October 20, 2024 • 44 mins
Ever wondered how a career shift from the military to the construction industry unfolds? Join us as Chris, a seasoned electrician and now superintendent, opens up about his transformative journey from serving on the USS Nimitz to leading teams in construction. His fascinating background, starting in East Texas and transitioning through active duty to the reserves, sets the stage for deep insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by veterans venturing into new careers. Chris shares captivating tales from his Navy days, including deployments and ship remodels, weaving them into the fabric of his construction career story.
Navigating the construction industry requires resilience and adaptability, as both Chris and I have discovered. From my personal experiences transitioning from military service to higher education, and eventually into the construction realm, we highlight key lessons learned about teamwork, strategic problem-solving, and the importance of aligning career paths with personal strengths. The conversation sheds light on the nuances of tenant improvement projects, the significance of hands-on experience, and the invaluable mentorship from industry veterans like Chris Greenwood. These narratives offer a compelling look into the rewards and challenges of construction careers, especially for those with military backgrounds.
Encouraging veterans to explore trades as a viable career path is a central theme of our discussion. The strength, resilience, and leadership skills gained in the military uniquely position veterans for success in the construction industry. Chris and I passionately advocate for the support systems necessary to navigate this transition, emphasizing mental health and the importance of finding camaraderie and purpose post-service. Through personal stories, we celebrate the grit and determination veterans bring to the workforce, urging them to embrace the opportunities in the trades, where meaningful work and financial benefits await.
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If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is the Construction Veteran Podcast
Construction Veteran PodcastConnecting and celebrating
veterans in construction.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Hey, chris, how are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Better than I deserve .
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Amen.
So Chris and I know each other.
He was actually an electricianon a previous job of mine in a
former company, and then hedecided to take a leap to the
dark side and come join thegeneral contracting world and is
now a superintendent at aformer employer of mine.
So, chris, it's good to catchup with you, man.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You too, brother.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So I want to talk about where you're from and what
your service history is.
So give us a quick rundown.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Oh, where I'm from your service history is, so give
us a quick rundown when I'mfrom.
East Texas.
Generally speaking, I was bornin Jacksonville but mainly grew
up in the Tyler area, a littlebedtown community called White
House.
A lot of people know about theChiefs quarterback being from my
(01:45):
hometown, but I graduated in 05, so no, I don't know him I was
just about to ask yeah, I don'tknow him, do not never heard of
the kid.
Um, yeah, so that's where I'mfrom.
Uh, it's where I obviouslyjoined out of.
I joined, um, let's see if Ican remember my dates.
(02:05):
It was in February of the yearI graduated and then I shipped
out August of that same year tobe an interior communications
electrician, went to Navy bootcamp in Great Lates, or as we
call it.
Great Mistakes and you know, didmy little two, two and a half
months up there.
(02:26):
Uh left that command, wentacross the street to another
training command for two schools, one called ATT and the other
one was our.
The interior communicationsbreaks down to IC.
It's how we do in the Navy,it's called our uh, and so went
to ICA school.
(02:46):
That's where I learned aboutall the equipment that we would
work on, and we worked onbasically everything you can
think of, from telephone systemsto satellite TV, paging systems
, shifts, order and telegraphsystem, mirai, wind indicating.
(03:10):
So I learned about all thosepieces of equipment and more of
like how to identify them.
Then I went out to the USSNimitz on the West Coast.
At the time we were stationedin San Diego, off of North
Station, north Island, coronado,and let's see, I think I got
(03:32):
out there, if I remember right,march of 06.
And we were going through athing called PIA and in that
time it's kind of a remodel ofthe ship.
Uh, so you know we're gettingrid of old systems, installing
new systems, updating birthingsif needed, and you know anything
(03:55):
and everything.
Um, so we were in port for aboutthe first six months of being
there.
Then we did a deployment forsix months on a Westpac it's
what's called when we go on tothe western side of America but
(04:16):
to the eastern side of the worldJibali in the UAE, chennai,
india, hong Kong.
We went to Guam, sasebo, japanand Hawaii.
That's all the stops that wemade.
(04:37):
I think I got everyone.
Oh, singapore, we also went toSingapore as well.
So, yeah, did that time Cameback for about two months.
Then we went back out on asurge deployment for four months
and basically hit all the sameplaces, but we also include
Pusan, korea, yeah.
(05:02):
So yeah, we hit Hong Kong,pusanorea and guam and hawaii.
Like I said, it was only fourmonths, so it wasn't, uh, that
many places that time around.
By that time I was kind ofshort timing and they were about
to go on to another six monthdeployment after being back for
about four or five months.
But I I was between my EOS andwhen they were deploying I was
(05:28):
going to be getting out tooquickly and so it wouldn't be
cost effective to send me out tothe ship just to fly me back to
the States.
So that's when I got out ofactive duty and then I was out
for probably two months and thenI joined the reserves after
that and the reserves is a wholedifferent animal to get all
(05:49):
together.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, I'm getting an education because I wasn't a
ship guy, so this is all new tome.
So, uh, did you do the same jobor the same rate in the
reserves?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, actually.
So it was kind of a weird storybecause in the Navy we have
mannings, so you know they don'twant to overfill a rate with
too many people.
And when I was joining therewasn't enough room for ICs and
so I switched it to Poets asMate, because I had to.
(06:27):
It was either that or I didn'tjoin, and so I did that.
But when I went to go take myadvancement exam I sat down with
it or you have to sign off forit to get your exam.
And when I did I saw it was anIC exam and I was like, hang on,
a second, I'm supposed to becross-reiting to Boats' Mate,
and they're like.
I saw it was an IC exam and Iwas like, hang on a second, I'm
supposed to be cross-reiting theboats, this mate.
And they're like they couldn'tfind any information about that
(06:49):
anywhere.
So somehow, by the grace of GodI'm sure, I slid in and I still
stayed my same rate and once Itook my advancement exam I
actually made it to second classE5 at that interval.
So through the grace of God, Imade it yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Good thing you didn't have to uh cross rate to BOSA
mate, so you want to tell us uh,tell me real quick.
So I know you worked on a lotof communication system.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
What would you say in a nutshell you could kind of so
when I was in, only certainrates had a clearance available
to them.
I had a secret clearance.
Before secret clearances werecool and in a nutshell, you
(07:39):
would call it an electricianwith a secret clearance.
I was kind of the bridgebetween an electronics
technician which deals a lotmore with mainly computer boards
, circuit boards, and an actual,real electrician, like I used
to do, as you told in thebeginning how we met.
(08:01):
So yeah, that's kind of sum itup.
That's basically what I wasdoing.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Okay, so let's, let's transition here.
So what are you?
What are you doing right now inthe construction industry?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So right now I work for a company called Rand and
love it there.
I love the guys, love thecommunity that we have, and we
do Class A interiors, sohigh-end interior build-outs for
various clients Currently doingone, for I believe they're the
(08:37):
ninth largest company in theworld.
We're doing three floors outthere, so that's what we
specialize in is high-endinterior finish outs, and so,
being a superintendent, it's myjob to coordinate all the trades
to work together for the endgoal that the client and the
(08:59):
architect have come up withtogether, and so that will
include putting out schedules ofwhat needs to happen and when
and by who.
Problem solving as a constantbattle in the TI world, because
I'm trying to build something tofit around things that are
(09:20):
existing, and so when I'm doingthat, also have to keep in mind
the cost-effectiveness of doinga particular task or trying to
find a way to, you know, deviatea little bit from the plans,
with appropriate notification toprincipal parties in order to
(09:43):
give them the same product,while maintaining other avenues
open, such as at this particularjob site of mine, we have some
structural steel going up tosupport a pour-in from an old
stair system that we've takenout.
There was a lot of what we callMEP mechanical electrical
(10:03):
plumbing.
That was in the way, and so wehad to revise the steel drawings
a little bit to go around thoseitems, because it was more cost
effective to do it that waythan of dollars to move them
instead of just redrawing thesteel out and relaying that
steel out.
So I do things like that and Ihave lots of partners involved.
(10:36):
Obviously, the trades are thesubject matter experts, so we'll
take their opinions intoconsideration.
