Building plans for Career Center home approved for fall construction
BRANCH COUNTY — The Branch Area Career Center is closer to restarting its hands-on building trades home construction program after the Branch Intermediate School District board approved plans Thursday for a new residential home.
Assistant Superintendent Dustin Scharer said BACC wants to start construction this fall on the 1,500-square-foot, three bedroom, two bath home designed by the CAD architecture class.
The house, with an open floor plan and an attached two-car garage, will have an unfinished basement.
BISD retained lots in the Thompson Boulevard subdivision east of the career center.
"We're building a house that fits the community, one that isn't way more elaborate or undersized," Scharer told the board.
BACC students built houses for decades until 2013 when an expensive house and recession caused a loss, which prompted the BISD board to end the program.
Scharer said this home will fit the Thompson Boulevard market, "Not be over the top but also not too cheap. We're hoping to create a great product that serves a family well for years."
The next step is for building trades instructor Shawn Hulin to request bids from subcontractors for the site work, foundation, and basement to start this fall, work students can't do.
Hulin took over the building trades program two years ago after teaching math at Centreville schools for 25 years.
Prior story Branch Area Career Center wants to get back to building homes
Hulin comes with a Michigan Residential Contractors license. When he graduated from Grand Valley State University in the middle of a year, teaching jobs were hard to find.
"I started working for a framer, and I worked for him for two years," Hulin said.
While teaching math, Hulin continued to build homes as a contractor during summer breaks.
BACC wants the students to take two years to finish the house so they obtain the most experience possible. He hopes the walls and roof will be completed by the summer of 2025 to secure the house while students are off.
Hulin expects students to do all the work except for those jobs that require particular expertise and licenses, such as mechanical and electrical.
"Our goal is to have our kids at least work side-by-side with them to learn about the trades," Hulin said.
BACC has room in each morning and afternoon building trades class for 16 students.
Six seniors are graduating this term. With 10 juniors returning next fall, BACC will take applications for the open 22 spots this spring.
Current students learn to use tools and build models to learn construction standards. Walls and roofs are constructed now inside to learn, then torn down.
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Next fall, students will build permanent walls and a roof and finish work on a home expected to stand for decades.
Hulin said of building trades, "There are a lot of jobs available for students who graduate here."
-- Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: BISD approves home for career center building trade students to build
