12. Building the Way Forward

Want a grounded look at what actually drives housing costs in the Flathead Valley—and what can realistically bring them down? We sit down with Mark Friedline, executive officer of the Flathead Building Association, to break down the practical levers that matter most: smart advocacy, safer jobsites, streamlined permitting, and a coordinated local workforce strategy. Mark’s unconventional path from outdoor educator and university program leader to industry advocate gives him a systems-level view of how people, policy, and process intersect in real construction timelines and real home prices.

The conversation zeroes in on solutions already in motion—aligning local setbacks with international standards to unlock usable space, reducing delays through clearer permitting, and supporting builders with monthly safety trainings, mock OSHA walkthroughs, and plain-language guidance on compliance. But the heart of the episode is workforce. With retirements far outpacing new entrants, Mark outlines how paid high-school internships, college partnerships, and the launch of ACE—an after-school architecture, construction, and engineering program—are building a homegrown talent pipeline. The goal is direct and urgent: increase capacity, reduce risk, and lower long-term housing costs by investing locally and early.

Heart of the Flathead is brought to you by:

• Glacier Investment Management
• Whitefish Financial Services

Heart of the Flathead, is produced by David Wigginton, in partnership with LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at HeartoftheFlathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights are reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton by clicking the Send Us a Text link at the top of the episode description. 

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit down with the change makers, the unstung heroes, and everyday folks who give this place its pulse. If you live here, love here, or just want to know what makes Kalispell and the Valley tick, you're in the right place. And now here's your host, Dave Wigginton.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Welcome everyone to another episode of Heart of the Flathead. I'm excited to introduce our guest this week, Mark Friedmind, the executive officer of the Flathead Building Association. Mark, welcome to Heart of the Flathead.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Thank you for having me.

Mark’s Background

SPEAKER_02 0:34

So, Mark, obviously building is a huge, huge deal in our valley. We've got, it's like we've always had a lot of building go on, except maybe for a period of time there after the uh the financial crisis. But excited to get to talk a little bit about everything you guys are doing over there. There's a lot of great things. We've got obviously a lot of builders and and people in the building industry in our community, but really wanted to start to get to know you, as that's kind of the whole purpose of the Heart of the Flathead, is for us to get to know each other in our community and and what we do. But I always find it interesting to learn more about the our guests and kind of their life story and how they got to where they were. So maybe give us an idea of where you're from, maybe a little bit about your life's journey and how you ended up here in Kalispel and with the FBA.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah, well, I have a very non-traditional journey in terms of building association. So I'm originally from New Mexico. That's where I call home, but I've lived in 10 different states and two different countries over the course of my childhood and my career. And so really kind of what got me, you know, got me into my career is all been in recreation. And so I started off after college, moved into military recreation. And so I ran summer camps, after school programs, water, you know, swimming pools, things like that on different military bases, both in Germany and Japan. And then my first full-time position was in university recreation. And so I worked part-time at the University of Iowa, Augustana College. But really the main one was Miami University, Miami of Ohio. And I worked there for 17 years in recreation and residence life before I moved to the world.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Were you in the military then? Or were you just an employee of the military?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

I was a civil I was a civilian contract. And so actually, one of the cool jobs that I had, I came from a summer camp background in undergrad. And so I worked at summer camps for three years in New Mexico. And then I transferred to Iowa. And working in that program, they actually hired me to train 700 camp counselors during the school year to then go and work at different military bases, embassies, and American clubs all over the world.

unknown 2:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

So how long were you in Germany and how long in Japan? How long were you in Japan?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Just for a year with both. So yeah. So but really enjoyed it. And that's what really fueled my passion for travel as well. So when I worked at Miami or Ohio, it was already kind of set up to they wanted to be a leader in international education and global, creating a global citizen, a global student. And so I led two to three international trips a year for Miami University and different academic departments. So I did 17 trips to New Zealand teaching outdoor leadership. I taught kinesiology and health in Peru. I taught international studies and black world studies in Kenya. I taught social justice in Fiji. And so I would, rather than taking semester-long programs, I would lead the short, you know, two to four-week classes during breaks and take a lot of students overseas.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Wow, that sounds amazing. What what was your, I mean, uh what was your favorite trip or or trips that you had?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

