Inside a 32,000 square foot modular home factory filled with the sounds of construction, high school student June Baker and her teacher Darrin Rassmusen huddled over blueprints trying to figure out what went wrong with a drywall installation. Turns out it was confusion over two panels both labelled A.
"We have one wall A that's right and then one that's not built because I had to take it apart," Baker said. "But I've learned from my mistake and they realized from that mistake that they need to start labelling each wall with numbers."
The factory sits on land owned by the Boulder Valley School District. The city of Boulder built it for $13 million, with support from federal, state and private foundation grants and loans. Students get course credit and hands-on experience building houses. The local Habitat for Humanity chapter manages the program. All the organizations involved say this three-way partnership is the first of its kind in the nation.
The factory opened in February. In November, they trucked their first two homes a few miles away to the Ponderosa Mobile Home park, where they were hoisted by crane onto foundations. High school senior Sean McCormick was one of the students on hand to help.
"I think it was a big accomplishment for us and what we can do in the future," he said. "It's not like we're building a little mini project, it's real world type stuff."
McCormick graduates in May. He says he plans to go to trade school and pursue an apprenticeship either as an electrician or pipefitter. His job prospects are good. A 2025 report from the American Institute of Constructors estimates the US will need more than 500,000 skilled construction workers in the coming years to keep up with demand.
The Ponderosa Mobile Home Park was hard hit by a flood in 2013. The city bought it, improved the infrastructure and began working with Habitat for Humanity on upgrading the housing. Residents have the option of staying in their mobile home or buying one of these new modular houses.
"The families who are getting houses here have been living in substandard housing, some of them for decades," said Dan McColley, CEO of Flatirons Habitat for Humanity. "This is their opportunity to own a well-built, energy efficient environmentally safe home."
Every new homeowner will have a subsidized mortgage based on their income. And they'll put in "sweat equity," working at the modular home factory alongside the students and their professional supervisors.
The homes are 1,150 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. McColley says it's too early to know exact numbers but he estimates the total cost per house will be $350,000 - $450,000. The median price of a single family home in Boulder last year was more than $1.3 million.
Maribel Gonzalez-Rodriguez is one of the new homeowners. She lives in a small, older mobile home just steps away from her new house. Speaking through an interpreter, she said she's very excited about her new home and its additional space.
She's a single mom with four children. In their mobile home, the kids share the bedrooms and Mirabel sleeps on the couch. She's lived in Boulder almost 25 years and works in the kitchen of a downtown hotel. In her new, two-storey home, she'll have her own room and a direct view of the mountains. It's the prettiest view in Boulder, she said.
Copyright 2025 NPR