Homebuilder’s Blitz: How to build a Habitat for Humanity home in 30½ hours

Want to know how to build a Habitat for Humanity home in 30½ hours? Pull together an incredible team of highly skilled, highly motivated professionals and launch a full-out Homebuilder’s Blitz.

And that’s exactly what Hunter Quinn Homes did.

In July, Hunter Quinn Homes committed to building a 1,200-square-foot home for a deserving Charleston area family. Our leadership group of Todd Nowicki, Krista Mott, Pat Bergman, and Chris Wallace pulled together a skilled team of experienced professionals with the intention of completing the home in 60 hours. Beginning September 16, the crews would work around the clock to accomplish the feat at the Moncks Corner location.

In the weeks leading up to the start of construction, the Homebuilder’s Blitz team meticulously planned every step of the process. The entire crew—including our trades partners who were totally committed—looked for ways to create efficiencies. All of the materials would be delivered and ready on-site. The foundation would be poured in advance to provide the concrete time to sufficiently cure. And with the precision of a surgical team, every member was prepared to execute their role flawlessly.

As the date of the Homebuilder’s Blitz approached, the crew uncovered more efficiencies than they expected. The 60-hour window became smaller and smaller: 60 hours shrank to 36.

On Tuesday, September 17, as the sun rose in Moncks Corner, volunteers showed up in droves! The framing began just after sunrise. In less than 2 hours, the structure was up— 4 hours ahead of schedule. Luckily, the mechanical tradespeople were alerted of the schedule shift and mobilized quickly to keep the project moving without delays. We lost no time in moving from framing to setting up the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. With those systems in place, the crew hung sheetrock. As the day progressed, so did the home, with productivity that continued to move faster than anyone anticipated.

The crew worked through the night and into Wednesday morning, September 18. Painters were rolling, installers were installing, and landscapers were laying down the sod.

With plenty of daylight left, the home was completed—30 hours and 30 minutes from the time the first nail was hammered.

“It would have taken only one misstep to blow up this whole effort,” Will Herring commented at the end of the day. Hunter Quinn Homes’ president was awe-struck as he looked back at the incredible feat. “This is the best example of teamwork I’ve seen in my professional career. Todd, Krista, Chris, and Pat deserve so much credit for the hard work they invested in making this happen. We’ve truly got the best team, and that includes all the tradespeople and vendors who opened up their hearts to make this happen.”

Melido Ferguson and her daughter were on hand, helping every step of the way to contribute to the home they were about to occupy. Prior to being part of the crew, Melido had been volunteering at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, part of her “sweat equity” commitment as a Habitat for Humanity recipient.

See how our very first Homebuilder’s Blitz pulled off this amazing feat to add one more homeowner to our growing community.