Rent-to-own News - American Rental GM David, and company, helps family build home after his is flooded

David P. David and Brown County Habitat of Humanity Coordinator Quentin Small.

When American Rental General Manager David P. David returned from a brief vacation this August, the comfort of "home" gave way to the anxiety of homelessness in the blink of an eye.

A water line had burst upstairs, quietly deluging his Bloomington, Indiana home in thousands of gallons of water, collapsing his ceiling and turning his third floor balcony into a waterfall that cascaded into the not-so-tranquil pool in this living room.

"The walls were collapsed, the ceiling was on the floor, it was quite a site," David said. "I've lived in that house for six years and the pipe waits till we go on vacation to burst."

After hours of moving furnishings out of the house and overwhelming his shop vac before making a 3 a.m. call to an extractor service, David checked in to a local hotel in the wee hours to get some rest.

That was Saturday.

On Monday, he and around a dozen American Rental employees -- including Dennis Adams, Bill Howard, Kent Hoffman, Mike Goodin, Rick Scherer, Kelly Ireland, Morgan Scherer, Alice Davis, Rick Leland, Bobbi Hodges, Raouf Bishay and Lance Adams -- were due on-site to help build the latest Brown County Habitat for Humanity home.

The project is a five bedroom house for a family of nine. In addition to labor, American Rental is also furnishing some appliances for the home. Company volunteers have helped on similar projects in the past.

While David didn't make it the first day, he did get to the construction site later in the week to hammer some nails in the roof.  As the catastrophic damage to his own home was becoming more clear, David found it more and more therapeutic to focus on something else.

"Let's put it this way, it felt good to get out there and hammer some nails," David said. "There was really nothing more I could do. We couldn't even get a moving truck until Friday. It reminded me of how quickly you can lose everything. How quickly everything can turn upside down. It felt good to help build a home for a family, even though mine was a shamble."

The damage to David's home so far is up to $300,000 and he will learn this week whether the home is structurally sound enough to warrant renovation. Unfortunately, David is no stranger to home flooding. He was flooded out 13 years ago when another pipe burst upstairs in an eerily similar situation.

"Have I learned anything from all this?" David repeats my question. "I've learned to shut the water off before I leave on vacation. It has also given me a little more appreciation for the family we are helping through Habitat. It helps you appreciate what home really means."

David is currently living in a rental house where he will reside for the next six months. Volunteers are finishing painting and and plumbing installation at the habitat house which should be complete by the end of September.