As a foreman at Kidwell, I’ve been a part of countless builds.

Every project is memorable in its own right, but constructing a 40,000 square-foot health clinic for CommonSpirit Health in Grand Island, Nebraska, was a one-of-a-kind experience.

I was the foreman on this project, leading this project from start to finish. From ordering materials to keeping everyone on task, I was responsible for ensuring that we stayed on track to meet the general schedule.

And I couldn’t have been prouder of the work we did.

The challenges we faced

One of the challenges we faced was the extreme cold. We were digging in frozen ground during the months of January and February, which wasn’t easy.

But we persevered and got the job done.

Another challenge was the logistics of getting everyone to and from the site. We had to coordinate travel arrangements for the entire crew, but we worked together to make it happen.

The schedule was also accelerated in the middle of the summer, which meant we had to add more manpower to keep up with the framing.

We were able to do so, and we completed the project on time.

One of the keys to our success was the team we had working on this project. I had a great group of guys out there with me, and we all worked together to get the job done.

We delegated tasks and divided the load, which made a big difference.

I also had a great team of project managers who were always responsive and willing to help with whatever we needed.

One of the innovative techniques we used on this project was prefab kitting for the EMT in-wall rough-ins. By getting everything in a kit and throwing it up in the wall, we saved a lot of time and effort. It was a game-changer for us.

Safety was also a top priority on this project. And working with Mortenson, we were under the microscope for everything we did.

But the team had a great attitude about safety, and we made sure to follow all the protocols. There was no slacking allowed, and we took it very seriously.