Landon Wiseman Trades Landscaping for Construction and Earns a Promotion on Charlottesville Home Builds

SECOND SHIFT · FROM THE FIELD

Charlottesville, Virginia · Residential construction · Entry-level trade work to promotion

Original reporting: Christine Phelan Kueter, WMRA · October 12, 2026

Landon Wiseman graduated from high school last year and started out as a landscaper. Now the 18-year-old helps builder Chance Dickerson on multimillion-dollar home builds, including one in Charlottesville’s Woolen Mills neighborhood, WMRA’s Christine Phelan Kueter reports.

A year ago, Dickerson promoted Wiseman to site support specialist and raised his pay, according to the report. Wiseman lives in Craigsville.

“It’s an amazing thing to see something where there was nothing,” Wiseman told WMRA. He also said that “relationships and communication is key” in the job.

Wiseman’s story opens a three-part WMRA series on young people choosing skilled trades such as construction, electrical work, plumbing and auto maintenance as entry-level hiring for college graduates gets tougher.

Wiseman moved up through on-the-job learning with a small builder, not a formal apprenticeship. Much advancement in residential construction happens this way and does not show up in registered-apprenticeship counts. Regions that judge the strength of their trades pipeline by program enrollment alone may be missing part of it. This is our analysis; the facts are as reported by WMRA.

Read the original reporting at WMRA →

Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.

Curated by Location Decision. Originally reported by Christine Phelan Kueter, WMRA, October 12, 2026.

This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.