So New Zealand by far was my favorite. I come from a big outdoor recreation background. And so that's what I started with the university was doing. I was a rock climbing guide, a backpacking guide, a rafting, kayaking guide. So I would do a lot of, you know, similar to an outward bound or Knowles experience, National Outdoor Leadership School. I had my own curriculum and I would take them out and, you know, we would teach them, you know, backcountry navigation, wilderness first aid, leadership skills, group dynamics. And so it was, and New Zealand is just an absolutely beautiful country. I loved doing that for several years, but actually technology kind of ruined it for me. And so I I realized I was, you know, those students, when we first started started doing this program back in 2001, they were, they were so bonded together. You know, they had this this shared experience that nobody else, you know, has ever had, whatever challenges they overcame during that group experience. It was just very impactful. And then, you know, as international cell phone plans and technology, social media started to happen, you know, my last trip to Fiji was everybody was all about when we were going to get cell phone reception and back again so they could send their selfie and find out what was going back at home. And so it just could that just kind of ruined it for me. And so I said, well, I'm just I'm just gonna start spending more time with my own kids if and taking them out on trips so they'll, you know, rather than some other students that have kind of lost what what energized me about it.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Yeah, no, no kidding. That's that's part of the beauty of of being in the outdoors is getting lost and losing connectivity. And it's very liberating. So that's I could see how that would be a turnoff for all the years you did it without without it. So were you a like an adjunct professor at Miami of Ohio? Or what what was your title there?

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, so I was I had a number of different titles. I I worked in Res Life, but you know, as the director of our outdoor pursuit center, I was the senior director of programs for the the entire rec center. But then I also was an adjunct for teacher education, kinesiology, and health for a couple different departments.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

And so you you ended up in Kalisville afterwards. And so was the the outdoors a draw to come here or what what what brought you to Callisville?

SPEAKER_00 6:06

My my partner, Michelle. So we started dating back in 2014 and and we'd known each other since high school, but didn't start dating until then. And so me being in Ohio, 1900 miles away, we did that for about two years, and one of us needed to move closer. So I decided to to move out to Montana. Initially, I thought, you know, being from New Mexico and Southern California, I'd be in the Midwest for about three years and then move back out west. And, you know, 17, 20 years later, I was still out there. So it was it was an easier move for me to to come back to the mountains.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Yeah, absolutely. It's funny how that works. I I experienced something similar to being on the East Coast. Thought I'd be there for two years and ended up there for for 12. So that's great. Do you mention kids? How many kids do you have?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

We've got four kids together. Two biologically are mine, and then I've got two bonus kids. And so just in just until recently, we had all four kids in college, but our first one graduated from Georgia Tech in December. So now I just have three to go.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Congratulations. That's uh that's a great accomplishment. Great great university too at Georgia Tech. What's what's that kid gonna do now? Do they have any plans yet?

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Or yeah, so Braden just accepted a position. He's done a couple different internships. He did two internships with SpaceX, one internship with Hermes. Hermius is a company that is hypersonic and supersonic flights, so that Mach 2 to Mach 10 range. And so he accepted a position with Hermes in LA. So he starts February 1st out there.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Wow, that's exciting. Talk about being at the forefront of uh of things. That's great. That is great. So you're in Kalispel, and you've had several positions here. Obviously, you were having been with it with the Flathead Builders Association this whole time. I know you were with the city of Kalispell Parks and Recreation doing programming there. How long were you there for?

Working in Montana after relocating

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah. So when I when I was looking to move out to Montana, my first job offer was at actually at the University of Montana in their residence life department. So I would have been over three different residence halls and moving back into the the residence hall. So I kind of kicked that around for the fact that I loved universities and that's what I'd done for the last 20 years. But did I really want to? They didn't have a position open in some of the other aspects I was excited about. So did I really want to move back into the dorm at, you know, at 40? Or did I want to be that far away from Michelle? So Michelle needed to stay in the valley. So did we want to see each other every other weekend, or should I just move up to Calispel? And so that same week, I got uh offered a position with as recreation superintendent for the city Kalispell as well. So I ended up taking that position. And, you know, just it was just a little different. So rather than working with college students, I was now doing youth programs, youth basketball, youth, all the youth sports, adult sports, the woodland supervised the Woodland Water Park, the summer camps, the afterschool programs, and so, you know, any of the community events like the picnic in the park, summer concert series, Shakespeare in the park, movies in the park. And so yeah, I really I really enjoyed it. It was a good introduction for me to the community. Michelle had been living here for about 20 years because we both started the same college. And when she graduated from New Mexico State, she did grad school at the University of Montana, and she said, You've been here six months, I've been here 20 years, and you know more people than I do. And so, yeah, it was a good intro into the the Flathead Valley for me.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

