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North Medford student builds solid foundation as contractor High school senior hammers out details of Central Point home photo by Drew Fleming North Medford High School student Chris Rayburn spent eight weeks building this Central Point house for his senior project. By Vicki Guarino of the Mail Tribune Every year, classes of Jackson County high school students close textbooks and open tool boxes to build or refurbish a family home. So you might say that Chris Rayburn is in a class of his own. The North Medford High School senior just finished building a 1,380-square-foot house in Central Point as his senior project. Such projects teach through the practical application of academics and they give students valuable work experience. Although Rayburn wasn't working as part of a class, he wasn't exactly alone on the job site with units of lumber and stacks of drywall. He was the general contractor on the three-bedroom, two-bath home, coordinating everything from tying reinforcing bar for a retaining wall to painting. The job of general contractor trades the physical labor of construction for the frustration and heartburn of securing financing and scheduling and overseeing subcontractors. "I thought it would be fun," Rayburn says. He says the project turned out to involve a lot more planning and schedule juggling than he had expected. Rayburn's title wasn't honorary. Terry Buntin saw to that. Buntin, Great American Homes subdivision builder, was Rayburn's mentor. Buntin made sure that the house was done right, both for the sake of his company, which built neighboring houses in the subdivision off 10th Street, and for Rayburn himself. The house is Rayburn's senior project, an in-depth work required for graduation from North Medford. Students have to spend at least 20 hours working on the project, plus complete a research paper and present it to a panel of community members. Other local high schools have similar graduation requirements. Rayburn says he got into the project thinking it would help him establish his own construction business. Besides being a student, he is a licensed contractor who does trim and finish work on homes and apartments. For the home-building project, Buntin insisted that Rayburn perform all the duties of a general contractor, starting with obtaining a general contractor's license from the Oregon Contractors Board, and the mandatory bonding through an insurance company. Rayburn also had to go to the bank to get short-term financing to put up the house. Then he had to coordinate the subcontractors to do the work. Rayburn himself didn't pick up a hammer until the house was almost done and the time had come for trim work. Finishing is his specialty. From start to finish, Rayburn says, his youth rarely became an issue. He met the minimum age for the contractor's board, and the bankers were satisfied with mentor Buntin's participation. From time to time, however, an experienced subcontractor balked at the prospect of taking direction from a youngster. "Chris worked with all the contractors," Buntin says. "He did all the scheduling. Called the contractors, argued with them." Other than a three-week delay for construction of the retaining wall, and dealing with one mis-sized cabinet, the house came together smoothly. It was even sold long before it was finished, just weeks ago. Besides earning school credit, Rayburn made a small amount of money for the 80-100 hours he put into the home. He invested the money in his own business, buying tools and a trailer. Now he's looking for more home building opportunities. "I'd like to build a few houses and still do the finish work," he says. Meanwhile, Buntin says Rayburn won't have to look far for work. "He does good work. I'll keep him busy. We have a lot of homes to build this year." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA