Nailing It: High Schoolers Crafting Their Futures

Speaker A: 00:00:49

Foreign.

Speaker B: 00:00:55

The House with Eric G.

Speaker B: 00:00:57

Your go to source for everything home improvement.

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Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or just looking to make your space shine, Eric G.

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Is here to guide you through the latest tips, tricks and trends coming up.

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In this week's first hour of the show, Eric G.

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Sits down with Chris Higginbotham who teaches one of the top high school construction programs in the country.

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The Viking house just hit 50 years old and this program teaches advanced building and construction techniques over the course of a school year.

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One house is completed each year as it self funds the program.

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We are we do all the carpentry on the job site.

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We have a day of orientation, first day of school and then second day of class we're out framing the floor system.

Speaker B: 00:01:42

So grab your toolbox, put on your thinking cap and let's get to work right here on around the House with Eric Garrett.

Speaker A: 00:01:49

Welcome to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker A: 00:01:53

I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:01:54

Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker A: 00:01:56

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

Speaker A: 00:01:58

Check them out for that brand new barbecue@monument grills.com today we are diving into education.

Speaker A: 00:02:05

And I tell you what, for me there is a gold standard of teaching kids construction skills out there and Forest Grove High School here in Oregon has got it dialed in and we got the leader of the band here, Chris Higginbotham, my friend.

Speaker A: 00:02:22

Thanks for coming back on around the House brother.

Speaker C: 00:02:24

Thank you for having us.

Speaker A: 00:02:25

Man.

Speaker A: 00:02:26

It is so great to see you guys.

Speaker A: 00:02:28

You guys have been doing what, 50 houses 50 years now, right?

Speaker A: 00:02:32

Is that what the program is for?

Speaker C: 00:02:33

We're selling?

Speaker C: 00:02:34

Yep.

Speaker C: 00:02:35

We've done a house project a year for 50 years and this was our big 50th celebration and we just put that house on the market.

Speaker A: 00:02:44

Man, that is so exciting because as the trends have gone over the last decades of high school classes getting changed into sending kids to college and taking all of those skill building things out of high schools.

Speaker A: 00:02:58

The the wood shops are now the computer labs and the metal shop is doing stuff and is now some other thing and going even through my old high school it was just all had been all the classes that I took back in the day that got me to where I am have been just robbed and stolen out of there and you guys over there at Forest Grove have been just waving the flag and doing it right year after year.

Speaker C: 00:03:24

Thank you.

Speaker C: 00:03:25

I mean we work really hard at it.

Speaker C: 00:03:27

I came in in the early 90s and someone had reached out to me.

Speaker C: 00:03:31

I was A home building construction superintendent and they were looking for someone to take over their home building program and also teach wood shop.

Speaker C: 00:03:40

And I didn't know I was qualified but.

Speaker C: 00:03:42

And I told them so when they, when they got ahold of me and.

Speaker C: 00:03:45

But it turns out in Oregon that you can teach your trade, man.

Speaker C: 00:03:49

So I jumped through a few hoops and it was culture shock coming from a job site to a classroom.

Speaker C: 00:03:55

But I adjusted.

Speaker C: 00:03:57

Yeah, I felt like a pioneer then.

Speaker C: 00:03:59

But since then I have to say some.

Speaker C: 00:04:01

We've had, we have a lot of successful.

Speaker C: 00:04:03

I'm going to use.

Speaker C: 00:04:04

If I go old school, I call it vocational now it's called CTE Career Technical Education.

Speaker C: 00:04:11

My co worker, Arnolfo Martinez, he's a master cabinet maker.

Speaker C: 00:04:15

Our culinary teacher is a real chef.

Speaker C: 00:04:18

We have a few engineers that are teaching robotics and things like that.

Speaker C: 00:04:21

So it's cool when they bring people in from the professions to try to teach those.

Speaker C: 00:04:28

But yeah, when I came in it was still, oh, I wouldn't say it was the most popular choice, you know, among electives.

Speaker C: 00:04:38

And it seemed like we struggled for quite a few years just to kind of gain equal footing that you don't have to go to college.

Speaker C: 00:04:45

There's a lot of lucrative trades out there and professions associated with construction that, you know, you can do without student debt and get a good living wage almost right out of the gate.

Speaker C: 00:04:58

Anyway, yeah, we've been part of that message.

Speaker C: 00:05:02

But you know, like nationally, obviously we were just talking about.

Speaker C: 00:05:04

Mike Rowe has promulgated that for guys like us.

Speaker C: 00:05:08

Yeah, and I have.

Speaker C: 00:05:09

We have seen the tide turn.

Speaker C: 00:05:12

When I was a student in high school in the 80s, these programs were more common.

Speaker C: 00:05:18

In fact, the three area high schools in Beaverton, we all built a house and went and toured each other's houses.

Speaker C: 00:05:23

But like, like you, like you referred to, you know, a lot of those just went by the wayside.

Speaker C: 00:05:28

Whether it was just lack of funding, lack of interest or just changing priorities.

Speaker C: 00:05:33

Right.

Speaker C: 00:05:34

But anyway, I saw, I think I kind of saw the bottom of that in the early 90s.

Speaker C: 00:05:39

me more momentum in the early: 2000

Speaker C: 00:05:49

And then there was some data that came out that showed that students that were in shop classes had a higher graduation rate, more buy in in high school.

Speaker C: 00:05:58

And so that kind of data helped us.

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Anyway, we have a strong, thriving, healthy wood shop program.

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And the pinnacle of that is students can apply for and try out for the Viking house, you know, we have a whole thing with prerequisites and tryouts and an application process.

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But we choose typically our best 16.

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And then going into the next school year, they're our crew and we are, we do all the carpentry on the job site.

Speaker C: 00:06:28

We have a day of orientation, first day of school, and then second day of class we're out framing the floor system.

Speaker C: 00:06:36

But we, you know, we teach carpentry in the shop.

Speaker C: 00:06:39

So that's what we do on the site.

Speaker C: 00:06:40

So we obviously we frame it side it, set all the windows and doors.

Speaker C: 00:06:45

We do extensive hardwood flooring.

