Meet John - An insight on his long-standing career and proudest achievements

This week, we caught up with Construction Manager, John Coll, who told us all about his long-standing career with Careys and his proudest achievements to date.

Joining Careys

I left school when I was 15 years old, and went on to become a joiner. After I had completed an apprenticeship, I started my own business in Ireland straightaway. Then the recession hit in Ireland, so, I moved to Glasgow, where I worked for a civils company for a year.

I was working at Edinburgh Airport in 2009, where Careys was also working at the time. One of the Careys’ foremen spotted me and asked me to come and work for the company. I said no, to begin with. But then I bumped into him at a petrol station, and he offered me the job again. He told me I could start the following Monday – so I did!

My role and responsibilities

I'm responsible for the daily running of the site. This involves making sure that we are on programme, making sure that our teams have the right tools for the job and ensuring that we maintain the highest standards of health and safety as possible.

What I enjoy most about my role

People within Careys, at whatever level, respect you and always make time for you. I also enjoy getting to know the team on-site and their families, as well as making friends.

The best feeling is standing back and seeing a job completed that we have delivered as a team, and that we can all be proud of.

My proudest achievement

My favourite memory

Working with the older generation – I learnt an awful lot from those guys. I remember when a team member came to my site one time, and there were some mushroom caps that protect rebar lying on the ground. He picked one up, looked at it, then threw £2 on the ground.

I said: "What did you do that for?" And he said: "That's what you're doing, you're throwing away money by letting those mushrooms caps lie on the ground – they're £2 each." I laughed at that at the time, but it has always stuck with me. It’s made me think carefully about the money we spend on our sites and how to reduce our waste. I try and instil these lessons with my teams now.

The culture at Careys

It's a happy place to be, a real family environment. When my child was born, I got phone calls, texts and a hamper sent to the house for me and my wife, and I thought, there's no other company that would do that for you! You feel part of something. People genuinely care about your welfare and wellbeing.