Four trades. One trailer. Six days to turn plywood, pipe, wire, and sheet metal into a mobile bunk house — built by the Scouts who come through the door.
See the build ↓
Scouts don't just watch a demo — they run pipe, pull wire, swing a hammer, and bend sheet metal alongside tradespeople doing the real thing for a living. Every station feeds the same build: a mobile bunk house, framed and finished on site.
Cut, thread, and sweat real pipe. Scouts rough in the water lines that'll actually run in the finished house.
Pull wire, set boxes, land a breaker. Basic code, real tools — no sparks (that's the point).
Frame walls, hang doors, cut a rafter that fits. The bones of the house start here.
Bend, seam, and hang ductwork and flashing. The trade nobody thinks about until it's why the place stays dry.
This year we're building it for real: a mobile bunk house on a trailer, framed, wired, and finished out by the Scouts who come through Skilled Trades. Built to move where it's needed — it stays at the Summit afterward and gets used year-round.
Sawhorses are the trestle on almost every job site: they hold the work off the ground, keep your hands clear of the blade, and give you somewhere to set tools. Every measurement, angle, and screw location is in the sheet, and the pair stacks for storage or takes a tabletop later.
Open the build sheet →Plans from The Home Depot, used with permission. Adult supervision, eye and ear protection required.
Skilled Trades Director Matthew Pigg checks in every morning and evening — plus a few of the tradespeople and Scouts making the build happen. Recorded on site, written up here.
The Hope Legacy Trailer is complete and was unveiled at closing ceremonies. More than 3,000 hours of Scout time, and this morning the site comes down. First year in the books.
Read the closing note →More than 3,000 hours of Scout time over the program, another 100 to 200 today, and the Hope Legacy Trailer on display at tonight's final show.
Read the briefing →A little behind on materials and weather, but the crew could close the whole list by lunch. Finished and broken down before closing ceremony.
Read the briefing →Thunder and lightning shift the crew to wall insulation and interior shiplap, then a full weather shutdown costs a few hours.
Read the briefing →More than 500 hours of Scout time on the trailer in one day, a new program high, set on the hottest day of the week.
Read the update →The lower rafters are in. Electrical wraps as Brian heads out, and the soffit detail gets decided.
Read the briefing →Scouts cut rafter patterns on two pitches, ran all the wiring, and sheeted the exterior. Dinner at Outback.
Read the update →Windows get cut in, plywood locks the walls against racking, and rafters are next. Seventy five Scouts came through yesterday.
Read the briefing →Scouts roughed in the plumbing station and Peter's ad hoc crews framed all four walls. Tomorrow is electrical day.
Read the update →Matthew Pigg's briefing is short because the day is not: storm cleanup, tents aired out, worksite squared away, and the first participants arriving this afternoon.
Read the update →The trailer got its floor and the crew stood four walls in the program tents, clawing back most of the hours Monday cost them.
Read the update →Matt Pigg's morning briefing: count the materials before touching them, split the crew, more trucks inbound — and storms due by noon.
Read the update →Scan the code posted at Skilled Trades and add your shot. Every photo is reviewed before it goes up; nothing posts automatically.
Point your camera at the code, snap what you shot, done.
The 2026 crew got built out of phone calls and favors. We are writing names down early this time. If you have a trade, or you learned it the hard way on your own house, leave an email and hear first when crew staffing opens.
Put me on the list →Adults 18 and over.
Thank you to Hope Gas for sponsoring the Hope Legacy Trailer Project.
