BUILDING A GREENHOUSE
Here are the responses I have received (so far) to the greenhouse question.
We are also looking at Greenhouse construction. After searching a bit, we liked the kits available from International Greenhouse as well. The link to their website is many districts; we wrote for the Improving Ag Ed Grant and used the greenhouse as the centerpiece of our proposal. Because this is a 50% matching funds grant, we are fund raising for our portion.
We are in the process of building a new greenhouse on our high school campus. We have contracted with International Greenhouse Company, Inc. out of Georgetown, Illinois. The size of our greenhouse when completed will be 60X30. The turnkey cost for the project is estimated to be $95,173. We did not receive any grant money for this project. However, because the greenhouse is located within a TIF area we were able to get $30,000 from TIF to offset the cost of the building. Also, we have a family in town that is working with the district to pay the cost to have the building put up. The school district essentially paid for the cost of the building plus the utilities to the building. The family will take care of construction of the building and the installation of the utilities. The bottom line for the district is that this greenhouse will cost us about $40,000. We anticipate the greenhouse to be ready by the end of November.
Streator Woodland built a greenhouse in 1995. We had to testify before the house and senate education committees as ISBE was requiring a sprinkler system. Our case led to some rule changes. We built a kit from All-American and things worked great. It is 75 by 35. They are sorry it was not double that size, but it has worked great. The agriculture instructor at the time was Bill Bretzman, who is now at Clifton Central. Funds were raised by the FFA Alumni with a note from the local bank. They collected the pledges so fast that they paid off the 5 year note in just 3 years. The FFA kids and the alumni built the structure after a local contractor voluntarily laid out and poured the piers for the main structure (to be sure it was square). It was a great learning situation for everyone involved. Since the kids built it, they take even more pride in their accomplishment.
Another of my former districts, Mendota High School, is currently undergoing the construction of a greenhouse. Jeff Landers is the agriculture instructor and Jeff Prusator is the Superintendent. They could give you details.