Many women in construction will often reference that their interest in the industry started at a young age. They might share a story about how a particular family member worked in construction, or a STEM class inspired them, or their curiosity was piqued when playing with Legos. Opportunities to expose girls to engineering and construction are crucial to encourage the next generation of women to join the industry.
To help create moments like this, Truebeck’s team partnered with Girls Build, a non-profit in Portland dedicated to empowering young girls to enter the world of building. Girls Build™ offers programming for girls teaching the basics of carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting, auto and bike mechanics, sheet metal, and more via summer camps (8-15 year olds) and after-school workshops.
Truebeck’s team held an event at one of our projects where around a dozen girls worked hand-in-hand with our team to construct a portion of the project. Not only did the girls get to use tools and build a part of the project, but they also got to meet Christine Zinkgraf who is a Project Executive at Truebeck.
“This project team is passionate about involving the community and Girls Build was a perfect organization to partner with,” shared Zinkgraf. “It was incredibly fulfilling to provide local girls with hands-on construction experience while also introducing them to our strong female leadership team and a potential future career in construction.”
Truebeck thanks Girls Build for all the work they do to teach and empower girls for a future in building.
The construction industry is more than just a place to build a project, it’s also a place to build a successful career. Constructing Hope is an organization dedicated to teaching construction skills to serve underrepresented or under privileged communities. This includes people of color, formerly incarcerated people, and low-income adults. The goal of Constructing Hope is to help these individuals attain sustainable careers, increase workforce diversity, and reduce recidivism. They also want to help the construction industry with their hiring needs.
Truebeck Construction has six philanthropic core initiatives: workforce training, health, education, youth, the environment, and the military. As a general contractor, Truebeck strongly believes in the value of diversity on job sites. Truebeck had the privilege of bringing students of Constructing Hope’s program to a project in the Southeast District of Portland. A couple of the project’s superintendents gave a presentation of the project and then gave a tour of the job site.
While learning in a classroom is a good start, nothing beats experiencing an actual job site and seeing the daily interactions and events that occur. Truebeck’s superintendents answered questions from the students and gave them insight into the possible career paths available in construction.
“The students really seemed to appreciate the walk through and had some great questions,” shared one of Truebeck’s Superintendents. “The Constructing Hope instructors were also very appreciative and expressed gratitude at the opportunity to walk through the job.”
Many of these students going through the Constructing Hope program will bring diverse talent and skills to the construction industry. Truebeck looks forward to a continued partnership with Constructing Hope.
The grey clouds rolled overhead as five men stepped out of their vehicles. Before them was a small home with cobblestone steps leading up to the front door. They stepped up the stairs, a feat quite simple for construction professionals who climb flights of stairs daily to work on large-scale projects. A feat not so easy for a nearly 90-year-old Navy veteran.
In moments, this team of construction professionals got to work constructing a ramp that would provide a safe transition from the door to the driveway. As if they were on a job site, the team quickly defined roles and coordinated an efficient process. After constructing projects that are over 10,000sf, they finished the small ramp before noon. They even had time to crawl under the house to check if there were any moisture or piping issues.
Truebeck’s team partnered with Rebuilding Together, a non-profit organization that assists low-income homeowners with needed home repairs at no cost. The goal: to find families in the local community that could use the expertise of a few construction professionals. “Initially, we were planning on doing a bunch of work inside the house, but then COVID hit,” shared Blake LaRue, Project Manager. “We stayed in contact with Rebuilding Together to see if there was anything we could do.”
Given the circumstances, Truebeck’s team couldn’t go inside because of the homeowners being high-risk. Despite that setback, the team was determined to find a way to help.
“This particular family, the gentleman is a Navy veteran, and the gal is getting older and both were starting to have mobility issues,” continued LaRue. “Even though we couldn’t go inside, there was plenty of work we could do outside of the house. That’s when we got the idea to put up handrails on all their stairs and build a ramp.”
With materials donated from both Truebeck and Rebuilding Together, two ramps with handrails were installed to allow ease of access for the homeowners.
