From perusing old-fashioned blueprints to dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, Mortenson Construction’s Rich Bistodeau has pretty much done it all on a construction site. Now, after nearly 50 years with the company, he’s calling it a career.

Bistodeau joined Mortenson in 1972 as a carpenter apprentice and rose through the ranks to become a superintendent. During that time, he worked on projects that include the Hennepin County Medical Center expansion in Minneapolis and other notable healthcare jobs.

In the following interview, Bistodeau talks about what led him to a career in construction, how the industry has changed in the past 47 years, the increasing focus on safety, and his plans for retirement.