11 October 2014

On 10/11/14, eleven SoCal Pankow employees volunteered their Saturday to work at San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity’s newest build project in Glendale. The Chestnut Home Project contains three stand-alone 3-story houses; each 1,300 sf with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a 2-car garage. The project broke ground in summer 2014, and framing started on the first home at the beginning of September. All three homes are scheduled to be complete by this time next year. This is just the latest Habitat project of many from past years that Pankow volunteers have participated in.

Our volunteer day started with a group Stretch and Flex led by Project Engineer Ryan Oldham, and then a project orientation discussion and safety huddle led by the Habitat Construction Manager. Our main work tasks for the day included completing the Level 2 floor joists & blocking, and Level 2 floor tongue and groove sheathing for the first home. We also started layout of the bottom sill plates for the second home.

We were able to put into action some of our learned Lean skills such as creating a designated cutting area, moving materials and work stations closer to the specific areas of work, and keeping our work areas nice and tidy. Throughout the day, our Pankow volunteers worked alongside a few members of the families who will be living in the three homes. All Habitat families must complete at least 500 “sweat equity” hours as part of the qualification program for purchasing the homes.

Although we were very hot, tired and sore at days end, all our Pankow volunteers had a great time and learned some new hands-on construction skills along the way