Having your business and your residence on the same property has many advantages and only a few minor drawbacks. You live and work in the same community and have the opportunity to get to know a lot of the people who live in the area. Your commute can be done in a matter of minutes with a short walk and your coffee in hand. The line between business and personal time can become blurred and people sometimes show up or call at odd hours, it is not uncommon for Shawn to be working until 9:00 at night. Taking the mobile welding units out to job sites , especially for some of the more complicated long term jobs, has its own set of challenges. You never know what type of terrain or working conditions you will encounter and you need to be extremely organized and plan for everything ahead of time. When you are out in the bush working on logging equipment you cannot simply drive back to the shop to pick something up.
Drivers Welding has been working with Blue Water Systems on the construction of the new Victoria International Marina in the Songhees area of the Victoria Harbour for a number of months. This $24 million marina development headed by Community Marine Concepts has taken years and years of planning and is scheduled to be finished in July 2017. The marina will be home to 28 slips for large luxury yachts and is expected to inject over a hundred million dollars a year into the local economy.
This is a job that is being done on the water and can be disrupted by the weather, wind and tides. Each section of the construction presents a different environment to work in and different issues to solve. Beacuase the cold, wind and rain can present some problems Shawn and crew are working inside a small shelter that needs to be moved by crane for each section they work on. All of these things make the job more challenging and a little out of the ordinary for sure. One of the other things about this particular job that makes it interesting is, it is in a very public spot and lots of people stop to watch, take pictures and ask questions. So, you meet some interesting people, both local and tourists, that you would not normally cross paths with working from home.