Speaker C: 00:06:48

We have our own cabinet shop here.

Speaker C: 00:06:50

We produce our own cabinets.

Speaker C: 00:06:51

You've seen those beautiful, you know, those are at a high level and doors and trim.

Speaker C: 00:06:57

I get a lot of help, I get a lot of industry experts that reach out to us, that want to help us.

Speaker C: 00:07:03

Not just our Nolfos, the master cabinet maker, but a local contractor named Curtis Ludwig, who's finished carpenter by trade, helps mentor our kids on that.

Speaker C: 00:07:16

And then we have some high level framers in the region that come out to help us do the most dangerous part, which is setting trusses.

Speaker C: 00:07:24

But it's cool to have kids around those, those high level pros for a day.

Speaker C: 00:07:30

One thing I would note, you didn't ask me, but I'm going to tell you one thing.

Speaker C: 00:07:34

One thing I'm really proud of, especially on this year's house.

Speaker C: 00:07:39

Every house that I've been involved in, I've done every viking house since 99.

Speaker C: 00:07:43

And one of my interests is home design.

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So I've kind of kept that to myself and designed them all.

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But this year this one was designed by a former student.

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So she just graduated from Portland State and had has a degree in architecture.

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And I handed it off to her and she did an amazing job.

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In fact, many people told me it was the best house I designed.

Speaker A: 00:08:09

I love that.

Speaker C: 00:08:10

But I'm really proud of what Cecilia did.

Speaker C: 00:08:15

And then another former student, Jasmine Flores, helped with the interior design.

Speaker C: 00:08:21

And then a former student, Kyle Ludwig is our excavator.

Speaker C: 00:08:25

Also had to build some big boulder walls because we had some terrain challenges.

Speaker C: 00:08:31

Are my plumber, Jake Strother, another former student, him and Jeremy Sullivan, both former students.

Speaker C: 00:08:39

And then our electrician, Weston Dyke, wired the house.

Speaker C: 00:08:44

And then we also have, like I mentioned, some framers that come out and help us set trusses.

Speaker C: 00:08:49

And there's at least three of them, four of them actually, they're former students.

Speaker C: 00:08:55

And one of them is actually a father son tandem that both Were in the Viking.

Speaker A: 00:08:58

How cool is that?

Speaker C: 00:08:59

You know, you span 50 years, that's bound to happen.

Speaker A: 00:09:01

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker A: 00:09:03

But that's awesome.

Speaker A: 00:09:04

Talk about a legacy.

Speaker A: 00:09:05

And what I love about your program too is it's pretty self sustainable as well.

Speaker A: 00:09:09

By the time you sell the house and, and get that going.

Speaker C: 00:09:12

Oh, completely.

Speaker A: 00:09:13

It's not a cost to do this really.

Speaker A: 00:09:15

It's just a, it's just a perpetual motion machine.

Speaker C: 00:09:18

Yeah, that's an important point to make.

Speaker C: 00:09:21

I mean, I get paid as a teacher, but other than that building, the house is completely self funded.

Speaker C: 00:09:28

Wow.

Speaker C: 00:09:28

And it should be, you know, after 50 years.

Speaker A: 00:09:30

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:09:31

Part of that's been district support.

Speaker C: 00:09:33

You know, we've always had good business managers looking out for us and they keep our funds separate.

Speaker A: 00:09:38

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:09:39

And you know, that's what allowed us to survive the economic downturn, you know, in the early in the 209.

Speaker A: 00:09:47

And they happen about every decade.

Speaker A: 00:09:49

They happen about every decade.

Speaker A: 00:09:50

There's a little bit of crash where you go, oh, here we go.

Speaker A: 00:09:54

We're on schedule, you know.

Speaker C: 00:09:56

Well, and that's a lesson in itself.

Speaker C: 00:09:59

You know, it's when I say that we have tryouts and we pick a crew, I mean, we're no different than any contractor.

Speaker C: 00:10:06

We're trying to hire the best people we can or in this case, recruit the best students we can.

Speaker C: 00:10:13

The same ones everyone wants to hire.

Speaker C: 00:10:14

But you know, they're all reliable.

Speaker C: 00:10:16

They're all, they've got a certain level of skill, they're energetic, they're good problem solvers.

Speaker C: 00:10:22

And it's just kind of up to us to show them what to do.

Speaker B: 00:10:25

To find out more information, head to aroundthehouseonline.com.

Speaker B: 00:10:29

don't change that dial.

Speaker B: 00:10:31

Around the House will be right back after these important messages.

Speaker C: 00:10:36

Should I be allowed to be so.

Speaker A: 00:10:40

Hot.

Speaker C: 00:10:44

So many people without.

Speaker A: 00:12:16

Welcome back to the around the House show.

Speaker A: 00:12:17

The next generation of home improvement.

Speaker A: 00:12:19

I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:12:20

Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker A: 00:12:21

If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouseonline.com Eric.

Speaker A: 00:12:26

And this hour is brought to you by our friends at Monty McGrills.

Speaker A: 00:12:28

Check them out at monumcrills.com now we've been talking about one of the best programs in the country for getting kids into the trades and creating them into the world of construction and getting them going.

Speaker A: 00:12:41

So let's get back to our conversation with Chris Higginbotham and the Viking House from Forest Grove, Oregon.

Speaker A: 00:12:49

Well, Chris, I think the cool thing too is that that because they've had to invest time and energy into trying out and being a part of it.

Speaker A: 00:12:57

It's like being on the varsity football team.

Speaker A: 00:12:59

They're like, hey, I got here.

Speaker A: 00:13:00

It wasn't easy.

Speaker A: 00:13:01

So I have to be there this morning when I really don't want to get up or I was out late with my friends last night and I got to get to work.

Speaker A: 00:13:10

And that creates a work ethic that really sets them straight for the profession.

Speaker C: 00:13:16

Absolutely.

Speaker C: 00:13:17

I mean, we talk about that all the time, that, you know, it takes extra effort to get these houses built, even though.

Speaker C: 00:13:26

So it's a regular class, it's a double block.

