This house is going places

Chants of “lift that house” echoed from the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice’s Broad River Road complex Monday morning as the agency closed the first chapter of its first Habitat House build.

DJJ youth last month began framing the house inside the facility, and several hundred onlookers watched Monday as it was lifted over the fence en route to its permanent location in Richland County. Community youth under DJJ supervision will work alongside professionals to complete the interior trim, painting, landscaping and other finishing touches at the home site before it is dedicated in the spring. The volunteers will be joined by a Columbia woman who has been selected to receive the home and who will live there with her teenage son.

White Crane Co. Inc. of West Columbia performed the lift, which took about 20 minutes to complete Monday. Company president Jason Flynt talked about the operation.

First of all, how common is this type move?

“Our company has been around for 35 years and I am sure we have participated in hundreds of moves like this.”

So was this your largest audience?

“We have never lifted a house over a fence for an audience, so yes, this is the largest audience ever. However, we do many charity events. For instance, one New Year’s we had thousands of people in Augusta watch us lower the ball. But this was the largest audience we have ever had doing a more difficult lift such as this one.”

What exactly was involved?

“We coordinated with the house movers in advance to relocate the house closer to the fence around DJJ so we could lift the house up. We carefully used two cranes operated simultaneously to lift the house over the fence, where it was placed on wheels to be transported to its final location.”

What are some of the things you have to be most careful of with this type operation?

“There are two critical areas. We have to be sure that the ground is strong enough to support our cranes and that the house is rigged correctly to execute the lift.”

So what was the greatest anxiety?

“The issue with this move is that we only have one time to get it right. With everybody watching, and a deadline to meet, there is no backing up and punting. The biggest fear for a company such as ours is not having the correct weight because then you cannot perform the lift.”

How did your company become involved with the project?

“The White Crane Company was asked by Department of Juvenile Justice and the Friends of Juvenile Justice to donate our services for this lift. DJJ explained that the children could build the house inside the perimeter of the fence, but if they had nobody to lift the house over the fence, the project could not move forward. So we decided to help and volunteered our services.”

What do you think about the youth involvement in building this house?

“Today’s young adults need to learn job skills more than ever to provide a living for themselves and their families in the future. Working in the construction industry, I know there is a very high demand for the skills these young adults will learn, and I believe that this program will not only be beneficial to the young adults, but also to the construction industry.”

And what does it mean to be a part of this effort?

“It means a lot us to be part of this effort — not just as a company, but our employees are very excited as well. We are doing a great deed for the family, and hopefully our efforts mixed with the efforts of everyone else, will set an example for other juvenile correctional facilities, and they can then follow our lead.”

“We hope that this will be the first of many houses that will be built for families in need, and the first of many groups of juveniles that will learn the skills needed to provide them with a stable income later in life.”