Building for the Future

The construction workers had waited three months for this, the first day of framing. They were eager to pound nails, to smell and touch wooden beams, to erect walls and doorways.

“I like this better than anything else,” said James Creel, 16, a junior at South Hills High with short, spiky hair. “It’s fun. It’s why I joined this class.” Creel is part of a year-old project in Azusa that allows area students to get class credit for helping build moderately priced homes.

A partnership between local educators, city redevelopment officials and a job-training organization, the House Construction Project, has already produced one home; now it is about to put up a second. By the time this house in the 1000 block of McKeever Avenue is completed, the students--working under the watchful eye of licensed contractors--will participate in virtually every aspect of its construction. They’ll dig trenches, pour concrete, do framing, install electrical wiring, lay tile and carpeting, install cabinets and paint. Only the windows and doors come already made.

The Azusa Unified School District pays six instructors to supervise the students on a parcel that was a vacant lot owned by the city Water and Light Department until the Azusa Redevelopment Agency bought it for $64,000.

“I thought we were just gonna see people working,” said Steve Villegas, 18, a senior at Sierra Vista High. “I didn’t know we’d do it ourselves.”

Different groups of students work about nine hours a week each over an eight-month period to build a house, said Ken Manning, director of the East San Gabriel Valley Regional Occupation Program and one of the key figures in developing the home-building effort.

The program--one of many throughout the nation that stress future job skills for high school students who don’t plan to attend college--has benefits beyond employment. Most participants, says Manning, benefit simply by becoming more handy: “Only about 25% come because they have a burning need to be a contractor.” Still, more than half of the students continue to work in the construction industry in some capacity after graduation, he said.

One little-anticipated lesson is the complexity of driving three-inch nails.

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“See the angle of that nail? It never had a chance,” Joe Batistelli, a work site superintendent, explained to a student amid the creaking sound of hammers pulling out crooked nails. “You need to learn to hammer straight,” he told the boy. “Put another one.”

At this point, most students still need to pound a nail 10 times or more to drive it straight into the board, said Ray Brezina, an instructor. Soon they will accomplish the job with two or three solid hits.

“The value is learning by doing,” said Brezina, a husky man in a cap and sunglasses.

When completed, the house, with three bedrooms, two baths and a double garage, will be put up for sale by the redevelopment agency.

About 120 youngsters from 17 high schools--twice the number of students as last year--are involved in the House Construction Project, with perhaps 60 working on the house at any one time. Manning credits the jump to word-of-mouth support among students and counselors.

The lessons begin in the classroom, where students build a wooden scale model of the house they are going to be working on in the real world. They also learn how to read blueprints, calculate lengths, do estimates and apply for permits.

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In another bow to the students’ inexperience, the regional occupation agency purchases 10% more lumber than at a typical site because students predictably make more cutting mistakes, said Manning.

But the similarities to a traditional construction project outweigh the differences. The guarantees are the same as for any residence, and the instructors ensure good workmanship, agreed program supervisors.

“This isn’t practice. Somebody’s going to move into this, so you get a higher quality of work,” said Robert McAndrews, a coordinator with the Carpenters Apprenticeship Training Committee. “What’s amazing and so impressive is the product they turn out.”

Aly Fleck, one of two female students in the program, said she wanted to learn to do repairs at home. The Charter Oak High senior also enjoys the work-site camaraderie.

“My favorite thing is that I’m treated as an equal with all the guys. . . . I expected a lot of the easier jobs; so far I have been there with all of them doing the grunt work,” said Fleck, 17.

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The plan for this kind of building partnership was cooked up by Manning and Tom Falls, then a Covina City Council member. During a dinner conversation three years ago, Falls, now a municipal judge in West Covina, wondered what it would take to keep at-risk youngsters out of trouble.

Manning recalls answering, “Vocational skills and real construction building experience.”

Both juggled numbers and sketched out on a napkin what they could throw together. Falls offered a city-owned vacant lot. Manning said he could provide instructors and labor.

“I had the vision, he had the property,” said Manning.

But the program has never been limited to troubled students. Its purpose is to appeal to all those “who don’t know what the future will bring,” Manning said.

“It taught me self-control, how to motivate yourself to do the work,” said Johnathan Duggan, 16, a junior at Gladstone High who worked on both Azusa houses. He said that thanks to the experience, he landed a construction job last summer. Students who finish the program can make as much as $12 an hour, said Manning.

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It was the idea of Brezina, a onetime high school physics instructor, to start a similar program in Azusa.

Brezina, who now works full time for the regional occupation agency, had been interested in construction since the years he worked in the industry.

“I wish this program was around when I was in college. I would’ve taken it. It would’ve saved me years of backbreaking labor,” he said.

Last summer, students finished the program’s first house, which sold for $177,500.

After real estate commissions, the city made about $5,000 on the home, which cost $164,000 to build.

Many of those involved in the first home’s construction continue to visit and admire it.

“I tell them, ‘Bring your grandkids over when you’re 50 years old and say ‘I built that,’ ” said instructor Batistelli. “It will still be around if we do it right.”