PLSO Oregon Surveyor July/August 2020

10 The Oregon Surveyor  | Vol. 43, No. 4 Member Spotlight looked in the phone book and asked ev- erybody for a job,” he recalls. “On the farm growing up, we overhauled our own motors and I was really good at math, so to get into construction I treated buildings like an engine,” he says. “Every- thing has to go in the right place, with really close tolerances. When you under- stand that, you can do buildings.” Earl joined the union in 1974, and says he was taken under their wing. The best ac- complishmentwithworkingwith IUOELocal 701 was getting the Party Chief prevailing wage recognized. He got his PLS license in 1979, and in 1981 formed his own compa- ny, R&MSurveyors, mainly doingwork for Hoffman Construction and other Oregon and Washington contractors. Karen did the books for R & M and Ming Surveyors, along with working in the field. Together they built careers and raised two children. In 1989, R & M dissolved and became Ming Surveyors, which works exclusively withHoffman Construction now. Hoffman built some of Portland’smost recognizable structures, including the Portland Build- ing, the Justice Center, the Portland Center for the Performing Arts, and the Oregon Convention Center. The list of buildings in this article is only a very partial list. “I’ve probably forgotten more buildings than I remember,” Earl says. At the time of our interview, the worldwas in a quarantine shutdown, but that wasn’t stopping Earl from staying busy. He and Karen have three acres in Sandy to main- tain, plus old cars and old tractors to keep running. He is contemplating retirement within the next couple years. Earl and Kar- en’s daughter, Kristin, is currently a project manager for Ming. She has worked for Ming, starting as an apprentice in the 701 Operating Engineers, andhas been a union member for 31 years. Their son, Donald, is a construction surveyor in Washington under Local 302, and has been a field lay - out tech since 1992. Earl drag raced frequently at the Wood- burn Dragstrip in the 1980s and ‘90s. In 1996, he had a Roadster that ran 150mph in the quartermile, but rolled it six times in an unfortunate crash. Now, he races a ‘58 DeSoto that runs 100 mph in the quarter mile, along with a ‘62 Chrysler with Kristin. Personally, he’s busy at home, but profes- sionally, he may continue to be busy for a couple more years. He says Hoffman ap - pears to be bidding on jobs throughout the U.S. In the months of coronavirus quar- antining, Ming Surveyors temporarily lost some employees because they couldn’t continue working, such as needing to stay home to take care of elderly parents. The remaining employees have been busier than ever. “We’ve been swamped,” he says. “Over the years we’ve been successful be- causeof ouremployeeswho takean interest in what they do,” Earl says. “We have quite a group right now. We currently have two families that are third-generation survey- ors working for Ming.” Earl takes an extra minute at the end of our conversation to recognize his work- ers once again. “They’re the ones that have kept us successful.”  x continued from page 8 T No one has worked on as many iconic Northwest buildings, such as Seattle’s Space Needle, as vertical surveyor Earl Ming has. Photo courtesy of Hoffman Construction.