Photo by: Cameron Lemmon
On Friday, a class of real estate and construction management majors celebrated completing the construction of a $212,159 two-story, single-family home in Green Valley Ranch.
The class of 24 seniors collaborated to learn the marketing, financial and construction aspects of building and selling a residential house from the groundbreaking to the ribbon cutting.
“It’s a real world experience that you can’t get inside the classroom,” said senior Dan Negrin, head of construction.
The Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management’s Residential Practicum is the only course of it’s kind in the county and has been offered for 14 years and is only available to those with senior standing.
“This program puts students in the real world to learn the real world,” Dan Connolly, associate dean of undergraduate programs at Daniels College of Business said at Friday’s ribbon cutting ceremony.
“It’s not just building a home, it’s building a future of leaders in the real estate and construction industry.”
“This is huge,” senior Jeff Diem, group president said of the experience. “You have so many people graduating with degrees in construction management. I have friends at other schools that are graduating with the same degree and I definitely have a leg up on them. I can go out and say I’ve lived it, I’ve done it.”
In the fall, the class worked on acquiring land and developing the plans for the home.
“We knew we would be building a house working with Oakwood homes,” Diem said. “We had to go through and research what incomes are in the area because usually when you’re starting with a home you’re building it for a specific family.”
The land broke ground early in winter quarter and as a class, the students were responsible for overseeing construction 40 hours per week.
Each student acted as the construction manager two hours per week. The students raised funds to pay for supplies and labor, while Oakwood homes covered the remaining costs.
When the home sells, the proceeds will be split between the DU Scholarship Fund and the Denver Boys and Girls Club.
“The only thing they have left to do is get this thing sold,” professor Stuart Stein said.
The class is trying to market the home themselves, however if it does not sell it will become Oakwood homes inventory.
Diem has been offered an internship at a local real estate company this summer.
For more information about the home, contact the sales office at (303) 486-8722 or visit burnsbuilders2009.wordpress.com.
