The home pictured cost approximately $21,000+ with "add-on's".

The basic home costs $15,000 and consists of…
Exterior

• Septic tank
• Wood or cement posts extending 8' above ground
• Stairs and porch
• Wolmanized wood is used throughout the home for moisture and insect protection.
• Single wall construction using T111 and shiplap siding.
• Rust resistant corrugated roofing
• Louvered Jalousie windows
• Wood exterior door
• Trimmed out with 1x4

Interior

• One side of walls is finished with tongue and groove or sheetrock
• Electrical - Breaker box, lights, switches and receptacles
• Plumbing - Bathroom shower, toilet and sink. Kitchen sink
  

Important items that are not included in the basic home:

• Complicated Lot prep or access issues
• Local labor to carry materials to difficult locations
• Connection fees and supplies related to water and electricity hook up

Add-On’s or Options
At an additional cost families often need and sponsoring groups can choose to provide…

• Cement floor under the house  $1,200
• Water retention system and holding tank  $1500
• Extended covered full width front porch $1500
• Interior door coverings $300 - $500
• Appliances - stove $350, refrigerator $350
• Beds and bedding $200 - $300
• Furniture - table and chairs, etc.  $250
• Paint the home for longer life and appearance  $1500

Solar lights, phone & computer charger.  $75 per set - 4 sets needed (You order and bring down). They can be purchased at Amazon using this link: HERE

8 x 10 brackets are for kitchen shelves. 20 brackets or 10 sets would be appropriate. They can be purchased at Home Depot and cost $1.54 each. If possible purchasing an entire box would be helpful for other builds.

Shelf and Rod Supports for closets and kitchen. They can be purchased at Home Depot and cost $2.97 each. 6 sets would be ideal.

Clothes and Misc. Hooks (as many as possible) These can be found at Home Depot.

 It's been an uphill battle in regards to securing the materials we need in order to build homes. In addition, working within a Communist government has presented a series of unique opportunities, (obstacles). Our first team to arrive was scrutinized heavily by Cuban immigration. You can't enter the country on a tourist visa with the intention of building a home for a family. When our Cuban contact and I were brought before government officials, we asked what the process would be for our teams to be able to legally build homes within the system. This question was met with blank stares. It seems there are not many people lining up for service opportunities in this country. 

 It was explained to us that following our builds in 2016, it was assumed by government officials that, that would be the last time they ever heard from Dwellings. "Surely they'll never return and do what they said they would do". We were a vapor...there and then gone. The government would have no reason to develop a system that would address our needs simply because no one in their right mind would ever choose to return and simply give homes to people. Needless to say, our return came as quite a shock to many. Now a process was needed in order for us to accomplish our expressed purpose.

 In addition, our presence created an ideological quandary. For nearly 60 years, people in Cuba have seen Americans as stuck up, morally superior snobs who look down at Cubans. Everywhere you look in Cuba you can find signs that declare the US blockade as the longest ongoing genocide in history. In essence, we are the enemy. Then and group of Americans arrive who seek only to be servants and desire to provide homes for families in need. This is a direct contradiction to what most Cubans have been taught or believe about us. 

 When the dust settled, we were told that in order for our teams to participate in building houses, each team member would be required to have a specific visa that would be issued from one of the top governing organizations that oversee all religious and humanitarian activities in country. There was one specific person that we would need to receive a signature from in order to legalize our activities in Cuba. We left that meeting felling a bit discouraged, but knowing that we had work to do. Well, that's when God showed up.

 We had secured bus transportation for our teams during their outreach and our current driver had spent the week with us, watching and listening to all that we were doing. He was quick to comment on what a hard working group of people our teams were and how excited he was for the work that we were doing. It was at this point he mentioned that a good friend of his happened to work at the organization where we would need to have our visas issued from. Wouldn't you know it, his friend happened to be the very person whose signature we would need for our teams visas. Our driver called up his friend and we invited her to dinner with our team. After a short conversation, she expressed her love of what we were doing and committed to assist us in any way possible. We now have direct communication with the VERY person we need in order to proceed with building homes in Cuba. God is good!

There are more stories of miracles from these past few weeks, but I'm more excited about the miracles that are yet to happen. I'm excited about the stories that YOU will get to tell about God's faithfulness and the deep friendships that have been forged during YOUR time in Cuba. I'm excited about the lives that will be changed through the gift of a new home and the part YOU are going to play in making that dream a reality. I can't wait for you to join us in Cuba!

 The visa process is set. The doors are open. Families are waiting. The only piece missing now is you! We're signing up teams now. If you want to be a part, let us know. Send us an email and let's plan a life changing trip to Cuba!