That's great. Yeah, those programs are fantastic. You guys you definitely established a great legacy, and we've we are fortunate to have so many wonderful uh opportunities on the outdoors in in our community, apart from the natural ones. So thank you for uh for all that and all that you've done there. So what which part of New Mexico are you from?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Uh Albuquerque. So my parents, yeah. I went to high school junior high, high school in Albuquerque, and then started college at New Mexico State. My parents still live in Albuquerque, and Michelle's mother lives in Aztec, New Mexico, up by the Four Corners area, kind of by Durango, Colorado. So we still make it back to New Mexico about once a year.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

So how how do the outdoors there compare to the outdoors here as far as activities?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah, the it just depends on which part of the state, you know. Yeah, a lot of people who haven't been to New Mexico have a hard time kind of understanding what it's like. It's probably easiest for me to describe where the the southern half is like Arizona, the northern half is like Colorado. So, you know, the southern half is more desert, and the northern half, you know, we've got I had a 10,000-foot mountain in my backyard. And so it's it's it's a different environment. We get a lot more blue sky days there, but the recreation opportunities are up here, are more typically what what I like.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Talk to me, talk to us about the uh the Flathead Building Association. So you're the the executive officer there now. What what is the the FBA and what is its mission or what does it do? And and what's what what impact does it have on our community?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah. So the Flathead Building Association has been around for 47 years. So it's been established quite a long time, and we really focus on kind of five main pillars. So one of the, you know, the first pillar is advocacy, you know, working with city officials, county officials, state officials, and legislators, and then advocating for our builders and our members at the nationalist level as well. So when you become a member of the local building association, you also become a member of the state and national associations. And so it's a the three-tiered membership. And there's different benefits to that. And so advocacy is something that the nationals do. That's the majority of what they do. You know, lobbying, whether it's tariffs, whether it's laws that are being passed, electrical code, things like that, things that we can't really impact on the local level as much. But we still do things like I'll be attending the city planning session tonight. City bidding building officials are going to come and speak to our group tomorrow morning for an event, uh, builder breakfast that we're hosting. I was just in a Helena last week meeting with our all of our state reps. And so we still do a lot of advocacy, but the majority of that is is handled at the national level and it trickles down.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

So was it was last week the business days at the Capitol? Is that what that was?

SPEAKER_00 12:25

So we we coincide with the the business days. Like I know the chamber was there as well. We really focus on just like we'll host our own receptions and things like that for our legislators when we go down. We didn't meet with any because it's an off session a year. We we used it for our own business meetings. But next year we'll have we'll be meeting with officials going to the doing things on the hill. And then so another big part of what we do that second pillar is safety. And so we offer, as part of our benefits to our members, free safety trainings every month. So, like last month we did a forklift, free forklift training for our members. Next month we'll do scissor lift, man lift training. We'll do things like first aid, CPR, ladder, scaffolding, hoisting, rigging, electric safety, trenching safety, all to make sure that our members are are safe and that they rather than them sending, putting people on the road, sending them to Missoula, sending them to Billing, sending them to the to Bozeman to get these trainings, we bring the training to them every month. In addition to that, we also will offer kind of uh in the summer, we'll actually go out on job sites and do kind of mock oSHA inspections. So we'll we'll walk through a job site with them, point out things that they're doing well, point out things that they can be improved, and we'll give their, you know, give all their employees, you know, safety swag and things like that. So we're just really wanting to make sure that they have access to that that safety training. Our third pillar is education. So we do at least every other month, we'll do a free safety training for our members. And so, like tomorrow is going to be more focused on with the city of Calspell, looking at the residential permitting process and kind of helping them navigate that, meeting with the city building officials, talking about zoning amendment changes. But we go through a variety of topics. Last year we did a Workers Comp 101. We did one where we looked at are you an employee or are you an independent contractor to try and make sure that our members are doing the right, the right thing. If you're an independent contractor, all your hours come from one employer. You're probably really an employee. So making sure that they they are doing the right thing so they're not getting hit by the the IRS or the Department of Labor. We'll do tours of different facilities in the valley, whether it's cabinet manufacturing or trust, trust plants, or or last last July we took them up to the the warehouser plant to see where some of the materials are being made. So we just do a number of different education events throughout the year.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Right. So are all your members builders only, or do you have other members that are not within the building industry?

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah. So our members are typically the way the building industry, uh, the building associations across the country, typically 25 to 30% of those are builder members. And the others are what we call associate members. And so it could be anywhere from suppliers, you know, whether that's somebody like Builders for Source or Sliders or Western Building Center, to electricians, plumbers, drywallers. It can be anybody that affects the building industry, you know, it's uh real estate agents, title companies. So one of the things when I first first got to the association three years ago, I tried to identify where we were missing, like what did our members need? And so I realized we didn't have any attorneys that were members, and they all need contracts. We didn't have any website designers, and every everyone needs marketing help. You know, you get a plumber who is really good in their field, but you know, the they're not as maybe not as well versed in website design, digital marketing, bookkeeping, or writing contracts. So those are the things that I brought in to make sure that they're being successful as they're growing their business.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

So how how much is this, how much have things grown in the three years you've been there? So you did you double, triple, 50% increase? How how has the membership grown in the last three years with your new approach or just f fresh approach?

