Fairfield Habitat completes home on North 12th Street

FAIRFIELD — Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity has completed construction on another home, this one on North 12th Street in Fairfield.

The organization held a dedication ceremony Tuesday, June 28 to celebration the completion of construction and to invite the public to take a look inside. The home will be inhabited by Josie Heilmann and her two children, ages 2 and 8.

This was the third home Habitat for Humanity has built on North 12th on land purchased from Fairfield Economic Development Association. Earlier this year, Habitat and FEDA came to an agreement to purchase even more land on North 12th, enough for Habitat to build eight more houses along the road.

“I just keep inching the trailer down the road with each house,” said Kathy Brown, Habitat’s construction manager. “We’ve enjoyed building in this neighborhood, and this will be a beautiful street with a whole row of all-new housing.”

This most recent Habitat home was built largely by students from Fairfield High School, who build the home as part of a class. It was the fifth house a class from FHS has built, and their first since the pandemic. FHS students who were working on a Habitat house in the spring of 2020 had to stop when schools were shut down. Last year, Habitat didn’t need the FHS students because it ordered a prefabricated house.

Brown supervises the students and volunteers who come to work on the house. She is amazed by the students’ work.

“They do nearly every aspect of construction from the framing, the sheeting, the roofing, you name it,” Brown said.

Unfortunately, due to the low number of students who signed up for the home construction class this fall, the class has been canceled. Brown said that she hopes this doesn’t spell the end of the partnership between FHS and Habitat, and she looks forward to working with future classes.

Without FHS students, Habitat will have to rely more on community volunteers. A few companies in town pay their workers to spend a day helping to build the house. Cambridge Investment Research sent four groups of workers to build this home, and AERON Lifestyle Technology had all of its employees spend half a day on the construction site. Washington State Bank and Leadership Fairfield have sent teams, too.

“I hope this catches on, because we’re going to really need those volunteers,” Brown said.

The newly built home is 1,050 square feet, with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open concept living room and kitchen. Weaton Companies donated the laminate flooring, which it has for the past three homes, and donated countertops for two of the homes.

The floor plan is the same as the last six homes. Brown said it’s a convenient floor plan for young families, who compromise most of the families Habitat works with. Habitat made some modifications to the plan to accommodate the children’s special needs, such as removing closet doors in the bedrooms and adding a step to the front porch.

Residents who drive past the home will see a structure in the backyard under construction. That’s actually the shed for next year’s home. Habitat used to build the shed last, after the home was complete, but its members realized that having a completed shed on site was useful during construction, so now it’s the first thing that’s built.

One of the advantages to building the shed first is that it’s a safe place to store building materials and tools. Sadly, Habitat suffered two thefts during the construction of this home, where lumber and roofing materials were stolen. Two years ago, someone broke into Habitat’s trail and stole $1,000 worth of drills and saws.

“It was a fellow who was passing through, going all the way to Illinois, and he was stealing from each little town,” Brown said. “But our community is so generous that in two weeks, we raised $1,000 to replace the tools. It was a nice blessing for us at Christmastime.”

Donations account for 30 percent of Habitat’s revenue. Another 30 percent comes from mortgage payments on its 17 homes in town with outstanding mortgages, and the final 40 percent comes from Habitat ReStore. Brown said Fairfield Habitat is one of the smallest affiliates of Habitat with a ReStore.

To learn more about Greater Fairfield Area Habitat for Humanity, visit its website at www.fairfieldhabitat.org, or call (641) 209-9450.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com