I’ve been a builder for most of my life. Growing up in Big Sur, I learned the basics early, as my family kept building the ranch where I was raised. We did everything: cement, framing, finish work. I’ve always loved making things with my hands and the details that make things work.
The first time I worked on a bridge, at Rocky Creek in Big Sur, it was for a retrofit. I learned about how a crew works together (or doesn’t), and I got some more basic skills in reinforced concrete. The next time I worked on a bridge, it was another retrofit, on Bixby Creek Bridge, the one you always see in car commercials or for articles about Big Sur in the news.
My last Big Sur bridge was the one you see on this website. This was a “build out of nowhere” job at Rain Rock, an area that had always been prone to massive landslides. The span over the canyon took the place of the previous roadbed, and the rock shed tunnel directed falling rocks over the road and into the ocean so the road could stay open.
I built huge boxes out of plywood and framing wood, that had to withstand 30,000 pounds of pressure from wet concrete during a pour. I’m proud to say that not one of them blew out.
Bridge work is dangerous. My foreman on that job said it was like running through a fire with a can of gasoline. It’s true. It’s good to know that millions of people will drive over that bridge, but I will not know who they are.
After doing that kind of work, getting back into finish work and doing framing on big houses and shopping centers was a lot less nerve-wracking, to say the least. And there’s another side to it: the personal rewards of making people’s dreams come true.
What I love about doing detail work is the way it makes people happy, up close and personal. I get to use my imagination and creativity to improve the lives of the people I work with, and that’s a huge reward.
So that’s why I made the switch. I can still do big jobs, and I know how to make a team work. It’s all a matter of perspective.