A Bobcat frames Lawrence High School students during an early morning tour of a construction site at Aberdeen North Apartments, 5555 W. Sixth St.

Tim Stultz, president of Highland Construction, led the tour Thursday as part of the Lawrence Home Builders Association's partnership with Lawrence Education Achievement Partners, or LEAP.

After spending the entire semester learning how to conceptualize, design and create plans for a new home, Matt Nathan needed less than an hour to settle on a potential career path.

Listening to builder Tim Stultz discuss the specifications for form placement, rules for drywall thickness and ratings for exterior door fire resistance will do that.

“I wouldn’t mind being a contractor like him,” Nathan said from beneath his hooded sweatshirt, ambling back to his school bus after a visit to Stultz’s Aberdeen North construction site in northwest Lawrence. “He doesn’t have to do all the building. He just gets to be in charge.”

Ah, the lessons of youth.

Fourteen students in Charlie Lauts’ Architectural Drafting class at Lawrence High School visited the work site Thursday morning to get an up-close look at how conceptual plans are put into reality.

The visit was coordinated by the Lawrence Home Builders Association, working with Lawrence Education Achievement Partners, or LEAP. The association is a districtwide partner with LEAP, which teams 110 employers and other organizations with schools to share knowledge, time and resources.

Lauts knows such site visits pay off, after students have sat in class for weeks learning how to put an idea on paper, or in a computer program.

“That’s all two-dimensional,” she said. “It’s important for them to see this, in three dimensions. The pictures make sense to them now.”

Besides, she said with a chuckle, “I’m like their mom. They’re tired of listening to me.”

Stultz – who informed students Thursday about everything from International Building Code requirements to the intricacies of soil compaction – also understands how such visits can make a difference.

“When I was in high school, I did the exact same thing,” Stultz said, recalling how then-teacher Phil Pestinger took Stultz’s Lawrence High class out to Gene Burnett’s work site at Parkway 6000 Apartments. “I was on the other side of that speech.

“It’s an inspiration: ‘Yeah, I think I really want to do this.’ It probably solidified my career choice more than any practical, technical training.”

But Stultz – who started working on construction sites in 1983, as a seventh-grader at West Junior High School, and didn’t start his own company, Highland Construction, until 1991 – has a bit more advice for students before they start tackling $10 million construction projects like Aberdeen North.

Listen up, Nathan.

“You kind of need to know how to do all the work,” Stultz said afterward, with a smile, “before you can hire someone to do the work.”