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Big C Lumber President and CEO Bill Wallace

Big C Lumber President and CEO Bill Wallace at SMC Oct. 7

SMC's new sawmill

Sawdust Day visitors saw SMC's new sawmill in action

Dallas Austin, GM of Dowagiac's Big C truss plant

Dallas Austin, general manager of Big C Lumber's Dowagiac truss plant

Big C Lumber estimators Missy Swink, Brittany Almaguer

Big C Lumber estimators Missy Swink and Brittany Almaguer

Real sawdust flies at SMC’s Sawdust Day

Published on October 10, 2022 - 2 p.m.

When it comes to show-and-tell, Big C Lumber President/CEO Bill Wallace likes to tell high schoolers attending Southwestern Michigan College’s Sawdust Day they “can start at the ground level, grow with a company” and create a career.

Wallace Oct. 7 showed them Dallas Austin of Cassopolis, Brittany Almaguer of Niles and Missy Swink of Decatur.

Almaguer, 24, approaching a year as an estimator, studied music until taking a summer job building trusses to make money for school.

“I found out my brain is mechanically and mathematically minded. I love numbers, putting things together and figuring out how they work. It’s cool pointing out to my husband the roof trusses I designed.”

Swink earned an SMC accounting degree in 2013 and joined Big C six months ago from teaching middle-school math. “My youngest child was turning 16, so I decided it was time for a career change. I applied for an office position. Dallas invited me to apply for a better job in my interview, so I’m an estimator, reading blueprints and designing roofs.”

“Essentially,” Austin said, “Missy got promoted before she got hired. We almost always promote from within. Finding talent and recognizing potential is the most challenging part of my job. We have IT guys and programmers, but we’re going to need the younger generation to figure out robotics and automation. Driving home, seeing dental offices and churches we build, is very rewarding.”

Austin, general manager of Dowagiac’s Structural Building Components Facility, joined the truss plant in 2011, when it produced $2.5 million annually, compared to $25 million today. He started 26 years ago as a summer job to make money to attend Purdue. With three shifts, Big C offers students flexible schedules.

“If I’m in the supermarket and get treated well by the guy bagging my groceries, I give him my card and say, ‘If you’re looking to change industries, we’re hiring,’ ” Wallace said. “Twenty-five percent of Big C employees are over 55. That’s 75 people retiring in the next five to 10 years. Forty years ago I sat where you are without a clue to what I wanted to do” as a 1979 Hartford High School graduate.

“Opportunities exist today like never before for two main reasons, high housing demand and low supply as we recover from the worst housing recession ever seen. We’ve underbuilt since 2007.

“A million legal immigrants come into the United States every year. Natural disasters like Hurricane Ian wiped out tens of thousands of Florida homes which need to be rebuilt. Millennials, the largest demographic at 72 million ages 25-40, are entering the home ownership stage of their lives to raise families. At the same time, labor’s scarce and has been for a long time.”

“We need to build 1.5 million houses to keep up, which we haven’t done since 2006. We might build that many this year. There’s a low inventory of existing houses on the market. Builder confidence is at an all-time high. They know whatever they can build will get sold.”

“The speaker at a seminar I went to last week said he could build 50-percent more homes if he had the people,” Wallace said. “The Home Building Institute says we’re going to need an average of 750,000 additional construction workers through 2025 just to keep up with demand. Workers who left during the recession didn’t come back, they retired or found other jobs. Our goal at Big C is to recruit and train our own people. We’re not hiring for experience, but attitude. We’ve hired many people out of SMC’s great program. We hire probably 30 summer interns every year to work in the yard.”

Granger-based Big C, founded in 1921, has 15 retail locations in Michigan and Indiana. Indiana’s largest independent lumber dealer’s other two production facilities are a window and door assembly shop and a custom mill shop.

Visitors saw SMC’s new sawmill, a Woodmizer LT 15, behind the Jan and A.C. Kairis Building. Having a mill allows students to better understand processes involved in responsible sourcing and development of sustainable materials.

"We saw hardwoods to be dried on campus, then used by students for class and club projects," Assistant Professor John Tinker said. "The market for handcrafted wood products continues to expand. I want my students to have the opportunity to explore their own style as they acquire skills necessary to become carpenters.”

Tinker brought 23 years in residential construction and three years of commercial construction into the classroom three years ago.

His Wednesday-night club made tables from the old basketball floor featured in 1st Source Bank Fieldhouse’s McLoughlin Family Foundation Suite.

Students interested in SMC's Construction Trades Green Technology program can apply to the college for free at https://swmich.edu/admissions/apply.

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