Haskell Project Superintendent Ron Walrath learned his work ethic from Disney World, where he worked during high school, and his father, a lifelong postal worker.
“My dad always said, ‘If you want something, work hard and get what you want,’” Walrath said. “Disney taught me that nothing is impossible. They taught me to think outside the box when there seems to be no answer. My dad taught me always to be honest. Disney kept that going.
“That’s how I run my jobs. I’m pretty open. I have good relationships with subs. I don’t try to cheat them. My philosophy is that if you take care of me, I’ll take care of you.”
Walrath has over 40 years of experience in the construction industry. A friend from school got him his first job at a family-owned mechanical contracting company that worked on cooling towers, chillers and hospitals. One job took him to Cape Canaveral, where he watched a space shuttle launch.
“That got me into welding as a pipefitter welder. I really get into welding,” Walrath said.
After a couple of years, he moved to Alabama to be closer to a girlfriend. That didn’t work out, but he met Cynthia, who became his first wife and the mother of their two sons and a daughter.
He lived in Alabama for 10 years, working as a mechanical contractor, and moved into supervisory positions.
“I realized that I had a passion for things being done right,” he said. “I didn’t just want to be a welder. I wanted to be guiding the work,” he said.
The only drawback to the supervisory work was that it meant traveling, which was hard on the family. He was finishing a project in South Carolina and decided to make it his home.
In South Carolina, he worked on projects at the Eastman Chemical Plant in Columbia, which makes polymer pellets for water bottles, and for the Department of Energy at the Savannah River Site Salt Waste Processing Facility in Aiken.
Walrath took time off after Cynthia, his wife of 25 years, died unexpectedly. He returned to work as a mechanical superintendent, eventually joining Benham, which Haskell acquired in 2016.
“I like Haskell. I learn on every job,” he said. “My passion is building stuff and being a superintendent. Building is kind of easy. It’s all about processes and how you do them. It’s hard to direct people, and I’ve always been good at that.”
During his 12 years with Benham and Haskell, he’s worked on design-build projects for Starbucks, Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors, and water treatment plants in Collier County, North Carolina, and Annapolis, Maryland.
More recently, in Jacksonville, he’s worked on the new Jacksonville Jaguars Sports Performance Center and Boeing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul hangar at Cecil Airport, which repairs military planes, including the FA-18s flown by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.
Walrath lives in Pensacola with his wife, Amber, and assists her with her business, making custom-printed apparel. Traveling as much as he does for work, he says he doesn’t have time for hobbies but likes to tinker on motorcycles, which he has been riding since he was 15.
“I don’t have a big, fancy Harley. I ride a 1996 Honda, and I keep that thing going,” he said. “It’s peaceful to get out there and ride. And I like to walk. I’m in pretty good shape. I like to walk around a project. I see more that way.”
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