Construction is in John Hendrix’s DNA. His father and grandfather were builders in northern Mississippi, where he grew up. After taking a computer-aided drafting and design class during his senior year at Tishomingo High School, Hendrix decided to follow that path at Northeast Mississippi Community College.
The path soon diverged.
“I was fortunate to take the Principles of Engineering in the Construction Engineering Department,” Hendrix said. “At the end of the semester, my teacher said to me, ‘You don’t want to design the job; you want to build the job.’ He turned my career around.”
Hendrix said he knew he wanted to leave Mississippi, and construction work has taken him to Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and now Florida.
He started as an estimator for a construction company in Alabama. It was an office job, and he wanted to work in the field. Hurricane Katrina gave him that chance.
“I never looked back.”
Hendrix said he started out chasing storms along the Southeast coast from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Kenner, Louisiana, and repairing the damage they left behind. And then went to work for a mid-sized firm in Houston, working on wastewater projects.
Hendrix found his niche in “all things water-related.”
“I enjoy the challenges,” he said. “I definitely don’t want to do the same thing every day, and you never do with wastewater. You face lots of challenges.”
Hendrix is now tackling the challenge of installing a pump station in the San Marco neighborhood on the St. Johns River in Jacksonville that has been flood-plagued for years.
The low-lying area has relied on gravity drainage with discharge points below the tide level. But over the years, the river’s water level has risen. During heavy rains, especially during high tides, the water backs into the streets, homes and businesses.
“I’ve built a lot, but I’ve never seen a river that was allowed to backflow like that,” Hendrix said.
Senior Project Manager Omar Rodriguez said the project is especially challenging because it is in a residential area.
“There’s not a lot of space for staging or enough space to have everyone working at the same time. We have to take advantage of every single second,” Rodriguez said. “John is very passionate and creative and finds out-of-the-box solutions. He always comes up with solutions that solve problems but are not typical textbook solutions. He’s very resourceful, maximizing the resources he has available and finding solutions with low-cost resources.”
In Phase 1, the Haskell team laid 7,000 feet of new, bigger pipe and installed four pump stations that can handle 7 million gallons of water daily.
“Now the rain has somewhere to go besides the street,” Hendrix said. “It will be a completely different situation for San Marco.”
The project has caused traffic disruptions at times, which can be a source of frustration for neighbors, businesses and commuters.
Director of Project Development Joe Kantor says Hendrix handles the complaints sensitively.
“John has the right demeanor for this project,” Kantor said. “He’s a good listener. We have hundreds of stakeholders who touch this project daily. Balancing all those needs sensitively and respectfully takes a certain kind of person to manage that on a day-to-day basis.
“John’s great at whatever he does. He does whatever it takes. With a project like this, there are so many unknowns that you are constantly re-evaluating. John’s nimble. He can make decisions on the fly, so we can move forward quickly.”
Phase 2 will replace the storm sewer system, increasing its storage capacity and the speed at which water flows to the pump station. The project is expected to be completed by March 2026.
Hendrix and his wife, Melissa, have two daughters, Fallon, 9, and Norah, 7. Having joined Haskell in 2023, he said he considers the company a good fit.
“I’ve never worked for anyone better,” Hendrix said. “It really is a team effort, no matter what it is. They treat the people in the field really well. I can’t do what I do without really good tradesmen under me, and they take care of them really well. I don’t have to try to convince them to stay because they have no interest in leaving.”
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