Masonry Magazine April 2000 Page. 36
Jeff Buczkiewicz, Director of Marketing
Habitat for Humanity
First Ever All Masonry Habitat for Humanity Home in Las Vegas Creates Unity in the Masonry Industry
Mason contractors, suppliers, and designers converged on a small residential lot in Las Vegas Nevada, and pulled together on February 9, 2000 to build the first ever all masonry Habitat for Humanity home in a demonstration of both the speed and design flexibility that masonry offers the construction customer. In the end, the masonry industry provided an essential basic human need to a less fortunate family in the form of a quality masonry home built in less than one day. In addition to the project being a demonstration of the features of building with masonry, it was also a showcase for the unity that has been achieved by the masonry industry over the past several years with suppliers working closely with contractors to provide quality projects.
As is typical with every construction project, there were some nervous moments during the pre-construction phases of the Habitat Home. One such nervous moment was discovering just two months before the project was to be built that a foundation for the project had not been provided in order for the project to be constructed. The project would encounter yet another nervous moment when less than ten days before the project date, the City of South Las Vegas would not issue a building permit due in part to the lack of sufficient energy calculations in the permit application. There we were, just ten days out without permits or a foundation with specially produced concrete blocks, mortar, wire, and workers from all around the country arriving in Las Vegas within a few days to build this momentous industry event. Fortunately for the industry, these challenges were overcome and the masonry industry now has a showcase of what the industry can accomplish with the coordination of the industry and the willingness and cooperation of the customer.
The greatest challenge that was faced was one of timing. Everything had to be done on one day. If it rained, we were finished. If materials did not arrive, we wasted a great opportunity to showcase masonry The labor force, apprentices in Las Vegas to compete in the Masonry Skills Challenge, would only be available for one day. Architects from the Architects' Masonry Symposium were also going to be gaining some valuable hands-on experience at the project. Timing and luck were needed in order for the project to happen. Fortunately, several days before the project was to occur, the city approved the new energy numbers, and the foundation was poured the next day. All of our pre-construction fears were now behind us.
With our pre-construction fears behind us, the morning of the project came with nervous anticipation about the day ahead. The project would be bringing together apprentices from all over the U.S. and Canada all whom had never worked together as a team, and all who would be competing against one another the following day. We would later discover during the project that their geographic location brought with it different terminology in the masonry field. What was a hod carrier to one apprentice, was a laborer to another. To top all of this off, one hour after the apprentices had a chance to get aquatinted, and start the project, 37 architects most with absolutely no masonry experience were going to be converging on the job-site to work with the apprentices and learn first hand the direct relationship between the theories of design and actual practices in the field.
The apprentices started constructing the home as soon as they arrived and by the time the architects' arrived, five courses of the home had already been laid. With less than a one hour crash course on laying block and spreading mortar, the architects were moved from their training wall established at the site, to the actual construction of the habitat home joining with the apprentices. One of our greatest concerns with having apprentices and architects working on the project, was the fear that the home would not be completed by the end of the day. However, much to our surprise and satisfaction, the walls were being built much faster and smoother than anticipated. We were all surprised as to how quickly the architects took to the laying of the block. By late morning, the supervisory crew at the site faced another challenge; the apprentices and architects were doing a great job and were moving to fast. The MCAA had been contacted by several news media representatives, and were informed that the media outlets would like to cover the construction of the project. However, they could not get to the