Hands-on School Houston

Join Hands-on School Houston as (1) volunteer, (2) mentor, (3), investor, and/or (4) future resident. Starting from high school learn to work and earn more money, save money, buy land, build starter home, and grow community. Locations may include (1) City of Houston, with 4 acres as example, minimum 5000 ft2, or (2) outside city but within about one hour drive of Houston, 10 acres or more. For each selected location, members pool funds to acquire land after feasibility study. About $10k per home site (lot) in low price areas. About $10k may be required to develop infrastructure such as roads and utility connections. Total about $20k per lot. Such priced lots are hard to find or unavailable in the current market, therefore we need to pool funds to do it. Lots will be sold to members as future residents. A reasonable interest will be paid to investments by members at pre-agreed rate. Members will work together to build starter homes. A 200 ft2 home may be built first, with a design that 200 ft2 can be added later until the house is about 1000 ft2. Simpler design with lower cost material has a material cost starting about $50/ft2. Labor hours start 1hr/ft2, while actual labor hours will be more as members are less experienced. Total labor cost would be referenced about $50/ft2, so that each member contributing labor will be credited accordingly. Some contract labor may be hired when members do not have qualification for a particular work. A builder may be hired to provide technical support and quality control, with pre-agreed $/ft2. Funds for buying material and hiring contractor will be loan from investment of members, or a construction loan may be used if a qualified builder is hired. After a home is completed, a loan may be used for the member lot owner to buy the home. If the loan value, such as $160/ft2 including land, is higher than the cost, such as $140/ft2, the difference will be shared based on pre-agreed terms. Design of homes will have community in mind. Backyards will have shared courtyard as default, divided only when homeowners agreed to divide. Each HOA will be formed with 4 to 10 homes, and fees will be decided by the homeowners, if any. HOA association will be formed by representatives of all HOA to coordinate mutual help and mediate as needed. HOA association will help setup cooperatives such as meal sharing, ride sharing, gardening, childcare, tutoring, afterschool, home repair and maintenance, etc. A high school advocacy group will advocate for high school students to learn our approach and for more high schools to add tiny home construction program in CTE program. The group will also find nonprofits to add tiny home construction program for high school students. A university advocacy group will coordinate setting up distance education activities in our communities, so that residents can work, especially in building homes, while pursuing university education, with similar university campus activities. Experienced residents may serve as mentors or teachers.