Phoenix holds job fair
BY BRUCE BRANUM
The Greenville Standard
Phoenix Building Solutions held a job fair on Wednesday, Jan. 25 to preview mobile homes and take applications for employment at their facility in the Butler County Industrial Park (formerly a site for Shoreline).
CFO/Director of Sales Eric Lutz (pronounced Lootz) said the manufacturing facility will build their products from the ground up.
A trailer frame will begin at one end of the facility and the final product will roll out of the doors at the other end.
He noted the management team has over 43 years of experience in manufacturing and added they have researched problems that become identifiable 2-3 years in the future and are designing their products to negate those problems.
Lutz said that they will build custom floor plans for customers but it will be more expensive. He specifically noted engineering costs, and fabrication costs.
He went on to say that the largest trailer that could be produced at their facility was a triple wide. Each section would be 16 feet wide and have a length of 80 feet.
They also hope to produce emergency housing units which can be easily shipped and set up after disasters.
Phoenix is seeking a Housing and Urban Development contract and in the future hope to provide emergency homes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Lutz’s are originally from North Dakota. They currently live in south Florida and make a nine hour drive to Greenville.
Felicia Lutz, also an employ of Phoenix and wife of Eric, said, “Greenville feels like a really nice community.”
Several employees have been hired, but Lutz said initially they hope to staff 30 people to begin with and eventually believe they will employ 150 personnel in full time positions.
They are seeking competent trade people in the many building facets necessary to complete a home, which include: carpenters, electricians, plumbers, welders, flooring, roofing and HVAC.
The Lutz’s noted they were looking for employees who were willing to be flexible in the construction process and could handle a variety of tasks.
Eric said, “An important thing with our culture is that we need everybody to call on everybody and to step in. We are really strong on our core values and culture and are looking for people who can emulate those values.”
“The biggest thing we want employees to understand is when you are building a home you are building somebody’s dream and so there is no detail to small and there is nothing that should be overlooked.
“For us, it comes from the heart and we put everything we have behind it and we want to bring that to our team and make sure they are creating that for customers.”