Speaker C: 00:13:29

So essentially, we're meeting for three hours as a class every other school day for the course of the year, but that's not quite enough time.

Speaker C: 00:13:39

So we work.

Speaker C: 00:13:41

I'll host what we call work parties every most Saturdays, over half of them.

Speaker C: 00:13:47

And they'll come in as completely voluntary.

Speaker C: 00:13:51

But on any given Saturday, I'll have probably half.

Speaker C: 00:13:55

Half the students will be there.

Speaker A: 00:13:57

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:13:57

And I assume it's everyone that can.

Speaker C: 00:13:59

Because we.

Speaker C: 00:14:00

We get a lot of kids that are getting pulled in many directions.

Speaker C: 00:14:03

You know, they're A lot of them are high achievers, whether it's academics or athletics or.

Speaker C: 00:14:08

Some of them are working jobs.

Speaker A: 00:14:11

Yeah, they're working at the burger joint or whatever.

Speaker A: 00:14:12

So that's their money day.

Speaker A: 00:14:13

So I get it.

Speaker C: 00:14:15

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:14:15

But, yeah, I mean, that's how we're successful.

Speaker C: 00:14:19

And that's one of the things, I think one of the big lessons that Arnolfo and I talk about is, and try to model is you do whatever it takes.

Speaker C: 00:14:28

You do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Speaker C: 00:14:31

And if it's not right, you do it over.

Speaker C: 00:14:33

And, you know, we set a standard and the standards pretty high.

Speaker C: 00:14:37

And, you know, it sounds a little harsh by today's standards, but I've always said that, you know, we build these houses without excuses.

Speaker A: 00:14:46

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:14:47

You know, either do it or don't do it.

Speaker C: 00:14:49

And anyway, well, I love the quality.

Speaker A: 00:14:52

Of construction you teach out there, because I don't like talking bad about builders out there.

Speaker A: 00:14:56

But there's some of these guys out there, at least in my area, over here in the metro area, that I'm driving by, watching their houses get built.

Speaker A: 00:15:03

And these are one to $5 million homes.

Speaker A: 00:15:06

And I drive by and go, wow, you missed flashing day.

Speaker A: 00:15:10

Wow, you missed house wrap day.

Speaker A: 00:15:13

You know what I mean?

Speaker A: 00:15:14

And it's just.

Speaker A: 00:15:14

I shake my head and then I know every time I've been over and seen one of your houses, it's just the drywall's right.

Speaker A: 00:15:21

The cabinetry is gorgeous.

Speaker A: 00:15:23

You know, you're, you're buying a, a livable family house with a higher quality of many of the luxury mansions around this area.

Speaker C: 00:15:32

That's exactly what we're shooting for.

Speaker C: 00:15:35

We built a high end one level try to make it somewhat affordable home.

Speaker C: 00:15:39

But it's definitely like a move up buyer.

Speaker C: 00:15:42

r's house for instance, about: 1800

Speaker C: 00:15:45

In fact it just got listed on Zillow.

Speaker C: 00:15:48

But it's beautiful.

Speaker C: 00:15:49

I mean everything in the house is an upgrade.

Speaker C: 00:15:52

Some of it you can see, you know, like the walnut inset cabinets with dovetail drawers to the traditional number one white oak tongue and groove floors that are finished in place.

Speaker C: 00:16:04

That's old school.

Speaker A: 00:16:05

It is.

Speaker C: 00:16:06

But then there's also stuff that you can't see, like all CDX, plywood sheeting, 58 seating on the roof.

Speaker C: 00:16:14

Wow.

Speaker C: 00:16:15

All clipped.

Speaker C: 00:16:16

You want to builders stuff that a builder would appreciate.

Speaker C: 00:16:19

Right.

Speaker A: 00:16:20

By the way, the million dollar, the four million dollar house they're building down the street has got 716 OSB, no clips.

Speaker C: 00:16:28

Yeah, well, you know what I mean, that's.

Speaker C: 00:16:31

That can be a little scary when you're walking on the.

Speaker A: 00:16:33

Yes, it is.

Speaker A: 00:16:34

It is not my favorite.

Speaker C: 00:16:35

But those, those are the things that, you know, a buyer never really knows about.

Speaker C: 00:16:40

things we've been doing since: 2011

Speaker C: 00:16:50

So all our exterior walls are two by eight and then we do a staggered two by four and we get they, they blow in about an R31 into the wall cavity.

Speaker A: 00:16:59

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:17:00

So it's nice.

Speaker C: 00:17:01

I mean you get the thermal efficiency and then you also get a little bit of sound deadening.

Speaker A: 00:17:05

A lot of it actually with that size of wall that really makes a difference and, and that pays for itself pretty quickly with that kind of construction.

Speaker A: 00:17:13

So it's nice that you guys can do that.

Speaker C: 00:17:15

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:17:15

If you combine that with ducts inside and you know, in some of these super high efficiency heat pumps that are coming out.

Speaker C: 00:17:23

We've been in my H Vac, contractor's been using those recently and it seems like you could do a pretty good job keeping your bills pretty low.

Speaker A: 00:17:32

Which is great.

Speaker A: 00:17:33

Which is great.

Speaker A: 00:17:34

What's.

Speaker A: 00:17:34

I want to ask you, what's your biggest challenge this year?

Speaker A: 00:17:37

I know we've had so many challenges over the year like the building industry does, but what's your biggest challenge today?

Speaker A: 00:17:44

Is it trying to get Land, trying to get students.

Speaker A: 00:17:47

What's the big deal for you right now?

Speaker A: 00:17:49

I mean, every year, it's got to be different.

Speaker C: 00:17:51

Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

Speaker C: 00:17:53

You know what?

Speaker C: 00:17:54

This program doesn't exist if we don't have a lot to build on, and we have one left.

Speaker C: 00:18:00

The last time I talked to you, I think I had about 10 ahead of me.

Speaker C: 00:18:05

Yeah, here we are.

Speaker C: 00:18:07

I'm at a lot.

Speaker C: 00:18:08

We can't find any for sale.

Speaker C: 00:18:10

You know, we've approached some developers and haven't really gotten anywhere.

