JEFFREY KOLLIN PADON
Job Title: Foreman
Company: Power Design
Location: Houston
Age: 28
Years on the Job: Four
Outside Interests: Spending time with his wife, Monica, and two daughters, Hailey (11) and Adleigh (4). Their girls show pigs through 4H, and his family also enjoys fishing, swimming, going to the beach, eating dinner together, and watching scary movies
With three uncles as licensed electricians, Jeffrey Kollin Padon was destined for a career in the electrical industry. During the summers, he served as an apprentice on their crew, and a few years after he graduated from high school, he got a call asking if he wanted to try out the trade.
“I had started a young family and was in need of steady pay,” he says. “I jumped on the opportunity right away.”
Jeffrey Kollin Padon works on quality control deck layout.
Padon, who was born in Dallas and raised in Royse City, Texas, joined Power Design as an apprentice for the IEC Gulf Coast program in Houston. After completing three years with the IEC, he passed the test for his journeyman electrician license before the age of 28.
During his time with Power Design, he has been trained on PDI’s best practices including rough, trim, distribution, and structural scopes of work. In addition, he has completed OSHA 30 and has been trained to lay out buildings. He has also learned First Aid and CPR and become certified as a forklift and swing stage operator.
Currently, his team is building an eight-story, high-density, multiuse, luxury apartment building in The Woodlands, Texas. His roles and responsibilities include overseeing underground (complete) slab/deck rough, unit rough and trim, garage and common areas, site work, amenities rough and trim and complete daily time reports. In addition, he must run weekly safety reports, train his ITR teams on best practice methods, and receive and unload material.
In his role as a foreman, he supervises his crew members to ensure they are in the right location, working on the proper tasks and performing quality work.
“Once the day has started, I am constantly moving around the job site,” he says. “I typically have concrete being poured, a slab deck being roughed, a couple guys pulling wire and installing fixtures in the garage and a half a dozen or better guys roughing units in any one given day.”
Due to his commitment to his job, Padon has been recognized as a high-performer and reliable asset, says Mike Villar, project executive for Power Design.
“Kollin conducts himself as a true professional, not only to the customer, but to his coworkers as well,” Villar says. “He shows respect by taking the time to listen to and understand them, goes above and beyond what is expected of him, honors his word, and follows our best practices.”
Padon says it’s important to train by example, set a high bar of expectations, and accept nothing less.
In addition, Padon has mastered technology-based applications like paperless time coding, material ordering, document management, project plans and installation layout devices. He has also helped new hires and existing apprentices, foremen, superintendents and subcontractors expand their knowledge on a diverse array of software programs.
Padon says he is a true believer in technology, and he believes it will only progress in the electrical industry.
“Some of the tools available to us are amazing and simply make our jobs easier, leaner, and more efficient,” he says. “If we can spend a little more upfront to make our job more efficient, we are going to be more successful in the long run.”
Looking ahead, he would like to see himself as a seasoned superintendent who trains the new trade professionals coming into the company.
“I hope that I can pass on my work ethic and knowledge on to the ones around me and hopefully one day be able to return the favor and train a young ‘All Star’ who has the drive to be the best they can be,” he says.
