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ISH North America UPDATE
Expose Today's Youth To The Trades, Trethewey Says In Keynote Address

By Kelly Faloon
November 4, 2002
The future of the plumbing, heating and cooling industry depends on exposing today's young people to the trades, said Richard Trethewey in his standing-room-only keynote address Nov. 1 at ISH North America in Toronto.

The future of the plumbing, heating and cooling industry depends on exposing today's young people to the trades, said Richard Trethewey in his standing-room-only keynote address Nov. 1. At a time when baby boomers are looking to upgrade their homes, there is a severe shortage of skilled workers in the trades.

"Heating and cooling services are one of the fastest-growing areas today," he said. "Many baby boomers have incredible accumulated wealth and they're looking for convenience and comfort. But we don't have the people we need to provide the service."

And that's because the industry isn't attracting young people to the skilled trades. There was a time when vocational and technical schools were the "dumping grounds" of North America, he said; kids wanted high-profile, big money jobs like those in computer programming.

"We lost a generation of people moving into this industry," he explained. "We need to sell the industry to these kids. People don't decide on their career when they are very young; they only know what they don't want to do."

For example, he cited an exhibit currently at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. -- "Celebration of the Building Arts," -- where families can give kids a hands-on experience with construction.

Lack of skilled labor will result in a change to the industry, Trethewey noted. He sees using a manifold approach to everything, a more plug-and-work approach to accommodate the skill levels of future plumbing and heating contractors.

He also sees service trucks equipped with Web cams so employees out on the job who run into problems can get direction from a seasoned pro back at the office.

Can The Past Influence The Future?

Trethewey's family's plumbing and heating company, Trethewey Bros., is celebrating its 100th year in business.

"Back then, the plumber was a magician because he was going to bring water into the house," he said.

And plumbing and heating contractors had to pipe and size everything correctly. Today, it's too easy to over-size and over-complicate things, Trethewey said.

"What made us so stupid?" he asked. "Electricity! Look how much has changed over the last 100 years; what will the industry look like in the next 100 years?"

One of the trends he sees in the future is the use of emerging technologies for water conservation and emissions control.

"Water conservation is the next offering in the skilled trades," he said. "With the lack of drinkable water and the cost of using water today, we need to provide our customers with this service."

Even "This Old House" has profiled a house with rainwater collection, he said. In Europe, there are several alternative methods used to conserve water and he sees that happening in North America over time.

He believes that hydronics will gain in popularity; again, he cites the European influence, as well as fuel economy.

"As fuel prices continue to rise in North America, the fuel-efficiency benefits of hydronic heat will become apparent to consumers," he said.

The bottom line is that with the dwindling resources of the planet, it is important that we keep looking for new materials to build our communities, such as engineered lumber or foam or plastic, and conserve what we have left.

Trethewey also talked about his years on "This Old House" with old host Bob Vila and current host Steve Thomas. Audience members were treated with outtakes from his new show, "Ask This Old House."

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Kelly june 2015 200

Kelly Faloon was a former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical as well as the BNP Media Plumbing Group’s Integrated Content Development Specialist. She also was a former editor of the Radiant Comfort Guide the Radiant & Hydronics Report — both official publications of the Radiant Professionals Alliance — and twice-monthly Radiant & Hydronics eNews, an enewsletter for anyone interested in the world of heating with hot water.

Her editorial specialties included women in plumbing, recruiting for the trades, green construction techniques, water conservation, water treatment, hydronic heating, radiant heating and cooling, snow melt, solar thermal and geothermal.

After a 3½-year stint at sister publication Supply House Times, Faloon joined the PM staff in December 2001 as senior editor. She was named PM’s managing editor in 2006 and editor in 2013.

Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

 A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a 1986 journalism graduate of Michigan State University. 

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