The House Designers and Project Team Up recently partnered to provide house plans to tornado victims of Tuscaloosa, Alabama to assist in rebuilding new homes for a community left devastated by the worst outbreak of twisters on record in April of 2011. Families can choose from over 6,000 best-selling house plans from the leading designers and architects in the United States. Homes will be built by a team of talented craftsman who are coming from all over the world to offer their expertise and time in building new homes.
“We had gotten offers from local designers to draw up plans, but we wanted to go with an established organization, because we felt having a gamut of house plans would serve us better than forcing a house plan on a family,” said Riz Shakir, Executive Director of Team Up Foundation. He is also a professor at UA, who took a one-year leave of absence to head this project. “We want them to feel special and your portfolio of house plans allows them to browse, choose and finalize a plan for their new home.”
According to Shakir, he approached The House Designers because the website was easy to navigate, user-friendly and the families were enjoying browsing through the collection of over 6,000 best-selling house plans.
“We were so glad when Shakir approached us to offer our assistance with providing house plans to help rebuild a community that lost so many homes,” said Tammy Crosby, CEO of The House Designers. “We were more than happy to provide a discount on all of our house plans and assist with making modifications so these families could have a fresh start and custom their dream home.”
The goal is to have the families very involved in selecting their new home, which is why Shakir sits with them to review house plans on thehousedesigners.com that are applicable to their size (average house is around 2,000 square feet), budget and personal taste. If the family requests changes, he is more than happy to have the designers and architects of The House Designers make changes to the blueprints.
For every million dollars that they raise they will build between 10 and 15 new homes at a cost of about $75k-$100k. “Imagine the 6300 house plan, which would cost about $170k to build, but with free labor and only having to pay for materials the cost is essentially half price,” said Shakir, who is the builder and engineer on all new home construction projects.
The first two homes being built are the Norcuss House Plan and the Morrow House Plan. The Norcuss House Plan is an attractive 1-½ story design featuring plenty of amenities for a mid-size house plan, including a 252 sq. ft. bonus room. Highlights of this home include a 24’ x 14’ vaulted great room with fireplace, a large kitchen with two breakfast bars, 12’ vaulted ceilings in the master suite with a 6’ Palladium window and 3-car garage with bonus space above. They most recently purchased plan is the Morrow House Plan, which has an abundance of features (very similar to the Norcuss) and an open design for just under 2,000 square feet. The traditional brick exterior offers a refined and elegant appeal that is quintessential Alabama.
“The next plan will be the Shenandoah House Plan, which will go to the local Pastor and his family, who despite their personal devastation have spent months living in their parents basement to assist others,” said Shakir, who feels blessed to be in the company of such a loving community.
Donations may be sent to 312 Merchants Walk Suite 7, Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. For more information, call Project Team Up at 855-832-6877 or visit http://www.projectteamup.com/
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Christine Cooney
Christine has over a decade of experience as a house plan and floor plan expert. Outside of providing her expertise to customers to help them find and build their dream homes, her passion and knowledge of the home building industry allows Christine to guide families and builders through all of the important steps from finding plans to building custom homes that meet the expectations of today’s new home owner. Christine’s years of knowledge of the diverse trends and needs of the modern homeowner has made her into an authoritative and trusted voice in the online house plan community..