Heavy Equipment and Site Construction
Heavy Equipment
Every buildingstarts withdirt work.
Run real machines on a real dig site, moving real dirt. You'll train toward NCCER Core and all three levels of Heavy Equipment Operations, plus forklift certification.
$59,600 median
What construction equipment operators earn nationally. BLS lists a high school diploma as the typical way in.
2 Years
Junior and senior year. A senior-only option is available, but you'll miss a full year of seat time and credential prep.
No Tuition
Lab fees are typically a few hundred dollars. Payment plans are available.
College Credit
Earn college credit toward a degree while you are still in high school.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Construction Equipment Operators, May 2025 wage data. The median across all occupations was $50,980. Pay depends on experience, machines you can run, and employer.
Credentials You Can Earn
Every one of these is earned by passing the assessment. We get you ready. The score is yours.
NCCER
Four Credentials
- Core
- Heavy Equipment Operations Level 1
- Heavy Equipment Operations Level 2
- Heavy Equipment Operations Level 3
OPERATOR CERTIFICATION
Forklift Operation
- Load handling and stability
- Capacity limits and load charts
- Pre-use inspection
- Safe operation around people
- Hands-on evaluation
All four NCCER credentials are recorded in NCCER's national registry, so a contractor anywhere in the country can look up what you completed. Getting through all three levels of Heavy Equipment Operations is not something most new hires walk in with. The forklift card is the kind of thing that gets a young worker onto a site before anyone has seen them run anything bigger.
The Classroom Is a Dig Site.
You don't learn to run a machine from a desk. You learn it in the seat, on uneven ground, in weather, with a grade you have to actually hit.
- Operating excavators, dozers, loaders, and skid steers
- Grading, cutting, and filling to a target elevation
- Site layout, surveying, and reading grade stakes
- Reading site plans and prints
- Trenching, utilities, and excavation safety
- Daily inspection and machine maintenance
- Working safely around people and other equipment
- Moving and loading material with a forklift
On the dig siteWe work with Ohio CAT to put current, top-end machines on our site, so what you climb into here matches what is running on the job.
Why WCCC
You get seat time
Our main classroom is the dig site out back. Not a simulator, not a video. Actual machines, actual dirt, and enough hours in the seat that your hands know what they are doing before you ever show up to a job.
Keep your home school
You're still part of your home high school. Graduate with your class, and keep playing sports, going to prom, and showing up for homecoming.
Steady demand
About 42,500 openings for construction equipment operators are projected each year through 2035, most from workers retiring or moving on. Roads, utilities, and data center construction all start with someone moving dirt.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 projections.Where This Can Lead
This program is a head start, not the finish line. When you graduate, you'll have real options:
Start working
Operator or laborer with an excavation, site, utility, or road construction contractor
Keep training
Employer training, a CDL, or an operating engineers apprenticeship if you land one
Keep building
More machines, more certifications, then foreman, site supervisor, or your own equipment
Applications open December 2.
See the dig site before you apply.