In 1969, I was hired by Kaufman and Broad, Inc. (K&B) to work as a pick-up carpenter on a recently-completed housing tract. Within two months I was promoted to assistant superintendent for a new project much closer to home.
My first management job, albeit a low-level one, was the construction of a three-acre lake, four model homes, a sales office complex, which would later become a recreation center, and the first phase of 34 production homes on a parcel of land that had been the estate of movie producer Rowland V. Lee.
Becoming an assistant superintendent turned out to be a career-changing opportunity for me. The superintendent I was working for had a lifetime's experience in production home- building, and he was more than a capable teacher.
He taught me the skills to schedule, coordinate, inspect, and report the activities for a residential housing project. I also learned a great deal about grading and off-site improvements, streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and utilities, not to mention how to rebuild a lake.
In less than a year I was promoted again and replaced a superintendent on a nearly-completed first phase of a housing project built on a 130 acre piece of land with a another movie connection. This time the previous owner had been comedian Jack Oakie, and before him it was Marwyck Ranch owned by Barbara Stanwyck, Zeppo Marx and his wife Marion.
I figured there would be great job security with K&B because they were just starting another phase. I supervised the second phase of construction of off-site improvements, poured foundations and dropped lumber in preparation for framing. Then another recession hit. In early 1970, I once again found myself looking for a job. Little did I know at the time, that recessions and lay-offs would become a way of life in California's home-building industry.
After leaving K&B, I worked briefly as a finish carpenter foreman on an apartment project; when that job finished it was virtually impossible to find work. At that time I owned a cabin site in the mountains at Big Bear Lake, so I thought I'd see if I could find work there. When I got there I met another carpenter who had just taken a contract to frame a mountain cabin. He needed help, so I went to work for him. On day one it became obvious that he was not a skilled carpenter. In fact, he was so completely overwhelmed he quit, leaving me to finish the cabin framing alone. I then asked dad if he’d like to work with me, so we continued framing cabins in Big Bear for the rest of the summer of 1970.
In the late fall, I returned to the San Fernando Valley and enrolled in Pierce College, under the G.I. bill, and found a part-time job working for a remodeling contractor.
Over the years I had stayed in touch with K&B, hoping to work for them again when the recession eased. In early 1972, they hired me to be their Director of Customer Relations. I handled quality control and customer service for approximately 1500 homes, under warranty, in five southern California counties. I managed a staff of 12 customer service employees, and I established a new quality-control program; conducting field inspections on homes under construction, and seeking to remedy problems leading to future customer complaints.
I was still pretty young, and I had difficulty gaining the respect of one older field superintendent on a project about two hours away from the home office. I had inspected several homes in the framing stage and advised him that the work was not acceptable. He brushed me off stating he was busy now, and he'd take a look when he had time.
Two days later the framing problems still had not been corrected. I figured that would be the case, so I brought a single-jack, a short-handled 12 pound sledge hammer, with me. In one house I proceeded to demolish framing that was unacceptable, then I drove to the field office and told the superintendent that I had "critiqued" the unacceptable framing on lot such and such.
I got in my car and drove back to the home office. When I got to the office the division president was waiting for me. "What the h--- do you think you're doing?" he asked. I explained to him that his lazy superintendent needed to inspect framing instead of just sitting in his field office holding court. He laughed, and said keep up the good work. The next several times I visited that job site I found the superintendent inspecting framing instead of hanging out in his field office.
1974 - 1983, ADDING LAND PLANNING AND MULTI-HOUSING TO MY RESUME
If I learned anything working for K&B it was that production home-builders have little or no loyalty to field employees. The only way to advance your career or get a substantial pay raise was to change employers. It was common practice during the 1970s and 1980s for a "head-hunter" (executive search firm) to raid competitive builders' personnel when seeking candidates for an open job position.
In early 1973, I received just such a call from a head hunter asking if I'd be interested in interviewing for a project manager position with Larwin, another major California based builder. I accepted a job that would require weekly out-of-state travel, but would give me a chance to learn more about planning and real estate development while directing the construction of 1500 units of apartments.
I took over a project that had 450 units already partly constructed. Work-in-place ranged from foundations under construction to completed, and occupied, apartments. The overall project was a year beyond its completion date and more than a million dollars over budget. Most of the major subcontractors had abandoned the job, and stock-piled materials, lumber, fiberglass bathtubs, cabinets, etc., were rotting in the snow. I fired more subcontractors, wrote new contracts, and turned the project around in a few months.
At the same time I also constructed another 400 multi-family apartment units, three recreation centers, and off-site improvements, including a major highway alteration. In addition I did planning and land-use work for another 600 multi-family apartment units.
Unfortunately for me new federal tax regulations caused the company to suffer serious financial losses, because projects had been pre-sold. Larwin began selling off assets (including my projects) to avoid further hardship. Fortunately for me Larwin was also engaged in home building in Southern California, so I took a cut in pay and became a field superintendent for them. In 1974, another recession hit, forcing Larwin to shut down all housing operations, including my project.
Unemployed once again (with nobody hiring), I activated my contractors license and began remodeling homes. Within a few months I discovered I could make a fair living as a home-improvement contractor. During the day, I worked as a tradesman doing concrete, framing and finish carpentry. At night, I was a salesman, architectural designer and estimator. I put in long hours, but my time was flexible, and I was able to coach youth sports at a time when my kids were involved in track and soccer.
