Two Fredericton brothers saw that the trades have an image problem and decided they’d do something about it with their own construction company.

Mark Small said he and his brother Kent founded Benchmark Building and Renovations about six years ago with the intent to break the stigmas and stereotypes relating to the construction industry.

“I’ve been in the trades right out of high school and I’ve been noticing that it’s the same stuff you deal with on every job site,” said Small.

“It should be just like any other industry where you show up for work, try to be polite, and move away from all that rough-and-tough mentality.”

Small said the public has pigeonholed the trades as a place of loud, aggressive, rude behavior – and that the characterization has stuck with the industry for years.

“We’re trying to put a new spin on that. We have our own company now so we can control some of those things and we’re trying to break that stigma,” he said.

Small, a licensed carpenter, and his brother, a UNB business graduate, are pushing back against industry stereotypes by being more responsive to phone calls and emails, and projecting a clean-cut image on site with matching shirts for their four employees and respectable conduct.

“No swearing, yelling, and that kind of typical stuff I’ve seen in my years in the trades – we’re trying to move away from that,” Small explained.

Another tough-guy stereotype the Small brothers are looking to disavow through Benchmark is the lack of support for the mental health of trades employees.

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