Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES students have been working hard to build a tiny house, which is now for sale.
The 280-square-foot house is up for bid bit.ly/FEHBTinyHouse21. Bidding will close at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 18.
Students in the Building Trades program at Adirondack Educational Center in Saranac Lake built the house over the last two years. Usually they build one each year, but the schedule for this one was delayed by COVID.
The two-year Building Trades program serves students in Lake Placid, Long Lake, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake. Juniors go to classes in their home district in the morning, then come to AEC for the afternoon, and seniors come to AEC in the mornings.
Students start from scratch, designing and building the tiny house from the bottom up on a specially made trailer, learning the foundations of carpentry along the way. They also get to try their hand at electrical work, plumbing and HVAC work on this project.
The design is changed up each year so that students in the two-year program get to learn about different building types, strategies and considerations.
This year’s house was built in the style of a barn, with red vinyl siding, a metal roof, and an 8-foot-by-7-foot deck that folds out when the owner parks. It has a full bathroom, an open loft to use as a bedroom, a common area with a kitchen and a sun room. The house also includes Wi-Fi switches that connect to an app and let the owner turn lights and other electrics on and off through their phone.
FEH BOCES Also runs a school in Malone, North Franklin Educational Center. Students in the Building Trades program there built a modular house this year, which was sold in April through a sealed bid process.
Building Trades is one of 11 two-year Career and Technical Education programs run by Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES. AEC has six: Automotive Technology, Building Trades, Cosmetology, Culinary Arts, Health Occupations and Natural Resource Sciences. FEH BOCES also runs one-year New Vision programs for seniors: Education, Game Design and Development, Health Care Exploration, and Government and Law.
For more information, go to https://www.fehb.org/o/franklin-essex-hamilton-boces/page/aec-tiny-house.