Lee Jeffcoat is one of our senior estimators, celebrating 8 years with the company last month. We visited with Lee last year for his anniversary, but we can’t get enough of Lee, so we sat down with him again to ask him about his life and any updates. Looking back on his early days here at the company, right out of the gate Lee was willing to go the extra mile for the team. While he came on board to do estimating at the Grayson office, he quickly found himself heading up to New York to help run a right of way maintenance project for a little while, then to West Virginia after he bid and won a $12M pipeline job to manage that project. “I really got to know Charlie III at that time. It was a really good time in my career. I saw that he really values each employee from me, an estimator, to a new laborer who started this week.”
Today Lee is back to estimating full time. Lee is known for taking on the more complex jobs, which he enjoys. “I like the aspect of estimating where I get to look at each job with a unique perspective and find out how to bid the job differently than maybe our competitors would. At Murren we don’t build the same thing over and over, like a chain grocery store, so no one job is the same. We get to start from scratch and that gives me the opportunity to hone my skills and find creative solutions to make the bid the best it can be.”
At home, not too much has changed, except for his kids are growing up. John Ross is now 14, River is almost 10 and Woods is 5! How time flies. He still loves spending time with his kids and his wonderful wife and best friend, Lindsay. He is also still wood working in his garage, selling his creations on Esty. “It’s basically grown into a part-time job,” he says. “Growing up I worked for my uncle. We did a lot of carpentry work, and he actually took over the business my grandfather started, so it’s in our blood, I guess.”
We grilled Lee on his favorite fundamentals and it was not an easy decision for him, but he settled on Number 5 – Get Clear on Expectations. “That’s the one I work the hardest on, I think. I want to make sure when someone tells me what to do, I know exactly what they expect from me.”
To the young adults starting their career, Lee has this to say: “Even if you’re working somewhere that you are not 100% satisfied all the time—don’t jump around from company to company. No matter where you are working, do what you can to influence the changes you want to see and don’t be afraid to speak up.”
Thanks for another great year, Lee. Happy 8th Anniversary!
