COVER STORY WORKFORCE

crattworkers Open Up
About Their Careers

• 1 .-i.... .

. . ""... ~ . \- ,

raftworkers and their supeNisors at the jobsite are indispens-

able elements of construction success, yet they are little
known as individuals. ENR sought out a sample of tradesmen
and tradeswomen across the country to better understand
their career choices and lives. The profiles that follow show
their deep desire for economic security, pride in their work and job cond i-
tions that promote safety and dignity.

CREATIVITY TRIGGERED
BY PLUMBING SYSTEMS
Wayne Williams began picking up construction skills as a
youngster helping his father, an independent contractor
who built custom homes and additions. He noticed that his
dad did everything but plumbing . "So, my goal was to become a
plumber and hook up with my dad in a father-and-son business. "
WAYNE After college, Williams played professional basketball in Brazil for four
WILLIAMS
46 years. During the off-season, he would move to Las Vegas, where a for-
Plumber and mer teammate was a pre-apprentice in the plumbing trade.
pipefitter
Local 525, Williams entered the Local 525 apprenticeship program and devel-
Las Vegas oped an affinity for the craft. "Everything was copper pipe, steel pipe,
M~'C' Cor>tra '"r
30-inch-diameter pipe-fascinating for me. I fell in love with the whole
fabrication part of it. Once I fired up on the stick-welding machine, my
journeyman let me run a bead, and I instantly fell in love with the plumbing
and pipefitting trade," Williams says. "I've always been
good with my hands and using my mind to figure out how
to build this or that," he adds. "My dad taught me a lot-
how to be proud of my work and to have patience."
During his 18-year career, he has worked exclusively on
commercial projects, including hotels, casinos and industrial jobS!
For the past year, Williams has worked for MMC Contractors, a
national mechanical contractor. "We run all the water piping to the casinos and
construct the hydronics, taking the water from the chillers to the boilers," he
says. "The best thing is the constant challenges that the trade puts in front of
us on a daily basis. I do tungsten inert-gas welding of all types of materials-
carbon steel, stainless steel and inconel at certain angles and degrees."
"The coolest thing I've done was a water show for the Bellagio casino,"
Williams says. "It has a big lake in front of it, with super-shooter water
cannons that are synchronized to music. It was the first time I ran a job. I

28 • ENR • July 11 , 2016 enr.com

 HANDS ON
Na1asha Arnold, in front
of San Francisco's Bay
Bridge, looks out onto
the city where she
works as an apprentice
carpenter on the
Transbay Terminal.

FEMALE CARPENTER LOVES
ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE WORK
Natasha Arnold is the only 5-ft, 1-in., female carpenter's apprentice working
on San Francisco's Transbay Terminal-the biggest transit center on the
West Coast.
"It's 99% male," says Arnold, adding that she is used to being one of the
only women on the job. In the Army, she was an air traffic ccntroller; later, she
NATASHA was a forest ranger and archeologist. Then, Arnold became a carpenter's ap-
ARNO LO
34 prentice and got a job with Anvil Builders, San Francisco. "I really admire HT
c [Anvil CEO Hien Manh Tran]. We're both disabled veterans," she says.
She dislocated a knee during Army training and, years later, her reme-
dial surgery was botched. She gets along with her co-workers because of
her work ethic, she says, adding, "I always wanted to bring the integrity,
hard work and higher standards I learned in the military to the civilian
world." She adds, "Construction lets me do that."
The common theme for all of the 34-year-old's previous jobs is her desire
to work with her hands. "I enjoy a mental challenge, but being an air traffic
controller taught me that I wanted to do something physically challenging, as
well. It has to be both-mind and body," she says. The physical challenges
help to renew other aspects of her life.
"I've gotten back my creative, artistic passion outside of work," says
Arnold, who uses her carpentry skills to make cabinetry in her free time.
She also sees beauty in construction."It is amazing to see all the trades work-
ing together in a beautiful dance of hard work, as if we are performing a ballet
around each other-ooe goes this way,one dips down here,and another tiptoes
there," she says. "Before you know tt, there is a new wall or afloor where there
was once nothing but thin air. It is really cool to see and be a part of."
It's important for the industry to realize "there's a lot women have to offer,
even though we're not the biggest, most muscle-y people on the job," she
says. Her father worried about her taking "guy jobs," but she wants people to
know "you can excel in construction without having to be a big dude. "•
By Luke Abaffy

