Posted: February 15, 2018
Last modified: December 26, 2018

While attending high school in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Roy Tootle started thinking about how to turn two of his interests into an exciting career. From the time he was a kid, he liked to build things, starting with Legos. And, as far back as he could remember, he always loved math.

“I was strong in math. I liked it and it came easy to me,” said Tootle, who is completing his fifth year in the construction business and is a field engineer for Area 4 in the Altamonte Springs area.

While growing up, Tootle also had a role model in his dad, who retired from the Marines as a Master Gunnery Sergeant and who had been, at one time, a combat engineer. So when Tootle realized that the nearby University of North Carolina at Charlotte had an excellent program for civil engineers and that there was a lot of construction going on in that busy city, he figured he had he had found a good place to start out.

After graduating with a civil engineering degree, Tootle was hired by the Lane Construction Corporation. That led to several interesting experiences from supervising bridge crews to working on a light rail project. Four years after college, Tootle arrived in Orlando to be part of SGL – the joint construction venture of Skanska, Granite and Lane on the I-4 Ultimate project.

He has helped to manage or oversee a wide array of work, including nighttime traffic shifts and detours, construction of ground-mounted signs, guardrail installation, drilled shafts, and the trucking of supplies to work sites.

“It’s good to stay busy,” Tootle said. “I like the challenges, and I think it’s good to be well-rounded in this business.” Already, he has dealt with local governments, subcontractors and learned a lot about planning and documenting work processes.

Tootle said he also enjoys talking with people from a variety of companies to hear how they try to improve work efficiencies while maintaining high safety standards. There’s always something new to learn. “It all will help make me a better project manager.”