Bids for Del Norte High's second student-built tiny home will start at $45,000. | Photo courtesy of Michael Hawkins

Del Norters have a chance to own a tiny house built by local high school students.

Online bidding started at noon Friday and will culminate with a live auction on June 9. Students will also escort potential buyers through the tiny home this weekend, Del Norte Unified School District spokesman Michael Hawkins told the Wild Rivers Outpost.

“We’re not trying to turn a profit, we’re trying to fund next year’s program,” he said. “And this year, to account for rising materials costs… it’s going to be at $45,000 for the starting bid, which I believe is still well below what it would cost to construct a tiny house like that.”

A crew of about 25 students constructed this year’s tiny home, working out of a specialized workshop at the high school built with $693,000 in California Career Technical Education Facility grant dollars.

Former building and construction trades instructor Don Hartley started the program in the 2018-19 school year. Jeff Van Pelt ran this year’s class, Hawkins said.

At this point, Del Norte High is trying to pump tiny houses out every year so the district can auction them off in June, Hawkins said.

“Kids will start working on it early in the school year, possibly even a little bit earlier than that if there are a few small things to do,” he said. “They have to really hustle to go through a lot of the different steps, the hoops and inspections required to make the deadline by June 15 at the very latest. This year, the final auction will be on June 9.”

The auction will start off with an online sealed bidding process, Hawkins said. On June 9, the district will unveil those sealed bids, find the highest one and use that as the starting point for the live auction. The live auction will last an hour.

Hawkins said the live auction will be a chance for those who participated in the sealed bidding process to go higher if they want to.

People can also see the tiny house from noon-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Students will conduct tours of the home, showing off the amenities, materials used and what they had to do to finish the project.

“They’ll be showing them pictures of the build process and everything that led up to the final product,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins pointed out that buying a tiny home through more traditional means will cost at least $75,000. It’s difficult to find housing in Del Norte County and California in general, he said, so the program will be relevant for years.

“I thought about bidding on this, pulling it over in my yard and renting it out to a few friends I know who are looking for housing,” he said. “It’s ready to go and it’s a beautiful little home.”

For more information about the bidding process and the auction rules, click here.

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