Smoky Mountain High School juniors Jeremy Buchanan, above left, and William Boyd, above right, use glue guns to install glass in kitchen cabinet doors Monday as the students put the final touches on the spec house the school's vocational program will soon put up for sale. Construction of the house on Purple Mountain Road in Locust Creek community was supervised by veteran building trades instructor Eddie Greer. Students did almost all the work, including wiring, plumbing and building custom kitchen cabinets.
The basement includes a two-car garage, a bathroom, storage space and one large, finished room. Covered porches adorn both the front and back of the house, which has a total of about 2,300 square feet of heated space.
Initially conceived as an ongoing program, with the profit from each house going to finance subsequent homes, vocational students will not begin another house right away, Greer said. Though successful in achieving its goals, progress on the house was slower than anticipated, he said.
"We could only work two and a half hours a day maximum," Greer said.
Plans call for the home to be marketed by a local real estate firm, said Arlin Middleton, vocational director for Jackson County schools, and letters have been sent to area firms to see which will offer the school system the best deal in terms of commission.
"It is an exceptionally well-built house," Middleton said. "Our students have done a great job."
A price has not been set for the house yet, Middleton said, but school officials expect to sell the house for enough to repay the school board, pay suppliers and have enough profit to continue the project, which provides students with real construction experience.
"Residential construction is still very strong in Jackson County, and we feel projects of this nature enhance the value of our students when they enter the work force," Middleton said. "We've had a lot of students who participated in building this house who have graduated and moved on to jobs in the construction industry."
Middleton expressed appreciation to area suppliers and contractors who donated materials and time to the project.
"We've had a lot of people contribute to this house, and we are grateful to all of them," he said.
A five-member board, made up of school officials and construction representatives, supervised the project, Middleton said. Members are Doug Painter of the county building inspections office, local real estate professional Jack Debnam, SMHS Principal Kenny Nicholson, former Principal Ken Henke and School Board Chairman James Roper.
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Standing on the porch and steps of the house they built on Purple Mountain Road in Locust Creek community are, clockwise from top, William Boyd, teacher Eddie Greer, Justin Ashe, Mike Littlejohn, Jeffrey Wood, Travis Cabe, Jeremy Buchanan, Chad Buchanan, Dallas Crowe and Jake Brooks. Veteran construction trades instructor Greer supervised the three-year project, which provided ³real-world² construction experience for students in the SMHS work force development program. Many who worked on the initial stages of the house have gone on to jobs in the construction industry, Greer said. School system officials are in the process of choosing a real estate firm to market the house, which will soon be on the market. -Herald photos by Lynn Hotaling
Smoky Mountain senior Jeffrey Wood, the only student still at SMHS who has worked on the vocational department's spec house since the project started, prepares to nail a strip of trim next to the storage cabinet in the laundry area. The three-bedroom house features a master suite with garden tub, ceramic tile and hardwood floors, a rock fireplace, two-car garage and two porches. Veteran building trades instructor Eddit Greer supervised construction of the house.