The pounding of many hammers creates a ragged din at the corner of Fairview Avenue and Seymour Street.

Jim Eberly shakes his head in good-natured frustration as another nail bends under an errant blow.

"I used to have more hair," Eberly says with a grin.

Eberly is director of construction for Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity, and on Thursday he was overseeing a dozen or so students from an H4H club at Franklin & Marshall College.

Under their unskilled but willing hands, a new townhouse was taking shape — the first of several that eventually will stretch along Fairview Avenue from Seymour Street down to the treeline toward Prince Street.

As a handful of students, sweating in the afternoon heat, lifted a wall frame into place, Eberly patiently explained the requirements of a load-bearing wall. As needed, he stepped in to lend a hand, demonstrate a job or drive heavy nails home with practiced ease — most of the time.

By the time this triplex home is finished and occupied next spring, Eberly said, some 1,600 people will have worked on its construction.

"I won't remember all of their names," he said.

The Fairview Build is the latest project for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit Christian housing ministry that builds new homes or renovates existing ones, then finances them at cost with a zero percent interest mortgage to low-income families.

To qualify, families must demonstrate need and an ability to pay the monthly mortgage, as well as contribute 500 hours of "sweat equity" toward construction.

This 19-unit project, the largest since Habitat built a 62-townhouse community at Emerald Valley between 1996 and 2005, is situated on a vacant 2.1-acre plot in southwest Lancaster that was previously a commercial site.

The estimated cost of the project is $3.175 million, with up to 90 percent of the funds coming from private donations. Habitat officials predict all 19 townhouses will be completed by 2012.

Eberly was born and raised in the Lancaster area, then spent 35 years working in construction in Arizona. He came home about three years ago to care for his aging parents, he said, and responded to a Habitat for Humanity ad.

"This is exceedingly different," he said.

"In normal construction, it's all about numbers: How fast can you get it done? How much money can you save?

"But this is more about building relationships and doing a quality job."

Also, he said, most construction jobs have a crew of experienced workers. Habitat for Humanity works almost entirely with inexperienced volunteers.

"I have to be thinking for everybody. I have to pre-plan every step … and there are a lot of tutorials along the way," he said.

"On a regular job, I'd take a crew and say, 'Go up and frame that wall,' and it'd be done.

"Here I have to explain all the minute details that everybody takes for granted, right down to what size of nails to use."

This job, which might take an experienced crew three or four months to complete, will take Habitat volunteers about 10, he said.

"We've been bending a lot of nails today," he said. "There's a learning curve every day of construction."

More experienced volunteers — some of whom have worked with Habitat for 15 or so years — go over everything after completion to make sure it's done well, Eberly said.

And any mistakes they find are corrected. "These are very high-quality homes when they're finished."

And volunteers who work on an H4H project come out of the experience with some valuable lessons, he said.

"They might not build a house again, but one day they'll have a home built for them, and they'll know what to expect from their builder.

"No one is going to put one over on them."

Habitat for Humanity is taking applications for families interested in buying a home at the Fairview site, as well as individuals and businesses interested in sponsoring the project. For information, call 392-8836.

E-mail: tknapp@lnpnews.com