Um, also, you know I have awhole team behind me in the
office that helps, uh with theirexperience, uh, solve those
problems and uh and uh, ofcourse, uh, what I, what I call,
(10:59):
since I am from East Texas andI am one of these redneck
engineering engineering, sosometimes it's about putting
lipstick on the pig and I'mactually quite I think I'm quite
good at putting you know,making things happen and still
having a great end product forthe client.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, no, very well said, man.
That sums up what we do verywell.
And so, taking it back to whenyou transitioned out of the
service, you didn't go rightinto construction, am I right?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Right, yep, I did not .
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Okay, what did you?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
do.
When you transitioned out, Iactually went the kind of the
standard route of going tocollege, getting a degree and
all that.
And the way that evolved was isI went to Tyler junior college.
It's the largest junior collegein America, or at least it was
at a time, unless something'staken its place within the last
(12:01):
12, 15 years.
And so when I was going to TJC,it was mainly to become core
complete was the main point ofit, but also to kind of figure
out what I was interested indoing.
And so I had a couple ofdifferent paths that I was
interested.
I was not really interested inbeing an electrician anymore.
(12:22):
I just didn't really care forit at the time.
I was just, I would say, youngand dumb.
I should have cared about it alittle bit more.
And so I landed on criminaljustice.
I got an associate's degree incriminal justice from TJC and
(12:43):
since I was court complete and Iam a homebody at heart, I went
over to University of Texas atTyler and took courses there and
got my bachelor's in criminaljustice with a minor, graduated
with a minor and got intoleftives.
But that was really mainlybecause I moved to the Dallas
area and it was my second tolast semester.
(13:06):
So when I did that and so I hadto change it from minor in
psychology to guided elective sothat it could open up more
opportunities to take onlineclasses, so I could finish my
degree on time without having toretake a bunch of classes, so
that was kind of my evolutionout, getting out.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
You didn't go into law enforcement, correct?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
No, I did try.
It just didn't work out.
For those who don't know, it isactually quite difficult to do
that.
So it just didn't work out forme.
Just not to go too deep intopersonal stuff.
But I was, was am a little bitof an alcoholic, so I made some
(13:53):
poor choices.
But the good Lord got a hold ofme and so I call that my BC
days, my before cross days, andbecause of the decisions I made
when I was young and dumb, itwas really difficult for me to
try to even get in there to alaw enforcement agency.
But everything happens for areason and I'm I'm very happy
(14:17):
where I am now.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, Very good man.
So what was it that actuallygot you into this industry?
I mean, how'd you start thatpath as an electrician?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Oh well, so I got this big fancy degree from this
big fancy school and, uh, so Ihad to use it in some way.
So my wife actually was friendswith a lady whose husband was a
security we'll call it asecurity manager for Target and
(14:50):
he helped me get a job in Target.
And at the time I was what dothey call it?
Target protection specialist iswhat they called it at the time
and basically I walked aroundin a rental cop uniform and try
to catch people, shoplifting anddid counts and various other
aspects.
Uh, to the job.
(15:11):
But that's basically I wasdoing, for, you know, 40 hours a
week when I moved up here toDallas, and so I was trying to
make use of my degree.
After about a year of workingthere I think it was about a
year I got selected to be amanager, got promoted to being a
manager.
So now I'm a salaried managerworking there helping run the
(15:36):
stores, and it just simply put,it was not a good fit.
I was trying to make the squarepeg go into the round hole and
it was just, it was not a goodfit and nothing against Target
per se, but it just didn't workout, and thankfully so.
(16:04):
So after that I moved into asame role, but an hourly version
, working for Kohl's, and I didfine at Kohl's, but I also was
me and my wife were, uh, workingon having our, our first child,
which is my daughter Ryland,and, uh, typically my schedules
even though I could outline itmyself the best time for me to
(16:26):
work was from like 11 in themorning to about six or seven at
night.
You know, that was kind of likemy window there that I could
catch people and stuff, and theyhad requirements that you had
to open once and close once andthen the rest of it could be up
to me.
So you know, there was kind ofconstraints in there a little
bit.
But, um, you know, it kind ofjust dawned on me, like, you
(16:49):
know, I am trying to have afamily and I'll be there for
when they wake up and go toschool, but I won't be there for
when they go to bed.
And you know, when they wake upand go to school it's going to
be like an hour, hour and a halfmaybe, of interaction, and then
they won't see him again untilthe next day.
And I was.
You know, it was just there'sgotta be something better, and
(17:11):
so I actually called my cousinwho works for a company called G
cats and uh, they do electricaland telecommunications and he
was a project manager fortelecommunications.
I called him up and uh, sentover a little little quick
resume.
Uh, you know what I did in theNavy and stuff?
(17:31):
Uh, he got me hired on and uh,from that point I started going
to the ropes of learning thetrade.
They also have a program andit's national, but this specific
one was IEC Dallas.
Iec Dallas is IndependentElectrical Contractor and it's a
(17:55):
school you can use your VAbenefits to go through there.
It's a good school, it is.
It's just like college.
What you put into it is whatyou'll get out of it.
And so everyone in GCATS whosigns up for the program goes
through the program.
When I worked for GCATS, if yougot an A in your class, so
(18:16):
there's a tuition that you haveto pay and it comes out of your
check and it's according to howmuch you make is how much you
pay.
Obviously, the higher you youknow, the more skills you
develop and the higher you gothat you'll pay a little bit
more, but it hurts a little lessbecause you're making more and
so, but if you make an A, theygive you all that money back.
(18:37):
If you make an A, I think.
If you make a B, it was like80% and if you make a C, it was
like 70% of the money came backand, of course, if you failed,
you got nothing back, um, so Iwent through that program.
It's four years long, um, tobecome an electrician a
commercial electrician.
It takes four years backslash8,000 hours.
(18:59):
I think they've changed therules, because they changed the
rules right when I became ajourneyman.
I think you can take your testat 7,000 hours, but you don't
get your license until eight, ifI'm not mistaken at the time of
this recording.
And so I went through thatprogram.
I worked for a lot of good guys.
(19:20):
My main foreman that I had wasa guy named Chris Greenwood.
He taught me a lot that hasbenefited me now as a
superintendent.
Just a tremendous amount of, toput it in a nutshell, tremendous
amount of, to put it in anutshell, looking beyond the end
of my nose at things.
So an example would be as anelectrician, we have a box
(19:42):
that's 12 by 12 inches and youmight run, you know 10, 15
circuits in there to make up fora general area of the job site,
and so you want to put it in a.
You have to put it into an areathat's accessible, that could
be worked on later, and sosomething as simple as hey,
(20:04):
don't put it inside the office,put it in the hallway.
Or if you have to put it in theoffice, look at the furniture
plans if you can.
Sometimes it doesn't work outbecause they change it, but if
you can can.
Sometimes it doesn't work outbecause they change it.
But if you can, don't put itabove a desk.
You know simple things like that, where you don't have to
straddle a desk with the ladderand get somebody out of the
(20:24):
office to work on this thing,and most of the time we put it
in the hallway.
That way you didn't even haveto go into these rooms to work
on something which helps in thefuture when there are problems
for any service people who comethrough where they can fit a
problem and not disturb theoffice workers, because then you
(20:45):
have to coordinate with theirschedules and stuff instead of
being a little bit more on yourown schedule.
And so looking at things likethat, how to run a job cleanly?
Cause he is a neat freak, um,so great guy.
I just really with GCATs I cameup under a lot of really good
(21:06):
guys.
Another good guy was JoshTaylor.
Uh, he taught me a lot, um, andso kind of went through that
evolution process and became ajourneyman after that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You ended up on one of my projects, um, with another
guy who made the jump to the GCside, um, and hopefully I'll
get him on here at some point.
But, um, yeah, so you've had a,you've had a good run up
through the trades.
I think there's a lot ofrespect from our guys when you
have guys like us that came fromsome sort of a trade into the
superintendent position trades.
I think there's a lot ofrespect from our guys when you
have guys like us that came fromsome sort of a trade into the
superintendent position.
(21:38):
So in the route that you took,how do you think your time in
the service really helped youout, especially as a
superintendent?
