1 December 2006, Belleville, ON—Senior Quinte Secondary students are making great progress with construction of a new home in Belleville.

In mid-September 17 enthusiastic students took part in a ground-breaking ceremony at Lot 10, Boyce Court. They are now working with teacher Randy Votary, the builder, Paul Stinson and local tradespeople and earning credits through the Quinte Student Structures program. This program engages students in all aspects of constructing a house and fosters working relationships with sub-contractors through all phases of construction.

To date the students have:

• Built and installed footing forms and placed the concrete in them
• Stripped the forms
• Installed big “O” and drain board
• Completed all aspects of framing, including construction of knee walls, sub-floors, exterior and interior walls, trusses, roof sheathing, shingles, windows and doors, insulation of windows and doors, garage and front entrance concrete formwork, gravel compaction and re-bar in the garage concrete slab preparation and basement slab preparation
• Worked with roofers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and bricklayers to learn construction practices and how each trade contributes to the completion of the overall project

From now until the scheduled completion date in January, the students will continue to work with cement finishers, heating and air-conditioning tradespeople, HVAC tradespeople, drywall installers and tapers, insulation installers, trim carpenters, cabinet installers, painters, carpet and tile installers and aluminum soffit, fascia and eavestrough installers.

Prior to the groundbreaking, these students attended two weeks of classes at Quinte Secondary to learn personal and construction site safety, the basics of fall protection, how to use power and hand tools safely. They also completed four group projects to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts.

This year the students were able to work for several days directly under the supervision of a roofing contractor, Chris Lamer. Mr. Lamer was a student in Randy Votary’s class in the 1994-1995 Quinte Student Structures program. That program was done in conjunction with with Andy Geertsma of Geertsma Homes Ltd. Mr. Larmer provided individual instruction to students and worked with them and the teacher until the roof was completed, about one week.

This project is possible through the support of a five-way community partnership between:

• Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board
• Quinte Secondary School
• Quinte Homebuilders’ Association
• Stinson Builders Ltd.
• The Hastings and Prince Edward Learning Foundation

The home will be completed in January 2007 when a celebration of success will take place.