Speaking of the work Truebeck’s team performed, the homeowner, CJ Hooker, shared, “I found the crew incredibly professional and helpful. They installed a ramp and safety features around our home promptly, and with much knowledge. They were also a fun group of people to interact with and respectful of my wishes.”
Truebeck’s team is honored to serve a veteran and help uplift the community. “It always feels good to give back and help out, especially when you hear it’s a veteran and with how times are now,” shared David Holmstrom, Superintendent. “It was a good opportunity to do it. When it’s the work we’re doing its usually construction and carpentry. I have a good skill set in that kind of work and if I have that skill I might as well put it to use for that kind of opportunity.”
Truebeck’s Team for Tomorrow is comprised of team members who want to give back to the community and make a positive social change. Even now, the Truebeck team in Portland is partnering with local organizations and looking for opportunities to serve the community.
If 2020 has shown anything, it’s that a robust and engaged safety team is a critical necessity for general contractors. Prior to 2019 this statement still held true, but with the advent of COVID-19 and the eruption of wildfires across the west coast, never has there been a time when safety’s importance could be more paramount.
That is why Truebeck made Safety Week an exceptional week for an exceptional year. The week of September 14th was devoted to refocusing our team on what matters most with a series of activities and events.
“Right now, especially with environmental concerns and the pandemic, Safety Week helps us put safety back into perspective,” shared Justin Walz, Senior Safety Manager. “It reminds us of the risk involved every day in our jobs. The priority is still on safety even with everything going on. Safety is our focus.”
Safety STOP Walks
Each project held daily “STOP” walks where the project team with our trade partners addressed safety issues and concerns. Our safety team chose daily topics based on the highest risk factors in the construction industry including safety around mobile-elevated-work platforms, housekeeping, rigging, fall protection, and electrical.
The walks functioned as a targeted inspection with a safety team member taking the lead. However, this walk was an open discussion on how processes and protocol could be improved to help mitigate risk and the involvement of our trade partners allowed us to gain their insight for improvement. Data was collected from these walks and our safety team will use that information to further enhance Truebeck’s safety programs.
Heat Illness Prevention Training
Heat is one of the most dangerous natural occurrences on a job site. Even in October, the temperature reached over 100 degrees in certain parts of California. But even as we move into cooler months, the return of summer and health-threatening heat is always an inevitability. One of Truebeck’s safety consultants visited our job sites and educated team members on recognizing, treating, and preventing heat illness.
Helping Home Ergonomics
With many members of our team working remotely, setting up ergonomic workstations has been essential for comfort, health and productivity. We held a special virtual event to help our team adjust their home offices, including proper set up of chair, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and feet. While they may be small adjustments, they help ensure that our team is taking the proper precautions to care for themselves even when at home.
21-Day Health Challenges
During these difficult times, it’s more important than ever to ensure that physical activity and movement are a daily part of our lives. Truebeck hosted a 21-day health challenge focused on moving more and being active. The move-more challenge encouraged team members to increase their daily physical activity and count their daily steps. Participants created teams and ranked on a leaderboard to add a little fun and friendly competition.
Two other 21-day health challenges are focused on proper eating and mental health. All of these challenges capture Truebeck’s spirit of good-natured competitiveness and promote our team’s health!
Truebeck’s Commitment to Safety
Safety Week is a time for the construction industry to unite in safety. Over the years, the industry has evolved and become safer than ever before, yet there will always be ways to improve. And as long as there is a way to improve, Truebeck will be at the forefront of finding it.
For nearly a century, heart disease has held the title for the number one leading cause of death in the United States of America. While heart disease affects all, there are key demographics that are at a higher risk for such problems, and many of these overlap with the construction industry.
As a leader in health and safety, Truebeck Construction aims to mitigate the risk of heart disease within our teams and with those we work with. That is why Truebeck partnered with the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2019 and is launching one of their top heart programs across the company. AHA’s “Check. Change. Control.” program educates our team on the risk of heart disease and offers a blood pressure test and monitoring. Truebeck’s team is learning about risks and preventive measures that can be taken both personally and companywide.
The AHA is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. With over 33 million volunteers and supporters and with over 3,400 employees, AHA is raising awareness and actively saving lives.