had six divers in the water. We had to learn how to dive and use tools PIPE PRO
Williams, an 18-year
underwater-and I'm not a swimmer."
veteran, is the
He adds, "Eventually, I would like to become a foreman or superintendent. co-inventor of the
Right now, I enjoy workng on tools. My aspirations are to continue to work Steelman Pro
pipe clamp.
hard and get all my kids graduated from high school and into college. Also,
I want to show them how important family is and both parents working and
getting into a good career, sticking with it and letting it work for you."
Williams admires innovation. "Innovation is only going to make what we
do better," he says. "We're constantly trying to invent something to speed
up the process. I did come up with a welding clamp, which attaches to the
underside of av-head so the pipe can't fall off the jack stand-a chain "INNOVATION
vice doesn't do that. It's called the Steelman Pro pipe clamp. My fellow IS ONLY GOING
pipefitter Alex Palominos and I hold the patent. It went on the market in TO MAKE
March and is being distributed by Grainger. " • WHAT WE
By Scott Lewis DO BETTER."
enr.com July 11 , 2016 • ENR • 29
 COVER STORY WORKFORCE

OPERATOR COMES HONESTLY

BY EARTHMOVING
Michael Sager grew up in the construction business. At age 10, he started
tagging along with his father, longtime Snellville, Ga., contractor Mike,
who introduced the youngster to the joy, satisfaction and, at times, frus-
trating business of earthmoving and civil construction. Young Michael's
penchant for pulling levers was instant and, by his teens, he was on an
MICHAEL
SAGER excavator every day. "I always worked in the summers," he recalls, "and,
37 when I was in high school, we had one of those early-release work pro-
grams and I would work from lunchtime on every day."
It paid off. Watching Sager jump up into the cab of a brand new 35-ton
Kobelco excavator at a field demonstration in Calhoun, Ga., in April 2008,
a veteran construction industry observer was impressed. He marveled at
the operating prowess: "That young man right there has the touch of a
"OVER THE classical piano player." With classic Southern humility, Sager that day and
PAST SEVERAL
still today credits his father. Now 37, Sager runs the family business,
YEARS, WORK
today Sager Grading and Pipe Line LLC, with his father. "We see
HAS STARTED
things the same," he says. "I've seen a lot of father-son deals
TO PICKUP,
BUT IT'S that don't work out so good. We're fortunate."
NOWHERE With a staff of eight, the nonunion company owns 15
NEAR WHERE pieces of equipment and has weathered the 2007-2009
ITWAS." economic slowdown that buried many contractors
BE READY "We're cautious with everything we do," says Michael
Sager, "and try to be prepared when the recession does happen."
throughout the country. For an outfit that once had $4 million in revenue
annually working for the same client for 1Oyears, it meant taking on a
range of smaller demolition, grading and pipeline jobs "to keep the ball
rolling." Having little debt allowed the company to retain its equipment.
Sager embraces technology that makes novice operators competent
and experienced operators expert. His small company was among the
first in the U.S. to add one of Komatsu's pioneer intelligent machine-
control dozers, the D61 PXi-23, able to reduce multiple days of grade work
to a couple of hours with its GPS-directed blade control.
Reminders of high school football aside, "just general late
30s aches and pains," Sager feels good. He lives on a lake,
has two little girls to remind him to have fun and sees him-
self continuing the work he's been at since boyhood. •
By Mike Anderson

SECURITY IS THE REWARD FOR
CARPENTER AND FOREMAN
Maurice O'Connor has reached a satisfying place in life by building out the
interior walls in Manhattan's landmarks and skyscrapers. One day this
spring, he led a visitor around an apartment tower called 50 West, near
the island's southern tip. Boasting or complaining isn't his style.
By age 18, O'Connor left County Kerry, Ireland-his home and a
comely tourist destination that was short on opportunity. He set up in New
York City's northern suburbs with the help of more established Irish im-
migrants, working his way from house painter to carpenter to union ap-
prentice to journeyman and foreman for Component Assembly Systems,
based in Pelham, N.Y. He and his co-workers honeycomb the bare build-
ing frames with drywall and studs, doors and cabinets, from bottom track
SATISFACTION Building out the interiors of skyscrapers and land-
marks for years, O'Connor gives little thought to retirement.
30 • ENR • July 11 , 2016 enr.com
to top, working from the floor slabs up through the building. He and his
crew frame, hang, plumb and insulate. O'Connor remembers his first day
as a union member, learning that "there was no stopping every five min-
utes." The foreman kept a sharp eye on apprentices. "You learned a work
ethic," he says.
Almost as an afterthought, O'Connor mentions some of his career-
defining projects: 432 Park, the Plaza Hotel, the National September 11
Memorial & Museum. He says, "In America, the great thing is, if you work
hard, you get rewarded."
The reward for steady employment with Component Assembly, includ-
ing during the recession and 28 years of union membership, is a house in
the suburbs where he and his wife, Carolann, raised five children. He also
has economic security: Under agreements with the union wall-and-ceiling
contractors, New York City-area journeymen and foremen are paid an
hourly wage rate of $45.51 to $55.50 an hour.
Exercising daily and having suffered no severe injuries, O'Connor has
no immediate plans to retire, adding, "My body will tell me when it's time."
Component Assembly's safety practices are impeccable, and the firm
quickly supplies any tool needed to do a job better or safer, he says.
As he looks over the city's upper harbor and the Statute of Liberty,
O'Connor says he is anticipating another field of work: grandfathering. "If
"IN AMERICA,
my kids are looking for babysitters, they'll have me and my wife," he says.
THE GREAT
Then, his thoughts shift back to his workday: encouraging everyone to THING IS,
wear safety glasses, providing data the company uses to track the current IFYOU
job, and confirming that a delivery of sheetrock and studs arrives at the WORK HARD,
dock and everything goes to the right place. • YOU GET
By Richard Korman REWARDED."
~ JOURNEYMAN MELDS STYLE AND
GLAMOUR WITH IRONWORK
Bored of her decade-long career as a graphic designer, Phoenix native Blue
Coble ditched her desk job and picked up a wrench. Now, she helps to
encourage other women to pursue careers in construction.
Inspired by seeing ironwor1<ers assemble the iconic Hoover Dam Bridge, she
visrted Local Union 75 in Phoenix and decided to give rt a go. "I ended up really
falling in love wrth rt, and the union was really supportive, so rt was easy to stay,"
she says. By providing education and employment, along with "amazing
benefrts," the union took the stress out of her career switch, Coble adds.
Coble says the biggest hurdle was the physical strain. On her first reinforc-
ing job, she carried rebar bundles in Arizona's 115°F summertime heat. "That FEMALE LEAD Coble hopes to inspire other women to explore
really took atoll on me," she says. But she got in shape. career opportunities in the high-paying construction trades.
Aself-described "girly-gir1" who models, competes in pageants and is "ob- Coble became ajourneyman last year and is now achapter trustee. She hopes
sessed with makeup," Coble's career about-face raised a few eyebrows to become a teacher or hold an elected position in her union chapter.
among family and friends. "I definitely got a few phone calls from Mom," she Coble's role provides her with a platform to inspire others. Last month, she
"IT'S NOT AN
ISSUE OF
says. But her quick-found success in the field has allayed any concerns. Some attended the first White House Summit on the United State of Women. Less
PULLING
of her male colleagues, however, were less supportive-initially. But once she than 1%of ironwor1<ers are women, but Coble labors to change her status as
WOMEN INTO
had the opportunity to prove herself, "everything changed," and other iron- an anomaly. "It's not necessarily an issue of pulling women into the trades- THETRADES-
wor1<ers began teaching her the tricks of the trade. it's an issue of retaining them," she says. Many women enter the field but drop IT'S AN ISSUE
Now 33, Coble has worked on a variety of project types during her five out quickly. "We are trying to pinpoint what they need," she adds. • OF RETAINING
years with the union. After earning her Local's Apprentice of the Year honor, By Scott Blair THEM."

COMING FULL CIRCLE TO drive two hours to and from the site. He also is on different pay scales,
ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION depending on whether the job is a prevailing-wage job. He can go from
For some, construction is a vocation. For Tyrone Ferrens, a journeyman earning more than $60 an hour on a prevailing-wage project to $23 an
electrician, working in the industry has been, literally, a lifeline. Originally hour, he says. "That unknown can be a challenge," he says.
from the Bronx, N.Y., Ferrens began his construction career through the Nevertheless, he has done well. He completed ABC 's apprenticeship
Navy, when he enrolled in a Seabees electrician training program in 1986. program in May. He has been able to send his youngest son to college and
At that time, he says he lacked the discipline to succeed, noting, "I don't recently went with his wife on a vacation to Hawaii. He also takes pride in
TYRONE
FERR ENS think I was ready. I wasn't mature enough for it." working on so many local projects. He credits his good fortune to finding
48 After being discharged from the Navy, Ferrens fell into dark times and his niche in the construction industry. •
Electrician
Baltimore became addicted to drugs for 16 years. But he reached a point at which By Pam Hunter McFarland
-essa flectn he realized he needed to change, and he went back to his roots: electrical
construction work.
In 2011, he found a job as an apprentice with Hersch Electric in
Baltimore and enrolled in the Associated Builders and Contractors'
apprenticeship program . "Construction had always been something I
wanted to do. It just took a long time for me to get back to doing it. "
Ferrens now works for Tessa Electric as a journeyman and loves it. He
says his company is on the cutting edge of technology and offers great
benefits. He has worked on projects all over the Baltimore area, from traf-
fic signals to stadium-lighting projects to airplane warning lights atop tall
buildings. Ferrens says he likes the variety of tasks that he performs on
"IN
different jobs. "In construction, you 're always learning something new," he
CONSTRUCTION,
YOU'RE ALWAYS says. But the variety itself can be a double-edged sword, he notes. There
LEARNING is a level of uncertainty about what or where his next job will be. For ex-
SOMETHING ample, although he feels secure about prospects for future work, he
NEW," FERRENS doesn't always know what he will be earning on his next job or whether BIRD'S-EYE VIEW Ferrens (left) stands alongside Mike Rowe, host
SAYS. the job will be conveniently located. On one recent assignment, he had to of CNN's "Dirty Jobs," on the roof of a federal courthouse building.

enr.com July 11 , 2016 • ENR • 31

 COVER STORY WORKFORCE

VINCE
GURNEAU
51
Ironworker
Local 5,
Alexandria, Va.

STAYING IN
THE FIELD
After 28 years,
Gurneau still works
on site, erecting
curtain walls and
teaching new
workers the ropes.

A PASSIONATE IRONWORKER WORRIES ABOUT SPEED OVER QUALITY

Vince Gurneau is a "working foreman." With 28 years of experience in
ironworking, he has progressed up the chain of command at curtain-wall
contractor Harmon but insists on getting his hands dirty in the field every
day. "I strap on my harness and get in there with the rest of the guys," he
says. "I show them, 'This is what we've got to do. This is how we're doing
it. This is what we learned from how we did it before.' "
The 51-year-old Alexandria, Va., resident and career member of Iron-
workers Local 5 out of metro Washington, D.C., looks back fondly on past
jobs, including stints at the White House, the Library of Congress, the
World Bank and several Smithsonian buildings. But increasingly aggres-
sive schedules and administrative requirements on jobs are taking a toll.
"If anything would make me stop working, it's because I'm so tired of
"I BECAME AN
schedules and paperwork," he says. "I became an ironworker to build
IRONWORKER
something, and I want to build it with pride. I want someone to walk by a
TO BUILD
SOMETHING, building I worked on and say, 'That looks awesome.' And I'd like to stand
AND I WANT behind them and be able to say, 'Yeah, it does look awesome.'"
TO BUILD IT Gurneau worries about the impact that time pressures can have on
WITH PRIDE." quality. "I don't care what anyone says: We might need to hurry up, but we
also need to do it right," he says. "When I started, the attitude was ... you
touch it once, you're making money. You touch it twice, you 're breaking
even. You touch it three times, you're gone."
Gurneau recalls the impact that the influx of open-shop workers in D.C.
had on opportunities in the 1990s. On his current job in Philadelphia, he
warns his union colleagues about what he sees on the horizon. "It's very
union up here, but these boys don't know what's coming: It's the guys who
are willing to do the job for half the price and they don't care if they get it
done right or not," he says.
At 55, he hopes to retire fully vested with his union pension, but painful
lessons were learned during the recession. One of his annuities lost nearly
all its value during the downturn and only recently returned to the level it
was at in 2007. "The financial world worries the hell out of me because
it's messed up and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it," he says.
Regardless, Garneau isn't ready to hang it up entirely. Even after 55, he
expects to continue working, possibly in a shop that builds panels for
curtain wall systems. "I will not be able to put my tools away," he says. •
By Bruce Buckley

