District 211 students check the blueprints for their student-built home in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. (Photo courtesy of District 211)

Peter Catan couldn’t be more proud of the more than two dozen former students who own their own businesses in the construction trades.

He gladly notes that one of his former Woodstock High School students now coordinates construction for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

“I love this job,” Catan said,

Catan has been coordinating the effort where Woodstock students build a home in the community for nearly half of the program’s 42-year lifespan,

He said students have built homes from 1,600 square feet to 3,400 square feet over the years. Catan said the size and cost of the homes is dependent on the surrounding neighborhood.

“When I started, the CFO at the time said ‘we are not in the business of making money,’” Catan said. “When we make a home, that is our textbook.”

Schools in Illinois from Palatine to Pekin continue the practice of students making houses. While the homes are susceptible to the same buying and pricing trends as any real estate, coordinators of the student-built homes say the properties normally never sit for all that long before being snatched up.

Joel Steger, chairman of career and technology education at Pekin High School, said there is already interest being shown in this year’s student project and it won’t even be showcased until a mid-May open house.

“It is a May 15 open house and we are already getting calls and questions about the house,” Steger said

Pekin HIgh School student Noah Waters works on the siding at a student-built home. Pekin is among the high schools in Illinois that allow students to get hands-on experience in the building trades by constructing a house. (Photo courtesy of Pekin HIgh School)

He said students don’t get to cut corners on construction work if they are pressed for time or falling behind the work schedule. Municipal inspectors require the same — or more — from the students as they would any tradesman, according to Steger.

“They are hard on the kids,” Steger said of inspectors. “They want kids to know what they are doing, they want the kids to know what should be done with a house.”

Steger chuckled remembering one inspector who wanted students to meet a code that was still a month away from being on he books.

“He wanted to hold them to a future code,” Steger said

All five District 211 schools in the northwest suburbs of Chicago have had thriving home-building programs for 30 years, according to Tom Petersen, director of community relations for the district.

District 211 students have created $600,000 and $700,000 homes over the years. The schools each used to construct a home a year, but with the economic downturn of 10 years ago, the district opted to have some schools double up on the home construction projects.

Right now, students at Palatine High School are building a home on campus that will serve as a residence for special education students in the transitional program. Petersen said students have built concession stands and other structures for the district.

He said students are involved in the process every step of construction.

“They are part of the building process,” Petersen said, “They have to have different approvals at different stages.”

Petersen said students do not have to be heading into the trades to benefit from the program.

A Woodstock High School student works on the exterior of a student-built home. (Photo courtesy of Woodstock High School)

“It can apply to home ownership or being a property owner in the future,” Petersen said. “It is not only applicable for individuals going into the building trades.”

Legislation is pending in Springfield to make it easier for school districts to sell student-built homes.

A bill sponsored by state Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), that just passed the Senate would make the selling process for student-built homes easier by allowing the use of a real estate agent without first having to go through an auction or bid process.

“The (Pekin) program is a great example of self-sustainability and goes a long way in showing students the value of hard work in an important trade” Koehler said “By making it easier for the district to sell the homes its students build, we show support for a valuable program that engages and builds up the community in a financially independent way.”

Under current law, building trade houses must be sold the same way as state-owned real estate — a sometimes “convoluted” process that leaves schools jumping through time-consuming hoops, such as having to list the for sale home and creating a bidding process.

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