Construction Company Rebuilds Valley - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Construction Company Rebuilds Valley

A speedy recovery from the damages left behind after the 2011 flood may seem unlikely -- but one construction company is working to do just that.
Jordan Pederson has more..

The 2011 Mouse River Flood tore through the valley flooding hundreds of homes.
Rebuilding damaged homes could take years to complete.
But if homes could be rebuilt in bulk.. it would cut down the amount of people still without a home.
And right now.. a company fairly new to the area-- is rebuilding a number of properties in a short amount of time.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "Usually we do two to three houses in 45 days, put something nice and neat back in the neighborhood."
Skinner has the rebuilding process down to a science.
A variety of trades and skills between his crew of nine is what expedites the rebuilding process...
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "What we are doing out here is buying the houses and then I have a crew of guys that have been with me for a long time and we come in and fix the house the right way."
From cleaning up the yard and reseeding to reworking the layout of the house... Skinner and his crew give each property a complete make-over.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "Back then all of these houses had really small bedrooms, small closets. So we try to make the master bigger and the bathroom bigger."
Homes are being transformed from a 2 bedroom to a 4 bedroom with a finished and waterproofed basement.
High efficiency heating and cooling systems are installed.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "Brand new windows, brand new drywall, the house will be free of any lead paint."
Once the house is completed --it is either rented or sold.
So far Skinner has fixed up 12 properties and has 24 additional purchased to work on.
Skinner's crew is rebuilding by the mass... but that doesn't mean the work is hurried or sloppy.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "We have the third part inspector come in and he checks it. Then we have the certificates waiting so the people can see it has been checked out."
At this point, Skinner could call it a job well done... but he doesn't.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "I always, probably once a month or right around then I will talked with them, see how they are doing, see how they like it. If there is something wrong or they need something else, I'm always going around and they call me. I leave them my business cards."
Although this is Skinner's career... it's more than just a job to him...
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "This is what I love doing. I'm the best doing this kind of work. A house is a house but when it turns into a home when the people are in. That is the big difference.
After moving his family from Las Vegas to Minot last winter... Skinner plans to stick around the neighborhood.
(Alan Skinner, General Manager, AWS Property Services) "The neighborhoods and the people, everybody is so nice. It is so different. So I like it, I'm staying."
Jordan Pederson, KX News.