Like many elaborate gifts, Matthew Poulin’s Christmas present required some assembly this year. But when all the pieces have been snapped together, Poulin will have something he’s been missing for eight months: a home.

Poulin’s father, Al, along with a team of about 30 friends, family and construction workers, helped to build him a new home to replace the one he lost to flooding earlier this year.

Poulin’s former house at 58 Chatel Ave. suffered extensive water damage during the Mother’s Day floods, with nearly 3 feet of water in the house, Al Poulin said.

Matthew Poulin’s neighborhood of Lynchville/Danis Park was among the hardest hit in the state, and Poulin himself emerged from the wreckage with just a bag of clothes and his motorcycle as his sole earthly possessions.

The house he’d occupied for the previous two-and-a-half years was a total loss. “It was almost unimaginable,” said Poulin, 28, a construction worker specializing in commercial framing and drywall. “I had just redone my bedroom, put in new sheetrock, insulation and carpeting, and refurbished the ceiling. It looked so good, and within a month or two it flooded.”

The family spent the next two weeks making continuous trips to the dump, said Matthew Poulin’s mother, Michelle.

One of the most difficult things about the experience was to see everything in the house belonging to Matthew’s 6-yearold son, Jonah, damaged by the flooding, Michelle Poulin said.

“To see all of a child’s stuff ruined is pretty hard,” Michele Poulin said.

Matthew Poulin spent the past eight months staying with friends and family while his father worked to secure a new home for his son.

The final product was a 24- by-36 foot two-bedroom ranch house raised about 8 feet off the ground to meet flood code. Poulin said he paid for the home with $52,000 in flood insurance money.

Most of the construction took place on Thursday, Dec. 21, with Al Poulin acting as general contractor.

When a building suffers the kind of structural damage that (Matthew’s) suffered, it makes more sense to demolish and start fresh,” said Al Poulin, a Manchester fire captain. About 15 of Poulin’s colleagues from the city fire department helped in the construction, working til 9 p.m. that evening.

Matthew Poulin’s new home came through an agreement Al Poulin reached with Millstone Brook Modular Homes of Goffstown in September. Demolition of the flood-damaged home began in October.

Matthew’s former home had sat vacant in the interim, Al Poulin said.

The work of Dec. 21 mainly involved setting the two pieces of the house atop the foundation, said Millstone Brook carpentry foreman Seth Callahan.

Each half of the home contains living quarters and a hinged roof, with end pieces to be installed separately, said Dave Smith, who works on setting houses in place for Millstone Brook.

Weather helped the process run smoothly, with the temperature a balmy 52 degrees and not even a breeze to disturb the tranquil air.

“There are some challenges to putting a house on a foundation from the air on a windy day, so it’s nice to have the weather cooperating,” Smith said.

Both pieces of the home were set within an hour, with a crane lowering them into place.

Because the homes come with cabinetry, plumbing and wiring already installed, Poulin will be able to move into the house within a minimal amount of time, Callahan said.

With painting and the acquisition of permits being the main work left to be done, Matthew Poulin said he expects to move into the house around the start of the new year.

“We timed this to go along with the holiday season, and it’s going to be so nice to have a home again. It’s a beautiful place, and I love it,” Poulin said.