Construction time may take 8 months to over one year. Households will work together as a team to build each other’s homes. Teams will be composed of a group of households depending of the numbers of homes. GroundWorks will have a construction supervisor, who will lead the entire process and teach the techniques that each phase will demand, and will guide all the work. Construction will be divided into stages. Each stage will have to be completed by all participating families before the next stage begins.

They will be architect designed modest single family homes with 2 or 3 bedrooms and 1 ½ or 2 bathrooms. The houses will meet all the required local codes, and design changes will not be permitted.

No, you will be trained. Must have the ability to follow instructions and complete the jobs that are assigned.

The workdays will depend on homeowner's or helpers' own full time or part time job schedule, but here are some examples:

• Monday to Friday 16 hours depending on Homeowner or helpers own work schedule, plus ...
• Saturdays and Sunday 8 hours or more homeowners or helpers.

Or:

• Monday to Friday 0 hours
• Saturdays and Sunday 16 hours depending on Homeowner or helpers own work schedule

Or:

• Any other option that accomplishes 32 hours per week. Hours will be tracked by time clock.

It is a requirement of USDA Rural Development’s Mutual Self-Help Housing program that group members perform 65% of the labor required to build the homes. Each household is required to work 32 hours per week. From this amount of time, the household must work 16 of those hours and their own family (older than 16 years old), friends or volunteers can complete the remaining. Project volunteers, arranged and approved by GroundWorks, can contribute work hours to the program in general, but not to the household required time. All the volunteers have to be approved by GroundWorks and all of them will work under the supervision of the Construction Supervisor that GroundWorks will provide, and must work on all houses as assigned.

Saturdays or Sundays are Household site days with helpers or without them. Those days the homeowners and their helpers must be on site because the construction supervisor will explain building techniques. If for any reason out of their control a household member cannot show up, one of their helpers has to be there working on site to reach the goal of 32 hours required per week. The household will have 30 days to complete the rest of the hours for that missing day.

Mondays to Fridays are days with flexible schedules, and will be based on each household’s own circumstances.

Group Agreement:

This agreement outlines the construction responsibilities, the labor exchange commitment, the general rules of the group, and grievance procedures. It is through the Group Agreement that the participants begin to take ownership of their responsibilities.

Land lease Agreement:

Government funds have been used to acquire or develop the land to make this project affordable. To preserve this investment and ensure affordability for you and future homeowners, GroundWorks will maintain ownership of the land that you will build your home on (called a community land trust). The Agreement has several Riders and other documents that are made part of the Agreement by reference. The Agreement provides ongoing site use for homeowners in partnership with GroundWorks during the build process and afterwards. It outlines responsibilities of GroundWorks as owner and Lessor, homeowners as Lessees, Rural Development (RD) as mortgage holder, and others. There is a monthly Ground Lease Fee associated with the Agreement to cover the cost of grounds maintenance, parking lot, lighting, water, etc.