Portland’s Building Boom Lures Traveling Workers

“You’ve got to go where the work is,” says Jay Johnson of Los Angeles, dusty after a day’s labor setting limestone on the new federal courthouse here.

A building boom spurred by high-tech companies such as Intel and Fujitsu has drawn at least 2,500 construction tradesmen from across the country to the Portland area, where they are working 10-hour days.

The limestone and black glass courthouse near the Willamette River rises 16 stories, filling in a spot in Portland’s skyline. Most of the out-of-state plumbers, electricians, ironworkers and bricklayers, however, are helping build sprawling, low-rise plants in the suburbs.

Construction firm managers estimate that $5 billion to $10 billion in high-tech construction is under way in the Portland metropolitan area. In 1995, Portland was second only to Atlanta in the amount of commercial and industrial space built that year, according to the commercial real estate firm Grubb & Ellis.

Developers expect the amount of commercial space under construction to double this year, to 6.1 million square feet, said Nanette Watson, research director for Grubb & Ellis.

Johnson, a marble mason who has spent about 60% of his time away from home since 1986, has run into pals that he hasn’t seen in years in Portland. He is sharing an apartment with a buddy he worked with in Honolulu in the late ‘80s.

“It’s kind of lonely, but you meet good people,” he said.

His employer is paying for the apartment, and for a once-a-month plane ticket so Johnson can go home and see his son. He is divorced.

Many “travelers”--as the transient workers call themselves--stay in motels at first, then rent a place once it appears likely that they will work at least six months. Some bring small trailers.

About 50% to 70% of the workers are electricians, pipe fitters or plumbers because of the intricate needs of high-tech companies, said Wally Mehrens, executive secretary of the Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council, an association of unions.

Local 290 of the plumbers and pipe fitters union has about 1,300 transient workers here who heeded a job call sent to unions nationwide, said business manager Matt Walters. That’s on top of about 3,000 area members.

To draw workers, many jobs offer plenty of overtime--five or six 10-hour days a week. For plumbers and pipe fitters, that has meant about $10,000 more in annual salary, Walters said.

The worker shortage started about a year ago, with some contractors having to suspend their projects, said Bart Eberwein, vice president of Hoffman Construction Co. of Portland.

For now, the demand has been satisfied, and Walters said he even has about 50 out-of-state workers who have been looking for work for three or four weeks. He expects the jobs to increase this summer and remain steady for the next two years or so.

But some say the wealth of work for out-of-staters is at or near its peak. Said Ed Arthur, senior project manager with Harder Mechanical Inc. of Portland: “It goes downhill from here.”