Commercial Grade

Most electrical contractors know how to win the next project. Fred Sargent wants them to look at what comes after it. For every $1 million in electrical construction, there's likely $4 million in maintenance opportunities over the life of that building, at a better margin and a better risk profile.

In this episode you'll hear:
00:00 $1 Million to Build, $4 Million to Maintain
00:25 Welcome and Guest Introduction: Fred Sargent of Great Service Forums
02:00 Why Service Is So Different From Projects
04:18 Crossword vs. Wordle: Why Service Needs Its Own System
05:55 Structure, Systems, Staff: In That Order
08:32 Everything Is Maintenance: Service Is How You Deliver It
10:51 What Your Barber Knows About Booking the Next Visit
12:01 Get In, Get Things Done, and Stay Forever
14:07 Making the Ask: Lessons From the Dentist's Office
16:08 Iterative Income: Learning Something on Every Call
18:35 Why Your Customer Base Is What Gives Your Company Value
22:07 The Zero-Cost Question: "Who Recommended You to Us?"
24:23 Making Sense of Your Data With AI
25:18 Inside Great Service Forums
30:12 Lightning Round
38:23 Wrap-Up and Where to Find Fred

About the guest:

Fred Sargent is the founder and president of Great Service Forums, which he created in 2016 to lift the service and maintenance capabilities of union electrical contractors. He writes the "Service and Maintenance" column for NECA's Electrical Contractor Magazine and has worked the aftermarket side of electrical contracting since 1978.

Steve Turner couldn't find a single young person to train, so he made a hat. Today, Bring Back the Trades is a national movement, and Steve and Kennidy Asche are working to make sure every kid gets an equal shot at a career in the trades.

Episode Description:

In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Steve Turner, founder and CEO of Bring Back the Trades, and Kennidy Asche, the nonprofit's Events and Marketing Manager, to talk about how a single baseball cap grew into a movement to restore respect for the skilled trades.

Steve was the kid who couldn't sit still in class until he found the vocational hallway at his high school. He started his own upholstery business at 19, and decades later, after years of failing to find young people to train, he woke up with four words in his head: bring back the trades. He had a hat made, a contractor ordered a dozen for his job site, and the idea took off from there. Kennidy took a very different path, winning at school, working in K-12 education and AmeriCorps, and joining the team after hearing Steve on a podcast.

The conversation covers why the trades fell out of favor in the first place, why the organization insists it's not college or trades but college and trades, and the new bottleneck emerging as apprenticeship enrollment rises faster than the number of journeymen available to train them. Steve and Kennidy also explain why young people are the best messengers for reaching their peers, and why the people writing workforce policy should have young people at the table.

Finally, they take RC inside Bring Back the Trades' Skills Expos, hands-on events where kids operate excavators, try virtual welding, and ride in bucket trucks, and share how a Mike Rowe appearance changed the trajectory of the organization.

In this episode you'll hear:

• How a homemade Bring Back the Trades hat turned into a nationwide movement and a scholarship program
• Why Steve and Kennidy believe the future isn't college or trades, but college and trades working together
• The new challenge facing the industry: more apprentices than there are journeymen to train them
• Why the younger generation is the best messenger for selling the trades to their peers
• What makes the Skills Expos different from a career fair, and why bringing parents along matters

Gen Z is entering the trades in numbers not seen since World War II. Rich Camacho says the industry still isn't ready to hire them, and that gap could become a crisis in five years.

In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Rich Camacho, CEO and co-founder of BlueRecruit, to talk about what's really happening in skilled trades hiring right now, and why the story is more complicated than a simple labor shortage.

Rich is a West Point graduate, Army veteran, and former captain who spent his early career helping fellow service members transition into corporate careers. BlueRecruit was born out of a much smaller problem: his father-in-law's auto body shop kept getting resumes from house painters because of bad keyword matching on job boards. Rich and his co-founder built BlueRecruit to connect skilled workers with employers the way a dating app connects people, and the company now sees over 100,000 people a day on its platform.

