Word: hennin
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...CRAIG HENNIN...
That is the goal of Shelter Founders Pat Hennin, 34, and his wife Patsy, 35. Five years ago, after they built a house (for a friend), they decided to teach others. Pat abandoned his law career, and the Hennins started their school in a $50-a-month classroom. Though the institute now occupies three buildings, the Hennins remain dedicated to simplicity. Says Pat: "The construction business has made building into a mystery by breaking it up into specialties. Carpenters do not know plumbing. Plumbers cannot lay a foundation. We have just drawn it all together to let people...
Students also work on houses that are being built by Shelter Institute graduates in the countryside around Bath. Such on-site experience helps them gain the self confidence needed to build their own houses. Says Pat Hennin: "There are no insurmountable problems. If you're certain you can do it, it will get done." Reports a former student who built his own house: "I got discouraged, but the house kept going...
...time, the institute has some 200 students. Applicants must sign up six months in advance, and 900 are admitted each year. To date, 3,400 have graduated. The Hennins claim that of the 600 alumni who have tried to build their own houses, none has failed. Says Pat Hennin: "There's a network of grads who always help each other...
Though most of the school's students are young or middle-aged people who want to break away from urban life, more older people are beginning to sign up. Hennin had hoped for a higher proportion of applicants with low incomes, but poor people seem to believe they do not have the time or the money to build a house. Pat disagrees: "Many poor and working people buy a trailer for $18,000, and spend a fortune heating it and patching up the rust. For much less, they could have a solid house, a good investment...