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Oh man, a lot, really a lot.
Leadership, obviously, firstthing that comes to mind.
You're not going to be able todo this job if you can't get
people to follow you and listento your advice and direction on
things.
As you well know, Scott, youknow sometimes we have to show
(22:23):
up, you know, 15 minutes, 20minutes before everybody, to
unlock the gate, to alloweveryone to go in, or unlock the
building, and so you have thatresponsibility of, you know,
unlocking the building andlocking it up or locking up the
side, whatever the case may be.
So you know understanding thattimeliness and, like my chief
God rest his soul, John Craven,he would you know there's a few
(22:43):
things you got to do to besuccessful in life Show up on
time, look professional and givea damn, you know, and if you
can do those things, you'regoing to be successful, just
because there's honestly justnot that much going on out there
.
So I think that was anotherprinciple portion of it.
(23:03):
And then, you know, in any jobwhere you're working at this
kind of this level, dare I say,you're going to have to manage
your own time well.
You're going to have to manageyour own time well and so
knowing when it's time to put inthe work and time when you can
relax and understanding that asfar and, going back into the
(23:30):
leadership, that not everyone'sled the same way that not
everyone's led the same way.
So some people are better withgetting a boot in the butt and
some people are better with thecarrot method and just enticing
them through rewards and praiseand appreciation and things of
that nature.
(23:51):
I always have a I say with myguys that are on my job sites
how am I in your way?
Because they're the ones whoare actually building this thing
.
It's not me.
I'm helping coordinate them,but I'm not building stuff
anymore.
I'm coordinating and so theyneed answers from other subs
(24:11):
that other sub offices would bea little bit more accurate and
my job is to get them thoseanswers.
So if I'm in their way by notgiving them an answer, I'm
slowing down the project.
I'm slowing down the project.
Everyone ends up working moreand not with their families, so
keeping that in mind as well.
(24:32):
So, yeah, a lot of it boilsdown into leadership and
weighing out the concerns of onegroup versus the concerns of
another, versus your client, andwhat's in the client's best
interest.
And you know understanding thatsometimes you have to make a
decision that people don't like,but you know we're all there to
(24:56):
do a job and it will be okay inthe end.
You know, once the client'shappy, everyone's going to end
up being happy.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, well said.
Um, so yeah, a lot of goodattributes in it.
I feel like I say this everyepisode.
A lot of the people I talk to.
There's less of the well, Ilearned how to turn this wrench,
or I learned how to do this.
A lot of it is the soft skills.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I I don't know how you feel.
This is just my belief thatmost veterans getting out it's
baked into them the leadershipskills, being on time, doing the
right thing, just thatintegrity, the grit, and so I'll
preach that till the day I die.
Then I think most often you'llfind a vet and you kind of know
what their values are going tobe.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I totally agree .
Yeah, it's a lot of those softskills come into play a lot.
So, yeah, I totally agree.
And the grid aspect is you know, when I got hired on with Rand,
I was interviewing and they Iforget the question they asked
exactly, but my answer was Ifind ways to win.
I don't lose.
That's not something that ChrisHood does.
(26:03):
So I'm going to find a way towin, no matter what odds are
against me.
I don't know how to give up.
Giving up is not my vocabulary.
Quitting is a dirty four-letterword in my opinion, and
actually with my daughter I'm ifI could brag a little bit to
everybody I have a brag on man,please do uh, I have a saying in
(26:25):
my house that uh, can't, nevercould do nothing.
And so, uh, she was working on apuzzle and it was like mermaid
or you know I I don't know theprincess name, but the mermaid
one and uh, and I was kind ofsort of helping her, cause I've,
you know, you never want to let, you never want to do anything
for your kids that you thinkthey can do for themselves, and
(26:46):
uh, so I was kind of helping hera little bit, a little bit of
guidance and doing a few, alittle bit there and a little
bit here, and she said the dirtyword that I can't stand, which
is I can't, I can't do this,daddy, and I said can't, and she
finished it for me never coulddo nothing.
And so you got to approach thisjob and construction in general
(27:07):
as can't, never could donothing.
You know it's American, notAmerican.
Yeah, I what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Dude, yeah, I love your mentality of I don't quit
and I don't lose.
You're going to fail at somepoint.
I like that, but going into itwith that mentality, I love that
man.
I'm ready to go to war with you.
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It's extremely encouraging.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
That's good, man, that you carried that mentality
into it.
Um, so, along your journey towhere you got up, uh, got to now
, um, and it's been cool.
I've I've been kind of beenable to watch you from the
sidelines, from coming up to mehaving discussions about the GC
world.
Now you're running jobs byyourself.
I feel like I find a lot morejoy watching other people's
success in this industry than Ido my own.
(27:56):
Um, so do you think there wasanything that maybe you would
have changed along your journeyto get where you're at now?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Uh, you know, that's a good question, scott.
Um, I mean, there are things Iwill say I would like to change,
but I ended up in such a goodplace.
Say I would like to change butI ended up in such a good place
I would be afraid to, honestly,uh, cause adversity is what
(28:25):
builds your character.
Uh, you know, and I, when Igrew up, uh, you know, I kind of
split my time between mygranddaddy's farm and, you know,
being kind of a city boy alittle bit, and, you know,
growing up with that farmmentality.
And he was, he was born, ohgosh, I think, 1898 or something
, right at the turn of the twocenturies ago.
Um, and I mean, that's just thementality they all had back
(28:49):
then is you can't, never, coulddo nothing.
And so you're he.
He worked on his farm, he was acarpenter before that, and
actually a carpenter and a world.
Two on a carrier, I don't know,I don't remember which carrier,
though, um, because back thenthe carriers had a wood deck on
them and so he would fit someone.
(29:09):
You know, they got wore out orwhatever, and uh, so, yeah, um,
that you know this, job, job,you've got to have that grit,
you got to have that never giveup attitude, especially when
you're doing ti work.
Ground up is a different animaland I can't speak a lot to it,
but from my understanding youknow it's in in ways easier,
(29:31):
because I'm not.
You're not having to buildaround something, you can just
build it the way it needs to go.
You know, uh, whereas ti work,you're building around things
all the time and you're, youknow, always contrasting costs
versus quality, constantly anduh, yeah, so yeah, and speed
(29:54):
Schedule speed.
Oh my God, yeah, speed.
They want it all.
They want money, quality andspeed.
And it's difficult to do Verydifficult, but that's why I love
it.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
You know, it's always a challenge.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, it's always a challenge.
When I worked at Target, I satbehind a desk a lot and Kohl's,
I sat behind a desk a lot.
Um and Coles, I sat behind adesk a lot and it.
I don't know how people do it.
My hat's off to him.
I couldn't do it and I'm.
I'm happy I get to walk aroundand look at stuff and work
together to solve a problem.
It's, it really is a lot of fun.
It might not seem like it'skind of like bootcamp, does it
(30:30):
seem like fun at the time, butwhen you look back you're that
was actually pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, no, that's a good way to put it and I, man, I
feel like we're spoiled becausewe get to learn all these
different trades, Like we're notthe master.
I mean, yes, you're anelectrician, I'm a carpenter, so
we may know our trade better,but I get to learn about so many
different trades and I'm I'mbig on taking that knowledge
home and I can utilize it forthe house.
I mean, I can't tell you howmany times I've called up a
buddy.
(30:56):
Hey, you know, maybe they're aplumber.
I need some help.
How do I do this?
I got to reroute this pipe orwhatever.
Yeah, I had a septic issueactually last year and I had a
buddy.
I called him.
I said hey, I think this localguy's giving me a load of junk,
what do you think?
(31:16):
And no way, you don't need topay for that.
Do this, this.
And I got you covered, oh sweet.
So he ended up saving methousands of dollars, and that
was just a relationship that Imade from the job site.
So I we're spoiled for surethat we get to to learn all this
stuff.
Um, so I want to talk aboutmental health real quick.
Um, so it's.
It's a big issue, obviously,with vets.
It's a big issue in ourindustry.
People are starting to see thatbecause, you know, a lot of our
(31:38):
folks, especially in the trades, get burned out because we're
doing a lot more with a lot lessthan we did, I'd say, a decade
ago.
