Making Lemonade

A quick read of current statistics for the construction industry in general and the trades in particular shows that, once again, our industry has proven itself to be darned near bulletproof. Showing only slight declines in non-residential construction, the industry as a whole has bounced back to pre-COIVD strength with pent up demand for plumbing and HVAC services being gladly met.

Infrastructure projects are slow to respond to the national shutdown and their starts, as well as their need for political solutions are harder to predict. Things like oil pipelines, generating stations and railroad improvements are very hard to predict in the best of times, let alone in the current scenario. If you factor in the political climate, well, nothing of note will likely happen until after November.

However, from all indications, the average plumbing/HVAC shops are humming right along after taking a short hiatus during the worst of the pandemic. On the HVAC front, we have summer, and almost every shop in the Southwest is buried in work. I imagine the same is probably true across most of the country where air conditioning is popular. Plumbing service, repair and remodel work, which many folks decided to postpone as the uncertainty of post COVID life unfolded, is now enjoying a second look from the folks who no longer want to keep a bucket under the kitchen sink drain or whose water heater problems have gone from merely annoying to absolutely maddening. 

While it is true that many YouTube videos can show folks how to effect their own repairs, the skills needed to actually do the work is problematic in many cases. For the shops, the problem of hiring qualified, available help is still there, as is adapting to the new digital paradigm, but even those items are being addressed and absorbed by the uptick in business.

There is a saying: if life hands you lemons, make lemonade. We in the trades have been handed lemons as regards new blood coming into the crafts for a long time, and damned little innovative solutions that have worked. We need to learn to make lemonade--right now!

Have you noticed a renewed interest in, and emphasis on, vocational training and vocational education programs lately? Presently, there are more stories addressing that issue on media platforms than I can ever remember. Guys like Mike Rowe are generating interest in “alternative” career paths with new shows like “Rowe’d Trips.”  Add to that the virtual shut down of the education system in the country and there are more people who are getting a chance to make choices that they have never much thought about before.

I read an article about a Yale student who is suing that august university for a partial refund because he is having to do Zoom classes and is not getting the “full Yale experience” that he felt he was paying for. As of this writing, that issue has not been resolved, but it points up the fact that a lot of students who were getting the “full college” experience (whatever that entails) are now having to take their classes via the internet. The hands-on aspect of going to class, etc. is no longer available to them and without the constant social pressure, they now have time to really assess their career goals and to compare their major course choices with the real world, outside of the academic sphere and get an objective look at what awaits them after graduation.

I mean no disrespect when I say that a degree in gender studies or dance theory simply does not provide the same prospect of getting a job with a living wage after graduation as does say, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or a trade education.

This is a real opportunity for the construction trades, all of them, to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. While I have no specifics on the statistics, it is my opinion that there are many young people out there in academia who would like the chance to experience hands-on learning of a trade or craft that they might enjoy, and to enter into the work force at wages which beat Mickey D’s all to hell.

We could be in the midst of another perfect storm, except this time, it would be one where we can take advantage. The pandemic shut things down tight. As we slowly recover and move forward, it is apparent that the strength of the U.S. economy is still there, and a lot of untapped opportunity is to be had if only we take the time to identify it and to take advantage of it.

A regular feature of my column is the labor situation in the trades. The lack of qualified, available bodies has been at a critical point for the last decade or more. More and more “graybeards” are leaving the trades and the percentage of people entering to take their places is small. I’m just spit-balling here, but everything I read and see tells me that this might be our time to make some real progress in encouraging young people into the trades.

Our approach should be measured, and certainly not hyperbolic. Rather, it should be steady and fact-based. The trades should aggressively approach the current situation from multiple angles with as much enthusiasm as we can muster. As we open up the country to commerce again, we should try to fill up every single trade school and voc ed program across the country. This might be a golden opportunity if we just take advantage of it.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born author is a third-generation master plumber. He founded Sunflower Plumbing & Heating in Shirley, N.Y., in 1975 and A Professional Commercial Plumbing Inc. in Phoenix in 1980. He holds residential, commercial, industrial and solar plumbing licenses and is certified in welding, clean rooms, polypropylene gas fusion and medical gas piping. He can be reached at [email protected].