CONSTRUCTION AS A Encouraged by his brother, an employee at he says, noting the heat and dirty clothes. How-
SECOND CAREER Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing, Sanchez ever, Sanchez says it can be fun. The best part of
Sharie! Sanchez was a barber for the first 15 joined the company nearly three years ago. the job comes at the end, "when you're working
years of his working life. "I think if I never would Sanchez has picked up a variety of skills over and you see the finished product_and what ou
have let my barber license expire, I would've the years and now works as a nonunion water- have createH t means something," he says.
kept doing it, but it just got old sometimes," proofer and caulker, doing "pretty much everything Of all the jobs he has worked on, Sanchez
he recalls. Chamberlin offers," he says. recalls a paver project in Tyler, Texas, as one of his
SHARI EL
About 20 years ago, he made the switch to The company has been good to him, Sanchez most interesting, but it is also where Sanchez was
SANCHEZ
51 construction, starting out as a laborer. That transi- says. While he hasn't thought about going any- injured on the job. While other workers were
Waterproofer tion was asmooth one, since Sanchez's father had where else, "I will weigh my options with them raising scaffolds, a jammed board dislodged a
Dallas
Chamber r '.'l fi g been in construction as well, giving the son some before I do anything else," he says. piece of rebar, which fell from six to eight stories up
tP r f
familiarity wrth the business. Construction is a difficult occupation at times, and struck Sanchez in his neck and shoulder.

32 • ENR • July 11 , 2016 enr.com

 Carpenter
Seatac, Wash.
C arter ns·· c 'ln

IMMIGRANT
SUCCESS STORY
Determined to
support his family,
Lopez tried a variety
of jobs before
becoming a
carpenter.

A JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES FINDS HIS NICHE IN CONSTRUCTION

Late one spring night,Jose S. Lopez-Calderon jumped a 10-ft concrete wall at
the U.S.-Mexico border at Tijuana, carrying only $600 he had saved. Lopez,
then 18, had lost his father and was determined to find work so he could help
to support his mother and three siblings still living in Mexico City.
The only work available for the undocumented immigrant was picking
vegetables on a ranch near Indio, Calif. He lived in a cabin and worked in
the fields beneath the blazing sun . The next year, a friend helped him to
land a job installing carpets at a mobile-home dealer in Bakersfield, Calif.
' When I was 6 years old, I started helping my older brothers with carpet
installation, so this was the perfect job for me." For a while, that is.
For a few years, he jumped from job to job. Between jobs, he lived in his
Plymouth sedan. He earned his green card while working as a taxi driver
in Bakersfield. "The heat was so intense that, by noon, I could see
the heat rising from the asphalt," he recalls.
Then, Lopez took up fishing in Alaska, gutting salmon
and cleaning the processing machinery. He carried a
sharp knife for protection from barroom fights. Between
contracts , he picked apples in Yakima . In 1996, he
worked as a residential carpenter for Bridgeway Construction , Seattle,
until the firm was acquired by Belfor USA. At Trammell Crow, he became
lead carpenter, building 25 multi-family homes in North Bend , Wash.
"Every two weeks, we built a roof on the ground, added the trusses and
lifted the roof with the frame," he says.
Back at Belfor, over the next decade, he worked his way up to the posi-
tion of finishing carpenter. In 2008, Lopez signed with general contractor
Charter Construction, his current employer in Seattle. Six months later,
Charter awarded him a four-year work-study scholarship with the Con-
struction Industry Training Council of Washington. After completing his
studies and 8,000 hours of work, he earned certification as a journeyman
carpenter. ' Although I had 16 years of work experience, I had to start from
the beginning," he says. "But it was worth it. "
"I HAD
At 44, Lopez is in good shape, "but my body is not going to
TO START
last long enough to stay in construction as long as I would FROM THE
like." After retiring, he plans to help family or friends with BEGINNING,
building projects. "That's what I love most. " • BUT IT WAS
By Johanna Knapschaeter WORTH IT."

