For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel Wackershauser, Marketing and PR Specialist
Phone: 608.822.2303
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: September 17, 2024
Students hammering away at duplex construction (with video)
Fennimore -Building Trades – Carpentry students at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College are constructing housing for their peers this year. The group of 11 students recently began building a duplex on campus, which will join other housing options on Brownwood Road. “They are learning the first steps of building a building and then we’re going to be moving all the way up through until we’re totally completed,” said Andy Reynolds, Building Trades – Carpentry instructor.
This project fits well with the design of the program. It provides students with excellence job site experience. “We’re learning a lot,” said Lane Jenson, a Building Trades – Carpentry student from South Wayne, Wisconsin. “We’ve learned more here in two weeks than I’ve learned in three years.”
Jenson has three years of experience working with a local contractor. After graduation, he hopes to return to that contractor and eventually become a foreman.
Throughout the coming months, Jenson is hoping to pick up a variety of new skills, as well. “Personally, I want to walk on site and be able to know what I’m doing, what processes need to be done coming into the middle of a project, what’s next, figure out what needs to be done before we finish a project,” he said.
The duplex’s foundation was poured by an outside contractor and now the students are framing the structure, taking advantage of the favorable weather. “Right now, they are learning plate layout, foundation layout, wall layout, partitions, you’re rough framing,” said Tim Hoffman, Building Trades – Carpentry instructor.
According to Reynolds, trusses are being delivered Sept. 18-20. “Once the trusses roll in, we’ll put them on and then put the roof on,” he said. “Our goal is to have that roof done before the weather gets really cold and we end up with snow.”
After the roof is completed, they will move on to soffit, fascia, and siding. Inside, they will install insulation and drywall. “When the weather turns terrible and cold we can pick our days (to work inside or outside),” said Reynolds.
Many, if not all, the students will be hired before they graduate in May 2025. Area contractors are in serious need of employees. “They (local contractors) want to know what we have for numbers, because they can’t get enough people hired,” said Reynolds. “They are doing good about hiring our students and paying them well, so they can afford to stay and live around here.”
The goal is to have the project completed at the end of the academic year in May 2025, and operational for fall 2025.