Climbing the Ladder

Whether you call it a career track or a framework, whether you spell it out in a handbook or tell people during job interviews, you must have a path for field personnel to follow if you want them to grow and take on more responsibility. Remodelers who have carved out this path have shaped it to their companies' needs, bringing newbies along and nurturing homegrown lead carpenters, project managers, and even vice presidents.

“Quite a number of people came into the company as laborers and are now master builders with more than 15 years of experience,” says Keith Alward, president of Alward Construction Co., Berkeley, Calif.

DAC Remodeling, Hilmar, Calif., rarely hires lead carpenters from outside the company. “We hire carpenters who learn our company's culture and in whom we develop trust and confidence,” president David Anderson says. “And they become lead carpenters.”

This philosophy works both for the remodeler, who can train lead carpenters and project managers in the company's distinctive ways of doing things, and for employees, who earn more money as they progress. Another plus is the ability to retain carpenters who, as they age, don't want jobs that are as physically demanding. The way Dave Amundson of TreHus Builders in Minneapolis sees it, “Until you've done this for 15 years, you haven't reached your potential.”

With 45 carpenters on staff and 10 production teams, Neil Kelly Co., Portland, Ore., spells out job descriptions and expectations in writing. “They're not there just to dig holes,” says Julia Spence, vice president of human resources and communication. “They have to learn skills.”

At the same time, the company offers some flexibility in its career path for field personnel, all of whom are union members.

“If we bring in someone, we can move them around a bit,” Spence says. The basic carpentry track consists of apprentice carpenter, journeyman carpenter, lead journey-level carpenter, master carpenter, and project manager. In addition, the home repair division offers the option of sales consultant/journey-level carpenter, and the cabinet division uses cabinet builders.

Since Neil Kelly uses union labor, many of the job descriptions correspond to union specifications. The master carpenter program, though, is the company's own. To earn the title of master carpenter, an employee typically has to be at the company for at least two years and be nominated. Both the immediate supervisor and the management team have to approve the promotion. In addition to carpentry, the employee must demonstrate skills in leadership and in customer service.

Several carpenters have moved into project management, Spence says, while four have become sales carpenters in the home repair group, selling jobs that they then build. They earn union wages plus commission.

Alward Construction also defines levels of progression for carpenters: apprentice, journeyman, senior, and, finally, master builder. Not all journeymen are headed toward being a master builder, Alward says. He expects a master builder to have project management skills and to be the “best set of hands on the job. There's hardly anything built out of wood in the residence that he couldn't build — cabinets, doors, windows.” Master builders also understand wiring, plumbing, drywall, tiling, and possibly roof and concrete work. And they understand plans and other building documents. Senior builders usually have at least 10 years experience, and supervise a single jobsite. Their project management skills aren't quite as polished as the master builders', and they might need help sorting out mechanical and personnel issues.

Smaller companies tend to be less formal in their approach. DAC Remodeling, which grossed about $2 million last year and has 11 employees in the field, has four lead carpenters and one lead carpenter in training. Moving up from carpenter to lead carpenter requires education, such as completing NARI's Certified Lead Carpenter program, and the recommendation of the lead carpenter that the carpenter has worked under. The company also needs sufficient work to justify the position.

DAC expects lead carpenters to be fairly autonomous, Anderson says. “What we call a ‘lead carpenter,' many would call a ‘project manager.' They are the company reps during construction.” They schedule subs and take responsibility for finishing on schedule, on budget, and to the client's satisfaction.

Overseeing the lead carpenters is a production manager, who Anderson equates to a vice president in charge of production. The current production manager started at DAC in 1996 as a carpenter.

At TreHus, the steps are carpenter-in-training, carpenter, master carpenter-in-training, master carpenter, and senior master carpenter. “We tell them that we expect self-reliance and motivation on their part,” Amundson says. Unlike at other companies, project manager is not part of the track. A financial disincentive discourages master carpenters from becoming project managers because the company prefers to see them become senior master carpenters.