Um, so if you've got somebrothers and sister vets out
there that are just kind oftrudging along and thinking I
can't do this anymore, whatwould you say to encourage them?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Oh man, I mean, you're made of tougher stuff,
you are.
I mean, you're top 1% of thenation, and all vets know that
Not everyone can make it intothe military, not everyone can a
wholly different animal.
But you know, you're tougherthan this, you're stronger than
(32:21):
your demons, you know, speakingof demons with my alcohol
problem.
You know, though, I've never,you know, been in combat or
anything of the sort.
You know, being in the Navy,it's kind of like having an
almost a normal job, almost.
But, you know, find someone totalk to.
(32:43):
You will feel so much better ifyou just get it off your chest,
and it can be me, it could beScott, it can be any brother and
sister or anyone you feelcomfortable with sharing.
Uh, just share, please share,cause life is not as easy.
You know, we have an easier insome aspects than our
(33:03):
grandparents and greatgrandparents did, but also have
it a lot tougher.
Uh, there's, there's a lot goingon out there, and you um have
to be subject matter expert inso much, especially that
transition from from militarylife into civilian life.
We actually on, you know, atRand, we just hired this guy.
(33:25):
Great kid, he's going to be afreaking superstar, end of story
.
There's no doubt in my mind,everyone sees it too.
He came out of the Marine Corps.
He was a combat engineer and agood kid and he you know we've
talked about the transitioningout of the military and you know
(33:47):
that in civilian life you'rekind of left to your own ends.
You know you don't really havethat same camaraderie that we
have, where you sit around withthe guys and you talk about
whatever and you know, andeveryone's got that, you know,
as the army and Marine Corpscall them a battle buddy that
you talk to.
So find, find you a battlebuddy that you feel like you can
(34:09):
relate to and talk to and talk,talk, talk, talk.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, and I think that's become a lot more
acceptable.
I guess Not that it never was,I just think people didn't
really talk about it and youwere viewed as weak and what's
been really cool, I'd say, overthe last four or five years.
You see a lot of these like tierone guys that serve at the tip
of the spear, saying I got anissue and I went and got help
(34:37):
and that that really encouragedme, cause I'm like man.
You know I I saw combat, but itwas not.
I wasn't shooting at folks, uh,getting shot at, but you know I
didn't do what these guys didand I'm like man.
If the baddest, the bad dudes,like just rock stars, can go in
there and get after it and gethelp, why can't I, like what's
stopping me?
(34:57):
And I've used that same uh talkwith some of our folks and
we're doing safety stand downsand I'm like I don't care how
cool you think you are, howbad-ass you think, you are, dude
, these guys are like cream ofthe crop.
If they can do it, you plumbingsuperintendent or whoever
welder, you can do it too, man,I mean, and you need to get the
(35:19):
help for yourself and for yourfamily and for those around you.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yep, and one little tag on there.
Let's just look at the, theultimate man, the perfect man,
who is Christ Jesus wept, youknow.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, that's the one scripture from the Bible I can
actually remember, because I'mso bad at it.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's the shortest one , yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, that's really cool, good point.
I'm glad you interjected that.
I appreciate it.
So to people that are gettingout man, we need people really
badly in this industry andthere's a lot of vets out there
that need work or a lot of them.
I don that need work or a lotof them.
I don't know about when youtransition, but when I went
through my taps class theydidn't talk about the
(36:04):
construction industry at all.
I hope that's changed over thelast 13 years since I've been
out.
Yeah, so if, if you do want toget that word out to people,
what would you say to them?
To try to encourage them to getinto what we do, to try to
encourage them to get into whatwe do.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Honestly, I think you hit the nail on the head a
moment ago.
With my personal belief, thebest way to become the best
superintendent is actuallythrough the trades.
That's the old school pipelineand I think that is currently
still the best pipeline.
You actually get in there, youwork with your hands.
(36:40):
You understand how hard a taskis because it's easy to
arbitrarily assign, like I needyou to do it this way.
That's easy to do.
But when you've actually donethe work before you've realized
what you're asking of the guys.
And so when I have like areally rough thing to ask of a
(37:00):
guy, hey, listen, I know this isgoing to suck for you, let me
buy you lunch for doing this forme.
And that's just leading fromthe front, you know, as we all
know.
So I think getting into a tradeand two, if it doesn't work out
to be a superintendent, that'stotally cool.
You know how much a asuperintendent, uh, electrician
(37:23):
mates as much or more as we do.
You know easily, easily, andall that you alluded to to.
You could potentially do someside work that I mean, I did
that when I was an electrician.
Everyone does.
Um, you could do side work, uh,and you can make some money
(37:44):
that way.
That's what I did for my familyis uh, cause I went from target
making like $56,000 a year, um,down to Kohl's to make $14 an
hour and or 15, then $14 tobecome an electrician.
I saved my scrap wirethroughout the year and I turned
it in and I would have a fewhundred bucks for Christmas.
(38:07):
And I just slowly worked my way,worked my way, developed my
skills, paid attention to othertrades and what they're doing,
talked to them when you got asecond, like you said, to learn
a little bit, and before youknow it you've got all kinds of
skill sets.
Because on my very firstproject I went out of town, as
you know, scott, for my firstone my eyes were as big as
(38:29):
saucers, but actually when Istarted talking with the
superintendent running the joband with the guys, I was like I
actually paid attention a lotmore than I give myself credit
for.
So I think coming in throughthe trades is a an excellent way
to go about it and you canemploy those skills on other
(38:49):
endeavors as well.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, no, I mean, you know you talk about side work.
So my wife and I we have asmall business it's called
fusion forge artworks, so I docustom woodwork and metal work
still and you know it justbrings in a little bit of cash
every now and again if I want tobuy a new tool or have some
more money for Christmas.
Actually, as of this recording,we're going to sell at a local
fall festival tomorrow in ourcommunity.
(39:13):
So hopefully we do well, we'llsee.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I do want to inject one thing.
When I became a yeah, anelectrician, then my first year,
yeah, I was making like, uh,what did?
I say 14 an hour, but I thinknow if and I could be wrong, so
check into it for yourselves,but I think a lot of those guys
are making like 20 bucks an hour.
Yeah, walking in the door, Idon't know what a phillips head
(39:38):
screwdriver is.
You know that kind of level Idon't know what a Phillips head
screwdriver is.
You know that kind of level.
I don't know how to read a techmeasure, that kind of level
making 20 bucks an hour.
When I became a journeyman itwas $26 or $27, I think maybe
$28 an hour for a journeymanelectrician an hour for a
journeyman electrician.
I know of a green journeyman,uh like a year ago, who got
(40:00):
hired in as a green journeymanelectrician making $32 an hour,
yeah, and plus you factor inovertime, I mean overtime wire
If you're an electrician or aplumber, cause they save copper.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
It's not unheard of of folks making over 200,000 a
year.
If they're a journeymanelectrician and they're willing
to travel, they're willing tosave, like you said.
So these guys are making waymore money than us, and I will
say this the caveat to that isit's not all about the money.
Of course, you know there aresome trades, like carboners.
I'll give you, for example, asa carpenter.
(40:41):
Carboners don't get paid verywell at all in Texas, and that's
confusing to me, but you know,it just depends on what your
passion is, though, so youshouldn't look at the paycheck
per se, but there is money to bemade for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, and it's also a job and I do want to bring up
this point, scott it's a jobthat AI can never take from us,
Never.
Not your job, not our job assuperintendents, not as
tradesmen.
Ai will never take it over,because there always has to be a
physical person doing the work.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
So, whereas a lot of.
There's just too many variables.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Right, there's too many variables, too much
thinking outside the box andproblem solving A lot of jobs
nowadays.
You know you have to worryabout that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, so there's a lot of job security in this.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
So I think it's a great place for fellow vets.
We have a lot of vets in ouroffice, lots.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely can see that.
Um, we, we got busier as wellwhen I was working for GCATS.
I was an electrician at thetime and uh, yeah, and to you,
like you said, with thelogistics, uh, you know they're
still lingering problems withlogistics from that issue, uh,
so, yeah, it's, it's a.
I never missed a day of workthat I didn't want to miss.
