‘SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FIRED ME UP’

Greg Albert couldn’t believe his ears.

The man on the local TV news said something about the free use of tools. All you had to do was sign up, reserve what you needed, then come pick it up.

“He said the address and he said ‘free.’ I said, ‘I can afford that!’ I went down there to see what they had, thinking ‘What’s the catch?’

“Well, there ain’t been no catch.” 

Albert soon tapped into Historic Macon Rehabs’ new tool library, and he has become one of its most prolific customers. The new program offers all kinds of yard and construction tools that folks can borrow — for free — for their projects.

In the last month, Albert’s initiative has shown that preservation and restoration involve far more than just lumber, hammers and nails. Now that he’s a regular customer, he’s spreading the word too. Not only is he using the tools to make his own yard look better, he’s going up and down Lilly Avenue, in the Unionville neighborhood, helping his neighbors, many of whom are older.

“Something about this fired me up,” he said. “It gave me inspiration.”

Greg Albert makes the neighborhood field look better.

Early one recent morning, he was across the street from his home starting to mow an open field — well over an acre — that kids in the neighborhood use to play ball. But he also had a blower that he walks up and down the street with, clearing off leaves, dirt, cigarette butts and whatever’s in his path.

Ivory Manning was grabbing a breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast on his front porch before heading off to a painting job. He said Albert mowed his yard recently.

“We watch out for one another over here,” the 65-year-old said. “I’m proud to be his neighbor.”

Arthur Hall, another friend, stopped to chat while driving by.

He said he was looking out a window at home one day and saw Albert blowing away debris near his home.

“He went to the end of the street. The next thing I know, he’s coming back around on the other side of the street. He gets out there like he’s a teenager.” (Albert will turn 70 on July 3.)

“If you find a better neighbor than him, it’s God sent,” Hall said. “That’s a good man.”

Tracey Jackson and her dog, Candy.

Added Tracey Jackson, another neighbor: “He does something just about every day. … I tell him to get out of the heat.” 

‘PEOPLE LOVE IT’

Reed Purvis explains the new tool library to Channel 13’s Suzanne Lawler.

Reed Purvis, who oversees the program for Historic Macon Rehabs, said the word is slowly getting out about the new program, which is run through the MyTurn platform (https://bit.ly/35DFvSb). It began May 18.

For many, the concept is strange at first. As Historic Macon worked on the program, it connected with The Well CDC in Akron, Ohio, (https://thewellakron.com/) and picked up good tips for a successful program. Purvis also talked to representatives of the Asheville (N.C.) Tool Library to glean their best practices. 

So far, Macon homeowners have signed up for 55 tool loans. Leaf blowers have been the most popular. (There are no gas-powered tools. They’re either corded or have batteries.)

“It’s going really well,” Purvis said. “I definitely expected more wood-working tools to be checked out. We could have spent more money on yard equipment.”

The program was able to stretch its buying dollars thanks to a generous discount on tools from Riverside Ace Hardware.

Judging by responses from those returning tools and comments he’s seen on social media, “People love it,” Purvis said. “I’ve only gotten positive feedback.”

A couple of people have said they wish the program offered a chain saw they could borrow. So that option may be coming in the near future.

It’s all part of an ambitious initiative to boost the trades presence in Macon. Historic Macon Rehabs hired three preservation carpentry apprentices for a 10-week program, training them for entry-level construction jobs. The nonprofit also has begun a series of Saturday workshops to equip homeowners with the knowledge to tackle basic projects on their own. A grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation funded the pilot programs.

The quality of tools in the tool library has impressed Albert.

Before he started taking advantage of the new program, he had to use “whatever I could find, whenever I could find it.” He had no equipment, and even if he did, he has no place to store tools. (“My house is too small.”)

And if you borrow from a friend, “if it breaks down on my shift, it’s my fault.”

Albert and his wife, Sheridan, moved from Oakland to Macon — where she grew up — in 2003, when she took a teaching job with the Seventh-day Adventist school system. He was born and raised in Oakland, and he’s a big Raiders fan.

He has a ready smile and friendly nature, and it was clear during a recent visit how much his neighbors like him and appreciate all the work he’s doing.

But Albert isn’t one to toot his own horn (“It’s just being neighborly.”) 

He’s trying to make a small difference in his neighborhood in a way that he can.

And in doing so, he hopes he can inspire others to follow suit.

“People notice me with good-quality tools,” he said. “I try to introduce them to the tool library. I tell ’em, “You don’t have to wait for one. You can do it yourself. People see that it’s working.

“And it’s great for me,” he said. “It has me planning more projects.”

