If an internship is comparable to the start of a long journey, it would make sense for someone just starting out at Walbridge to listen to an experienced leader such as Mike Smiley.
He started with the company as a “green” intern from Michigan State and has worked his way up to become Vice President of Estimating.
Smiley, who spoke to Walbridge’s new class of interns on June 8, spent most of his internship working on a major renovation of Ford’s world headquarters in Dearborn. He said he was fortunate that Project Manager Scott Kameg decided to help him learn the ropes of construction.
“I went to the job site and could hardly find a hammer,” Smiley said. “I was as green as they got. I think the self-consciousness I had about that helped serve me over my career. I was always trying to learn, to catch up. Scott and the team there took me under their wings and taught me a lot in those two summers.”
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Building Construction Management, Smiley hired on full-time with Walbridge in 2000. He was “shipped out of town” to work on an auto plant project in Spring Hill, Tenn. He lucked out again by getting the chance to work with Superintendent Ron Steele. Smiley, being proficient on the computer, bartered that know-how for some construction coaching time from Steele.
“I was pretty quick with the computer, as most of you are these days,” Smiley said. “I had a deal to help Ron do his daily log. The deal was if I helped him with those, he would take me out on site walks.
“It was an awesome experience,” Smiley continued. “Here I have this really seasoned veteran helping me and teaching me construction. We’re walking the job and you got it from the ground up. It was foundations, and earth work, then concrete and paving, and structural steel. That kind of experience really helped me learn construction.”
From there, Smiley returned to Michigan and was assigned to work on the giant Ford Rouge Heritage Project, a multi-billion restoration of Ford Motor Company’s iconic Rouge auto complex. While a lot of the work involved tearing out old steel and rebar, and pouring concrete and hanging new steel, Smiley was also exposed to the work of botanists and even a beekeeper.
“All of these botanists came out in shorts and sandals, trying to figure what kind of plants to plant to clean up the soil,” he said. “It was really far out stuff for a factory at the time.”
Next, Smiley was selected to participate in some cross-training at Walbridge headquarters. It would include six months in Project Controls, six months in Estimating, and then some exposure to Safety.
“When I hung out in Estimating, that six month assignment turned into 10 years,” Smiley said.
Smiley recalled “the first real job I bid” was a $45 million operations and maintenance facility for the city of Ann Arbor. Shortly before the bid was due, the Walbridge team received a late site work number.
“We didn’t have time to edit all unit prices in that form,” Smiley said. “We took a cut on one of the line items and we got the job.” But, there was one small problem.
“A mistake was made on one of the line items and it was a pretty big dollar amount,” Smiley said. “I was sweating about it for three days straight. We got called to the meeting with the owner, who was a stand-up guy. He said, ‘We noticed your arithmetic error on line item 185. We’ve corrected it. You’re still the low bidder.’
Smiley recalled his reaction: “I thought, wow, sweet. What a way to start.”
Smiley has gone on to bid projects big and small. He advises interns and new employees alike to work hard, ask plenty of questions, and “always be interested.”
“Today, I’m about halfway into my career, but I’m learning every day,” he said. “I’m reading every day. I’m asking questions. I never think I know everything. I hope I’m always interested in learning.
“The world’s always changing,” he added. “The scale and speed of change is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. If you remain interested in continuous learning throughout your career, it’s going to pay dividends.”