The conversation covers why Rich believes the industry is facing an experience and training shortage rather than a pure labor shortage, why so many new solar installers quit within their first week, why polished corporate social media does more harm than good when it comes to recruiting Gen Z, and how AI is already changing both back office work and life on the job site.

Rich also makes the case that if the industry does not figure out how to train and absorb the wave of young people currently choosing the trades, it will trigger a skilled labor shortage in the next five years.

In this episode you'll hear:

• Why Gen Zers are choosing the trades at rates not seen since World War II, and why career changers are following them
• Why polished, AI generated corporate content actively repels the workers and customers companies are trying to reach
• What BlueRecruit's data reveals: the industry isn't short on workers, it's short on experienced people to train them
• Why Rich believes the companies that invest in training now will dominate the industry within five years
• Why veterans' military experience often fails to translate into civilian trade certifications, and what Rich is doing about it

About the Guest:

Rich Camacho is CEO and co-founder of BlueRecruit, a skilled trades hiring platform based in Raleigh, North Carolina, built around skill based hiring. A US Army veteran and former captain, Rich attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied civil engineering, and later continued his education at Colorado State University. After the military, he spent his early career helping fellow veterans transition into corporate careers before recognizing a major gap in how skilled tradespeople were being matched with employers. He co-founded BlueRecruit to modernize that process, and the platform now supports roughly 109,000 people and tens of thousands of companies every day.

Links & Resources:

• https://bluerecruit.us/
• http://BuildOps.com

In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Sean McGuire, Executive Director of Innovation, Technologies, and Fabrication at MCAA, to get a 26-year view of where the mechanical contracting industry has been, and where it's headed.

Sean came to the trades not from the shop floor but from the association side, starting in meeting planning before growing into one of the industry's most knowledgeable voices on fabrication, technology, and workforce development. From his perch at MCAA, he talks to hundreds of contractors a year and sees the big picture most in the field never get.

The conversation covers the data center mega boom reshaping production schedules and fabrication investment, why six-twelves can't be a long-term answer to labor shortages, and what it actually looks like when 82% of your contractors say they're expanding their fabrication footprint. Sean also makes a compelling case for the trades over a four-year degree - running the real math on student debt, journeyman wages, and who buys a house first.

And on AI: Sean sees opportunity and real danger: displaced coders who could transform how contractors build internal tools, embedded AI that's mostly hype, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities that keep him up at night.

In this episode you'll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

[00:00] The Data Center Boom: Busiest the Industry Has Ever Been

[00:44] Welcome and Guest Introduction: Sean McGuire of MCAA

[02:45] Sean's Path: From Meeting Planning to Industry Innovation

[03:52] 26 Years at MCAA: What's Changed, What Hasn't

[05:36] The Data Center Mega Boom and Its Demand on Contractors

[08:19] Why Six-Twelves Don't Work Long-Term

[10:05] Fabrication Investment Surge: From 20% to 82%

[12:01] Is the Data Center Boom Sustainable?

[15:33] The Financial Case: $25 Million a Day Per Data Center

[20:16] AI's Real Role in the Trades Right Now

[26:12] Hiring Laid-Off Coders and the Internal API Opportunity

[34:55] Why Training Centers Are Half-Empty Despite High Demand

[37:45] Lightning Round

About the Guest:

Sean McGuire is the Executive Director of Innovation, Technologies, and Fabrication at MCAA (Mechanical Contractors Association of America), where he has spent nearly 26 years helping the mechanical contracting industry evolve. Sean started at NECA before joining MCAA, where he has worn nearly every hat imaginable, from meeting planning and convention logistics to running MCAA's fabrication conference and leading initiatives on technology adoption, workforce development, and industry innovation. He has visited hundreds of contractor shops and job sites, making him one of the most well-connected observers of how the trades are adapting to data center demand, AI, and the ongoing labor shortage.

Links & Resources:

Sean McGuire on LinkedIn

MCAA: mcaa.org

Learn more at BuildOps.com

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In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Josh Nieves, Director of Craft Workforce Development at Quanta Services and a licensed master electrician who has spent nearly two decades building the pipeline of talent the industry depends on.

