Visual Storytelling
Steel & Timber
The everchanging, rapidly advancing construction and oil & gas industries contribute to the economic growth of our nation, help fuel our global economy, sustain our infrastructure, and employ some of the hardest working Americans in our nation’s history. As of this year within the U.S., these two industries have employed a combined total of over 9.8 million American workers. This statistic consists of real people—tenacious men and women who wake up every morning, pull their boots on, and build America. WE connected with workers within these two fields, including Boz Curry, a lease operator for Ranger Energy Services, one of the largest providers of high specification well servicing rigs and ancillary, and Patrick Pilkington and Kayla Utter of Dohn Construction, a general contractor for commercial construction. Despite the importance of the dedicated workers and resources that support so many of the structures and inner workings of our lives, they rarely demand attention. Rather, they reliably construct and transform the foundation of America day after day—with the tensile strength of steel and timber.
Field Notes:
“I started working as a laborer in high school. Now as we’re building a 5-story condo out of precast concrete, I ensure what’s being installed onsite matches the engineer and architect’s plans. With long days of meetings and field work, I need sturdy, comfortable, and breathable boots that have a good footbed, are flexible, and can easily slip on and off.”
– Patrick Pilkington, Assistant Project Manager & Field Engineer at Dohn Construction
“One of the biggest challenges I face is ensuring all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, without any duplicate or missing components. With managing the overall coordination of the project and helping with the day-to-day activities onsite, I rely on comfortable boots that can keep up with me.”
– Kayla Utter, Assistant Project Manager at Dohn Construction
Field Notes:
“Drilling rigs typically do two weeks on, two weeks off to avoid burnout. It’s a hard task and there’s a lot going on throughout the week. You need to have your eyes on it every single day because if you miss something leaking, you could have a huge spill on your hands. It gets rough out there. But for a lot of us, this is just normal life. It might look gritty—and it’s dangerous, by all means—but for us, it’s just like showing up to the office.
In our line of work, you need FR workwear, and they recommend cotton. Because if you get a flash fire, it burns so hot, it will melt polyester to your skin—and they would have to peel it off. So I rely on cotton and canvas workwear that’s FR certified.”
– Boz Curry, Lease Operator at Ranger Energy Services
