Power Design Expands Training Campus for Apprentices
Contractors struggling with workforce gaps can look to internal training models to secure talent as the labor market tightens.
Updated on Oct. 25, 2026 in Internships
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Power Design is expanding its St. Petersburg training campus to grow its PowerU apprenticeship program. The firm intends to address mounting skilled labor shortages by doubling its intake of new apprentices over the next year.
Why it matters
With 25% of the trade workforce aged 55 or older, contractors are increasingly investing in internal training to secure a reliable labor pipeline. This expansion aims to standardize skill sets as the industry prepares for 1.7 million annual job openings.
Power Design currently supports 380 apprentices across 350 active projects, operating out of a 77,000-square-foot facility. The company faces a broader industry trend where 25% of trade workers are near retirement age, while only 11% of the workforce is under 25.
The players
Power Design
A construction services firm that operates a proprietary apprenticeship program to maintain its skilled labor supply.
Department of Labor
A federal agency that provides the official certification for the PowerU apprenticeship program.
Department of Education
The federal agency that oversees educational standards and co-certifies the apprenticeship program.
The details
The PowerU program, established seven years ago, combines paid work on active projects with mandatory, week-long hands-on quarterly training sessions. Apprentices are paired with fourth-year student mentors to ensure consistent skill development across the firm. Future campus upgrades will include on-site dorms to accommodate the planned influx of new trainees.
Timeline
Seven years ago the PowerU program was created.
The next nine years will see 1.7 million annual trade job openings.
Next year the company plans to double the number of new apprentices.
By 2030, $6.7 trillion in construction work is needed.
Market Landscape
This campus expansion aligns with a broader industry shift toward internal workforce development to meet the 1.7 million annual trade job openings projected over the next nine years. The model moves away from reliance on external talent pools toward self-sustaining, certified apprenticeship programs.
Contractors should evaluate whether internalizing training functions provides a lower long-term cost than competing for a dwindling pool of experienced trade labor. Monitoring the aging demographics of your specific trade sector is essential for predicting hiring needs before retirement waves accelerate.
The takeaway
Standardizing training via mentorship pairs allows firms to maintain quality as they scale their workforce. Operators should benchmark their current retention against the industry average to determine if an apprenticeship model is a viable bridge to the anticipated labor gap.
Further reading
For more on how firms are training their own talent, see Internships.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Tampa Bay Times.
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