If you’re a homeowner, you know that keeping up your “castle” can, at times, seem to cost a king’s ransom. That’s especially true if you’re a homeowner who has to struggle just to make the house payments, let alone repair that leaky roof, dripping water faucet, or cracked windowpane.

Beyond the expense involved, there’s the question of skills. Not every homeowner is able to “do it yourself.” And what homeowner hasn’t heard tales, or experienced their own examples, of the difficulties of hiring a contractor? However since 1973, the national nonprofit Rebuilding Together has helped homeowners across the country who are living on low incomes – including elderly, disabled, and veterans – make essential repairs to their homes without charges for labor or materials.

Solid Ground recently partnered with the organization’s local affiliate, Rebuilding Together Seattle (RTS), to support their work through our Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), which matches volunteers 55 and older with critical community needs at one of more than 30 partner organizations across King County. One of our priorities is to support organizations like RTS that are working to help older adults maintain their independence and remain in their own homes.

For qualified homeowners, including apartment and condo owners, RTS offers three programs: Spring Rebuilding Day, Team Build, and Safe at Home. The first of these, also known as National Rebuilding Day, is a yearly one-day event that takes place among the organization’s over 150 affiliates.

Team Builds, however, occur throughout the year. These are projects in which a company gets together a group of volunteers from their organization to participate. “We take what a group is capable of and what is needed at a person’s home,” says Sam, “and we do a matching of the homeowner and the group.”

Such projects may require project management, “so that’s another opportunity for volunteers as well.” And as RTS Program Manager, Sam finds himself running a lot of the communication between participants. “Understanding what is needed in the individual’s home, relaying it to the project manager, and then they come up with [a plan to obtain the needed tools and materials to complete the projects].”

Most individual homeowners who apply to RTS, however, will be connected to an individual volunteer through the Safe at Home program, which is largely focused on helping homeowners “age in place.” As Sam explains, this involves visiting an applicant’s house and checking its condition against a 25-item Safe and Healthy Priorities list. “Does it have a fire extinguisher, or carbon monoxide or smoke detectors? Can you get in and out of your house safely? Do you have handrails that are attached? Do you have grab bars in your bathroom?”

“Does it have a fire extinguisher, or carbon monoxide or smoke detectors? Can you get in and out of your house safely? Do you have handrails that are attached? Do you have grab bars in your bathroom?”

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“Everything is free. The homeowner never pays for anything.”

~Sam Wyllie-Cain, RTS Program Manager

After interested homeowners qualify for the nonprofit’s services, Sam and one of RTS’s AmeriCorps volunteers make a site preview of the home. “If some or any of the repairs are within our capacity, then we put them on our wait list for matching them either with an individual volunteer or a group.” A homeowner’s time on the waiting list depends on the extent of the needed repairs and the availability of volunteers.

Just as with the other programs, Sam assesses what’s needed at a person’s home and then matches them with a volunteer. “I have an understanding of our volunteers’ skill sets. If at this home, there’s only four or five things that need to get done, then I match a volunteer with the right skill set with the homeowner.”

According to Sam, the organization can call upon “a pretty dedicated group of volunteers who say, ‘Hey, I’m available in January. Do you have anything for me?’ Sometimes we use volunteers to wrap up bigger projects.” Occasionally, a few unfinished items remain on a large product, and he’ll call up an individual volunteer to come in and wrap up those tasks.

And he explains, “What’s great about volunteering with us is, it’s very much on your terms. For example, if you’re an individual, I facilitate all the communication between you and the homeowner. You’re really just there to get the project done, use your hands, work in someone’s home and serve someone in your community. It’s really on your timeline. It’s really up to you how you approach things.

Since 1989, its local affiliate, Rebuilding Together Seattle (RTS), has been dedicated to keeping homeowners in need of help stay safely in their homes while aging in place. As with so many other community service organizations, RTS exists only because of one precious commodity: the goodwill of other people. As RTS Program Manager Sam Wyllie-Cain explains, “We are a completely volunteer-led organization, which means that all of the repair projects get completed by volunteers.”

“We have a volunteer who only does stuff on Sundays, because he still works 50 hours a week. He’ll only spend two or three hours, but he’ll spend every Sunday there until he gets the work done. I do all communication with the homeowner ahead of time. I create what we call a ‘work scope agreement,’ so that the homeowner understands what we plan to get accomplished. I think that’s one of the big benefits of Rebuilding Together – it’s really on the volunteer’s schedule. If you have this skill set, we’re happy to send you out there to work on the project. And you do what you’re comfortable with, too. I think that’s the other big point: We’re not going to have you go out there and do anything you can’t do. You get to determine that.” For volunteers, some basic carpentry skills, or the do-it-yourself work that most homeowners pick up over time, will suffice.

“A lot of the smaller stuff that I send volunteers to do is securing handrails. Fixing windows that aren’t working. Doors that aren’t properly sealed, adding weather stripping to things. Fixing toilets and faucets. Making sure that people can clean their dishes and get in and out of the bathroom. Somebody who’s handy. A DIYer. Someone who, if they have their own home, they’re going to go in and figure out how to fix things. They’re not going to hire somebody to come in and do it.”

For the homeowner, “Everything is free. The homeowner never pays for anything.” Sam tries “to make it as easy for volunteers as possible.” Having worked as a middle school teacher in Massachusetts, and as a construction worker since moving to the Northwest, the congenial program manager decided that he “wanted to serve a population that was more in need.”

At Rebuilding Together Seattle, Sam seems to have found his niche. “There’s a really cool opportunity here to volunteer in a way that works for you, but it’s also very impactful to your community. It’s such an important thing. And the health outcomes from providing handrails saves a ton of health care dollars in the long run for individuals.”

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Photo at top: RTS volunteers connect with a delighted homeowner during a Spring Rebuilding Day event.