Josh's own path started with a vocational elective in 11th grade, and led through 17 years at EJ Electric in New York City, from apprentice to general foreman, before he stepped into workforce development full time. Now he leads the attract, develop, mobilize strategy behind the Trade Professional Academy, an accelerated training pipeline built to get new electricians safety-ready and job-site-ready in as little as 30 days.

The conversation covers what it actually takes to succeed in the trades, why he believes every workforce problem is a leadership problem, how AI is quietly changing the calculus for young people choosing between tech and trade, and why the traditional apprenticeship model, while still the gold standard, can't meet demand on its own.

Josh also opens up about faith, fatherhood, and an amateur boxing record he wouldn't trade for the world, wins, losses, and all.

In this episode you'll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

[00:13] Meet Josh Nieves, Director of Craft Workforce Development at Quanta Services

[01:36] How Josh Got Into the Trades

[09:24] Defining Workforce Development: Attract, Develop, Mobilize

[10:35] The Mentorship Gap Josh Kept Seeing on Job Sites

[13:24] Bridging Gen Z, Millennials, and "the Forgotten" Gen X

[18:07] Purpose-Driven vs. Paycheck-Driven Workers

[19:16] Why More Young People Are Looking at the Trades Because of AI

[20:26] The $260,000 Electrician Headlines, and Why Josh Pushes Back on the Hype

[21:34] The Reality of the Job

[23:59] Setting Honest Expectations Before Someone Takes a Spot

[24:44] "Construction Workers Don't Want Another Pizza Party": Trust, Respect, and Fair Pay

[25:47] Are Skilled Laborers Fairly Paid?

[27:04] How Rising Demand Could Reshape Wages in the Trades

[27:47] Toxic Culture in the Trades: "Every Problem We Have Is a Leadership Problem"

[30:53] Is the Apprenticeship Model Still the Right Way to Build a Career in the Trades?

[31:36] The Apprenticeship Bottleneck: 600 Applicants, 60 Seats

[34:47] Inside the Trade Professional Academy: From an 8-Week Program to 30 Days

[36:44] Week One: Safety First, OSHA 10, and a Small Washout Rate

[37:56] Hands-On Training: Tools, Material ID, and Practical Installations

[39:41] The Capstone Project: Pass, Fail, and Graduation Day

(46:04) Wrap-Up and Where to Find Josh

About the Guest:

Josh Nieves is Director of Craft Workforce Development at Quanta Services, where he leads training pipelines built around attracting, developing, and mobilizing talent, including out of Jacksonville-based operating company Miller Electric. A licensed master electrician and contractor with the NYC Department of Buildings and a proud member of IBEW Local Union #3, Josh spent 17 years at EJ Electric, one of the top electrical contractors in the country, rising from apprentice to general foreman. He helped build the Trade Professional Academy, an accelerated training program that prepares new hires for the job site in as little as 30 days. Josh is also the founder of This Hudson Farm, an amateur boxer with USA Boxing, and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner.

Links & Resources:

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In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Nush (Nushrat) Ahmed, founder of Sisterhood of the Trades and host of the Next Gen MFG podcast, to talk about visibility, mentorship, and what it actually takes to build community in the skilled trades.

Nush's path started in a high school automotive class she signed up for on a whim, and led through an associate's degree in automotive technology, a career in CNC and Swiss-setup machine operation, and now a role in marketing and customer enablement at ProShop ERP. Along the way she noticed how many women were working in the trades without ever being seen, and how little that visibility showed up on LinkedIn. That observation became Sisterhood of the Trades, a Discord community she co-founded with three tradeswomen she met on Snapchat, which has since grown to over 1,160 members across North America, Europe, and Australia.

The conversation covers what it took to convince her immigrant parents that trade school was a smart bet, how AI and robotics are actually changing (and not eliminating) trade jobs, why the "dark, dirty, dangerous" stereotype about the trades is outdated, and how a messy Snapchat group chat turned into a structured, verified Discord community with roles for over 50 trades.

