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The basic job: lead a crew to build lakefront shorelines according to clear SOPs.

You’re eligible for this job if you (a) have 10+ years of experience in landscaping or construction and (b) live within 20 miles of Forest Lake, MN. How you get the shorelines built right and on-time is largely up to you.  As our jobsite foreman, with great rewards and responsibilities you’ll also have great latitude and discretion.  This kind of job is rare these days, because you'll also:
  • Make a 6-figure salary, without necessarily shoveling sh** for years first
  • Get a $90,000 truck to use as your own without having to share it
  • Be able to be yourself and not “woke”
  • Carry yourself with a down-to-business manner, if that's your style
  • Get a company credit card and have the OK to procure just about anything that improves the shoreline or the jobsite
  • Get up to 3 weeks of PTO and many paid holidays
  • Be free on the weekends all spring, summer, and fall
  • Get more flexibility than a large company or union can offer
  • Have the opportunity to tag along with Joe on some adventurous hunting trips (if you're into that sort of thing).
By the way, benefits such as health insurance and a 401K plan are absolutely possible.  However, because we recognize everyone has unique needs and goals, our standard approach is to pay a strong wage, empowering you to manage your own healthcare and/or retirement.

Deal-breakers:

  • You don’t own your own reliable transportation.
  • You’re only looking for a temporary job.
  • You have bodily issues that may prevent you from doing sweaty work alongside the crew.
  • You don’t want to learn, because you expect the job to be exactly like landscaping, construction, or other work.
  • You're offended easily and often, and have a hard time letting things roll off your back.
  • You plan to come teach us, rather than learn from us before making your own contributions.
  • You can’t handle working through rough weather.
  • You can't or won't wear a black shirt and hat year-round.
  • You only want to manage a crew, and not work alongside them.
  • You only want to do the hands-on work, and not also manage a crew.
  • You can’t or don’t ever want to travel out of town (or out of Minnesota ) to do a job.
  • You plan to be laid off over the winter.
  • You can’t or won't pass a drug test.
  • A criminal record beyond not returning a book to the library.
  • A driving record with more than a few minor bruises.
  • You're nervous about a background check.
  • You believe "society" owes you more than a hankie.

Minimum requirements

  • A minimum 7am-7pm workday, Monday through Friday (spring, summer, and fall) is normal for you and not at all hard to sustain.  You're the first to show up and the last to leave.
  • A valid class-A Minnesota driver’s license - or you will get it right away on your own dime and on your own time.
  • 10+ years of experience in landscaping or construction.
  • Experience in managing every aspect of a construction or landscape job from start to finish.
  • You live within 20 miles of Forest Lake, MN year-round.
  • You're down with working out-of-town and out-of-state at least 20% of the time.
  • High proficiency in a Bobcat skid steer (foot controls) and a Bobcat mini-excavator.  You need to handle those two like James Bond handles his Aston Martin.
  • Ability to jump into anything with tracks or tires and quickly learn to operate it safely and smoothly.
  • Skill in operating a variety of small gas-powered equipment: tampers, trenchers, blowers, trash pumps, wet saws, handheld concrete saws, chainsaws, trimmers, cut-off saws, pressure washers, hedge trimmers, etc.
  • Skill in operating a wide range of tools: power tools, air tools, laser-levels, sight-levels, etc.
  • You know your way around the toolbox because when something breaks, your first move is to fix it.
  • First to arrive and last to leave. Even on days you feel old, mild, and achy, you need to lead by example, so the job gets done and so your contagious case of hard-ass spreads to the guy who will eventually become the next foreman. Also, we don't pay you the big bucks to eat bonbons all day.
  • You’re a scrappy happy warrior, and a self-starter. (We know it when we see it, and you know it if you’ve got it.)

What’s shoreline restoration all about?

Watch this video:

(For more detail read this page.)

Shoreline restoration requires many steps and several sets of hands. It also takes a ton of surface prep, attention to detail, craftsmanship, pride, clear communication, a strong back, our bag of tricks, and an all-American can-do attitude. As the foreman, you’ll need to keep a number of checklists in your head, and you need to be good at the tasks you oversee.

If you’ve got many years of experience in landscaping or construction, it’ll probably take you a year or so to learn enough about shorelines to be our foreman.  If you have those years of experience in one of those two fields AND experience in running a jobsite and crew, you may be able to run our jobsite within a few months.  Either way, you’ll need some training from Joe (our president) and from our other shoreline builders.  You’ll be an apprentice for at least a few months.

By the way, at the risk of sounding "ageist," for us the perfect age for a new foreman is in the 30-something range: you’ve been around for a while, but you haven't slowed down, and you ain't fallin' apart yet.  That’s just a general preference, though: If you check all the other boxes, let us know.

