The Building Trades classes at Big Sky are designed to help students cultivate a strong foundation in practical skills and knowledge in the field of construction. We push students to widen their understanding of how their world is built, and maintain a rigorous standard of safety practices. We encourage all students; those who have some knowledge and those who don’t know a hammer from a level, to give Building Trades a try and expand their understanding of construction and leave the class with skills they can and will use in their daily lives.
Building Trades 1 is a semester class & designed to introduce our students to the following: Forests management, how their conserved, logged and managed. Look at today’s building materials, the wood industry, and what it takes to have a safe wood working environment. Throughout the semester, we will learn the follow tools and procedures: measurement, squares, drill press, hand drill, scroll saw, band saw, miter saw, wood lathe, bench sanders, and lathe. Every project will involve measurement, critical thinking, layout, safety, and machine use.
Building Trades 2 is a semester & Building Trades 1 is a pre-requisite for this course. The course will begin by reviewing wood shop tools and procedures and safety. BT 2 will take a further look into the woodworking industry in the following areas: Project design, calculating board feet, bill of materials, project plan reading, machine set up, wood joinery, CNC routing, machine set up and shut down, furniture building.
Building Trades 3 is a year long class. This class is designed to ready students for the construction field. We cover building permits, zoning, site development, excavation, footings & foundations, floor plans, blue prints, architectural scales, framing, roofing, insulation, electrical, plumbing and of course safety. The students will also take field trips to construction sites, have internship opportunities through Build Montana, and have the opportunity to take OSHA training and become certified
