Mass construction techniques enable materials to be purchased in bulk, thus reducing costs, and allow instructors to teach and supervise one process at a time, which improves the quality of construction. Roof lines are varied to prevent homes from looking exactly alike. The key to success is keeping families together as a team. Thus, staff loan assistants work with their teams throughout the process and act as facilitators in group problem solving. Meetings are held before each work session to identify and resolve problems inevitable in group projects.
Families move into their homes only when all homes are finished.
Building Community Families are arranged into groups according to where they want to live and where they can afford to live. The team construction process creates and strengthens relationships among those who, after completing construction and moving into their new homes, will be neighbors for as long as they own their homes. Self-Help's projects are completed with the cooperation and support of federal, state, and county governments and private lenders. Impact Self-Help has helped 300 families build homes of their own. Seventy-two of these families were native Hawaiians.