Cape Cod is a beautiful place to call home. Because of its natural beauty, the Cape is also a place with an unusually high number of nonresident homeowners. Wealthy families from nearby metropolitan areas have, understandably, chosen to purchase a second residence here, leaving many towns with a year-round population that is a fraction of what it is the summer months.
The not-altogether-unexpected consequence of this paradigm is a housing market that can make owning a home nearly impossible for many in the Cape’s year-round workforce.
The median annual household income in Barnstable County is just over $90,000 which would allow a family to comfortably afford the monthly payments on a $300,000 mortgage, but the median home price on the Cape is currently $640,000. One nonprofit organization that works to bridge this seemingly insurmountable gap is Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod which, since its inception in1988, has built more than 180 affordable homes in the region.
Families with a qualifying, stable income who are lucky enough to become a “Habitat Family” receive a one- to three-bedroom home with an affordable monthly mortgage payment. Part of the arrangement is that the family agrees to invest hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” in their own home and future projects.
Every two years, working with Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod, the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod (HBRACC) holds a Blitz Build, where hundreds of volunteers from the local homebuilding community come together to build “One Home for One Family in One Week.” The most recent Blitz Build was held in Dennis in September of 2024, and it was our privilege to serve as the project manager.
“One Home for One Family in One week” is a bit of a misnomer. The construction of the house happens over the course of a week, but the process takes well over a year, with a committee of volunteers lining up donations of materials, and organizing permits and work crews, long before the foundation is poured.
Once construction begins, the building process moves forward with the precision of a well-oiled machine…for the most part.
Three solid days of torrential rain made digging and pouring the foundation especially challenging, but ML Riley Construction and Anderson Framing & Remodeling managed to get it done, allowing a swarm of volunteers to begin work on the three-bedroom home on Jack Delaney Lane in Dennis first thing on the morning of September 23rd.
As the project manager, Andrew Philbrook, president of our Cape Cod custom building firm, was onsite from sun-up until well after sun-down throughout the week.
An audio system with tunes cranking, snacks and beverages, and a midday meal provided by each day’s “lunch sponsor” kept the crews motivated throughout the week.
By noon on Friday, the energy level in the home felt like an episode of an HGTV show, with everyone racing to put the finishing touches in place and give everything a good cleaning.
Just after noon, State Senator Julian Cyr arrived at the jobsite to present Andrew with a citation from the state legislature honoring his work on the project.
The dedication ceremony featured speeches from several of the key players – including Andrew – and the introduction of the family who would call the new house home. It culminated with the official presentation of the house keys to the family as a plane buzzed overhead trailing a banner that said “Welcome home.”
Afterward, guests were invited to tour the beautiful home and enjoy a cookout.
The sense of community on Cape Cod is undeniable, never more so than at the HBRACC’s Blitz Build. This was Philbrook Construction’s first time participating in the Blitz Build, and it certainly won’t be our last.
