Master builder Larry Haun brings you this complete, step-by-step guide to building a house.

If you're looking for ways to give back to your community, then this book, the first to profile thirteen projects designed and built by architects and Habitat for Humanity, will help. Detailed plans, sections, and photographs show you how these projects came about, the strategies used by each team to approach the design and construction process, and the obstacles they overcame to realize a successful outcome. The lessons and insights, presented here will aid you, whether you're an architect, architecture student, Habitat affiliate leader, or an affordable housing advocate. Located all across the United States, these projects represent the full spectrum of Habitat for Humanity affiliates, from large urban affiliates to small rural programs. These cases illustrate a broad range of innovative approaches to energy performance, alternative construction strategies, and responses to site context. And each house demonstrates that design quality need not fall victim to the rigorous imperatives of cost, delivery, and financing.

In these pages you will find inspiring, true stories of people who didn't have hopeuntil they had a home. Stories of children who gained identity and confidence for their future. Of families made stronger and healthier and prison inmates who are now giving back to their communities. Of entire communities bonding together around an ethic of hard work and mutual respect. Of denominational, political, and racial barriers falling with every swing of the hammer. Of a growing host of young people engaged in the quest to end poverty housing. And even some wonderful love stories. The end result is nothing less than the transformation of lives, communities, and familiesone person, one home at a time. Which, of course, has always been the dreamto build more than houses. "Habitat for Humanity is building much more than houses. By building hope it is building relationships, strengthening communities, and nurturing families." Actor Paul Newman, Habitat supporter "Rosalynn and I believe in Habitat's integrity, effectiveness, and tremendous vision. With Habitat, we build more than houses. We build families, communities, and hope." Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter "I could have gone through my whole life bouncing back and forth on welfare. Habitat makes a difference, and allows people to be what God intended them to be instead of what their circumstances dictate." Missouri homeowner Terrie Robinson

Inspiring and insightful, Our Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World celebrates the shared principles that unite and enable us to overcome life’s challenges together. “When the waters rise, so do our better angels.”—President Jimmy Carter Jonathan Reckford, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity, has seen time and again the powerful benefits that arise when people from all walks of life work together to help one another. In this uplifting book, he shares true stories of people involved with Habitat as volunteers and future homeowners who embody seven timeless virtues—kindness, community, empowerment, joy, respect, generosity, and service—and shows how we can all practice these to improve the quality of our own lives as well as those around us. A Vietnam veteran finds peace where he was once engaged in war. An impoverished single mother offers her family’s time and energy to enrich their neighbors’ lives. A Zambian family of nine living in a makeshift tent makes room to shelter even more. A teenager grieving for his mother honors her love and memory by ensuring other people have a place to call home. A former president of the United States leads by example with a determined work ethic that motivates everyone around him to be the best version of themselves. These stories, and many others, illustrate how virtues become values, how cooperation becomes connection, and how even the smallest act of compassion can encourage actions that transform the world around us. Here are tales that will make readers laugh and cry and embrace with passion the calling of our better angels to change the way we take care of ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world.

"From one of Fine Homebuilding's best-loved authors, Larry Haun, comes a unique story that looks at American home building from the perspective of twelve houses he has known intimately. Part memoir, part cultural history, A Carpenter's Life as Told by Houses takes the reader house by house over an arc of 100 years. Along with period photos, the author shows us the sod house in Nebraska where his mother was born, the frame house of his childhood, the production houses he built in the San Fernando Valley, and the Habitat for Humanity homes he devotes his time to now. It's an engaging read written by a veteran builder with a thoughtful awareness of what was intrinsic to home building in the past and the many ways it has evolved. Builders and history lovers will appreciate his deep connection to the natural world, yearning for simplicity, respect for humanity, and evocative notion of what we mean by "home.""--

Family, friendship, and the spirit of giving are at the heart of this inspiring picture book—now available with Read & Listen audio narration. Opening in Depression-era New York, The Carpenter's Gift tells the story of eight-year-old Henry and his out-of-work father selling Christmas trees in Manhattan. They give one of their leftover trees to construction workers building Rockefeller Center. That tree becomes the first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, the finest Henry has seen when adorned with homemade decorations. Henry wishes on the tree for a nice, warm house to replace his family's drafty, one-room shack. Through the kindness of new friends and old neighbors, Henry's wish is granted, and he plants a pinecone to commemorate the event. As an old man, Henry repays the gift by donating to Rockefeller Center the enormous tree that has grown from that pinecone. After bringing joy to thousands as a beautiful Christmas tree, its wood will be used to build a home for a family in need. This ebook includes Read & Listen audio narration.

Millard Fuller had come face-to-face with the reality of the American dream: a millionaire workaholic with a marriage on the skids. The cure -- the Fullers sold their business, donated all the money to charity, and went in search of a new dream. Today Fuller and his wife are sharing that dream: Habitat for Humanity.