Speaker C: 00:18:14

So I have a lot for next year, and we don't know where we're going after that, so that's a little disconcerting.

Speaker C: 00:18:23

And, you know, I'll tell you, people reach out to us.

Speaker C: 00:18:28

Seems like one or two folks will reach out to us a year.

Speaker C: 00:18:31

Other schools wanting to get something like this started.

Speaker C: 00:18:34

But you'd be glad to hear this.

Speaker C: 00:18:35

Some.

Speaker C: 00:18:36

Some nationwide, I've had.

Speaker C: 00:18:37

I've done some zoom calls with folks in Philadelphia, Chicago.

Speaker C: 00:18:42

I had somebody reach out to me from Europe.

Speaker A: 00:18:45

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:18:46

But it's.

Speaker C: 00:18:47

I don't know how I could help.

Speaker C: 00:18:48

Yeah, but.

Speaker C: 00:18:50

But, you know, you want to talk to someone that's done it to find out what the pitfalls are.

Speaker C: 00:18:54

And my answer is always, it's for us, it's land acquisition, you know, and, I mean, we're not asking.

Speaker C: 00:19:01

We're not asking for it for free.

Speaker C: 00:19:03

I mean, we'll pay what the lot's worth.

Speaker C: 00:19:05

But just trying to find a lot that someone's willing to sell, that's a challenge.

Speaker C: 00:19:10

So we're.

Speaker C: 00:19:11

We're working on some things right now, but nothing's for certain.

Speaker A: 00:19:15

Are you guys within the urban growth boundary down there?

Speaker A: 00:19:17

Is that what part of the problems are?

Speaker A: 00:19:19

Or are you guys outside of that?

Speaker C: 00:19:21

Yeah, it's part of it.

Speaker C: 00:19:22

But I was actually talking to the teacher when we had a big open house last Saturday, and I think we had about 500 folks through.

Speaker C: 00:19:31

Anyway, the teacher that I replaced in 99, he came up just for the occasion.

Speaker C: 00:19:37

He just said how much easier it was to acquire lots back when he was running it, you know, because it was a lot of smaller developers.

Speaker C: 00:19:44

Smaller builders.

Speaker C: 00:19:46

You have a small developer, they're willing to sell a few lots.

Speaker C: 00:19:50

But as the bigger builders have come in, you know, and I understand.

Speaker C: 00:19:55

I mean, they're out running charities.

Speaker C: 00:19:56

No, they're trying to.

Speaker C: 00:19:58

They're trying to make a living, too.

Speaker C: 00:19:59

But it would be great for them.

Speaker A: 00:20:02

It would be great for them, as you know, as.

Speaker A: 00:20:04

As you and I know, at least in the industry that there are these massive builders are coming in.

Speaker A: 00:20:09

I can be driving around in your area and you see a, what used to be a field that hasn't been farmed in 20 years and all of a sudden there's brand X of the top 10 builder in there.

Speaker A: 00:20:19

And they're putting in houses as tight as they can legally in those lots and getting every square foot, every piece of land that they can use.

Speaker A: 00:20:28

And boy, wouldn't it be awesome for them to go, okay, we're going to sell you one lot because we want to hire some of these kids down the road.

Speaker A: 00:20:37

That would be pretty awesome.

Speaker C: 00:20:39

That would be pretty awesome.

Speaker C: 00:20:41

Yeah, that, you know, another challenge we face sometimes is that just from safety reasons, I stick with one levels, of course.

Speaker B: 00:20:49

To find out more information, head to aroundthehouse online.com don't change that dial around the house.

Speaker B: 00:20:55

We'll be right back after these important messages.

Speaker A: 00:22:42

Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker A: 00:22:45

I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:22:46

Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker A: 00:22:48

If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouseonline.com and this hour is brought to you by our friends at Montymc Grills.

Speaker A: 00:22:55

Check them out at monumcgrills.com now we've been talking about one of the best programs in the country for getting kids into the trades and creating them into the world of construction and getting them going.

Speaker A: 00:23:08

So let's get back to our conversation with Chris Higginbotham and the Viking house from Forest Grove, Oregon.

Speaker C: 00:23:15

Yeah, that, you know, another challenge we face sometimes is that just from safety, safety reasons, I stick with one levels, of course, which has also become kind of our niche.

Speaker C: 00:23:25

Right.

Speaker C: 00:23:26

I get a lot of empty nesters that buy our houses because they're looking for a really nice one level house that has upgrades, that's also energy efficient.

Speaker C: 00:23:35

And yeah, I feel like it's a, it's a one off every year.

Speaker C: 00:23:39

But the, you know, as the lots get tighter and tighter, it's harder to, harder to squeeze at one level onto those little lots.

Speaker C: 00:23:46

But boy, you know, I'm almost willing to try anything at this.

Speaker A: 00:23:48

No kidding.

Speaker A: 00:23:49

No kidding.

Speaker A: 00:23:50

You know, but you guys built such a great house and they're just so absolutely gorgeous and how they're built and you know, it's so great to see you guys teaching these kids how to, how to manage themselves as well as the trades.

Speaker A: 00:24:04

And I think that's so equal of learning the work ethic, learning how to show up to work on time.

Speaker A: 00:24:10

And then just learning the skills to be a craftsperson.

Speaker C: 00:24:13

Absolutely.

Speaker C: 00:24:14

You know, you can teach them the skills.

Speaker C: 00:24:17

You know, like we have our big open house every year and it's become quite a big community event for us.

Speaker C: 00:24:22

And the thing I'm most proud of, it's not, it's not so much the house every year, it's just how the students conduct themselves, giving tours.

Speaker C: 00:24:30

I don't, I always make it a point that day not to go in the house myself.

Speaker C: 00:24:34

I just stay out front and let them run it.

Speaker C: 00:24:36

But they greet people and give tours and, you know, the best feedback I get is just how knowledgeable they are and how polite they are and how, how well they conduct themselves.

Speaker C: 00:24:48

So that's.

Speaker C: 00:24:50

Any parent would like to hear that, right?

Speaker A: 00:24:52

Absolutely.

