The House. Our Story.

Long post alert... if you have been following our story over the past year and a half you know that we  bought a house in February 2017. This was not just a temporary move, but the house in which we would raise our children and prayerfully pass down to them one day as their own. The search process began in early 2016 until we found the house perfect for our family. We settled on February 22, 2017. Happiness was an understatement. The house is over 100 years old with lots of charm and character in the pefect neighborhood. The house was "move in ready" but there were a number of cosmetic fixes we wanted to make before moving in. After vetting contractors and getting quotes we began construction April 1, 2017. What was to be a one month job turned into a nightmare. The cosmetic fixes that we sought to make exposed serious issues within our new home. We had to gut the property and rebuild from the beams up. There was a point where there were no walls, no floors no electricity, no water, no gas. We had to rebuild the house. Unexpectedly. The first contractor we hired was illprepared and unable to fulfill his duties in the timeframe that he promised. He lost his crew and became overwhelmed with the project. We would come to check the progress of the work to see that no work had been done for days. Over a month and a half went by with little progress. He purchased many of the materials needed but could not finish the work. He left the material thankfully but also lots of unfinished work. We had invested over $20,000 into the renovation and the money was paid to the contractor, mismanaged and gone. We had no experience with this whatsoever.  We had very little money left to hire new people and no direction as to how to get financing for more labor so we started doing the work ourselves and paying for it with our paychecks each week.  Every week we would come to the house and work. Cleaning, removing debris, sanding, spakling, putting up walls, scraping floors. We found family and friends who were skilled in areas who helped us tremendously but we also skilled up. We watched YouTube videos on how to repair walls and lay floors. We practically lived at Home Depot. We got our kids and their friends involved. My friends came from far and wide to help in whatever way they could. We hired different contractors throughout the year to complete smaller more specific parts of the house. Some were phenomenal yet others took advantage of our situation and left us high and dry overpromising and underdelivering yet again. We were so disheartened at some point that we contacted a realtor to try to sell the house during the winter. Expenses were piling up and we couldn't even live in the property we had bought. We had faith in God and our family so we did not give up. People saw how hard we were working and donated money, goods, services and their time to us. We had a Gofundme campaign to help offset the climbing expenses. People helped alot. Some people actually saw what was happening and distanced themselves from us, but that never stopped us. The support was overwhelming. It was everything, yet still not quite enough. We had worked on this house ourselves for over a year and gotten to the point where moving in was in sight. We however had exhausted all of our resources. Just when we had no idea what to do next a friend from afar reached out to me. In May 2018 Nadirah nominated me and my family to receive the donation of a lifetime. The Need for Maintenance Foundation, lead by Khalif, told me and my husband that they were going to donate the remaining labor to get our house finished. Donate. Free. Whatever we needed. We provided the materials. The amount of work left amounted to roughly 50 - 100 hours of labor including stripping and refinishing badly damaged hardwood floors, light fixtures and painting the downstairs and deep post construction cleaning. When I got the call I cried uncontrollably at my desk. It did not make sense. Of all the bad that had happened with contractors I simply could not understand that someone would do this for my family. They saved our house. There is absolutely no way that we can repay them for the work that they did and are still doing. And guess what... We moved in on June 16, 2018!!! Over a year later, but the timing was everything. We appreciate our house so much more because of all the work that we put in. Words can not begin to express how grateful my family is to The Need for Maintenance Foundation and everyone that has helped us throughout the year. It was definitely a labor of love and I feel all the love every time I walk in the front door of my new house! The Need for Maintenance Foundation helps families in need of maintenance repairs that they can not otherwise afford. Please help support this organization as I can attest to how humble, experienced and professional they all are. Donating labor to people in need is a HUGE undertaking especially in communities that need it. We were fortunate to be nominated and chosen by the organization and I am forever grateful and indebted.