PEABODY — When most people are good at their jobs, they get a $1 raise. But when some are really great at their jobs, they wind up winning more than $100,000 in competitions that showcase their talents. At least, that was the case for Craig Childress.
Childress has now won the ServiceTitan Elite Trades Championship Series’ HVAC National Championship three years in a row, earning $40,000 for each win. On top of that, he won the Plumbing National Championship back-to-back in 2023 and 2024, earning an additional $10,000 for each win and bringing his grand total to a whopping $140,000. He also became the first person to win two championships in the same year in 2023 before proceeding to do it again in 2024.
“It’s been a crazy couple of years for me,” Childress said.
Childress, a Peabody resident of 15 years, first got into the trades when he was a freshman at Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational Technical School in Wakefield. He graduated in 2003 and is now Boston University’s Facilities Management and Operations lead plumber.
He explained that the HVAC National Championship began in 2022, and his former apprentice Mack Shwert, of Marlborough, won first place that year. Childress said he couldn’t wait to try it out for himself after seeing Shwert’s success.
Childress described the two at-home rounds competitors must get through before earning a ticket to Florida for the National Championship. Round one requires applicants to take knowledge-based quizzes and compete against peers in their division to move on. For round two, competitors are sent a kit, which includes piping and fittings, and asked to complete a task in less than 20 minutes. This round is scored on quality of work, speed, accuracy, and safety.
“Safety is such a big, important thing for the competition, just making sure you have your safety glasses on, your fire extinguisher and everything, ” Childress said.
He explained that the competition in Florida often entails installation work.
“You’d be installing an air handler and a heat pump system with running the piping between the two units and doing some condensate piping,” he said.
He noted that he was thrown a little curve ball at this year’s competition, though, as round one was a diagnostic.
“They actually had a couple of systems that we had to go and see what was going on with the systems and identify what the problems were with them. It was cool,” he said.
When it came down to basking in his wins, Childress said being able to bring trophies home to his two kids is really “the big thing for me.” The National Championships are aired on CBS Sports in December, and Childress noted that his family always gets together to watch the show.
“It’s been absolutely amazing to be able to go down and win it and have all the hard work mean something a little bit more than just having the satisfaction of finishing your job. To be able to take two trophies home in a national competition was an accomplishment for me, and I was over the moon about it — and then to go back down and do it a second time was crazy. And then HVAC again this year, it’s been the craziest ride of my life,” he said.
He added that he’s gotten some “crazy opportunities” because of his winning streak, noting that “all the hard work and the late nights and night school and all that has certainly paid off.”
“After I won the first year, we were flown out to all different trade shows, and we were able to kind of experience a whole bunch of things that I wasn’t really exposed to prior to the competition just because I didn’t know about it,” Childress shared. “There’s an HVAC red carpet event that I had no idea about until after the competition, and we were able to go down to do that. It’s an award show for HVAC technicians, and that was an awesome, crazy experience, and we’ve done that the last two years.”
He continued, “The ICC brought me down, which is the International Code Council. We flew down to Orlando to be part of their big summit that they do every year, and they brought me up on stage. I’ve been kind of celebrated all over the country, which has been crazy. I’m kind of a homebody where I don’t really enjoy putting myself out there, but this has kind of forced me into that. It’s been a great experience; I wouldn’t change it.”
Childress emphasized that “anybody can enter the trades and be successful.”
“Whether you don’t have any experience at all or you have a background in the trades, it’s really for everyone — and that’s the great part about it,” he said. “There’s no ‘this is the ideal person for this.’ It’s everybody. I’d recommend everybody to get in the trades. If you’re looking for something to do, and you don’t know what that is, try the trades. And if it doesn’t work out, you walk away from it, but you can always pivot from one trade to another or to a different career.”
He also pointed out that “the stereotypes of people in the trades are not necessarily true.”
“I know there’s a bad name that kind of comes along with some of the trades, but I’d recommend for them to find out for themselves,” Childress said. “Being a plumber isn’t the terrible things that you think of… There’s a lot more to plumbing than just snaking a toilet. The sky’s the limit really on what you have the ability to do once you get into the trades, and whether you’re more interested in electrical or you’re more interested in plumbing, there’s a place for you. Don’t be afraid just to see what you like and try different things. There’s tons of great people in the trades, and they will teach you.”
When considering what advice he would give to people interested in the trades, he recommended they “just keep on learning and keep improving because the industry is constantly changing from tools or codes or whatever it may be, but it’s constantly changing, so continuous education is always important for it.”
He added, “Certainly we’re looking for people in the trades as a whole, not just BU or Massachusetts, but the country needs more people in the trades, so anybody that’s interested, it’s a great opportunity to have a wonderful career — and who knows? Maybe you’re competing on national TV for a national championship.”
