Alexandria-based Michael & Son is establishing a vocational school in Richmond to train its workforce in plumbing, electrical and HVAC trades. The first class of enrollees is expected to start in the next few weeks, according to Richmond BizSense.
Said President Basim Mansour:
We’re probably not going to be fully running for another four to six months, but when the school is finished, it’s going to be the most state-of-the-art trade school in the nation. We’re going to be able to create and build incredible, talented people that we can farm just for our use.
The reality is that nobody’s going into the trade anymore. What we need as a company is, first, great people, and then second, tradespeople. It’s easier to find good people who don’t know the trade, so we’re going to take those good people and teach them the trade.
Michael & Son spent $1.9 million to buy the old Wyeth Pharmaceuticals building and another $1 million to convert it into a dormitory to house up to 74 students. Classrooms at the school will replicate a home where students can get real-world work on plumbing, electrical wiring and HVAC systems. The company will pay students $300 a week to attend class — in contrast to some trade schools that charge up to $20,000 to attend. The 12-week program is followed by six weeks of field work. The company currently employs about 900 people.
Bacon’s bottom line: Why don’t we see more of this? Building tradesmen make good middle-class wages, and there aren’t enough of them. Why aren’t more businesses — at least the big ones which can afford to spend $3 million on facilities — training their own workers?
How has it happened that U.S. industry has come to rely upon the higher education establishment to provide the training? When you own your own shop, you teach exactly the skills your workforce needs, and you teach up to your standards. Other than Newport News Shipbuilding, which has one of the top apprenticeship programs in the country, I can’t think of any other enterprise in Virginia that does this.
