By Richard Lyall
RESCON
It’s moments like meeting people like Thomas McHardy that make me proud to be part of this industry.
This is a 21-year-old close to Bowmanville, who got as much practical experience as he could as a teenager to fuel his interest in construction, then pursued 3.5 years of focused college education to propel him into the management side of the construction workforce.
He’s now living in Oshawa close to his work at Oshawa’s Dantonbury UC Towns site, a Tribute Communities development, and was recently promoted to assistant site supervisor.
McHardy is one of the younger construction management employees to come out of RESCON’s construction management program at George Brown College, getting 28 weeks of intense classroom work and invaluable worksite experience through Tribute’s internship program following graduation from the construction engineering program.
He is a proud example of the youth who want to build the future homes across the GTA.
So why did he choose construction?
“I’ve always had a love for construction,” McHardy said. “I’ve always loved building things and enjoy seeing things being built well. Whether we’re strapping a wall or looking for drywall overlap, I just enjoy better building practices.”
As part of the program’s 2017 class, McHardy was recognized early on as an ambitious and intelligent student with a lot of potential.
“I liked him from the first day he approached me – he was very easy to talk to, and he’s eager to learn on the job,” said Frank MacPhee, Tribute VP of contracts. “Thomas has been doing great work for us.”
Frank Salemi, Tribute’s senior site supervisor at the Oshawa site, says he has been impressed with McHardy’s knowledge and enthusiasm and recognized early on that he was overqualified for his initial work as a clerk. “He’s willing to learn all aspects of construction, solve problems, find resolutions with trades on site – that all came fairly quickly for Thomas,” Salemi said. “But the most important skill is attitude, and he’s got that. There’s some connection between the George Brown class and what happens on site. The program is doing the right thing.”
Our industry needs more good workers like Thomas McHardy. His performance is a tribute to both his employer and George Brown. For more on our program at George Brown, please email media@rescon.com.
Richard Lyall is president of RESCON. http://rescon.com/
