Behind every construction project are incredible people — working tirelessly to deliver the buildings and structures we cherish and rely on. To celebrate their countless contributions, we’re thrilled to launch a new candid video series called Construction Confessional. In each episode, we get an inside look at the people behind construction as they share their stories, triumphs, and struggles. Today, we talk to Makayla Oei, a project executive at Mark III Construction, and Gilbert Garcia, a VDC engineer for Turner Construction Company. See how they’ve adjusted to COVID-19, how they stay resilient, and just for fun, a little about their favorite snack foods.
Transcript
How has COVID impacted you?
Makayla Oei: It was an adjustment at first with working from home. I actually learned that I enjoyed it. The only thing that was challenging for me was the disconnect, I'm a social person. I like seeing the people that I work with. I see them more than my family and loved ones. So that disconnect was challenging for me
Gilbert Garcia: It's impacted myself a lot, because I've got to work remote. I'm high risk because of my asthma. My daughter, who you just met, also has asthma. And then we were having a child as well, so our family was high risk. And it's beautiful, because Turner understood that, so they were like, "Work from home, just get us a doctor's note."
How have you stayed resilient?
Makayla Oei: As a company, we focus heavily on what work can we move off site. We've recently invested in a 24,000 square foot manufacturing facility that's just about a mile and a half down the street from our office. We have a crew of anywhere from 15 to 20 people working in it. If you're onsite in the building and people are working on top of each other, that can be more challenging to social distance the crew on site. And being able to move some of that work into our, or more of that work rather, into our manufacturing facility has enabled us to continue to meet schedules and actually beat schedules and continue to meet our customer's needs.
Gilbert Garcia: A lot of it for me has been my family. Because of the girls having to do online school, my wife being pregnant... So for me, mentally and physically, it's just been my family that's helped me stay resilient, because if I'm feeling down my wife knows it, so she's like, "What's wrong?" And I can just tell her, and she's like, "Go for a run, or go play some volleyball."
What’s your favorite snack?
Makayla Oei: My favorite snack would probably be anything that involves chips and dip. Salsa, guac, queso, any dip. As long as it's not like some weird seafood dip, I'm on board. Anything with a vessel that you can dip into something else.
Gilbert Garcia: It differs depending on my mood, so sometimes it's Twizzlers, but then sometimes it's those Haribo gummy bears. I could eat the big ten pound pack in a day.
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