Our goal as it relates to the Dwellings brand whether in Mexico, Roatan, Cuba or anywhere else is for people to associate Dwellings with:
    •    Being driven by compassion and the long term difference love can make.
    •    Building homes and other structures that are a fusion of simplicity and quality.
    •    Hosting builds that involve hard work and are well organised.
    •    Making each build a life changing experience for everyone.

As you consider how you can be of help to others in the coming year I encourage you to join us in changing lives by giving families that are in need the hope, security and confidence in the future that a Dwellings home can provide.

In 2016 we were able to provide 17 homes for families in need. 1 home in Mexico, 2 in Cuba and 14 in Roatan, Honduras. With your help we can increase that number of homes in 2017.

As The year draws to a close I hope you will consider a donation to those in need of housing. We have been busy teaming up with people like you over the past several years providing homes for those in need in Mexico, Honduras and Cuba. Please consider a generous one time gift or a monthly reocurring donation.

We have several ways that you can participate.

• Mail in donations - Checks can be made out to Dwellings and mailed to PO Box 3107, Ferndale WA. 98248
• Online donation - Egiving Link (click)
• 2017 reoccuring monthly donation - A donation of any amount will make a difference. Click on this Link.
• Stocks - Please contact us with details related to stock gifts.

In 2016 we were able to provide 17 homes for families in need. 1 home in Mexico, 2 in Cuba and 14 in Roatan, Honduras. With your help we can increase that number of homes in 2017.

When we interview Dwellings home candidates we explain to the potential recipient family that we do not have the funds to build their home and that it will take a miracle to bring their home into existence. We encourage each family to pray and ask God for the miracle needed. We have seen that miracle take place over 100 times now. Leticia's home was no exception. Leticia had no financial resources at all and needed more miracles than most recipient families.

A couple of months ago I asked Rudy Roberts, founder of Bula ministries and 7 time Dwellings home build veteran, to consider a Christmas gift build for Leticia's family in Roatan. On pretty short notice Rudy stepped up and said yes, gathered a team of friends, and began raising the money. Thanks to a big effort and many people stepping up the build went forward. During the week of December 3-10 Rudy and her team built Leticia and her family a beautiful home. The build was a life changer for Leticia and her family and for all those invoved. All of this took serveral miracles in the form of God touching people's hearts that gave generously and made time in their schedules to make a difference for someone else. The land was donated by a local Honduran. Different people stepped up to help with preparing the build site. Rudy and her team raised the funds to purchase the materials and to pay for the airfare and accomdations. We all came together to love the family and build the home. Leticia's family went from hopeless and desperate to a new bright future filled with possibilities. It really is a miracle.

You can do this! Choose a family. Gather some friends. Raise the neccesary funds. Travel to the build location. Have a life changing adventure.

Let's team up and change some lives in 2017.

Having facilitated many house builds with teams of friends, coworkers, family members, businesses, schools and churches that were led by men, women, and people ranging in age I can confidently say that you can do this.  A successful build is led by someone with a heart to serve and rally others to the cause of changing a families future. In the process of planning, building your team, raising funds, traveling, constructing the home, and completing the task you will grow closer to your team members, donors and your recipient family. You will do all that while having a great time experiencing a different culture and learning about how others live. As our motto states "Build Homes / Change Lives". That is what it is all about. Your reaching out in love to change a families future leads to everyone having a transformational experience. God is faithful to everyone involved and love transforms lives!

"It was easy to mobilize a team around the vision of tangibly changing a family's life. Now that we've gone and experienced it firsthand, all the team members are talking it up back in our church and we've already got more people interested in the next trip than we know what to do with!"  David Urban -  Pastor / www.i90church.com Francisco/Raquel Family Build

"Building a house in Roatan through Dwellings was a life changing experience for my family. I recommend Dwellings to anyone who wants to make a life changing, positive difference in someone's life. Thank you Tom for creating this organization and making dreams come true for so many people in need of shelter. God Bless You!!!!" Tina Jacobsen / Business owner / Portland Oregon  Marvin/Delmi Build

4 - 6 Months in Advance of the build.

It can be done in less time but normally you will want to start planning a minimum of 4 - 6 months out from the build date. We have several web pages of information and helps. Here is one in particular you will want to take a look at: Team Leader Details. This document covers in more detail the following...

1. Let us know if you are interested. There is a contact form to message us.
2. Choose a recipient family in Roatan, Cuba or Mexico.
3. Recruit your team.
4. Start a Funding page and start raising the construction funds.
5. Covers ground fees and airline arrangements.
6. Getting others involved.