Nush also opens up about the ongoing, sometimes awkward conversations with extended family about not having a bachelor's degree, why she thinks of her professional network as something you have to nurture like a plant, and what she's hearing from the next generation of tradespeople coming up behind her.

In this episode you'll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

[00:34] Welcome and Guest Introduction: Nushrat Ahmed of Sisterhood of the Trades

[02:01] How Nush Got Her Start: From a High School Automotive Class to CNC Machining

[03:16] Why Automotive? The Hot Wheels Origin Story

[04:38] Learning the Trade During COVID and Finding a Mentor at a Boston Bike Shop

[07:18] Convincing Immigrant Parents That Trade School Was the Right Call

[09:31] The Pitch: College Debt, Scholarships, and Getting Paid to Learn

[12:12] Why the Trades Are One of the Safest Careers From AI (and a Nod to Anthropic's Economic Index)

[13:55] Robot Wranglers: How Automation Redefines Jobs Instead of Killing Them

[15:36] Fast-Forward: The Origin of Sisterhood of the Trades

[15:46] From a Snapchat Group Chat to a Mission: Getting Tradeswomen Onto LinkedIn

[18:17] How the Community Outgrew Snapchat (300 Comments and No Way to Search)

[21:10] Building the Discord: Verification, Roles, and Server Structure

[29:06] Opening the Server to Allies, Not Just Tradeswomen

[31:13] Why Sisterhood of the Trades Pushes Members to Build Their Own Networks

[31:06] Inside Nush's Podcast, Next Gen MFG

[32:30] The Awkward Conversation About Not Having a Bachelor's Degree

[35:01] What's Next for the Mission, and a Shoutout to the Mentor Who Started It All

[42:29] A Role for Everyone: Why the Trades Need More Than Just Tradespeople

[44:12] Wrap-Up and Where to Find Nush

About the Guest:

Nushrat "Nush" Ahmed is the founder of Sisterhood of the Trades, a community built to give women in the skilled trades visibility, mentorship, and connection. She holds an associate's degree in automotive technology and built her early career in CNC manufacturing and Swiss-setup machine operation before moving into marketing and customer enablement at ProShop ERP. Nush also hosts Next Gen MFG, a podcast featuring guests in the trades and STEM fields, with a focus on showing young people, especially women and people of color, that a college degree isn't the only path to a successful career. She was named to SME's 30 Under 30 in 2025.

Links & Resources:

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In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Omar Essam - HVAC engineer, founder, and self-described industry disruptor - to get into the real engineering problems behind the data center mega boom and what they mean for mechanical contractors, technicians, and the grid.

Omar came to HVAC by accident as a fresh engineering graduate, but quickly became fascinated by an industry that had been around for centuries and still couldn't solve basic problems. That curiosity never left. Today, with 50-plus global projects under his belt and experience spanning manufacturing, contracting, design, and operations, Omar sees the industry from every angle, and he's not shy about what he sees.

The conversation covers why new data center equipment is being rushed to market largely untested at scale, why the universal technician is dead, and why the coming wave of retirements couldn't be hitting at a worse time. Omar also makes the case that HVAC isn't a comfort amenity anymore - it's critical infrastructure - and that the power grid is 20 to 30 years behind where it needs to be to support everything being built right now.

His proposed solution? Small modular nuclear reactors. And he's already working on it.

In this episode you'll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

[00:00] HVAC's Unsolved Problems: Intriguing and Shocking at the Same Time

[00:30] Welcome and Guest Introduction: Omar Essam, HVAC Disruptor

[01:32] Congratulations on the MBA — and Why He Got It

[03:43] Starting Businesses to Practice What He Was Learning

[05:09] How Omar Got Into HVAC — Completely by Accident

[06:20] Why These Problems Still Exist: The Financial Reality of Mass Production

[09:06] What It Means to Be an HVAC Disruptor

[12:44] Data Centers, Hyperscale Demand, and What It's Doing to the Industry

[14:26] Supply Chain, Manpower, and Why Everyone Is Falling Behind

[18:39] New Systems, New Skills: Who's Responsible for Training?

