It’s a dream of many to spend their retirement traveling the country. Haskell Project Superintendent Tim Payne and his wife, Anita, aren’t waiting.
Travel is part of a superintendent’s life. It means spending time on the road away from family. But Payne doesn’t commute home for visits. Instead, he brings his home to his job site.
Anita, who has retired, accompanies Tim on his various jobs. With their Jack Russell terrier, Ace, they live in a Fifth Wheel trailer that he has shipped from job location to location. In between projects, the two hitch their 17-foot Casita trailer to the Silverado pickup truck and explore the country.
In early autumn, Payne, 59, completed construction of a Marine Mart at Camp Pendleton, outside of San Diego, California. From there, the two traveled north through Oregon and Washington, stopping at national parks along the way.
“I enjoy being out in the wilderness and away from everybody,” Tim Payne said. “That is one of the great things about traveling here this time of year. There are not many people traveling. I enjoy the beauty of the mountains, the desert, the wide-open spaces.”
Having raised three children, a niece and a nephew, the Paynes are taking advantage of their empty-nester status to start racking up adventures now rather than waiting until official retirement age.
“My wife is eight years older than me,” he said. “We want to travel and see as much of the country as we can see. We didn’t want to take a chance and not being able to do it because we were too old. Just do it now.”
That plan is what brought Payne to Haskell in 2018. The company he had been working for limited its projects to Texas and Mississippi. Haskell offered a diverse project background in numerous market sectors and expanded his scope of travel opportunities.
Payne is a thorough superintendent. As the lead safety officer on his job site, he is the first one on the location. He pays close attention to his three-week schedules and insists on weekly meetings with the subcontractors. At the same time, those who work with him say that when challenges arise, Payne is flexible and adept at finding and implementing solutions.
“Everything is laid out, but if a problem comes up, he’ll have a solution,” Senior Project Manager Robert Felix said. “That is the trademark of an excellent superintendent, I think.”
Adds Project Manager Hayden Karr, “I appreciate his problem-solving abilities. He identifies the problem immediately and then coordinates with the appropriate contractors for effective solutions. He fully vets the solutions before bringing it to my attention.”
While Felix and Karr both attest that Payne isn’t shy about getting his point across to subs, they also agree that his planning ability usually prevents conflict.
“I think every superintendent needs to have a voice and a leadership style,” Karr said. “Tim knows when to stand back and let someone else take charge.”
Payne said experience has shown him that getting everyone on the same page from Day 1 makes for an efficient job.
“I keep open communication with everyone as much as possible,” he said. “I’ve never felt that I get more out of our people by screaming at them.”
Felix made special mention of Payne’s dedication to projects from beginning to end, and for his part, Payne said he would have it no other way. That’s where he finds the greatest professional satisfaction.
“I just like something coming together from nothing,” he said. “It’s about walking onto a site when it is just dirt and walking away when it is a nice building.”
