LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The Self-Help Housing Corp. of Hawai'i will launch a 41-lot project in Puhi in which new homeowners will be able to reduce the cost of their homes by helping build them.

Company president Claudia Shay said that some 500 applicants were interviewed to select the 41 families for the project. Their ultimate cost will be less than $200,000 for fee-simple homes that have three or four bedrooms. Families will be able to qualify for subsidized financing, she said.

Self-Help Housing is using a range of federal and county housing programs to keep costs down. Families will work 36 hours weekly on their homes, under the direction of construction supervisors.

Shay said a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled Friday.

Infrastructure work should be done by the end of October, with house construction starting in November. Shay said Self-Help estimates that residents will be able to move into their homes in September 2007.

FIRE ERUPTS IN BEAUTY SALON

A fire in a Kapahulu beauty salon was extinguished early yesterday when passers-by alerted firefighters at a nearby station after hearing an alarm and seeing smoke coming from the second-story business.

The fire, at 455 Kapahulu Ave., resulted in about $75,000 damage to the contents and $25,000 to the structure, fire Capt. Sigmund Oka said.

The salon was vacant at the time, and no one was injured.

Oka said an electrical short circuit was the fire's likely cause.