(42:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
That's a good way to put it.
Yeah Well, man, Chris, I reallyappreciate your time.
Uh, it's good catching up withyou.
Do you have any parting wordsof wisdom for anybody?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Uh, it's good catching up with you.
Do you have any parting wordsof wisdom for anybody Believe in
Christ?
The Lord would be the first one.
Second one is if you're a vetand you are having some issues
mentally, please talk tosomebody anybody.
Find a pastor or whatever yourreligious affiliation is, a
(43:03):
counselor of some kind.
Find someone to talk to andwe'll see you out there in the
field.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Best send-off I've had yet.
Brother, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Not a problem.
This is the Construction Veteran Podcast
Construction Veteran PodcastConnecting and celebrating
veterans in construction.
Now here's your host, scottFriend.
Hey, chris, how are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Better than I deserve .
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Amen.
So Chris and I know each other.
He was actually an electricianon a previous job of mine in a
former company, and then hedecided to take a leap to the
dark side and come join thegeneral contracting world and is
now a superintendent at aformer employer of mine.
So, chris, it's good to catchup with you, man.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You too, brother.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So I want to talk about where you're from and what
your service history is.
So give us a quick rundown.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Oh, where I'm from your service history is, so give
us a quick rundown when I'mfrom.
East Texas.
Generally speaking, I was bornin Jacksonville but mainly grew
up in the Tyler area, a littlebedtown community called White
House.
A lot of people know about theChiefs quarterback being from my
(01:45):
hometown, but I graduated in 05, so no, I don't know him I was
just about to ask yeah, I don'tknow him, do not never heard of
the kid.
Um, yeah, so that's where I'mfrom.
Uh, it's where I obviouslyjoined out of.
I joined, um, let's see if Ican remember my dates.
(02:05):
It was in February of the yearI graduated and then I shipped
out August of that same year tobe an interior communications
electrician, went to Navy bootcamp in Great Lates, or as we
call it.
Great Mistakes and you know, didmy little two, two and a half
months up there.
(02:26):
Uh left that command, wentacross the street to another
training command for two schools, one called ATT and the other
one was our.
The interior communicationsbreaks down to IC.
It's how we do in the Navy,it's called our uh, and so went
to ICA school.
(02:46):
That's where I learned aboutall the equipment that we would
work on, and we worked onbasically everything you can
think of, from telephone systemsto satellite TV, paging systems
, shifts, order and telegraphsystem, mirai, wind indicating.
(03:10):
So I learned about all thosepieces of equipment and more of
like how to identify them.
Then I went out to the USSNimitz on the West Coast.
At the time we were stationedin San Diego, off of North
Station, north Island, coronado,and let's see, I think I got
(03:32):
out there, if I remember right,march of 06.
And we were going through athing called PIA and in that
time it's kind of a remodel ofthe ship.
Uh, so you know we're gettingrid of old systems, installing
new systems, updating birthingsif needed, and you know anything
(03:55):
and everything.
Um, so we were in port for aboutthe first six months of being
there.
Then we did a deployment forsix months on a Westpac it's
what's called when we go on tothe western side of America but
(04:16):
to the eastern side of the worldJibali in the UAE, chennai,
india, hong Kong.
We went to Guam, sasebo, japanand Hawaii.
That's all the stops that wemade.
(04:37):
I think I got everyone.
Oh, singapore, we also went toSingapore as well.
So, yeah, did that time Cameback for about two months.
Then we went back out on asurge deployment for four months
and basically hit all the sameplaces, but we also include
Pusan, korea, yeah.
(05:02):
So yeah, we hit Hong Kong,pusanorea and guam and hawaii.
Like I said, it was only fourmonths, so it wasn't, uh, that
many places that time around.
By that time I was kind ofshort timing and they were about
to go on to another six monthdeployment after being back for
about four or five months.
But I I was between my EOS andwhen they were deploying I was
(05:28):
going to be getting out tooquickly and so it wouldn't be
cost effective to send me out tothe ship just to fly me back to
the States.
So that's when I got out ofactive duty and then I was out
for probably two months and thenI joined the reserves after
that and the reserves is a wholedifferent animal to get all
(05:49):
together.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, I'm getting an education because I wasn't a
ship guy, so this is all new tome.
So, uh, did you do the same jobor the same rate in the
reserves?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, actually.
So it was kind of a weird storybecause in the Navy we have
mannings, so you know they don'twant to overfill a rate with
too many people.
And when I was joining therewasn't enough room for ICs and
so I switched it to Poets asMate, because I had to.
(06:27):
It was either that or I didn'tjoin, and so I did that.
But when I went to go take myadvancement exam I sat down with
it or you have to sign off forit to get your exam.
And when I did I saw it was anIC exam and I was like, hang on,
a second, I'm supposed to becross-reiting to Boats' Mate,
and they're like.
I saw it was an IC exam and Iwas like, hang on a second, I'm
supposed to be cross-reiting theboats, this mate.
And they're like they couldn'tfind any information about that
(06:49):
anywhere.
So somehow, by the grace of GodI'm sure, I slid in and I still
stayed my same rate and once Itook my advancement exam I
actually made it to second classE5 at that interval.
So through the grace of God, Imade it yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Good thing you didn't have to uh cross rate to BOSA
mate, so you want to tell us uh,tell me real quick.
So I know you worked on a lotof communication system.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
What would you say in a nutshell you could kind of so
when I was in, only certainrates had a clearance available
to them.
I had a secret clearance.
Before secret clearances werecool and in a nutshell, you
(07:39):
would call it an electricianwith a secret clearance.
I was kind of the bridgebetween an electronics
technician which deals a lotmore with mainly computer boards
, circuit boards, and an actual,real electrician, like I used
to do, as you told in thebeginning how we met.
(08:01):
So yeah, that's kind of sum itup.
That's basically what I wasdoing.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Okay, so let's, let's transition here.
So what are you?
What are you doing right now inthe construction industry?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So right now I work for a company called Rand and
love it there.
I love the guys, love thecommunity that we have, and we
do Class A interiors, sohigh-end interior build-outs for
various clients Currently doingone, for I believe they're the
(08:37):
ninth largest company in theworld.
We're doing three floors outthere, so that's what we
specialize in is high-endinterior finish outs, and so,
being a superintendent, it's myjob to coordinate all the trades
to work together for the endgoal that the client and the
(08:59):
architect have come up withtogether, and so that will
include putting out schedules ofwhat needs to happen and when
and by who.
Problem solving as a constantbattle in the TI world, because
I'm trying to build something tofit around things that are
(09:20):
existing, and so when I'm doingthat, also have to keep in mind
the cost-effectiveness of doinga particular task or trying to
find a way to, you know, deviatea little bit from the plans,
with appropriate notification toprincipal parties in order to
(09:43):
give them the same product,while maintaining other avenues
open, such as at this particularjob site of mine, we have some
structural steel going up tosupport a pour-in from an old
stair system that we've takenout.
There was a lot of what we callMEP mechanical electrical
(10:03):
plumbing.
That was in the way, and so wehad to revise the steel drawings
a little bit to go around thoseitems, because it was more cost
effective to do it that waythan of dollars to move them
instead of just redrawing thesteel out and relaying that
steel out.
So I do things like that and Ihave lots of partners involved.
(10:36):
Obviously, the trades are thesubject matter experts, so we'll
take their opinions intoconsideration.
Um, also, you know I have awhole team behind me in the
office that helps, uh with theirexperience, uh, solve those
problems and uh and uh, ofcourse, uh, what I, what I call,
(10:59):
since I am from East Texas andI am one of these redneck
engineering engineering, sosometimes it's about putting
lipstick on the pig and I'mactually quite I think I'm quite
good at putting you know,making things happen and still
having a great end product forthe client.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, no, very well said, man.
That sums up what we do verywell.
And so, taking it back to whenyou transitioned out of the
service, you didn't go rightinto construction, am I right?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Right, yep, I did not .
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Okay, what did you?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
do.
When you transitioned out, Iactually went the kind of the
standard route of going tocollege, getting a degree and
all that.
And the way that evolved was isI went to Tyler junior college.
