MHProNews has learned from buffalonews students at Erie 1 BOCES’ Harkness Career and Technical Center in Cheektowaga, just east of Buffalo, NY, have completed a 1,200 square foot modular home that will be auctioned off Fri., June 7. “If you see this house, you would be surprised that twenty 17-year-old boys built it,” said Chris Burgio, the building trades teacher at Harkness. A second modular home, 1,300 square feet, is being completed at BOCES’ Potter Career and Technical Center in West Seneca and will also go on the auction block. Both homes have three bedrooms and two baths. A $30,000 grant in 1998 from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation kicked off the program leading to the subsequent building of 17 homes total between the two programs. Built by seniors, the modular houses have sold from $32,000 to $59,000 with the proceeds returning to the schools for next years’ projects.

(Photo credit: Oliver Jenkins/fosterdemocrat–Somersworth, NH student-built modular home)