Shawn McLeod read a notice in the carpenters' union hall in Butte, Mont., about opportunities 3,050 miles away in Hawai'i, then got on a plane in May to join the trickle of Mainland construction workers finding jobs in the Islands.

Last week, McLeod climbed down from a scaffolding inside what will be a three-story wing of Castle Medical Center in Kailua and said he's happy to be making almost twice as much money in Hawai'i — $32.95 per hour — and earning more generous benefits during Hawai'i's latest building boom.

"A lot of us back in Montana were interested," said McLeod, 42. "But they weren't willing to take the plunge."

After seemingly exhausting the supply of local journeymen and Hawai'i construction workers living on the Mainland, some construction companies and unions are now turning to Mainland workers with no ties to the Islands to help handle the boom in business.

"The labor force is getting real slim," said Lloyd Tokunaga, superintendent for Shioi Construction, who has worked in Hawai'i's construction industry since 1969. "This is as busy as I've ever seen it. ... So the opportunities are real good for guys from the Mainland. If they're skilled, I would definitely welcome them."

In January 2004, Sang-Hyop Lee, a University of Hawai'i assistant professor of economics, told government officials and labor leaders that Hawai'i will need another 7,425 construction workers through 2008.

Lee, who continues to monitor workforce trends in Hawai'i, said last week that "the prediction has not changed."

In the nearly two years that followed Lee's projections, Hawai'i's trade unions, Rep. Neil Abercrombie, Gov. Linda Lingle's administration, Honolulu Community College, building trade associations and others have been pushing to fill construction openings with local hires.

They've designed job fairs, beefed up apprentice programs, visited high schools and contacted former Island workers in places like Las Vegas to tell them about an industry that's expected to continue humming for several more years.

Since then, anyone who wants to come home already has, said Jonathan Brown, director of organizing for the state's biggest trade union, the 6,000-member Hawai'i Carpenters Union.

MORE JOBS THAN PEOPLE

At the same time, the number of registered apprentices for all Hawai'i trade unions increased from 2,800 three years ago to 3,800 six months ago to 5,500 last week, said Fred Moore, president of the Building Industry Association-Hawai'i, citing statistics from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relation's workforce development division.

"That's a significant jump," Moore said. "It means we're getting people interested in our trades. The confidence is there."

Still most of Hawai'i's construction unions take five years to turn an apprentice worker into a journeyman.

"Our first intent was to squeeze the blood out of our local turnip," Brown said. "That was the general game plan for everybody. But it's come to the point where we've squeezed that turnip as much as we can."

So the carpenters union plans to begin soliciting other union locals around the country to emphasize the higher pay and benefits their members can earn in the Islands.

They'll be competing against other hot construction areas like California, Washington, Boston and Florida. And they know that many of the potential workers will be wooed by the billions of dollars of reconstruction work that has yet to begin in the Gulf Coast following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

TENSION AT JOB SITES

The push comes as Hawai'i continues to enjoy a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate that has been either the lowest or second lowest in the country every month since January 2004, giving Hawai'i residents plenty of opportunities outside of construction. In August, Hawai'i again led the nation with a 2.6 percent unemployment rate.

But not all of Hawai'i's trade unions are ready to begin recruiting Mainland workers, whose presence has occasionally caused tension on some job sites.

"There's always a little fear — 'Who are these guys?' " said Bill Naone, apprenticeship coordinator for Hawai'i's second largest trade union, the 3,500-member Laborer's International Union of North America, Local 368. " 'Are they going to take local work?' That's a natural human reaction and it's been a gripe from workers for a very long time."

Naone acknowledges that "we are starting to get thin in our applicant list and we can see that the labor pool is starting to be drained."

But he refuses to concede that the laborer's union needs to look to the Mainland.

"We think the other trades are lazy because they don't do outreach," Naone said. "They do as little as possible to go out to the areas where construction workers are generally coming from, the more depressed economic areas of Hawai'i. You don't get most of your laborers and your carpenters from Hawai'i Kai, 'Aina Haina and Kahala. You get them from the Pearl Cities and 'Ewa Beaches. We haven't had to go to our affiliates on the Mainland to import people, nor are we looking at doing so. ... I don't think anyone has done enough to ensure that our local people truly know what opportunities exist. We find it abhorrent that they would go to the Mainland when we have a lot of people who are still not working. I am unconvinced that they're doing enough."

Construction workers like 49-year-old Jeffrey Hammerand of Springfield, Mo., continue to arrive in the Islands, anyway.

Hammerand and his Missouri accent landed in Kailua, Kona, on the Big Island on Jan. 11 to work as a foreman supervising a crew of 20 Mexican and local workers building high-end condominiums.

Hammerand's construction career has taken him to 36 states so far but "the Big Island takes the cake."

He loves the diving and fishing along the Kona Coast and believes the workers on his crew are the best trained that he's ever seen.

Some have even brought Hammerand into their homes, invited him on their boats and taken him scuba diving — and offered him all sorts of food Hammerand never imagined existed.

"I've had goat and pig and the chicken feet," Hammerand said. "I've tried it all because you don't want to offend anybody."

On one lunch break a co-worker ordered laulau from a plate lunch wagon. "I said, 'What kind of meat's in there?' And he said, 'I'm not really sure.' You won't find that on any menu in Springfield, Missouri," Hammerand said.

Hammerand now understands what workers mean when they talk about "pukas" and "poke" and he offers his own homespun sayings, such as "these prices are higher than a cat's back. Or if I'm doing something real quick, I'll say, 'I'm on it like a duck on a June bug.' They just kind of laugh but they understand what I'm saying."

Tony Ross, a 38-year-old electrician who works with Hammerand, still thinks it's odd when Hammerand breaks out pork and beans for lunch when everyone else is eating a plate lunch. But Ross otherwise appreciates Hammerand's ability to fit in and supervise a diverse crew of workers.

"He has a really good attitude," Ross said.

"Because if a guy comes in thinking they're going to be a hotshot, the local guys would eat him up."

FEELING AT HOME

Tom Cowie, 38, and his friend and co-worker, Lee Wilke, 47, adopted a similar open-minded, self-deprecating approach when they left Phoenix, Ariz., in April for better pay and benefits on O'ahu.

They now make more than double the $15.55 per hour salary they earned back in Phoenix and feel they've been welcomed with "open arms" by co-workers, who have invited them to the beach and on camping trips.

Both of them now plan to set up permanent residence here.

"I came here for a career move — more pay, better benefits," Wilke said. "I'm here to live."

Or as Cowie said, "This is my home now."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.