Max Hayes students help deconstruct house donated by builders
by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, March 2010) Max Hayes Construction Program students gained valuable experience deconstructing a house at the I-X Center on the week of February 15th. The opportunity for this experience came through the generosity of a local builder and a recommendation by a juvenile court judge.

CMJ Development partners Clark Fischer and Christopher Lapps, builders of the Pinnacle Home, one of three model Idea Homes on display at The Great Big Home and Garden Expo at the I-X Center, decided they wanted to donate materials from the home and seek help in deconstructing the home after the show.

Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora suggested to Fischer and Lapps that Max Hayes High School would be a good place to both donate materials and get help deconstructing the home. He offered to help by contacting the Construction Program at Max Hayes High School. Judge Sikora who passes Max Hayes High School on his way to work, contacted the Construction Program Instructor Jim Mulgrew to let him know about the CMJ Development’s offer. Mulgrew immediately seized the opportunity to provide deconstruction experience to his students and gain a valuable donation for the Max Hayes Construction Program.

On President’s Day, Monday February 15th, Mulgrew, fellow Max Hayes Construction Program Instructor Jim MacDowell, recent Max Hayes Construction Program graduate Clayton Marshall, and two eleventh grade Construction Program students Tyshaun Brumfield and James Edward Smith III spent a good portion of their day off helping Fischer and his crew begin the process of deconstructing the house at the I-X Center.

Additional students from the Max Hayes Construction Program came on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of that week to help CMJ Construction meet the deadline set by the I-X Center to have the home down and the materials off the premises in four days. Mulgrew estimates a good fifty students participated in the project during the week with as many as twenty students on a single day. He said the students have good construction skills and thus they were able to contribute significantly to the project. Mulgrew said the administrators and teachers at Max Hayes were very supportive of the project offering to provide make up work for students so they could miss classes to take advantage of this opportunity.

CMJ Development’s Fischer described the home his company donated as a rustic, contemporary single family home with two bedrooms and two baths. “Ideally students will get a feel for how a home comes apart and in doing that get a feel for what it took to put it together,” said Fischer.

CMJ Development donated the bulk of materials and framing for the home to Max Hayes High School. Mulgrew said the donation to Max Hayes included siding, framing, masonry, wire, paint and some shingles. Windows from the structure were donated to Habitat for Humanity and several families in need of new roofs will be receiving the bulk of the roofing shingles, said Fischer. He called the deconstruction of the home a win-win situation with Max Hayes getting the materials and students benefiting from experienced mentorship while deconstructing the house and his company gaining access to the student labor force to help them deconstruct the house.

Construction Instructor MacDowell said the donation of materials from the house would be taken right to the construction program classroom for use. He said, “this is precious,” noting that the donation would save the school district a ton of money on materials. He said the demonstration house they work on gets shorter and smaller each year as students practice on it.

Mulgrew says in addition to CMJ Development’s donation of the building materials, several companies, Wave Landscaping and Design Company and a small business named Amigo, donated their resources to help transport the materials to the school.

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