Montgomery Building Pains
Land Prices Could Stunt Student Construction Program

By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 15, 2006

Stephen Haynie found his groove.

It took a hammer, some nails and a couple of splinters, but in the building of a half-million-dollar home in Silver Spring, the teenager found a reason to actually like coming to class -- every day.

Suddenly, the 16-year-old who spent most of his time cooling his heels in the principal's office, doing just enough to get by but not much more, is pulling a 3.0.

"It totally changed my school career," he said of the program at Thomas Edison High School of Technology that gives Montgomery County students the chance to build a house every year. "Edison has totally straightened me out. I've learned more in the past two years than I have in all my life."

By any measure, this has been a banner year for the construction trades program at Edison, where over the years thousands of students have learned carpentry, plumbing, masonry and other skills. This year alone, 445 students helped construct the program's 35th home. More students than ever earned scholarships, are heading to college or have been hired for summer work or permanent jobs by construction firms.

And the 2,252-square-foot, student-built home with detached garage and spa bathtub? It's expected to set an all-time sales record when bids are unsealed this week.

It also could be one of the final houses built by students.

"Unless we find some land, we're out of business," said Bill Hancock, owner of William Hancock Builders and a member of the Montgomery County Students Construction Trades Foundation. "Land is a problem, it's a real problem."

Thirty years ago when the program started, a decent lot in, say, Bethesda, could be bought for $15,000 to $17,000. Of course, that was back when Interstate 270 was four lanes and Rockville was a toll phone call from the District. Today, lots -- just the land with no improvements -- are fetching a minimum of $250,000, Hancock estimated.

"The problem we've run into is that there are no lots south of Frederick available for less than $250,000 -- maybe even $275,000," Hancock said.

"I'm sure we couldn't afford the property we have now if it were to go to on the market," said Steve Boden, executive director of the foundation. "Things have gotten so expensive over the last five years. Everything we have goes into purchasing the next piece of land, buying tools and providing scholarships."

The school system provides the teachers, classroom materials and students -- who earn credit, not pay -- and the nonprofit foundation is responsible for purchasing the land and materials needed to make the home project possible. Any profit from the sale of the houses goes to the foundation, which reinvests such money into buying more land, completing projects and funding scholarships for students who want to further their education.

Foundation officials have been scrambling to find suitable lots near the Silver Spring campus. But finding the right piece at the right price has always been a challenge. There have been 35 student-built houses. Since 1998, nine have been built on a parcel along Dean Road and Connecticut Avenue, just north of Randolph Road. It took foundation officials almost 20 years to negotiate that deal.

But like many developers, they have discovered land is at a premium in that and other parts of Montgomery County, where the median sale price for a home is $435,000 and there are fewer and fewer places to build.

Other student home-building programs in the region have so far avoided the problem. Today, Fairfax County officials will break ground on their newest development, which is to be built on 13 acres in Springfield that were donated by the school system. That's enough acreage to keep the program going for 18 years, said Chad Maclin, coordinator for trade and industrial education for the Fairfax County public schools.

A program in the Prince George's County schools that is developing an 11-acre subdivision in Clinton has at least nine lots to build on before it has to look for new property.

But in Montgomery, the clock is ticking.

At the current site, just a five-minute drive from the Edison campus, four -- maybe five -- buildable lots remain. If foundation officials can persuade the state to give them acreage across from the Connecticut Avenue properties they're working on, they might be able to snag three more. There's also a chance the school system might have surplus land it could donate, but the deal would require approval from the county executive -- and the foundation would have to prove that it needs the land more than other county agencies.

But these days it takes so long to get the approval to build -- about 2 1/2 years -- that the folks who oversee the building program are getting nervous. One solution might be to move upcounty, near Clarksburg, where there's more buildable land. The logistics of transporting the students from their home schools to Edison in Silver Spring and then up to a work site near Clarksburg make it a less-than-ideal solution.

Boden said the foundation and school system have been talking to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission about possible projects the students could complete -- maybe cabins or other outbuildings.

And there's also some chatter that the teens might be able to build sheds or help with remodeling old homes.

When Zack Calandro, a 16-year-old with an easy grin and laid-back attitude, enrolled in the carpentry program, he wasn't sure what to expect. What he did know is that he just wasn't into the classes he was taking at Sherwood High School and that his grades reflected it. He figured that at Edison he'd hammer a few nails in here and there and that would be it.

But the teenager soon found himself putting up a nine-foot wall, nailing together headers -- the critical piece that usually goes over a window or door opening and helps support the weight of the structure -- then taking them apart because they weren't quite right. "It was so much more than I expected," he said.

The difference, he said, is being able to step back and see something real at the end of the day.

"That's what makes this program," Stephen said. "You can say, 'I built that house, we're the guys that built that house.' If you can't do that, what are you going to say? 'We're the guys who built that shed?' It's just not the same."