Peter Core was working with the Boise Rescue Mission for two and a half years when a family member first told him about modular construction and a company called Autovol that did not yet exist. He continued to hear about modular and decided he should see what it was about.
“I looked it up and was like, ‘Wow, modular construction is a really good idea, that’s fantastic,’” he recalls.
He continued his research into the automation of modular and began to get really excited. He wanted to be a part of it. In what capacity, he didn’t know, he just had a feeling that modular was going to be something the world would someday rely on for housing.
Finding himself homeless for a period of time, he was driven to get off the streets knowing that if he could succeed, his story might help another person who was trying to get out of the same situation.
“I know what it’s like to not have a home. Looking around at people in their 50’s and 60’s on the streets - I didn’t want to be that way,” he says. “Autovol was talking about affordable housing and housing is a big issue with homelessness - it’s not the only issue, but it is a part of it, and so the affordable housing did appeal to me because I was moving from helping the homeless to maybe helping the homeless in a different way, or helping people from being homeless in the future. It’s something that struck a chord.”
Peter brings a thoughtful perspective to all of the work he does at Autovol and admits coming from an office job, he found his first month to be challenging.
“Instead of sitting at a desk, I was walking 60 miles a week when I started in floors. I had to get used to getting my hands dirty and keeping up with the fast-moving production atmosphere. To really grasp this opportunity, I had to do some soul searching.
But soon Peter found his groove.
After the first month of getting used to the physicality of the job, he realized it was really not that bad and began to appreciate the team he was a part of that was working together to produce a quality product. Having that mindset made the work much easier.
“When I first started off in floors [we were working on a senior housing project] and I was doing insulation and I would think to myself how important it is that insulating a floor correctly is going to directly affect how these people are living,” he says.
Peter quickly advanced to doing the precuts on floors, then began learning about framing and how to run the flooring crane before being offered the position to run the tool cage. He took that opportunity to learn about fasteners and other products. Mastering that area, he then began talking with the head of the estimating department, Steve Clough, who took him under his wing and taught him the ins and outs of estimating.
“I would work on these little homework projects that Steve would give me and I’d learn this thing and then he’d give me something a little bigger. And then I’d learn that and he’d give me something a little bit bigger and I’d just keep going and then they wanted me to be an estimator. So now I’m an estimator and still learning new things every day.”
Autovol has been extremely successful building a culture of learning at their manufacturing facility. During a 3-part interview process potential “Solutioneers” (the term Autovol uses in place of “employee”) understand from the beginning the opportunities for advancement. Ideas and potential solutions for workplace challenges are acknowledged and heard. Ultimately, it was the culture, the support, and the people at Autovol that sold Peter.
“Everyone understands that somebody has to do the flooring and insulation,” Peter says. “And [when I started] it was my turn. And now, it’s someone else’s turn, and then it will be somebody else’s turn. All the gears have to turn in order for the clock to tick. As an employee I feel empowered. If people don’t feel empowered then they’re not really reaching their full potential. When I worked in floors and I saw something where I thought we could do it better I knew I could say something and that change would really happen.”
Peter’s advice for young people is to keep an open mind.
At one point in his life, he took a career test that, ironically, told him he should go into Construction Management. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that, that’s a joke…but here I am in construction,’” he says with a smile.
“You don’t always know what you want to do until you do it,” he says. “Modular construction is not what you think it is at first. Sometimes it just takes stepping out there and giving it a shot and you might learn you’re better at something than you even imagined because you were going down a different path. I believe modular is the way of the future so starting to learn how it works now, that would put an individual in a good spot. The younger generation has an opportunity to put their foot in the door and learn as much as they can.”
A version of this was previously published on Offsite Builder.