How to Have Herkimer BOCES Students Build Your House – Informational Meeting

Additional Information

You could have a new home built for you by local high-school students if you win a lottery from the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES building construction program.

Every year since 1982, students in the Herkimer BOCES Building Construction program put together a house that is delivered to residents to live in. The homeowner pays the cost of materials and transportation of the house, but the labor is provided for free by high-school juniors and seniors under the supervision of Building Construction instructor John Martin.

If you’re interested in receiving the house, attend an informational meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8, in the Building Construction classroom at the Herkimer BOCES William E. Busacker Complex, 352 Gros Blvd. in Herkimer.

At the meeting, information discussed will include procedures, house styles, the purchasing of materials, the construction date, criteria for applying, moving the house and other owners’ responsibilities.

A lottery drawing will be scheduled for a couple of weeks after the meeting to determine who is selected as the recipient of the 37th house built by the program. If multiple people apply and attend the lottery, runners-up can be selected for subsequent years.

The house, which will be an about 1,500-square-foot, one-story ranch, could be delivered to many locations in and surrounding the Herkimer BOCES region. Previous houses have gone as far from Herkimer BOCES as the Thousand Islands, Lake George and south of Cooperstown.

The house will be constructed during the 2018-19 school year – starting in September 2018 with completion by June 2019.

After a client is selected, meetings will be scheduled with the future homeowner to discuss the floor plan and the basic design of the house. The design must meet approval of the Building Construction program curriculum. It must be a single story and can have up to three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The dimensions are 26.5 feet by 58 feet.

For information, contact Herkimer BOCES Building Construction instructor John Martin at
315-867-2600 or jmartin@herkimer-boces.org.