It's the largest junior collegein America, or at least it was
at a time, unless something'staken its place within the last
(12:01):
12, 15 years.
And so when I was going to TJC,it was mainly to become core
complete was the main point ofit, but also to kind of figure
out what I was interested indoing.
And so I had a couple ofdifferent paths that I was
interested.
I was not really interested inbeing an electrician anymore.
(12:22):
I just didn't really care forit at the time.
I was just, I would say, youngand dumb.
I should have cared about it alittle bit more.
And so I landed on criminaljustice.
I got an associate's degree incriminal justice from TJC and
(12:43):
since I was court complete and Iam a homebody at heart, I went
over to University of Texas atTyler and took courses there and
got my bachelor's in criminaljustice with a minor, graduated
with a minor and got intoleftives.
But that was really mainlybecause I moved to the Dallas
area and it was my second tolast semester.
(13:06):
So when I did that and so I hadto change it from minor in
psychology to guided elective sothat it could open up more
opportunities to take onlineclasses, so I could finish my
degree on time without having toretake a bunch of classes, so
that was kind of my evolutionout, getting out.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
You didn't go into law enforcement, correct?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
No, I did try.
It just didn't work out.
For those who don't know, it isactually quite difficult to do
that.
So it just didn't work out forme.
Just not to go too deep intopersonal stuff.
But I was, was am a little bitof an alcoholic, so I made some
(13:53):
poor choices.
But the good Lord got a hold ofme and so I call that my BC
days, my before cross days, andbecause of the decisions I made
when I was young and dumb, itwas really difficult for me to
try to even get in there to alaw enforcement agency.
But everything happens for areason and I'm I'm very happy
(14:17):
where I am now.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, Very good man.
So what was it that actuallygot you into this industry?
I mean, how'd you start thatpath as an electrician?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Oh well, so I got this big fancy degree from this
big fancy school and, uh, so Ihad to use it in some way.
So my wife actually was friendswith a lady whose husband was a
security we'll call it asecurity manager for Target and
(14:50):
he helped me get a job in Target.
And at the time I was what dothey call it?
Target protection specialist iswhat they called it at the time
and basically I walked aroundin a rental cop uniform and try
to catch people, shoplifting anddid counts and various other
aspects.
Uh, to the job.
(15:11):
But that's basically I wasdoing, for, you know, 40 hours a
week when I moved up here toDallas, and so I was trying to
make use of my degree.
After about a year of workingthere I think it was about a
year I got selected to be amanager, got promoted to being a
manager.
So now I'm a salaried managerworking there helping run the
(15:36):
stores, and it just simply put,it was not a good fit.
I was trying to make the squarepeg go into the round hole and
it was just, it was not a goodfit and nothing against Target
per se, but it just didn't workout, and thankfully so.
(16:04):
So after that I moved into asame role, but an hourly version
, working for Kohl's, and I didfine at Kohl's, but I also was
me and my wife were, uh, workingon having our, our first child,
which is my daughter Ryland,and, uh, typically my schedules
even though I could outline itmyself the best time for me to
(16:26):
work was from like 11 in themorning to about six or seven at
night.
You know, that was kind of likemy window there that I could
catch people and stuff, and theyhad requirements that you had
to open once and close once andthen the rest of it could be up
to me.
So you know, there was kind ofconstraints in there a little
bit.
But, um, you know, it kind ofjust dawned on me, like, you
(16:49):
know, I am trying to have afamily and I'll be there for
when they wake up and go toschool, but I won't be there for
when they go to bed.
And you know, when they wake upand go to school it's going to
be like an hour, hour and a halfmaybe, of interaction, and then
they won't see him again untilthe next day.
And I was.
You know, it was just there'sgotta be something better, and
(17:11):
so I actually called my cousinwho works for a company called G
cats and uh, they do electricaland telecommunications and he
was a project manager fortelecommunications.
I called him up and uh, sentover a little little quick
resume.
Uh, you know what I did in theNavy and stuff?
(17:31):
Uh, he got me hired on and uh,from that point I started going
to the ropes of learning thetrade.
They also have a program andit's national, but this specific
one was IEC Dallas.
Iec Dallas is IndependentElectrical Contractor and it's a
(17:55):
school you can use your VAbenefits to go through there.
It's a good school, it is.
It's just like college.
What you put into it is whatyou'll get out of it.
And so everyone in GCATS whosigns up for the program goes
through the program.
When I worked for GCATS, if yougot an A in your class, so
(18:16):
there's a tuition that you haveto pay and it comes out of your
check and it's according to howmuch you make is how much you
pay.
Obviously, the higher you youknow, the more skills you
develop and the higher you gothat you'll pay a little bit
more, but it hurts a little lessbecause you're making more and
so, but if you make an A, theygive you all that money back.
(18:37):
If you make an A, I think.
If you make a B, it was like80% and if you make a C, it was
like 70% of the money came backand, of course, if you failed,
you got nothing back, um, so Iwent through that program.
It's four years long, um, tobecome an electrician a
commercial electrician.
It takes four years backslash8,000 hours.
(18:59):
I think they've changed therules, because they changed the
rules right when I became ajourneyman.
I think you can take your testat 7,000 hours, but you don't
get your license until eight, ifI'm not mistaken at the time of
this recording.
And so I went through thatprogram.
I worked for a lot of good guys.
(19:20):
My main foreman that I had wasa guy named Chris Greenwood.
He taught me a lot that hasbenefited me now as a
superintendent.
Just a tremendous amount of, toput it in a nutshell, tremendous
amount of, to put it in anutshell, looking beyond the end
of my nose at things.
So an example would be as anelectrician, we have a box
(19:42):
that's 12 by 12 inches and youmight run, you know 10, 15
circuits in there to make up fora general area of the job site,
and so you want to put it in a.
You have to put it into an areathat's accessible, that could
be worked on later, and sosomething as simple as hey,
(20:04):
don't put it inside the office,put it in the hallway.
Or if you have to put it in theoffice, look at the furniture
plans if you can.
Sometimes it doesn't work outbecause they change it, but if
you can can.
Sometimes it doesn't work outbecause they change it.
But if you can, don't put itabove a desk.
You know simple things like that, where you don't have to
straddle a desk with the ladderand get somebody out of the
(20:24):
office to work on this thing,and most of the time we put it
in the hallway.
That way you didn't even haveto go into these rooms to work
on something which helps in thefuture when there are problems
for any service people who comethrough where they can fit a
problem and not disturb theoffice workers, because then you
(20:45):
have to coordinate with theirschedules and stuff instead of
being a little bit more on yourown schedule.
And so looking at things likethat, how to run a job cleanly?
Cause he is a neat freak, um,so great guy.
I just really with GCATs I cameup under a lot of really good
(21:06):
guys.
Another good guy was JoshTaylor.
Uh, he taught me a lot, um, andso kind of went through that
evolution process and became ajourneyman after that.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You ended up on one of my projects, um, with another
guy who made the jump to the GCside, um, and hopefully I'll
get him on here at some point.
But, um, yeah, so you've had a,you've had a good run up
through the trades.
I think there's a lot ofrespect from our guys when you
have guys like us that came fromsome sort of a trade into the
superintendent position trades.
I think there's a lot ofrespect from our guys when you
have guys like us that came fromsome sort of a trade into the
superintendent position.
(21:38):
So in the route that you took,how do you think your time in
the service really helped youout, especially as a
superintendent?
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Oh man, a lot, really a lot.
Leadership, obviously, firstthing that comes to mind.
You're not going to be able todo this job if you can't get
people to follow you and listento your advice and direction on
things.
As you well know, Scott, youknow sometimes we have to show
(22:23):
up, you know, 15 minutes, 20minutes before everybody, to
unlock the gate, to alloweveryone to go in, or unlock the
building, and so you have thatresponsibility of, you know,
unlocking the building andlocking it up or locking up the
side, whatever the case may be.
So you know understanding thattimeliness and, like my chief
God rest his soul, John Craven,he would you know there's a few
(22:43):
things you got to do to besuccessful in life Show up on
time, look professional and givea damn, you know, and if you
can do those things, you'regoing to be successful, just
because there's honestly justnot that much going on out there
.
