GREAT FALLS — The families participating in the Owner Built Homes program through NeighborWorks Great Falls are making significant progress on their journey to homeownership, working together to build their 10 new homes.
Through the program, funded by USDA’s Mutual Self-Help program, 10 families dedicate about 30 hours a week building each other's homes, earning “sweat equity” over the year-long build, resulting in a substantially lower mortgage payment.
Marlee Holcombe works as a respiratory therapist, but for a few hours a week, she’s sheeting roofs, rolling trusses, and siding. Next spring, she’ll be a homeowner.
“I knew it was going to be a challenging experience, but it's been a lot of fun. I've really enjoyed everything. And the people are great. The supervisors are very patient with us and very willing to teach. Being on the roof has been my favorite part. So I like working up there so much," Holcombe says. "But yeah, doing the sheeting and loading up the trusses and all that, that's been a good time.”
This year’s group began their build in May and already has six houses up. Two are completely finished on the exterior and are ready to begin on the interior building and customization from the future homeowners, choosing countertops, colors, and carpets for their new home.
Teran Sowers is the Mutual Self-Help Superintendent for NeighborWorks Great Falls and has been involved with the program for three years, overseeing thirty houses built.
“The coolest thing is you see these people that they don't do this every day. They don't know what power tools are. They don't know how to do whatever task it is we tell them to perform, and by the end of it, they've built ten homes and they get to see that through all the way to the end," Sowers says.
The completion of the ten homes in Spring of 2025 will mark 185 homes built through the program since 2005, and 185 families who are now homeowners.
