SCCTC student builders complete 4th home

A new house featuring rounded staircases, a custom-tiled walk-in shower and jacuzzi tub in a first-floor master bedroom suite, and a finished room above a two-car garage is available for purchase in Dimock Township near the Elk Lake School campus.

What makes this home especially unique is that it was primarily built by students of the Building Trades curriculum at the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center (SCCTC).

This is the fourth home constructed by SCCTC students and the second on Hunsinger Road. Luke and Jessica Crisman bought the house SCCTC students finished three years ago and live there with their three children, two of which attend Elk Lake schools.

“We were just looking for a house and fell in love with this one,” said Jessica as she pointed up to second floor landing of the open foyer, describing the feature as “very unique.” The construction of the building is solid, she related, and she recommended that potential home-buyers attend the open house planned for Tuesday, Dec. 19. “They do a great job,” Jessica said of the students.

“This is a great educational opportunity for the students to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom to the work site,” SCCTC executive director Alice Davis stated.

The newest house, with its custom stone veneer and vinyl siding, cost a bit more to built than its predecessors but was also more complicated, according to SCCTC work site coordinator John Gazzillo.

In addition to the oak staircase, the roof line is more complex, allowing the students to employ more of what they had learned in their carpentry and building property maintenance classes.

Some students get to work on one home in the course of their sophomore, junior and senior years. Others may finish one house, then start another. Either way, they get to experience all facets of the build. “All of the kids work on all aspects of the house,” work site coordinator Gary Fenton remarked.

The exceptions, Fenton noted, are excavation and construction of the foundation, which are not yet part of the school’s curriculum. The students are involved, however, in all of the design elements prior to the start of construction. “It’s good for the kids, and it’s good for the school,” said Gazzillo.

Another highlight of the interior are the quartz-covered counter tops that were constructed at the school and transported to the house. Two and half baths have already been finished, and there is a room in the basement where a toilet has been installed. Drains have been “roughed in,” Fenton explained, so that a shower and vanity can be installed as the home owner desires. The walls have been studded in the larger of the three basement rooms, which leads to the back yard.

The front porch and rear deck are covered, and there are hardwood floors throughout, the exception being the three bedroom floors. Carpeting for bedrooms is considered a personal choice and therefore not part of the project. The home sits on just less than two and a half rural acres only five minutes from the Elk Lake campus.

The students take great pride in the project, Gazzillo related. “This house is going to be here for a long time,” he stated. “They can drive by here years from now and say, ‘I helped build that.’”

Sealed bids on the new home will be accepted by the Elk Lake School Board through Jan. 19, 2018. The students are already working on the design for a fifth house, with plans to break ground in the spring.