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Building & Trades home to be auctioned on May 12 at West Holmes High School

Judy Mengel admires the handiwork done by students like Dillon Miller (at right) in the custom built manufactured home the students built and will auction off on Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m.
Judy Mengel admires the handiwork done by students like Dillon Miller (at right) in the custom built manufactured home the students built and will auction off on Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m.

MILLERSBURG - High school students learn many useful skills that prepare them for the next step in life. But few get to see a project they have invested two years in become something special like the custom-manufactured home the Building & Trades class will be putting up for sale via auction at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12 at West Holmes High School.

Tim Miller of Kaufman Realty and Auctions handles the house sale for the B&T program. He has sold the last three houses the program has produced.

Tim Miller
Tim Miller

"They do these houses every other year, and this is the third one I have been involved with personally," Miller said. "I think the kids are doing a tremendous job with these houses. What they are learning in building trades are skills that will help them throughout the rest of their lives. It's good to see them doing something so positive."

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Building & Trades instructor Dave McMillen talks about the construction of a three-bedroom, two-bath house his students have built and are ready to auction. McMillen spoke with visitors at an open house April 28 at West Holmes High School. Ashland County West Holmes Career Center instructor John Staats was among the visitors. The students built a scale model of the home as well, which aided in the construction.

B&T Instructor Dave McMillen and his students hosted an open house Thursday, April 28 at the recently completed three-bedroom, two-bath modular home that sits on the northwest corner of the West Holmes High School grounds.

Students in the class guided visitors through the home, sharing insights about what part they played in building the house, from the wiring, to drywall, to making the cabinets and custom counter tops throughout the home, as well as the plumbing and other nuances.

This year's house is a rare one, because instead of the traditional two years that go into the project, it took three years to complete because of the pandemic and remote learning that occurred in 2020.

The home was constructed on two trailers, which enables the buyer to have the home delivered.

Hopes the home sells for at least $70,000

McMillen hopes the house will sell for at least $70,000. The previous three houses all sold in the $65,000 to $85,000 range, according to Miller. The money is then used to purchase the materials for the next home, which the remaining and new students in the program will construct over the next two years.

McMillen has overseen the construction of four houses during his tenure at West Holmes. The first house construction sale that he oversaw took place in 2015. He is continually amazed at the quality product the students have been able to construct over the years.

Many visitors to the open house shared the instructor's enthusiasm for what they have seen.

Sharon and Les Miller of Kidron were among the visitors to tour the house and see what the students have accomplished.

"I think it's amazing what these kids can do," Sharon said. "They put a lot of time into this project and they take a lot of pride in the work they do."

Judy Mengel of Millersburg also was impressed with the work she saw.

"I am very impressed with what I've seen here," Mengel said. "These kids have done some great work."

McMillen shared how he was in the school band in sixth grade at Triway. He played the bass drum, but admitted he had a hard time keeping the beat.

Teague obit: Roxanne Teague

"A couple of years ago, an amazing lady named Roxanne Teague, the phenomenal band teacher for years and years at Triway, called me to tell me a cherry tree had fallen in her front yard," McMillen said. "She asked me if I wanted it. We picked up the cherry log and had it slabbed out, and now we're building a countertop out of it.

"All of these pieces, cherry countertops in this home are made from Mrs. Teague's cherry tree," he continued. "She just recently passed away. I was really saddened by her death because I wanted to show her what her tree had been made into by these students."

A great learning experience for the Building & Trades students

Derrick Patterson is one of the seniors who invested a lot of time into the house project. He enjoyed working on both the interior and exterior, learning new skills along the way, including teamwork and other social skills.

"This project took a lot of time, but it really looks nice," Patterson said. "It's a huge accomplishment looking at this now that we're done. We didn't just build and install all the cabinets, but we painted the cabinet tops once, didn't like the color and then we repainted every one of them after sanding them down.

"I plan to go into this type of work and this definitely helped out a lot with my future plans," he continued. "This is a great start to my future. Knowing I had a hand in this is crazy."

West Holmes Building & Trades senior Dillon Miller talks about the special counter tops the students made and installed in the home to be auctioned on Thursday, May 12.
West Holmes Building & Trades senior Dillon Miller talks about the special counter tops the students made and installed in the home to be auctioned on Thursday, May 12.

Senior Josh Carter said that he liked working inside on the drywall, and he also enjoyed hanging the siding on the exterior.

Dillon Miller is another senior who hopes to apply what he has learned through the building and trades program. He likes doing the electrical work, but he also enjoyed learning other aspects of construction.

"We all learned from doing something different every day," he said. "It's a great experience to get to do that, like one day we'll be working on drywall, and the next it's doing some electrical work, or something like that."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: West Holmes Building & Trades class prepares for house auction