Taken Hostage: When Construction Holds Your Holiday Ransom

It’s December 2011, a Jr. PM has one shift left before the holiday break.

The Project: Drilling and Filling Cast in Place Piles for a tank farm in Northern Alberta. 

The day starts as it should – 4am wake up call, Camp Caf Breakfast, bagged lunch and we’re off… 

The PM unlocks the truck, the door creaks from the cold as it swings open. Jump inside, crank up the heat up to the max, -15 feels like -30 in the dark and the sun isn’t rising for another 5hrs. As they adjust the mirrors they see the bags under their eyes, the year of 21&10’s has taken its toll, one deep breath and the lonely commute up Highway 63 begins. 

They arrive to site, the Foreman and Superintendent sit at a small table and while discussing the sequence of the work they give the PM a nod as they enter the trailer. Minutes later, with a cup of bad coffee in hand The Team gathers for a tool box talk and a half assed stretch & flex, only a days work between the smell of sulphur and the airport. 

The PM’s office for the day… a 1 ton equipped with an inverter to keep the laptop running and the scanner scanning in the back seat. As usual, the air card only works when It wants to, the daily report won’t send, senior management is calling asking why the report is late. Everyone is eager to see the pile count to completion, because the holiday shutdown milestone can’t be moved.  The words “No one leaves until the last of the piles are poured” are uttered. A typical request from those who sit in the glass tower further to the south. 

The crew motivated by the imminent 3 week break, gets off to a quick start, the first few piles are drilled and poured flawlessly. The pace is good, the crew’s morale is high, they may even finish early… 

The PM walks over to the Superintendent’s Truck, jumps in the passenger seat to avoid the cold, the temperature seems to be dropping throughout the day. As they converse over holiday plans, the driller seems to be fighting soil conditions. The Superintendent calls the driller over the radio and asks them if they’ve hit a rock layer, he can hear the clay auger screeching. Switch to the rock auger, burning through carbide teeth at a furious pace but progress is being made. Just when the crew thinks they are through the worst of it, a soul crushing noise comes from the drill rig and it echoes across the site. 

The Kelly bar broke, all the other drill rigs onsite have already been demobilized a replacement bar would be weeks away, the PM lets out a few choice words before leaning their head into the dash of their “office” in despair. Then… a crackle over the radio and the driller says “I know someone, who may know someone, who may have a spare in their yard, not far from ours". "Who’s that?” the PM answers anxiously. The driller chuckles and says “the competition”. While on the surface that sounded a little far fetched, when things are booming in Northern Alberta, competition has a different meaning. Everyone has work, everyone is profitable, comrades is more fitting. 

Sure enough, after a little phone tag the Superintendent gets word that a handshake deal has been made. The terms? A six figure IOU. The Teams new comrades even agree to float it over and have one of their mechanics help install the new bar. Somehow, after a 6hr delay they are drilling again. As the daylight hours start to dwindle, the inevitable reality that they are missing their flight sinks in. The office, makes arrangements to rebook the crew but what a disaster, they just want to go home. The radio goes quiet, the crew perseveres. The PM having finished all their reports and emails looks out the window only to see a crew member standing on the concrete vibrator to promote blood circulation and stay warm. The day had turned into a damp cold evening. 

Eager to help and eager to get out of there, the PM goes into the trailer puts on a set of overalls and joins the crew to swamp for the rest of the shift. They weren’t going home tonight, only a hotel down the street from the airport, awaited them all. 

Only 2 piles to go, all of a sudden the energy changes, the crew feels uplifted, the end is finally near. 1 Truck left, the driver pulls away and cleans out his chute. The surveyor comes over to check the final elevation. The PM and crew leaning over the Surveyor’s shoulder to see the magic number that would set them free from all of this madness. “We’re good” says the surveyor, in that moment no words could have sounded so sweet. 

What’s the moral of the story? Teamwork, collaboration, of course! Or perhaps it was to always remember to get your time sheet in on time, there was 7hrs of OT during that shift 🤑.