THEY DID IT!!!!!
THREE HOUSES IN A WEEK!!!!!

Septembr, 2006 - Rhoadesville / Unionville, VA. - The flatbeds loaded down with the building materials rolled onto the Unionville building site at 6AM on Monday, June 5th. The K. Hovnanian Homes building partners C. C. Carpentry arrived shortly after that – and by 9 PM the new Habitat House at 20030 Independence Road had exterior walls, interior walls, roof trusses, and a roof erected. “These guys are really good. Their professionalism and efficiency were obvious” said Mike Hill, President of Rapidan Habitat for Humanity.

While over at the Rhoadesville site on Verdiersville Drive, the Sun Builders partners got a little bit of an earlier start on Saturday, so that on Monday at 6 AM they already had the floors and exterior walls completed on the house at 10064 Verdiersville Road. Then on Monday they completed the roof trusses, roof, and interior walls. Nathan Tolbert, Sun Builders, owner/partner was also erecting the second house on Verdeirsville at the same time; so his crews were always on the move.

"The Home Builders Blitz is a nation wide program with more than 1,000 home builders constructing 400 houses during the week of June 5 – 9, 2006. We are so very fortunate to have two highly qualified and respected builders working with us,” said Dwain Cox, the Executive Director of Rapidan Habitat for Humanity, Inc.

FEATURED CONTRACTORS.

SUN BUILDERS of Fredericksburg built the two houses in Verdiersville Manor. “ We had our crews scheduled precisely by locations, and thankfully we had beautiful weather and long day light hours to accommodate the schedule,” reports Nathan Tolbert, President of Sun Builders. Nathan is also a member of the Board of Directors, Rapidan Habitat for Humanity.

“God has been good to me and our company; it is our time to repay His kindness by doing something to help our community. We are delighted to join this Builders Blitz," Nathan said.

K. HOVNANIAN HOMES is the seventh largest home builder in the USA. Hovnanian Homes build the house at 20030 Independence Road in Unionville.

"We are delighted to join with Rapidan Habitat in this Builders Blitz program," reports Mike Saba, of K. Hovnanian Homes. “We are building this house not only as a continuing effort by K. Hovnanian Homes in our Nationwide support of Habitat for Humanity, but also as a living tribute in memory of Rick Potter," said Saba. "Potter Homes was planning to build this house prior to his untimely death," he said. "K. Hovnanian Homes and our partners on this project have donated all of the materials and labor and build the house." An example of the donating and cost sharing is that the crew from C.C. Carpentry donated half of their salaries and their company donated the balance of their salaries.

Mike Frazier was the on-site Manager for K. Hovnanian. He scheduled and managed every single facet of the house building – flawlessly. “I had a lot of fun building this house and I am ready to do it again. All of us at K. Hovnanian believe in the mission of Habitat for Humanity,” Mike proudly exclaimed.

“Terry Forness of K. Hovnanian is the individual with whom I had first contact concerning the building of this Habitat house. Early on it became apparent that this was not going to be a normal Habitat house build for either party. I have learned that this K. Hovnanian built house is the first for which they have totally donated materials and labor.

According to Habitat Corporate, this is also a first for Habitat where a builder has donated 100%,” explained Cox.

CONTRIBUTORS

• NATIONWIDE:
  • “Since this Home Builders Blitz was a nationwide effort, we had a lot of support from the top down,” says Dwain Cox. The Nationwide supporters were: Whirlpool, Kohler, Masco, DOW, Ferguson, Hunter Douglas, Yale, The National Arbor Day Foundation, Larson, SquareD, National Housing Endowment, and Periwinkle & Bloom.
• LOCAL:
  • The K. Hovnanian Team was comprised of the following members: C & C Carpentry; Dominion Insulation; W. H. Metcalfe; Darvish; Fred W. Borden; R.E.S. Electrical; KIPS Erosion; K.T. Enterprises; Home Kim Siding; Builders First Choice; Porter Logerbeam; Certified Environmental Drilling, Inc; Creative Touch Interiors.
  • The Sun Builders, Inc. Team : Lewis Brothers Painting & Decorating, Inc.; Batchelor Construction, LLC; Basic Plumbing; Cary Quality Insulation; Nash Roofing Specialist; LMO, Inc; WLS Erosion Control, LLC; H&H Electric Inc.; Comfort One; Accurate Siding; Lets Rock It!; Paint N’ Paper; TimberTruss Building Systems; Sherwin Williams; PermaTreat; Door Decorators; JK Carpets.

FOOD FOR THE ARMY

“While I was up and on the road every day before 6 AM collecting bottles of water and hundreds of pounds of ice to quench the thirst of the workers, we had a lot of help from business establishments and Churches to keep food in the stomach of the teams,” said Cox.

“Not the Same Old grind” made fresh coffee available everyday. Hefty lunch bags consisting of big sandwiches, chips, fruit, cookies, brownies, were provided each day for

50 people by: Antioch Baptist Church; Unionville Christian Church; Salem United Methodist Church; Rhoadesville Baptist Church; and the Bethlehem United Methodist Church.

Clearwater Grill’s Lenny Schafer provided dinners for those working late, which happened every night. Clearwater Grill provided the food and the Chef (Brian) for the weekend Celebration on June 11.

VOLUNTEERS: We had more than 50 volunteers during the week. They were taking food and water to the workers; clearing scrap building materials, and any other jobs they were asked to do. The Habitat families for whom the Verdiersville houses were being built, the Breeding Family and Foster’s, were actively engaged throughout the week.

"It's been a absolutely wonderful and amazing week", said Hill. "Habitat started the week with three lots, three wells, and three foundations. The week ended with three houses, which are now ready for occupancy. Remarkable," he said

More Pictures!!