VTL
WHEN YOU NEED MORE THAN JUST LEADS
Precision Placement
Long Piles or Large Batters
Piling or Drilling
Rental or Purchase
600 Ferguson Avenue North
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8L 4Z9
Tel: 1.905.528.7924 Fax: 1.905.528.6187
Toll Free: 1.800.668.9432 (in Canada and USA)
www.berminghammer.com
Email: bfssales@berminghammer.com
“I worked out in the field and got involved in heavy construction,”
said Peirce, who says that suited him just fine. In the early
days of his career, he never wanted to be cooped up in an office.
Following graduation, he was hired on with The Conduit &
Foundation Corporation and specialized in highway construction
with them for 15 years, before moving on to geotechnical specialty
contractor Schnabel Foundation Company.
Peirce stayed with Schnabel – a design/build specialty contractor
focused on temporary and permanent earth support – for
11 years, eight of which were served as branch manager of the
Philadelphia office.
In 1992, Peirce co-founded Peirce Engineering with his wife,
Beth, and daughter, Jennifer Peirce Brandt, who is also a professional
engineer. Later, his son, John – another professional engineer
– joined the company.
By 1997, Peirce was focusing on the family engineering firm fulltime.
His diverse professional background and varied experience
has served him well.
“I have a unique perspective,” he said. “I’ve done highway work,
plant work, utility work, estimating, project managing and I’m a
retired surveyor. I was everything from a lowly rod man all the way
up to a project manager.”
Lessons learned
PileDriver recently caught up with Peirce to talk about his impressive
career and some of the key lessons he’s aiming to pass along
to his children.
From three key mentors over the years, Peirce learned the
importance of being familiar with every aspect of a job, staying
quiet when he was unsure of his facts and dealing with people fairly
while remaining organized and solutions-oriented.
Having worked in both construction and engineering, Peirce
said both sides must try to understand each other.
“Engineers need to know how things are built. They need to
know what contractors can and can’t do, safely and economically,”
he said. “I see designs by some engineers today that are unbuildable
and unsafe. You have to get out there and learn it.
“As for contractors, well, they need to know they’re not necessarily
as smart as they may think they are, and sometimes an engineer
knows more. The same applies to engineers!”
CONSTRUCTION CAREER
58 | EDITION 6 2019 www.piledrivers.org
/www.berminghammer.com
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