Speaker A: 00:24:53

And then you can just see the proud just gleaming from them.

Speaker A: 00:24:56

Because I noticed that every time I've been over there is you got these kids that are so proud that look what I built.

Speaker C: 00:25:03

Yeah, it's.

Speaker C: 00:25:04

I would say that back when these home building programs were more common, a lot of them were on a two year cycle.

Speaker C: 00:25:14

So it would take two years to build a house and you'd have multiple crews come through working on it.

Speaker C: 00:25:20

And myself being from the trades and having been a former construction superintendent, just that whole, that whole scheduling thing and that urgency to get things done, I couldn't quite shake that.

Speaker C: 00:25:34

But also having done athletics and things, I really wanted them to have a, to feel an ownership and a sense of team over their house in particular.

Speaker C: 00:25:45

So I didn't want it just to be a house they're working on.

Speaker C: 00:25:48

I wanted it to be a house that they felt ownership and pride for.

Speaker C: 00:25:52

And you know, I'm glad you said that too, because that is, that's one of the best things like I'm.

Speaker C: 00:25:58

They're having, it's an all senior crew many years, not every year, but many years.

Speaker C: 00:26:04

And it is this year.

Speaker C: 00:26:05

But they'll be having graduation on Saturday.

Speaker C: 00:26:07

And I'm going to hold it open for them and their parents if they'd like to come by and take pictures and that.

Speaker C: 00:26:13

And just seeing how proud they are, you know, to show their mom and dad and friends and family it's not, it's not just a thing they're doing.

Speaker C: 00:26:24

It's something that they're invested in.

Speaker A: 00:26:26

And now these kids for the rest of their lives can drive their family nuts by driving by and going.

Speaker C: 00:26:33

Where are we going?

Speaker C: 00:26:34

I was going to quick take a quick detour the house.

Speaker A: 00:26:38

Exactly.

Speaker A: 00:26:39

We've all done that.

Speaker A: 00:26:39

We've all Done that in the trades.

Speaker A: 00:26:41

And it's so funny because you're like, oh, I worked on that house and I worked on this house.

Speaker A: 00:26:45

And as you're driving down the street pointing out to projects you've worked on, no matter what city you're in, if you've even moved away, it's fun to go back and take a look and see what's happened.

Speaker A: 00:26:53

But I'm sure you've got that now with.

Speaker A: 00:26:56

Since 99, you've got plenty of homes around the area that you're driving by going, oh, that's looking pretty good.

Speaker C: 00:27:01

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:27:02

This is my person for some of the 50 houses.

Speaker C: 00:27:06

This is my 27.

Speaker A: 00:27:07

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:27:07

So.

Speaker C: 00:27:08

So I do.

Speaker C: 00:27:09

I, I.

Speaker C: 00:27:10

You know, people always ask me, you know, what's your favorite house?

Speaker C: 00:27:13

And it sounds like just something I'm saying, but, you know, it's the one I'm working on at the time.

Speaker A: 00:27:18

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:27:18

Because you put your all into it.

Speaker C: 00:27:20

You put your whole heart and energy into it.

Speaker C: 00:27:23

And, you know, I certainly have some that I'm very fond of.

Speaker C: 00:27:28

And it.

Speaker C: 00:27:29

That it's always.

Speaker C: 00:27:30

It's just more the personality of the cruise, I think, than.

Speaker C: 00:27:33

The houses are all great, I like to think.

Speaker A: 00:27:35

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:27:36

But some of the personalities of the crews really stand out, of course.

Speaker C: 00:27:41

Anyway.

Speaker A: 00:27:41

Yeah, that's one of the things.

Speaker A: 00:27:43

That's one of the things we've learned as part of the trades as well, is.

Speaker A: 00:27:46

And, you know, my girlfriend was asking me that.

Speaker A: 00:27:48

Who you went to school with?

Speaker A: 00:27:50

Elise asked me the day she goes, how do you let go of projects?

Speaker A: 00:27:54

It's like when you've done so many projects, when you hand it off to the homeowner, the new owner, or whatever, or whatever goes on, you have to have a little bit of a disconnect that it's like, wow, you've got your pride in it, but it's like you're setting it free to go live its life in a way where you're like, all right, there we go, next project.

Speaker A: 00:28:13

And we have to learn that in the trades as, okay, that's my blood, sweat and tears.

Speaker A: 00:28:18

And now it's got a new home.

Speaker C: 00:28:20

Yeah, you kind of.

Speaker C: 00:28:22

You hit the nail on the head again.

Speaker C: 00:28:23

I do.

Speaker C: 00:28:24

I get sentimentally attached to every one of these houses, you know, and.

Speaker C: 00:28:29

And.

Speaker C: 00:28:29

And I.

Speaker C: 00:28:30

I can see it in a lot of the students, too.

Speaker C: 00:28:33

You know, it's.

Speaker C: 00:28:33

It's like, we'll meet for the last time officially tomorrow.

Speaker C: 00:28:39

We'll meet it.

Speaker C: 00:28:40

We'll go to the job site one last time, and, you know, we'll Have a little bit of a going away ceremony.

Speaker C: 00:28:45

And of course I'll give them 100 question final.

Speaker C: 00:28:48

I want them to get their money's worth, but you, you know, the time we have left to sit around and chit chat, enjoy the space, you know, but yeah, yeah, they are.

Speaker C: 00:28:57

It's, it's.

Speaker C: 00:28:59

I'm sure you agree.

Speaker C: 00:29:00

I mean, the, the best craftspeople you meet, you know, they put their heart and soul into what they're doing and it is a little hard.

Speaker C: 00:29:07

It's.

Speaker C: 00:29:07

Sometimes it feels like artwork you're letting go every time.

Speaker A: 00:29:11

Yep.

Speaker C: 00:29:12

I gotta fight my, you know, I do.

Speaker C: 00:29:14

I get overly sentimental about all of them.

Speaker A: 00:29:16

Yep.

Speaker C: 00:29:17

And you get a little, you know, a little picky about.

Speaker C: 00:29:21

You can't.

Speaker C: 00:29:21

You don't always have a say so.

