Over the last two months, MacKay Sposito has been very involved consulting with Homes for Our Troops on a 5 acre residential site in Eatonville, WA in Pierce County for a severely injured veteran, Army Staff Sergeant Samuel Shockley.

Homes for Our Troops (HFOT) is a privately funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization building specially adapted, mortgage-free homes nationwide for the most severely injured Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of these Veterans have sustained injuries including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The homes provided by HFOT restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed while defending our country, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives. 

Here’s a link to a HFOT web page about this specific project: http://www.hfotusa.org/shockley

Our in-kind donation included surveying and civil engineering components. More specifically, a team of MacKay Sposito surveyors out of our Vancouver office provided field topography. In the Federal Way office, we provided an overall site and utility plan, which showed the home location on a base plan along with grading and utilities. Several site constraints were considered, such as septic drain field locations, water well location, drainage concerns and required setbacks. We coordinated with a geotechnical engineer for onsite soil test pits and recommendations for a foundation design, as well as with a local septic designer for the onsite septic system. We also advised our HFOT contact of local permits and permitting procedures that they may or may not be familiar with since their headquarters are located in Massachusetts.

We submitted our site plan to Homes for Our Troops last week so most of our work is done other than being available to answer any questions that may come up during permit review and construction. The next step will be to attend the Groundbreaking Ceremony. Once the project is complete and the house is ready for occupancy, there will be a ceremony to hand the keys over to Sergeant Shockley and his wife for their brand new home, sweet home.