Truebeck is honored to partner with an organization that contributes so much to the health of people worldwide. This year-long partnership will benefit our own team and be the first step of many towards a healthier construction industry.
In 2003, 30 men in Australia took a challenge to bring back moustaches as a fashion trend. What once started as a fun social experiment quickly developed into one of the largest foundations for supporting men’s health across the world, The Movember Foundation.
Each year in the month of November, the Movember Foundation enlists millions of men into a moustache-growing army with the goal to raise funds for men’s health.
For the past five years, Truebeck Construction has been a part of that growing movement, and Truebeck finds itself at the forefront of donations each year. But this year was different from all others. Out of the past five years, Truebeck raised its highest amount yet, $42,132. This placed Truebeck as the seventh highest donor to the Movember Foundation on a national level.
How did this all come about? To begin, Truebeck Construction has a vested interest in the Movember cause. In 2017, a study conducted by the National Association of Women in Construction found that just over 98 percent of the construction industry was male. From our own team to the trade partners we work with, the men in our lives are a core part of who we are, and many of our fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, and grandfathers struggle with health problems that often go unchecked.
Unique challenges men face like prostate cancer are notoriously underfunded. In 2012, men’s health was ranked 36th for federal government research funding and often men’s health only receives 24 percent the amount women’s health research receives. Further, mental health is deteriorating. There has been a 21 percent increase in suicide among boys and men from 2000 to 2016 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
To combat these growing trends, Movember reaches out and asks individuals to come together as teams to contribute funds and raise awareness—all through growing a moustache. Truebeck assembled its team in partnership with 95.7 The Game, the best sports radio station in the Bay Area.
In the past five years, Truebeck has raised an average of $22,500 each year for the cause with a total of over $112,000. This year, Truebeck nearly doubled that amount by raising $42,132.
Swept up in this tide of fundraising was Caroll Moya—one of Truebeck’s Senior Estimators. “I’ll give it a try this year,” she said. “My goal was to get just one donation, just $20.”
By the end of Movember, Moya raised over $6,000 in donations from friends, family, colleagues and business partners.
Moya was the only female on Team Truebeck and as a result she became the women of Truebeck’s representative. A large part of the donations came from her construction sisters. “I was overwhelmed by the significant number of women who support men’s health. The men are pretty important to us,” Moya said.
Truebeck hosts a Movember awards event every year where all participants gather, receive awards, and enjoy an evening in celebratory success. This year was different. There were the usual party decorations, food and drink, and goofy moustaches mixed with laughs and cheers, but the echoes of the night resonated back something more. It was a feeling of pride, the kind of pride you feel when you finish a long race or conquer a tall mountain.
The event itself was themed after the Oscars and was aptly called the Moscars. A panel of judges assessed each moustache-touting attendee and selected winners for categories based off famous movie characters like White Goodman from Dodgeball and Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride.
Todd Ahern, Truebeck’s Chief Estimator, serves as Master of Ceremonies (MC) and is joined by one of 95.7 The Game’s radio hosts. This year Lorenzo Neal, four-time Pro Bowl player and three-time All-Pro fullback in the National Football League (NFL), stood beside Ahern.
“The show Todd puts on is always entertaining,” shared Kathy Reiner. “It’s clear he’s passionate about the cause and the event. It makes the night memorable.”
The highlight of the evening came when a large check received the signature that sealed 2019 as Truebeck’s best year for Movember fundraising.
But the spectacles of the night were not done yet. The three champions who raised the most were invited onto the stage where Lorenzo Neal waited, his arm stretched out across a table, daring the three to beat him in an arm-wrestling contest.
“I’m pretty sure his arm was bigger than my head,” Caroll Moya laughed.
One by one the contenders approached and with a crowd amped up, construction professionals pitted their strength against one of professional football’s strongest athletes. Biceps bulged, sweat glistened, and only the final contestant, Moya, could take down the goliath that is Lorenzo Neal.
While the entertainment only lasted the night, the impact of so many sacrificing their time and resources to support men’s health will be felt far longer. Even though this year was a tremendous success the real victory has yet to be seen. Across the world, men continue to struggle with health problems and as long as Truebeck stands, there will always be an ally in the fight for men’s health.
