By Sarah Light, staff writer

Unbelievable.

That&8217;s the one word Albert Lean Steven Patten said described his thoughts Monday afternoon as he watched his new Habitat for Humanity house being built.

Working all day starting around 7 a.m., more than a dozen professional contractors, along with Steven and his wife, Amy, bared the heat to put in a marathon day of building the new house.

When completed, the structure &8212; at 806 E. Ninth St. &8212; will be the 10th Habitat for Humanity house in Freeborn County.

&8220;We can&8217;t thank these guys enough,&8221; Steven said. &8220;To have all these guys be working, it&8217;s just incredible.&8221;

On Monday alone, the structure grew from starting only with the foundation and subflooring, to include walls, windows, shingles and some siding.

During the rest of the week, electricians, plumbers and heating contractors will come in to do hookups.

When completed, the house will include three bedrooms and one bathroom, with the possibility for a fourth bedroom and a second bathroom in the future.

The Pattens, who have two daughters, ages 3 and 5, and one son, 1, said the new house will finally give their children a space to call their own, after having had to live in such a smaller space for so long. Before this, the family had been renting their home.

Habitat for Humanity chooses families such as the Pattens, who wish to become partners with Habitat in building homes. The organization makes it possible for these families to buy the finished homes at 80 percent of the assessed value through a no-interest loan.

In return, the families put in hours of &8220;sweat equity&8221; time instead of a normal down payment by helping to build the house or performing other volunteer work throughout the community.

Because their case was a little different with professionals volunteering to complete much of the house in such a short time, the Pattens have put in many of their equity hours through their church, Faith Baptist in Albert Lea, and The Humane Society in Austin, they said. They have already exceeded 200 hours in sweat equity.

And they will continue to perform the rest of their hours as they look forward to the completion of their new home, Steven said. They hope to have everything ready to move in by Sept. 1, or maybe sooner.

John Miller with Freeborn Lumber Co. said the construction went well on Monday, as much of the exterior work was able to be completed.

The many contractors decided to volunteer their time to build the house after they sat down and talked about how they could utilize their own talents to better the community, he said.

And for their efforts, along with the many others who have helped along the process, Steven and Amy said they are grateful.

&8220;A big thank you to the community,&8221; Amy said. &8220;Thank you to all those who are making this possible.&8221;

The Patten&8217;s Habitat for Humanity House is made possible through Wangen Excavating, United Poured Walls, Master Plumbing, Klocek Electric, Geno&8217;s Plumbing, Freeborn Lumber Co., John Dale Construction and Crew, Kent Sauke Construction and Crew, Todd Neitzel Construction and Crew, Rathai Drywall and Mike Pfenning Flooring.