A group of year 13 Otago Boys’ High School pupils have built a trio of sheds to be sold to private customers this year.
The first of the sheds was lifted out of the school and delivered on Friday.
Pupil Jack Duncan said he "didn’t want to build a coffee table again".
The pupils made the sheds in groups, a welcome change of pace from the simpler projects they had done earlier.
Before they could get to building, they first had to work with the customers on the designs, which involved a lot of communication and compromise.
The entire first term was spent preparing the designs, he said.
Head of technology Johnny Simmons said the experience gave the pupils practical knowledge they could use in the workforce.
All of them wanted to enter trades and some already had apprenticeships lined up.
The project had gone well and he planned to have next year’s senior group do something similar.
Each of the sheds were different, which tested the boys’ skills in different ways.
The one lifted out on Friday was for storing mountain bikes, which meant it needed a large door.
Another was designed as a mustering hut to be used in Ranfurly, which needed a sloped roof to deal with snow.
The third was a sleepout.
The pupils built models of their sheds before starting to ensure the design was perfect.
The sheds cost thousands of dollars to make and were sold at material cost, he said.
Pupil Tom Spek said it was very satisfying to create something that would be actually used by people in the community.
Most woodwork projects were small scale and personal, as opposed to something commercially viable, he said.
The boys had all taken woodwork classes since year 9 and the sheds had provided a real challenge for them.
