Five homes in five days for Habitat "Builders Blitz" in Winston-Salem's Happy Hill neighborhood (2024)

The excitement seems contagious over in Happy Hill, as builders race to finish five houses in five days in a Habitat for Humanity “Builders Blitz.”

Brittany Grace said she was floored when she saw how quickly the walls went up on the house she hopes to move inside in about a month.

“I’ve been stalking my lot before the house was up,” she said. “So I would ride past and see the little things they would be doing before the house. When I came out here Monday at 10, there was a whole house out here. The walls were up. It was a whole house. It was crazy.”

The blitz is a coordinated effort involving Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County and the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem, which has eight local contractors and their subcontractors volunteering their labor to build five houses in five days.

If all goes as planned, at 11 a.m. Saturday participants will attend a dedication ceremony celebrating the completion of the work. Later, individual dedications will see the new homeowners presented with their keys.

The experience is exciting for builders as well, said Geoff Mitchell, owner of Mitchco Inc. Mitchell, two employees and subcontractors are working on one of the houses. The rain on Tuesday set the timetable back, he said, even though people kept working in the rain. The result has been some long hours, he said.

“It feels great,” Mitchell said. “You meet the people who are out here getting these houses, you get to see the excitement on their faces. When we got it framed up the first day, I did a walk-through with the young lady who is going to have this home and got to show her everything. That is what helps you push through, because a lot of times you are just tired and don’t want to do it any more. But knowing you are doing it for a good cause and the end result kind of helps you push through.”

The speed does cause the occasional hiccup, he said.

“When everybody’s moving that quick, mistakes are going to happen,” he said. “We put a wall in the wrong spot and when we went to install the cabinets, we were short three inches that we needed. We had to tear that wall out, and slide it over. Luckily we had a lot of guys here and got it done real quick, in about 20 minutes.”

It’s also a challenge having all the different trades working on the house at the same time, but Mitchell said the inspectors make sure everything is going to plan, and said he’s confident in creating a quality house.

“Habitat has all the blueprints, all the floor plans and they provide all the materials,” he said. “When we got out here, just the foundations were in place. We were responsible for taking them from framing to finish. When we get done, they will be landscaped and ready to move in.”

The houses are going up on land deeded to Habitat by the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. The project also got a significant boost from the $2.15 million grant from the city of Winston-Salem for Habitat to build 13 houses in all.

Grace was born in Winston-Salem and grew up in Wilmington. After her brother and mother moved back to Winston-Salem, her own children begged her to move back too so they could be near family.

“When my kids said they wanted to move, that solidified everything,” Grace said. Grace enrolled in the Habitat program that steers applicants to home ownership. Those who are approved take courses in homeownership, financial literacy and home maintenance, and contribute “sweat equity.” It’s not a handout program, Habitat officials stress.

Grace said the homeowners-in-waiting get to see the layout of their new house before it is built and get some design input as well:

“I did get to choose my flooring, cabinets, countertops, my house color and shutters, and my mailbox,” she said. “It is very exciting. I’m nervous, I don’t know why. I guess it is happy nerves.”

Happy Hill is Winston-Salem’s oldest Black community and dates back to 1872. Initially known as Liberia, by the 1920s, Happy Hill was a thriving neighborhood of single-family homes. Many residents worked at Salem College or for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

In the 1950s, Habitat officials said, 14 blocks were razed under the then-prevailing concept of urban renewal that saw houses replaced by housing projects. More houses were demolished to make way for U.S. 52, and the Happy Hill Gardens apartment complex rose in the neighborhood. Happy Hill Gardens was demolished in 2004.

George Redd IV, Habitat’s executive director, said he sees the Habitat houses as part of an effort to revive the Happy Hill community. Ron Foister, the president of the Home Builders, said teaming up to do a Builders Blitz every other year is a way to work toward making more affordable housing available in the city.

HAWS will be adding townhouses and other detached houses to the Happy Hill neighborhood over time, said Kevin Cheshire, the executive director of the housing authority.

Gena Fisher, who lives in a Habitat home she helped build and now works for Habitat, said the experience of getting her own home was “life-changing.” Fisher was out lending a hand on Wednesday

“My children are in a better spot financially,” she said, adding that “security, dependability, stability — all of those things are now attainable for my family and I.”

Fisher said working for Habitat often gives her a chance to support others who are in the program to get a house.

“I do like to talk to program participants to keep them encouraged,” she said. “To tell them that if they find roadblocks, there’s always a way.”