HRCTEC - Building Trades Pic

Building More Than Just a Garage Experience the grit and craftsmanship of Mandan High School students. Instead of a day off, these dedicated builders spent their time giving back to the community through a hands-on construction project. See what our students said about the opportunity

🏗️ Building Trades & Construction Technology

The Building Trades program at HRCTEC provides students with a comprehensive, hands-on education in residential and commercial construction. From reading blueprints to the final trim work, students experience the entire lifecycle of a build.

Tiny Home Makes the News

Project Spotlight: The Tiny House & Community Impact

Custom Tiny Home: Our advanced students recently completed a custom-built tiny house, managing everything from the foundation and framing to the interior finish and electrical rough-ins.
Community Service: As seen in our KX News feature, our students don’t just build for credit—they build for the community. Whether it's constructing garages or assisting with local infrastructure, our students put their skills to work where they are needed most.

Skills You Will Master

Structural Framing: Layout and assembly of floors, walls, and roof systems (including rafters and trusses).
Exterior Finishes: Professional installation of windows, doors, siding, and roofing materials.
Interior Craftsmanship: Mastery of drywall, cabinetry, and custom trim work.
Safety & Tool Proficiency: Full certification in job-site safety and the operation of professional-grade power tools and heavy machinery.

🔨 Intro to Building Trades: The Foundation

Before our students build tiny homes or community garages, they must master the "language of wood." The Intro to Building Trades course focuses on the fundamental skills that every master craftsperson needs: precision, patience, and safety.

Core Curriculum Highlights

Shop Safety: Earning "Safety Orange" status through rigorous testing on all power equipment.
Blueprint Basics: Learning to read and execute simple technical drawings.
Tool Identification: Mastering the names and uses of everything from a speed square to a sliding miter saw.
Career Exploration: An introduction to the various paths in the industry, including carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC.

🪵 Precision Engineering: The Ultimate Sawhorse Challenge

In Intro to Building Trades, students shift from basic tool identification to practical, high-stakes fabrication. One of our signature fundamental projects challenges students to build a highly functional, industrial-grade sawhorse completely from scratch—with strict criteria that test both math and engineering skills.

Each student is tasked with designing and constructing a sawhorse that must meet rigorous competition and industry standards:

Strict Dimensional Accuracy: Every sawhorse must measure exactly 30 inches tall and 30 inches long.
Material Efficiency: Students must maximize their resources, constructing the entire unit using only two $2\times4\times8$ boards.
Portability & Storage: A key design requirement is that the sawhorse must easily come apart to fit flat inside a standard car trunk.
Structural Integrity: During testing, the final product must successfully support a minimum weight of 250 lbs.

To bring a competitive, real-world edge to the shop, school staff members serve as the official judges. They don't just test for overall stability—they break out the tape measures to ensure every single rule and dimension is met with absolute precision. This project teaches our introductory students that carpentry isn't just about cutting wood—it's about precision planning, structural safety, and creating smart, functional designs built to last.

SkillsUSA is a national career and technical student organization (CTSO) that serves more than 440,000 students and professional members across the United States. Founded in 1965 (originally as VICA), it acts as a partnership between students, teachers, and industry to ensure America has a highly skilled workforce.

🏆 National Championship Bound: SkillsUSA 2026

We are incredibly proud to announce that our talented career and technical education students have officially punched their tickets to the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia!

After an outstanding performance at the state level—where our students brought home the Gold—five of our elite tradespeople earned the right to represent our program on the national stage this June:

Building Fabrication Team (4 Students): This powerhouse four-person team took top honors at state and will now go head-to-head with the best in the nation, putting their structural design, blueprint reading, and precision carpentry and construction skills to the ultimate test.
Plumbing Individual Competitor (1 Student): Competing at the highest level of technical skill after a gold-medal state finish, our champion plumbing student will demonstrate mastery in commercial and residential pipefitting, system design, and code compliance.

Reaching Nationals is a testament to the countless hours these students have spent honing their craft in our shops. They aren't just representing our school—they are proving that our community is training the next generation of top-tier American industry leaders!

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