BUILD HOME, HELP GULF

By Dennis Huspeni,The Gazette

Lee Bolin created an opportunity and a challenge. Fittingly enough for a home builder, they look a lot like a house. Bolin, president of Saddletree/Symphony Homes, is building a house here for Hurricane Katrina survivors. They’re not going to live here. Instead, Bolin — with help from a bevy of subcontractors — is building the $350,000 home in the new Deer Run subdivision and donating the profits to Habitat for Humanity. Habitat officials say that money could fund the building of three or four homes in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast region.

“I saw an opportunity to help without leaving home,” Bolin said. He’s challenging other builders, not just here but nationwide, to do the same thing.

It’s going to take a lot.

“It’s been said that Habitat for Humanity has built 200,000 homes in its first 30 years,” said Paul Johnson, executive director for the Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity. “The assessment from people on the ground out there is that at least 200,000 housing units were wiped out.” Bolin and his wife were planning a trip to New Orleans and Florida last summer. Then the hurricanes came one after another, Katrina and Rita, and Bolin knew they’d have to change vacation plans. He wanted to go anyway, to see what he could do to help. But he didn’t want to get in the way, and he physically didn’t feel up to the challenges of that kind of trip. Bolin could have cut a check to an aid organization. “Frankly, that seemed very unsatisfying,” he said. So he prayed, and talked to his construction manager, Mark Long, who is on the Habitat board, and the idea finally came to him. He presented it at a breakfast meeting of subcontractors.

“There’s power in numbers,” said Chris Gentry of Arlun Flooring and Lighting. “We thought: ‘Whatever we can do — that’s what we want to do.’” Other subcontractors felt the same way. The next thing Bolin knew, the concrete was being laid for free; the framers offered to frame for free; Arlun offered to donate the tile and carpet, and put it in for free, too. Bolin marveled as it started to look like an old-fashioned barn raising — the community seemed to embrace the idea and the “Katrina House,” at 4460 Seton Place, near Rangewood Drive, started to rise. “Most subcontractors have been happy to chip in,” Long said. “It really lowered our overhead and increased our profit. “Some have been giving until it hurts.”

“We’re all able to do what we do best,” Bolin said. “It’s been very exciting to watch.” Most of the donated supplies aren’t just enough to get by. The subcontractors are loading the house with extras, like a Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom. “Someone’s going to get a real nice house,” Gentry said. “It’s nice when people in powerful positions, like land developers and builders, feel responsibility to give back to the community.”

“We think it’s wonderful,” said Johnson, who noted the volunteers and subcontractors in the Gulf Coast region will help Habitat keep the costs down to build as many homes as possible with the money Bolin donates. “Lee has a big heart. Hopefully others will do the same once they know the need is there.” Bolin expects the home to be completed in March, ahead of schedule. He’s looking for businesses to donate the furniture and appliances. Then he wants to sell bricks for donors to put their names on, and make a walkway in front. “Those survivors lost their homes, and they lost everything,” Bolin said. “This home is being raised for them.”

Suppliers and contractors who contibuted to the Katrina House project

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