Ep. 56 "Building a Smart Future: How to Succeed without a College Degree " - Guest Gary Feazell

ANNOUNCER: Once a man employed his little brother to do odd jobs on a construction site after school. Now decades later, this younger brother is helping other youngsters build a smarter way of life, one where they can work with their hands and take satisfaction in their work. In today’s episode of The State of Education with Melvin Adams, Gary Feazell takes us on a journey through his training and shares his vision of a society that accepts and elevates the trades as careers and a child’s potential is maximized through practical application in school and the workforce. 

ADAMS: Alright! Our guest today is Gary Feazell. Gary is a businessman and an entrepreneur. He is the owner of a “Top 500, class A” construction company that services the Roanoke, Lynchburg, Smith Mountain Lake, and New River Valley areas of Virginia. Gary Feazell has invested over four decades in building and growing his company through the construction industry. 

Having several brothers in the construction trade, Gary inherently learned by experience while growing up, which prompted him to start his own business in 1976. Over the past five years, Gary has invested in sustaining the construction industry by founding Build Smart Institute—an educational facility focused on training for careers in construction. 

Gary has served on several boards, including the Roanoke Regional Home Builders Association, the Palestine Baptist Church Leadership Team, Lakeside Baptist Church Leadership and Advisory Team. He was also an advisory member of the Crossroads Community Church. He currently serves on the boards of Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, the Moneta Rescue Squad, Renew a Nation, and Eastlake Community Church (as a part of their elder team). 

Gary and his wife, Delores, have three daughters and ten grandchildren. Gary’s favorite pastimes are hunting, outdoors activities, and spending time at the family farm—but his real passion is his family. 

Well Gary, it’s so good to have you here today; welcome! 

FEAZELL: Thank you, Melvin, it’s so good to be here. Thanks for having me. 

ADAMS: You’re welcome. I’m delighted for this conversation we’re going to have today. So your background is in the construction business. Tell us a little more about your business and growing up and your journey, just a little bit.

FEAZELL: Sure. So my dad passed away when I was 11 years old, and that presented issues as well as opportunities. My older brother recognized that I needed some guidance, so he took me under his wing and he hired me—after school—to go to the construction site  and work. Each day he would give me a list of tasks to perform and I made 75 cents an hour. 

I was very interested in it and that introduced me to the art of construction and working with my hands and a desire to build things. So it really gave me a good foundation for what I have done for the past 45 years. 

ADAMS: Wow. And so you built a business—maybe a series of businesses, as I’ve looked into things—and now you’re a Class A, Top 500, congratulations on your success.

FEAZELL: Thank you. 

ADAMS: So the thing that really piques my interest here—and I’d like us to really talk about— is that you recently started an institute to train workers. So let’s talk about that a little bit! Obviously you had a situation where you were having a hard time getting workers. Talk about that, because I hear that all the time in the business world. 

FEAZELL: Melvin, it seems over the past 10 years or so, every conversation I had with anybody in our industry, it was sort of the same thing. It was like a recording, “I can’t find people!” “I can’t find qualified people.”  “What are we going to do?” And that was usually the end of the conversation. 

And, quite obviously, in our leadership team meetings at our company, we had the same issue. So we started talking about, “What are we going to do about it?” and finally, about 2 years ago, I decided to stop talking about it and do something about it. 

So we formulated a plan to train workers. It was about a two-year process. We hired a director, Mr. Rob Leonard, who was incredible! He was a great addition to Build Smart certainly. He spent the last year-and-a-half to two years laying the foundation for the institute. We opened up in 2020 and just had our first graduating class about three weeks ago. 

It’s been an incredible journey—it’s been interesting… And so in order to find qualified workers, you have to have a source, and that source,  we discovered, was not necessarily the current folks who were in the industry, but the younger folks who have potential to come into the industry. 

We start our training in Junior High and go through adults and we have course offerings for every aspect of construction. 

ADAMS: Every aspect? 

FEAZELL: Yes sir.

