Training the next generation of electricians
Every summer since 2024 we have taught the electrical course at Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity's Construction Camp — a free week of hands-on trade training for high school students.
Habitat for Humanity Construction Camp
The skilled trades are running short of people. Electricians are retiring faster than they are being replaced, and every general contractor in this region feels it as schedule risk long before it shows up as a headline.
Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity runs a free week-long Construction Camp at Sweet Valley Ranch, teaching high school students electrical, framing, plumbing and drywall, with local licensed tradesmen doing the instruction. We have volunteered as instructors for the electrical course every year it has run — 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The students build the structures. We wire them. Not a slideshow and not a demonstration bench — real devices on real framing, terminated to code with tools in the students' hands.
What we teach
- Receptacles and switches
- Lighting and ceiling fans
- Smoke detectors
- Panels and terminations
- Code basics and jobsite safety
If you are a general contractor reading this, that is the point. The labour shortage that makes your projects hard to staff is the one the camp exists to address, and the fix starts with sixteen-year-olds finding out the trade is a career rather than a fallback.
Greater Fayetteville Chamber
Savant Solutions is a member of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. Our owner Jacob Zepp previously served as a Chair Ambassador in the Chamber's ambassador programme — its volunteer welcoming and public-relations arm, the people who turn up for ribbon cuttings and connect new members to the rest of the business community — and he still takes part in Chamber events.
We are also members of the Home Builders Association of Fayetteville and listed with the Fayetteville Consumer Protection Division.
Greater Fayetteville Chamber — Member
Home Builders Assn. of Fayetteville — Member
Consumer Protection Division — Listed
HomeAdvisor — ListedFayetteville's 40 Under 40
Our owner Jacob Zepp was named to Fayetteville's 40 Under 40 in 2024, and was profiled by The Fayetteville Observer that July. The programme is presented by The Fayetteville Observer and Book Black Women, Inc. The programme recognises emerging leaders across eight counties — Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Moore, Robeson and Sampson — judged by an independent panel on professional achievement, leadership, community involvement, innovation and regional impact.
About the camp and the trade
What is the Habitat Construction Camp?
A free, week-long hands-on trade camp run by Fayetteville Area Habitat for Humanity at Sweet Valley Ranch, teaching high school students electrical, framing, plumbing and drywall. Instruction is delivered by local licensed tradesmen. We have taught the electrical course every year it has run.
Why does an electrical contractor teach a camp?
Because the trade is short of people, and that shortage is the same one making it hard to staff commercial projects across the Sandhills. Training teenagers on real devices is a slower fix than hiring, but it is the only one that adds electricians to the region rather than moving them between companies.
Do you take on apprentices or new electricians?
We are a small, founder-led shop and we hire when the work supports it. If you came through the camp, or you are starting out in the trade in Hoke or Cumberland County, get in touch at [email protected].
Starting out in the trade?
If you came through the camp or you are looking to get into electrical work in the Sandhills, send us a note.