From Farm Kid to Superintendent at 24
Most contractors will tell you they've been in the business for 20 years. Kane Purcella can tell you he's been running job sites since he was 10.
Growing up on a farm in Arizona, Kane learned early that hard work wasn't optional. Horses, dogs, cows, chickens - chores came before everything else. Year-round sports, tutoring after school. Excellence was the baseline.
Age 10: Building a 75x175x30 Shop in the Desert
The summer Kane turned 10, he, his dad, his brother, and his grandpa built a massive shop - 75 feet by 175 feet by 30 feet tall - in the Arizona desert heat.
Running tools and materials up swaying scaffolding 30 feet in the air. Following behind the adults, driving forty screws per panel with drills powerful enough to rip a grown man's arm off if they caught wrong. Panel after panel after panel.
Operating a forklift on an active construction site - moving materials while the crew worked up on the walls. Forks up, forks down, judging clearance on loads wider than the machine itself.
Working 12-hour night shifts under generators and work lights. Hauling bags of screws that weighed almost as much as he did. Learning every part of a commercial build from the ground up - literally.
That's where it started. Not at 12, not in high school - at 10 years old, building commercial-scale structures in conditions that would break most adults.
Age 12: The Welding Shop
Two years later, when Kane was 12, the economy crashed and his dad's ornamental metalwork business nearly went under. The entire welding crew was laid off. That left Kane and his brother to step up.
Waking up early, making breakfast, grabbing the day's cut sheet, and heading to the shop. Cleaning steel. Cutting to length. Welding ornamental wrought iron gates and panels. Painting. Screwing in decorative wood. Loading trailers. Repeat. 12-hour days, all summer long.
That summer taught him what most people never learn: how to work harder than the person next to you, and how to do it without being asked.
Middle School to the Rigs
By middle school, Kane was cleaning construction sites after hours. In high school, he was framing houses - complex rooflines, octagon triple-vault ceilings, the kind of work that tests experienced carpenters. After earning his GED, he continued framing houses until he turned 18, then worked oil rigs before diving back into construction full-time.
Commercial Superintendent at 24
Kane moved to Billings at age 23 and joined his first commercial crew. Within months, he was assistant superintendent, managing laborers and coordinating subcontractors.
Then came the call-up: Langlass, Montana's largest commercial contractor, hired him as an assistant superintendent and field engineer. His first assignment? Big Sky.
Langlass sent Kane to fix a punch list on a $4 million penthouse that had been sitting vacant. The inspector had torn it apart. Kane worked through the list - custom stainless steel, cabinetry, tile replacement, every detail. When the inspector came back, it passed with flying colors. The penthouse sold for $4 million.
COVID & the Med-Gas Rooms
Right after that project, COVID hit. Bozeman Health Hospital in Big Sky needed six new med-gas rooms, fast. Kane ran the project - building intricate headboard walls, managing precision cuts, coordinating trades, and calling the hospital superintendent every single morning at 7:00 AM sharp with updates.
The hospital superintendent had never worked with a contractor that dialed and consistent. Kane made sure every detail was perfect, down to cleaning the floors with Clorox and re-stacking crooked drywall piles.
His performance earned him a promotion to full superintendent.
The $13M Project
When Kane returned to Billings, Langlass handed him a $13 million structural steel project for True Norse Steel. Two massive buildings, industrial-scale power, precast concrete walls, and coordination of multiple trades. At 25 years old, Kane was superintendent on one of Montana's biggest commercial projects.
KP General Contracting LLC
After years of running multi-million dollar projects for others, Kane decided to build something of his own. He assembled a network of trusted trades and started KP General Contracting LLC.
Today, he brings that same standard to every project - whether it's hanging a door or building a commercial facility from the ground up. No job too small or too big. Just quality work, honest communication, and the drive that's been there since he was 10 years old building that shop in the Arizona desert.
