From handyman to House history: HVAC mogul Joe Strada pushes trade schools, business mindset in Florida race
If Republican Joe Strada wins Florida's eleventh congressional district in three weeks, he will likely be the wealthiest individual to ever hold a seat in the US House of Representatives.
It's an impressive trajectory for a man from humble beginnings who got his start fixing equipment in a bowling alley, but always had a zest for learning, building, and working with his hands.
Strada, whose HVAC, electrical and plumbing company employs roughly 4,000 people across 13 states, told Fox News Digital that his journey from handyman to wealthy entrepreneur embodies the American Dream but that neither his fortune nor his business success defines him.
"How about that? Just the kid, a handyman in a bowling alley, fixing things that break…and now I'm blessed to have a business that's in 13 states, thousands of people that work for me. It's been a blessing and, I'm able to live the American dream.
"But it's difficult. It was difficult with the headwinds and the rules and regulations that come out of Washington, D.C. And it was very challenging …It should be difficult, but not this challenging."
Strada wants everyone to be able to benefit from the American capitalist system that brought him great success:
"You know, as a business owner, I realized and recognized all the problems that Washington, D.C. is causing. All the rules and regulations that are impacting families, small business owners all across the country. And I finally said, we need a different type of person in Washington, DC.
"We have enough lobbyists, politicians and attorneys there. It's time to have a business-minded person that knows how to fix things that could go to Washington, and solve problems for the real, you know, real problems for the American people."
Strada is on a nationwide mission to pitch young people on the value of the trades, and suggests it's a worthy alternative to racking up massive student loans:
"The word of trade is really starting to spread now. Trades people, young people just want to be successful. Sometimes they don't know there's an opportunity in the trades. You come to my company, you don't know how to spell AC, you don't know what end of the screwdriver to hold, but you're paid the very first day. We train you. We give you a career that will support yourself and your family the rest of your life.
"You don't have a $250,000 student debt, and you're able to be successful… And my objective, not just with my company, it's across the country. I'm working with trade schools and high schools everywhere. I'm talking to young people all over our country to come into the trades because it's a great opportunity to live your version of the American dream."
As Strada's HVAC company was growing throughout the country, a labor shortage prompted a serious challenge, and a major shift in business strategy:
"The most difficult challenge was we had the opportunity to grow, and we didn't have enough labor. So I had to develop a program to teach people the trade. So we could grow, and we've been fortunate: we're in 13 states now and 4,000 people that work with us. We never would have done that if we didn't develop our own training program.
"I couldn't wait for the government to come and solve my problem. I'm a business guy who solves problems and I had to go develop a training program for young people."
Strada argues that people on government assistance should also take a serious look at the trades, suggesting we have a large untapped labor pool within our own borders:
"The border had to be closed, and we did a great job keeping all the criminals out of our country. And as far as getting more workers, we have Americans that want to work. We have plenty of people sitting at home getting a government paycheck. Let's get them to work.
"Some of them are just lazy and don't want to work, others just need the opportunity and the push to say, 'this is easy, let's get into a trade, let's learn a business.'
"I've have plenty of people that turned out to be an entrepreneur. They've opened their own business, and I'm very happy and gratified when I'm helping people."
Hard work is at the foundation of Strada's success, and he argues an inherent part of that economic success is bringing others along:
"You know, most people think when you're successful, it was handed to you. I got to tell you, David, I'm proud of the hard work my father did, but it was tough growing up. We were fortunate, we had a swimming pool, but it was mainly, a lot of times it was green because we couldn't afford chlorine. It was the best Marco Polo pool in the neighborhood.
"I started with nothing. It's just hard work. The passion and drive to want to be successful, to achieve goals. And it's always about everybody wins. My employees have to win. My customers have to win, the company has to win and that's the position I like to be in is to be able to help sit at a table, moderate those kinds of things and execute those results."
Ultimately, Strada downplays the importance of money, and emphasizes character, while revealing that his greatest motivation in life was born from a family tragedy:
"I wake up every day the same person I was when I was 12 years old that I am today. I've been blessed to be wealthy. I worked hard. I don't apologize for it…But you know, money is just a number. My perspective is everybody puts their head on the pillow at the end of the night. And when you put your head on your pillow, what do you stand for? What's the character of who you are?
"How much money you have…How many zeros you have and where the decimal point is on your bank account? None of that matters. What kind of character are you? I strive every day to do the right thing. For my God, my son in heaven who looks down at me, I want to make him proud. Every decision I make is to make him proud of me, and I do the best I can every single day."
Strada's son, Joe Strada, was an innocent bystander killed by a stray bullet in Lake Mary, FL, during a gunfight outside a shopping center in 2018.
Finally, Strada promises to be a powerful voice for tradeschools if he is elected to Congress next month.
"Well, first of all, I would love to have my name on the SAVE Act and put it into law. That's the first thing. I also think our trade schools are so important: to treat our trade school just like we have our Ivy League colleges.
"We're funding our Ivy league colleges billions and billions of dollars and we're graduating unhirable people that, some of them, hate America. I think the trade schools need more support from our government and treat them just like the universities."
Strada will face off in the general election against Democrat James Pericola, a Clinton administration official.