So I think that was anotherprinciple portion of it.
(23:03):
And then, you know, in any jobwhere you're working at this
kind of this level, dare I say,you're going to have to manage
your own time well.
You're going to have to manageyour own time well and so
knowing when it's time to put inthe work and time when you can
relax and understanding that asfar and, going back into the
(23:30):
leadership, that not everyone'sled the same way that not
everyone's led the same way.
So some people are better withgetting a boot in the butt and
some people are better with thecarrot method and just enticing
them through rewards and praiseand appreciation and things of
that nature.
(23:51):
I always have a I say with myguys that are on my job sites
how am I in your way?
Because they're the ones whoare actually building this thing
.
It's not me.
I'm helping coordinate them,but I'm not building stuff
anymore.
I'm coordinating and so theyneed answers from other subs
(24:11):
that other sub offices would bea little bit more accurate and
my job is to get them thoseanswers.
So if I'm in their way by notgiving them an answer, I'm
slowing down the project.
I'm slowing down the project.
Everyone ends up working moreand not with their families, so
keeping that in mind as well.
(24:32):
So, yeah, a lot of it boilsdown into leadership and
weighing out the concerns of onegroup versus the concerns of
another, versus your client, andwhat's in the client's best
interest.
And you know understanding thatsometimes you have to make a
decision that people don't like,but you know we're all there to
(24:56):
do a job and it will be okay inthe end.
You know, once the client'shappy, everyone's going to end
up being happy.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Yeah, well said.
Um, so yeah, a lot of goodattributes in it.
I feel like I say this everyepisode.
A lot of the people I talk to.
There's less of the well, Ilearned how to turn this wrench,
or I learned how to do this.
A lot of it is the soft skills.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
And.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I I don't know how you feel.
This is just my belief thatmost veterans getting out it's
baked into them the leadershipskills, being on time, doing the
right thing, just thatintegrity, the grit, and so I'll
preach that till the day I die.
Then I think most often you'llfind a vet and you kind of know
what their values are going tobe.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I totally agree .
Yeah, it's a lot of those softskills come into play a lot.
So, yeah, I totally agree.
And the grid aspect is you know, when I got hired on with Rand,
I was interviewing and they Iforget the question they asked
exactly, but my answer was Ifind ways to win.
I don't lose.
That's not something that ChrisHood does.
(26:03):
So I'm going to find a way towin, no matter what odds are
against me.
I don't know how to give up.
Giving up is not my vocabulary.
Quitting is a dirty four-letterword in my opinion, and
actually with my daughter I'm ifI could brag a little bit to
everybody I have a brag on man,please do uh, I have a saying in
(26:25):
my house that uh, can't, nevercould do nothing.
And so, uh, she was working on apuzzle and it was like mermaid
or you know I I don't know theprincess name, but the mermaid
one and uh, and I was kind ofsort of helping her, cause I've,
you know, you never want to let, you never want to do anything
for your kids that you thinkthey can do for themselves, and
(26:46):
uh, so I was kind of helping hera little bit, a little bit of
guidance and doing a few, alittle bit there and a little
bit here, and she said the dirtyword that I can't stand, which
is I can't, I can't do this,daddy, and I said can't, and she
finished it for me never coulddo nothing.
And so you got to approach thisjob and construction in general
(27:07):
as can't, never could donothing.
You know it's American, notAmerican.
Yeah, I what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Dude, yeah, I love your mentality of I don't quit
and I don't lose.
You're going to fail at somepoint.
I like that, but going into itwith that mentality, I love that
man.
I'm ready to go to war with you.
Let's do this.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
It's extremely encouraging.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
That's good, man, that you carried that mentality
into it.
Um, so, along your journey towhere you got up, uh, got to now
, um, and it's been cool.
I've I've been kind of beenable to watch you from the
sidelines, from coming up to mehaving discussions about the GC
world.
Now you're running jobs byyourself.
I feel like I find a lot morejoy watching other people's
success in this industry than Ido my own.
(27:56):
Um, so do you think there wasanything that maybe you would
have changed along your journeyto get where you're at now?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Uh, you know, that's a good question, scott.
Um, I mean, there are things Iwill say I would like to change,
but I ended up in such a goodplace.
Say I would like to change butI ended up in such a good place
I would be afraid to, honestly,uh, cause adversity is what
(28:25):
builds your character.
Uh, you know, and I, when Igrew up, uh, you know, I kind of
split my time between mygranddaddy's farm and, you know,
being kind of a city boy alittle bit, and, you know,
growing up with that farmmentality.
And he was, he was born, ohgosh, I think, 1898 or something
, right at the turn of the twocenturies ago.
Um, and I mean, that's just thementality they all had back
(28:49):
then is you can't, never, coulddo nothing.
And so you're he.
He worked on his farm, he was acarpenter before that, and
actually a carpenter and a world.
Two on a carrier, I don't know,I don't remember which carrier,
though, um, because back thenthe carriers had a wood deck on
them and so he would fit someone.
(29:09):
You know, they got wore out orwhatever, and uh, so, yeah, um,
that you know this, job, job,you've got to have that grit,
you got to have that never giveup attitude, especially when
you're doing ti work.
Ground up is a different animaland I can't speak a lot to it,
but from my understanding youknow it's in in ways easier,
(29:31):
because I'm not.
You're not having to buildaround something, you can just
build it the way it needs to go.
You know, uh, whereas ti work,you're building around things
all the time and you're, youknow, always contrasting costs
versus quality, constantly anduh, yeah, so yeah, and speed
(29:54):
Schedule speed.
Oh my God, yeah, speed.
They want it all.
They want money, quality andspeed.
And it's difficult to do Verydifficult, but that's why I love
it.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
You know, it's always a challenge.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, it's always a challenge.
When I worked at Target, I satbehind a desk a lot and Kohl's,
I sat behind a desk a lot.
Um and Coles, I sat behind adesk a lot and it.
I don't know how people do it.
My hat's off to him.
I couldn't do it and I'm.
I'm happy I get to walk aroundand look at stuff and work
together to solve a problem.
It's, it really is a lot of fun.
It might not seem like it'skind of like bootcamp, does it
(30:30):
seem like fun at the time, butwhen you look back you're that
was actually pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, no, that's a good way to put it and I, man, I
feel like we're spoiled becausewe get to learn all these
different trades, Like we're notthe master.
I mean, yes, you're anelectrician, I'm a carpenter, so
we may know our trade better,but I get to learn about so many
different trades and I'm I'mbig on taking that knowledge
home and I can utilize it forthe house.
I mean, I can't tell you howmany times I've called up a
buddy.
(30:56):
Hey, you know, maybe they're aplumber.
I need some help.
How do I do this?
I got to reroute this pipe orwhatever.
Yeah, I had a septic issueactually last year and I had a
buddy.
I called him.
I said hey, I think this localguy's giving me a load of junk,
what do you think?
(31:16):
And no way, you don't need topay for that.
Do this, this.
And I got you covered, oh sweet.
So he ended up saving methousands of dollars, and that
was just a relationship that Imade from the job site.
So I we're spoiled for surethat we get to to learn all this
stuff.
Um, so I want to talk aboutmental health real quick.
Um, so it's.
It's a big issue, obviously,with vets.
It's a big issue in ourindustry.
People are starting to see thatbecause, you know, a lot of our
(31:38):
folks, especially in the trades, get burned out because we're
doing a lot more with a lot lessthan we did, I'd say, a decade
ago.
Um, so if you've got somebrothers and sister vets out
there that are just kind oftrudging along and thinking I
can't do this anymore, whatwould you say to encourage them?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Oh man, I mean, you're made of tougher stuff,
you are.
I mean, you're top 1% of thenation, and all vets know that
Not everyone can make it intothe military, not everyone can a
wholly different animal.
But you know, you're tougherthan this, you're stronger than
(32:21):
your demons, you know, speakingof demons with my alcohol
problem.
You know, though, I've never,you know, been in combat or
anything of the sort.
You know, being in the Navy,it's kind of like having an
almost a normal job, almost.
But, you know, find someone totalk to.
(32:43):
You will feel so much better ifyou just get it off your chest,
and it can be me, it could beScott, it can be any brother and
sister or anyone you feelcomfortable with sharing.
