The construction program has almost finished building a tiny home. 

Creating Badger Builders Committee members Herb Pearce and Dean Tomme came up with the tiny home concept 4 years ago, but work officially started 2 years ago. The house is a one bedroom with a closet, kitchen, laundry area and one full bath. Most of the material for the house has been donated by different businesses and people in town. 

“We started with these concrete pillars,”  junior Ethan Brown said. “I remember when we were doing it, it was bloody freezing out, and we were getting water, getting all the concrete up. After that, the walls had to come up, and we started putting the plywood in for the walls and stuff. Eventually, you get this beauty.”

The outside of the house is complete but there is still some finishing touches that need to be done to the inside of the house. 

“Recently, this year, we’ve been working on the trim inside of it, just touching it up, adding doors in it, getting the countertops up, overall furnishing out the inside,” Brown said. “It’s all inside work now.” 

Although there is still some work to be done on the house, the goal is to have it completely finished within the next couple of weeks so it can be auctioned off in March.                 

“Anybody can [bid on the house] as long as they have the funds,” construction teacher Richard Silva-Brown said. “Once they buy it, it’s theirs to figure out what they want to do with it.” 

The proceeds from the house will go toward improving and supporting the construction program. 

“The money that is earned from the sell of the house will go strictly back into the program,” Silva-Brown said. “It’s not going into any of our pockets. It’s going into helping teach the students, the future students, how to do building from the ground up.”

Tech 1 and Tech 2 are the main classes who have worked on the house. However, Brown’s other construction classes have also contributed in areas that they’re capable of. 

“They get to measure, they learn how to cut, do the angles,” Silva-Brown said. “There’s all different types of angles. The wall itself was a chore to learn how and teach how to cut the different joints, make sure that you’re cutting the holes for the light switches and the plugs in the right spot, because if you don’t measure right, you’re not going to get it right, so that’s been a big part of it. Just learning what the different components are for the house itself. So it’s like nothing they’ve ever done in school before.” 

Throughout the building process, there were some projects, like painting, the flooring and the cabinets, that took more time to complete than only one class period, so different companies helped build and install pieces to keep the process moving along.

“We got to go out to their shop and watch a couple of the cabinets getting built,” Silva-Brown said. “Whenever he came in here, he also demonstrated how to install it. So we’ve had great participation by the community to come out and show us certain things.” 

Since work on the house began two years ago, the vision for the house has remained the same, with only a few minor changes that were necessary. Construction also has a Facebook page that they post updates and pictures on weekly.

“We follow a plan for the most part,” Silva-Brown said. “Now, there’s a couple things that we’ve changed as we’ve gone on because you have to. If something’s not lining up right, the material might be just slightly wider or more narrow, so you have to adjust for that. The room might be just slightly smaller because the material that we’re using for the walls are slightly thicker than what they intended.” 

Brown said he hopes that this project encourages students to explore new hobbies because they never know what it could lead to. 

“If they just start something and try something new, they might surprise themselves,” Silva-Brown said. “You hear a lot of people saying, ‘I can’t do that.’ ‘Have you ever tried?’ ‘No?’ Then yeah, you’re right. You can’t do it because you’ve never tried. And that’s part of this project too. From the teacher’s part of it, can we teach the kids enough in order for them to do it on their own.” 

Sophomore Breyden Hinen said that even with a background in construction, he still learned valuable information from this experience. 

“I’ve built a few sheds, a few shelves, a few things that sold, but this has definitely been the most fun to build,” Hinen. “I learned how to build more than what I knew. I grew up building things with my dad. I’ve been doing woodwork since I was about 6 or 7 years old, but there was a bunch of things that I learned from building this house that I never knew.” 

Students who worked on the house now have skills and experience needed to move up in the construction world and make a career out of it if that’s the path they want to take. 

“Seeing the growth, and being able to tell a student what we’re looking for, and they go and get it done, that’s also been the biggest trouble, too, because they go in like, ‘What do I need to do?’ ‘I forgot how to cut.’ It’s a learning curve for everybody,” Silva-Brown said.

Construction on the house has brought many people together, and that is what Hinen is taking away.   

“I came into class only knowing two people, and then making friends with everybody here was kind of nice,” Hinen said. 

A second house is already in the works, and it will be the introduction to construction class’ house to build, with help from the advanced construction classes. 

“I’m hoping I can see this Badgers Builder program grow more than it already has, because we’ve come far,” Brown said.