What's Normal?

With New Jersey safely behind me, it was time for some “normal” work. Unfortunately the job market was slow and Modern Drywall had very little work for us and we had to make do with just a few days of work each week. Finally it was time to find a ‘regular’ job and I quickly found one with LA Drywall, a rival company to be sure, but working was always better than not and I was promised my old job back when things got better.

Of course I was no longer a foreman and so there was a pay cut. But that didn’t last long and I was soon a foreman with LA Drywall, making more money and running small projects all around the Los Angeles area. This turned out to be quite profitable in a different sense as I was being introduced to new people in the industry and these contacts would lead to even better jobs in the future.

Recap: I worked for Modern Drywall for about 7 years, or until they went out of business. During that time I worked for other companies during the slow times but always returned to Modern Drywall, my first and favorite employer.

And one of the jobs I ran for LA Drywall was the new Baptist Home for the Aged, a 17 story, poured in place concrete structure, near Vermont Avenue, in the heart of Los Angeles.

This was my first experience with a “flying form” project. A tower crane was erected next to the building and permanent concrete form structures were built on top of the first floor. These forms would be jacked up to the proper height for the following floor and then after the concrete was poured and set, the forms would be lowered and then rolled out to the sides of the building, hanging out of the building where the crane could pick them up. Then ‘flown’ out of the building by the crane, swinging out over the street and then up to the next floor to be reused to form the floor above that.

Jones Brothers was the General Contractor on the job and their superintendent was quite intimidating. Short and bald with a full beard and a commanding presence. I remember him telling me that he wanted a floor completed each week. I agreed and then the first week went by and I didn’t have the framing completed on time. He told me that everyone was allowed one mistake and I had just had mine. There would be no others. His schedule was not to be ignored. I saw proof of that when the electrical contractor’s foreman had to wear boots one day and wade through the wet concrete, trying to get some of his missing electrical connections made.

And since this was a concrete job, the scheduled pour was never delayed for any reason. Twice, this superintendent was placed in a LAPD squad car for disturbing the peace when starting to pour concrete before the 7 AM legal start time in a residential neighborhood. Even with him in the backseat of the police car, the concrete continued to be poured, his workmen coming up to the car and getting their instructions through the window. Good laughs for all of us as the police weren't sure how this should be handled? After all, there were concrete trucks filled and waiting in a long line to be emptied. The crane never stopped moving and basically, everyone ignored all attempts to stop the work. Should we all be arrested?