Home Builders and Remodelers Association Encourages More Kids to Explore Trades Opportunities
Trades careers offer six-figure salaries and real growth — explore the options.
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MARYVILLE - The Home Builders and Remodelers Metro East Association wants kids to know that opportunities in the trades industry are “limitless.”
Shannon Stelling, executive director of HBRMEA, noted that more schools are putting an emphasis on the trades. She loves to see kids exploring their options. On Oct. 28, 2025, companies with HBRMEA will provide a presentation to 1,300 kids at a local elementary school in Collinsville, and Stelling said they are more than happy to come to your school, too.
“The goal is just to get them excited about it and see that these are choices for them,” she said. “The trades industry isn’t just swinging a hammer anymore. There are so many different jobs.”
Stelling explained that trades careers have impressive salaries and retirement benefits. She pointed out that there are many different options within the industry, from mixing the chemicals that go on garage floors to putting roofs on homes.
Stelling believes that college is a great option for many young people, but it’s not the ideal course for everyone. She wants kids to know that there are more opportunities out there.
“We’re not all meant to go to college,” she said. “Not that college is a bad thing necessarily for certain careers and certain directions that kids want to go, but just to throw all the kids in college to get general degrees in business or general degrees in marketing, a lot of them are coming out and they don’t get jobs. They’re waiting tables. And they could have jobs making a living in the six figures in the trades industry. The potential is there.”
Additionally, the trades industry needs more young people to get involved. Consumers are waiting weeks or months for their projects to be completed, largely because the companies are understaffed. Stelling encourages people to visit the HBRMEA directory to connect with reputable companies that are doing great work in our community, but she reminds consumers to be patient.
She hopes initiatives like the Oct. 28 school visit will encourage more kids to consider the opportunities in the trades industry. She believes some kids don’t even realize what options are out there.
“By the time they hit middle school or high school, sometimes they’ve been predestined to what they’re going to do, and they don’t even know what the options are,” she explained. “Every time that you’re with your grandkids or you’re with your own kids, you can show them a hammer, tell them the options that are available for them, show them how to fix something. There are great opportunities and careers. People are making great livings. They have great retirements. We’re never going to replace those jobs. They’re never going to go away. We’re always going to need people to build things and repair things”
For more information about the Home Builders and Remodelers Metro East Association, including how to work with them to inform young people about the trades industry, you can visit their official website at HBRMEA.org.
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