2 Daniel Island Building Companies build a Habitat home in a week

It is said good fences make good neighbors - for two Daniel Island building companies, building quality houses together make great neighbors.

On July 15, Structures Building Company and JacksonBuilt Custom Homes came together to build a Habitat for Humanity house in Awendaw, S.C. within a week.

Structures reached out to JacksonBuilt Homes once it realized it would need help due to the time restraint. The house was a Home Builders Blitz project - the builders had one week - Friday, July 15 to Friday, July 22— to build it.

“Blitz is quick and strenuous for everybody, and a lot of commitment from everyone,” said Richard Jackson, owner of JacksonBuilt Custom Homes.

Due to the mass migration towards Charleston, many building companies, including the two Daniel Island companies, are overwhelmingly busy yet are still recovering from the shortage of skilled-labor due to the recession.

Structures and JacksonBuilt Homes, who both consider the other a friendly competitor and neighbor, decided volunteering together would be the most efficient way to build the house.

With this unity, the project gained more resources. The two companies combined their staff and connections to reach out to vendors for donated supplies and labor since everything used to build a Habitat house - labor, supplies and building material - must be donated.

“[The junction] made it possible for us,” Jackson said.

“And fun,” added Steven Kendrick, owner of Structures Building Company.

The project was a group effort towards the common goal of creating a quality house for Judy Seegers and her 15-year-old son Tommy within the time frame given.

Seegers is a single mom who was living in a one-bedroom city house that would flood up to the door anytime it rained.

After applying three times for a Habitat house, Seegers was accepted and put on the waitlist for two years while suitable land for the house was scouted and fine-tuned.

To be accepted by Habitat, potential homeowners need to attend an information seminar where they receive an application, said Trish Elsie, development director and volunteer coordinator of East Cooper Habitat for Humanity. After the application is reviewed, Habitat inspects the living situation of the applicant, and assesses his or her financial records and employment.

The applicant needs to be able to put a down payment for a potential house, pay off a 30 year interest free mortgage, and volunteer 350 hours at the Habitat ReStore and towards building his or her own house.

Seegers, who volunteered over double the amount of hours and now is employed by Habitat for Humanity, worked on her house every single day during the building process.

“It’s been a humbling experience,” Seegers said.

Her new house has three bedrooms and high ceilings in the kitchen and living room area. The outside is painted a cheerful sky blue, picked by Seegers, and beneath the paint along the floors and beams on the inside are Bible Scriptures written by Seegers’ friends.

While the house was being built, it brought people together. Friends and family of Seegers’ collaborated with the builders, volunteers and tradesmen to help create the home.

Seegers' plan is that after the house is finished it will still be a place for people to come together— a place her grandbabies can play, a place her small group from church can meet and a place for her family visiting from Germany can stay.

“This house means love,” Seegers said. “It was built by love. It was given by love. It is going to continue to bring in love.”

East Cooper Habitat for Humanity will have a fundraiser at 6 p.m. on September 16 at Harborside East in Mount Pleasant.