Speaker C: 00:29:22

But I'm always relieved when the new buyers care for and love the house and appreciate it for what it is.

Speaker A: 00:29:28

How many times do we drive by a project that we've done in the past and you're like, oh, it's got the wrong owners because they're not taking care of it right?

Speaker C: 00:29:37

Yeah, unfortunately, that's only happened a few times.

Speaker A: 00:29:40

I know, but you know what I mean, those things happen.

Speaker C: 00:29:41

Yeah, no, I, Yeah, I mean that's, that's one thing I'll say too.

Speaker C: 00:29:46

We just.

Speaker C: 00:29:47

Way back in the early: 2000

Speaker A: 00:29:54

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:29:54

And I, you know, we built their on and off, depending on other opportunities that might have presented themselves.

Speaker C: 00:30:02

Like for instance, we built in three home shows through Stonebridge when they hosted some summer showcases and they were.

Speaker C: 00:30:09

Happened to be in Forest Grove and they graciously invited us to participate.

Speaker C: 00:30:13

So that was three years, you know, where I could offset my.

Speaker C: 00:30:17

Save my lots and go build on a lot.

Speaker C: 00:30:20

They sold me.

Speaker C: 00:30:21

But anyway, this, this one long, this one street, we bought 10 lots in a row.

Speaker C: 00:30:27

So just over the year, we just built on the last one last year.

Speaker C: 00:30:30

And it was a little sad to leave that street.

Speaker C: 00:30:33

You know, you got to know all the neighbors and knew all the homeowners, you know.

Speaker A: 00:30:38

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:30:38

It's family street right there of everybody.

Speaker C: 00:30:41

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:30:42

But it's cool because so many of them, you know, they're really, they really appreciate the home.

Speaker C: 00:30:48

They, they.

Speaker C: 00:30:50

In fact, one of them that bought one of our houses used to be a home inspector and he said it was the finest home he'd ever seen and he knew what he was looking at, you know, so I mean, those kind of accolades from somebody in the Industry, you know, it's more meaningful.

Speaker C: 00:31:05

Yeah, but just seeing and then seeing people sometimes get emotional about the houses.

Speaker C: 00:31:11

I had an owner a couple years ago.

Speaker C: 00:31:13

In fact, she came.

Speaker C: 00:31:14

A lot of them will come to every open house.

Speaker C: 00:31:16

So I saw a bunch of them on Saturday, came through to see the latest one.

Speaker C: 00:31:20

And it just makes me feel good that she says, I feel like this house was designed just for me.

Speaker A: 00:31:26

Yeah.

Speaker A: 00:31:27

Such a personal connection.

Speaker A: 00:31:28

And then you've got the personal connections of the students and their love and their blood, sweat and tears and hard work and they're learning.

Speaker A: 00:31:35

It's a part of that.

Speaker A: 00:31:35

So that's just good vibes everywhere.

Speaker A: 00:31:38

Yeah, that is.

Speaker C: 00:31:39

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:31:39

It's.

Speaker C: 00:31:39

It's a good experience that way.

Speaker C: 00:31:41

It's, it's, you know, my, I remember my mom telling me when I was a kid, if you, if you enjoy what you're doing, you do for a living, you know, you're way ahead in life no matter what your paycheck is, if you're able to pay the bills and that you really love going to work, that's really worth something.

Speaker A: 00:31:59

Absolutely.

Speaker C: 00:31:59

You know, and I could, I can honestly say that this has delivered that for me.

Speaker A: 00:32:05

Nice.

Speaker A: 00:32:06

Nice.

Speaker A: 00:32:06

And you've delivered so many careers for kids out there that, that would have been ignored in the school systems out there because these are kids that want to do something with their hands, that have the skills they have.

Speaker A: 00:32:19

They can do the math to build something.

Speaker B: 00:32:21

To find out more information, head to aroundthehouse online dot com.

Speaker B: 00:32:26

Don't change that dial.

Speaker B: 00:32:27

Around the House will be right back after these important messages.

Speaker A: 00:34:27

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

Speaker A: 00:34:30

I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:34:31

Thanks for joining me today.

Speaker A: 00:34:32

If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthe house online.com and this hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

Speaker A: 00:34:40

Check them out@monument grills.com now we've been talking about one of the best programs in the country for getting kids into the trades and creating them into the world of construction and getting them going.

Speaker A: 00:34:52

So let's get back to our conversation with Chris Higginbotham and the Viking House from Forest Grove, Oregon.

Speaker A: 00:35:00

And the right way to install things versus Geez, like I was talking earlier about some of the stuff that I've seen around here where I'm like, that siding's coming off in five to seven years because that's going to be an issue, you know, and, and these kids get to show, get to be shown as they go off into their next career doing this, they've learned the right way to do it, which is so much easier than having to get taught the right way when they get on the job site, because sometimes even the building superintendent or the person running the job site doesn't fully understand the right way in some of these very important tasks in building a home.

Speaker C: 00:35:36

Yeah, I actually just had a teacher right before.

Speaker C: 00:35:40

Before I logged in here, sharing her contractor horror story and showing me many pictures on her phone.

Speaker C: 00:35:47

And it's.

Speaker C: 00:35:49

Sometimes it's just simple stuff, too.

Speaker C: 00:35:51

I mean, above and beyond even paying attention to all the details, but just leaving a clean work site, you know, to show that you have pride in what you're doing.

Speaker C: 00:35:59

And.

Speaker C: 00:36:00

And that's another thing that we try to promote with them is, you know, this is what a professional looks like.

Speaker A: 00:36:07

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:36:07

You know, this.

Speaker C: 00:36:08

This is what a professional site looks like.

Speaker C: 00:36:10

You know, you clean things, you organize things, you.

Speaker C: 00:36:13

You handle things with care.

Speaker C: 00:36:15

You don't walk over the top of your siding when you're installing it.

Speaker C: 00:36:18

Right.

Speaker C: 00:36:19

I mean, we all have to learn sometime.

Speaker C: 00:36:21

And, you know, like, sightings different than framing, you know, finish is different than sighting.

Speaker A: 00:36:28

Exactly.

Speaker A: 00:36:29

All those details, which are awesome.