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Ever since the kind of the the downturn in the economy back in 2008 to 10, they used to be up at about 350 members, and then it went down to about 150, and it's stayed there for 12 years from 2010 to 2022. It was, you know, it was about 150 members, go up two, down five, up three, down seven, but not a lot of change. And so we've had some pretty exciting exponential growth over the last couple of years. So in the since I started in September of 2022, we've gone from 150 members to 560. So we've we've gotten gotten some awards or some of the biggest growth in the country from the the National Association of Home Builders. And it's just been really exciting. You know, we've been able to increase our a lot of our different programs and the engagement of our members is has increased dramatically as well, which makes it fun.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah, you guys you guys do a lot. I know you have lots of fun activities, lots of training and education sessions, like you said. And so what how how is participation in this? Do you get pretty good turnout? I mean, obviously it's going to be different every activity and every every education session, but how how how tight-knit is the group, would you say?

Is Building Industry Booming Or Just Costly

SPEAKER_00 18:56

I would I would say it's really good. You know, I was a little worried when I first joined the association because I, again, I didn't have a background in building. I had a background in in programming. And so when I went to my first Raise the Roof, which is our monthly networking event, it was over at Ferguson's in Evergreen, and about 17 people showed up. And so I I was really worried. I was like, what the heck did I get myself into? And then over the course of uh a year and a half, Ferguson's wanted to host another one. And so, you know, of that growth over time, at that one that we did 18 months later at their same facility, we had 77 people show up and it completely filled the showroom and we're spilling out the door. So that really was kind of that key point for me that hey, we're doing a we're doing a much better job. And so, you know, some we've been averaging, you know, 60, 80 at each one of our networking events. Some of them are a little bigger, like last year, our biggest one, we did a a grand opening for one of our members, and we had 170 people there at our raise the roof. Another event that we're having next month that we're partnering with NMAR is called Builders and Brews. And so a few years ago that started off at 60 people, and last last year we had 150 people there. So that's a that's a great one as well. So we're we're seeing substantial growth in our programs. You know, a good example when I started the home and garden show a few years ago, they were only about 80% full. And so then so that was my goal is to make sure I filled up that Trade Center building. And we did that, but then we got another 40 applications. I was like, okay, what am I gonna do? So I realized that if I make the aisles a little smaller, if I go from a 10-foot aisle to an eight and a half foot aisle, I can add one row north to south and one row east to west. And so I was able to get all those 40 people in. But then I got another 40 or 50 applications the next year. And so we've now, for the first year ever, we're going to do two buildings. And so we're adding a Trade Center building and the Expo building for our Plumbing Garden show, March 7th and 8th.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

Wow, that's exciting. That's really exciting. So would you say is is the building industry here in the flathead is is it booming? I mean you hear lots of things about prices and mortgages and this and that but gosh there seems to be a lot of activity.

Hope for Affordable Housing

SPEAKER_00 21:20

So I wouldn't necessarily call this booming. I would say that we were booming in you know 2020 2021 people were moving in faster than we could you know we could deal with it. Would we be if interest rates were a little lower? Yes I would say we'd be still be booming. But with the interest rates what they're what they're at right now and the cost of building cost of building in the the flathead is is more expensive than it is other places. So you know why is that so a couple different things. So number one getting materials up here a little harder to get materials here than say Dallas or Denver or a major hub like that. So the cost of materials is going to be more than Seattle. So we've got some additional trucking and freight costs with that. The others just probably the the biggest one is the skilled labor that we have in the Valley. A lot of people that moved here from other areas moved here with remote jobs. And so not necessarily that that skilled labor that we're looking for. And so the National Association has has done some research and they looked at their membership across the country and 80% of their members were over the age of 45. With every seven skilled tradespeople retiring only one is coming back. And so with that shortage of labor that jacks the prices up in terms of what what it costs to build and that's a lot of it is that labor cost when you don't have that that big pool of skilled labor.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

Makes a lot makes a lot of sense and so is there hope for more affordable housing here or is are we just going to be in a perpetual kind of labor shortage?

What does the future look like?

