He and Myers both said that the construction industry in Coconino County is desperately in need of skilled workers.
Circular saws whir and cut. Nail guns go “PSHHT!” Sawdust floats in the air. Safety glasses hang firmly in place, and all conversations are yelled.
“Nail it there,” bellows Carrie Oakason over the noise. She’s a student in Coconino Community College’s Construction Technology Management program and is a project leader on the construction of panels for a new “Starter Home” for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona.
“I feel like I’m really lucky to have found CCC,” Oakason said. “The projects are exciting and relevant and exactly what I want to do.”
Instructor Ken Myers said Oakason and her classmates will be spending the semester building the panels in the shop at the Fourth Street campus before joining the builder Buzzard Construction at the site where the Starter Home will be built on the corner of O’Leary Street and Butler Avenue. He added that the partnership with HFHNA will give the students valuable training for the real world and it will help the community address affordable housing needs with Habitat’s Starter Home idea.
“When you have a single project that fills two major community needs – from an instructor’s perspective, this partnership is more valuable than gold,” Myers said.
Eric Wolverton, executive director for HFHNA, said, “This is a mutually supportive partnership, with Habitat covering all the material costs and CCC providing the majority of the labor force, saving both Habitat and CCC monies and making Starter Homes even more affordable.”
He added that the contractors, like Buzzard Construction, working on the homes will provide additional professional oversight during instruction to help Myers and directly recruit students for employment even before they finish their studies at CCC.
Brian Buzzard, owner of Buzzard Construction, has been showing up to the class to offer his expertise to the construction of the modular parts that will be put together at the site. Buzzard is a graduate of Northern Arizona University’s Construction Technology Management program, and he said he’s excited to be working with the CCC students on the project. He said he received a lot of help getting into the field, so he wanted to “teach it forward.”
“I like what I see, so I’m going to try to be here every class,” Buzzard said. “Construction as a career field is worth it if they stick with it.”
He and Myers both said that the construction industry in Coconino County is desperately in need of skilled workers.
Wolverton said that while the students are learning about the importance of giving back to the communities in which they live, they are also learning about service.
Myers added, “Students who come to CCC are here to learn the skills needed to get a job, to be able to have enough money to start or raise a family. When you can build something tangible that benefits your community and helps someone else achieve the same goal, that’s huge!”
Oakason, who has returned to school to follow a dream, discovered a love for construction and regularly takes on projects – primarily remodels.
“I should have done this 25 years ago,” she said. “I’m fulfilling what I was really meant to do. Everybody around me was saying I should get my contractor’s license, so, why fight it anymore?”
Oakason said that beyond the basics of the construction trades, she is also learning the skills she needs to fulfill her goal. By serving as project manager, she is also learning leadership, verbal communication and teamwork skills.
Skills taught to the students include jobsite safety, hazard recognition, blueprint reading, building code applications, modern framing techniques, surveying, building layout and more.
Wolverton said that the Starter Home concept is to help young families be able to afford homeownership so they can build enough wealth to move up to a larger home or create a business venture. The homes are 400 square feet, placed in partnership with the city or with other organizations that have land on which to build. There is room for two adults and one child and Habitat sells the home for $100,000 to an income-qualifying family. The family puts up a $1,000 down payment and pays $833 a month on a zero percent mortgage. When the homeowner wishes to “cash out,” he or she must sell the home back to Habitat, so the home can be sold to new families entering the market.
Plans for the future definitely involve growth, Wolverton said.
Myers added that he is excited for his future students and the opportunity to be helpful to the community. “I hope they can take that feeling with them and continue to be the solution for building a better world.”
Oakason said she appreciates the Habitat work on two fronts – she’s learning and she’s being helpful to her community.
“It’s just what Flagstaff needs,” she said, smiling. FBN
By Larry Hendricks, FBN
For more information about the construction trades at Coconino Community College, visit https://www.coconino.edu/paths/construction-trades. For more information about Habitat for Humanity, visit https://www.habitatflagstaff.org/.
Larry Hendricks is the senior manager of public relations and marketing at Coconino Community College.
