Straight answers before you call.

Newcomers to Canada, career-changers, youth and high school students, new hires and apprentices, and working crews. I build programs for employment organizations, colleges, school boards, employers, northern and remote communities, and Caribbean property owners, developers and training programs.

I'm based in Rockland, Eastern Ontario, and deliver across Ontario. I travel across Canada, the US and the Caribbean for the right program. Classroom courses run live from my studio to anywhere, and hybrid days put tools in hands with a local facilitator on your end.

Yes. I teach live from my studio on Zoom or Teams, with one camera on me and one on the bench so your group sees the tools up close. For hands-on work I run hybrid days: a local facilitator runs the stations with a kit I send ahead while I teach and coach live. I've taught online for years, including webinars with Dr. Bruce Firestone, and I'm building a 14-module video series for ACCES Employment. How it works →

Yes. Most of the program runs remotely from my studio with a local facilitator, and I fly in once for a hands-on build week. That keeps travel costs down and leaves the skills, the kit and the course in the community. See how →

Classroom sessions and talks work for groups of 20–25 and up. Hands-on sessions run 3–20, split into small groups at each station. The 2-day cohort is built around small groups rotating through six trade stations.

The participants, a room, and outdoor or shop space with power for the hands-on part. I bring the tools, materials, PPE, handouts and certificates.

Safety is taught inside every station, not as a separate lecture. PPE is required throughout. For adult cohorts, participants run power tools at supervised stations after instruction. For anyone under 18, no participant operates a powered, cutting or striking tool — the instructor demonstrates behind a marked perimeter and students handle tools with the battery and blade removed. Chainsaw work is always a demonstration only.

No — and I'd rather be straight about it. Participants earn a Certificate of Completion or a Certificate of Practical Training from Aaron Markel Builds. It shows an employer what they've done, but it isn't a provincial credential or a regulated ticket. Tickets like Working at Heights have to come from an approved provider — I can help you line those up alongside my program.

Every program is quoted for your group — size, format, location and how many courses. After a 15-minute call you'll have a one-page outline and a quote within 48 hours. Writing a funding application? Ask me for a budget sheet you can drop straight into it.

Often, yes. My two ACCES Employment cohorts were funded by the Government of Ontario. If your organization has access to workforce or training funding, I can help shape the program to fit it.

That's the whole idea. Every course is a module. Tell me who you're training and what they need to walk away with, and I'll sequence the right pieces — from a single 3-hour session to a multi-week program.

Programs are delivered in English. I understand some French and Spanish, and for French-language groups I bring in a francophone co-facilitator. Translated handouts are in the works.

Yes. Colleges, trade schools and larger organizations can license the courses — decks, handouts and speaker notes included.

Yes. I script, shoot and deliver custom video series built around your program — like the 14-module series I'm building for ACCES Employment.

A few weeks' notice works best for a 2-day cohort so tools and materials are lined up. Talks and single sessions can often happen sooner. Call and ask.