Brandon McCranie Shares Career Steps to Encourage Others on the Paving Ladder
BY Sandy Lender
Asphalt paving foreman in Florida shares career, training to encourage workforce development
Not every asphalt paving crew member comes from the same background and Brandon McCranie, paving foreman for CWR Contracting, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, proves you can make it up the ladder with hard work and dedication to your craft. McCranie graduated from high school in 2004 and knew he was done with that institution. By 2005, he was working for the City of Tallahassee (COT), Florida, as a laborer on a resurfacing crew.
The whole crew lined up to show their pride in their work. Photo courtesy of Ball
Building a Career in Construction
“When I was young, I remember my dad getting a job with the electric department at the City of Tallahassee,” McCranie said. “He always told me the COT had the best benefits and that if I wanted to make money, it would be in the electric department. In 2005, I got a job as a laborer to get my foot in the door with the COT. I was hired onto a resurfacing crew and was immediately handed a lute rake and never looked back.”
Just because McCranie had finished formal, sit-down education didn’t mean learning had stopped for him. He worked to get his commercial driver’s license (CDL) and to advance in his career.
“Over the years, I learned to operate equipment and obtained my CDL in 2012. I knew with a CDL I would always have a job. In 2015, I became a lead man on a patch truck with the COT. We specialized in patching utility service repairs and some very intricate work. In my opinion, I became one of the hardest-working rake men in Northwest Florida.”
That’s not an idle compliment. McCranie wanted to excel, and today he leads an asphalt paving crew that he also encourages to do the same.
Nowadays, McCranie uses those skills, and more he’s honed over the past two decades, as a paving foreman for CWR Contracting. He first joined the Midsouth Paving family in 2018 as a concrete laborer. He explained that CWR Contracting bought Midsouth Paving in Pensacola in 2020, and he was promoted to paving foreman in 2024.
“I was originally hired as a laborer on a concrete crew,” McCranie said. “I was moved to the low boy after about six months. Once all of my equipment was moved to the job site, I would help the crew operate various equipment and assist with raking. I drove the low boy for a few years, and moved into QC for a year, and then was promoted to paving foreman.”
“Brandon’s enthusiasm in his approach to challenging paving projects and his dedication to excellence made him the clear choice when searching to fill the role of paving foreman,” Area Manager Kyle Pilgrim said. “These traits were evident in his previous role of QC technician and provided the solid foundation needed to take the next step.”
John Ball III, the proprietor of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, New Hampshire, first worked with McCranie in the summer of 2024 when consulting for CWR Contracting, and found the young man eager to learn all he could from the two weeks of hands-on training.
“He’s of the younger generation, but he cares,” Ball said. “He wants the project to be the best it can be. He questions his workers and what they do to get the job done better, but he asks in a way that doesn’t upset anybody. Some of the crew members are older than him, veteran operators, and some are newer guys, younger than him. As I spent a couple weeks with him and gave him a checklist, he knew how to talk to both types of workers to encourage them to try a new way of working or getting something done.”
The work his crew accomplishes varies from day to day.
“Right now, my crew is doing a lot of site work,” McCranie said. “We have paved on some FDOT projects such as I-10, Hwy. 98 and Hwy. 87, to name a few, but in 2026 we will be moving to a mainline crew paving the FDOT roadways.”
“He has a great attitude,” Ball said. “He comes to work happy. It’s his attitude, his look at the job to do it right, and his desire to advance.”
Brandon McCranie, at left, and John Ball, at right, are ready for a day of paving and training in sunny Florida.
Train Your Replacement
To move up and advance, Ball said, McCranie must train someone to step up into his current position. And that’s true for most of the workers in our industry today. To move from a laborer position to an equipment operator, the laborer must show the next person how to do their job correctly. To move from the screed operator position to the paver operator position, the screed guy must show someone how to work the controls and help lay a smooth, consistent mat.
Pilgrim stated that the company’s goal with any hire is to identify and maximize talent. “Our people are our most valuable asset, and we are committed to providing opportunities for growth and success so that they can build a life for themselves and their families,” he said. “Excellence is embedded in our culture, driving us to continuously learn, grow, and excel. We are committed to continuous improvement, setting high standards, and going above and beyond to achieve excellence in every project we build. Job excellence and career progression, we believe, are the most rewarding to both the employee and the company.”
“As far as training goes, we offer on-the-job training for anyone willing and looking to move up,” McCranie said. “In this industry, you’ve got to have the ‘want to.’ You’ve got to want it. You’ve got to want to move up. You have to want to do better for yourself. With learning a new piece of equipment or any aspect of this job, there is usually a merit raise associated with learning the new piece of equipment.”
With all this education and training already under his belt, McCranie has a true understanding of the different backgrounds fellow laborers and equipment operators bring to his crew and how to train them for the job.
“At the time [2004], I knew school wasn’t for me,” McCranie said. “I wasn’t the classroom type. I wanted to be outdoors working with my hands, where every day was a new day. It’s not nearly as monotonous as sitting at a desk all day.”
When a new employee joins the workforce fresh from high school or a trades program, McCranie knows exactly how to communicate with that person, and how to spot the skills that person brings to the team.
“You have to learn your people,” McCranie said. “You have to learn their personalities and what motivates them. My job is to learn what makes each crew member tick. You then use those tools to help them keep going.”
McCranie’s crew handles all types of paving projects.
Seek Success Each Day
Of course, McCranie uses multiple tools to encourage and motivate the workers that CWR Contracting assigns to his crew.
“He will give a younger guy the chance to run the roller, and that’s great because it gives the chance to teach them without having to train out bad habits,” Ball said. Sometimes it’s difficult to speak up and correct someone older, but taking a new worker by the hand and showing them the correct way to roll the mat is, as Ball puts it, like painting on a blank canvas. “You don’t have to fix someone who’s set in their ways when those ways are making a mess of the mat. You get to start fresh and teach it right.”
McCranie is also learning to give direct orders to make sure every task gets done. He has a meeting with the crew every morning and stays afterward to keep everyone on the same page. “He’s got the ‘wanna be,’” Ball said. “I know he wants to be the best he can be. He catches on really well and he makes notes. He takes pictures so he can show exactly what he expects from the crew for each task.”
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What McCranie’s looking for in his workers is a work ethic like his own.
“Things that stand out to me in an individual are, number one, dependability,” McCranie said. “Are they at work every day?”
He’s also looking at how they carry themselves, and this extends to the attitude they project. If an individual has an aloof, arrogant, or argumentative attitude, that person probably won’t be willing to learn or grow with the team.
But arrogance is different from pride, and he wants to see if his workers have pride in themselves, from the way they dress to their appearance to the way they work. “Do they ask questions? Do they follow directions? So many things make a person stand out from the rest.”
The attitude McCranie projects is one of gratitude and energy.
“I would just like to say to anyone in this industry, just show up every day,” he said. “Not every day will be sunshine and rainbows, but show up and make the best of it. Learn something new every day. Try to keep a positive attitude and ask questions. Remember that you’re paving the roadways and travel ways that keep friends and family connected.”