Build Journal · Hearts for Homes · September 2026

From a Tin Shack to a Real Home

One week on a steep Roatán hillside, report by report. Volunteers from the States, a dozen local hands, and Doña Candida's family, who went from a tin shack to a home.

Build complete · 7 reports

Sunday

Worship, then work

The week started the right way: worship at R Church in Sandy Bay, then a look up the hill at what six days would have to hold.

Sunday worship at R Church.

Day 1

Prayer, tools, and a hard climb

This is where Doña Candida, her son Andy, her two daughters and her five-year-old grandson live: tin, scrap wood, dirt floor, one extension cord for power. The team met at the VoTec office, prayed over the week, and loaded the trucks. Twelve-plus local builders showed up ready to work.

The trail to the site climbs a steep hillside. Every board and every tool went up by hand. In rainy season water runs down this whole slope, so the house sits on stilts seven feet off the ground. One crew cut wall framing underneath. Another built the platform up top. By evening the family had a floor.

A small shelter of corrugated tin and scrap wood on a dirt hillside — Where Candida's family lives today.

Board by board, tool by tool, up the hill.

The volunteer team in matching work shirts gathered outside the VoTec office — Prayer at the office before the week began.

Volunteers load tools into a pickup truck on a narrow hillside road — Loading tools with 12+ local builders.

A volunteer cuts lumber on a sawhorse in the shade beneath a raised house — The cutting crew under the platform.

Two builders carry a folding table across a new wooden platform — The platform: the floor of the new home.

Team members stand on the deck framing at the hillside site — End of Day 1. A good day.

Day 2

Four walls and the first rafters

The first wall went up with the siding already on, a heavy lift with a seven-foot drop off the deck. Then lunch. Wall 3 was standing before noon. Wall 4 fit tight like a glove.

About three skilled builders and a dozen willing helpers made it happen. By the end of the day the roof rafters were going up on four finished walls. Everyone left tired and feeling blessed. These volunteers keep coming back for more.

A line of builders pushes the first sided wall upright — Wall 1 of 4. Heavy lift.

Wall 1 goes up.

Wall 4. Tight like a glove.

Builders brace a tall wall with a window opening in place — Wall 3 of 4, up before noon.

Roof rafters rise above four framed walls while a volunteer measures lumber — Setting rafters on four finished walls.

Day 3

The roof takes shape

Day 3 went up top. Rafters now cover all four walls, and the crew worked from ladders and the top plates to set the roof framing. Down on the platform, more framing came together board by board, hammer by hammer.

A builder sits on top of the framed wall under the rafters and gives a thumbs up — Thumbs up from the top of the wall.

A smiling builder with a tool belt stands inside the framed home under a full set of roof rafters and palm trees — Roof framing over all four walls.

A volunteer on the ground hands a board up to a builder standing on a ladder at the top of the wall — Hand it up. Teamwork at the top plate.

Volunteers and a builder in a red Roatán VoTec shirt nail framing together on the wooden platform — Framing on the platform, in Roatán VoTec red.

Day 4

The roof is on

Roof framing done, metal roof going on. Home #3 is weatherproofed. Inside, both bedrooms and the bathroom are framed, and boxes and wire runs have begun in the walls and ceilings for outlets and lights.

Donated doors arrived and are being hung. Tomorrow the crew wraps up what it can. Another missions team comes in behind Team RVT to hang drywall and paint.

Metal roof panels going on over the roof framing, seen from inside the home with the crew at work below — The roof goes on. Home #3 is weatherproofed.

Volunteers work under the new roof: one on a ladder at the top plate, one at the tool table, one drilling at the floor — Electrical rough-in under a finished roof.

Framed interior walls for the bedrooms and bathroom under the new roof, with a dark door leaning ready to hang — Two bedrooms and the bath, framed and ready for wire.

Two volunteers carry a dark wooden door through the framed home while others run wire — Donated doors, hung to keep the family safe.

Day 5

Keys turned over

Last build day. Windows and doors are in and the electrical panel is on the wall. Home #3 is a safe, secure, waterproof place for Candida's family to begin again.

It still needs utilities, plumbing, drywall and paint. Pastor Travis has a missions team lined up to pick up where Team RVT left off. Tonight the family can move into a home built in one week. Team RVT has turned over the keys.

Inside the framed home under the new metal roof: a volunteer fits a white window on the left, a builder steadies a ladder in the bedroom doorway, dark doors lean ready to hang — Windows in, doors ready, panel wired. Last day on site.

Last day: windows going in.

Two volunteers set a white window into the framed wall under the new metal roof, daylight through the trees outside — Setting the bedroom window.

Wire runs and the electrical panel box mounted on the framed wall, with the wiring plan taped above it — The panel goes on the wall, wiring plan taped above it.

Day 6

Beach and BBQ

What better way to celebrate than a beach day and a BBQ at the end of a great week. Leo and KJ Murray opened their home for a team and family celebration, corn hole included. Chef Jose was in good form, grilling burgers and dogs for 30.

The afternoon was for stories and meeting spouses, then West Bay beach, warm water and a tropical breeze, to look back on what God did in seven days. This team does not say goodbye. It says see ya later.

The volunteer team and local builders with their families gathered on a wooden deck above the trees, with the bay and the sea behind them — Team and family at the Murray home.

The view from the Murray home, then the party.

Chef Jose smiles at a flat-top grill loaded with burger patties, a tray of hot dogs beside him on a blue and white porch — Chef Jose, burgers and dogs for 30.

Lounge chairs and white umbrellas on a white sand beach under palm fronds, turquoise water and boats beyond — West Bay beach. See ya later, not goodbye.

Home #3 is done

The keys are turned over to Doña Candida, her son Andy, who helped build it, her two daughters and her five-year-old grandson. Six people, off the dirt, in a dry and safe home. The next team finishes the interior. Meet Candida, or join the next build.

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On the build: John Mullane · Phil Speck · Team VoTec volunteers · 12+ local builders

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