Students with Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES are finishing up a modular home, that is up for sale via bidding process through early February. More than 50 students at North Franklin Educational Center in Malone have been working on the home since September. It is now near complete as students mostly worked to put up drywall on Wednesday. “It’s basically a pile of blocks on the ground and we go right from there,” said Eric Ashlaw, the building trades program instructor.The 28 feet by 52 feet house is primarily a project for the Building Trades students, but Electrical Trades students and heating, ventilation and air conditioning program also pitch in to equip the place with electrical wiring and heating. Ashlaw said he treats the hands-on experience as if it’s a true job site. “When you have a job that’s going on, you have a deadline to hit, and if you don’t have the amount of guys you need to get the job done, you don’t get the next job. That’s where I try to teach that to them, that you have to be here every day, you have to have your stuff every day, that’s a big factor for sure,” he said. Alex Otis, a senior at Chateaugay Central School District, is a student with the electrical trades program. “I want to be an electrician when I graduate, so having these skills before I graduate is real handy and gives me an upper hand above people who haven’t taken a class like this,” he said. Students say the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house could be a good first home. “It’s got a master bedroom and 2 spare bedrooms, so you can start your family, you can build it on top of a basement as well,” said Maxwell Richards, a senior in the building trades program with new skills in shingling and drywall mudding. The program is accepting bids for the home through Feb. 2. Ashlaw said the minimum bid is $80,000, and because it’s built by students, you are only paying for materials, without the expense of labor. The money goes back into the program. Prospective buyers can check out the home at 23 Huskie Lane in Malone from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 22. You can find more information on the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES website. “Buying the house, you can say hey, you know kids built this, and some of these kids probably never had any experience, didn’t even know what a hammer was when they come in here, and they’re building a house now, so I think that’s pretty cool,” Ashlaw said.This year’s auction is also being held a little earlier than in the past. That means the new owner will have a chance to work with students on customizing the home, such as with painting and siding.
Students with Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES are finishing up a modular home, that is up for sale via bidding process through early February.
More than 50 students at North Franklin Educational Center in Malone have been working on the home since September. It is now near complete as students mostly worked to put up drywall on Wednesday.
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“It’s basically a pile of blocks on the ground and we go right from there,” said Eric Ashlaw, the building trades program instructor.
The 28 feet by 52 feet house is primarily a project for the Building Trades students, but Electrical Trades students and heating, ventilation and air conditioning program also pitch in to equip the place with electrical wiring and heating.
Ashlaw said he treats the hands-on experience as if it’s a true job site.
“When you have a job that’s going on, you have a deadline to hit, and if you don’t have the amount of guys you need to get the job done, you don’t get the next job. That’s where I try to teach that to them, that you have to be here every day, you have to have your stuff every day, that’s a big factor for sure,” he said.
Alex Otis, a senior at Chateaugay Central School District, is a student with the electrical trades program.
“I want to be an electrician when I graduate, so having these skills before I graduate is real handy and gives me an upper hand above people who haven’t taken a class like this,” he said.
Students say the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house could be a good first home.
“It’s got a master bedroom and 2 spare bedrooms, so you can start your family, you can build it on top of a basement as well,” said Maxwell Richards, a senior in the building trades program with new skills in shingling and drywall mudding.
The program is accepting bids for the home through Feb. 2. Ashlaw said the minimum bid is $80,000, and because it’s built by students, you are only paying for materials, without the expense of labor. The money goes back into the program.
Prospective buyers can check out the home at 23 Huskie Lane in Malone from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 22. You can find more information on the Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES website.
“Buying the house, you can say hey, you know kids built this, and some of these kids probably never had any experience, didn’t even know what a hammer was when they come in here, and they’re building a house now, so I think that’s pretty cool,” Ashlaw said.
This year’s auction is also being held a little earlier than in the past. That means the new owner will have a chance to work with students on customizing the home, such as with painting and siding.
