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Modular Home Provides Students Hands-on Training and Real-Life Experience

Unibilt Industries, an Ohio-based modular home producer and a member of the Building Systems Councils, has been working with the Construction Technology Program at the Ashland County (OH) – West Holmes Career Center to construct a modular home on the school’s grounds.

Students at the vocational school work on an annual home project, but given the constraints of the school year, they are often unable to complete a stick-built home, says Jack Schumaker, a teacher at Ashland. Turning to modular construction has helped solve that problem, he says.

Schumaker and his students are discovering what increasing numbers of consumers and builders already know: modular construction saves time, resources and money over building on site without compromising on quality.

Constructing the home on school grounds, Schumaker reports, has made the project more convenient for busy students. “It’s very nice to walk out of our classroom door and be at our project site,” he said. And students now have more control over the construction process.

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By building a modular home, he says, “the students are able to experience hands-on learning of every part of the construction process; the students are building the entire home from start to finish, including framing, wiring, plumbing, drywall, flooring and painting.”

“They will be able to see a completed home when they are done at the end of the school year,” says Schumaker. “The knowledge, skill and pride the students will gain from this project are immeasurable and will stay with them throughout their adult construction career.”

Schumaker, who has been teaching stick-built construction for most of his career, credits Unibilt for helping him and his students make the transition to modular construction and score success in this year’s home project.

At the end of the school year, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,500 square-foot home will be auctioned off, and most of Schumaker’s students will go on to pursue higher education at a technical college or go straight into a job in the construction industry.
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