Building a Legacy: Three Generations of Craftsmanship Shape McKinstry’s Future

In 1967, McKinstry was a small plumbing company with big dreams.

McKinstry co-founder George Allen saw an opportunity in the growing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry. With an eye to expansion, he recruited local expert Bill Pfeil Sr. to start up a sheet metal fabrication practice at McKinstry. This pivotal move allowed McKinstry to tap into the promising HVAC market and mature as a company.

Sheet metal wasn’t the only legacy Bill Pfeil Sr. established. He also launched a McKinstry career as a family tradition. Three generations of Bill Sr.’s family have worked at the company over the past 60 years. His son, daughter-in-law, two sons-in-law and two grandsons followed in Bill Sr.’s footsteps.

Today, Bill’s grandson, Sean Hall, superintendent, is carrying on his family’s legacy of building for the future by leading and growing McKinstry’s carpentry capabilities. Sean’s brother, carpenter Jess Hall, works with him on a team that has expanded from two to more than 20 skilled craftspeople over two decades.

“I have a lot of appreciation for the fact that my grandpa helped create something really cool at McKinstry and now my brother and I are helping to build up the carpentry piece,” said Sean. “It feels pretty impactful to the business and it’s what we do every day, so it’s fun to reflect on that.”

Sean Hall (center) and brother Jess and sister Laura are pictured with their grandparents, Bill Pfeil Sr. and Lenore.

A Childhood Steeped in the Trades

As a kid, Sean remembers his grandfather brought home lessons from his work at McKinstry.

“My grandfather was a great mentor for me growing up and probably gave me some interest in the trades,” said Sean.

Sean’s dad, Wayne Hall, was a sheet metal foreman and would bring Sean into the shop at times, letting him sit in his lap while driving a forklift. Sean’s uncle, Bill Jr., was a sheet metal superintendent and another uncle, Steve Carr, was a detailer for the group.

Despite being surrounded by sheet metal growing up, Sean was drawn to carpentry as a craft.

“When I was five or six, I told my mom I wanted to be a carpenter, so it’s down in my heart somewhere,” said Sean. “I enjoyed working with and building things with wood; I appreciate working with nature.”

Sean learned the craft through vocational classes in high school. His first job out of high school was framing houses in residential construction. When an opening came to join McKinstry’s small carpentry team and apprentice in the union, he didn’t hesitate.

Growing Into a Leading Role

Carpenters were first hired at McKinstry as a support function for other trades, which is how they’ve served for much of the company’s history. When McKinstry knocked holes in a wall to install equipment or pipes, the company’s carpenters would come in to make everything look new again for the client. They are versatile craftspeople and problem solvers, rarely working from a blueprint and often with little lead time.

Though McKinstry’s carpenters handle materials ranging from concrete to drywall, the traditional woodworking side of their craft is best showcased at the company’s Innovation Center in Seattle. The team made stunning conference tables from a tree that fell on CEO Dean Allen’s property. They also used timber from the warehouse that is now McKinstry’s corporate headquarters as facing for meeting rooms. Sean and Jess built every cabinet and door. The team installed those, along with framing out and drywalling all the rooms on the floor. They worked with McKinstry’s Architectural Metals team to craft the reception desk and dining area banquet table.

Brothers Sean and Jess Hall and team used reclaimed wood from a building demolition on the McKinstry property to construct the wood facings on the meeting room cubes in our Innovation Center.

When Sean first came on board in 2003, there were just two carpenters. Under his leadership, there are now more than 20 carpenters who’ve worked with nearly every business unit including Energy, Architectural Metals, Electrical, Fire Protection, and more recently, the Special Projects Group (SPG). Sean’s team continues to do traditional support functions, including building concrete footings, framing or crafting custom ramps. The team is also busy with many carpentry projects in healthcare.

“Our clients in the health care sector have an acute need for smart, capable carpenters who are able to work in a really tricky and challenging environment where the stakes are very high and where cleanliness must be maintained,” said Kyle Victor, an SPG business unit manager. “Containment of work areas is its own subspecialty and something that our carpenters have grown to be very good at.”

Reflecting on the evolution of carpentry at McKinstry, Sean noted how years of steady growth have elevated the craft into a key part of the business.

“We’ve come a long way with what we’re able to do with carpentry at McKinstry,” said Sean. “It’s fun to see how we’ve grown into a bigger part of the business. We’re getting traction with the SPG group. It’s been 20+ years in the making to get here, but that’s the fun.”

Kyle has high praise for the team and where Sean is leading it.

“Sean represents what McKinstry strives to be,” said Kyle. “He’s the embodiment of the values that we all aspire to show up with as McKinstry he’s just a great leader and colleague. His demeanor is always exceptional, even under great stress.”

Four Generations at McKinstry?

Sean Hall also does woodworking at home as a hobby. Here is a guitar that he made for a challenge.

Outside of work, Sean is a devoted husband and parent of a 7-year-old daughter. In his rare spare time, he crafts projects like tables, picture frame boxes, cutting boards and pepper mills. The music lover has even made an acoustic guitar.

“I wanted a challenging wood working project and guitars are a big challenge,” said Sean. “I figured I’d try to take my time and make it look good and if it didn’t sound good, I’d just hang it on the wall as an art piece; but it doesn’t sound too bad!”

For now, his family gets most of his energy at home, but there are times where work and family intersect. Sean’s daughter sometimes joins him in his home shop. She’s learning to nail pieces together and paint wood. The two have built a birdhouse together.

“She mostly likes to make a big mess in there!” Sean says, laughing.

He’s picking up other signals that she’s taking an interest in Sean’s work and career path.

“I’ve brought her to the shop just like my dad did when I was little, and we’ve had lunch at my desk. She’s always asking me if she can come back and do that again,” Sean said. “But who really knows what she’ll do in the future.”