Joseph Garza, left, and Bradley Briar are refabricating a rafter in the home being built by Wawasee Building Trades.

NORTH WEBSTER — Being in the right place at the right time opened a door for Jeff Phillips and his family. Wawasee Building Trades is building a new ranch style home for the family off CR 950E, near Backwater Road in Tippecanoe Township.

“They were looking for a full project for this school year and we were ready with our land,” said Jeff Phillips, a teacher at Wawasee High School. “So it has worked out perfectly.”

Normally there is a waiting list for a building trades home and it could take quite a few years, but sometimes financing may fall through or a decision is made to have someone else build the home sooner. Ed Waltz, Wawasee Building Trades instructor, agreed “it worked out we had an opening this year.”

After a slight delay of about one week due to the weather, work began in September on what will be an approximately 2,300 square foot home upstairs with an additional 1,800 square feet or so in the basement, Waltz noted. Upstairs will include a master bedroom, a second bedroom, a kitchen, office and two bathrooms. There will also be a living quarters for Jeff’s mother Pattie with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

In the basement there will be a family room, open kitchen and fitness area. “I guess you could call it Jeff’s man cave,” Waltz said.

It is a fairly typical home being built during the 2018-19 school year. Waltz noted he prefers single story homes. “It is better for teaching and what we are trying to teach the kids because there is not as much height,” he said.

Unlike last year’s project home where there was a several week delay before work started, this year’s project started earlier and will be less difficult to manage. One cause for concern has been a frost for several mornings prohibiting the students from being able to do much roof work in the morning because it is too slippery.

As is the norm each year, a major goal is to have the home enclosed as much as possible before the snow starts flying and the weather turns sharply colder. A metal roof will be installed soon by a contractor and work will begin in a week or two on installing the heating and cooling systems.

For a general guideline, Waltz said he would like to see the drywalling begin before the Christmas break starts and then in January to start the finish work. The goal for painting to begin is February and hanging doors and trim work to start in March.

“In April we hope to go back outside and finish what couldn’t be done earlier before the weather turned bad,” he added.

A 24 x 32 detached garage was built before work on the house started.

There are 16 students in Wawasee Building Trades this year including one from Columbia City. Presently nine students work in the morning and seven in the afternoon.

Jeff’s family also includes his wife Jennifer and children Wyatt, Lincoln and Radley.

An open house is normally held in mid to late May for building trades projects and more details will be announced closer to that time.