Hailey Deeds’ daily routine looks a little different from that of most 24-year-olds. After a full day of juggling working from home with caring for her infant daughter, she drives 45 minutes to Nephi to meet her husband, Matt, where they are building their home.
Neither Hailey nor Matt has ever built a house before, but their home is looking fantastic — when we spoke, the concrete driveway was just poured, carpet had been laid and the toilets and other fixtures had all been installed. All that was left were minor details like outlet covers and lightbulbs.
The Deeds family is part of a program called Self-Help Homes, which completes affordable housing projects by facilitating loans and providing training so people can build their own houses. For nearly a year, they have driven back and forth between Nephi and Lehi almost daily to spend 35 hours per week building their home: framing the walls, installing baseboards, painting the interior and completing thousands of other tasks…