A company that has been around for nearly 150 years, it’s safe to say, knows something about employee recruitment and retention.
Founded as a mechanical contractor by two sons of an Irish immigrant in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1884, H.C. Blake Co. today is on its seventh generation of family management. But the HVAC and plumbing company’s workforce spans multiple generations of other families as well—thanks to a hiring culture that has helped Blake largely avoid the industry’s skilled labor shortage. “Don’t look for talent,” says CEO James Batson, a nephew of one of the founders’ grandsons. “Look for character you can train.”
YOUNG BUT NOT RESTLESS
Thanks to that attitude, Blake has been successful in attracting younger generations, who bring with them a knack for new technology and a character as hard working as the company’s founders. “Coming from not being part of the [founders’] family, one of the biggest drives for me is, you can see they are going to take care of you and their employees,” says Mark Campo, director of virtual design and construction, who joined Blake in 2020. “I came from Houston, Texas, so Huntsville, Alabama, was different for me.
“This company takes care of its employees really well,” Campo says. “I had no idea what construction was or what [the company] did, but I was very willing to learn. I was a good fit because of my personality. There is a shortage in [skilled trades] employees nationwide, but I don’t think we ever had a problem with that. I am not a Batson, but they treat me like one.”
Even as Millennials and Gen Zers fill Blake’s offices and jobsites, the Boomers and Gen Xers aren’t yet willing to step away—creating a tempest of cross-generational talent. You might call it the perfect storm. “The older generation is learning, even with the technology,” says Steve Jenkins, a senior project manager who joined the industry in 1981 and has been with Blake for five years.
“They’ve developed a lot of advanced ways to do something that makes it easier on everyone. All of us wear multiple hats, all pitch in to help each other out.”
Luke Batson, James’ son and an estimator for Blake, adds: “We don’t look to fill a position; we look for a person. Are they a hard worker, willing to learn? We look for those traits over their knowledge, because you can teach anything to people who are willing to learn, and it helps that we have the older generations to guide these people to where they need to be.”
SNAPPED INTO PLACE
All of the company’s projects, big and small, deliberately blend older and younger generations, along with techniques and technology. Making that happen is a big part of Campo’s job—not only implementing the technology used on projects, but also creating ways to effectively communicate and teach it throughout the company. “My job was bringing in automation to our systems,” Campo says. “We basically made it like LEGO instructions, as simple as building a LEGO set.”
Campo’s strategy for implementing and teaching new technology came in handy on a recent project. In the late summer of 2023, H.C. Blake helped build the Food Bank of North Alabama, working alongside Turner Construction and using this specific and successful gen-tech blend. During the design phase, Batson and Campo along with construction operations manager Bryant Fair Jr.—James Batson’s nephew—employed project-management software, BIM and other technology solutions. Moving on to the preliminary building stages—which included prepping the foundation and frame for tilt-up concrete, HVAC and plumbing—the team’s tech included a total station, which, while not as cutting-edge as autonomous robots or AI platforms, has made its own mark throughout the industry.
Nor is it any less impressive than 3D scanning or ChatGPT, especially to someone like Jenkins, who has been working in construction for decades and says that the total station has “totally changed the game” for him. Combined with preplanning software, Jenkins says, “we have more info than we ever had.”
IF IT AIN’T BROKE
Within Blake’s workforce culture, each generation embraces the others’ insights and welcomes opportunities to learn from them. So, although Fair, Batson, Campo and the rest of their Millennial and Gen Z team have been instrumental in introducing evolving technology, they admit that they don’t always know the best way to do everything on a jobsite, especially when that technology fails.
This is where Jenkins’ tried-and-true methods come into play. “There are glitches with technology sometimes,” he says. “So, we break out the sticks and strings, and we can keep working. Younger guys see that and learn it, too, so they are not always dependent upon tech. They are also learning the old way, so we are not at a standstill when tech glitches.”
The success of H.C. Blake’s recruitment and retention efforts has given the company a solid foundation on which to win bids, build relationships and complete work throughout their community. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the newest members of their workforce furthered Blake’s legacy for another seven generations.
