Jeff and his 12-year-old granddaughter Mila skiing in Deer Valley, Utah.
Jeff’s Words: “I am from Oregon. My Father was a civil engineer and project manager on the I84 Freeway System. I grew up on a survey crew working every summer through high school in the 70’s.
I had staked many jobs before graduating high school. My first construction job was at Mount Hood 10 days prior to the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. I also spent years working on the light rail systems down south. I have worked from Kivalina to San Diego up and down the West Coast.
My Knik career began the fall of ’99 in Levelock. I was hired by Greg Kelly. Prior to that, I
worked 7 years for Al Jansen at JIJ Construction. I spent a lot of my career working for the
Jansen family and they have all treated me well.
Akutan was by far the toughest and most fulfilling project with Knik. The challenge came with
the amount of water required to pump while building grade. We essentially dug a beautiful
harbor in a remote beach.
I like to combine old school surveying with the new age which involves digital surface modeling of projects and integrating them into our GPS Rovers and equipment for automatic machine control. I still set hubs on jobs so inspectors and operators can visualize the project grading. It’s satisfying to me and a culmination of all the hard work everyone has done to see finish grade built to the hubs that I set. I view my role as a tool for an operator that contributes to the speed and quality of the project. I strive to provide them all the information they need to be at maximum efficiency.”
Keeping up with the speed of the technological advances in surveying equipment has been
challenging, but Jeff credits Ryan Sorensen at Edge Survey and Kevin Silvernale at GPS Alaska
for the mentoring over the years. This gear has become critical to keep up with accuracy and
speed demands of our projects. Other mentors include Randy Cunningham from JIJ who taught Jeff how to compute and build any job off a planset. Jeff followed him to other projects in his pre-Knik career to the Light Rail projects in San Diego.
Jeff loves to work, hunt and ski. He goes from one season to the next, in that order. Those who know Jeff well, knows he doesn’t like to sit around and his home life is all about family.
Particularly, his children and grandchildren. The seasonality of Knik works perfect for his
lifestyle and the ~6 months when he is not on a Knik project, he can spend every day with
them.
The best career advice he's ever received? "Knowing the plans thoroughly before the job starts is the absolute key to success." This meticulous approach ensures that equipment and crews are utilized efficiently, saving time and money for the company.
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