Riley Construction apprentice putting in the ‘hustle’

When Tyler LaPoint clocks in for work as an apprentice carpenter for Riley Construction, he said he puts all his focus in his work and strives for improvement.

LaPoint is a third-year apprentice learning and working in different skilled trades, including carpentry and concrete work. He’s had many experiences framing buildings from small projects to office wings for large companies. A few years ago, LaPoint got his start at the age of 17 with a youth apprenticeship while attending Indian Trails High School in Kenosha. He credits his teacher, Thomas Stapleman, for encouraging him to join the trades.

“I thought it was a pretty good opportunity,” LaPoint said. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do outside of high school, so I stuck with it. It’s a four-year apprenticeship and I’m on my third year,” he added.

As a member of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters Local 161, LaPoint takes 40 hours of classes per week at the union hall in Kenosha. While fulfilling his academic goals, he said he learns most at work by framing, setting drywall and doors and cabinets.

One of LaPoint’s projects is the nearly $140 million WestRock corrugated box plant in Pleasant Prairie. LaPoint and another apprentice helped frame some of the office space, including conference rooms, bathrooms and eating spaces. The project is expected to wrap up in 2025.

On the job, LaPoint said he tries to spread the knowledge he gets from older workers to younger apprentices he mentors. While many in the trades start to retire, he added it was important for the younger generation to get that knowledge while they can.

“There’s another guy I worked with for a good while,” LaPoint said. “He retired last year. Let’s say I got in a year earlier I did, I would have been able to gain an extra year of knowledge from him. It’s important for the younger generation to get in and take the role of the older guys who are soon going to be retired,” he added.

The passage of knowledge between different generations of workers is also important because it ensures apprentices are well-rounded for future projects, LaPoint said. “If the guys around me know what they’re doing and I know what I’m doing, it makes everyone’s jobs easier,” he added.

In addition to WestRock, LaPoint worked on the Kohler Center in Sheboygan, a project for Milwaukee Tool and an indoor playhouse for Make-A-Wish. With each job comes a little more experience, meaning more responsibilities from the foreman, LaPoint noted.

“They rely on me a little bit for work to go smoothly, so it’s a good thing to have more responsibility,” LaPoint said. “With all those projects, I look back and it’s like, wow, I had to depend on guys for doing this stuff and now I can go on my own.”

Construction work takes a bit of dedication, or “hustle,” as LaPoint describes it. He might not always hit above his goal for putting up walls for example, but he added he tries to hit each one.

“I’m there to work for eight hours a day,” LaPoint said. “After 2 p.m. hits, we can slow down, but when I’m at work those are my eight hours I give to work. So I just keep my head down and produce what I have to,” he added.

LaPoint said his future goals are to work his way up and eventually help run the project site as a superintendent, but it will take working up to journeyman, leadman and foreman first. “But I have to figure that out as I get older. Running jobs is completely different than building. If I get a taste for both sides, I have to think of what I like more,” he added.