Apply

Founders,tell us where you're headed.

Five fields. Two regulated disclosures. Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis run parallel cohorts through the 12-week apprenticeship-to-ownership pipeline — paid from week one, equity grant at week twelve.

  • HVAC · Electrical · Plumbing · Carpentry · Roofing
  • Reviewed within five business days
Step 01 of 04
Intake
Founder intake form
Every founder-apprentice starts here. Your submission is reviewed by the Stepsmith program lead within five business days.

We'll send a confirmation here once your application lands.

5-digit US ZIP — where you'll operate.

40–4000 characters. Sell yourself in a paragraph.

20–4000 characters. Include scope and dates.

20–8000 characters. Required for every applicant — see eligibility.

Documents

Attach a scanned trade license, prior contracts, or a resume. PDF or image — up to 5.0 MB per file. The trade license is required.

PDF, PNG, or JPEG. Required. Up to 5.0 MB.

PDF, PNG, or JPEG. Optional. Up to 5.0 MB.

PDF, PNG, JPEG, or WebP. Optional. Up to 5.0 MB.

Run the diagnostic first

Three minutes. A tier recommendation.

Already mapped your licensing, pricing, and capacity against the Stepsmith tier ladder? Skip the question — head straight to the intake form with that context.

Open the diagnostic

After you submit

Five business days, then a real human.
  1. 1Auto-receipt lands the moment you submit — your submission ID is on file.
  2. 2Program lead review against license, trade, and disclosed record — five business days.
  3. 3Intake interview with the assigned journeyman mentor — 45 minutes, your city.
  4. 4Cohort placement in the next rolling intake — Detroit, Cleveland, or St. Louis.

Eligibility

Active license · non-material record.

Active journeyman license (or in process) in HVAC, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, or roofing. Stepsmith underwrites context — a non-material record is reviewed, not auto-disqualified.

Read the eligibility details