The Project

• The house is being built by the students in the ACE Academy at Juneau Douglas High School with on site instruction by Colin Dukes, JDHS Trades Instructor.

• This project is designed for JDHS students to learn hands-on skills in building a house while involving them in all aspects of the process from site prep to foundation to framing to finish.

• The district is reviving this successful house-building program, which has been dormant for several years, but successfully operated over 4 decades in the district.

• The goal of this house-building program to engage students in an authentic, community-based project and provide students with hands-on workplace skills that prepares them for jobs in the construction industry.

• Construction management will be provided by SAGA in coordination with district teachers to facilitate the ongoing work of the house build around the schedule of the students coming and going to the worksite.

• House building plans were developed by the students in the ACE Academy and were submitted to the City for review and approval for building permits in spring 2009.
  
  

• Funds from the sale of the house will replenish the funding outlay by the district for purchase of the land, building, and sale of the house and construction management for the next year’s house build project.

Afraid of Color?

apartment therapy - an interior design blog is having their fifth annual contest called "Room for Color 2009". In October they are looking for the most colorful, beautiful room on the planet.

It's a good idea because adding color is one of the most affordable ways of changing a rooms character. But many of the folks are afraid of using color. Well as you can see from the examples below some of these folks really are not afraid at all.

photos courtesy of apartment therapy

You can see more entries at Room for Color. Check it out - you'll find lots of ideas. Some bold and crazy; and some simple yet sophisticated.

Simple,Unique, Small House Plans Cottage, Craftsman and Modern Home Plans

Toolshed

While waiting to begin construction on the house we built this toolshed. The original plan was to disassemble it and move it to the jobsite and then refabricate it. Admiralty construction generously donated one of their trailiers for us to use instead. Now this toolshed is for sale for $1,200 including transportation and setup.

Housing Industry Needs to Reinvent

The housing industry (builders and designers) is in dire need of a new system / approach to building. I'll list a few reasons here:

• Construction costs and land / development costs have gotten out of control in recent years.
• The housing bubble has dramatically dropped the value of our homes.
• The fact right now is that you cannot build a new home inexpensive enough to compete with the glut of existing homes on the market.
• If we are seeing an economic recovery it's a small one - and the job market is not expected to improve for several years.
• New buyers are having difficulty getting loans or do not qualify for enough loan to build the kind of house they might have a few years ago.
• Home buyers are becoming much more aware of "value".
• Home buyers are increasingly environmentally conscious.
• Home buyers are more "hip" and expect good design and construction quality.

So what the people want is a really cool, sustainable, well constructed cheap house. Is anyone out there providing that? Or is this an impossible combination?

Indeed, times are tough and it is truly a time of survival of the fittest in the housing market. The housing industry needs to pull their collective head out of the sand and adapt. I believe that the industry needs to look at things fresh and perhaps create an entirely new business model.

In looking for new ideas I have looked to old ones. What about the old days when a fellow purchased a house from Sears Roebuck Company? The house was shipped to them and they built it themselves, or had local tradespeople construct it. Why did that business model go away? One reason I think is because people stopped being handy. They no longer had the skills to put anything together as complicated as a stick framed house. Even if they could it would take forever; and banks don't like that.

Enter a new system devised in Germany called HIB. HIB is a building block system that goes together like Lego's. They say that the simplicity and speed of putting the system together makes it an ideal candidate for an owner built project. The company also touts the product's insulating capabilities, sustainability and economy.

Sounds too good to be true honestly. But I am inviting a company representative in to discuss the product further. I'll let you know what I find out.