Uh, just share, please share,cause life is not as easy.
You know, we have an easier insome aspects than our
(33:03):
grandparents and greatgrandparents did, but also have
it a lot tougher.
Uh, there's, there's a lot goingon out there, and you um have
to be subject matter expert inso much, especially that
transition from from militarylife into civilian life.
We actually on, you know, atRand, we just hired this guy.
(33:25):
Great kid, he's going to be afreaking superstar, end of story
.
There's no doubt in my mind,everyone sees it too.
He came out of the Marine Corps.
He was a combat engineer and agood kid and he you know we've
talked about the transitioningout of the military and you know
(33:47):
that in civilian life you'rekind of left to your own ends.
You know you don't really havethat same camaraderie that we
have, where you sit around withthe guys and you talk about
whatever and you know, andeveryone's got that, you know,
as the army and Marine Corpscall them a battle buddy that
you talk to.
So find, find you a battlebuddy that you feel like you can
(34:09):
relate to and talk to and talk,talk, talk, talk.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
Yeah, and I think that's become a lot more
acceptable.
I guess Not that it never was,I just think people didn't
really talk about it and youwere viewed as weak and what's
been really cool, I'd say, overthe last four or five years.
You see a lot of these like tierone guys that serve at the tip
of the spear, saying I got anissue and I went and got help
(34:37):
and that that really encouragedme, cause I'm like man.
You know I I saw combat, but itwas not.
I wasn't shooting at folks, uh,getting shot at, but you know I
didn't do what these guys didand I'm like man.
If the baddest, the bad dudes,like just rock stars, can go in
there and get after it and gethelp, why can't I, like what's
stopping me?
(34:57):
And I've used that same uh talkwith some of our folks and
we're doing safety stand downsand I'm like I don't care how
cool you think you are, howbad-ass you think, you are, dude
, these guys are like cream ofthe crop.
If they can do it, you plumbingsuperintendent or whoever
welder, you can do it too, man,I mean, and you need to get the
(35:19):
help for yourself and for yourfamily and for those around you.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yep, and one little tag on there.
Let's just look at the, theultimate man, the perfect man,
who is Christ Jesus wept, youknow.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, that's the one scripture from the Bible I can
actually remember, because I'mso bad at it.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
It's the shortest one , yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, that's really cool, good point.
I'm glad you interjected that.
I appreciate it.
So to people that are gettingout man, we need people really
badly in this industry andthere's a lot of vets out there
that need work or a lot of them.
I don that need work or a lotof them.
I don't know about when youtransition, but when I went
through my taps class theydidn't talk about the
(36:04):
construction industry at all.
I hope that's changed over thelast 13 years since I've been
out.
Yeah, so if, if you do want toget that word out to people,
what would you say to them?
To try to encourage them to getinto what we do, to try to
encourage them to get into whatwe do.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Honestly, I think you hit the nail on the head a
moment ago.
With my personal belief, thebest way to become the best
superintendent is actuallythrough the trades.
That's the old school pipelineand I think that is currently
still the best pipeline.
You actually get in there, youwork with your hands.
(36:40):
You understand how hard a taskis because it's easy to
arbitrarily assign, like I needyou to do it this way.
That's easy to do.
But when you've actually donethe work before you've realized
what you're asking of the guys.
And so when I have like areally rough thing to ask of a
(37:00):
guy, hey, listen, I know this isgoing to suck for you, let me
buy you lunch for doing this forme.
And that's just leading fromthe front, you know, as we all
know.
So I think getting into a tradeand two, if it doesn't work out
to be a superintendent, that'stotally cool.
You know how much a asuperintendent, uh, electrician
(37:23):
mates as much or more as we do.
You know easily, easily, andall that you alluded to to.
You could potentially do someside work that I mean, I did
that when I was an electrician.
Everyone does.
Um, you could do side work, uh,and you can make some money
(37:44):
that way.
That's what I did for my familyis uh, cause I went from target
making like $56,000 a year, um,down to Kohl's to make $14 an
hour and or 15, then $14 tobecome an electrician.
I saved my scrap wirethroughout the year and I turned
it in and I would have a fewhundred bucks for Christmas.
(38:07):
And I just slowly worked my way,worked my way, developed my
skills, paid attention to othertrades and what they're doing,
talked to them when you got asecond, like you said, to learn
a little bit, and before youknow it you've got all kinds of
skill sets.
Because on my very firstproject I went out of town, as
you know, scott, for my firstone my eyes were as big as
(38:29):
saucers, but actually when Istarted talking with the
superintendent running the joband with the guys, I was like I
actually paid attention a lotmore than I give myself credit
for.
So I think coming in throughthe trades is a an excellent way
to go about it and you canemploy those skills on other
(38:49):
endeavors as well.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, no, I mean, you know you talk about side work.
So my wife and I we have asmall business it's called
fusion forge artworks, so I docustom woodwork and metal work
still and you know it justbrings in a little bit of cash
every now and again if I want tobuy a new tool or have some
more money for Christmas.
Actually, as of this recording,we're going to sell at a local
fall festival tomorrow in ourcommunity.
(39:13):
So hopefully we do well, we'llsee.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I do want to inject one thing.
When I became a yeah, anelectrician, then my first year,
yeah, I was making like, uh,what did?
I say 14 an hour, but I thinknow if and I could be wrong, so
check into it for yourselves,but I think a lot of those guys
are making like 20 bucks an hour.
Yeah, walking in the door, Idon't know what a phillips head
(39:38):
screwdriver is.
You know that kind of level Idon't know what a Phillips head
screwdriver is.
You know that kind of level.
I don't know how to read a techmeasure, that kind of level
making 20 bucks an hour.
When I became a journeyman itwas $26 or $27, I think maybe
$28 an hour for a journeymanelectrician an hour for a
journeyman electrician.
I know of a green journeyman,uh like a year ago, who got
(40:00):
hired in as a green journeymanelectrician making $32 an hour,
yeah, and plus you factor inovertime, I mean overtime wire
If you're an electrician or aplumber, cause they save copper.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
It's not unheard of of folks making over 200,000 a
year.
If they're a journeymanelectrician and they're willing
to travel, they're willing tosave, like you said.
So these guys are making waymore money than us, and I will
say this the caveat to that isit's not all about the money.
Of course, you know there aresome trades, like carboners.
I'll give you, for example, asa carpenter.
(40:41):
Carboners don't get paid verywell at all in Texas, and that's
confusing to me, but you know,it just depends on what your
passion is, though, so youshouldn't look at the paycheck
per se, but there is money to bemade for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, and it's also a job and I do want to bring up
this point, scott it's a jobthat AI can never take from us,
Never.
Not your job, not our job assuperintendents, not as
tradesmen.
Ai will never take it over,because there always has to be a
physical person doing the work.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
So, whereas a lot of.
There's just too many variables.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Right, there's too many variables, too much
thinking outside the box andproblem solving A lot of jobs
nowadays.
You know you have to worryabout that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Yeah, so there's a lot of job security in this.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
So I think it's a great place for fellow vets.
We have a lot of vets in ouroffice, lots.
Speaker 1 (41:34):
Yeah, no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely can see that.
Um, we, we got busier as wellwhen I was working for GCATS.
I was an electrician at thetime and uh, yeah, and to you,
like you said, with thelogistics, uh, you know they're
still lingering problems withlogistics from that issue, uh,
so, yeah, it's, it's a.
I never missed a day of workthat I didn't want to miss.
(42:26):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (42:28):
That's a good way to put it.
Yeah Well, man, Chris, I reallyappreciate your time.
Uh, it's good catching up withyou.
Do you have any parting wordsof wisdom for anybody?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Uh, it's good catching up with you.
Do you have any parting wordsof wisdom for anybody Believe in
Christ?
The Lord would be the first one.
Second one is if you're a vetand you are having some issues
mentally, please talk tosomebody anybody.
Find a pastor or whatever yourreligious affiliation is, a
(43:03):
counselor of some kind.
Find someone to talk to andwe'll see you out there in the
field.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Best send-off I've had yet.
Brother, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Not a problem.
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