"I was on workmen 's comp for a while," he
says. "I still get a little pain, but it's bearable."
At this point, his body is holding up, he says. "I
guess when you get to a certain age, it doesn't
heal as it did when you were younger, but I'm still
able to do the things that I do," he says. Despite
that injury, Sanchez says he definitely feels safe
on the job.
And while Sanchez hopes to retire one day, he
thinks his current wage and lack of a 401 k plan
make that prospect unlikely.
Away from the jobsite, Sanchez says he enjoys
spending time with his family and especially
his grandchildren.
"We're trying to buy a home, but sometimes
you have to crawl before you walk, so we're seeing
how things go," he says. "I'm trying to build a
future for my grandkids."
Sanchez says he aspires to be a foreman or
superintendent. "If there's the opportunity where I
can develop and go further at Chamberlin , I
wouldn't mind ," he says. "They've got great
people that you can work for." • BUILDING A FUTURE Sanchez hopes to buy a house and retire one
By Louise Poirier day, but his current pay and lack of a 401 k plan pose obstacles.

enr.com July 11 , 2016 • ENR • 33

 COVER STORY' WORKFORCE

CARPENTER QUOTES DALAi LAMA
TO REFLECT ON GLOBAL CAREER
With adegree in 1V broadcasting, Rex Symank, 66, once planned to share the
evening news; four decades later, the carpenter from Terrebonne, Ore., is
sharing job skills and Dalai Lama quotations with ayounger generation on the
U.S. military's largest-ever base-construction project
Since starting with Michael Baker International in 2014, Symank has
REX
SYMANK worked on projects in Vienna and Oslo. His latest global stop is Pyeongtaek,
66 South Korea, where he is helping the design.-builder on a communications
Carpenter
Pyeongtaek, center at the nearly completed $10. ?-billion Camp Humphreys Army Base,
South Korea south of Seoul. Symank'sglobal travels extend back more than adozen years,
Mic~ae Bake
when he worked for contractor KBR on U.S. military camps in Bahrain and in
lnternationa 1
Fallujah, Al Assad and Al Diwaniyah, Iraq. "The international scene is loaded
with people searching for a new adventure," says Chris Simons, Symank's
South Korea project superintendent, although the significant tax benefits for
U.S. nationals "is what keeps people returning to this line of work every year. "
"THE DALAi
(Simons himself is a 10-year expatrate, "visiting or living in more than 70
LAMA ONCE
countries," he says.)
SAID, 'SHARE
KNOWLEDGE. In his work, Symank most appreciates being able to "create
IT IS AWAY dwellings and facilities that will long outlast me." But "logis-
TO ACHIEVE tics issues" in non-U.S. work prevent projects from pro-
IMMORTALITY.' " gressing in a linear path, so "you really don't get to see the
appreciation the client has for your work because you 're moved to the next
job," he notes. Symank says he has not been involved in any overseas jobsite
accidents, but he "saw the aftermath of a colleague getting run over with a
40-ton forklift in Al-Assad." The nonunion carpenter enjoys "having the
chance to assimilate into another culture," noting recent visits to the War
Memorial of Korea and the Gyeongbokgung Palace, both in Seoul.
Symank laments the time away from his wife of 37 years and his family,
which now includes four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In his
native Texas, a family history in construction was the pull that "allowed my
summer job to become my profession," he says. "My grandfather and Uncle
Otto built the firehouse in Crawford that George W Bush votes in." Symank
rules out retirement "in my near future--Bven my father is still working at
age 87." He says a big job reward is being able to teach younger workers
skills "no longer taught in schools and viewing their own satisfaction in
completing a task that they thought they were incapable of doing ." He
adds, "The Dalai Lama once said,
'Share knowledge. It is a way to
achieve immortality.·" •
By Debra K. Rubin
ON TllE MOVE Oregon carpenter
shares four decades of construc-
tion experience and gains cultural
insights as a global expatriate.

