Kankakee Area Career Center Logo

Doug Enz

Construction Technology Instructor

Mr. Enz is one of two Construction Technology instructors here at KACC. Mr. Enz's first encounter with KACC was not, however as a teacher, but as a student. Like his counterpart, Mr. Enz attended KACC.

Mr. Enz spent most of his childhood in the Limestone area and attended Hersher schools. He played baseball and helped his father work on home building during those years. Mr. Enz came to KACC as a junior in high school in 1981. During his senior year, the Enz family moved to Duncan, Oklahoma due to rapid growth in construction in that location.  

After graduating from high school, Mr. Enz and his father opened up their own construction business in 1983 called Enz Construction. Their business mainly was framing the house, which is all the wood work of the house.

Eventually years went by and Illinois's construction companies increased with building houses. This was a great opportunity for Mr. Enz and the rest of his family to move back. In 1987, Mr. Enz and his family moved back to Illinois. Shortly after, Mr. Enz started another construction business with his father called Creative Carpentry. Their company has been involved in homebuilding and remodeling in Kankakee and Will Counties. 

As years went by, there was a job opening at KACC for construction teacher. Mr. Enz had no trouble fitting in because his uncle, Jim Enz,   Precision Metal Working Instructor at KACC, is his uncle. In 1998, Mr. Enz joined Mr. Umphrey and continues to teach the construction technology class together today. 

In the classroom, both Mr. Enz and Mr. Umphrey teach the students the many facets of building a home.  This allows students to be introduced to various construction trade areas, use of a wide-variety of tools, types of measurements, etc.  Currently, the construction technology students have broken ground on our 22nd home.  This home will be a 3-bedroom ranch with a full basement and 3-car garage.  Several incredible features are being added to this home. The best part about his work at KACC, according to  Mr. Enz, is that he likes to see his students being able to build a home, not just small building  or shop-based projects in a classroom..."What goes from nothing to something." 

Mr. Enz's pet peeve is students who don't have a pencil. You can't perform construction without a pencil. Mr. Enz also has no tolerance for students who daydream while he is giving directions. This is not something to test Mr. Enz. If this happens, students think they know what they're suppose to do, but actually have no idea. This can be dangerous. Mr. Enz stresses - "Always pay attention in construction,"  I have a feeling if they do, no one could ever have a problem with Mr. Enz. 

On  a personal note, Mr. Enz and his wife, Valerie have two grown children.  Mr. Enz has been elected to three consecutive 4-year terms as a Township Trustee.  He not only shares his talents with his students, shares his talents with his community.