5 families in Port Townsend build their own homes

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Autumn Peterson and William Ingersoll have been juggling multiple responsibilities while building the house on Eddy Street where they’ll be living while their children grow up.

They have two sons now, 8-year-old Oliver and 8-month-old Indigo, but when building began on their “sweat equity” house northwest of Port Townsend, Autumn was still pregnant, in addition to working as a waitress and attending college.

“I’ve got my associate’s degree now, and I’ve almost got my bachelor’s,” Autumn said. “It was cool for William, because he was able to be a stay-at-home dad and do all our building hours. All the homeowners watched each other’s kids.”

The Peninsula Housing Authority, which coordinated the projects, conducted a dedication ceremony for the first self-help housing in Jefferson County on Feb. 1, but not all of the houses are finished. Some still require yard landscaping, while others just recently had concrete poured, which had been delayed by the unusually cold weather. Because none of the builders can claim their new homes until all the houses are ready, Autumn and William plan to stay at their rental in Discovery Bay for a few days longer.

“We’ve already lived there seven years,” Autumn said.

SWEAT EQUITY

Five homeowners on Eddy Street took more than 17 months to build their homes. Of the 32 hours a week they were required to contribute to the building of their homes, they were allowed to enlist volunteers to work for 16 of those hours. Each family invested an average of 1,725 hours in building, according to Annie O’Rourke, director of acquisition and development for the Peninsula Housing Authority.

“Our project before this, in Port Angeles, our families built nine homes in 12 months, but there were more of them to pitch in,” O’Rourke said. “Our Port Townsend families still managed to build a house about every three and a half months.”

“We’ve asked these folks to invest a lot of time and effort in this,” O’Rourke said. “I’ve heard from some of you that you never want to see a caulking gun again.”

O’Rourke credited the homeowners with “rolling every joist, standing every wall, roofing every roof, painting the sides and trim, and installing the doors and kitchen cabinets, all working side by side.”

Although weather conditions extended the original building completion window, and homeowners like 68-year-old Pat Teal pressed on with their labors in spite of conditions such as fibromyalgia, O’Rourke noted that all five families could now say they had built their own homes.

O’Rourke hastened to add that this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of a host of contractors, suppliers and vendors, as well as subcontractors ranging from electricians to plumbers, and city staff who facilitated permits and inspections.

After the ceremony, Teal escorted visitors through her house, pointing out that she’d made it fully accessible to those with disabilities, and expressing pride in how accurately she’d laid down her floorboards.

“It’s even got a master bedroom with its own bath,” Teal said. “I sure look forward to soaking my muscles there.”