Student built house is ready for sale
Date: 4/17/2012
April 18, 2012By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.comCHICOPEE — Are you in the market for a new house? A three-bedroom home on McKinstry Street built by Chicopee Comprehensive High School students is now on the market.
Career and Technical Education Director Kenneth Widelo said that Comp students had built homes in the past, but not for the last 10 years. What made this project possible is that the city owned the property, he explained.
He said the non-profit Student Builders Incorporated
The schedule for completing the home was held up by the winter of 2010 and by summer vacations, he added. However, the Comp students working under the supervision of contractor Nick Riley did all of the work with the exception of plumbing, as the high school does not have a plumbing program.
"It was 95 percent student built," Widelo said.
Riley said the home is just less than 1,400 square feet in size and has a full and half baths. There is a first floor laundry room, granite counters and some hardwood floors.
"It's definitely a nice first home for someone," Riley said.
He added that included in the $195,000 price are bathroom fixtures and carpeting that can be selected by the owner.
Riley said the students did "an incredible job" and he was impressed by the quality of the work.
Seniors Zach Cushing, Tina Niedermeier, Travis Lelievre and Kurt Laplante said that working on the house was important to showing an employer their job skills.
Information on the house is available in a dispenser on its for sale sign.
