Here's some of the work we did in El Salvador. You'll note that most of it is very labor intensive, which saves on costs.
We would get to the job site around 8 am, the masons were already there and working since 7 am. We'd take breaks at 10:30 and 2:30, lunch at noon, and leave by 4 pm. The masons were still working until 7pm, at most, getting paid $3/hr.
Each house takes approximately 6-7 weeks to build, and costs roughly $7k. These were very simple 2-3 bedroom houses, about 500 square feet.
Some 80% of the El Salvador population lives in inadequate housing...whether nothing, or a tin shack, or a house that will collapse in the next earthquake. That's more than 500,000 houses. Forgive me if my numbers are off, but that's just a gauge to give you an idea of the conditions there!
We would get to the job site around 8 am, the masons were already there and working since 7 am. We'd take breaks at 10:30 and 2:30, lunch at noon, and leave by 4 pm. The masons were still working until 7pm, at most, getting paid $3/hr.
Each house takes approximately 6-7 weeks to build, and costs roughly $7k. These were very simple 2-3 bedroom houses, about 500 square feet.
Some 80% of the El Salvador population lives in inadequate housing...whether nothing, or a tin shack, or a house that will collapse in the next earthquake. That's more than 500,000 houses. Forgive me if my numbers are off, but that's just a gauge to give you an idea of the conditions there!
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| manually mixing concrete |
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| cutting blocks for the roof |
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| manually unloading sand for the floors |
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| leveling floors with sand and water |
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| $84 tin roof |
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| exterior of the house we worked on |
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| safety first? |
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| a finished exterior |
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| finished interior |
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| finished interior |
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| typical porch...with laundry and drying beans |
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| work hard, play hard! |
