Santa Fe College Moving Newly Constructed Habitat House April 13

April 11, 2011

Santa Fe College is shipping out an entire house at 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, when the recently completed Habitat House created by SF construction, apprenticeship and YouthBuild students leaves the Charles R. Perry Construction Institute for its new home in southeast Gainesville.

The move culminates a project nine months in the making, and the first of its kind to be completed on campus.

"This is exactly why our new construction institute was built with 20-by-40 feet bay doors. We anticipated just such a moment," said Jane Parkin, director, construction and technical education.

The house's move is being coordinated by Painter Masonry, a local company which also did the foundation work on the project.

"It is being transported on two trucks," said Parkin. "It's hard to estimate how long it's going to take. It's going to depend a lot on the lights and traffic."

Travel route

The house's travel route is east on NW 39 Avenue, then south down Waldo Road, and then down SE 15 Street. Its eventual "home" is at 2404 SE 13 Street in Breezy Acres. The house was built in two separate 12-foot-wide sections (54 feet long) that will be lifted by crane onto the prepared lot.

The 1,248-sqaure foot house was a joint partnership between Santa Fe College, the City of Gainesville and Habitat for Humanity and will provide housing for a low-income family. Once it's on site, Santa Fe students will finish the project: painting, cabinetry, trim work.

Partnership

The house's construction was done by students in Professors Fred Hart and Ted Weseman's Building Construction Techniques classes, Coordinator Justin MacDougall's Apprenticeship classes, and YouthBuild classes taught by Brian Magness, project manager for the house.

"This is one of the most meaningful projects the building construction students have worked on," said Hart. "Not only are they honing their skills, they are also providing a new home for a needy family."

For over 25 years, Santa Fe's construction program has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to provide affordable housing and construction experience for Santa Fe students. In the past, classes have met on site at habitat projects where students would volunteer and receive instruction from their professors. Now, replacing that practice, Santa Fe hopes to assemble one house per year inside the Perry Construction Institute, starting with this one.

"Habitat volunteers and the family came out four different Saturdays to help with the construction," said Parkin. "They're going to do more work on the site as well, such as landscaping. We're expecting it will be turned over to the homeowner around the middle of May."

For more information about this project, please contact Director Jane Parkin at 352-395-5363.

Contact

• Jane Parkin, director, construction and technical programs at Santa Fe College – 352-395-5363 (office) or 603-494-3016 (cell) or jane.parkin@sfcollege.edu
• Julie Garrett, media relations, for assistance facilitating your story, 352-395-5430 or 352-870-2924 (cell) or julie.garrett@sfcollege.edu
• Non SF sources: Habitat for Humanity – Jimmy Sutherland or Scott Windsor, 352-378-4663 ext. 819; City of Gainesville – Teresa Osoba, 352-393-8568; Jim Painter, Painter Masonry, 352-378-7511
• For more background on the house, please see this press release here