Submitted by Team Leaders:
Rosemary and Barri Amor August 3, 2003

Nineteen volunteers from the FMCA Chapter:Habitat for Humanity took part in the first Canadian RV Build from July 21 to August 1, 2003 at Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in partnership with the Waterloo Region Affiliate. Because most of our Team had previous build experience, the Waterloo Affiliate assigned us to a high profile single family home nine day “Blitz Build” to supplement a mostly inexperienced volunteer work force. The build was funded through the auspices of Habitat Canada by the VIM Canada Division of Unilever Corporation (in the US, one of the many products Unilever make is ‘Slim-Fast’) who provide funding for two houses per year in Canada. This build was located at 305 Thaler Avenue, Kitchener, Ontario which is part of the Waterloo Region Affiliate area.

Our Team members were: Rosemary & Barri Amor F113404 – Team Leaders; Cathy Haight & Ken Harmon F77823 – Assistant Team Leaders; Donna & Bill Cain F220745 (first time builders); Nell & Ed Darlington F206567; Bill Ferguson F184735; Barbara & Floyd Hager F145574; Clarice & Bob Mangum F140950; Stuart & Russ Pfitzinger F271372 (first time builders); Linda & Peter Shepherd F281985 (first time builders); and Linda Walden & Lynn Laymon F245876. For address information, please refer to the attached sheet.

The Waterloo Affiliate, through their ‘gift-in-kind’ programme, had arranged for free RV parking at Green Acre RV Park in Waterloo complete with water and 30 amp electric and a dump station on the grounds. The park was about 14 miles from the Thaler Avenue build site. Most of our Team arrived at the park around noon on Monday July 21, with the others having arrived a day or two earlier. Shortly thereafter, most of the Team headed out to the nearest Walmart Store to purchase ‘green patch’ safety footwear (steel toe and shank) which was mandatory for this build (and all construction sites in Ontario). At 4:30 pm the Team met for introductions and a Chapter safety meeting, and at 6 pm moved over to a welcoming dinner hosted by the Waterloo Affiliate with a representative of Habitat Canada also in attendance. Later in the evening the Affiliate Build Co-ordinator gave a short safety message and outlined the scope of the build, the number of volunteers expected each day onsite, and what was anticipated of our Team – to train, facilitate and mentor the inexperienced volunteers, as well as work. The Waterloo Affiliate works on a two shift build day:- 7 am to 4 pm and 4 pm to about 9:30 pm. Our Team was assigned to the day shift – 7 am to 4 pm. All break snacks and lunches were provided by local churches and businesses and distributed daily under the watchful eye of Team member Barbara Hager with assistance from other Team members. Although there was rain in the area, there was no lost time due to inclement weather during the build.

Tuesday July 22 arrived with an eager group of 75 volunteers onsite including about 30 from the Head Office of VIM Canada (the house sponsor) who came for one day. The pre-build work had completed the concrete basement walls, basement framing, and placing of the main floor which was situated about five feet above ground. By the end of the day, all wall framing was finished and most of the roof trusses were installed. Interestingly, all walls were framed with 2x4 lumber, instead of the usual 2x6, and eventually covered by two inch thick SM-Dow blue foam insulation combined with fiberglass insulation in the walls to provide a total R-value of R-20.

Day 2 – Wednesday July 22 started well with about 50 volunteers onsite, however, problems with the interconnected double hip roof with varying elevation slowed progress considerably, and took most of the day to resolve. By Thursday night – Day 3 – the roof shingling was complete (no roofing paper was used on this build), and other crews completed installing the sheet insulation and wrap on the outside walls. Day 4 – Friday was a low point on this build. All tools onsite had been stolen overnight! A neighbour had seen the theft and from descriptions given to Police, all tools and equipment were recovered by late evening. In addition, the electrician did not show as promised, so crews had to rush to install all electrical cables throughout the house.

Day 5 – Saturday, volunteers were requested to assist the nearby Wellington County Affiliate in Elora, Ontario, who were having difficulty setting up a Lite-Form basement framework. This system, whereby Dow foam insulation panels are tied together with extruded spacers to form walls for 8 inches of concrete is a recent innovation for pouring concrete basement walls and provides for a high R-value of insulation. Five of our Team (Barri Amor, Floyd Hager, Lynn Laymon, and Bob & Clarice Mangum) spent four very hot days working with a Waterloo Affiliate volunteer who had previous experience with the Lite-Form system, correcting the mistakes that had been made and completing the bracing and tying for the concrete pour, which was successfully completed by Wellington County Affiliate volunteers on Thursday July 31st. Because the Lite-Form system is volunteer friendly, and Dow is encouraging Affiliates to use it in both Canada and the USA, the system will become more common for Habitat pre-builds. The five Team members who worked at the Elora site are now well informed to be able to assist any Affiliate who may wish to use the Lite-Form system in the future.

On Day 10 – Friday August 1st. at 4 pm the Thaler Avenue house was dedicated, and although there were some items still outstanding, all volunteers, and especially our Team, had made a valiant effort to complete them. Following the dedication, a catered BBQ was held onsite with steaks generously provided by a local neighbour.

As Team Leaders, Rosemary and I want to thank Maureen Crawford, Vice-President Affiliate Affairs, Habitat Canada for her assistance and mentoring in the arranging of this build for our Team, and Pat McLean, Executive Director, Waterloo Region Affiliate, for accepting us on the VIM build. In addition, we would like to thank Waterloo staff Linda Keating for her very extensive work arranging everything for us, and David Fair for his onsite direction and words of wisdom and encouragement. We would also like to, for the record, thank the members of our Team for their efforts on this build. The hours were long (leave camp at 6:30 am and return around 4:45 pm) and the onsite frustrations were many, particularly working with the many inexperienced volunteers. However, our role was to train, facilitate, and mentor and I believe that the whole Team, including our first timers, accomplished that goal. In the purest form of Habitat volunteerism, early in the build, Team member Linda Walden was teaching a young lady how to hammer a nail. A short time later, the excited young lady ran over to our Barbara Hager exclaiming ‘I hammered a nail – I actually hammered a nail!!’ Those of us who have experience sometimes forget the simple joys of Habitat volunteerism. All told, our Team provided the Waterloo Affiliate with 1557 hours of volunteer labour. On the down side, even though every effort was made to re-enforce the issue of job-site safety, three of our Team were injured, although none required hospital treatment. Two had severe ankle sprains, and one tripped causing a black eye, split lip and severe wrist swelling. Team member Linda Shepherd, an RN, graciously administered treatment to all three. Thank you notes are currently being sent to all individuals and organizations who assisted the Team during the build, and ‘thank you’ emails are being sent to all build Team participants. The Build fee accounting, while not yet complete, was audited up to August 2nd. by Floyd and Barbara Hager and found to be in order. Surplus funds are to be divided between the Chapter Build Account and Habitat Canada.

In summary, the Team is of the opinion that, even though the Affiliate and staff were experienced, greater effort and care for detail would have allowed this build to be completed within the designated time period. Work that was supposed to have been completed during the pre-build was not done; the complicated roof should have been carefully reviewed before construction began; and better liaison with trades before they are due onsite would help eliminate surprises and downtime. Also, there were two occasions where there were no onsite supervisors to direct and answer questions, and a number of the local volunteers simply left for the day. We would strongly recommend that a supervisor (staff or volunteer) be onsite at all times during ‘Blitz Builds’. Should the opportunity afford itself again in the future, we recommend that consideration be given to another build by this Chapter in partnership with the Waterloo Affiliate.

Rosemary and Barri Amor

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