Greenleaf Featured in “The Tradesmen” Documentary
On May 12th The Tradesmen: Making an Art of Work premiered at the Charles Theater in Baltimore directed by Richard Yeagley. The film focuses tradespeople in the Baltimore area, the bias between “blue collar” and “white collar” workers, and the fact that the number of skilled tradespeople in the United States is dwindling. As more and more high school students are pushed to follow an academic track, we don’t encourage students with other talents and different intelligences to pursue a vocation track. The irony is that now, so many students graduating from a four year institution find themselves unemployed and lacking necessary job and life skills.
A career in the trades isn’t always glamorous and throughout the documentary we experience the dirtier side of a plumbing and the back-breaking labor of a stone mason. However, we also see the beautiful fruits of that labor in the elaborate framing of a barrel ceiling, the colors of a faux painted wall and hand crafted furniture.
The last part of the documentary discusses the new generation of tradespeople as represented by Greenleaf Remodeling. In this new generation, construction is guided by sustainable building practices and energy efficiency. New building techniques and materials are constantly being developed. In order to keep up, we do continuous research, read trade journals, and attend building seminars.
What is the future of the trades in America? If we don’t change people’s current perceptions of this industry then the number of skilled tradespeople will continue to decrease. The trades today require more education, training and research than they did in the past. We need to bring back high school shop classes, and stress that there is value in a vocational career. This is not a career that can be outsourced to other countries or done by machines—Americans will always need skilled tradespeople.
