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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m A u g u s t 2 0 15 • I NSIGH T | 31 "We need to get more people excited about construction because it's not like it's going away anytime soon," says Elizabeth Roddy, recruitment and training coordinator for ABC Wisconsin. "It's not like we can take the building you are in right now and ship it off to China and say, 'Make one like this'. We need to get people excited here." One of the key challenges, Roddy says, is educating students and parents about the construction industry and what it offers when it's time to consider career paths. "Kids always talk about becoming a teacher, a doctor or a firefighter when they grow up, and they don't necessarily talk about construction," Roddy says. "It's not that dirty job, or that grunt labor that everybody sometimes thinks about when they think of construction. When workers can take an empty field or an empty lot and make a building out of it, it's truly amazing to think about what we as humans can create." urge officials at Moraine Park Technical College to reinstate a building trades program for students. e construction worker one-year diploma program was suspended in January, even aer protests from a number of contractors and businesses. Construction leaders say that unlike most career fields, construction always has openings; but not enough applicants. Nick Van Handel, owner of Van Handel Heating and Cooling, says something needs to change in the way people associate trade jobs to career paths. "I'm afraid that there are not many kids out there who want to get into manual labor fields. ey would rather go into jobs that have an office setting, but what they don't realize is that manual labor means much more now than it did years ago. People aren't making minimum wage while at these jobs," Van Handel says. Commercial contractors feeling the strain Homebuilding associations aren't the only ones dealing with the labor shortage. Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, part of a national trade association for the commercial construction industry, says the shortage of skilled labor impacts the entire industry. In a recent national poll, ABC Wisconsin found nearly 1.6 million new skilled workers will be needed between now and 2022. Workers install windows in a new home. C O U R T E S Y O F M E A C H A M D E V E L O P M E N T I N C . Stratford Homes does all of the heavy lifting when it comes to houses. Our job is to be that strong tool and partner behind the scenes so there are no lulls as they build people's dreams. From contract reviews to bank financing and business expansion, to name a few, we've been helping them for a few decades now, so they can get on with the day to day work that they've been doing since 1973. wausau | eau claire ruderware.com visit our blogs at blueinklaw.com wausau | eau claire ruderware.com they build homes. We make them feel at home.