Since I wanted this to be a very profitable job, I tried my best to change the way we normally worked. I knew that you could always get more done when working by yourself and so I assigned my crew to tasks that could always be done by just one person. As the foreman and the one doing all of the layout work, I had a special obstacle to overcome. Who would hold the ‘dumb’ end of the tape measure and who would help me snap a chalk line to mark the location of walls? Ordinarily this was the assignment given to an apprentice. I had no apprentice and since I was also the foreman, I was often going to meetings with the superintendent or fixing problems somewhere on the project. If I had someone working with me, they would be idle while I was away. So I had an idea and I asked the plumbing contractor to pour me a large block of lead. With a groove cut in the bottom of it, the block of lead became my ‘apprentice’, holding the end of a chalk line or a tape measure. For all of the overhead work, I would stand on a bucket and sight down a plumb bob line to mark the location of the walls on the concrete ceilings. Then I used a modified spring tension pole lamp to hold the chalk line again while I snapped lines on the ceiling.
My framing crew, all from Argentina and Uruguay, had a great work ethic and would work by themselves without complaining. And with the walls only 8’ high, the drywall crew had no problem working alone either. It wasn’t long before we were on schedule and putting out a floor a week without fail. One week to layout the floor (me). One week to frame the floor (4 framers). One week to hang the drywall (4 rockers). And one week to tape the floor, (3 tapers).
And after I had finished the layout on a floor, usually within 3 days, I would work on the elevator shafts. There were three small shafts and by laying planks across the openings I could do the framing and the hang the drywall by myself. I would have to leave a small opening in the wall where the plank passed through and when I was finished, a flap I had made would fall down over the opening as soon as the plank was pulled out. Later in the job schedule there would be time for me to go back into the shaft, on top of the elevator and ride up and down, patching any holes that were left.
And one day, as I was working while standing on a plank, laid across the opening on the 7th floor, I felt the plank move! I turned and saw a guy walking out to meet me, his hand outstretched to shake mine…giving me his name and asking if I needed anyone? He was looking for work; had his tools draped over his shoulder. It only took me a few seconds to realize that I had a real find here. Here was a guy willing to walk out onto a narrow plank over a hole that was about 80’ deep and ask for work. I hired him right then and told him to take over what I was doing.
I used to tell apprentices this story whenever they complained about how hard it was to find a job. And the first thing I asked them; do you always carry your tools with you when you ask for a job? For that was actually more impressive than just walking out into the shaft. That guy wanted work and was ready to be hired. His tools weren’t out in his car or truck or at home in the garage. He was ready, now.
Memory. The tower crane rose up through the building, occupying a square hole left out of the concrete on each floor that it passed through. And as the crane moved throughout the day, turning, lifting and lowering loads, the metal tubing structure of the crane gave off creaks and groans of stress. I would sometimes stand next to the crane and touch the tubing to feel the vibrating tension contained within it. It would sway back and forth slowly and I tried to imagine how it might feel to be high on top of the crane and operating it. Awesome!
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