Mike Brewer, CEO Brewer Companies & Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Phoenix – President of ASA Arizona; Dan Puente, Founder/CEO of DP Electric; Marcia Veidmark, President of SSC Underground
As leaders in the construction trades, there is so much to celebrate about the industry that has been so good to us. Construction has allowed us to build the lives we wanted and provide for our families. It has also given us the chance to provide those same opportunities to our incredible employees.
We have much to be grateful for, and are constantly searching for ways to give back. That’s why we’ve invested in Build Your Future Arizona (BYFAZ).
BYFAZ, which launched on October 16th, is an industry-led career awareness campaign for the skilled trades. Its goals are simple: correct negative perceptions about the industry, showcase the diverse career paths available in construction, and inspire the next generation of craft professionals to “construct their careers” while helping build Arizona.
We believe BYFAZ is a critical part of the solution to a long-standing problem—a problem that will only grow worse unless the industry acts now. Currently, 86% of employers struggle to find the labor they need to complete their projects. By September of 2022, Associated General Contractors of America predicts there will be 155,000 vacant positions in the skilled trades in our state. Moreover, it’s not just people that we require. By 2031, 41% of current craft professionals will retire, leaving a huge experience and knowledge gap in their wake. To replace their expertise, we need new tradespeople to enter the industry and begin learning now. All the while, training programs sit below enrollment capacity and are often not aligned with company needs.
To overcome a shortage of this scale, we have to work together. Our workforce issues are an industry-wide problem, and require industry-wide solutions. They are too big to be solved by individual companies, even ones making significant investments in their own talent development efforts.
This is especially true because, as we all know, construction projects rely on an ecosystem of suppliers and skilled employees to be successful. Plumbers can’t do their work if cement doesn’t get poured or structures aren’t framed; utilities don’t get installed if contractors cannot find workers; and large-scale commercial electrical projects fail to get off the ground if there is a lack of qualified project managers. If any one sector or trade can’t find labor, we all suffer—and so does Arizona’s economy.
That’s where BYFAZ comes in. The initiative is based out of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation (the Foundation), which convenes leaders and education partners from across the industry. Foundation staff coordinate BYFAZ efforts under the direction of an employer steering committee, of which the three of us are members. That committee is structured so that no one sector or company drives its direction, fostering a collaborative effort among employers with a nonprofit intermediary to execute the day-to-day details.
The BYF Arizona Team. From left to right: Matt Clyde (Ideas Collide), Josh Umar (Chamber Foundation), Joel Eberhart (Ideas Collide), Jennifer Mellor (Chamber Foundation), Mike Brewer (BYFAZ Steering Committee Chair), Todd Sanders (CEO, Greater Phoenix Chamber). Steering Committee Members: Bryan Amarel (Hensel Phelps), Marcia Veidmark (SSC Underground), JD Martin (Corbins Electric), Justin Dent (McCarthy), Pat Ahern (Suntec), Mike Bontrager (Adolfson & Peterson, Chamber Foundation Chair), Sean Ray (Sundt), Dan Puente (DP Electric). Not pictured: Tim King (HACI Mechanical).
More than 40 BYFAZ investor businesses have raised over 2 million dollars for the three-year awareness campaign. We have been joined by several industry partners who are amplifying our message: the American Subcontractors Association of Arizona (ASAA), Arizona Builder’s Alliance (ABA), Arizona Masonry Council (AMC), Associated Minority Contractors of Arizona (AMCA), Arizona Utility Contractors Association (AZUCA), Construction Financial Management Association Valley of the Sun Chapter (CFMA), and Metro Phoenix Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractor’s Association (PHCCA), with more joining the effort as our effort expands.
With these resources and allies marshaled behind our cause, we expect our marketing efforts to result in a minimum of 50 million media impressions in the first year alone. Along with students ages 17-24, our target market includes parents of high school aged youth, guidance counselors, and young adults ages 18-34 who might be seeking a career change. We are reaching out to both English and Spanish speakers in those groups, and proactively working to ensure young women feel included.
