Lake Zurich teen repurposes items to create unique transports

Working in the garage of his parents' Lake Zurich home, Matt Brazeau can attract a crowd.

Wearing a lab coat, a welding helmet and glasses - and creating sparks - neighbors come to inquire.

When he rides down streets on an electric scooter, people ask where he got it, and where they can they buy one.

"I tell them, 'Well, you can't,'" he said. " 'There is only one.' "

But the 17-year-old plans to change that. Taking parts and his desire to design and build, he wants to start by selling his unique skateboards and move onto something bigger.

At age 6, Brazeau started taking apart his remote-controlled cars to learn how they worked. He then started using those parts to build other things. Mom Anita said he's built anything that moves. He used airplane parts to build a remote-controlled fan-powered pontoon boat. He took apart cars to build a motorcycle, bending copper tubing by hand to make the chassis because he was too young to work with welding supplies. A rocket launch day in fifth grade sparked another new interest.

"I'm like 12 and I had a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher with a PVC tube and a detonator," he said.

He moved on to make an electric skateboard at age 11. With wires running everywhere and a throttle and brake in hand, he flew down the block and got noticed.

"People were looking at it 'cause electric skateboards were not even out back then," he said.

Some parts he finds online, and others he finds garbage picking around the house or taking apart items that he no longer uses.

"I will go through every detail of design and every last nut and bolt and design the whole thing in my brain," he said. "In my mind, I know it's going to work."

One scooter took eight days to build. Some take longer. Depending on the complexity of what he's making, he said it may take months to think it all out.

"There is no user manual as to how to build any of this. I have to figure things out and work through all the random problems I run into," he said.

He received welding supplies at age 15. He said it cuts his build time in half.

"Now I can make my things look professionally done because I have the materials to do that," he said.

His dad, Michael, said Matt has not completed all his projects. But he worked through those to do more.

"Not only does he think it, but he has the motivation and ingenuity to see it through and do it," he said.

Brazeau decided recently to part with one of his creations, selling an electric scooter on eBay to a buyer in California. It took less than $100 to build it, and he sold it for $410.

"I'm just having fun and someone paid me to do it," he said.

Only one of two students taking both drafting classes at Lake Zurich High School, the senior looks to study mechanical engineering at North Carolina, Colorado in Fort Collins or California Institute of Technology.

While he has learned ways to utilize technology and is confident with his designs, he knew he needed to learn how to build a business, measure how much materials cost, how to market his product and legalities. That's when he discovered the Young Entrepreneur Academy offered by the Lake Zurich Chamber of Commerce.

"That is exactly what I needed. It just kind of popped up in front of me," he said.

Dale Perrin, the chamber's executive director, said Brazeau has talent and has developed a great product, but needs to develop a business plan.

"It's forcing him to slow down a little bit and take a look at the bigger picture to creating a business," Perrin said.

Brazeau wants someday to design electric cars. He said he now puts his ideas into skateboards because that is what he can afford to work with. And people think they are cool, so Brazeau said he will build more.

"I can start off small selling those to build a company and just work my way up to the top," he said.