Families building their own homes in Montana are celebrating progress

GREAT FALLS — Families participating in the Homeowners program through NeighborWorks Great Falls are making significant strides toward homeownership by working together to build 10 new homes.

Under the program, funded by the USDA Mutual Self-Help Program, 10 families spend about 30 hours a week building each other’s homes, earning equity throughout the year, resulting in significantly lower mortgage payments.

Marlee Holcombe works as a respiratory therapist, but spends a few hours a week covering roofs and rolling trusses and siding. Next spring she will own the house.

“I knew it would be a difficult experience, but it was a lot of fun. I really liked everything. And the people are great. The tutors are very patient with us and very willing to teach. Being on the roof is my favorite part. I really enjoy working there,” says Holcombe. “But yeah, stacking sheet metal and loading trusses and stuff like that, it was a good time.”

This year’s group started construction in May and already has six houses. Two of them are completely finished on the exterior and are ready for future homeowners to begin building the interiors and customizing them by selecting countertops, colors and carpets for their new home.

Teran Sowers is a mutual self-help supervisor for NeighborWorks Great Falls and has been involved with the program for three years, overseeing the construction of thirty homes.

“The coolest thing is when you see these people, they don’t do this every day. They don’t know what power tools are. They don’t know how to do any task we tell them to do, and by the end they’ve built ten houses and they can see it through to the end,” Sowers says.

Completion of the ten houses in spring 2025 means that the program will have built 185 houses since 2005, currently serving 185 families.