In case you're wondering, this is a year-round position, as in we do not lay you off over the winter.  We have an unrelated winter business (not involving snowplowing) that can keep you busy and well-paid during the winter months.  We can talk more about that during an in-person interview.

Basic tasks of our shoreline foreman:

  • Work with Joe, our president, first as his apprentice, later as his right-hand guy, and then as the guy directing the building of the Pyramids to the satisfaction of the customer (the Pharaoh)
  • Provide daily updates to Joe
  • Load, unload, and transport heavy equipment
  • Maintain equipment with pride of ownership
  • Grade and sculpt dirt like a magician (using a grader-bar, not a bucket)
  • Install prefabbed concrete steps
  • Construct retaining walls of all types (including raised fire pits and seating walls)
  • Construct paver stone & natural stone patios
  • Place boulders and rock with precision, like they're Skittles you're arranging into a smiley face
  • Install decorative rock & mulch
  • Install poly, steel, and concrete edging that looks sharp from every angle
  • Repair, relocate or adjust underground irrigation components
  • Install perennials, shrubbery, trees, sod & seed (including hydroseed from time to time)
  • Install erosion blanket with precision
  • Remove trees, stumps, and root-balls safely and efficiently
  • Maintain clean and organized jobsites, equipment, and shop/office/property
  • Manage, mentor, and work WITH your team (not just point your donut at them)
  • Lead by example - working shoulder to shoulder with your team
  • Understand that you will spend nearly all of your time on a job site, not behind a computer, at the shop, etc.  We do a lot more "doing" than "planning."
  • Instruct the guys on the crew when needed so as to ensure only the highest quality for the Pharaoh
  • Oversee, manage, and be responsible for all employees & subcontractors. You're accountable for them because ultimately Joe will be accountable for them and for you, so you can "be mean" as needed.
  • Oversee all timesheets and verify accuracy, legibility, etc.
  • Maintain a safe jobsite, and always be your brother’s keeper
  • Uphold company uniform policies
  • Make sure all SOPs, company policies, guidelines, rules, etc. are followed
  • Document jobsite mishaps and any damage done to property or equipment
  • Document employee infractions, injuries, etc.
  • Interview employees and contribute to personnel decisions
  • Take quality photos and time-lapse video of every project (by the way, we've got drones)
  • Manage inventory of supplies
  • Sweat details so as to keep projects on-task, on-time, efficient, organized, and within budget.
  • Ask customers for reviews after you’ve completed each crackerjack job
Note: Often we complete complex, one-off projects that involve something we've never done before.  Creative thinking and problem-solving plays a huge factor in many of our projects.  We knock it outta the park every time. Just expect no two projects to be exactly the same, and to adapt what you know to each new situation.

Qualities we hope you have in abundance:

  • Scrappiness: you get the job done even when it’s tough, and then you start another one, like a true glutton for punishment
  • Pride in your handiwork, no matter what you’re working on
  • Hustle: you don’t expect praise for showing up, or a bonus for seniority. You know you only get rewards for going "above & beyond"
  • Communication skills: consistent, clear and persuasive
  • Leadership: you motivate yourself and others.  Braveheart brings a tear to your eye.
  • Competence at delegating: you don’t micromanage, but you make sure everyone in your supervision does what he needs to do and that he meets or exceeds the quality customers expect of us
  • Organizational skills
  • Old-school professionalism
  • Troubleshooting and improvisational prowess
  • Mechanical skill, particularly with gas-powered equipment
  • Physical strength and stamina
  • A "bale hay while the sun shines" mentality
  • Loyalty: you haven't made a habit of bouncing around from job to job, and you're looking for someplace to call home
  • Expressiveness: always get your point across, even when you don't have the words
  • Eagerness to learn, from anybody and anything
  • Thick skin: you see all feedback as an opportunity to improve
  • Personal hygiene (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.)
  • Basic happiness, from whatever winds your clock
  • Gratitude
  • Friendliness
  • The Golden Rule

Skills not needed, but give you extra street cred:

  • Welding: you can run a steady bead with a stick-welder or wire-feed, and maybe you know your MIG from your TIG.
  • Mechanical: all your high school car needs to produce more good times is the new engine block that you're working on now, and you can't wait to crawl under our rigs.
  • Carpentry: you'd trust your life to the icehouse or treehouse you built in a couple of evenings with a hammer in one hand and a series of cold ones in the other.
  • Electrical: you can wire up a 15A GFCI, you know the difference between line and load, you know a junction from a splice, etc.
  • Plumbing: you can install a new throne and clear a P-trap, and maybe you can sweat copper and crimp PEX.

This is what you’ll help create: