$242 billion went into AI last year. Zero reached the 10 million skilled workers who keep America running. We are changing that - by building tools you will actually use, teaching the AI literacy you deserve, and defending your shop from AI-powered threats.
We do not do philanthropy to tradespeople - we do the work with them. Every tool we ship, every class we teach, every audit we run is pressure-tested in real shops.
Truck Inventory, AI Estimator, Job-Site Companion. Voice-first, mobile-first, built for a grease-covered thumb in 40 degree weather.
4-week AI-Ready Tradesman certificate. Founding-25 cohort: lifetime grandfathered pricing. No CS degree required.
AI-threat audits, monthly monitoring, crew training. Protection against voice-cloning, phishing, and credential attacks.
Most AI for business pitches go to the boss. We pitch to both - because the apprentice who learns this first is the one who walks into the shop on Monday with a workflow the owner did not know existed.
AI did not take your job. It is about to make you the one who knows it. Learn to prompt, automate the boring stuff, and walk in Monday with something the boss has not seen yet.
Join the waitlistTrain the crew. Audit the gaps. Stop losing $48k Tuesdays. AI-threat audits and crew training that actually fits a trades shop budget.
Get in touchA 4-week applied program built by working tradespeople - for the workers, not just the bosses. You ship 5 real AI workflows you can use Monday morning: estimating, ordering, invoicing, customer comms, and shop-defense basics.
The first 25 students get founding pricing, weekly office hours with the founders, and lifetime access to every future module.
Founding-25 cohort opens soon. Get notified first.
Blue Collar Labs was founded by Paul Mantello - a working electrician who saw the AI gap firsthand. While billions flowed to tech companies, the 10 million skilled workers keeping America running got nothing.
We are a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 42-1853577) on a mission to close that gap. Not by talking at tradespeople, but by building with them - every tool pressure-tested in a real shop before it ships.
The workforce is aging out. Three retirees leave for every new tradesperson in NJ. We are making sure the next generation walks in AI-literate, AI-armed, and ready to run the shop better than the last.
What we believe:
AI should serve the people who build things - not just the people who fund things.
Every tradesperson deserves AI literacy, regardless of income.
Small shops should not be sitting ducks for AI-powered scams.
The best tools are built by the people who use them.
Real prompts for real trade work. No fluff, no theory - just copy, paste, fill in the brackets.
Dump your scribbled walkthrough notes. Get back a structured estimate with line items, assumptions, and a sanity-check on scope.
Turn we found something into a clean change order: scope, labor, materials, time impact, and a customer-friendly explanation.
Generate a tight, trade-specific safety briefing the night before. Sounds like a foreman, not a clipboard.
Write a reply that protects your reputation and gets the conversation offline - without arguing in public.
A short payment reminder that does not apologize, does not grovel, and does not sound like a collections letter. Customers actually pay these.
Write a job post that filters out the wrong people and pulls in the right ones. Real pay range, real hours, real expectations.
Snap 4-8 photos at the end of a walkthrough. Get back a punch list grouped by trade, with P1/P2/P3 priority.
Translate NEC, IPC, IBC - or any code reference - into three plain sentences a homeowner will accept. No jargon.
Move outdoor work, fill the indoor crews, and send every affected customer a 5-line text in the same pass.
Every dollar is tracked against measurable outcomes: tools deployed, tradespeople certified, shops hardened. Blue Collar Labs is a 501(c)(3) public charity - your donation is tax-deductible.
Whether you are a contractor who wants to pilot a tool, a funder considering a grant, or a journalist covering the trades - we would like to hear from you.
Pilot interest, funder conversations, partnerships, speaking - anything that needs a real human. Replies usually within one business day.
Press inquiries, media kit, logos, founder bio, fact sheets.
Effective June 2026. Blue Collar Labs Academy is a New Jersey 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 42-1853577). This policy covers our website at bluecollarlabs.org.
When you join the waitlist or contact us, we collect your email address and any information you provide in the form. When you donate, PayPal processes your payment - we do not see or store your card information.
We do not use third-party tracking cookies. We do not sell, rent, or share your data. We use Google Analytics to understand site traffic in aggregate - no personally identifiable information is shared.
You can request deletion of your data at any time by emailing privacy@bluecollarlabs.org. We comply with all applicable data protection laws.
Questions about this policy? Email privacy@bluecollarlabs.org.