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah it's definitely something that we're looking to do. You know, one of the things that we're doing is or we're doing a couple things but one of them is partner trying to build that workforce. And so we partnered with FECC for their trades department and trying to support them as much as we can. So then but we're also getting in the high schools as well. And so we're working with the school district to pair students in internships because the school district has has made a big shift to work-based learning. And so where students can work 10, 15 hours a week outside of the classroom and get paid, you know, whether it's a professional or trade spot. And so I'm trying to help them pair people up with that. As well as we're starting a brand new after school program in the high school called ACE stands for architecture, construction and engineering. So it's a nationwide program. We just haven't had a chapter in Montana so we're rolling that out in February in conjunction with the school district.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Trying to educate educate our young people about the careers that are that are available I think there's a shortage here but I think there's a shortage nationally in the coming years of some of these skilled electricians, plumbers and different different trades that people just haven't been backfilling the people leaving those those uh those trades. That's great that you guys are doing that.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Aaron Ross Powell those positions electricians plumbers trades positions were a were a good you know a good solid salary back in the past and good good living it's going to be even better because of that shortage those positions are going to get paid more and more and so we're trying to educate people about using that as an option.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Well mark from a I guess from a a builder's perspective or a building association's perspective I mean what what does a better future for for the flathead look like to you it's you can look at it from a number of different ways.

Flathead Five: Rapid Fire Q&A

SPEAKER_00 24:55

You know you talked about that affordable housing piece looking at starter homes in the the flathead of over$400,000 you know coming from Ohio where you know a starter home was in the$100,000 range or$150,000 range 20 years ago and now it's probably in the 200 to$250 it hasn't you know Montana prices are higher. And so what we're trying to do is you know work with the city to look at what are what are ways and the county to look at what are ways that we could have cut some of those costs. So because we want things to be more affordable like you like you talked about. And this is the builders and developers getting involved and having these conversations with me, trying to start a a housing task force that we can address some of those things. You know, a lot of the costs come from delays. And so if we can streamline the permitting process, if we can change like one of the the zoning amendments we're talking about that just changed was a win-win. It didn't hurt the city it actually helped this was one that got that pushed through in November because most communities do their building code where you can build from the setback is five foot setback and it comes from the the wall you know the foundation wall versus the city of Callspell headed at the the farthest protrusion out so the eaves and so by changing that to be with the International Building Collud and as well as a lot of our other communities where our builders are building in Missoula and building Spokane just makes it more consistent, but it also gives more variety we're able to put bigger houses on smaller lots, which is going to save people money because the lot sizes are expensive as well. So that's just one thing that you know one example by allowing us to increase density where that density should be that's going to help us reduce the cost of that house by making the lot size smaller and cheaper, getting more bang for their Bach.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

All important things and I'm glad that you know you're at the head leading the charge on this. I think we've got you know great great leader in you and hopefully you guys can continue to make inroads on all your advocacy and other fronts that you're working on. So Mark thank you for for coming on today. We're gonna wrap up now with our our flathead five and these are just five rapid fire questions that we throw out. So quick responses and and we'll uh we'll wrap up after that so what is your favorite hidden gem in the community?

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Well when I saw that question I was like I thought of a gem Jewel Basin just because I love the outdoors and the park gets so busy in the summer you know I for me going up and spending time up in Jewel Basin it's you know parts of it are just as beautiful as Glacier National Park but much easier to get into and and things like that. So that was a hidden gem for me.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Grizz or Bobcats?

SPEAKER_00 27:50

I'm a house divided because I've got a daughter in Montana State but Michelle graduated from University of Montana but I'm gonna say Grizz.

SPEAKER_02 27:57

That's tough, especially with the the Cats National Championship this year. What should what's your favorite act outdoor activity in the Valley?

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Backpacking for sure just I love being out in the outdoors and but I'm not much for traditional camping. I don't like to be surrounded by people when I'm enjoying the outdoors so just letting me get out a little bit what do you know today that you wish you knew when you started out investing a little earlier. I wish I would have bought Apple when it was eight dollars a share.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah no kidding right yeah and when your story's over what do you want the one or two sentence review in your book to be yeah that was a that was an interesting question.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

It almost sounded like an OBI but I think for me I want people to think of think of me think of you know as a always provided service to the community. It's what my my whole career has been about whether that was service to the military service to the university service to the Calspell community service to the the building industry just just that I was providing good service and leadership to whatever community I was serving.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

That's great. Mark we're uh we're very fortunate to have you in our community thank you for for all that you do and thank you for coming on Heart of the Flathead.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

No thank you very much thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the Flathead we'd love to hear your thoughts about today's episode and the podcast in general you can listen at heart of theflathead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts and you can reach David via the contact page at heart of the flathead.com or by clicking on the send us feedback link at the top of the episode description in your favorite podcast app