Walking the talk

September 29, 2014
Walking the talk – EIT Tairāwhiti carpentry students.

Walking the talk – EIT Tairāwhiti
carpentry students.

Pre-apprenticeship EIT Tairāwhiti carpentry students get the opportunity to completely build a two bedroom cottage during their 39 week course.

The fourteen level three students, who range in age from 17 to 25 years, build the 80 square metre cottage from scratch, under the watchful eyes of their lecturers and with the supervision of a licenced building practitioner.

Carpentry lecturer Roger Davies says there is nothing quite like hands on experience for students, and the students themselves agree.  “It’s massive to be doing this,” says one.

The rest agree, adding it adds a real element to their study.

It really gets you thinking when you are responsible for this (the cottage) from”

Roger says building the cottage is project based learning and very much an essential teaching tool.

Building is a practical job and this way the students get to try out the theory they learns great for –  there is a real sense of achievement that”.

The students have already had a small taste of that.

We built all the pre-cut frames and once it was stood up there was suddenly a house says Roger. It was a great moment for the students.

“It’s a good motivator for them all too – they want to be here learning and building.”

The cottage is built to high specs, to ensure it will fit any New Zealand environment – from marine to high country – and will be sold at
year’s end or sooner.

It will be plastered and painted and ready for removal.

Davies says it would be great if the cottage – which has a timber weatherboard exterior, double-glazed aluminium joinery and a colour steel roof – was pre-sold before the final layout is complete, as it gives the proud new owners a chance to have some input into the kitchen layout as well as the final colour scheme.

Once complete, the cottage will have a partial code of compliance.