RODBUSTER IS OBSESSED WITH
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The first day Tony Gerde, then 22, worked as a rodman-carrying rebar
like a pack animal-he went home with bruised shoulders, raw skin and
aches from head to toe. "I drew myself a bath , poured in Epsom salts,
soaked and thought, 'What the hell have I done?'" says Gerde.
In his first 18 months, the 6-ft, 2-in., rodman added 20 lb of muscle to
his 160-lb frame . His shoulders were so calloused, he didn't need to wear
a shirt to carry the 1.5 tons of rebar he would lift each shift.
Gerde's first father-in-law, Tom Sebastian, taught him the trade .
Sebastian was a tough taskmaster. "He rode me into the ground, saying
'Tony, I'm doing this to make you better,'" says Gerde.
It worked. A year later, when Sebastian folded his business, Gerde went
TYING CHAMPION Called "Rodfather" by some, Gerde won the re-
bar tying contest at his company's annual picnic-20 out of 23 years.
34 • ENR • July 11 , 2016 enr.com
to work for Central Steel. In seismic zones, including metropolitan Seattle,
rebar is placed and then tied. "The guys who can tie fast are the ones who
work the most," says Gerde. So, he concentrated on improving speed.
Called "Rodfather" by some, he routinely won the tying contest at the
company picnic. "I was notoriously known as the guy to beat," Gerde says.
"When you're on top, they want to throw rocks at you. "
Gerde was so good that, in 2001 , the Central Steel owners gave him a
TONY
piece of the action. In 2008, when Harris Rebar Co. bought Central, Gerde GER DE
sold his stock: A $35,000 investment had turned into $430,000. 53
Rodbuster
At Harris, he rose to field superintendent, overseeing all the rodbusters. Carnation, Wash.
In 2012, feeling restless, he went back to fieldwork. He is currently project ronwor1<ers
super for the 1.5-million-sq-ft Lincoln Square expansion in Bellevue, Local 116-Seattle
Wash. On the job, Gerde is obsessed with improving things-safely. "I ..;ental Steel a14ar ;s
Rebar Co. owned by
question myself constantly: 'Am I making the best decisions?'" he says.
UCO!
"Dealing with the contractor and getting a positive outcome is huge to
me," he says. "I don't demand what I need-I ask for it"
When not working, Gerde concentrates on finishing the rebuilding and
expansion of his house on five acres in Carnation,Wash. He also reflects on
the previous workday: "I think about whether I handled things that came up
in a positive way and make sure to correct and learn from any mistakes." "I QUESTION
MYSELF
He takes breaks from rebar and rebuilding to golf, fish and hang out
CONSTANTLY ...
with Susan, his wife of 27 years, and their four offspring .
AND MAKE
Last year, Gerde earned $180,000. Tne five years prior, his annual in-
SURE TO
come averaged $140,000. But his body is shot from years of abuse, so he CORRECT
is retiring in five years. His rodman legacy is his 23-year-old son , Dillon, AND LEARN
who works as his column foreman . "He's really good," says Gerde. • FROM ANY
By Nadine M. Post MISTAKES."
WORRIES ABOUT BEING PASSED
OVER FOR YOUNG APPRENTICES
Dave Perkins says that life is difficult for an older construction crafts-
person. A steamfitter in southeastern Wisconsin, Perkins has built power
plants and other facilities for Bechtel and the former Washington Group as
well as smaller local contractors. But the work moved to more distant lo-
cations and became increasingly sporadic. "It seems to happen once you
DAVE
get to be 50 to 55 years old," he says. "Once you get older, there's a lot of PERKINS
unemployment." Contractors want the young apprentices, he notes: "You 59
Steamfitter
take the scraps." He is currently unemployed-that is, retired but hoping Local601,
for a call back from the union. Oak Creek, Wis.
He has worked in a factory, but it was not satisfying or steady. "They PRAISEWORTHY Perl<ins appreciates the pensions, "rather than a
kept closing," he says. So, he went to the local technical school and got 401 (k)," that are earned worl<ing in union construction.
an associate's degree and then an apprenticeship with Trane Inc. He has tors, Perkins notes. "Their safety programs are strict. If you qualify on one
worked construction since 2003, riding the ups and downs-one week it project, when you go to another project, they test you again," he says.
is six 10-hour days and the next "you're sitting at home doing the wife's Despite the uncertainty and hardships, Perkins says the compensation in
ehores," he says. union construction "is one of the last places in the United States where you can
Perkins likes the variety. "I could never stand in afactory and work the same actually get a pension, rather than a 401 (k)." "THE BEST
widget every day for eight or 10 hours. I like meeting the people. The best He's proud of his work and of the projects he has worked on-"every one PEOPLE IN
people in the world are the travelers. They teach you everything they know. of them," he says. "I'll be going someplace with my kids, and I'll point out a THE WORLD
These people have a little bit more of a union brotherhood belief," he adds. building and say, 'I worked on that building.' There's a sense of pride in it." • ARE THE
Quality and safety at large contractors is superior to that at local contrac- By Thomas F. Armistead TRAVELERS."