Todd Ahern, MC for the event and Chief Estimator with Truebeck said, “The enthusiasm of Team Truebeck, along with the generosity of our friends and colleagues continues to blow me away. Every year I think ‘How are we gonna do better than this’, and every year the team exceeds my expectations in their efforts to raise the bar for men’s health.”
Truebeck Construction was the number one general contractor nationwide in supporting Movember.
It’s at this time every year that Truebeck’s Team for Tomorrow steps in to promote the spirit of giving. On November 13, 2019, volunteers gathered at a jobsite in San Carlos to build 50 bikes for the children of Kinship, Adoptive and Foster Parent Association (KAFPA) in Sant Clara County.
KAFPA is an organization that provides resources for adoptive and foster families in the local area. They also provide youth and family programming, teach parenting and CPR classes, and advocate for the needs of these families.
The bikes were in all colors from princess pink to speed-demon red. They were in all sizes; some were small with training wheels for new riders and some were larger bikes for high schoolers.
Thank you to everyone at Truebeck who participated in this special annual event. The contributions of time and bikes will bring fond memories that keep the magic of the season alive.
What do you get when you mix a top-tier contactor, a famous architect firm, and modern art together?
You get something like Scene Local, an event that brings together teams of contractors and architects to create a small space—roughly 150 square feet—that accentuates the theme “play.” On October 16th and 17th, Truebeck showcased the space it created with RMW Architects.
Truebeck’s Uber team got involved with the project because the event itself raised funds for Kidpower, an organization dedicated to empowering children to overcome bullying, prejudice, and harassment. That was in part why the theme of the event was “play.”
Taking the theme of play, Truebeck and RMW divided the space into two sections. One side a lush green room with a dark atmosphere to create a quite space, the other was a bright white room with colored lights.
“I wanted to think about how adults play, and how we are bombarded everyday by our tv screens and our phones,” said Jenna Szczech, Senior Designer for RMW Architects. “How do you go from secluded solitude to getting ready to dance it out? There are two sides to adult play and the experience is the most important part.”
One of the coolest features of the project was a wall of headphones where guests could listen to calming music in one room and then switch it to dance music in the other.
“It turned out pretty amazing and came together quickly. There was a real thought to flow through the space. RMW absolutely nailed it,” said David Steenson Senior, Project Manager with Truebeck.
Portland is a city in flux. With its expanding economy, businesses are setting up shop in the City of Roses and knowing what projects are in the works is essential for businesses looking for office space. Portland State of the Market is an event where key figures in Portland’s development share details about evolving office space, affordable housing, and new developments and acquisitions. This year, Truebeck’s COO Nick Pera is speaking for the Construction and Development update portion of the event.
With over 28 years in the construction industry, Pera has overseen projects in the commercial, life sciences, education, healthcare, and mixed-use sectors. Pera holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Santa Clara and for the last 14 years he served on the Civil Engineering Advisory Board and as an adjunct lecturer for his alma mater.
The Portland State of the Market event is being hosted by Bisnow on September 11th, 2019 at 7:30 AM. The event has keynote speakers who will address questions such as who are the prominent players in Portland’s expanding office space market and what are the notable developments coming to the city. The opening keynote speaker will be Mayor Ted Wheeler followed by panels on Notable Investments and Acquisitions, Is Mass Timber the Future, and Construction and Development Update.
As Truebeck brings its same progressive construction practices to Portland as it has in the San Francisco Bay Area, expect to see more construction projects shape Portland for years to come.
Movember is kind of a big deal around here. Truebeck partnered with 95.7 The Game for our annual Movember Foundation fundraiser. If you tuned in, you may have caught our rad ads and shoutouts on the air at 95.7 FM.
With everyone’s help, we raised over $21,000 for men’s health! Amazing!
On November 29th, we turned Devil’s Canyon Brewery into our annual Truebeck Movember Awards Night. Guests were greeted in the sports hall of fame, we even had Rollie Fingers and Ron Swanson join us. The venue was filled with moustachery.
Our special guest from 95.7 The Game, Dan Dibbley, MC’d the awards with Todd Ahern Chief Estimator; which kept the crowd smiling and laughing all night.
