GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — A new survey said phase one of Guilford County schools' construction will boost the economy by $810 million.
Right now, 10 schools are getting attention and that's just the beginning.
As workers build these schools, some from the ground up, the people working on them are boosting the local economy.
It all started a few years ago when talks of renovating, remolding, and re-building schools began. As a result, Guilford County voters approved $2 billion in school bonds.
While the county invests in the schools, the people building them are investing in our community.
Karen Hornfeck is the interim President of the Guilford Education Alliance.
She said 20,000 people are working on these school builds during phase one of construction.
"Those jobs could be everywhere from the project manager of the construction site, you've got architects that are designing the building, you've got folks who are doing heating and air, you've got folks who are putting down the concrete. Then it flows out into a bigger picture where you have people who are being hired to drive trucks on the site. So, there's a wide variety of jobs and if you go onto the construction site you see that it's an active site with lots of folks doing lots of different things," Hornfeck explained.
Guilford Education Alliance and Action Greensboro paid for the survey which was conducted by Creative Economic Development Consulting.
Per the survey, together thousands of workers are expected to spend $810 million within the county.
As the schools attract more business to the area, Commission Chair Skip Alston said it will open up jobs too.
Alston said, "Guilford County is in a great place at this point in time to really be able to do some great things, keep our young people when they graduate from our colleges, keep them here in Greensboro and you're going to see a lot of other people coming back to Guilford County in order to take advantage of some of the opportunities that we now have."
Now, attention turns to housing. Commission Chair Alston said they've been working with realtors and builders. He said they're on track to make sure housing is available for people who are taking advantage of this boost.