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Construction and Equipment Spotlight
April 24, 1997

Out-of-town jobs big challenge for workers' families

By LUCY BODILLY
Special to the Journal

Project managers spend their time constructing buildings that will be in fixed locations but increasingly that means the project personnel will be moving.

Large construction companies are opening regional offices that require project managers and engineers to travel over a several state area. Firms with specific niches must often go out of town to find work in their specialty.

For employees, the moves can mean promotions and the chance to improve skills that would otherwise go unchallenged. But they also bring the hassle of finding new places to live, leaving family and friends, and being forced to learn the ropes in a new construction environment.

Most companies try to accommodate their employees' personal needs as much as possible, encouraging them to bring along their family when possible. But many employees opt for the separation.

"In our company we try to send the family, but it can be difficult, especially if there are children or the spouse has a strong career and cannot leave his or her job," said Bruce Holm, project director with SDL/McCarthy. "For the overall happiness of the family it is better if they go." The company is increasingly looking for high-tech work and bidding on large public projects throughout the region.

Mike Herzog and his wife, Nichol, like working on the big projects for Mortenson and will happily move on to the next big one when Harborview Medical Center is completed.

For those asked to leave town for an extended period of time, the questions are endless: Do you rent your house or sell it? Should your family come with you? How will you furnish your new living quarters? What will you do after work when you normally spend time with your family, mow the lawn and run errands?

People who opt to leave town do so out of loyalty to the company and because they know it means a chance for advancement. Many who travel regularly are either fresh out of college and need varied experience or empty-nesters trying to add some excitement to their lives.

Mike Simnowitz, now a project manager with SDL spent eight months in Corvallis, Ore., last year as a superintendent constructing a support building for Hewlett Packard. When he returned, he was promoted to project manager and is now working on the Harbor Steps project in downtown Seattle.

"I went because I like this company," Simnowitz said. "They have treated me very well and have given me room for advancement." Since McCarthy took over SDL a few years ago, working out of town is more common, but not required.

During his eight month stint in Corvallis, Simnowitz did face challenges outside of the work environment. Because he has two teenage daughters, he left his family in Seattle and traveled home from Oregon on weekends.

"At times it was stressful because you know your spouse is dealing with everything at home," he said. He missed his daughter's soccer games and other facets of family life. "You talk on the phone every night which is okay but it not the same," he said.

He furnished his Corvallis apartment with rental furniture and socialized with other SDL personnel who were working on the same project. He also looked up a high school friend who lived in nearby Eugene, Ore., a stroke of luck since both are from the East Coast. The social high point was when the Mariners entered the playoffs and SDL personnel would get together to watch the games.

Though he got the promotion and managed to see his daughter's weekend soccer games, enough was enough. "Corvallis is a little university town which I would not choose to return to, even for a visit," he said.

For others, mostly those without children, moving from job to job is a way of life. To complete the Harborview expansion project, M.A. Mortenson moved crews here from Minneapolis and Las Vegas for the entire three-year stint. Mike Herzog, a project scheduler, came here with his wife because he likes working on big jobs. Two recent projects he also worked on were the St. Louis stadium and the Denver airport. When Harborview wraps up later this year, Herzog and his wife will probably move on to the next big project.

For the Herzog family, the big challenge was for his wife to find work. "She had a hard time here, but fortunately she had also worked for Mortenson and they knew her abilities and hired her," Herzog said.

Bringing yourself up to speed on the local construction environment, such as learning which subcontractors are troublesome and which are reliable, can take time, but usually there are local people working on the same job who share information, Herzog said. The couple's social life has been helped along by Herzog's participation in team sports and by living in a friendly neighborhood.

Scott Usselman, his wife and two kids also moved here with Mortenson for the Harborview project, but bring a different perspective. Usselman has made his career by moving, either from company to company or to any new job, as long as it was someplace else. So far he has worked in Montana and Hanford. A mechanical engineer, he hopes to stay with Mortenson, but wants to remain mobile.

"My wife and I would leave here in a heartbeat," he said. Though he likes the work, he is not used to the traffic and often gets up at 4:30 a.m. to commute from Issaquah. After stopping at the gym, he puts in at least a 12- hour day before returning home. Usselman says he misses the friendliness and politeness of his Montana hometown.

"When I moved to Richland I thought the people there were rude, but they are polite compared to people here," he said.

At PCL, which has 20 regional offices in North America, computers are making the logistics of handling employee moves easier, said John Putnam, vice president of the Northwest region.

"Our company is employee-owned, so (people) are more likely to want to move around so they can stay with the company," Putnam said. About a year ago, PCL set up an E-mail system that allows employees to check out and respond to new job listings via computer. The company set up standardized systems for estimating and other office functions so initial training is minimized.

PCL moved a large crew to Hawaii for a $200 million convention center project. Perhaps, that is one place new people have an easier time getting used to. The company is now negotiating for another large project there which will start when the convention center is complete.

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