February 27, 2018
Nordstrom, Indiana University Health North HospitalIndy 25th anniversary

It's easy to tell within five minutes that Will and Richard Downing are brothers. Besides the resemblance, they're clearly comfortable with each other, offering strong opinions and jabs that only a sibling can get away with. But when they're out in the field, their family extends beyond just the pair.

Their love for the industry has family roots; their grandfather was vice president of a laborer's hall and their father would put them to work early in the morning as kids.

That preparedness led both brothers to join Pepper during Indiana's infancy – Richard in 1992 and Will in 1994 – and they've had a firsthand view of how the industry has evolved.

As Richard worked his way up to superintendent and Will up to carpenter foreman, the brothers have created more than just buildings during their decades at Pepper. They've built relationships and their own project families.

How has Pepper changed since you started?

Richard: I think having the quality program is the No. 1 thing. It's not just you that's responsible for the quality of the work. Now somebody comes out and helps you with that.

Will: They're checking the same thing as you, but they've got a different view on everything, and they might catch something you didn't see.

Richard: And technology has made it a lot easier, like having PlanGrid on the iPad. Technology has been a major tool in this industry to make it a lot easier to do these jobs.

Will: The technology at first was scary because of how fast it was changing. At first, I was really good with computers, and then I moved away from it. Then BOOM: it was like it passed me by like 10 years. I got a little nervous, but then I got familiar with it again because of people here who helped me pick it back up.

That's one of the great things about Pepper. We help each other. It seems like usually when a company grows as big as Indiana has since that time, they lose the concept of the family feel. But it seems like we kept that.

What makes Pepper feel like a family?

Will: When our mom died, we're sitting there grieving and then we look up. There are at least five people from Pepper. I was grieving, but it kind of made me have a smile on my face. I thought it felt like a family already, but seeing it just makes you real emotional.

Richard: I think Pepper has always been family-oriented to me. I've worked for a bunch of different contractors, and a lot of times it was like you were just another number. No one from the office talked to the field guys so you never knew who the office people were. At Pepper, you can go into the field and everybody knows who certain people are in the office.

Will: I know with other companies they don't give everybody training like what you get here. You could be here your first week at Pepper and you're in training.

Richard: That's what gets everybody comfortable. They bring you in and you feel comfortable talking to Dave Murphy or Mike McCann. If you've got questions, their doors are open. It comes from the leadership of Mike.

How does that translate to your teams in the field?

Will: Because of people like us. The way the management in the office made us feel, we wanted to bring that same feeling from us to the new guys. We get along with everybody, and we got that from our father, too, because that's how he was.

What's your favorite project you've worked on?

Will: Clarian North (IU Health North Hospital). There were a bunch of us there, but you could tell that everybody was on the same page, from the top to the bottom. And for that job to be as big as it was, I think it ran pretty smoothly.

Richard: Nordstrom. It was my first job where I was labor foreman, and it was one of the biggest projects Pepper did when they were at the Spaghetti Factory (where Pepper's first Indiana office was located).

What are you most proud of during your time at Pepper?

Richard: I came through as a laborer. Usually laborers don't make superintendent so working my way through foreman to assistant superintendent and making it to superintendent was a major achievement for me.

Will: Mine's knowing I helped put something together and to hear my kids say, "My daddy built that." That makes you stick your chest out a little bit more. We can't go anywhere in the city without them saying that. I love that.

What's it like working with your brother?

Will: When we're on the same job, we brainstorm together all the time. Say he has a section he's doing and I have another section – we're not even worried about what the other is doing or the quality of work. We grew up together and have worked together for so long that we know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Richard: The biggest thing is the last job we did, we had 60 laborers with a big demo. Willie was doing the day shift and I was doing the night shift. He had to have a lot of stuff done so I could tear down a wall.

Will: Half the time he didn't even need to tell me, I knew. We get to talk to each other and bond a little more when we're on the same job.