Thomas Boyd and HAMMERS coordinator Zach Jakob in the front room of Boyd’s house.

By BILL GIDUZ
On behalf of Davidson Housing Coalition

Christmas came two weeks early for 62-year-old Thomas Boyd, in the form of construction elves scurrying around his Church Street house in Huntersville. Up to 30 employees of Saussy Burbank and JCB Urban Construction spent several days recently conducting badly needed structural repairs.

Mr. Boyd and his late wife, Nancy, lived in the house for more than 30 years after inheriting it from relatives. “It just seemed like it got harder and harder to keep up,” said Mr. Boyd, who retired two years ago after 27 years with Piedmont Natural Gas. “Lately I’ve been bad worried about finding someone to fix it, and where I’d get the money.”

A relative suggested he contact HAMMERS, an arm of Davidson Housing Coalition that makes emergency repairs on the homes of low-income homeowners to help them retain their dwellings.

Volunteer Rich Doerfler works on the Boyd house HVAC system.

HAMMERS coordinator Zach Jakob inspected Mr. Boyd’s house, and quickly realized repairs would require more than the $5,000 cap the organization has established for projects. Mr. Jakob tried to refer Mr. Boyd to a Charlotte housing help agency for the elderly, but Mr. Boyd was too young to qualify. It looked like Mr. Boyd and his son would spend another Christmas in their crumbling home. “I wasn’t even going to celebrate Christmas this year,” he said. “I just didn’t feel like it. There were so many things to worry about.”

“Under those circumstances, a lot of houses get condemned,” Mr. Jakob said. “There wasn’t any other place for them to turn.”

Then rescue came in the form of a phone call from Jim Burbank, president of JCB Urban and a longtime supporter of Davidson Housing Coalition. “Part of our mission is giving back to the community,”  Mr. Burbank said, “so I called Zach to ask if there was anything we could do to help out HAMMERS this holiday season.”

Mr. Jakob described Mr. Boyd’s needs, and Mr. Burbank agreed to take a look. Renovation of the 1,000-square-foot, three bedroom house turned out to be a big job. “We thought at first we would just do a couple of little fixes of bad spots in the floor and the electrical system, but realized quickly it needed significantly more help to be safe,” recalled Burbank.

Burbank agreed to do whatever it took to renovate the house. He devoted his employees to the job, including some who regularly work behind a desk rather than on a construction site. Tommy Crowell, Grant Williams and Jeff Cornatzer developed a plan and ran the project, recruiting more volunteer help from subcontractors and soliciting free or discounted materials. Service manager Robert Hoffman worked non-stop all week long.

The first step was not construction, but destruction, removing worn out floor covering and rotted wood throughout the house. About a dozen Davidson College football players from Phi Delta Theta fraternity volunteered to help with that heavy, nasty task, filling two dumpsters with debris.

The skilled builders then replaced almost the whole floor system and installed new floor covering throughout. The plumbing, HVAC, electrical and duct systems were replaced, and hookups were installed for a new washer and drier and water heater. New cabinets and a new range were installed in the kitchen, along with a new back door, back patio, and sidewalk. The house was freshly painted, and the outside was made water tight. The value of the work and materials was estimated to be at least $20,000.

“It was the right project at the right time of year,” said Grant Williams of JCB Urban. “Things are slow in our industry right now and so this was a great team-building exercise for us, and it also gives our skilled workers a way to contribute to those in need without writing a check.”

Mr. Boyd filled with emotion as he described his feelings. “All my life I never fed off of other people,” he said, “but there’s not a person in the world right now more blessed than me. It’s a blessing from God that these people are helping me. I feel a lot better about Christmas now!”

Want to know more?

Information about Davidson Housing Coalition’s HAMMERS program can be found at www.davidsonhousing.org

Volunteer workers included (back, from left) Donna Blasko, Grant Williams, Jeff Cornatzer, Chris Covington, and Robert Hoffman; and (kneeling from left) Dave Gaspari and Rich Doerfler. (Bill Giduz photo)