Chris Roth has worked in the Nevada skilled trades industry since his father pulled him out of high school at 15 years old in 1985.

In the moment, he felt alienated from his friends on the traditional high school path. Looking back, he recognizes that it changed his life for the better. Since then, he has worn many hats in the industry — contractor, business owner, entrepreneur, author and, most importantly to him, teacher.

“At my heart, I think I’m just wired as a teacher, and it’s been certainly the best part of my career,” Roth said. “There’s nothing better than teaching something because you actually have to learn it in order to teach it.”

His love of teaching inspired him to buy stake in Southern Nevada’s longest-running trade school, Quality Training Center, in April. Working together with QTC owner Lonny Snowden, the pair launched the first dedicated business-to-business contractor-centric program in Las Vegas with the goal of alleviating the labor shortage in Nevada’s HVAC, electrical and refrigeration industries. While traditional trade schools focus on accreditation, enrollment numbers and graduation rate, QTC’s new model will focus on teaching students the skills that contractors are actively looking for.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

QAt 15, your father signed you up for HVAC school against your wishes. If you could go back and speak to your 15-year-old self, what advice would you give?

A At the time, I wasn’t thrilled about his decision to uproot me from my traditional high school. I was really focused on high school sports, wrestling, baseball, things like that. I certainly was frustrated, but I’m extremely grateful for what he has done. Looking back on that now, I would say you’re making a great choice and stick with it.

Q: What advice would you give to a younger person in the position of considering trade school over college or entering the workforce?

A: For the last generation, everyone was told to go to college, and that was really the only respectable path. Shop classes disappeared from high schools, which stopped feeding the pipeline. At the same time, most of the experienced trades folks are aging out. The average electrician or HVAC technician today is in their mid-to-late 50s.

It’s my strong opinion that for the first time ever, there’s a shift from more of a headwind to more of a potential tailwind for these folks considering a trade. It’s a viable option. It’s a rewarding career. Instead of taking years before you can earn income, the training is compressed, so you’re basically working in the field without the debt in months, not years. It’s my opinion that the trades aren’t a plan B for a lot of people. They’re the best plan A option that really nobody told them about.

Q: What do you wish people knew about trade schools?

A: Demand is outrunning supply. As I mentioned, these experienced trades folks today are retiring faster than the ones are coming in, and every contractor I personally talk to is hiring.

Q: Your new program with Quality Training Centers is described as a “disruptive contractor-centered model.” What makes this different from other trade schools?

A: From my perspective, our primary goal is not enrollment numbers. It’s placement rate and retention rates. A traditional school would have a core message like “change your life.” Ours is “scale your business” because what we think differentiates us from anyone else is that we’re focused on contractors first. We’ve sat down with all the primary contractors and found out what the gap is, and we’re building a student pipeline to meet that gap. The student is our product. The contractors are our customers. Our core metric is not graduation rate; it’s billable performance for the students.

Q: What inspired your decision to buy a stake in Quality Training Centers?

A: My high school teacher, after he lost his position at College of Southern Nevada and the Clark County School District, founded Quality Training Center in 1994. For me, this is really a full-circle moment where I get to continue his legacy.

Q: What are the biggest changes in the skilled labor industry that you’ve seen?

A: I remember there was a poster in my high school counselor’s office that said, “work smart, not hard,” with a picture of a tradesman. There were a lot of people looking down on the trades for many, many years. There’s been a generation of folks that have been told that college is the only option, so there’s not as many people entering the industry. AI is obviously all the rage in all the conversations today, but the truth is AI doesn’t operate without heating, ventilation, cooling, water, plumbing, electricity — all the essentials that are required in order for that to actually thrive and continue.

Ideally, we’re hoping that we’ll be the model that most schools in the future want to copy. There’s a massive gap in what the employer needs today and what is being taught and trained. Not only do we want to be the leading force in career education, but ideally, we hope that we set a trend, and that programs get a little more condensed and get a little more employer relatable.

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