With the economy humming, the demand for new homes steady and unemployment low, construction and repair companies are having trouble finding enough skilled workers to do the job.

A couple of Hamilton County entrepreneurs are hoping a new project helps fill the void.

Travis Tucker and David Decker plan to construct a $14 million home-building center in Fishers — a sort of skilled-trades incubator — where new ideas can be shared, projects developed and vocational abilities taught.

The 85,000-square-foot Hub & Spoke Design Center would be built at 106th Street and the future Nickel Plate Trail, just west of Interstate 69. Among other services, the center would teach young people skilled trades such as electronics, welding, carpentry and mechanics in an effort to get more of them to enter those occupations.

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"Nationally and locally, builders just can't find the labor they need," said Tucker, president of Fishers-based OnPoint Real Estate Solutions, which will develop the building. "There are several reasons why, but one is that somewhere along the line the profession became looked down upon, it got jaded and young people aren't entering it. We hope this will let them explore it as a career."

Businesses related to home-building will anchor job incubator

The center will be anchored by about 10 home-building-related businesses, with four scheduled to move in first: OnPoint; About A/Co, a Carmel-based flooring and cabinet dealer; Franklin Window and Door, of Carmel; and Battersby Danielson Azbell and Associates, of Westfield.

Decker said the center will offer a potpourri of goods and services.

“There will collaborative desks and offices, event space, showroom space where people can see the latest best projects and a dedicated “maker” space with tools where visitors can build things,” Decker said.

The tenants will work with higher education institutions and Hamilton Southeastern High School to develop a teaching curriculum that is likely to include students working on projects or gaining internships at a company at Hub & Spoke or elsewhere.

With incubator, high-tech Fishers takes a new turn

The maker space will be a section where visitors can use tools and equipment to work on projects, from sculptures to cabinets to art.

"For example, we might have a group of kids come in and help them build a tiny house," Decker said.

It’s a new dimension of creative workspaces for Fishers, which started the high-tech accelerators Launch Fishers and the Internet of Things Lab, and has earned a reputation as a technological enclave. Tucker said he approached Mayor Scott Fadness with the idea and the mayor immediately signed on.

"I had seen what the city did with the technology labs and thought he might be interested," Tucker said.

“Hub & Spoke deepens Fishers’ commitment to entrepreneurs of all industries,” Fadness said. "We’re on a mission to connect residents to their passions."

Fishers will provide tax abatement, other subsidies

The city would provide a 10-year property tax abatement and waive city fees, for a total of $400,000 in savings to the developer. The city would subsidize the developer for any unleased space to blunt the impact of any vacancies. The City Council will consider the proposal at its regular meeting Monday.

In a 2018 survey, Manpower Group, a worldwide business consultant, found that 46 percent of companies said they can't find the talent they need and the workers most in demand were skilled tradesman such as electricians, welders and mechanics. The employers said a lack of applicants was the No. 1 reason for the deficit, followed by a lack of experience.

In Indiana, the Associated General Contractors of America found that 72 percent of the state's contractors said they are are having trouble filling some or all positions with tradesmen -- yet 83 percent said they need to hire even more workers because business is so good.

'A good living in the trades, if you are good'

Mark Ridgeway, 63, owner of M & B Heating and Air Conditioning in Fishers, said not enough people are going to vocational schools now to fill construction and repair jobs because generations of young people have been taught a four-year college education is necessary to get a high-paying job.

"The younger generation aren't learning the crafts because they want the jobs they think will bring them the big bucks," Ridgeway said. "But you can make a good living in the trades, if you are good."

The median wage for plumbers in 2017 was $52,590, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. For electricians, it was $54,110, and carpenters earned $45,170, according to the department.

The skilled trade shortage is so bad Ridgeway trains many of his employees himself.

"It's hard to find anyone already trained," he said. "But it can take up to year to train them up to where they can go on a job themselves, and a lot of them decide they can't wait that long and leave."

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317 444-6418. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.

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