Built!, carpentry lessons for kids, Raleigh, NC

Hi, and thank you for visiting Built!, LLC. My name is Carl Robbins, and I'm the owner of BUILT!, LLC. Formerly Kids Learning Carpentry, BUILT! offers small group classes and camps mid May through mid August for kids ages 10 and up to learn the terminology, tools, possibilities, and the overall joy of carpentry while building a small project.

So... why carpentry?

If you're here and asking yourself questions such as "Would my kid enjoy learning carpentry?" or "Should my kid learn these skills?" let me assure you that your child will love learning the life-skill that is carpentry and benefit from doing so in more ways than one. So what does carpentry have to offer your child? How about the development of:

hand/eye coordination
perseverance
a boost to self confidence
responsibility
mathematical thinking
critical thinking
creativity
self-reliance

Also, carpentry, or simply put the skills to be handy, is truly a life-skill that kids and parents alike should have and will want to have. Think about it. Ever wanted to fix or repair something around the house? How do you repair drywall? What about building a fence, a hammock stand, or a playhouse in the backyard? What about adding some planter stands or raised garden beds outside? Want to redo the cabinets in your kitchen? Where do you even start? What tools do you need? Know how to use them? If you were never taught this skillset do you wish you had? Want to have your kids gain this knowledge?

Now what about carpentry as a profession? First off, carpentry, trade school, and/ or any job in the trades should never be seen as a lesser alternative to college. With construction booming right now demand is high for skilled labor! However, companies are having a hard time filling many of their positions due to the younger generation no longer being taught the trades in grade school which has resulted in a massive skills gap that affects all of us. As the saying goes, "Skilled labor isn't cheap and cheap labor isn't skilled." Would you prefer your next project to be done with poor craftsmanship? Neither would I.

If there's one article to "hammer it home" for me it's this one from CBS's Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley. Reported by journalist Mark Strassman this news story is titled "Help Wanted" and aired in October, 2017.

Classes today. Career tomorrow.

Worried that your child isn't cut out for the "college route", but also wanting he/ she to obtain an exciting career that will offer stability, growth, benefits, and excellent pay? Consider an apprenticeship program just like the one featured in the story above. Apprenticeship programs are all over the country with three right here in North Carolina:

North Carolina Triangle Apprenticeship Program (NCTAP) located in the Raleigh-Durham area
Guilford Apprenticeship Partners (GAP) located in Guilford County
Apprenticeship 2000 located in the Charlotte area

(To learn more about each program simply click on the links above.)

With apprenticeship programs you will learn real world skills, get paid while learning on the job, get a high-demand career with excellent pay and benefits, and owe zero college debt.

As the amount of skilled labor continues to dwindle, more trade programs are being pulled from schools. The result, more kids missing out on learning these true life-skills while jobs available in the trades continue to soar. Apprenticeship program or not, jobs in the trades are in abundance.

"America's economy has a growing labor crisis. A shortage of skilled construction workers. These men and women put a roof over your head. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and masons. They're getting harder and harder to find."

-reporter Mark Strassman

Two young girls doing woodwork in a work

So...why Built?

Before you move forward with anything, you need to develop a solid foundation first. This is exactly what any skilled tradesman/ tradeswoman did when they were younger.

This is what I offer here at Built!, LLC. A starting point. The basics. How to read a tape measure, how to use a square; how to scribe a line, and cut on the waste side; how to use a drill, measure twice, cut once and so on while building a fun project.

Give your kid the opportunity to learn a true life-skill, discover the overall joy of carpentry, and gain the confidence to say, "Yeah! I built that!"