ADAMS: Wow. You say from Junior High and up? So, is this like an after school program, weekend program, short modules, regular stuff? Tell us a little bit more about how things are shaped there. 

FEAZELL: Sure! This past year, we have worked with Roanoke City Schools in a virtual learning course for them, and we also have virtual online courses. We have worked with private schools and folks relative to in-house training. 

Our first course offering is called The Core Fundamentals of Construction, and it takes a young person from an interest in construction, to actually doing it. 

And the way we do that is they come through our facility and we have classroom training, then we have lab training. We have about 2,000 square feet of classrooms and about 10,000 square feet of lab area. In that lab, we have every tool and anything that would be needed relative to construction. 

When a young person comes in,  they would usually spend 2-3 hours a day—normally it’s during school hours—and they are either transported here by their school or we have a bus that (if we have enough people in one area) we can pick them up. 

So they come into our facility, part of their classroom time is in the class, then they go to the lab and learn the aspect of framing, plumbing, [03:30] electrical, laying concrete, drywall finishing, painting—everything to do with construction, they get here at Build Smart in the Core Fundamentals of Construction as an introductory course. 

ADAMS: Our schools are supposed to be designed to equip people for life and create a workforce for our communities. And yet, this problem of not having a workforce and having people that are trained in these areas—I know that in some areas they’re trying to put a focus on shop classes and trades and stuff again—but for a couple decades now, the focus of schools has been college prep, college prep. 

And that’s great because we need people to go into higher ed and get some of those advanced skills, but if we are missing out on those fundamental life skills and the things that really….somebody’s got to be able to build houses and fix things. 

And so my question is this:  How much of this should be done by our system, by our schools, or is it a better concept to have entrepreneurs like yourself out here creating and impacting the space? 

FEAZELL: Sure. You know, every building, for the most part, is built by somebody putting their hands on it.  And obviously our shortage is with those folks who want to put their hands on it. Build Smart has thought about this process over time, and we’ve looked at how our schools and colleges are instructing our folks that are in those learning institutions. 

We are all created differently, with needs, wants, desires, likes, dislikes, gifts, and whatever—so what Build Smart tries to do is take the person who has a propensity and a gift for hands-on trades and then give them the knowledge to be able to use that trade. 

For years, it seems like, the trades and the hands-on stuff has been pushed to the background, and if you didn’t go to college and spend a ton of money doing that, you were “less than.” What we’re trying to do is take the gifts that are already in a person and elevate those gifts and give them the skills and knowledge so that they can go out into the workforce and be a productive part of the community. 

If we don’t recognize that as a society, and start doing that—some school systems are doing it and some are not doing it so well—so what Build Smart would like to do is come alongside those school systems that are working to that end, and assist them—help them—in any way we can. We’d like to do that. 

And we are working with some school systems now, and we hope to expand that in the future. Because if we don’t do that, who is going to? That’s the desire of Build Smart—is to give additional help in our industry to elevate the trades. 

ADAMS: In essence, you are coming alongside the school systems to provide the training that is needed, so that you can develop the workforce. And you’re filling a space that perhaps the school system by itself maybe doesn’t even know fully how to fill…

FEAZELL: We’ve talked to a lot of school systems and it seems like they all have their priorities, and there’s always a shortage of funds to do everything that they want to do. So Build Smart can fill that space. We have the facility, we have the instructors, the materials and equipment needed—and so we are here—ready, willing, and able to help in any way we can, whether it be a public or a private institution. 

And it’s not only young folks we instruct. We are partnering with a lot of the companies in the Roanoke Valley to give them additional help in their workforce development. Such as Project Management, Supervision—all the things that go along with a construction company, Build Smart wants to be a part of helping developing companies. 

ADAMS: Gary, what I’m hearing you say is that you’re coming alongside schools as a professional on the cutting edge of this industry; and you’re actually providing a huge resource for our schools to do something so that they can be a part of something they can’t do by themselves. 

That is going to end up giving us much better prepared students who are well informed and it is probably also going to lower the cost to the taxpayer. So thank you for doing that. Talk to us a little bit more about that. 

