Raul Vazquez’s dad has his own company, and growing up, Raul aspired to help him grow the business.
The goal, Vazquez said, is to have his own construction crew working on big jobs and building a business and reputation. To work toward that, he joined Edison Academy, a technical education school in Fairfax County, Virginia, and signed up for the carpentry level I and II classes.
Two years later, 18-year-old Vazquez has now graduated with experience helping to build a new house in Springfield that’s listed for $1.35 million. It’s the 13th home that Edison Academy carpentry students have worked on, and marks the most expensive list price to date.
“It’s really helpful for those who see themselves in the future in this field,” Vazquez, who lives in Fairfax County, said. “It’s a great way to experience that early on, and just start getting used to it, because that’s my goal, to continue with construction.”
Students in the carpentry class start by learning Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety rules and earn certification, Bruce Morrow, who teaches the class, said. They go through practice exercises, and learn about measurements, building codes and tools.
Then the course transitions into framing. In the case of the newest five-bedroom, four-bathroom property in Springfield, the students framed some walls, the whole basement and the back porch roof.
The class worked on framing blocking for all construction hardware in the house, as well as drop ceilings on the first floor. The course includes a masonry module too, and all of the brick of the new million-dollar-plus house was laid by students.
Twenty students worked on the home and with help from local subcontractors, and it was finished in a year and a half. While taking the carpentry classes, students spend the full day at the construction site every other day.
Vazquez, who graduated this spring, said he helped frame the basement and build the walls. He also did some work in a bathroom in one of the first-floor bedrooms.
Construction creates many opportunities and “you just have to find a path,” Morrow said. “And that’s something I found that the students are really hungry for. They want to find their path, and they need some help to do that.”
Some of the students use the learned skills to get into college, Morrow said, specifically in construction management programs. The local contractors provide some oversight, and consider which students may be good candidates for future jobs.
While there may be a decline in construction jobs in some parts of the country, Morrow said between new data centers and the federal government, there are many profitable companies in Northern Virginia.
“The houses that are getting old and the bridges that are getting old, we’re not going to abandon them,” Morrow said. “It’s too lucrative.”
Next, students in Edison Academy’s carpentry classes will start working on a new home near the just completed one.
“I wish I were young and a contractor, because the sky’s the limit,” Morrow said. “This generation is going to rebuild all the infrastructure inside the Beltway over the next 25 to 35 years.”
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