Feature Article -- by Tom Babin

Jason Stevens, Terry Paron, Ron Pennoyer and Kevin Skinner are trained carpenters, but you would never know it. All are working on the new Banker's Hall construction in downtown Calgary, but none of them are pounding nails. Separately, their carpentry background may be all they have in common, but together, they illustrate how much room there is available for career growth in the construction industry. While construction jobs are often looked at as seasonal, part-time or dead-end, these four men prove otherwise.

Stevens is in the middle of his carpentry apprenticeship, but when his surveying experience got him a job offer at Banker's Hall, he says couldn't turn it down. "I started out wanting to get the carpenter's journeyman, and a couple of years down the road, I will," he says. "Surveying is just something for me to do now." Working on a crew of five, Stevens helps survey and lay-out the new skyscraper, but his work represents something else. Stevens wants to forge a long career out of construction and by learning what he can about different trades now, he says he is making that goal more attainable. Carpenters fill many of the higher level positions in general contracting companies like PCL Construction because their work teaches them about other trades as well, knowledge that helps as foremen or supervisors. As with any career path, by gaining as much experience and knowledge as he can now, Stevens is preparing himself for the future.

"When I got started," Paron says, "I just wanted to learn how to build a house." Though he began his career in the same place as Stevens, as an apprentice carpenter, Paron is now a foreman at the Banker's Hall construction site --a few rungs higher on the construction career ladder. "I realized I would be on the tools until I was 60-years-old unless I took on more," he says. "In this business, that is the best way to do it. You can take courses to get you there faster...but you need the experience." Today, Paron organizes his crew, and plans upcoming days and projects. His work combines the knowledge he picked up as a carpenter, with the people and supervisory skills he learned since. He says the challenges he faces now are more people-oriented, but without the experience he gained as a carpenter, he couldn't do his job today.

Pennoyer combines the same mix of people and technical skills as Paron in his job, but as a general superintendent for PCL Construction, he is in charge of all activity at the new Banker's Hall site. He is also a carpenter by trade. "I'm responsible for all that goes on at the site," he says, "all construction related activity." Pennoyer began as a carpenter's apprentice and worked his way up. He now plans, organizes and problem-solves his way through each day as one of the construction site's top-dogs. "It's so crucial to be able to plan, organize and delegate," he says. "You have to have practical experience, you have to know construction and you have to know a lot about other trades." Pennoyer says working on big projects like Banker's Hall require long days and frustration, but he finds the work fulfilling. Seeing a building he constructed, Pennoyer says, gives him a real sense of satisfaction.

Before Pennoyer, Paron or Stevens can even strap on their steel-toes, Kevin Skinner must finish his job. Part of Skinner's job is to help secure building contracts for PCL -- a $100-million business involving everything from Banker's Hall to Eau Claire's Millennium Tower to renovations at Southcentre Mall. He's also a carpenter by trade. "It's up to you where you want to go in construction," he says. "You can decide, do you want to work in the field, or in the office." After 12 years with PCL, Skinner is now the regional construction manager for the company -- an office job -- but an office job he gained by beginning as a carpenter.

While these four men moved up the proverbial ladder by beginning as carpenters, other trades offer the same opportunities for work and advancement. Most trades are actively looking for young people to help replace an aging workforce, and industry leaders report that now may be the best time in a generation to begin a construction career. Construction workers are well paid, their work is diverse, and many in the industry report an high level of job satisfaction. "It's very rewarding to look at a building you constructed," Pennoyer says. "It's a monument that stands for a certain time -- it's very rewarding."