Work record / Development / Habitat for Humanity / Questions answered
Habitat for Humanity: questions answered
What people ask me about Habitat for Humanity, and my answers. The project itself has its own page.
What could bid work, labor or consulting do for a chapter that material alone could not?
The chapter I worked with most was Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, and my consulting there was about taking material more selectively. Contractors had begun using Habitat as free demolition. They would offer a whole kitchen of cabinets. Habitat would come out, take them down, save everything, and then learn they were worthless, since cheap cabinets come out badly and can never go back in. The general contractor saved on the trash load, and Habitat hauled the same stuff to the dump anyway. Selectivity kept their crews and trucks off material that nobody could use.
How far did the stricter intake practice spread?
I cannot give a number. I never saw their books, so I could not tell what they saved on pickups, hauling or disposal. What I can say is what became of the practice. Habitat for Humanity across Southern California took it up as standard. They are almost a joke now for how picky they are. They no longer take just anything. That is the scale I can speak to: it became how the region handles donations. I know the savings were large, but I will not guess at a figure.
How did chapter leaders come to trust the stricter intake approach?
I began with a promise: we will send you only good material. Then I walked them through a site in Orange County. I showed them what to look for and what to refuse. They had been accepting a great deal of junk. Cabinets of the Home Depot grade that cannot be installed, old fixtures no one has the valves for. I showed them what happens when you try to reuse any of it. After that they wrote two lists of their own, what is fine to take and what is not, and those lists became how intake worked.