Mattoon Community Unit School District 2

The Mattoon High School Building Trades program is once again constructing a house in the Meadows Subdivision on lot 304. This will be the third house in the subdivision built by the program. The home is 1700 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths, with a 2-car garage. If interested, please reach out to Ryan Ghere at 217-238-8875 or ryanghere@mcusd2.com.

The house will be similar to the rendered photo, with the exception the garage will face the front of the house, and finishes and color changes will be altered. The siding will be a grey color with a darker grey vertical siding on the front porch and the facial and soffit will be white with a black roof. The floor plan will be slightly altered with the following changes: no fireplace, bedroom 3 will have no built-in, but two closets, the furnace and water heater will be moved into the room across from the laundry.

If you purchase the home before construction ends, you may have the opportunity to pick out many of the accessories as long as they fall in the price range of the house or you are willing to upgrade (including light fixtures, flooring, paint colors, and bathroom finishes). The house will include Anderson windows, luxury vinyl tile in the bathrooms and laundry room, laminate kitchen countertops, engineered hardwood in the living room and kitchen, and carpets in all the bedrooms.

Reach out to Ryan Ghere at 217-238-8875 or ryanghere@mcusd2.com for further questions.

Request Information | Updates & Photos

Hello, my name is Troy Haacke and this is my 22nd year as the Construction Skills teacher at Mattoon High School. The Building Trades program is a three period class in which the students have the option to take as a Junior and Senior.  It is also offered as a dual credit class through Lake Land College.  The students are involved in the construction process of building and completing the house.  They start out in the classroom where they learn tool and equipment safety, construction terms and practices along with blueprint reading and material estimating.  

At the job site the students help with the foundation, layout and installation of the subfloor system.  The walls are also built by the students, where the exterior walls are sheathed and house wrapped for weather proofing.  We are also heavily involved in the roofing system of the house.  Once the house is waterproof, we begin the process of installing windows and hanging siding and soffit on the exterior of the house.  On the inside, we prep and get ready for drywall, hang electrical boxes, and pull wire.  At this time the plumbing and HVAC is also being installed by a professional contractor.  Next is the wall insulation and drywall.  Drywall is a big job for us and the most time consuming, from hanging the drywall on the walls and ceiling to taping, sanding and finishing.  Once the drywall is done then we begin the process of priming, painting walls, ceiling, doors, and trim.  Finally we will lay the flooring and install cabinets, doors, and trim.  Last major item is final inspection and cleaning.  We are very proud of all the houses we have built.  

Many of our students have gone into the construction field and are now Construction Engineers, Teachers, Plumbers, HVAC Professionals, Electricians, Concreters, Roofers, and Contractors. We have also seen many students work in numerous Unions and do it yourself projects, including flipping houses.

These projects are from previous homes built by MHS Building Trades program. The designs depicted below may not be part of the new house.