"THIS IS MY DAUGHTER' S BEDROOM." Susan Nguyen opens her arms wide in the empty space. She doesn't see concrete floors, drywall, and wood framing. She sees her nine-year-old daughter, Grace Le, studying at a corner desk; her 83-year-old mother, Dong Tran, in a gleaming kitchen; and holiday gatherings in her own living room.

"I work very hard, but I could not have a home by myself," says Nguyen, a divorced single mother who came to the United States from South Vietnam in 1991 and works as a bank clerk. "Thanks to this program, my dream has come true."

The program is Habitat for Humanity-Orange County, which is dedicated to ending "poverty housing" by building affordable homes for families who earn below 50% of the median income in one of the nation's priciest housing markets. Since 1998, Habitat has built 98 homes in Orange County, with 18 more planned this year. They include the four on this lot in Stanton, one of which will be Nguyen's 1,100-square foot Cape Cod-style home.

The first criteria for selection as a Habitat family is need. The second is the ability to partner with the organization through the home-building process, which can take a year and half. Each family contributes 1% down, $750 in closing costs, and - most important - 500 hours of "sweat equity" toward the construction. Nguyen has logged all 500 hours herself.

Any questions she's had along the way, she fields to Rita Ross, Habitat-Orange County's Family Services Manager. This full-time position - funded with the aid of a $42,000 grant from the Weingart Foundation - provides a single point of contact for families, most of whom are first-time homeowners, and for the Family Partner volunteers who guide them through paperwork, budgeting, even plumbing problems. "We're trying to demystify the process of owning a home," says Ross.

Nguyen's family was living in a cramped Anaheim apartment in a neighborhood she feared wasn't safe when she heard about the Habitat program. On this overcast Saturday, she ferries a wheelbarrow loaded with tiles to volunteers finishing the roof next door. "I am so thankful," says Nguyen. "I tell my daughter, she must help other people." All around her, the sounds of table saws and hammers signal: More families will soon have a beautiful new place to live.