‘That’s where you get your joy from’

As home-improvement projects go, it was nothing like the 1986 Tom Hanks movie “The Money Pit.”

Still, Janet Williams needed extensive work done on her nearly 100-year-old home in the Vineville Historic District when she and her husband, Pete, moved to Macon from Decatur.

They were getting two full bathrooms redone, replacing fascia, wiring, copper gutters — and much more.

Finding a carpenter — especially one who could work on an older home — was among the biggest hurdles they faced.

“If I had a carpenter in my bag, I would be doing all sorts of things I’m not doing now,” she said. “We need it now more than ever, and it’s hard to find people who are good at it. 

“I would love to see people take it up as a calling.”

You’d get no argument from Shawn Stafford.

Stafford opened Stafford Builders and Consultants on Napier Avenue in 1999, although he’d worked in construction in Macon for 12 years before that. His niches over the years have been church construction and work on federal properties.

He needs a variety of folks across the trades spectrum to carry out his projects, from masons to carpenters. Especially carpenters.

“When I was a kid, being a carpenter was a big deal. We saw the value in it,” the 70-year-old said. “We’ve downplayed it so much (over the years) that we stopped teaching it. But it’s a skill that’s needed in this town.”

That perspective is one reason Historic Macon is trying to help.

During a recent news conference, Executive Director Ethiel Garlington announced a series of trades-related initiatives that will begin this month. He said Historic Macon’s has a standing challenge of finding skilled tradespeople — especially carpenters — who are willing to take on work at historic properties.

He cited surveys by the Associated General Contractors of America and  the National Association of Home Builders that lamented the lack of skilled workers and the difficulty in hiring them. And for historic preservation projects, that shortfall is even more pronounced.

Now, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Historic Macon will soon test three initiatives that aim to make a difference.

“Our hope,” Garlington said, “is that learning from these pilot programs, we’ll be able to raise additional capital and grow and expand the successful programs.”

First, Historic Macon soon will be hiring three trades apprentices for a 10-week course that starts June 1. The program will blend on-the-job training with classroom instruction and travel to prominent sites in the region. The goal is for the three apprentices to find full-time construction jobs after the program. 

Historic Macon also will hold a series of workshops that help teach homeowners and professionals alike, often with hands-on instruction. First up is a tool safety session called “Fingers and Toes” May 15. On May 22, “Stile-ish Doors” will show how to renovate both wooden and glass doors.

But that’s not all. Coming soon, HMF will open a new tool library, where Macon residents can swing by and borrow a variety of tools for their home projects. Stay tuned for details.

We know these initiatives aren’t a cure-all. They’re a small step in trying to improve the situation. But it’s a start.

For Stafford, another part of the solution would entail bringing training programs for the building trades back to schools.

“Why not teach it just like you do engineering?” he asked. “It’s a workforce crisis. You can talk to a thousand contractors and hear the same thing.” (Stafford said he’d pay a crackerjack carpenter $60,000 right out of the gate.)

He used an analogy to drive home the opportunity that many young adults are missing out on.

“If you saw a gold bar on the floor, you’d reach down and pick it up,” he said. But too many people are walking on by and “don’t see the value” in learning a trade.

“These kids need to learn to love this industry,” he said. “I can never remember a day I didn’t want to get to work.”

Johnny McClendon, who owns IconiCraft Custom Cabinets, has watched the decline for the last generation. He remembers the boom times of the early ’90s, then a slow slide since then.

 “I’m deeply embedded in this business, and it’s just gone away,” the 59-year-old said of the talent pool. “It’s gotten scarcer and scarcer and scarcer.”

He’s doing his part too. He has a 19-year-old working for him, helping him learn the ropes of the craft. But McClendon knows he could leave at any time.

“It’s just hard to find people with a love for it,” he said.

And there’s another aspect. Carpenters are tailor-made to become construction superintendents, Stafford said. They’re on a job from start to finish. They read blueprints, devise layouts, help frame up a project, do trim work — and plenty more.

“They see everything in between. They see the process more than any other trade.”

Helping Stafford on a job site next-door to the H&H Soul Food restaurant recently was 69-year-old Eric Turner. He said his grandfather taught him a lot about carpentry and woodworking when he was young. As a teenager he began making house repairs, “and I just kept going with it.”

He acknowledged that carpentry is not for everybody. You’ve got to pay attention and be willing to listen and learn. And it’s rugged. You work in the winter cold and the summer heat, often outdoors.

“You’ve got to withstand the elements,” he said, and not everyone wants to do that these days.

But there’s a certain satisfaction in working with your hands, seeing something you build take shape, “and you’ll always have a job — anytime or anywhere.” 

“That’s where you get your joy from,” he said. “You can always look back and say I had a part in that.”