BOILERMAKER HAS A SPECIAL MENTOR

For Wendy Overeem, craft work is literally all in the family. Her father was a pipefitter. Her grandfather
and uncles were carpenters. Agreat aunt was awelder of sea planes. But she took up the trade of her
mother,Inez Thomas,who used the GI benefits of her late husband to become a union boilermaker so
that she could provide support to a young family.That step inspired her daughter's career.
Also faced with children to support on her own , Overeem , now 55, opted for a three-year
apprenticeship with boilermakers union Local 454 in Chattanooga. For 28 years, she has helped
WENDY
OVEREEM build, repair and maintain massive boilers, or furnaces , for power plants, refineries and mills. She
55 has climbed to dizzying heights and crawled into claustrophobic spaces. Her biggest job as a
Union Boilermake
Local 454 foreman was a two-year project building two 14-story, state-of-the-art units at a coal-fired
Tullahoma, power plant in Wisconsin."I love everything about the job-the welding, the rigging, working
Tenn.
with metal," says Overeem. "What I love most is the camaraderie. It doesn't matter if you 've
never met the people when you go to a job. You fit in because we are all bringing the same things
to the table, and we accomplish what we set out to do. "
The money and benefits have allowed her to provide security for herself and her family. "It
enables me to never have to remarry," she says. "If I had found someone, I would have, but I
didn't need someone to help with the bills. We have a good life and a nice home." The worst part
was time away from her children when they were young , she adds.
Compared to her mother's working years, Overeem sees more women on the job and less sex-
ist behavior, although she has been passed over for jobs and endured threats and vulgar language.
Overeem is mostly accepted by her male co-workers but says she has to prove herself on every job.
"WHAT I LOVE
And subtle discrimination creeps in:All skills being equal, a man is more likely than a woman to be
MOST IS THE
chosen as foreman, she says. "Some foremen hated women and did not want them on the job.They CLIMBING THE LADDER Union boilermaker
CAMARADERIE. Wendy Overeem has built power-plant boilers
WEARE ALL would put you on the crappiest job there was or stick you on 'hole watch,'" a term for the often
and her own economic security in a 28-year
BRINGING THE monotonous task of monitoring the entrance to a confined space. "The level of respect is 90% craft-labor career.
SAME THINGS better than it was for my mother. They know we are here to stay," she says. •
TO THE TABLE." By Pam Dittmer McKuen

enr.com July 11 , 2016 • ENR • 35