Across Alabama, contractors are hiring, builders are struggling to find the skilled labor needed to keep projects on schedule, and infrastructure investment is accelerating.
Nationally, there are approximately 292,000 unfilled skilled trades positions, while the average age of a construction worker in Alabama is 43 years old. For every five people who retire from the trades, only one is being replaced. Without enough residential electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and carpenters, housing production slows. When workforce shortages delay projects, the impact ripples across suppliers, local governments, real estate markets, and small businesses.
The North Alabama Homebuilding Academy (NAHA) is proving what happens when we close that gap. Focused on short-term, hands-on training in residential carpentry, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing, NAHA was created in direct response to one reality: our state’s skilled trades workforce is aging, and demand for housing continues to rise.
Graduates earn pre-apprentice skills, a worksite safety certification, and direct connections to local employers. Employers are hiring directly from the program. Students are entering careers in residential construction and earning a living wage without the burden of student loan debt. Perhaps most importantly, communities are retaining young talent instead of watching it leave. An astounding 99.8% of NAHA graduates remain employed within their home region. Many graduates of this program will go on to start their own business, hire locally, and reinvest in their hometowns.
Interest in this training model continues to be strong. Classes at the Huntsville and Mobile locations are consistently filled to capacity, with waitlists showing that demand exceeds supply. Students from across the state are eager for hands-on training, reflecting both the opportunity and need in Alabama’s skilled trades workforce. Since launching in 2020, NAHA has trained more than 750 participants in residential carpentry, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing. Within 30 days of graduating, 77% of graduates enter the workforce in residential construction-related fields. These are not temporary jobs; they are career pathways.
The NAHA program model demonstrates something important: when public leadership, private industry, and workforce and education leaders work together, we can solve complex workforce challenges. That alignment is why cities across Alabama are now looking to NAHA as a blueprint.
Since 2025, Alabama cities such as Mobile, Birmingham, Montgomery, and the Shoals have begun implementing the NAHA framework. Collectively, these expansion efforts aim to train an additional 500 students annually, building on NAHA’s average of 125
graduates per year. At full scale, NAHA expansion efforts would meet roughly seven out of every ten new skilled trades positions Alabama must fill each year.
The reason for this replication is simple: the model produces outcomes. Alabama’s economic competitiveness depends on whether we can build homes, expand infrastructure, and support economic growth. None of that happens without skilled labor.
As state leaders, we believe scalable, results-driven workforce models deserve strategic expansion. Not because they are experimental, but because they are producing measurable results. At a time when workforce shortages dominate headlines, NAHA represents a proactive solution.
State Rep. Andy Whitt (R-Harvest) represents House District 6 and State Rep. James Lomax (R-Huntsville) represents House District 20 and serves as the Alabama House Majority Whip.
