Celebrating the Official Closing of Our First Home!
It is with great joy and pride that we announce that the Blessing House, our first Housing Hub build, has officially closed and our first clients are now homeowners! This project, which started almost 2 years ago at Grundy County High School could not have happened without all of our community of supporters. What started as a dream and a back-of-napkin sketch has been transformed into a beautiful new home for a mom and her teenage son. As we celebrate, we at Housing Hub wanted to give some reflections about the entire build and share in this accomplishment with all who had a role, from volunteers to donors and so many more!
The biggest feat, aside from simply finishing the home, was that thanks to all of the support of Grundy County High School, Tim Tucker, our volunteers and the Housing Hub staff, we were able to build a home that appraised for more than double the cost to build! It is a tremendous accomplishment to create value of that magnitude and pass along that value to our new homeowner. This was made possible through the work that the students accomplished during the 2023-2024 school year, as they framed half the house, installed roofing, windows and siding, and begin the rough mechanical installations. Their labor and the meaningful skills they received through this training opportunity were invaluable. Once the build was transported to site and Housing Hub fully took over, we had 45 unique volunteers and hired 7 local contractors and suppliers to contribute to the home. By rough estimates, more than 550 hours of volunteer labor were poured into this house. It is amazing what we can accomplish together!
Thanks to the savings we were able to generate, Housing Hub was able to make some strategic upgrades to certain materials and products in the house. A few of the decisions we were able to make, and their impacts are:
All of the appliances in the home are Energy Star Certified, reducing the utility load on the home.
LED lights were used throughout.
We were able to install an energy-efficient, multi-zone heat pump air conditioning system which will provide comfort without over-taxing the electric bill.
We were able to upgrade to more durable materials for the flooring and siding, reducing maintenance costs in the long run.
All of these cost slightly more upfront than lower quality materials but reduce the long-term cost of the home. As we continue to build and grow, we will always be interested in making strategic upgrades that add value to the home.
Finally, we were able to take a home from the development point all of the way through the mortgage closing process. This allowed us to understand some of the unique challenges we might encounter as a nonprofit housing developer and to implement strategies that will increase our overall efficiency and impact.
Check out pictures from various stages of the Blessing House on the Our Builds page, linked here. And stay tuned for more updates as we approach the groundbreaking of our next build!