[24:09] Keeping Techs on Your Team — Why Turnover Kills the Data Center Model

[27:51] The Death of the Universal Technician

[30:27] Will Compensation Finally Catch Up to the Complexity?

[32:46] HVAC Isn't Comfort Anymore — It's Critical Infrastructure

[36:15] Small Modular Nuclear Reactors: Omar's Proposed Solution

[41:01] Lightning Round

[43:00] Wrap-Up and Closing

About the Guest:

Omar Essam is an HVAC engineer, founder, and self-described industry disruptor with over 50 global projects completed in the past five years alone. His career spans nearly every role in the mechanical industry — manufacturer, contractor, designer, operator — giving him an unusually complete view of where the industry works and where it breaks down. Trained as an engineer and recently credentialed with an MBA, Omar is currently working on design standards for small modular nuclear reactor integration with data center infrastructure. He is known for challenging standard designs, pushing for energy optimization, and asking the questions that make the room uncomfortable.

Links & Resources:

Omar Essam on LinkedIn

Learn more at BuildOps.com

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In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Andy Bergmann, founder and communication trainer at Mavix Coaching, to unpack why the trades have a communication problem and what it actually takes to fix it.

Andy’s path started in the shop floor, moved through project management and HR, and eventually led him to launch Mavix Coaching, a company built specifically to help construction and trade business owners stop being the adult in the room for every people problem. He shares how a single emotional moment with a high-performing foreman changed the trajectory of his career and why avoiding hard conversations does far more damage than having them.

The conversation goes deep on what communication really means in the field—the gap between leadership’s intentions and how crews actually feel, why email wars are killing contractor relationships, and why role-playing uncomfortable conversations is the only way to get better at them. Andy also makes the case that learning to take feedback without defensiveness might be the single most valuable skill a leader in the trades can develop.

Perhaps most surprising: the skills Andy teaches at work don’t just stay at work. Clients regularly tell him the training saved their marriages, improved relationships with their kids, and changed who they are as people, not just as managers.

In this episode you’ll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

[00:00] The Feedback That’s Worth $50K

[00:013] Welcome and Guest Introduction: Andy Bergmann of Mavix Coaching

[01:11] How Andy Got His Start: From the Shop Floor to HR

[04:05] Why Job Sites Break Down

[06:59] What Is Mavix Coaching and How Did It Start?

[9:43] The Foreman Story: Why Avoiding Hard Conversations Does Real Damage

[12:18] Vulnerability, Feedback, and Leadership

[13:22] Scripts, Role-Play, and How Communication Skills Are Actually Built

[15:34] How Andy Gets Reluctant Participants to Buy In

[17:40] Modern Communication Challenges

[19:52] Emotional Intelligence in the Field

(21:37) Culture Starts at the Top: Why Leadership Training Comes First

[25:28] AI, Human Connection, and the Future of Communication

[27:13] Communication Beyond Work

[31:45] Taking Critique Without Defensiveness

(33:27) Lightning Round

(36:36) Wrap-Up and Where to Find Andy

About the Guest:

Andy Bergmann is the founder and lead communication trainer at Mavix Coaching, where he works with owners of construction and trade companies who are tired of being the adult in the room for every people problem. Andy’s career started in the shop for a contractor and moved through project management, HR, and employee development before he launched Mavix. Today he runs four-day in-person training programs and one-on-one coaching sessions that help trade leaders build real communication skills—from giving hard feedback to listening without defensiveness—skills that, according to his clients, don’t just change their workplaces. They change their lives.

Links & Resources:

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In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Martin King—HVAC veteran, entrepreneur, and founder of Legacy Chiller Systems, J&M Fluidics, and Skilled Trades Rescue—to unpack decades of experience building, scaling, and evolving in the trades.

