Photo By Troy Miller | Norfolk Naval Shipyard Production Resources Department Facilities and Equipment...... read more read more
Over the years, there have been many television shows about repairing, renovating and building houses. There was Steve Thomas and Bob Vila with “This Old House”; Ty Pennington on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”; and twin brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott on “The Property Brothers”; to name a few examples. Television isn’t the only place one can find home improvements being performed. Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) Production Resource Department Facilities and Equipment Self Help (Code 900F.41) is the “Bob Vila” of the shipyard.
“Norfolk Naval Shipyard Self-Help Division was formed approximately eight years ago,” said Production Resource Department Facilities and Equipment Self-Help Group (Code 900F.41) Interior Shop Manager Steve Hall. “To help with the abundant workload that the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) has, the Self-Help Group goes to various spaces in various buildings to renovate them; after all, some of the buildings at the shipyard are over 100 years old.”
When it comes to renovating spaces, Code 900F.41 replaces ceiling tiles, paints the walls, installs new tile or carpet, rips out old structures, and builds new structures. If a code or shop needs renovating, that work group is responsible for ordering all the materials and supplies, funding its own renovations. The renovation projects are not funded by Code 900F.41, NAVFAC or any other code, shop, or agency.
NNSY’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity Department (Code 109) was one of the work groups that has benefited from the Self-Help Group. “A lot of our customers did not like the old setup at the IT Customer Service Desk. We didn’t have much space,” said Information Technology and Cybersecurity Department (Code 109) IT Specialist Danielle Jenkins. “The floor was uneven; the paint was falling off the wall and it was dingy. It wasn’t a place for customers and employees to feel good about. The IT Customer Service Desk space needed a lot of TLC.”
Shop 900F.41 Maintenance Mechanic Cody Tucker added, “Code 109 came to the Self-Help Group to request us to renovate the IT Help Desk and the office right next door. We replaced ceiling tiles, fixed the uneven flooring, put new tile down, painted the walls, and we took out the IT the old wooden IT Customer Service Desk Counter to open the space up more, allowing more room for more computers to serve more people at any given time.”
Renovating spaces isn’t the only thing Code 900F.41 does for the shipyard. The Self-Help Group also assists with removing and installing furniture for various spaces, and sets up tables and tents for various NNSY events including Change of Command ceremonies.
“The Self-Help Group consists of 14 people,” said Self-Help Group Supervisor Ollie Couther. “Our team consists of someone who built a few houses outside the gates; a couple of guys who came from NAVFAC that know carpentry pretty well; a person who used to run a cabinet shop; a person who used to be a contractor supervisor for HVAC work; another person who ran his own painting business; and other subject matter experts that bring their skills, knowledge, and talent to the Self-Help Group.”
Code 900F.41 Maintenance Mechanic Brian Sumner added, “I think the most important thing that I take away from our position is we're updating the shipyard office by office to help support the efforts of our workforce so that they can prepare the warships to continue to support the overall U.S. Navy’s mission.”
| Date Taken: | 07.03.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2025 07:09 |
| Story ID: | 503348 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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