Steve Brewster Guides Castle Teammates in the Field

In 1996, Steve Brewster combined a 91-mph fastball with a group of hard-working teammates to help elevate the Missouri Tigers baseball team to the Big Eight Conference Championship and a coveted spot in the NCAA Midwest Regional tournament.

These days, the former college pitcher brings that same drive, determination and team approach to his job supporting Castle crew members in the field.

Rather than delivering strikes to his opponents, Brewster provides practical tools, resources and training to guide heavy equipment operators in the field. “Our team converts civil engineering plans into a usable format for bulldozers, rovers or other GPS-enabled equipment so our operators can focus on executing the work,” he says.

Brewster relies on technology and conventional communication tools to deliver real-time guidance to crew members regardless of their location or experience level. He explains, “I can remote into equipment, share my screen and talk to them on the phone to help walk them through the process.”

He also taps the expertise of other Castle resources, including Civil Designer Joel Richardson, P.E., who has helped to streamline the process of translating a civil engineer’s documents into clear marching orders for operators. “Because Joel’s a civil engineer, he understands an engineer's goals and has greatly improved our processes,” he says.

With Brewster’s recent promotion to Senior Manager, Field Solutions, he has expanded his purview to include mentoring and sharing best practices with other McCarthy civil self-perform teams across the U.S. “The goal is to standardize our workflow and centralize our data so we’re consistent in delivering field work and able to quickly adapt as new technology and developments occur,” he says.

Building on a Family Legacy

As the son of a 35-year McCarthy ironworker, Brewster grew up on construction jobsites in St. Louis and across the U.S.

During high school, he spent his summers as an ironworker, tying rods on McCarthy construction projects.

In 1998, Brewster signed on as a McCarthy project engineer. His projects included the Patriots Landing housing development at Scott Air Force Base and the Washington University Student Housing project.

Next, he spent several years working as a union carpenter before McCarthy’s Industrial team tapped his carpentry expertise to work on the Holcim St. Genevieve cement plant in Bloomsdale, Missouri. On that project, he learned how to do construction layout, understand how heavy equipment worked and collaborate with trade partners. “That job changed the trajectory of my career and put me on the path to where I am today,” he explains.

Brewster joined Castle in 2013 to assist with GPS layout work. “They took a chance on hiring a carpenter for civil work, but I brought all of the things I had previously learned into that job,” he says. “I’ve had the benefit of growing slowly with Castle, which has been super cool.”

He and his wife, Morgan, have four children: daughter Quinn, 21, is completing an accounting degree at Mizzou; son J.D., 19, is studying finance and playing soccer at Rockhurst University in Kansas City; son Zach, 16, is a sophomore at CBC High School and plays on the St. Louis CITY SC Academy’s U15 soccer team; and son Alex, 10, is a fourth- grade student.