April 2, 2009

Inside Third & Bond: Week 78

President Obama is in Europe this week where he continues to pull the U.S.’s popularity out of the deep abyss it was left in by his predecessor and by the financial crisis. In celebration of the uptick and our neighbors around the globe, this week’s post is a look at the melting pot of ethnicities that make up a typical NYC construction job.

At Third + Bond we took an informal survey as workers hauled rebar, soldered beams, sawed pipe, and generally just put in a hard morning’s work. In most cases the ethnicity of the company is linked to its owner and much of the top dog employees, all or most of whom are first generation immigrants. Slightly more than half of the time the laborers also share the same ethnic background as the company’s owners. Pretty much everyone got their job by their social-ethnic networks – the old-fashioned way.

Turks – It’s possible that everyone who works at Kiska is Turkish. They won’t say that’s true but we’ve yet to meet someone from Kiska who isn’t Turkish. It’s okay by us, except for when they exchange words during meetings that we can’t understand. (The only Turkish phrase we have down pat as of yet is, “Is there bread?” It’s useful when asking for snacks at a long meeting but that’s about it.)

The electric contractor, FSM, is also Turkish – but a “Black Sea Turk.” We aren’t exactly sure what that means but apparently Black Sea Turks are known for their fiery spirits.

The metal contractor, Ozela, is not only Turkish but also Arab...? The ethnic and racial groups within Turkey are complicated and any brief history lesson seems to start with, “Well, in the 10th century…” or “In the last millennium…” So we’ll just leave it at: there are a lot of Turks, they seem to enjoy pursuing business relationships with one another, and there is diversity among them.

Greeks – Central Line, the concrete foundation and excavation company is owned by Greeks. Seems like a lot of Central Line’s laborers are Mexican or Ecuadorean. Interestingly, the scuttlebutt is that Greeks and Turks don’t get along back in Europe. Well, at Third + Bond they work hand-in-hand every day.

Russians – The plumbing company, Starlite, is owned by Russians. We’re told most of their laborers are Russian or Ukrainian.

Polish – The carpenters from PDP and Innovative are Polish.

Syrian – The HVAC contractor, Aircraft, is Syrian. Syria shares a border with Turkey.

Italian – The waterproof installers, Crown, and timber pile drivers, Empire, are Italian. (Actually we didn’t get a chance to ask the owner of Empire if he’s Italian or Sicilian and we apologize if there’s been an untoward mistake here.)

German – The mini pile contractor, Presscrete, is German, or at least half of the ownership is from Deutschland.

Irish – The superstructure company is run by people claiming Irish heritage.

Portuguese – The superstructure concrete company people are Portuguese.

Along with our Mexican and Ecuadorean workers we have a few laborers that hail from the Caribbean including a Jamaican.

While we don’t seem to have any representatives from Africa, Australia, or the Far East, we do have a supplier who is Israeli but lives mostly in Shanghai where his company is headquartered.

It’s pretty incredible to see this roster of backgrounds for one relatively simple construction project in Brooklyn. With this rudimentary count we have over a dozen different national cultures in the same 15,000 square foot site, doing work side-by-side without a single international incident. Just don’t ask who has the best soccer, er, football team…

Inside Third & Bond: Weeks 1-76 [Brownstoner]

From our lawyers: “This is not an offering. No offering can be made until an offering plan is filed with the Department of Law of the State of New York."

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