WOMEN FIND NEW HABITAT; TEAMS JOIN TO BUILD HOMES FOR POOR.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

It's that really good kind of tired Teresa Romney feels when she kicks off her construction boots at the end of a day.

Like the other 40-or-so women building a house in Piru for a needy family, Romney is exhausted, dirty and a little achy when 5 o'clock strikes. And she couldn't be happier.

``It's really rewarding,'' said Romney, a financial analyst for Amgen in Thousand Oaks and a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. ``There's something about getting dirty and working hard, climbing in and out of trenches.''

Romney is part of the all-woman work crew that met Saturday to raise the framed walls and set the trusses on the three-bedroom house just west of Santa Clarita. Helping the all-female crew were a handful of men who provided instruction, and members of the Rodriguez family who eventually will buy the house from the charitable Habitat organization.

``It's starting to look like a home,'' Romney said.

The women are from several churches in Ventura County and range in age from 20 to 60. They have been working since February on the home, one of 22 Habitat projects in Piru, and expect to finish by the end of summer.

Romney has led fund raising for the Piru project, bringing in $40,000 toward a $70,000 goal, and donating some of the money to Habitat projects in the Philippines and in Guatemala.

There is just one professional construction worker among the women, otherwise they come from all walks of life. And they've learned a lot along the way.

``It's really interesting,'' Romney said. ``I went to Home Depot to buy my supplies - I needed a level, a tape measure and a framing square - and the men said, Are you building a house?

``I now have my own tool belt, a hammer and a framing hammer. There's a difference, you know.''

Volunteer home builder Dawn Page, a manager for a software development group, loves the teamwork of laboring with women in a traditionally male field.

``What's unique is that since you might not have the strength men do, you work together on something they might do solo,'' said Page, who joined her first volunteer construction crew three years ago.

``I worked on a steel-frame house, and we were using drills to drill in the screws through steel, and you didn't have the strength to drill those heavy beams. It was a common sight to see a woman on a ladder and a woman behind her helping her push the drill. There was a lot of that tandem work.''

The women-only projects draw volunteers who otherwise might be too intimidated to join Habitat's construction projects, Page said.

In fact, Habitat has a goal of using women now working in its trenches as mentors for the next generation of female volunteer home builders, Page said.

``When we're done, we'll have women building all over the place,'' she said. ``Women like me are going to know enough to teach other women. We'll have the core.''

``It's a great experience, such a learning experience for all of us,'' Romney added. ``You receive so much more back than you give.''

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5 Photos

PHOTO (1-2--Color) A group of 30 women volunteers, helped by a few men, take part in building a home for Habitat for Humanity at Piru on Saturday.

(3--Color) Volunteer Judy Foreman, center, who turns 65 on Monday, joined dozens of women on the project Saturday. The volunteers range in age from 20 to 60.

(4) Volunteers get ready to place one of the framing walls into the foundation. They have been working on the house since February and expect to finish by the end of summer.

(5) Charlotte Kellogg of Oak Park gives a hand to future homeowner Armando Rodriguez on the Habitat for Humanity project in Piru on Saturday.

Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News