FEAZELL: Yeah, Melvin, we are working with a local school system that desperately wants and needs what we have to offer. However, the regulatory system within the Department of Education sometimes ties the hands of our school systems and stops them from doing what they would like to do—and what’s best for their students—and what they need to do. 

So one of the regulations in this particular scenario, required the entity (which in this case would be Build Smart) to have an instructor with a plumber’s licence, electrician’s license, a teacher’s certificate, and certification in instruction —and also a Class A contractor’s license. Where could you find such an individual? I don’t think they exist in our industry. 

So that’s one of the things that sometimes limits—and sometimes we can’t get out of our own way—it puts so many restrictions and limitations on us as a society that we really can’t do what is in the best interest of our students and adults interested in the construction industry. That’s just a small example of how we sometimes limit ourselves. 

ADAMS: Gary, thank you for bringing that up; because honestly, that is so common. Bureaucrats somewhere are setting standards that are unreasonable, unrealistic—not-even-attainable–and literally keep us from doing some of the  basic  things that need to be done in education. That is a class A example of that. 

So these are the kinds of things that parents and educators and legislators need to be looking into. We need to be fixing problems like this by going through and simplifying things so that we can create these kinds of cooperative, collaborative, endeavors that benefit our students, societies, and communities. 

Obviously, for those who are listening, here’s an example—and I think many of you will be thinking right now of examples like this that you know of in your own personal life and work experience—schools and so fourth. What are those challenges that you are dealing with that are keeping you from doing the basic things that you need and want to do for your students and your community? 

Those are things we need to pull together, work together, coordinate, and address with our general assemblies and with our school boards—these are just things we need to identify and fix...so I appreciate you bringing that forward. 

FEAZELL: Yeah, we’re working with legislators and various folks within the school systems, and within our public education system, to help them see that—sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees—when you’re involved in something and you can’t step back from it, occasionally it gets a little bit muddy. So we’re trying to help our education system recognize the needs and then fill some gaps where they exist. 

ADAMS: Excellent. Thank you for doing that! 

FEAZELL: Sure, yessir! 

ADAMS: You’re just getting started—you’re a couple years in and actually just graduated your first class, you said. You are primarily in the greater Roanoke—so that’s kind of south/central south western Virginia… 

Do you have vision to expand and reach into and assist communities? Is that something you can see over the next 10 years— perhaps communities and other states and other areas? Or are you pretty much local, or are you going to set up a franchise?

  I know this is way out there and maybe you’re not ready to make that kind of commitment, but let’s just talk about your vision, because you’re a visionary, you’re an entrepreneur, you’re about fixing things… 

FEAZELL: Yes, actually Melvin, we’re in talks right now with a gentleman in Gerry Pennsylvania to start Build Smart in Pennsylvania. And we’ve talked to other folks around the  country as well. Who knows where it’ll go? I don’t know. 

But what I do know, is if we don’t decide to take this seriously—and somebody has to do it...things don’t happen out of thin air, somebody has to have vision, they have to be willing to put up the investment to do it, and we’ve decided to do that. So, who knows where it will go? 

Our desire is certainly way bigger than Roanoke, we’d love to take it all across the country and at some point in time, I believe that will happen. How soon? I don’t know, but our desire is to expand opportunities in our industry and that’s what we intend to do. 

ADAMS: Do you have a website, or something like that, where people listening in can contact you—they can spread their interest or ask their questions? 

FEAZELL: Sure, we do. We have full-time people here to answer any questions they may have and our website is buildsmartinstitute.com. And they can, at any time, go online and we have a constant, rolling list of things that are happening here at Build Smart. We also have our course offerings there; we have pricing, and they can call and get any interest relative to Build Smart that they may have taken care of. 

ADAMS: So much of education has geared towards college and higher ed with the idea of big jobs, high paying jobs, financial security… Talk to our audience a little about the possibilities in the trades. It’s not terribly difficult to make a six-figure income in the trades, so talk to us a little about that. 

