Behind the Build – Kevin Craig

Go Behind the Build with Carpenter Foreman Kevin Craig as he shares how 30 years in the trades have reinforced the value of lifelong learning, collaboration, and defining success as a team achievement.

What led you to choose a career in the trades?

I believe I resigned to the fact that, since my Grandpa was a carpenter and my Dad was a carpenter, I might as well not fight the family calling and join in on the build. Aside from possessing generational talent, it’s mighty fun from time to time.

What’s one challenge that helped shape the way you work today?

After 30 years of doing this, I still believe that “value” drives the way I work. I started out in a small non-union outfit in which the only way to strive and succeed (and thus get paid more) was to show that I brought value and that I could assist in moving the job along in the preferred direction. The challenge now is finding the values that others bring to the project. Everyone isn’t good at everything, but we all have our strengths (or at least the potential for strength) at different points along the timeline of a project, and that’s where each individual’s value comes into play.

How do you stay grounded when life gets busy?

I’m a firm believer in compartmentalization. Realistically, I can only do one thing at a time, so separating a workday into tasks helps me stay focused on progressing through the work instead of being burdened by something that may seem insurmountable when viewed as a whole.
I use the same philosophy at the end of the day. There is our time when we’re at work, and then there is my time once the whistle blows, and I take that very seriously. I separate work and home to the point where there are times my wife has no idea where or on what I’m working.
Of course, there’s overflow from time to time, and over the years I have learned that if I’m either calling the doctor for my kid while I’m at work or making a call to schedule the flooring guy while I’m at home it will even out in the end.

What’s something you’ve learned from working on different jobsites over the years?

That even a know-it-all like me is never done learning. Materials and processes are constantly evolving, and I cannot rest easily in complacency. Asking questions will never be out of style, and with that goes listening and learning. I think that’s where our strong suit as modern day field workers reside, in the dissemination of knowledge and the willingness to share experience with each other. I feel that I, and we as a company, have great potential to keep growing as long as we continue to learn and share what we’ve learned. Knowledge is only a phone call away.

What does success mean to you now compared to when you first started?

I could answer with all the old platitudes (On time, under budget, home safe every day, etc.,) and while those will always ring true as long as man grabs material to make a building, having my toes placed right at the threshold of the door leading to “old-timer” status “success” has lost its individuality. When I succeed: hey great, awesome, get back to work the cookie’s in the mail. When we succeed it’s refreshing and rejuvenating to me. Recently I’ve had a few “impossibles” made possible by having everyone buy-in on the path to success. That means more to me than anything I could accomplish on my own.