Amy Ecklund of AmyWorks serves as co-chair of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Wood Tech Center. We all celebrate a generous grant from the Lowes Foundation. The Lowe’s Foundation announced a $750,000 grant to Seattle Central College’s Wood Technology Center. The award — part of a new 5-year, $50 million Lowe’s initiative to prepare 50,000 people for skilled trades careers — is one of eleven first-round grants to community colleges nationwide. “Eighty-five percent of contractors tell us they have trouble finding the skilled trades workers they need,” said Denise Hill, Lowe’s Foundation board member and Lowe’s Vice President of Corporate Communications & Community Relations. “With this award from the Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grants program, we’re proud to support Seattle’s top source of trained carpenters while building a sustainable and inclusive workforce to revitalize our homes, neighborhoods and infrastructure for the future.” “We’re deeply honored by the support,” said Rob Watt, Associate Dean of the Wood Technology Center. “We’ve worked hard to build an array of programs that serves carpenters at every stage of the profession, from those just starting out, to seasoned pros returning to master the latest technology. Having our efforts recognized this way means a lot.” “This grant shows how we can better partner with industry and community to prepare more graduates in the construction trades and address a severe housing shortage in the process,” commented Dr. Bradley Lane, interim president of Seattle Central. “We need more homes for the homeless so they don’t suffer and die on the street,” emphasized Rep. Frank Chopp of Seattle’s 43rd Legislative District, former speaker of Washington’s House of Representatives. “But we also need more starter homes for individuals and families who are just starting out. As we grow the number of graduates at the Wood Technology Center, in part through this Lowe’s grant, these are the challenges we can more fully take on.” Programs at the Wood Technology Center include the Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training (PACT) certificate program, associate degree programs in carpentry and boat building/fine carpentry, and a new nine-month certificate program in residential construction. All programs have a strong focus on inclusivity, with growing percentages of students who are women and people of color. “We provide a doorway into a construction job for anybody who has interest, because nobody should be left out of these opportunities,” stated Catie Chaplan, Lead Instructor in the Center’s associate degree program in carpentry. “Interest in the trades is extremely strong at our schools,” noted Dr. Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap, Chancellor of Seattle Colleges. “And that’s extremely good for our community…because there is so much hands-on work to be done over the next several years — over the next generation — for our city’s livability and sustainability. “This generous investment by the Lowe’s Foundation will help scale up the critical work of the Wood Technology Center, and ensure we have the housing and infrastructure to thrive as a region — and thrive equitably.” The $750,000 Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grant will enable growth at the Wood Technology Center by adding a staff member to recruit and retain students and help grads with internships, apprenticeships and continuing education. Lowe’s funds will also support a new site manager to better coordinate logistics, such as procuring and distributing materials and acquiring and caring for tools and equipment. “We have our challenges as a city,” said Deputy Mayor Greg Wong at the press conference. “But when I’m out in the community what I hear is not complaints, but questions from people about how they can help. And what I say is that it’s about partnerships. We need government to step up, we need education systems to step up, we need our corporate partners to step up. Well, today you see that happening on all three fronts. Thank you, Lowe’s, for being part of it.”

This artical originally posted in the Pugit Sound Business Journal (issue 39086), published September 29, 2023 in Small Business Voices, a forum for sharing best practices. AmyWorks owner capitalizes on home remodeling trend By Neetish Basnet The four-story house in Pennsylvania where Amy Ecklund grew up always had something that needed fixing. If there wasn’t, Ecklund’s father, who was a plumber, would create a home improvement project. Ecklund (who uses the pronoun they) became the apprentice. They ran down the stairs to the basement, grabbed tools and learned the nuts and bolts of carpentry in the process. Ecklund, 59, had an early career as a chemist and laboratory manager but returned to their fix-it roots after being laid off during the Great Recession. The Business Journal visited Ecklund at the modest yet cozy Amy Works office in Georgetown to learn more about how it’s grown and what’s next. How did you start AmyWorks? It started in 2010. It was just me with my Subaru and my tools. Less than a year later. I hired my first employee. We did handyman senices for the first seven years, until 2017. That’s when we switched over to doing remodels. And now we’re doing mostly remodels. What helped accelerate the business growth the most? I needed to have marketing. I needed to have networking avenues. That was really helpful in getting AmyWorks going. Building relationships and passing referrals all the time – it just worked. I’ve never missed a payroll for my employees and I’ve never missed payments for vendors. I didn’t think about it hard. It was just something I needed to do. When did you realize you finally achieved success as a small business owner? I haven’t gotten to that point yet. It used to be that I’d be incredibly ecstatic if the business banking account had $500. If it got below that. I’d really freak out. Then it was $5,000, we’re doing good-, if below. I’d dwell over it. Now it’s considerably higher. But I still freak out. You operate in a male- dominated field. Does it make any difference to you? As far as clients go, they really appreciate the fact that it’s a woman coming in to do the work. We do have men working out in the field. But there’s me and then my project manager is also a woman. And it’s typically the wife or the female partner that schedules the work. There’s that instant trust because we’re a woman-owned business. During the early days of the pandemic, many people sat at home wanting to remodel their homes. Is that changing? We haven’t seen much of a decline. We’re still getting the leads. We’ve got potential work all the way to the first quarter of next year and probably doing about a 30% increase of what we did last year. Do you find more work coming from homeow ners of aging homes or new homeow ners wanting to add value to their homes? It’s a combination. But. with the interest rates right now … people who have been in their house for 10 years can’t buy anything close to it. So it’s like. “Well, what’s it going to take to add a bedroom or to expand the kitchen?” How hard it is to find capable workers? It’s a little bit easier right now because some of the new-build stuff has slowed down because the interest rates have gone up. But it’s always been the pain point of the company. Any expansion plans? I’d like to see us double in size. A lot of people would like us to go to Vashon Island and Kitsap Peninsula. Every time I drive my truck over there, they’re asking me do you work over here…. The big thing would be for us to build a relationship with subcontractors that are available over there. The relationships that we have here in Seattle are long term but they’re not going to travel over there. I need a plumber and an electrician, a drywall company. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.