North Texas is growing fast, and according to a recent estimate from Meyers Research, the Dallas region is short 37,000 construction workers this year. That means it could take almost twice as long to build a house and cost more money because there are fewer workers.
Michael Turner sees that shortage first hand. He's owned his own construction business, Classic Urban Homes, for 14 years.
"This is home number 100 for us, so pretty special, pretty special house," Turner said, while standing outside a home that's nearly complete on Meadowdale Lane in Dallas.
He talked about the importance of the skilled workers inside the house who were busy sanding and painting.
"The reality is we need more guys, we need more workers," Turner said.
So when Collin College reached out to local builders to help develop plans and curriculum for its new Collin College Technical Campus, which will train future construction workers, the Dallas Builders Association jumped at the chance to help.
"They just have a great network of people that started calling Collin saying, 'we want to come to the table too! We want to help, we have some ideas that will help us as an industry, but also we want to make sure that you're training in a way that's going to be beneficial,'" said Dr. Brenda Kihl, the executive vice president of Collin College.
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Construction on the new 340,000-square-foot campus is scheduled to start in September, with classes starting in the fall of 2020. The campus will be located off Highway 121 and Exchange Parkway in Allen.
Students will be able to learn everything about the construction industry, and the opportunity to earn a construction management degree, which would train them how to run their own businesses.
Collin College is also partnering with local high schools so students can earn dual credit, helping them learn valuable skills even earlier.
"So that they'll get trained and can get into the workforce and really help meet this shortage of labor," Dr. Kihl said.
Turner said he tells high school students that construction is a rewarding field to consider. You can see the results of your efforts and like him, you can start at the bottom and work your way up to one day owning your own business.
Now, more people will have the resources available to fill the need for skilled workers because of Collin College.
The Collin College expansion is made possible by Collin County voters' approval of a $600 million bond issue last May.