These expectations are made clear when carpenters are hired, even though the small company — one senior master, two master, and three master-in-training carpenters —does without detailed job descriptions. Guidance comes instead from Amundson's perception of remodeling. “Nowadays, it's not just about wood and nails. It's about people and organization,” he says. “They need to think not just like a craftsman but like a businessperson.”

Master carpenters must have both technical and managerial skills, because they supervise other carpenters. “We distinguish between a master carpenter and a lead carpenter,” Amundson says. The master carpenter is actually building the job and may work on more than one site. This is different from the industry definition of a lead carpenter as a chief manager who is responsible for watching the schedule and the budget. The company's senior master carpenter job blends master and lead carpenter responsibilities. Employees in this position tend to work on larger, more complicated jobs, coordinating and overseeing the schedule and the production of everyone on the site.

When consultant Paul Montelongo of San Antonio was running a design/build company, he saw what he calls “a natural progression” for lead carpenters to become project managers and then move into sales. To move up to project manager, he says, takes technical knowledge, management skills to coordinate trades, and organizational skills to juggle tasks.

After they had been in the position for about a year, Montelongo tested project managers for sales by seeing how good they were at converting change orders into profitable sales. Moving over to sales can take several years, he says, and not all project managers wanted to sell even if they were good at it. “They have a mental image of a salesperson that they don't want to fit,” he says.

Another company that has a path from field to office is Jorve Corp., Seattle, which has 190 field employees. At Jorve the progression goes from carpenter's helper to carpenter (the second in command on a job-site) to lead carpenter (who functions as on-site carpentry foreman) to superintendent of carpentry (who checks all job locations and tracks quality and budget) to production manager of the carpentry division. The production manager essentially has responsibility for all logisticsincluding supervising superintendents, scheduling jobs, communicating with clients, and drawing up materials lists, explains vice president Dale Burlingame.

“What really determines what orbit someone is in is their skills,” Alward says. Do they understand plans? Can they frame a hip roof, hang a door, set a window — and have they taught someone else how to do it? Are they self-directed? Can they interact with other people — not just other subs but architects, clients, municipal employees, and neighbors — to solve problems? “It takes at least 10 years to grow from a fairly organized worker to a master builder,” Alward says.

Whether opportunities for growth are written out or are informally presented, remodelers must have them in mind. “An owner always needs to be aware of potential,” Montelongo says, “and not just pigeonhole people into a position forever.” —Diane Kittower is a freelance writer in Rockville, Md.

Making a Shift

Sometimes you have to do something the wrong way to learn how to do it right. Last year, almost every job at S.W. Scheipeter Construction, took longer than it should have, says Steve Scheipeter, president of the St. Louis remodeling company. To fix the problem, he plans to expand the role of lead carpenters and stop using project managers.

The lead carpenter will have day-to-day responsibility for his project, in addition to keeping it on schedule and on budget. A production manager will oversee the lead carpenters. One former project manager is becoming the production manager; the rest are taking on lead carpenter roles, with no cut in pay. Scheipeter uses union carpenters, and lead carpenters get a foreman's pay in the St. Louis area.

Each lead carpenter will have a laptop loaded with a software package that offers access to drawings, specs, notes, schedules, and budgets; tracks and logs changes and relevant information; and permits e-mailing, easing communication with homeowners and subs.

Scheipeter expects the change to improve customer service, too. “Having that person there every day will instill comfort in owners,” he says. “They won't have the drywall hanger knocking on the door, asking where to start.”

Another company changing its career ladder to make things run more smoothly is D/R Services Unlimited, Glenview, Ill. “We're bringing one guy in from the field and making him production manager,” a newly created position at the company, president Ron Cowgill says. The new production manager has been with the remodeler for 14 years, works well with clients, and has technical expertise. Moreover, the field employees all know him, Cowgill says, and aren't likely to second-guess him.

“Right now, everybody calls me,” he says, “and I end up out there fixing some outlet. It's not the best use of my time.” As the company begins to use more subs, Cowgill wants other experienced hands to come into the office and take on similar management responsibilities.