Builders compete for top honours at Home and Garden Show

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 1, 2022.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Andrew Neels, of the Team College Carpentry, does his part of transforming a pallet into a planter in the Who BILDs It Best contest during the Home and Garden Show at Exhibition Park.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

BILD Lethbridge Region has partnered with CAREERS to give students and pros the opportunity to showcase their construction skills under pressure.
“I wanted to bring a fun element to the Home and Garden Show where you can see with your own eyes this live building competition,” said Bridget Mearns, executive officer of BILD Lethbridge.
She said the competition is divided into two categories. One of high school students, who use kits provided by Skills Canada Alberta. Everyday from Thursday to Saturday one team wins the competition in their category.
The other category is the pros category, which involves Lethbridge College students and BILD members that have been in the construction industry for a number of years. Unlike the high school students, they do not use kits. They get to use only one source of wood.
“We’ve provided them with pallets, screws, stencils and decorative elements but the only wood that they basically have access to are pallets,” said Mearns.
 She said pros have been told they have potentially three projects they will build over the three day period and it could either be a planter, a doghouse or a little library.
 “They don’t know which project they’re building until they hear once it’s been announced by the MC at the beginning of the competition. They have 15 minutes to collaborate and design and then they have 50 minutes to build and execute,” said Mearns.
Wednesday’s competition saw two teams from Lethbridge College battling for a spot in the final competition taking place Saturday.
Team College Interior Design and Team College Carpentry went head to head Wednesday to build a planter in 50 minutes. With team Carpentry earning a spot in the finals by a difference of two points based on their creative design.
Team Carpentry member Taren Perry said his biggest challenge was the time constriction.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be with just 50 minutes but I mean it turned out pretty good,” said Perry.
He said the creative designed that put them above the other team was his teammate Andrew Neels’ design.
Neels said that he had a design in mind but he had to make some changes along the way due to time running out.
“If there would have been even like 30 extra minutes I think that would have made a lot of difference, because making the actual structure itself is what takes the 50 minutes and then if you have extra half hour after you can give some final looking touches,” said Neels.
He said at the end of the day, he was happy with the final result and is excited about moving to the finals. Where he believes it will be a matter of creativity instead of experience in the field while competing agains industry pros.

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