Barbecues, family visits, Christmas gatherings and Thanksgiving feasts.
Barbecues, family visits, Christmas gatherings and Thanksgiving feasts.
Those are just a few memories Leticia Domingo conjures up after spending three decades in her Hilo home.
It was 1987 when Domingo and her husband, Benjamin, now deceased, moved into the three-bedroom, single-story house. The couple were the 21st recipients of a Hawaii Community College model home.
“I remember that day moving in,” Domingo recalls. “I’d seen an (ad for the project) in the paper to apply. I was excited to be in our first home. We were renting, and it was a relief to own a house.”
Domingo made some changes through the years. She renovated the bathroom, added grass around the exterior and constructed a deck in the backyard.
She still lives in the house, and she looks back on those early days of homeownership with fondness.
Each year, as part of the Model Home Project, dozens of HCC students spanning multiple trade programs design, construct and landscape a home for a Native Hawaiian family such as Domingo’s.
The project is a capstone for several HCC programs and aims to give students real-world, on-the-job experience in their chosen field of work.
This year, the Model Home Project is turning 50. The college is hosting a 50th anniversary gathering today for students, faculty and project alums. Tickets to the event are sold out.
“Many people think the Model Home (Project) is just students building a house and making an affordable home for someone,” said Harold Nishimura, a retired HCC carpentry instructor who oversaw dozens of model home builds.
“But when you look at it from the students’ point of view … they are using the model home as a learning vehicle. They’re learning how to read and interpret blueprints (for example), and we get multiple divisions involved. It’s not just building a house per se. Of course, the students are getting the hands-on experience doing that, but then they’re getting the other aspect of that. The unseen kind of thing.”
The first model home was completed in 1966. Since then, more than 4,000 students have participated through the years, hailing from HCC’s carpentry, electrical installation and maintenance, diesel mechanics, agriculture, and architectural, engineering and CAD technology, or AEC, programs, to name a few.
Builds generally take four semesters. AEC students design and produce working drawings, while those in the carpentry program build the home. Ag students assist in landscaping and electrical students complete wiring. Even HCC welding students assist with duties such as crane operations. Plumbing and painting are among the only tasks generally subcontracted.
The campus partners with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which supplies open land lots. DHHL also covers the cost of materials and selects home recipients, who must apply and qualify for a loan.
The goal is to keep the homes affordable — they’re generally priced under $200,000, which is roughly $25,000 under their typical value because of savings from free student labor, said Darryl Vierra, a carpentry instructor and Model Home coordinator.
Past model homes are sprinkled throughout East Hawaii. In recent years, many have been constructed in Keaukaha.
HCC faculty say the Model Home Project draws students from throughout the country, and there are few — if any — other programs quite like it.
“Model Home is the capstone project for carpentry,” Vierra said. “Our whole program is designed to build up to it. … I can’t think of any other programs (in the country) quite like this one. We can’t claim it’s the only program, but I don’t think there are any set up quite like we are.”
Things have changed through the years. Homes once were built on the Manono campus then auctioned off and transported to their permanent location. Houses also once were single-walled — now they’re mostly double-walled.
Since 2011, homes also have been constructed with green-design features, such as solar hot water and photovoltaic systems.
“Pretty much the only thing I had to add was my furniture,” said Jennifer Gouveia, a recipient of the first green 2011 home, which she said is valued at $154,000 and located in Panaewa.
Gouveia called the project a “huge blessing in disguise.” She said her model home allowed her to move back to Hawaii Island — her childhood home — and assist her mom, Locardia. Gouveia said she was renting on Oahu at the time and was unable to afford a property to buy.
“It saved me a tremendous amount of money,” said Gouveia, who lives in the house with her mother. “I was able to relocate back to Hilo and help my mom retire, so I could take care of her. I’m very grateful. I would have never been able to move back to the island of Hawaii if it weren’t for my (model) home.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.