Habitat For Humanity vs Flipping/ Rehab

[William Strong]

I just finished working with Habitat For Humanity for the day on home demo. And I was wondering if any one has done this and thinks it provides some good experience.

Today we worked on demo and stripped the house down to the studs. The home was originally built in the early 1900's and there was tons of Knob and Tube wiring spliced right into current wiring before switches and outlets. I'm hoping to continue working on this same house and see the whole process through. And get some more experience.

If any Flippers or Rehabbers out in the BP world have any experience or anyone else for that matter. Do you think this is valuable experience for beginners such as my-self?

[Bill Gulley]

Glad to see folks here volunteering for HfH. I was on the Board of Directors here and did much in the administration (deeds/notes/lease/qualifying) for applicants and getting the organization off the ground. It's a great organization and a good experience at all levels.

Field experience is obvious really, anything a newbie can do in demo or construction counts. You mentioned wiring and knob and tube. What you may see in an old house should show you what you might find and safety issues in approaching any rehab, you never know what you'll find in the walls and you don't really know (unless power is totally shut off) if a line is charged or not.

Any time spent on a construction site is great, Ask questions and observe, but make sure your mentor has experience and knows what they are doing. Most of the families working on their home are not skilled. We were lucky to have highly skilled folks on our sites, one was the city electrical inspector!

Get involved! You can learn a lot about the business and about working with others. :)