More importantly, we believe the BYFAZ message is the right one, and it starts with a simple belief: careers in construction aren’t an “alternative” or second-best choice to be pursued only if a 4-year degree isn’t attainable. Nor are they “middle skill.” They are aspirational in and of themselves! Our industry offers individuals an opportunity for challenging, high-potential, high-paying work in any number of diverse career paths. We also offer a way to earn a good living while you learn a trade, and chances to advance rapidly into leadership and office positions for those interested in that path.
Finally, a career in construction offers something missing from many other fields and their increasingly digital and isolated work environments. Our employees can achieve tangible results as part of a team and take pride in what they’ve built in the world. They have a chance to create their legacy in the form of roads, houses, schools, and hospitals.
By showcasing those opportunities as a part of BYFAZ, we can begin leveling the playing field in career planning discussions that go on in schools and around kitchen tables every day. To ensure that our message is authentic, we are working with local marketing firm Ideas Collide. They are producing materials for the campaign that showcase real Arizona stories—our state, our companies, our diversity—that will inspire people to act.
The cornerstone of the campaign is arizona.byf.org. In addition to pages for visitors to connect with jobs and training opportunities, it features an interactive career path that leads parents and young people on a journey from middle school to CEO of their own construction company. It also has career profiles in the form of online trading cards. Each card highlights a different trade and provides information on salary, training, skills, and personality traits that fit the work done by craft professionals in that field.
An example of the career profiles on the site. Print versions are available in the form of trading cards.
The website will also host powerful videos that share the stories of young people who have started their construction careers. Viewers will learn about Perry, a plumber who has found financial security by building his future—and houses—with the Brewer Companies. They will get to know Megan, a welder and pipefitter with Sundt who’s constructing her career and increasing her skills every day. Lastly, they will see Irvyn’s story of growth from an apprentice electrician to an estimator—and his dreams of rising even higher within DP Electric.
The three young craft professionals who are the subjects of our videos: Perry, Megan, and Irvyn. Pictured in front of a BYF Arizona co-branded truck from DP Electric.
We aren’t stopping there. BYFAZ is engaged in a large-scale effort to share our message via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We are also raising awareness through traditional media platforms like billboards, wrapped vehicles, and jobsite banners.
Finally, we are leveraging the assistance and resources of our partners at NCCER, who coordinate Build Your Future (BYF) efforts nationally. They’ve launched BYF campaigns in several other states across the country, and stand ready to share their expertise and best practices with us as we grow.
Billboards all over Greater Phoenixare featuring BYF Arizona’s primary “Construct Your Career” call to action
And grow we must. Even with all the elements outlined above, our three-year BYFAZ initiative is just the first step toward successfully closing our workforce gap. After 40-year drumbeat that a 4-year degree (or more!) is the only path to success, resetting those kitchen table conversations in a lasting way will require that we “go big or go home.” We have gotten off to a great start. Now we must ensure BYFAZ is sustainable over the coming years, and that its message is always on the minds of potential tradespeople—as well as those who influence them.
That’s why we’re asking you now to get invested and get involved. What better way to celebrate our industry’s future?
If you have any questions about BYFAZ or are ready to become an ally, please visit byfaz.org and then reach out to any of the three of us. We will be pleased to assist you. Chamber Foundation Chair Mike Bontrager is also available to help. Finally, BYFAZ Project Manager Josh Umar of the Foundation can be reached at jumar@phoenixchamber.com.
We look forward to having you on board and working together!
Mike Brewer
Mike.brewer@brewercompanies.com
CEO Brewer Companies & Benjamin Franklin Plumbing Phoenix – President of ASA Arizona;
Dan Puente
dan@dpelectric.com
Founder/CEO of DP Electric
Marcia Veidmark
marcia@sscunderground.com
President of SSC Underground