Today is the day to get started. Let's start planning a build together. Let us know of your interest so we can do this together. Like Mother Theresa said..."I can do things you cannot do, You can do things I cannot do. Together we can do great things."

Additonal links on our site to check out:

Why build homes?

Animated Video
​
Time Lapsed video of a house build.

Promo Video

The Cost of a home

Completed Homes

Here is what past participants have said...

Yelp review by Gail Orsillo - "I have participated in four builds over the past several years with Dwellings, all on the beautiful island of Roatan, Honduras. Every time I go, I think "This is the best trip ever!" And every time, it keeps getting better. Tom Hackett and his team do an excellent job of finding families, interviewing them to determine their needs, and matching them up with teams who want to do a build. When the teams arrive in Roatan, all of the details are already taken care of: lodging, materials, meals, are all ready to go and you can get right to building without delay. By far, the best part of the builds is meeting the families and getting to know them while you build together. Even if you don't speak the same language, it doesn't matter. By the end of the week, you will all be laughing together and feel like you are all family. Tom always makes sure there is a bilingual team member around to help communication go smoothly. Another awesome thing about Dwellings builds is that you get an introduction to another culture and get to spend your week in a beautiful place with amazing people, eating delicious food. I'm very excited that Dwellings is doing builds in other places as well. There is so much need for safe, secure housing in many parts of the world, and Dwellings does an excellent job of meeting that need in a way that benefits everyone involved."

Others:

• "Delivering the finished home to Jairo and Paula was an experience that I'll never forget. I doubt that they ever would have been able to afford a home on their own and even if they had I feel the Dwellings home was probably higher quality. They were just so happy and so grateful. Wonderful people."
• "Learning about the families daily lives - what the house meant to them. Making lifelong friends and sharing the joy of our hard work."
• "Each time is different, but seeing how other families near the builds are drawn to the activities and how they always become part of the team and our hearts!"
• "I love the children that I encounter on a build. They touch my heart to the core. Holding infants to handing out clothes to pounding nails next to them to eating beside them to see them watching us. It's all so special."
• "Of course, spending time with all of my family was special for such a great cause. Regarding relationships created in the build, I really enjoyed working with Giovanni. I believe by the end, he had enough trust in me to allow me to work with minimal supervision. This helped him out with his time allocation."

Some responses to our survey questions after the build. Now that you are home, what have you taken with you that you can apply to your life?

• 
"Appreciation for all that we have and take for granted. Have downsized and re-prioritized my life. People, relationships, sharing, giving to others when you can - that is what matters."
• "I am always shocked when I come home and see how much of everything I have and they have so little. Time again to readjust my values of what is really important"
• "How much good can be done and how people's lives can be changed through a well- organized and well thought-out ministry."
• "My whole life has been changed. I want my children to understand how easy it is to effect others in a positive way I am so blessed and will try to help as many people as I can. Been interesting to see our life through the eyes of Karla. So much here we take for granted.""
• "Each time I have come away with the desire to go back agin and build. It has made me so grateful to our Lord and saviour Jesus, that he gives me strength and a loving heart to want to help so many others that can't help themselves."
• "I recognised the gratitude of people who receive a significant gift is beyond measure. Small sacrifices in my life have such a huge impact in the lives of other people. In my interaction with the Euceda family, I came to realize happiness does not depend on wealth or materialist possessions. Rather, love of family and faith in God really is the path to happiness. Something we are all told and aspire to achieve, but never really believe. This adventure reinforced this tenet."
• "I think I'm a little more confident to try new things that I know nothing about."
• "Hands down the thing that I think every day and that I hope my kids took with them after the build is that they may not be able to change the world, but they can change someone's world."

Some one liners from past participants...

"Dwellings changes the lives from the young to the old by providing a home to call your own."


"Make a difference and have a great time doing it!" 


"Dwellings not only changes lives but it touches hearts!"


"A powerful experience that changes lives, on both sides of the hammer." 


"Working with Dwellings to build a home was incredibly fulfilling." 


"Dwellings helped us accomplish it, when we weren't sure we could." 


"You may not be able to change the world, but you can change someone's world." 


"Take action! Do something great for somebody!" 


Working with Dwellings let me play a part in changing the future of a family, a 
community, a country.” Kristie Young 


Don Ross shares his perspective as a local pastor. - What this build did for the people who worked, the people who sent them 
and for our whole church was the surprising part. Selfish people became generous people, giving up their vacation time to go and build. Hard hearts became soft as they looked away from their own situation and sought to help others. Lovers of money became lovers of people, as they gave sacrificially to the build. 


