Cole Coggins, from Great Bend, Kansas, always preferred doing over listening. From building forts in the woods with friends to joining a building trades program in tech school, his path has been shaped by hands-on learning. Today, he’s working with Bartz Construction while continuing to develop his skills. Looking ahead, Cole hopes to become a well-rounded builder who others can turn to for guidance on the job site.
For Cole Coggins, building has always been second nature. Growing up in Great Bend, Kansas, he and his friends would spend hours outside, making forts and creating whatever they could dream up. “I was most definitely a hands-on learner,” he says. “I wish I could just be doing it instead of hearing it.”
That mindset led him to pursue technical training after high school. At his tech school, Cole joined the Building Trades program, where he gained experience across multiple disciplines. The program also introduced him to NCCER training, expanding his skills and giving him exposure to tools and techniques he hadn’t used before.
Now working with Bartz Construction, Cole is putting that training into practice. Each day brings new challenges and opportunities to learn, and he values the teamwork that construction fosters. “The world’s a big place and there’s a lot of good people throughout the trades. They all got different stories and different backgrounds, and the fact that you guys can get together and work towards the same thing is pretty cool.”
Looking ahead, Cole has a clear vision: “In five to ten years, I’d like to be a well-rounded builder with the confidence to have guys come to me and feel like I can give them the right answers to achieve what they’re trying to do.”
