ScottHarry has launched Rising Trade Partners, a year-long mentoring program for small and emerging trade contractors in the technology trades: low-voltage, structured cabling, AV, security and building controls. Each participating firm is paired with ScottHarry project managers, commissioning leads and safety leaders who work with its owners on the parts of the business that are hardest to learn on the job.
Why we started it
On the mission-critical work we build, the technology trades decide whether a building is ready for operations on Day One. Many of the best young firms we meet are run by skilled technicians who know their systems cold but have had little chance to learn how a general contractor schedules, documents and commissions a large job. They lose work they could win and take on scopes that strain their cash flow. Some never bid our work because the process looks closed.
We would rather open it up. A deeper bench of capable, well-run technology partners means more competitive bids for our clients, cleaner turnovers and stronger firms in the communities where we build.
What the program covers
The curriculum follows the life of a project, from the bid to the final test report. Sessions are led by the ScottHarry people who do that work every day.
- Estimating and bidding. Reading technology specifications, building a takeoff, writing clear qualifications and pricing risk without leaving money on the table.
- Coordination. Working in a federated model, claiming pathway space early and protecting your crew's productivity on a job shared with MEP trades and owner vendors.
- Testing and documentation. Test plans, labeling standards, certification reports and the records a commissioning agent expects at Level 3 and beyond.
- Safety programs. Site-specific safety plans, energized-work rules, pre-task planning and working inside live facilities.
- Business fundamentals. Pay applications, change order pricing, cash flow, bonding readiness and insurance.
Each firm also gets a dedicated mentor from our operations team for one-on-one sessions through the year. Where it fits, participants walk active ScottHarry sites and sit in on coordination and commissioning meetings to see the process from the inside.
We are not teaching anyone how to terminate fiber. We are sharing the planning, the paperwork and the testing habits that let a good crew grow into a good company.
Partner development lead, ScottHarry
How to get involved
Rising Trade Partners is open to small, emerging and disadvantaged business enterprises in the technology and building systems trades. Completing the program does not guarantee work, but graduates come out ready to prequalify and bid ScottHarry projects on equal footing. Firms interested in a future cohort can reach our trade partner team through the contact page.
