Underground Construction - June 2019 - 29

Baker: That's a challenge for the kind of
projects we do. I don't know how many
times we've tried to set up scheduling
where you're only going to be on the road
for three weeks and then get a week home.
That's fantastic to say, but in reality, we're
all client-driven, and they're not going to
get their tie-ins done if we're shutting down
a rig one week a month. That's where the
problem comes in, and one of the ways we
address the travel issue starts with active
communications.
We try to keep in constant communication with our rigs, and sometimes we may
have to just not accept the next job coming
to let that crew have some time. That rig
needs maintenance, as well, so we try to coordinate with maintenance and minimize
downtime by getting it into the shop and
reworking it while those guys are at home
relaxing. But it's a fine line on travel, and
don't really have an answer. I wish we did.

Brotherton: One of the trends we've
seen with clients over the last three to four
years is making this even harder to manage.
They might tell you in April that you've got
the job, but it won't start until October, and
the tie-in date is November or December. So
now you're working 24 hours a day, and you
may have two shifts on two different crews.
You're robbing everybody you can. I've even
brought back employees that retired this
year-I call them the old gray team-to a day
shift. You try to take care of the client. It's
what we do. It would be nice to have a client
give you five days a week and do all their engineering early and give it to you in advance.
But they all drop it in the ninth inning.
Kottelenberg: That's one of the reasons
we stay on the smaller rig and up to medium
size, because our focus is the employees and
that family atmosphere. When we get some
of our projects like a collector system for a
wind farm, it could be 40 or 50 guys out of

town for six months, or the better part of a
year. What we'll do is, if it's too far to travel
home at the end of each week, we rotate
our crews home every two weeks. If they're
doing work in Alberta, we'll do a redeye on
the Thursday night, and every two weeks
our guys are getting home and spending
three days with their family.
We plan the job out based on that.
We force it to work. We've had jobs where
there are 230 kilometers of collector to
put in in five months and we only worked
the last two Saturdays, never worked
Sunday. It's also how you plan your work
from the onset that can help change that.
Of course, it's a different situation with
some of the larger pipelines.
UC: Some drilling contractors in highdemand markets have reported some
of their employees are being "poached"
by offers from other contractors. How
do you convince your people to stay?

"WE WOULDN'T DO THE
JOB IF IT WASN'T GOING
TO BE 100% QUALITY."
Chad Abatie

TRUST

IN A JOB
WELL DONE
With the most reliable fusion equipment and a
nationwide distribution network ready to support
you with operator training, parts and service, you
can have the confidence to do
your best work and get the job
done right.
Read more about
Chad's experience at
mcelroy.com/uc
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Underground Construction - June 2019

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