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Sandy Journal

CTEC student-designed, built home up for sale

Jun 25, 2018 02:33PM ● By Julie Slama

CTEC student seniors Nathan Catmull, Robert Banyai, Brittany Maughan, Tristan Rose, Peyton Boutbyseth, Kaiden Jones and Nicolas Croft and junior Alma Miller put on finishing touches on the home they helped build before it was put up to sell. (Julie Slama/City Journals)

By Julie Slama | [email protected] 

It’s more than another house on the market.

The two-bedroom home at 8731 Monroe Street was designed and built by Canyons Technology Education Center (CTEC) the past five months as a learning opportunity for students to gain experience with concrete, framing, electrical, drywall, sheetrock, carpentry, trimming, painting, siding, shingling and masonry. 

“They had to be on task and work as a team to finish the project on schedule,” instructor Tim Kidder said. “These kids learned a ton of stuff. Some of them didn’t even read a tape measure or had taken any shop classes before this. Now they can think critically and have work skills that can help them with future employment.” 

CTEC offers many opportunities to earn college credit, industry certifications and professional licenses in high school. Courses range from digital media and software development to medical assisting and physical therapy to cosmetology and welding. 

CTEC Principal Ken Spurlock, who said that students have been building homes annually since the 1980s, said it is a critical skill to help students learn hands-on to enter both professional and technical careers. 

The on-site building construction class, which taught concepts in project management as well as hands-on experience, gave 24 area high school students 10 credits at Salt Lake Community College through concurrent enrollment, said Kidder. He, along with project manager LaDell Nielsen, taught students safety as well as building construction skills. 

For Nathan Catmull and Robert Banyai the experience was a step more than following the design.

“The blueprints were so bad that I thought I could totally design the house better,” Catmull said. “So when I said something to my teacher, he said if you can come up with something better, we’d look at it. I stayed up really late and designed the whole concept that night.” 

Those plans, with input from Banyai, became part of the 1,300-square foot house that is listed at $285,000, on a parcel of land donated by Sandy City for the program. 

“I had to follow certain parameters, but I also put in some unique features like circle windows that gave the house character. I love how the house looks with a modern-style architecture. From an architectural standpoint, it was fun to do. But from a building view, it was more complex so now I’m more aware of that,” Catmull said. 

For example, those circle windows took students “a couple good days to put in versus 10 minutes” for standard windows, Banyai said. 

Students also learned about regulations in building, such as needing five-foot ceilings in bedrooms. A third room fell short of that, so it is listed as a storage space. 

“It’s one of my favorite rooms,” said senior Brittany Maughan, about the room students nicknamed “the princess room” with slanted rafters and a smaller circle window. “I think it would make an awesome playroom.” 

While Catmull and Banyai want to pursue a career in architecture, Maughan wants to study neurology. 

“I took the course so one day I could build my own home,” she said. “I know I can’t do it on my own, but I have a better understanding of the process and can be a part of it.”