Nonprofit teaching veterans home construction skills
EAST BUTLER — The Nonprofit Development Corporation is teaching military veterans how to put their hard charging attitudes to work building homes.
Working with veterans in the Butler VA Health Care System’s compensated work therapy program, the corporation pays the veterans while they learn construction and life skills.
Under the direction of Bryan Kaufman, the corporation’s project and facilities manger, the veterans are building micro homes that will be put up for sale.
“They’re great guys to work with. They’re very task oriented,” Kaufman said about the veterans. “They don’t stop. They have a very good work ethic. That’s the stuff you can’t teach.”
The veterans build two homes measuring 250 to 260 square feet at a time, and started the first one Monday at the corporation’s Community Builders Group site on Grant Avenue, said Christopher Lunn, NDC executive director.
“They build them from start to finish,” Lunn said.
Featuring a bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette, heat pump, living area and a covered front porch, the homes will be sold for $70,000 to $75,000. They will be built so they can be lifted by a crane on to a trailer for transportation to the buyer’s property, Lunn said.
Proceeds from the sales will go back into the program to buy materials to build more homes. If the program becomes sustainable, buyers will be able to order homes with their choice of exterior colors and materials and other custom touches.
The organization will advertise the homes when they are completed in about two months.
“The goal is to get more veterans in the construction field and fill the gap, the shortage of workers in Pennsylvania,” Lunn said.
Before the current group of veterans began building the homes, they received some training and guidance from Butler County Community College, he said.
They received two weeks of federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration training, six weeks of employment training and took a six-week course on personal empowerment.
Army veteran Brendon Walker said he came into the program with no construction experience.
“Each day it seems like I learn something new so it’s a good experience,” Walker said.
He said he liked the personal empowerment course at BC3 because it taught him how to approach various life situations. He said he is studying sustainable horticulture online through Unity College of Maine.
Navy veteran Shaun Heflin said he worked in heating, ventilation and air conditioning for 20 years, including his time serving aboard the USS Enterprise.
“I like learning new things,” Heflin said.
He also liked BC3’s empowerment course.
“It helps you process things — take a breath, think before you do something you’ll regret,” Heflin said.
One of the homes under construction already has a foundation, floor, framed walls and cantilevers for the porch roof. The walls are made of 2-by-6 studs and will be insulated along with the attic.
Kaufman said the walls will be sturdier and better insulated than those in mobile homes.
Roof trusses and windows will go in next. The home will feature gray vinyl siding, a shingled roof and multiple windows.
If the program is successful, buyers can chose a metal roof and different types of siding, Kaufman said.