Martin shares how he entered the HVAC industry through technical training and a union apprenticeship, eventually growing his own company from a single van into a 30+ truck operation before selling. He opens up about the realities of business ownership—from early hiring mistakes to the “cold sweats” of making payroll—and how growth introduces new layers of complexity that many owners underestimate.

A turning point in Martin’s career came from a single customer request that led him into process chillers and ultimately the creation of Legacy Chiller Systems. From there, the conversation expands into today’s biggest challenges in the trades, including labor shortages, rising wages, technician mobility, and the shifting expectations of the modern workforce.

Martin also discusses his mission through Skilled Trades Rescue, where he supports professionals, business owners, career explorers, and parents by providing guidance on financial literacy, career pathways, and starting a business in the trades.

Finally, RC and Martin explore the growing role of AI in the industry—why it will enhance productivity rather than replace skilled labor in the near term, and what tradespeople should be doing now to stay ahead.

In this episode you’ll hear:

(00:00) Cold Sweats Mindset: Grit and Resilience in the Trades

(00:14) Meet Martin King: HVAC Entrepreneur and Founder of King Air

(01:38) From Tech School to the Union: Entering the Skilled Trades

(02:26) Starting King Air: Building an HVAC Business from Scratch

(03:00) The Accidental Chiller Breakthrough That Changed Everything

(06:54) Lessons From Dad: Work Ethic, Leadership, and Early Influence

(09:29) Hiring Challenges and Backlog Cycles in HVAC

(12:36) Growth Tiers: Scaling a Business Without Chaos

(14:09) Labor Market Shifts: Why Hiring in the Trades Is Changing

(18:03) The Skilled Trades Talent Shortage—and How to Fix It

(20:13) Money, Margins, and Business Coaching for Contractors

(23:54) College vs. Trades: What Parents Should Know

(26:02) AI and the Future of Skilled Trades

(29:18) What Makes a Superstar HVAC Technician

(34:28) How to Attract and Retain Top Trade Talent

(37:28) Lightning Round: Quick Takes and Advice

(39:08) Wrap-Up and Where to Connect

Martin King is an HVAC veteran, entrepreneur, and industry advocate with decades of experience in the skilled trades. He is the founder of Legacy Chiller Systems, J&M Fluidics, and Skilled Trades Rescue. After starting his career through technical training and a union apprenticeship, Martin built and scaled a successful HVAC company from a single van to a 30+ truck operation before exiting. Today, he focuses on supporting the next generation of tradespeople through coaching, workforce development, and education initiatives aimed at improving retention, financial literacy, and career pathways in the trades.

• Martin King on LinkedIn

• Skilled Trades Rescue

• Legacy Chiller Systems

• Learn more at BuildOps.com

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 In this episode of Commercial Grade, host RC Victorino sits down with Curtis Perry Jr., an HVAC Service Technician, last year’s Above and Beyond Award winner, for a conversation about service, leadership, and what it really takes to grow in the trades.

Curtis shares how his path started with trade electives in high school, then took shape after a message at church inspired him to learn something hands-on. He initially considered appliance repair, but once he got exposure to HVAC, it clicked—and he’s been building his career ever since.

RC and Curtis talk about the realities of learning in the field, including the challenge of on-the-job training when certain equipment only shows up once in a while. Curtis explains why experience under pressure matters, how repetition builds confidence, and how he developed into a service team lead who helps bridge the gap between technicians and the office.

They also dig into what leadership really means in the trades: being available, caring about your people, investing in training, and helping others improve instead of just expecting results. Curtis explains why “above and beyond” service means going deeper than surface-level checks—it means doing the thorough diagnostic work, understanding the full problem, and earning trust with customers and coworkers alike.

The conversation also explores how the industry can attract more young people through career fairs, social media, and jobsite exposure, along with why the trades aren’t for everyone—and why honesty matters. Curtis also challenges old assumptions about trade careers, especially when it comes to pay, growth, and long-term opportunity.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

Episode Timestamps:

About the Guest:

Links & Resources:

• Curtis Perry Jr. on LinkedIn

•  RC Victorino on LinkedIn

• Learn more at BuildOps.com

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