FEAZELL: Yeah, it’s amazing how we as a society have downplayed the opportunities within the building industry. If I go to a four-year college, I’m probably going to come out with $150-200,000 college debt, which is a significant mountain to climb and overcome in the end. It takes you a while to recover from that. 

ADAMS: Yeah. 

FEZELL: If you come to Build Smart, our Core Values of Construction is a 90 hour course, it’s $1,900, that gets you started. And then you can go through the whole process if you want to go into electrical—you can do Electrical 101, you can go all the way up through Master Electrician. We also do exam prep here for that sort of thing, so there’s no aspect of our trades that you can’t get here at Build Smart if you would like to. 

The thing I think that we have missed through the years, Melvin, is the value that we bring. If you look a the building industry in general, it is usually the leading industry and one of the economic indicators—either coming out of recession or going into recession 

ADAMS: Right.

FEAZELL: The good thing about us is that we have a lag time, so when everything else has deflated, the building industry takes a while to wind down… So we are a real driver to our economy and that is what makes the building industry such an important and integral part of our society. 

ADAMS: Yes. And so talk to the teenager or young adult that is just trying to figure life out—or a parent that has children and they’re trying to help guide them, or a counselor at a school… What kinds of opportunities are there for a student if they go into the trades? 

Are they going to be making minimum wage? Or (and I realize this is going to vary place-to-place, business-to-business) what are some of the potentials, starting out and growing in leadership and possibilities, or developing a business themselves? 

Talk to us about that—because we’re all about solutions here at the Noah Webster Education Foundation, giving opportunity, helping them discover what’s best for them… and so talk to those people about what could be if a person is diligent and has a good work ethic and so fourth. 

FEAZELL: I had a really positive experience about three weeks ago, as we graduated out first class of 29 students, we had about 100-150 people here, and as I was walking through the parking lot to get to my car that night, a couple came up to me and they said, “You won’t believe what you have just done for our son.”

He came through The Core Fundamentals of Construction–and we’re working and partnering with a number of construction companies in The Valley—and Southern Air had pursued this young man, and they signed him on (we had a signing ceremony that night) as an apprentice for Southern Air. 

So he will start out making a really good income, really fast. And that was actually through a boost that Build Smart was able to give him… and introduce him… and we have companies calling every day saying, “Who can we talk to from your school that may be willing to come into our industry?” 

And obviously, we are just getting going so as time goes on and as things build, we want to have a job placement service, we want to have relationships will all the construction companies and all the trades in the Roanoke Valley, so when they call us, we can funnel the people who are coming through Build Smart straight to those companies. 

Right now, we’re bringing on a helper with a reasonable amount of desire and not a lot of experience, for $14-16.00 an hour. That’s a good starting point for a young person to come into the industry, so it’s a really exciting time for our trades [05:00] and for Build Smart as well. 

ADAMS: Well, Gary, thank you for what you’re doing. Thank you for your leadership in the community and for your vision. This is great for our country. It’s entrepreneurs like you who are the driving in this country. You understand what it takes, you’re the hard working men and women who actually get out there, roll their sleeves up, put their thinking caps on, and do the things that bless our communities and our citizens and just make us the great and exceptional country that we are. 

I want to thank you for what you’re doing and for your time with us today. Is there any final thing you’d like to say to our audience? 

FEAZELL: Melvin, if you have any desire, whatsoever, to work with your hands and become a part of this industry, we need you desperately. Our industry is probably suffering the biggest lack of people coming into the construction industry that I have ever experienced in the 50 years that I’ve been involved in it. 

The opportunity is great, the ability to make a great income for your family is absolutely here, so if you have a propensity for it, please come into our industry. We are ready, willing, and able to assist you and give you the training you need so that you can become a productive part of the building industry. 

ADAMS: That’s awesome! Thanks again for what you’re doing, thanks for your time today, and for sharing with us. 

FEAZELL: Sure! Thank you so much, Melvin. I appreciate the opportunity.