NEWS

While some students are learning from home, these MBIT students are building one

Peg Quann
Bucks County Courier Times
Middle Bucks Institute of Technology student Lydia Schneer, 17, who also is a student at Central Bucks High School West, cuts wood for the house that she and other MBIT students are building at their school in Warwick . The house will be sold to the highest bidder on March 2.

While many students are working from home this year, those at the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology also are working on a home  — actually building one.

That's no small feat, considering they've had to social distance while building the four-bedroom, two-and-a half bath modular house, meaning the students had to take turns being at the construction site.

The 2,688-square-foot house will be sold by sealed bid to the highest bidder in a Zoom auction on March 2. The sealed bids will be accepted until 3 p.m. that day, with the bids opened on Zoom at 4 p.m. and the winning bid announced then. 

Robert Vining, the school's business manager, gave a tour of the house last week and showed some of the advantages of buying a modular home that comes in four units for transportation to its eventual site where it can be reassembled easily.

"It's a wonderful opportunity if you have land," he said. "You get a great house for a great value. We're hoping we'll see a lot of bidders."

At 48-feet by 28-feet, the house is the largest the school has built and includes a family room to the back of the living room, with the kitchen next to the family room.

A dining room at the front of the house is across the foyer from the living room. A first-floor laundry room and powder room are adjacent to the kitchen. Four spacious bedrooms and two baths are upstairs. 

The minimum bid is $140,000 to cover the school's costs to construct the structure. The funds collected by the sale of each year's house will then be put toward next year's model, so that taxpayers are not funding the project. 

"The beauty of this project is that proceeds of this house will fund the next," Vining said. It's a wonderful program." 

This house was actually started last year but when schools had to close down in March because of the pandemic, the construction was delayed. Efforts were taken to preserve the work already done until the students returned to a hybrid learning cycle in the fall.

Vining said that having to social distance the students meant that fewer students worked on the project each school day, but they still managed to make progress. 

"We had some slowdowns," he said, but new building trades instructor Dennis Wicen got the work back on track so it can be finished by June when the seniors in the program will graduate.

Brian McMenamin, an 11th-grade student at the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology and Council Rock High School South, checks out the heating equipment used to keep students working on the new house being built at the MBIT in Warwick warm while they work.

Students from the construction trades as well as the school's heating-ventilation and air condition program, electrical program and design programs participate in the planning and construction of the home. The home will come with its cabinetry, lighting, plumbing and a fire suppression system already installed.

Senior Lydia Schneer, 17,of Chalfont, who is in the school's residential construction carpentry program, and also attends Central Bucks High School West, said the need to social distance "was something that we needed to learn to work around, especially when working together. Wearing masks and social distancing were difficult to start but once we found a rhythm it became simple again. 

"It was a great experience," she added. "It teaches a lot about working in the field and working with others on a project. It was good pre-learning experience before going into the workforce."

And the workforce should be strong for the MBIT graduates. 

According to a MarketWatch report, housing starts were up 5%, while permits were up 17% in December, compared to December 2019. "It was the highest level housing starts and building permits have reached since 2006."

This modular house, being constructed by students at the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology in Warwick, will be sold to the highest bidder when sealed bids are opened on March 2.

Vining said that the blue-sided house is not completely finished when sold.

The highest bidder will have to install their own HVAC equipment and hot water heater since these do not transport well. They will also have to install a finished staircase, and some of the flooring. The foundation and water and septic system would also have to be secured and the transit fees paid.

To receive a bid package with full information on the house, as well as bidding procedures, visit the school website at www.mbit.org or call Robert Vining at 215-343-2480, ext. 106.