Here’s the business that’s moving in when the Andover Antique Mall moves out

When the EF-3 tornado struck Andover April 29, the first concern for Jessica and Charles Friedrichs was their home, which ended up being fine, followed by the new building they’d purchased for their Heartland Welding Academy.

Once it was safe, Charles Friedrichs drove to 656 N. Andover Road and was relieved to see the Andover Antique Mall was not hit.

That’s where he and his wife are moving the trade school, which they started in September 2018 with four students in 8,500 square feet of rented space at 338 S. Ida in Wichita.

They now have 40 to 60 students a year.

“We have outgrown our current facility,” Jessica Friedrichs said.

The antique mall will remain in business in the almost 29,000-square-foot Andover building, which it’s been in for more than a quarter century, until June 30. Then the Friedrichses will spend some time constructing office and classroom infrastructure along with making updates, including adding some curb appeal, before opening in the space in January 2023.

The two moved here from Houston to start their school and raise a family.

Charles Friedrichs has worked in the Midwest before and said there’s a good work ethic and employer loyalty here.

“I come from the power industry,” he said.

He started in pipe welding and evolved through formal education into more of an executive business development role.

“We truly believe in the trades and wanted to pay it forward,” Friedrichs said.

“There’s a lot of growth in the trade,” he said. “If you can plant the seeds right as a mentor, and the students (are) willing to put in the work, there’s a lot of potential.”

The two say they’re passionate about the field and helping others discover their potentials.

Jessica Friedrichs, who has a background in marketing and communications, said that while in high school, “You were told the only way to be successful is to go get a four-year education.”

What she saw was “all this debt compounded” while some people “were still working two jobs.”

She said it doesn’t have to be that way.

After the Heartland Welding Academy’s six-month certification program, she said students can graduate and make $21 to $26 an hour for entry-level jobs that also have benefits.

Jessica Friedrichs said there is a lot of opportunity for advancement, too.

“We teach all welding processes,” Charles Friedrichs said. “You bring the student through all the structural pieces, but you focus the back half of the program in pipe welding where there’s a lot of skill development and ability development.”

He said privatized programs operate differently than traditional vocational programs.

“We create a worklike environment,” he said. “Our students are with us basically under the welding hood 30 hours a week.”

A structural code welding program takes 360 hours over 12 weeks. A practical pipe and structural code welding course takes 720 hours over 24 weeks.

That compares to two-year vocational schools with 575 to 625 lab hours.

“We’re putting in basically that same amount of lab time, we’re just knocking it out in a shorter period,” Charles Friedrichs said.

The school starts new day and evening classes every two or three months.

“Our focus is on what we call the heavy industrial verticals, meaning your power industries, your building erection industries, your semiconductor, your oil and gas,” Charles Friedrichs said. “Our niche focus is we’re known as a pipe welding school.”

He said it’s similar to the Tulsa Welding School, though not as big.

With the new space, the school will be able to have well over 100 students a year.

Charles Friedrichs said the new building is in great shape, especially since he and his wife were fortunate enough to not be in the path of a tornado. The two are thankful for their new community, he said.

“We love Andover.”

This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 4:42 AM.