousand hours on KCMO job sites, many of
which early on were spent following orders and many of which since then have
been spent giving orders to other volunteers. I even have my own
ceremonial Bobcat key, about which you can learn more
here.
There's a philosophy about construction sites that applies just as well to volunteers as to professionals: Safety, Accuracy, Efficiency. This simple three-word philosophy encompasses all the construction site goals there are, and the order of those three is on purpose. Safety comes first, because it doesn't matter how accurate and efficient workers are if they're getting hurt too much. Injuries cost time and money, and no construction company can operate successfully if people on the sites are getting hurt too much or too often. On professional sites, a worker who is too dangerous -- whether to himself or others -- will soon be fired even if he is otherwise really good at his job. On a volunteer-labor site, you might not get expelled but you will surely be asked to be more careful. Not to mention that getting hurt . . well, hurts, about one example of which you can read more here. Accuracy is second on the list of goals. Houses must be built accurately enough to "work" right, to pass building codes, to be easy to work on, and to look good. As a novice volunteer you will not be expected to know why a door header works or whether code calls for two or three stair stringers. But you will be expected to follow the instructions you're given, so if a piece of wood is supposed to be sawn to 92-5/8 inches, then 92 won't do. As to looking good, some procedures can be performed in such a way that the house is sound and passes code but that are still unacceptable. There's no structural reason to do a good job painting, and no building inspector is going to care whether the carpet is spattered with paint or the outside of the house was mistakenly painted with slightly different colors. So it's a judgment call how accurate to be when it comes to mere appearance. One novice volunteer I worked with did a particularly sloppy job attaching aluminum fascia to the gable of a Habitat house. The piece was going to perform its function perfectly well, but it was ugly. When I asked whether he might want to try a little harder to make the house look good he said, "Not only ain't this my house, I can't even see it from my house." Now while I think that's a hilarious response, I will tell you that my standards are different. What I always say to volunteers who want to know careful to be is "How good would you want it if this were your house?" Efficiency is the third goal. Once you are safe enough and accurate enough, you want to get efficient, which means wasting the least time and the fewest objects possible. The faster and cheaper a Habitat house can be built safely enough and accurately enough, the better. This is true of any construction company. For example, if you are too accurate you waste time, which is the opposite of efficiency. I watched one volunteer measuring and marking each board he was sawing with not one but two crow's-foot marks and then using a Speed Square to mark the cut line. When I pointed out that measuring for and marking the second crow's foot was 100% unnecessary, he told me about how someone had told him about the Carpenter's Rule (Measure twice, cut once), and, by golly, he was going to follow it! Clearly this novice was being too careful and thus inefficient. Remember the board we wanted to shorten to 92-5/8 inches? If you mistakenly saw it to 92-3/4, it is not necessary to try then to saw off that last 1/8 inch. To do so would be time-consuming and thus inefficient, and even less efficient if three or four other people are waiting for you to get finished. Several procedures performed by novice Habitat volunteers are repetitive, and some of those are complicated, such as attaching drywall and siding. It is especially in these multi-step procedures where you can get efficient remarkably quickly (if you try hard). For example, when you start hanging siding on a wall, you and your other crew members will be slow and hesitant. It will take you a long time to hang that first piece of siding correctly, i.e., accurately. You'll have lots of questions (a few of which I've tried to answer here) and you'll make mistakes. You will be inefficient. But if you strive to learn from each such mistake, and if you keep thinking through what you're doing, and if you seek advice, you will get more efficient. The harder you use your brain the faster that will happen. You will find it pleasurable to realize at the end of the day how much better you and your teammates are at hanging siding than you were when you started. Volunteering on a Habitat job site is good for a deserving family, it's good for the neighborhood, and it's good for you.
You can read (and write) about the Kansas City affiliate of Habitat for Humanity using these links.
But of course, before you do anything else, you should go to the HFH series of Fun Pix I have accumulated so far, starting, oddly, here. As I said at the top, Habitat for Humanity is a fine organization, and I
hope you are interested enough to follow up. |
Habitat for Humanity International Umbrella organization Habitat for Humanity Int'l. 1-800-422-4828 Habitat for Humanity
Affiliate territory: Habitat for Humanity KC 816-924-1096 Heartland
Affiliate territory: Habitat for Humanity KC 913 342-3047 (Kansas) or Truman Heritage
Affiliate territory: Truman Heritage Habitat 816-461-6551
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