A Chat with Chase Corcorran, Superintendent at Webcor Builders

Observation, teamwork cornerstones for success

By Chris Maday Schmidt

Chase Corcorran is LEED AP and superintendent at Webcor Builders, where he’s worked for nearly a decade. Prior to that, he interned with the company for two summers while in college. He’s a key member of Webcor’s recruiting team, manages its internship program and has helped develop its “boot camp” training programs for project engineers. Join Construction Superintendent as Corcorran talks about his involvement to help foster company-wide growth, his most memorable—and personal—project to date, the biggest change he’s seen on the jobsite in the last 10 years and more.

(Q) What drew you to a career in construction while in high school?

Working for a charity organization building homes for families in need in Tijuana, Mexico inspired my interest in the field and also to work for a builder that takes care of its communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. I met a lot of native people in Mexico who were to be home recipients and who participated alongside us, and their work ethic and passion for the craft really left an impression on me.

(Q) What would you say has been the most rewarding part about being a superintendent?

Being looked to and trusted to handle challenging situations and creatively find solutions.

(Q) Talk about your involvement with the in-house recruitment program at Webcor and how you’ve helped foster company-wide growth.

I was fortunate enough to get involved in recruiting at my college alma mater – Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo – participating in information sessions and interviewing, and over the last five years that has grown into opportunities to manage our internship program and the hiring of candidates who are within the first five years of their careers. I have a passion for training and developing people new in their career who show great potential. I’ve found that many companies approach recruiting and retention with a short-term mindset and little training instead of finding the promising talent and investing in them. Webcor invests in its employees and has many career development opportunities at all levels within our GC and self-perform divisions. I’m very motivated by hiring and building strong teams.

(Q) Share a little about the PE Boot Camp that you and your colleagues co-developed. What does it entail?

The boot camp is a weeklong event for engineers where they learn the fundamentals of the building industry while getting exposed to the various phases of the work our craftspeople self-perform. Each camp is a bit different as the location changes each time, but engineers will experience the building cycle (coordination, procurement, construction safety, change management, etc.) in a week where they pour concrete, frame walls, hang doors, etc., as well as do team-building exercises to get to know each other and Webcor as a company. It’s taught by a rotating group of foremen and managers, and involves guest appearances from employees at every level in our organization.

(Q) If you had to choose a favorite or most memorable project during your career, what would it be and why does it stand out?

Being able to work on the seismic renovation and upgrade of University of California Berkeley’s Cal Memorial Stadium was both incredibly challenging and extremely personal for me. The stadium sits directly on a fault line and the west side was literally pulling away. First, we installed a structural steel frame to support and preserve the arched coliseum wall, a National Historic Landmark, and then demolished the west half of the stadium, significantly improving the soil and building back up the structure. The most unique component of the structure was the vertical post tensioning of the core walls, which ran inside of structural steel members curried in the concrete cores. The horizontal decks had seismic joints around the cores and were tied in with large viscous dampers, allowing the decks and cores to move independently during seismic events while still providing lateral stability. The two-story steel press box that sits atop the four concrete cores, highlighted by the glass walkway on the top floor, is impressive to see. Having grown up a Bears fan in the Bay Area, I went to many games at CMS, so to take part in restoring, retrofitting and improving this landmark stadium that has been around 100 years so it can withstand 100 more was truly memorable.

 (Q) Talk about the biggest change you’ve experienced since you first began in the industry. How has this impacted the way you do your job?

Tablets have been the single biggest change I’ve experienced, as they were non-existent when I started 10 years ago and now the majority of our information flow is generated from and ends up on our tablets. This flow of information, along with many useful applications, has improved the efficiency with which our engineers, superintendents and project managers can track, communicate and resolve issues with various stakeholders. This technology does have a downside: it has provided another avenue for my generation to continue to use it as a crutch. I see the incredible value this streamlined type of communication can provide, but I have also seen first-hand the way it can deteriorate the trust of older generations who already think we hide behind technology. There needs to be a balance of candid communication and real-time distribution of information to build trusting relationships with colleagues, superiors and trade partners. This has driven me to coach our up-and-coming engineers on how to fully integrate advancements with technology on the jobsite with the importance of building relationships, teamwork and trust – things you can’t do through a tablet.

 (Q) What type of safety culture do you employ with your team?

Much like our overall culture of transparency and drive to improve, the safety culture of our team is no different. Regardless of experience, all of the employees on our jobsite speak up and ask questions when they aren’t sure if something is right, and everyone is challenged to find a safer and better way to build. A safer approach also yields more productive results, which has been an incredibly rewarding side effect of this culture.

(Q) Share the best advice you’ve received in your career, as well as the advice you offer new employees that you mentor.

One of my longtime mentors and now Webcor Senior Vice President Tom Taylor explained that most of the tasks we’ll do in the office are variations or continuations of the subjects we were exposed to in college (contracts, engineering analysis, estimating, scheduling, etc.) but that learning how we build – which is equally important – is something that is best learned through observation. As a self-perform contractor, Webcor employs over 1,000 craftspeople and they are some of the best teachers for us on the project management side. So, as Tom told me and as I tell new engineers, don’t be afraid to go observe them perform each task from start to finish, and then engage them in a conversation to clarify any confusion and solidify your understanding of how the work is performed.

(Q) Talk a little about your role assisting in commissioning and functional testing on healthcare projects, like on San Francisco General Hospital.

The way building systems integrate and rely on each other to function properly is very much like the way all of the systems of a human body function. A residential tower or office space is analogous to the average individual in that all systems can function at a basic level, but trauma centers such as SFGH are on an entirely different level, more like that of an Olympic athlete. For example, a transition from normal power to generator-fed emergency power needs to be so seamless that an operation room won’t skip a beat mid-surgery or oxygen lines providing breaths to someone in dire need isn’t compromised. The stakes are incredibly high and therefore all systems need to be designed, installed, tested and commissioned to near flawless standards. Being involved on a team that needs to operate at that level of effort and understanding is extremely satisfying. Currently, I’m working on another healthcare facility, University of California San Francisco’s Center for Vision Neuroscience.

(Q) What’s your favorite pastime when you’re not on the jobsite?

I’ve had a lot of fun playing softball with teams comprised of our contractors, architects and engineers over the last five or six years, but golf has been taking up the majority of my free time lately. Anything that challenges me in some way or provides an opportunity to compete is typically what draws my attention.