Speaker A: 00:36:32

Which are awesome.

Speaker A: 00:36:32

And that's.

Speaker A: 00:36:33

That's just the best practices for the kids to base the rest of their career off of.

Speaker A: 00:36:37

So it's awesome.

Speaker A: 00:36:38

It's awesome.

Speaker C: 00:36:39

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:36:39

You know, that.

Speaker C: 00:36:40

That point was kind of driven home.

Speaker C: 00:36:42

We just.

Speaker C: 00:36:42

We took a field trip.

Speaker C: 00:36:43

Well, I've taken a couple field trips here this last week, but last week we took a field trip to Cornelius Elementary School, which is being rebuilt.

Speaker C: 00:36:52

And the exciting thing about that is our.

Speaker C: 00:36:55

Our host for that field trip is a former Viking House member that's now construction engineer.

Speaker C: 00:37:02

And she was motivated to take that career path because of her time on the Viking House.

Speaker C: 00:37:07

And we went and we went and toured another school being built by another former Viking House student that was the construction site superintendent for a high school build.

Speaker C: 00:37:18

So we went and toured that, and then she was inspired by that and did the Oregon State program.

Speaker C: 00:37:22

And then now she's hosting her former high school in her hometown to tour the.

Speaker C: 00:37:29

The build that she's running.

Speaker C: 00:37:30

But it was cool just as we wandered through.

Speaker C: 00:37:35

You know, they have the same challenges that we do in residential construction.

Speaker C: 00:37:38

You know, things get missed.

Speaker A: 00:37:40

You know, materials, all the different stuff that you're fighting.

Speaker C: 00:37:43

Somebody's got to mind the store.

Speaker C: 00:37:45

And they were definitely experience a little bit of a material.

Speaker C: 00:37:49

You know, they were in the midst of resolving a material issue.

Speaker C: 00:37:52

But she was told Us how, how it came about and the things they tried and now what the remedy was.

Speaker C: 00:37:58

And you know, it was just.

Speaker C: 00:38:02

It was just on a bigger scale.

Speaker A: 00:38:03

Absolutely.

Speaker C: 00:38:04

But it's pretty awe inspiring to walk into a project that big.

Speaker C: 00:38:09

You know, having been a former superintendent.

Speaker C: 00:38:11

You know, you look at that stuff and you try to imagine running it and it's.

Speaker C: 00:38:16

It just seems like a.

Speaker C: 00:38:18

A whole different ball game.

Speaker C: 00:38:19

But they assure me it's not.

Speaker A: 00:38:20

But, you know, it feels that way.

Speaker A: 00:38:23

I tell you what, I mean, I did my biggest project I did in.

Speaker A: 00:38:26

In my kitchen of bath design stuff was I did a.

Speaker A: 00:38:29

A huge build in Bellevue, Washington that was a high rise that we did.

Speaker A: 00:38:33

What floor?

Speaker A: 00:38:34

28 to 40 on that building.

Speaker A: 00:38:37

And oh my gosh, I did cabinetry for that whole thing.

Speaker A: 00:38:41

So I worked for a year on that project before we shipped the first cabinet part, you know.

Speaker A: 00:38:48

You know, and that was crazy.

Speaker A: 00:38:50

And that was the design, the redesign.

Speaker A: 00:38:53

I mean, it was literally a year of designing and meetings and everything else before we even started shipping parts.

Speaker A: 00:39:00

And then we had to use a helicopter to take the oven cabinets to put them on the roof because.

Speaker A: 00:39:05

Oh my gosh, I mean, so they could carry them down because they didn't want.

Speaker C: 00:39:10

Was that part of the original build?

Speaker A: 00:39:12

Well, yes, in a way it was.

Speaker A: 00:39:16

It was a great thing because we weren't a union shop, but it was a union build.

Speaker A: 00:39:19

So we brought the cabinets basically to the loading dock and they unloaded out of the truck.

Speaker A: 00:39:24

And because the hotel wanted to have the construction elevator taken down so they could rent out the hotel, the cabinets wouldn't fit into the residential elevators for the condos.

Speaker A: 00:39:36

And so they ended up putting them in a container and dropping them on the roof and unloading that up there and taking that off.

Speaker A: 00:39:43

And they had to carry these oven cabinets, double oven cabinets, down, down the stairs.

Speaker A: 00:39:48

And that was the most.

Speaker A: 00:39:49

That was the easiest way to do that.

Speaker A: 00:39:51

And I was just like, oh my gosh, most insane project delivery.

Speaker A: 00:39:56

Right?

Speaker A: 00:39:57

So, yeah, helicopter rooftop.

Speaker C: 00:40:00

I can't wait to see.

Speaker C: 00:40:01

Tell her no.

Speaker A: 00:40:02

Yeah, helicopter rooftop delivery.

Speaker A: 00:40:04

So it was nuts.

Speaker C: 00:40:05

Just pick those cabinets up, drop them right down.

Speaker A: 00:40:08

But yeah, that was, it was an interesting design.

Speaker A: 00:40:10

You know, there was a lot of weird stuff like that that you had to work through.

Speaker A: 00:40:14

That was just part of that design process.

Speaker A: 00:40:15

That was really cool.

Speaker C: 00:40:17

So I'm pitch.

Speaker C: 00:40:18

I'm picturing Colonel Kilbar saying, we're going to pick those cameras up somewhere.

Speaker A: 00:40:24

Absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker A: 00:40:26

I was just shaking my head going, this is.

Speaker A: 00:40:28

Is probably the nuttiest moment of My cabinetry career.

Speaker A: 00:40:31

Let's see what happens.

Speaker A: 00:40:32

You know, so.

Speaker A: 00:40:33

But you know, and that's just in the cabinet world and I know there's so many people out there that are doing those high schools and that are graduates of your program.

Speaker A: 00:40:40

That's awesome.

Speaker A: 00:40:41

And do you get a lot of.

Speaker A: 00:40:42

A lot of support from manufacturers out there as well?

Speaker A: 00:40:45

Do they.

Speaker A: 00:40:45

Do they help you guys a lot as far as getting materials and tools and working with you guys?

