CITIZEN JOURNALISM:
Hard hat firmly adjusted on head and tape measure clutched tightly in hand, Charles “Coach” Oswald springs from his Ford pickup to confer with his second-eldest son, “Dubs” Oswald Jr., at the new Maple Lawn Farms housing development in Fulton, Md.
“I’m just a caveman in an electronic world,” said Charles “Coach” Oswald, 49, president and owner of Oswald Masonry Inc., who along with Anne, his wife of 26 years, has run the business for 23 years despite the recent downturn in the housing market.
Oswald Masonry in Silver Spring does not have a Web site. Mrs. Oswald, secretary-treasurer of the company, has handled its administrative operations since 1986 when she left IBM to stay at home and raise her growing family.
She described her husband as a “seal-it-with-a-handshake type of businessman.”
Mr. Oswald, also offensive line coach for Sherwood High School - the reigning Maryland state 4A football champions - said, “I have to fight for survival out here. This [housing industry] is something we’ve never seen before.”
According to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development: “Through the first six months of 2009, approximately 18,112 foreclosure filings occurred in Maryland. Compared with 17,625 filings for the same period last year, this represents a growth of about 2.8 percent.”
Oswald Masonry employs 14 to 16 employees, depending on the construction project. A year ago, 20 or more workers were on the payroll, Mr. Oswald said.
Jesus “Jesse” Trevino, who has worked with Mr. Oswald for 10 years, said most hourly work has been cut. Still, he said, “I like everything” about working for Oswald Masonry.
Recalling how he joined the company, Mr. Trevino said, “Somebody gave me his phone number. I called up. He said I’m looking for someone who can do good work. He just hired me.”
Prior to the summer of 2007, Oswald Masonry was busy on work sites that ranged from small jobs in the District to housing developments in Maryland’s suburbs, the Eastern Shore, Bel Air, and northward of Baltimore in Harford County and Delaware to Northern Virginia and Prince William County and southward, Mr. Oswald said.
The housing industry supports multiple industries, Mr. Oswald said. “On one house you could have, I’ve seen as many as nearly 40 subcontractors,” he said.
These contractors can include plumbers, electricians, tilers, roofers, drywall installers, interior decorators, carpenters, painters, and landscapers. These industries have experienced an unusual slowdown in work, Mr. Oswald said.
Though the green movement is gaining strength, Mr. Oswald said, the environmental trend does not benefit his business, which works exclusively with bricks.
“For the curb appeal, brick is the best material. You never have to wash it. It’s maintenance-free,” said Mr. Oswald, promoting the benefits of brick compared with stucco, wood or vinyl.
Mr. Oswald said he is not certain whether the first-time homebuyer tax credits offered as part of the Obama administration’s stimulus package are helping with the suburban housing market.
“The $8,000 credit should be for everyone, not just first-time homebuyers. Around here, first-time buyers are going to have to buy out in Frederick or Hagerstown unless you spend at least $600,000,” Mr. Oswald said of homes closer to the District.
Nonetheless, Mrs. Oswald said, when her husband sees a new development, he’ll make phone calls and bids. “He’ll bring the blueprints home and type up bids,” she said.
“Whatever it takes to keep the wheels turning,” he said. Mr. Oswald has done it all - serving as the marketing director, lead bricklayer, mechanic, laborer, truck driver and bill collector. At the same time, he is known as a dedicated family man who treats his workers as family members.
Mr. Oswald “grew up in the trade.” As he points to a heap of sand that is being mixed with the mortar that is used to lay bricks, he said, “I remember playing with my Tonka trucks in the sand.”
Raised in Seat Pleasant and bused to Crossland High School, in Temple Hills, he enrolled in vocational classes on masonry. He graduated in 1978.
Mr. Oswald remembers his father telling him as a teenager, “As long as people keep multiplying, there will be a need for housing.”
The Oswalds have five children ages 11 to 25 who also help with the business and have been active in sports and community activities. He is the assistant head coach of his son’s youth football team, St. Peter’s of Olney.
Their home on Ednor Road is frequently filled with children, teenagers and young adults from other families who are just “stopping to say hello.” One of them is Patrick Cannon, a former football player on “Coach’s” teams.
“If he could, he would coach for a living. That’s where his heart is,” said Mrs. Oswald, who serves on the Parents Committee for the Sherwood High School Cheerleaders. Their daughter, Kelly, 17, is an honor roll student and captain of the team.
Mr. Oswald first gained a reputation in the mid-1990s as a relentless promoter of youth league football within Montgomery County. He gained notice from local high school coaches by driving his truck, overflowing with area junior high school students, to high school football games as they followed the Sherwood Warriors.
After guiding the Olney Bears Junior High School tackle team to county championships in 1996 and 1997, Mr. Oswald was recruited to join Sherwood’s coaching staff.
“Coaching is his outlet. It’s his real love. In the business, you have to worry is this company maybe going bankrupt; with coaching, he can forget all of that,” Mrs. Oswald said.
Patrick Cannon, 26, was a quarterback on Mr. Oswald’s Olney Bears teams as a seventh- and eighth-grader.
“It was great to work with a coach who dedicated so much of his time and energy completely voluntarily,” said Mr. Cannon, who also played for Mr. Oswald at Sherwood High School. “Not only did he know the sport well but he knew the importance of building a team. He was my only coach to ever open his home to the team as a place to have barbecues and talk strategy. As a result, a group of players became teammates and friends.”
It’s 8:15 a.m. Mr. Oswald is delivering the mortar mixer. His 23-year-old son has been on the site working with the crew of eight since 7 a.m. The younger Mr. Oswald attended college out of high school but left to join the family business.
The elder Mr. Oswald said he is optimistic about an economic recovery that will allow him to call some of his men back to work.
In the meantime, Mr. Oswald’s daughter is helping set up a Web site for Oswald Masonry. He said it can only benefit the business.
“If it’s about getting my guys work and putting food on the table, you can teach this old rugged dog new tricks all day long,” he said.
• John Muller is a freelance writer living in Montgomery County.
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