On Saturday afternoon I attended a workshop for installing exterior doors and windows at the Detroit Training Center. Given Courtship Revival has no windows, I figured I could save a ton of money by learning how to install them myself.
The facility itself is impressive. They have a number of stations setup for masonry, hardwood floors, tiling, and a bunch of rough carpentry for doing things like doors, windows, siding, etc.
Overall, the course was decent. It was nice to see someone, in person, install a door from measurement, framing, and final adjustments. It gave me new appreciation for how time consuming installing a door actually is. Doing it took most of the 3-hour long class, granted the instructor was interrupted with questions quite a bit.
That said, I wasn’t super blown away. I wish we’d spent more time on windows, even though they share many similarities. While our instructor seemed pretty knowledgeable it was clear he wasn’t an expert in doors and windows. There was a question about security doors and he admitted he had zero experience with them and was unable to answer it. So I’m sure the quality of the course is heavily dependent on the instructor.
The course was $70, and you get slight discounts for buying multiple course credits at once. I’m still on the fence in terms of whether or not it was worth it, but I’m willing to take another before making a final decision.
I do firmly believe Detroit’s future is real estate and all things related (trades), so I love seeing things like DCI. I hope they realize the opportunity they have and continue investing in the trades.
On my way out, there was a film crew with a huge camera attached to a boom on the front of a car. The crew was loitering about. They must have been filming No Sudden Move.