Speaker A: 00:40:50

Or is that.

Speaker A: 00:40:50

Are you guys pretty independent of that?

Speaker C: 00:40:52

Well, we welcome it.

Speaker C: 00:40:54

Some.

Speaker C: 00:40:55

Some.

Speaker A: 00:40:55

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:40:56

So PAR has always helped us out a lot.

Speaker C: 00:41:00

Like they host our open house.

Speaker C: 00:41:01

They're great people and I, and I know that costs.

Speaker C: 00:41:04

That costs them a lot of money and they donate a lot of tools and things like that to it.

Speaker C: 00:41:09

They've been very supportive.

Speaker C: 00:41:11

Rotter Paint's been one of our most generous suppliers for years and years.

Speaker C: 00:41:15

They just.

Speaker C: 00:41:17

Hundreds of gallons, you know, because just.

Speaker C: 00:41:21

And they treat us like we're their biggest customer.

Speaker A: 00:41:24

That is great.

Speaker A: 00:41:25

That is great.

Speaker C: 00:41:26

Certainty Roofing has been real good.

Speaker C: 00:41:30

Stimson Lumber has donated our studs for many years in a row.

Speaker C: 00:41:34

So they'll send us out 2 units of studs and that really helps with our hybrid wall because they're a little.

Speaker C: 00:41:40

They're a little stud heavy because of the stagger that.

Speaker A: 00:41:46

I'm sure you've got a lot out there that are important so we won't.

Speaker C: 00:41:49

But those are big ones.

Speaker A: 00:41:51

Those are big ones.

Speaker A: 00:41:51

And, and so hint, hint to manufacturers out there if you want to get these products in these kids hands, you know, reach out to Chris to see how you guys can partner together.

Speaker A: 00:42:01

Because everybody wins in that.

Speaker A: 00:42:03

Because that they get to play with new stuff and get introduced to new stuff and you get to put it in a beautiful house.

Speaker C: 00:42:11

Yeah, that's all.

Speaker C: 00:42:13

Appreciate.

Speaker C: 00:42:13

All helps, you know, because we, we give scholarships and things like that too.

Speaker C: 00:42:18

And the kids all vote on it.

Speaker C: 00:42:20

We give a little MVP award, you know, which is usually like a cordless kid of some sort.

Speaker C: 00:42:24

Get a kid started with a good quality one.

Speaker C: 00:42:27

And PAR usually donates that.

Speaker C: 00:42:28

And then this year they also covered my scholarship.

Speaker A: 00:42:32

So nice.

Speaker C: 00:42:33

We'll give a scholarship that the kids also vote on.

Speaker C: 00:42:35

Has a little different criteria, but we try to recognize.

Speaker C: 00:42:39

Let them recognize one of their peers every year.

Speaker A: 00:42:42

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:42:42

In each category.

Speaker A: 00:42:44

That is so smart.

Speaker A: 00:42:45

That is so smart.

Speaker A: 00:42:46

Well, we're running out of time, Chris.

Speaker A: 00:42:47

And you got a class to teach here coming up pretty soon.

Speaker A: 00:42:49

But what's the.

Speaker A: 00:42:51

What's the best way for people to find out about Your program and to get a hold of you guys because I know you guys have such a great legacy.

Speaker C: 00:42:58

Well, they can look for us on Facebook, but also we have probably the best ways.

Speaker C: 00:43:02

Our website, so that's FGHS, stands for Forest Grove High School, VikingHouse.com and they can see every house we've ever built.

Speaker C: 00:43:14

They can see information about upcoming events.

Speaker C: 00:43:19

Heck, they can even order gear.

Speaker A: 00:43:20

See, There we go.

Speaker A: 00:43:22

There we go.

Speaker C: 00:43:23

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker C: 00:43:24

Having us.

Speaker A: 00:43:25

Yeah.

Speaker C: 00:43:26

To talk about our program, we.

Speaker C: 00:43:29

One thing I might mention is we took a field trip yesterday to the street of Dreams.

Speaker A: 00:43:33

Nice.

Speaker C: 00:43:34

That's always a good one to see it under construction.

Speaker C: 00:43:36

You know, just the complexity and all the.

Speaker C: 00:43:39

All the subs running around.

Speaker C: 00:43:40

It makes an impression too, because, you know, they're three times the size of what we're building.

Speaker A: 00:43:44

Multiple stories.

Speaker C: 00:43:46

It's the same, but different, right?

Speaker C: 00:43:47

It's the same, but different.

Speaker C: 00:43:49

We just don't have an elevator.

Speaker A: 00:43:50

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker A: 00:43:52

Or steep roof like that too.

Speaker C: 00:43:54

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C: 00:43:56

So I had an email this morning and it looks like we might be part of the street of Dreams tour this year.

Speaker C: 00:44:01

Still trying to work those details out.

Speaker A: 00:44:03

That would be great.

Speaker A: 00:44:05

That would be great.

Speaker C: 00:44:05

Anyway, look for us there maybe.

Speaker A: 00:44:07

Absolutely.

Speaker A: 00:44:08

Absolutely.

Speaker A: 00:44:09

Chris, thanks, brother.

Speaker A: 00:44:11

I appreciate what you're doing out there for the next generation of trades people out there.

Speaker A: 00:44:17

And you guys have just a great gold standard program out there.

Speaker A: 00:44:20

Keep it up.

Speaker A: 00:44:21

And anybody out there in the Forest Grove area that have property that would like to be a part of this, do your civic duty and help these guys out and reach out so they can buy it at a fair market price.

Speaker A: 00:44:34

But support the kids and get them back on track with property.

Speaker C: 00:44:38

Thank you, Eric.

Speaker A: 00:44:39

All right, I'm Eric G.

Speaker A: 00:44:40

Thanks, Chris.

Speaker A: 00:44:41

You've been listening to around the House.

Speaker B: 00:44:43

Thank you for tuning into the around the House show.

Speaker B: 00:44:46

If you are on the radio, make sure you check out the podcast for additional content during the week on your favorite podcast player or at aroundthehouseonline.com we will see you next time.