A friendly competition between volunteers has resulted in a handful of new homes for Edmonton's less fortunate.

Habitat for Humanity pitted eight teams against each other to see who could build the frame for half a duplex the fastest.

Dozens of volunteers worked round the clock Saturday at the Anderson Gardens site in northeast Edmonton, which will eventually house 47 low-income families.

The blitz is part of a plan to get as much framing work done as possible before the snow flies.

"What we want is to be able to get the furnaces in, the roofs on … so that as soon as it starts getting cold, it's much easier to work inside," said Susan Green, Edmonton chair of Habitat for Humanity. "Now we build 12 months of the year, and preferably we're inside when it's freezing cold."

Green said this is the first time the charity has used competition as a motivator.

"[We] thought that it might be quite a fun way to engage the community, the building community, and thought that this might just be friendly rivalry between groups of volunteers. And it's worked really well."

Four duplexes were framed during Saturday's competition.

Green said the next construction competition is set for Sept. 25.