Palisades Fire debris removal.


Sully-Miller crews performing critical debris removal work on a jobsite.


manager for Sully-Miller Contracting Co., added that the feeling of “brotherhood” with fellow contractors — combined with a healthy dose of friendly competition — boosted the project’s comradery as well as daily work output, as crews would compete to see who could deliver the most work product on a given shift. “It’s a small world in construction,”


Clausen commented. “Te superinten- dent and foreman for Griffith Company crews had worked with one of our fore- men, so automatically, there was that sense of brotherhood. And from day one it was pretty evident that everybody was just out there to help each other; it was not a turf war. If somebody needed


10


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026


A worker plants roses on the cleared site of a homeowner who opted in to the special initiative by Sully-Miller as part of the company’s effort to give back.


supplies, we can help them out with that, or if somebody needed to move something so the other guy from another company could get in, we’d do it as soon as possible.”


Connecting with the Community For everyone onsite, the goal of getting residents back on their feet and into the next stage of rebuilding was a unifying theme that drove long hours of hard work. “You weren’t just bringing home a pay-


check; you were helping people,” Clausen said. “I think that made everybody work a little harder and maybe take a little more pride in what they were doing. Tat’s a huge motivator.”


In a small gesture to give back to the


community and to homeowners who had lost everything, Sully-Miller came up with a program to gift and plant a rose bush on the cleared property of every homeowner who opted in. Company employees and even their young family members participated in planting these flowers, which served as a symbol of regrowth and optimism in the face of such overwhelming loss. And just as the contractors and their


crews were motivated by helping peo- ple, residents of neighborhoods where burned sites were being cleared out were also eager to show their support for workers who were performing this


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28