Associated Press
SNOQUALMIE — Two companies are stepping in to help Habitat for Humanity finish building homes for low-income families in Snoqualmie Ridge before winter sets in.
Twelve of the 21 homes started during a two-week "Blitz Build" in August were left unfinished — lacking roofs, plumbing and electrical work. Habitat officials were concerned they could be damaged when the winter rains begin.
But two Woodinville companies have volunteered to help finish the homes about 25 miles east of Seattle.
"The response has been very encouraging," said David McDaniels, executive director of Habitat for Humanity’s East King County office in Redmond.
Six-man crews from the Lloyd Lynch Contracting and Northshore Sheet Metal will work this week to get metal roofs on a majority of the homes, said Mike O’Leary, Habitat’s manager of construction.
A local electricians’ union also offered to help, McDaniels said.
"People have been really generous," said Habitat spokeswoman Jean Ann French. "We’ve gotten calls from as far away as Puyallup from unskilled and skilled workers."
More than 2,000 volunteers participated in the Aug. 6-14 Blitz Build, but only two homes were finished in that time frame due to a lack of skilled labor.
Nationally, about 90 percent of Habitat for Humanity homes are completed within three weeks of a Blitz Build, said spokeswoman Angela Foster at the organization’s world headquarters in Americus, Ga.
The Blitz Build homes are the first of 50 — ranging in price from $65,000 to $75,000 — to be built in the development south of Snoqualmie. The local group set a 100-home goal five years ago, with houses also being built in Newcastle and Redmond.
Usually, Blitz Build projects leave a few loose ends but the homes are "ready to be moved into," said Michael Crook, another Habitat spokesman in Georgia. "So this is not ordinary."
Families qualifying for Habitat homes contribute 500 hours of "sweat equity," helping to build their own homes and other Habitat houses — but those hoping for the homes here were beginning to wonder if they’d ever move in.
The homes come with interest-free mortgages of about $70,000.
Since Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976, it has built more than 100,000 homes in 60 countries. Its best-known volunteer is former President Carter.
Volunteers who want to help finish the Snoqualmie homes may call 425-869-6007 or see the Internet, www.habitatekc.org/current projects/construction/
snoqualmie_ridge.htm
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
