Member Spotlight

Rob Wemhoff

Estimator / Project Manager, Perrett Construction Ltd.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

• A wide variety ranging from estimating, project management, planning equipment moves, trucking, and meetings.  

 
What do you like most about your job?

• The variety of the work I do, very rarely am I doing the same thing two days in a row and also get to meet and work with a wide variety of people.

 
What aspect of your job do you find the most challenging?

• Being the low bidder, but still making an acceptable profit.

 
How did you get into the heavy highway construction industry?

• My dad said I had to go to Engineering College if he was going to help me pay for college. I liked spending time outdoors, and with large equipment, so Construction Management was the only degree in the Engineering College at UNL that interested me.

 
What is your favorite moment of your career so far?

• The day we finished Hwy 275 west of Norfolk, most challenging project of my career (so far).

 
Favorite project?

• New Mexico Hwy 104, East of Las Vegas, New Mexico.  It was a project I helped bid and then ran it as a Job Superintendent for Kiewit.  We did every aspect of the project except the guardrail and fencing. We performed the Grading, Pipe, Concrete Box Culverts, Crushing Aggregate, Base Course, and Asphalt Paving. We also had to drill and shoot some of the cuts.  I was 28 years old and was one of the oldest on the project.  

 
What are your hopes for our industry?

• That the regulations don’t become so restrictive it is almost impossible to build a project, and there is enough work to bid, that competent contractors can be profitable.

 
If you could provide one piece of professional advice, what would it be?

• Bidding work cheaper than your crews can build it profitably is not a good option.

 
Who has been the most influential person in your career?

• Gray Kite, I worked for him for 4 years at Kiewit in New Mexico.

 
What did you want to be when growing up?

• U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot

 
What was the first job you ever had?

• Walking Beans

 
Before working at your current company, what was the most unusual or interesting job you have ever had?

• Albuquerque, New Mexico at a wastewater treatment facility expansion project.

 
If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self one thing, what would it be?

• Don’t waste your time on people or things you can’t control, spend your time and energy on things you can affect.

 
What is one skill/ability you wish you had?

• Play Guitar

 
What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?

• Ride Dirt Bikes

 
Do you have any hidden talents? If so, what are they?

• I can ride a pretty good wheelie on my dirt bike.

 
If you could be anyone (past or present) for just a day, who would you be?

• Crazy Horse, June 25, 1876

 
What is your biggest pet peeve?

• Slow people…..slow walkers, slow talkers, slow workers.

 
Favorite restaurant?

• Husker House in Columbus, Nebraska

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