NOVEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Levi Seif

Levi is a project manager and has been with JR Merit for about three and half years. He works primarily in our piping and fab shop division. Levi has been in and around the construction industry his whole life. “My dad was a residential general contractor; I started working with him when I was 13 during the summer and when I wasn’t doing school sports. I went on to study construction management and graduated in 2011 when the economy was still rebounding. As a result, there were only four companies at the career fair. I got an internship at one of them, starting in Chicago then traveling to Seattle and landing in Portland. I learned about JR Merit through Duncan, I worked with him at a previous company.

Levi’s favorite aspects of construction are “starting from nothing and ending up with a finished product” and “working with all the different people, combining their knowledge and backgrounds and working together toward the same end goal. Solving problems is our full-time job; it’s exciting to figure out ways to make things happen.

“I enjoy getting to know our customers, developing trust and relationships. I think clients have good experiences with us because of our open communication and that we plan our work for no surprises. It’s been great to have consistent work with repeat clients and expanding our scope with them as well.

“As we continue to grow, we’re making sure we’re staying coordinated an in communication across all our projects. We’re working across the whole spectrum of industries, from clean rooms to dams and wastewater facilities. In addition, we’re fabricating for our industry peers as well as for our own projects.

“We’re doing some innovative things in our shop, too. For example, for a clean room project in Eugene, there are certain compliances we must meet for our fabrication, so we stood up a corner of our shop as a dedicated cleanroom space. We are continuously incorporating changes to meet the needs of our clients.”

The construction industry comes with a lot of strong personalities, which make things interesting as well as challenging at times. “It can be a bit of a dance to make sure that everyone feels like they’re heard and that we’re working toward the same goals.”

Levi is looking forward to continuing his professional growth as JR Merit’s piping division grows. “In the next five years I’d like to be establishing more anchor clients where we’re their preferred vendor and managing a few project managers. I like to mentor people, and I’m looking forward to team growth and seeing who we input in new roles as our division continues to grow.

Outside of work, Levi enjoys going out on the river boating and going to concerts. “We got to see Hozier recently, who was surprisingly really good!” Levi and his wife recently welcomed their second daughter in late September, and their first daughter celebrated her third birthday not long after her new sister was born.