1. How is it possible to build a house so quickly? Or, asked differently, why are other residential construction projects taking 100 times longer? 

2. What lessons can be learned from this record-time construction for other projects, such as the construction of new airports, ocean liners, or campus buildings?

Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. The organization was founded in 1976 and since then has built hundreds of thousands of homes that are sold to those in need at no profit through no-interest loans. Houses built by Habitat for Humanity are decent and affordable. 

How long does it take to build a house from scratch? Most residential construction projects take between three months and a full year. Habitat for Humanity can do this so much faster. In fact, they can do this much, much faster, as they demonstrated in the construction of Bonnie Lilly’s new home near Birmingham, Alabama. Bonnie, together with her two children, moved into a home that has officially been labeled the world’s fastest house by Habitat for Humanity International. The house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was built—yes, you are reading correctly—in three hours and twenty-six minutes. 

If you enter “fastest house ever built” into YouTube, you can watch a short movie that shows the construction. The construction was started using a previously installed foundation. It was completed when the entire house met all township codes and requirements. 

Almost 200 carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, and painters collaborated on this project. They followed a carefully laidout project plan. Each task was executed in the allotted time. Whenever a task was complete, the successor tasks were immediately started because workers were standing next to the construction site eagerly awaiting the authorization to start their work. 

The project was planned and managed by project manager Chad Calhoun of Brice Construction Company. Chad and his team practiced for the build at an old schoolhouse. He coordinated the work, defined a project plan, and created a detailed schedule just as he does on his other construction projects.

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