Habitat for Humanity of Archuleta County kicked off its 2024 build season last month, pouring concrete for three foundations and preparing for the highly anticipated ‘Crane Day’, in which our three modular homes are transferred to their foundations.
Partner families, volunteers and construction staff are busy on-site unpackaging houses. This involves removing packaging and installing temporary jacks for the roofs to be raised in addition to working with subcontractors to pour concrete foundations before the homes arrive.
“Crane Day is a masterpiece of coordination,” frequent Habitat volunteer Larry Parks said. “Half of a house is lifted from a trailer by a highly skilled crane operator and placed on a concrete foundation. Each half a house is suspended 30 feet in the air by cables and lifted onto their permanent foundations.”
Once placed, staff and volunteers check to ensure the modules landed precisely on the foundations and begin unbolting the house from the crane.
Each half of the house is prepared at the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association’s brush collection site and trailered to their permanent residence, Parks explained.
This year, Crane Day will take place on June 6 and 7. The event is an all-hands-on-deck affair.
Habitat Construction Project Manager Madeline Bergon explained she expects two houses to be placed on the first day and the third house placed on the second day, when the Habitat volunteer crew will stitch them together permanently. “If volunteers are around, we’ll need open communication across the lines and helping control traffic control in the area,” Bergon said.
Parks added, “We could not do this without the generosity of local construction contractors.”
“We’ll be hard at work all summer after Crane Day, so there are plenty of opportunities for volunteers to get involved,” Bergon noted.
Habitat Archuleta is looking for volunteers for our 2024 Build Season. Ideally, we’d like groups of 4-6 people for a consecutive Friday and Saturday, May through November. Build days are from 8am-2pm. If you or your business is unable to work within those parameters, email us at office@habitatarchuleta.org, and we’ll make something work. Find available weekends to volunteer and sign up here.
New this year, your business or organization is invited to make a “Cameo Appearance” on a consecutive Friday and Saturday throughout the build season. If your business or organization is interested in joining us, please contact us at office@ habitatarchuleta.org or call (970) 264-6960.
You don’t have to swing a hammer to be an essential part of our work. We depend heavily on the generous efforts of volunteers outside of construction as well.
Volunteers play a vital role in our mission to make home ownership available to families with limited incomes. From fund-raising to wall-raising, volunteers are involved in every aspect of our work. Please download and complete the two forms on this page and email them to office@habitatarchuleta.org… or mail to PO Box 2827, Pagosa Springs, Colorado 81147-2827… or drop them off at our office, 703 San Juan St., Ste 201, upstairs above the downtown TBK Bank, between 11:00am – 3:00pm, Monday – Friday.
Monica Nigon writes for Habitat Archuleta, the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity.