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One of the Pruden Center for Industry and Technology's objectives is to give students hands-on experience, and for some, that means building a brick ranch house.The Building and Trades Program encompasses electricity, plumbing, carpentry and masonry. As with many programs at the center, this one incorporates real-world experience. Since 2004, students have been building a three-bedroom, brick home in Windsor, one that school officials hope to have finished and sold this month.Building/Trades Instructor John Thompson, has overseen the building of nearly 15 homes in his 20-year career with the Pruden Center. Students do not build a home every year, but do undertake some sort of construction project, such as the picnic shelter near Windsor High School.It is primarily the second-year class that works on the houses, and those students spend about two hours every day on the project, Thompson said.
The rising cost of construction materials is forcing some West Valley cities to put the brakes on certain road projects or find other ways to deal with escalating prices.
In Glendale, one drainage-pipe and road-widening project was shortened from a mile to three-quarters of a mile. In Peoria, city officials are choosing one project over another. In Surprise, projects have been delayed as bids come in too high and are sent out for second and third rounds of bids.
In several cases, transportation officials have to explain to their respective city councils why the price tags are coming in higher than budgeted or why projects are taking longer to finish. .
P rices on existing homes are down in Metro Detroit and across the nation, which has some folks thinking that buying a home isn't such a great investment right now. Let me clue you in to a big financial secret, Money & Lifers: buying a home really isn't any kind of investment at all. I know, I know, everybody tells you that a home is the single best purchase working folks can make, that it's the key to building wealth and achieving a solid, middle-class lifestyle for you and your kids. True, true and true. But that's because a house actually works like a forced savings account, not because it's such a wonderful investment. Sure, you might have been lucky enough to buy an oceanfront condo before the coastal building boom, and you would have made some pretty big bucks.
GREENBELT, Md. A Virginia man who works at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been indicted, along with a contractor, in a bribery scheme involving contracts for work at the Washington military medical center. Forty-five-year-old Kevin Roach of Fredericksburg is accused of accepting thousand of dollars in cash and the use of a pickup truck from contractors in return for steering work to the contractors. Roach and 40-year-old Louis Pisani were charged in an indictment unsealed yesterday in federal court in Maryland. The indictment charges the men with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, Roach accepted payments from Pisani and another contractor -- typically ten percent of the value of the contract. Copyright 2006 Associated Press.
A building contractor and his wife have been accused of swindling three Lexington County customers. Henry Stokes Moseley Jr., 46, has been charged with three counts of obtaining goods under false pretenses, Sheriff James Metts said in a news release. His wife, Meredith Gerald Moseley, 36, was charged with criminal conspiracy. The Moseleys, living in a rented home at 169 Firebridge Drive, Chapin, are accused of accepting $23,000 from three Lexington County residents as down payments for utility buildings, but never delivering the product, Metts said. Henry Moseley was at the Lexington County Detention Center today on $100,000 bail. Meredith Moseley was released Wednesday after posting a $5,000 bond. The owners of American Pole Buildings, the Moseleys build carports, garages, barns and other structures.
Workers sent to complete a government-funded mosque in Faafu atoll Bilehdhoo have barricaded themselves inside their quarters due to various threats being made by residents of the island. The group had been in hiding for three days, they said on Thursday. According to Mars Construction Managing Director, Ahmed Saleem, the workers had not set foot outside their quarters for fear of being attacked. “The night before last, I was attacked in the presence of police," said Saleem on Thursday. “The other night, one of the team members was surrounded by a mob and attacked outside the mosque. They've even threatened to kill us, just moments after the Police left." “There are only five Police officers on the job," continued Saleem. “What good is just five officers? The attackers aren't even scared of attacking us in the presence of the Police." According to Saleem, the residents of Bilehdhoo were angry because the mosque didn't meet the standards of their expectations.
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