In addition to the long hours there's also a lot of risk in the contracting business. So, when in 1976, another executive search firm called, and offered me a chance to interview for a director of construction position, I gladly accepted.
I became the director of construction for all projects in the San Fernando Valley for Sacramento based McKeon Construction Company. During the next few years, I developed and constructed 246 single-family attached homes on one project and 94 single-family detached homes on another site.
At the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in 1978, I met a small developer who later offered me a position as his general manager. I liked him, but turned him down because working for such a small company seemed too risky. He finally won me over with an offer of a significant increase in salary, and a 928 Porsche company car.
While working as the general manager for California Development between 1978 and 1983, I developed and built over 75 single-family attached town homes (photo above), 35 single-family attached homes, including three large custom homes ranging in size between 5000 and 6000 square feet.
Building the custom homes (photo above) carried us through the 1981 recession. However, with little sign of economic recovery, we negotiated a consulting agreement and joined an investment group starting up a new modular-home manufacturing business.
I awarded design contracts, obtained Department of Housing approvals, and established factory assembly systems. Then I hired, trained, and managed production crews. We also assisted investors with finance, sales, and marketing. At a Manufactured Housing Trade Show in Dodger Stadium during 1983, “Sequoia Homes” presented a model (photo above) that generated sales of more than 50 homes during the event.
With our modular housing consulting completed in late 1983, I accepted a division president position for Carlsberg Construction, a builder in Northern California. During the next two years, I developed and constructed 43 single-family attached town homes, 180 single-family detached tract homes, and obtained entitlements for an additional 75 homes and 94 town homes. In late 1984, Carlsberg sold its Northern California division, along with all of its land holdings.
1984 - 1992 BECOMING THE MANAGER OF A MAJOR HOME BUILDING COMPANY
In 1984, I returned to Southern California and went to work for Glenfed Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Glendale Federal Savings Bank, as its Senior Purchasing Agent. I awarded contracts for the construction of 103 single-family attached homes, 44 single-family detached homes, and 111 apartment units.
Glenfed was experiencing rapid growth at that time, so within a few short months I was promoted to its Director of Construction. Between 1984 and 1987, I managed four project managers, and directed the development and construction of an 899 PUD (Planned Unit Development) homes, 419 single-family attached homes, and 914 single-family detached homes.
In 1987, I was offered an opportunity to become a Senior Joint Venture Administrator. During the next two years, I negotiated joint-venture partnerships with other California based builders, and together we constructed 140 single-family attached homes, 787 single-family detached homes, 333 additional finished lots, and 325,000+ square feet of commercial retail and office space with more than a dozen joint-venture partners.
In 1989, I was promoted again to Senior Vice-President and Director of Residential Development for Glenfed. Once again new federal regulations doomed my career. This time the feds mandated that banks had to be more than an arms-length from a building business. Glenfed and its assets were offered for sale. I agreed to stay to the end, so Glenfed gave me a contract guaranteeing a significant severance package. My job was to continue to build and sell homes until a sale of the subsidiary was completed. Unfortunately for Glenfed, another recession hit in 1990, so selling the entire operation was impossible.
During the following few years I systematically completed housing projects, sold, or auctioned them, and reduced the ranks by more than 150 employees. Between 1989 and 1992, I developed and constructed 266 PUD (planned unit development) homes, 138 single-family attached homes, 233 single-family detached homes, and processed entitlements for an additional 76 single-family detached homes.
During the time I was completing projects for Glenfed and laying folks off I kept my sanity by starting a new part-time career as a Cowboy Folk Artist, but that’s another story… SEE: MOLESWORTH INSPIRED FURNITURE by Jerry England (1989-2002) https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2021/04/cowboy-chic-funiture-by-lure-of-dim.html
2013, END OF A 50+ YEAR CAREER AS A CALIFORNIA HOME BUILDER
As I described in earlier posts, with the exception of 3 years I served in the US Army, from 1956 to 1992, I had worked continuously in California's home- building industry.
I began as a 14-year-old carpenter's apprentice, working for my dad, and left Glenfed as the manager of its home building company at age 50.
In 1992, I pursued a second career as a cowboy folk artist, but did construction-management consulting on a part-time basis. For the next two decades I was happy to augment my income picking up occasional expert-witness and construction management assignments for banks, homeowners associations, and real estate attorneys. I also accepted temporary consulting assignments to do land-planning, subdivision-map processing, and field supervision of limited construction operations.
After 2008, it became nearly impossible to find consulting work related to new home building in California, so I accepted a contract position with a real estate investment group that was buying foreclosed properties at auction. They either refurbished and flipped (sold) the houses, or in some cases, rented them (holding them for a future sale).
Working with foreclosed properties, and the poor folks losing them, was one of the most depressing situations I had encountered in 50+ years in the home building industry. My primary value to the real estate investment group was peddling my resume to potential investors. The field work was so disheartening for me, I quit and retired.
At age 71, I was happy to be finished with the home building industry, and in 2013, I let my California B1 General Contractors License expire.
Looking back on my career, I enjoyed some prestige working at higher levels of management for several major real estate developers, but I can say I was honestly never happier than the years I spent working with my tools as a carpenter. There is a lot to be said for the satisfaction gained from standing back and looking at a day's creation.
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