The Sallal Grange worked with volunteers to build a “Tiny House” for the Nickelsville Tiny House Village in Seattle last weekend.

Volunteers worked from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Sallal Grange in North Bend to build one of 15 homes for Nickelsville Village, located on 22nd and Union in the Central District of Seattle.

Melinda Nichols, president of the board of directors for the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) in Seattle and a North Bend resident, said that the Nickelsville Village is one of the first of its kind the in the U.S.

However, because of a lack of funds, LIHI looked to get community involvement from volunteers.

“My background is in construction and project management, so I said ‘let’s ask folks if they will build these tiny houses. It will be a great way for them to learn more about what’s going on in the homeless community and it’s a positive thing to do,’” she said.

The Institute supplied the materials and Home Depot in Bellevue delivered them to the site for the Grange to build.

“I’m proud to say the Grange totally stepped up to the plate like they usually do and is building this house,” Nichols said.

Leah Aichele, director of family living at Sallal Grange, said that the base of the house was built Friday night and the rest was constructed on Saturday in the parking lot of the Grange. It was weather sealed by the end of the day, but the Grange volunteers still have to do some additional trim work and other touch-ups.

The house will be delivered to the Nicklesville Village in the first week of December.

According to Aichele, the owner of the Tiny House will be determined after construction at the Grange is complete.

“It will be given to someone based on how long they have been part of Nickelsville tent communities,” Aichele said.

The cost to build one of these houses is $2,300, with electricity running to one fan and one LED light. Each house is 96 square feet. The houses do not include bathrooms, instead Nickelsville Village has a bathroom pavilion that the residents share.

“One of the things I’ve discovered is how many people want to help,” Nichols said. “The Grange is a great example, because it’s just folks who get together once a month and they were adamant they were going to make one of these houses and we’ve got dozens of people, adults and kids, here today doing that. It’s a really nice multi-generational effort.”

The Tiny House starts to take shape during the build on Saturday.

Jay Danielson, volunteer, works to secure the beams in the walls of the Tiny House.

Jake Cohoran, climbs a ladder to check the work done on the the top beams.