Community school student-build receives council budget approval

Council votes to increase budget by $55,000, construction slated for summer

By Aimee Eaton

Catherine Washburn stands in front of the Crested Butte Town Council wearing fitted blue jeans and an oversized long-sleeved t-shirt with the words Jackson Hole printed on the back. Though she is at least two decades younger than her audience she speaks clearly and seemingly with confidence.

“I’ll go through the estimates from the budget we have for the house by line,” she tells the council. Washburn is one of 12 Crested Butte Community School Students working with the town to build an affordable home at 906 Butte Ave. in the new Paradise Park subdivision. “First, the shell of the house, $45,000. Electrical, about $10,000. Plumbing, $19,000.”

Washburn quotes bids from local companies for everything from concrete and drywall to windows and kitchen appliances. When she finishes, the bill totals $170,623, about $40,000 more than the town had budgeted for the project.

“Originally we had looked at building a 700 to 800-square-foot home, but as the house has gotten bigger the budget has grown,” Crested Butte town planner Michael Yerman explained to the council. “We have $100,000 in affordable housing reserves and we need to decide tonight if we want to pursue building this summer.”

The house project began in the fall when CBCS teacher Todd Wasinger approached the town about partnering on the design and build of a small home. At that time the town donated one of its newly surveyed micro lots, and several local professionals—some town-employed and some not—joined forces with the students to develop plans for a roughly 1,000-square-foot home. After several iterations the plans were completed over the winter, and the project received approval for construction from the Crested Butte Board of Zoning and Architecture Review (BOZAR) at the end of February.

“The amount of time and experience that has been contributed by local professionals has made the difference in the success of the project,” said Wasinger. “We would be adrift without their help. In this latest stage we have been consulting extensively with REG engineers on the structure, Gary Hartman on interiors, Maureen Peterson-Hylander at Thurston on kitchen details and costs, and John Stock on construction sequencing and costs.”

Construction on the house is slated to begin this spring and the plan has been for students to work on the building in tandem with local professionals. When the two-bedroom, one and a half bath house is completed, likely late next fall, it will serve as a rental property for town employees.

According to Wasinger, however, moving forward with construction relies on two things: 1) the town granting a change in the budget, and 2) finding enough students for the summer construction course.

“We’d like to have 16 students in a summer course working on the construction,” said Wasinger, noting that not all students would be on the site at one time, and the schedule has to work around students’ complicated summer schedules. “Right now, we don’t have that many.”

As far as the budget, Crested Butte mayor Glenn Michel told the rest of the council, “This is what it costs to build a house, and this is a pretty bare-bones house. These numbers are what they are.”

Councilmember Paul Merck, an obvious supporter of the projected, added, “The price point is actually pretty good, especially with the educational aspect on top of that.”

Currently the average price per square foot to build a modest home in Crested Butte hovers around $300, according to the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority. The student-built house is looking to average between $170 and $180 per square foot.

“Those kids have done a good job keeping the costs down and looking for creative solutions,” said GVRHA interim executive director Paula Swenson. “There’s also going to be a lot of free labor on that house.”

After discussing the details of the build and the variability of the construction costs, the Town Council approved an increase in the project’s budget from $130,000 to $185,000.

The $15,000 padding to the $170,000 Washburn presented allows for some of the unknowns of the construction and may also mean that in some cases the builders could opt for higher-end materials such as choosing spray-in insulation over batting.

“The summer curriculum is the next big step for me,” said Wasinger after the council had approved the new budget. “We don’t have a big enough class right now, despite an early recruitment effort. This remains the biggest limiting factor.”

This story is part of the News’ ongoing coverage of the student build project.