S&F Concrete needed workers who knew how to do layout. A well-established concrete provider in the region, the company had a CAD office fully staffed with engineers and layout experts, but the team was stretched thin servicing S&F’s many active sites. Recruiting for concrete layout skills had also become a challenge, with fewer and fewer layout-qualified candidates coming in each year.
S&F turned to the North Atlantic States Carpenters union for support. Within six weeks, the Carpenters’ team of professional instructors designed a custom program to teach digital layout skills and outfitted the union’s multiple training centers in the region with state-of-the-art Hilti and other Total Station systems. An issue that had plagued S&F and the industry for years was quickly being addressed in a matter of months.
“Now, we have what could be an endless supply of people who can do layout,” said S&F Concrete Chief of Operations / Outside Superintendent Steve Monteiro. “Where it was very finite—we had 20 in our company who were capable of doing that—now, we might have 20 at the end of a week or two.”
Working with the Carpenters to teach its apprentices layout skills will quickly improve S&F’s efficiency, flexibility on the job, and team capacity. Union carpenters will now be able to handle layout directly, on site and whenever needed, saving time, resources, and even improving quality.
Total Station training was also incorporated into the union's apprenticeship program and made available to journey-level carpenters as part of the union’s lifetime learning programs.
“Whether it’s at one of our training facilities across the region or on our partner’s own job site, contractors tell us what they need, and we make it happen,” said Tom Fischer, Executive Director of the North Atlantic States Carpenters Training Fund. “It’s a win-win: our partner benefits by getting state-of-the-art resources and crews with skills tested in the field, and our apprenticeship and ongoing journey-level training programs get stronger and stronger.”
The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC) represents over 30,000 carpenters, pile drivers, shop and millmen, millwrights, and floorcoverers working in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Part of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters—one of America’s largest building-trades unions—the North Atlantic States Carpenters are uniquely positioned to bring industry training and resources to bear.
With more than 800 signatory partners, the union helps contractors succeed in today’s marketplace by supplying motivated, knowledgeable crews, delivering customized trainings, and by helping its partners break into new markets, secure project funding, and navigate industry challenges.
Learn more at https://www.nasrcc.org/contractors/overview.
