Clovis High Students Build Tiny Home For Creek Fire Victims (Video)

Forget the burden of mortgage payments on a house. Tiny houses have become a hit because of affordability and not to mention, mobile.

In Clovis, a new house would cost about $300,000, but a fully furnished tiny home would cost about $50,000.

Tiny houses are perfect for minimalist living. Not only that, but they can serve a greater purpose in providing housing for people who lost their homes in natural disasters.

Clovis High School offers career tech education programs for students. There is a construction program that dabbles in all aspects, from welding to building the tiny houses.

At the building system lab on the Clovis High School campus, a tiny house sits in the process of being built to serve its purpose to impact a family’s life.

It is 8 by 20 feet and there is no plumbing. It is an open floor plan to keep it simplified for its new adopters to decide on the furnishing. It does have a full electrical system and air conditioning. It includes an upper loft that can be used as a sleeping area. At least four to six people can potentially fit inside the tiny house if those numbers include small children.

Hundreds of Fresno County residents have been displaced due to the Creek Fire, forcing them to leave behind their homes and find shelter in nearby hotels or relative’s homes.

“There is so much need in our community, so we just want it to go somewhere, where the students realize the work they’ve done is used to help other people,” says Jay Eichmann, instructor at Clovis High.

Eichmann is working fast to complete the tiny house, but he has lost some manpower due to COVID-19. The students who helped him build the house had to discontinue their part of the work due to the shutdown of school caused by COVID-19.

“I’m hoping to help benefit a family or somebody in need or at a construction site, say they buy it and use it up at the fire, and they can help rebuild all the mess that’s happen up in there, in all just help out to the community in Shaver,” says Jacob Moraga, a senior at Clovis High.

Before the shutdown, Jacob helped with the sheeting of the side panels on the house’s exterior, installed the windows, and the electrical wiring on the inside of the house.

He hopes to work in engineering; he said working in construction is the pathway to his goal.

“I like how cute they are, they are very minimalistic, I really like the fact people can travel with them, and they are so easy to pick up and go,” says Aryel Chavez, a senior at Clovis High School.

Aryel said she would love to own one in the future. That is if her job allows her to travel and see new places.

The tiny house is not yet available for purchase; once it is finished, Eichmann and crew will decide how to go about finding its new adopters.

Tiny houses will continue to be built as long as materials can be obtained.

Tori Lavon is a Multimedia Journalist from Reedley, California. She received her Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcasting from California State University, Fresno. Currently, she is a radio intern at One Putt Broadcasting. On occasion, Tori has the opportunity to be on-air with talent. She is getting her start in media. She has a passion for reporting, photography, and videography. Tori also has a love for art; she loves to draw, paint, and does pottery on the side. One day she hopes she can be on-air talent at a radio station as well.