The Tuberfields' new home was built from wood, nails, tiles – things they helped install as part of their sweat equity agreement with Habitat for Humanity.

But their house was also built from things you can't see: deep histories and life-changing transformations.

The Phoenix Rising is a triplex bult to SuperGreen energy standards at 810 Wheeler St. It was officially unveiled last Sunday, and the three families selected to live there have been moving in furniture and unpacking boxes all week.

The idea of three young families living in an environmentally-friendly new home at 810 Wheeler was a far-flung fantasy two years ago.

810 Wheeler used to be a dingy, run-down known drug house frequented by numerous visitors daily. It was a veritable case study in crime, desperation, addiction and violence.

In July 2008, Natalie Stinson of Edmonton inherited the house from her late mother.

She had the house demolished after it had been boarded up and the residents evicted by the RCMP under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhood (SCAN) legislation in June.

She agreed to sell the property to the Yukon Housing Corp. on the condition they partner with Habitat for Humanity and build a new home for a deserving family. As long as

Habitat was willing to build a home to Yukon SuperGreen energy standards, the government agency was in.

The project was called Phoenix Rising because, like the myth, it would be a thing of beauty and life built from the ashes of tragedy.

The Tuberfields received the call in early September 2010 that they had been selected as residents of Unit C in the under-construction triplex.

"It changed everything for us,” Dorraine Tuberfield said this week. She married accountant Blair Tuberfield last March, and together they raise three children: Alexander is 13,

Justin is 10 and Johnathan is now nine months old.

Before the phone call, the family was, "scrambling,” she said.

They were told they had to be out of their current home in January, and had been denied by most banks for a mortgage of even $100,000 for a trailer.

"We were getting ready to have to leave the territory,” she said. Now they can set down roots and stay, "minimum five years. Probably longer, now!”

Habitat for Humanity stipulates residents pay a mortgage on a plan tailored to their income capabilites.

Since the homes are financed by Habitat for Humanity and subsidized with discounted and donated materials, the Tuberfields' mortgage payments will go into a revolving fund to support future Habitat projects.

As soon as the Tuberfields were accepted, the family got to work helping out at the build site.

"I worked with the Yukon Women in Trades, which was great because I learned to do a lot of things most women may not get to learn,” she said, listing tiling, and painting the ceiling.

Habitat for Humanity enlisted the help of Yukon College trades students, and Yukon Women in Trades, as it usually does for local builds, in a quid pro quo arrangement that trades volunteer time for building experience. This year, said Habitat spokesman Michael Purves, they took on volunteers from the Whitehorse Correctional Centre as well.

"That was wonderful for us,” he said Thursday. "They did a huge amount of work.”

Bringing inmates onboard may seem risky, but Purves said their involvement changed the lives of everyone involved.

Some of the inmates said they used to frequent 810 Wheeler St. in its past incarnation as a drug house. They said the chance to help transform the property into a home for three families was a deep, personal step in their own trnsformation.

"There were people that made that transition; that contributed to the re-birth of the neighbourhood,” said Habitat volunteer Stu Mackey. "That's quite a statement as to how the human condition can change.”

Mackay was awarded the Todd Hardy Volunteer of the Year Award.

Hardy had been "instrumental in convincing people that this project needed to happen,” said Mackay.

The former NDP MLA for Whitehorse Centre died midway through the Phoneix's construction, on July 28, 2010, after a lengthy fight with leukemia.

Purves said some of the inmates who volunteered ended up getting hired upon their release by local contractors who saw and liked their work at the Phoenix. Others went on to enroll in trades programs at Yukon College.

"It gave them a great sense of accomplishment to do something to give back to their community,” Purves said.

Knowing that so much history and transformation went into the construction of their home makes it so much more valuable, said Dorraine.

"It's so nice that so many lives have been touched by something as ordinary as the construction of a house,” she said. She said participating in her first home's construction gives her family their own sense of pride and accomplishment.

Part of Habitat for Humanity's selection process involves assurance that chosen families will donate 500 hours of sweat equity, or volunteer time, to contribute to their future home.

"It has made it really easy to take ownership of our house ... to be able to come in and say, ‘I built that, I painted that, that was me' is rewarding,” said Dorraine.

"It's been a really deep process, all told.”

Habitat has plans to build another triplex to the Yukon's SuperGreen energy standards in the Ingram subdivision.

"We'll continue to build to SuperGreen standards, now that we have experience doing it,” said Purves. The savings of heating efficiency also help make the homes affordable for residents.

"The environmental standards reduce heating costs to 20 per cent of what it would normally cost,” said Jim Kenyon, the minister responsible for Yukon Housing.

Purves said the total cost for building the triplex was $480,000, including the land.

Blair Tuberfield said he already has plans to volunteer at the Ingram build. After all Habitat for Humanity has done for his family, he said he is infinitely grateful.