Longtime Member Story: Richard Harris of E.L. Harris & Son Inc.

Richard Harris, president of E.L. Harris & Son Inc., a general contractor in Charleston, West Virginia, has been involved with the Mason Contractors Association of America since before the association was even an association. Harris says in about 1949, his father went to Mackinac Island to attend a meeting that he read about in Contractors Magazine. 

"It was an exploratory type of meeting among mason contractors, and he being an interested person, being a bricklayer and a contractor, he got on the train and went from Chicago up to Mackinac," says Harris. "On that train, he met George Miller, who was a cub reporter for Connors Publication who was going to the meeting to write about it. So I got dropped off at a local’s house in Chicago while they went on up to Mackinac." 

The first MCAA convention was held in Michigan on August 27, 1950, so Harris has known about it since day 1. He grew up with it, with his father in the business, and attended conventions from his teenage years. Harris's grandmother's brother had a brickyard, making 10,000 bricks a day at the start of his career and 50,000 bricks a day when he finished. 

"My dad was a bricklayer, my granddad was a bricklayer, my great grandfather was a stonemason, came here from Wales," says Harris, now 84. "I guess you might say it's in the genes or the blood."

The conventions have helped the company maintain its leading position in construction procedures, masonry procedures, masonry, vise framework, material handling, and more.  "I like to feel the MCAA gave us a little competitive edge over the other contractors here in the valley," Harris says. 

Though he's retired, he still follows the industry and says he looks forward to the magazine every month. Keeping up with advances in the industry is one key reason why Harris encourages other companies to join and renew their memberships. The MCAA committees are active in liaisoning between the MCAA, which looks out for its members' interests, and the powers-that-be in  Washington. Even if he's not personally active in that area, he knows the membership has reaped many benefits from that work by reading the magazine. 

"These items are of great benefit to someone coming into the industry or already in the industry that wants to advance," he says. "There’s a ton of material available on almost any subject related to masonry construction."

Harris started his apprenticeship at 16. 

"I laid brick when I was in the Boy Scouts for a merit badge when I was about 13 or 14, mixed my mortar, and laid my brick for two outdoor fireplaces, one stone, and one brick," he says. "I started working steadily with my tools when I was 16. After school, I'd get out of high school and go work. Summers and holidays when I didn't go to school, I would go out and work. So I've had a long, great, enjoyable experience with a great trade, and I would recommend it."

In the 60-plus years, he's been in the industry Harris has seen numerous advances in and changes. One such change has been climbing scaffolding. "Metal two-meter scaffolding just came into the industry probably in the late '40s, and we were the first ones here to have any modular scaffolding," he recalls. "We used a climbing scaffolding on a several-story building here in Charleston, which was the first time it had ever been used here, and we used it on a seven-story apartment building. It worked out great and several contractors since then have adopted this climbing scaffolding." The person who created a type of climbing scaffolding was a good friend of the family. 

Harris's father was MCAA representative for their state from 1950 to 1975. The younger Harris attended board meetings as a vice representative from West Virginia, then he took over the state and served until he got involved in the Elks and then was ready to retire. 

One highlight he remembers is using brick masonry panels to construct a project. Masonry panels are not a big thing in West Virginia, but for this project, the bricks were laid up in Cleveland in scaffolding and under controlled conditions and brought down to the job site, where they were erected on a three-story office building. 

"I don’t think it's ever been done since that I'm aware," says Harris. "And it was quite a display here that day that those trucks came in with these 22-foot long by 8-foot brick panels at job sites. We had ironworkers, carpenters, bricklayers, cement masons, all of them wanting to see this because I had awarded them to the masons. The other trades weren't all very happy with it. In record time we turned the building over to the owner as we told them it would happen. Nobody else could do that. "

In his decades as a member, one thing he treasures is the people he's met in the industry. "I’ve known firsthand all the Presidents up until probably six or eight years ago, from attending meetings and conventions and serving on different committees, and playing around the golf links," he says. 

He remembers an occasion when he had his Bricklayer’s Gold Card presented to him by the president of the International Union, which is something not many people can brag about. In Phoenix in 2012, he interacted with union president Jack Joyce. 

"I commented, 'You'll be signing my gold card here within a year or so,'" Harris recalls. "And he said, 'I'll be glad to, I would love to.'  He had my seniority by about six months. When the gold card came I put it in my pocket. Then we went to the convention and the show in Vegas and sure enough, we ran into him." 

Harris asked him if he could present the card, and when Joyce said yes, Harris pulled it out of his pocket. Betty, George Miller's wife, took a picture of it and it appeared in Masonry Magazine and the international bricklayer’s magazine too. 

Harris notes that George Miller, the MCAA's first association executive, was recommended by Harris's father. The early association needed an executive to keep things organized because membership was nationwide and members came to meetings from all over. 

"So they called on George to come to work for them and he stayed there for 50 years," says Harris. "George and Betty, his wife, and their daughters, over the years, this has been like family. We look forward to getting together, sharing both personal and professional business interests."

If there's any secret to Harris's success maybe it's that he never smoked and has never had a cup of coffee. He's naturally enthusiastic about work, and even though he's now retired he says he's not a couch potato because he stays "too damn busy."

"My lifelong love has been being a member of MCAA," he says. "I say that in all honesty and sincerity. I can go to almost any state and find somebody that I know through either the MCAA or the or Elks. The Elks have been essential for me, the mason contractors have been professional, it's been a loving relationship."