Families that have received homes have said...

• Wendy, ̈Before receiving my home, I felt forsaken, helpless, extremely stressful. Once I received my home, it was like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Now it is practically indescribable the joy and peace I feel.
• Fernando says ̈FREEDOM, is the best word that can describe the impact of my home in my life. I feel free to bring whoever I want to, I can come and go from my home whenever I want to, my children can scream, play, and cry whenever they want to.
Heidy reports ̈When I received the keys of my home in my hands, it still did not seem real to me. I felt I was dreaming. At the beginning I could not even sleep, not because I felt uncomfortable but because I still did not believe I was living in a real house for the first time.
• Lilian Hernandez, ̈I will be forever thankful for the love and compassion that Mr. Scott, his family and his friends demonstrated to us through our home. They did not only provide a home for me and my girls, but they also provided peace to our lives.
• Kiandra ̈One aspect of my life that was absolutely impacted was my focus in my studies. Before getting my home I could not be focused in my studies, because I was always worried for my mom. Every single day I observed how my mom sacrifice working day and night just to give a better life than the one she had.
• Raquel, ̈One of the best words that could define our lives before getting our home is, hopeless. ̈ Raquel said ̈Our lives were like at the end of a tunnel, made no sense, we had no hope. However, thanks to a merciful and compassionate team, they made our lives bright in that darkness of that tunnel. ̈
Jenny and Jeysi, ̈We love our home, because we have a place for everything! A place to sleep, to play, to cook and to have fun, it is just what we dreamed about. ̈
• “No words are enough to describe our gratefulness for getting such an amazing, fantastic, comfortable home”.
• Christian - The week you built my home, was literally the best week in my whole life.
• Merlin, “Getting a NEW HOUSE was like getting a NEW LIFE. Before getting my home, I cried every once in a while because I was sad and desperate because of my family’s condition of living. After getting my home, I still cry once in a while, not because I am sad and desperate 
but because I am happy, thankful and MOST IMPORTANT, I am BLESSED. My heart is filled with joy when I see my children sleeping in a bed and not on the floor, when I see them eating in a clean dining room and not having to sit on the dirt with all the bugs around them, but my heart is even filled with more joy and peace knowing that I am the owner of such a gorgeous home.”

This is an exciting house build because of the cooperative effort of locals and the international build team. Locally the land owner has arranged a very favorable price and payment arrangements for the land and plans to help with land preparation, water and power. The local Honduran Dwellings construction prep team made up of members of the Pavon family will be preparing the foundation and other details related to preparing things for the buildout of the home. International help is being provided by Bula Ministries lead by Rudy Roberts who is a 7 house build veteran teaming up with Dwellings to provide homes for families in need. 

Here are ways you can join us and help today. We will need these funds by December 1.

1. Give towards building materials. Campaign funding page link
2. Give towards furniture, stove or refrigerator, or give towards clothing, school supplies and family personal needs. The goal is to raise $1500 for these personal items.

A donation of any amount will help.  Give online Here (in the comment section put "Leticia personal items" or Mail in a donation to Dwellings, P.O. Box 3107, Ferndale WA. 98248. Specify "Leticia personal items". Your donation is tax deductible.

Leticia has a story that we can change going into the future. Leticia moved to Roatan 14 years ago with her husband. After finding it difficult to find work he left to the United States. As happens so often he has not returned and has moved on with his life. As the years passed Leticia remarried to a man who has since abandoned the family after having had two children together. Leticia now is a single mom with four beautiful children at home.

"You can do things I cannot do. I can do things you cannot do. Together we can do great things" Mother Theresa

You can do this! Plan a build with your friends, family, church, tribe.

Click on photo for personal information.

Wendy, ¨Before receiving my home, I felt forsaken, helpless, extremely stressful. Once I received my home, it was like seeing a light at the end of a tunnel. Now it is practically indescribable the joy and peace I feel. Thank you Kelly, Paul and to the rest of the team for taking away such a big load off my back. Jason wants to say ¨Thank you for making my mommy very happy. She is a very hard working woman, she deserves the best. You definitely made her life easier.¨ Yoselin, ¨I love you very much, because you love us and care about us. Thank you for building a home for us. We will never forget your kindness, compassion, care and love. May the Lord bless you today and always.¨

You can view the orginal build post Here

You can do this. Let's plan a build together.
Learn all about it here: http://dwellinsnow.com/go
Mexico / Roatan Honduras / Cuba