Introducing the first-ever DECKED Builders Day, a one-day celebration of everything skilled trades. We rallied at our factory in Defiance, Ohio to highlight the ingenuity and work ethic that runs our country day-in and day-out, discuss the state of the trades, and shine a light on the people who make it possible. Plus, we were joined by a special guest: a Q&A panel and factory tour with the one and only Mike Rowe.
At DECKED, it’s not lost on us how reliant we are on the skilled trades. Our company wouldn’t be able to function if we didn’t have buildings to work in, lights to turn on, water to run, and food to eat. There’s a human being behind every bit of it, and the first-ever DECKED Builders Day serves as our reminder.
As we enter an age of automation and artificial intelligence, it’s never been more important to remember who made — and continues to make — our country run like a well-oiled machine. For far too long, the skilled trades have been seen as a backup plan to college or a career for people who can’t cut it on Wall Street. We’d like to, respectfully, call that a load of horse sh*t.
Through our work at DECKED, we get the privilege to interact with thousands of people who work in the trades. As Concrete Finisher Josh Benjamin says in our brand-new series: “They think we’re doing blue-collar jobs because we couldn’t do anything else. We don’t want to be doing anything else.”
In other words, the trades are not a fallback. In fact, some of the smartest, most creative people we know work in the trades. It’s one thing to put your intelligence to work in a lab or classroom, but these people solve complicated problems that, at best, could cost millions of dollars in lost time and resources. At worst, they could electrocute, crush, poison, or mule kick a person out of existence. They don’t leave problems like that to the leftovers of society. They leave those problems to the badasses.
And that’s why we hosted the first-ever Builders Day, to simply show the world that we need and respect folks who work in the skilled trades. They probably built the spotlight, so it’s our turn to turn it around and shine it on them. Here’s how we’re doing it.
Up-Close. Personal.
It only made sense to host Builder’s Day at our very own factory in Defiance, Ohio. We’ve invited some of the most skilled in the skilled trades to tour our factories and see how we get things done on a daily basis. They got a chance to learn about our processes, the value of American manufacturing, and meet a few robots who’ll be on our side when AI rises up. Attendees will also got a chance to screen our all-new series “The Backbone of Everything,” that dives into the past, present, and future of our most essential industry.
DECKED + Mike Rowe
We needed an X-factor for Builders Day. Someone who epitomizes the work ethic and real-world knowledge behind the skilled trades, and one person came to the front of our collective minds: Mike Rowe. You probably know Mike from Dirty Jobs, his podcast The Way I Heard It, or as the buttery smooth voice behind Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. But, we reached out to Mike because we know he bleeds blue collar and has a heart for the skilled trades. He’s been advocating for blue-collar badasses since before DECKED was even an idea.
Mike joined us and our factory workers for a tour of the facilities, as well as a few demonstrations of our machines, before joining DECKED CEO Bill Banta and VP of Marketing Greg Randolph for a Q&A panel discussing Mike’s work, the state of skilled trades, and what the future of the industry holds. If you want to dive into the conversation, check out our blog that shares his perspective on skilled trades.
Pour One for Our People
It wouldn’t be a DECKED shindig if we didn’t have the shenanigans to go with it. We unwinded after a full day with trades-centric games and more well-deserved BBQ than you can shake a screwdriver at. The trades are a tactile endeavor. They don’t exist in theory or on a Zoom call, so we wanted to set up an event to suit, not just some “thank you” messaging you throw on a website banner, which is why we’re opening up our factory doors, filling up the coolers, and doing this job like any good tradesman would: the right way.
While we couldn’t invite everyone to our factory in Defiance, we brought in our crews to capture the whole event. Stay tuned for some exclusive content from the big day, insights from Mike Rowe, and to see if Greg Randolph can resist trying to arm wrestle one of our factory robots.
