Luxembourgish craftsmanship - Yannick Schuler

The Serge Bressaglia construction company's premises are opening the Robert Steichen industrial park in Bascharage. Light grey with rare shades of bright orange, the façade is subtly reminiscent of the company’s logo. The name is foreign to few people in Luxembourg and yet, more than being that of a company, it is that of a family whose passion for the trade has been running through its veins for many generations.

An entrance that rocks

The interior of the premises represents this well. The hangar, with its many metre-high shelves and stairs leading up to a high office area, is just like what we are used to seeing in the movies. An employee drives a red forklift back and forth. The offices, accessible through a small door at the back, are not much busier. The number of people working there can be counted on the fingers of two hands. At the end of the tour, we are shown the meeting room. "The Director is coming."

The room is modern, coloured in dark tones and equipped with a large television, but it is the Lego hanging on the wall that immediately catches the eye. "As digital as we are, one cannot miss the Lego. We like to play, we're still big kids!" Yannick Schuler, Director of Bressaglia for more than seven years now, makes his entrance with a huge smile under his beard. "Director? No, I don't like that. Titles are a big deal with us. The boss's son, perhaps? (laughs) I don't like that either. I don't like labels."

"Sorry for the wait, I took two minutes to do my hair…" (laughs) No worries of course, the wind on the building sites messes the hair up. From his arrival on, the atmosphere is good and relaxed. Yannick is very friendly, human and humble. He likes to laugh as much as he likes the company he manages. In fact, even before talking about himself, he presents the business.

"Bressaglia is a medium-sized enterprise that works with 35 people on the construction sites. It is divided into three areas: construction, "where we currently have many projects related to petrol pumps, industry, but also family homes", facades, "which we renovate and insulate", and exterior development, "particularly drainage and car parks". The customers can be "private individuals or architectural offices that consult us" or "companies that have been working with us since my grandfather's time".

Indeed, if anything describes the Serge Bressaglia company even better than its business, it is the family at its heart. Yannick's grandfather, Serge, built on the momentum of his father, Virginio, who had gone into construction just under 30 years earlier, and set up the company in 1967 before passing it on to his daughter and her husband, who did the same with their son. "To avoid any misunderstanding (laughs), the name of the company comes from my maternal grandfather, which is why I am called Schuler and not Bressaglia.

A course mapped out, but not so much

Bressaglia's family values and culture, with their Italian origins, have therefore served as the company's supporting walls throughout its history. Yannick's story illustrates this perfectly. "I grew up in and with this company. As a child, it was always super cool and super nice to be there. I loved it."

Although he "quickly decided to follow this path" in his schooling, Yannick still took a diversion before getting there. "Like many, the big decision in 9th grade and all the options it offered, from electro to mechanics, made my head spin." A fan of construction machinery such as trucks, excavators and others since he was a child, through "the company of a friend of my father who sold and maintained them", he first chose this path with the Agri-Génie Civil mechatronics course at the Lycée Agricole in Ettelbruck. "I was an apprentice wearing my blue overalls in the company. I worked in the workshop, on building sites and I used to lie on frozen ground to change oil filters in winter." (laughs)

However, Yannick ended the apprenticeship two years later. "I figured I didn't need a CATP (certificate of technical and professional aptitude) for that. I was interested, but I knew I wanted to get back into the family business in the long run." Determined, he completed his two-year Civil Engineering studies, following "the traditional way", at the Lycée Josy Barthel in Mamer and obtained his CATP there.

After graduation, his parents asked him what his intentions were: to study or to try his hand at the field. "Studying in Munich would probably have been nice. (laughs) A beautiful city… and it would have brought me something. But I said to myself, 'go ahead, ' and I opted for the field." As soon as he finished 13th grade, Yannick joined Bressaglia, which changed its structure slightly to make room for him. "My mother took care of the financial side, my father kept the facades and handed over the construction to me."

Director against his will

The company operated like this for some time. Then, one day, a host of additional responsibilities fell on Yannick's shoulders without warning. "My father became seriously ill. At four o'clock in the morning, my mother called me to tell me that the ambulance was there and that they were going to the hospital in Esch. He remained in a coma and unreachable due to vital operations for a long time. I was thrown into cold water a second time. I knew what to do, but I didn't have a lifeline through my father, just in case…"

From then on, these responsibilities never left him. "Once he got home and was healthy again, my father told me that it was time, that I had proven myself and that I was worthy of taking over. Not that he doubted it before, but now he had seen it in practice." His father's already high level of confidence in him was further strengthened and he was promoted from construction manager to director.

7 years later, Yannick still gets the same satisfaction from his job. He loves what he does. Not only does he work in the field of his passion, but he is also the happy heir to a company with an identity that is dear to him. "What I like most is walking past buildings we've built. To think that we started from scratch and that we've added our own touch to the landscape, and then to recall the memories of the site with my workers. Plus, doing it all under my grandfather's name is even better. I'm lucky."

The disadvantages of the 'perfect' job

But the life of the Director sometimes deviates a little from the field of pure construction. Of course, Yannick is often in the field to make sure that his workers don't lack anything, but for the rest, it's "checking the calendar, validating and formulating offers, keeping an eye on the turnover and making sure that the sites are well supplied". "Sometimes I even have to be a psychologist. One of my guys called me again this morning to tell me that he couldn't come because of family problems, even though he's a few weeks away from his holiday. I have to be human. That's part of the job."

However, Yannick has found a love for strategy. He likes to challenge himself and tackle every possible area of improvement. "If you type 'construction company' into Google, you are inundated with results. I always say we all cook with the same water; we all buy our concrete from a concrete mixer. So to beat the competition, we have to be beyond reproach. To do this, I am open to audits that 'strip us down' in order to become better, I rely heavily on the dialogue between each part of the company and, above all, I look for niches in order to generate almost fixed income."

Nevertheless, some days bring (even more) stress and boring obligations with them; filling out paperwork gives a whole new nostalgic flavour to the blue jumpsuit of a young apprentice ins which he froze his back in winter. "There's more and more paperwork to be done. That's the main drawback of the job and a real waste of time. The so-called 'administrative simplification', nobody knows where it is… The multiple applications for authorisation that are, for example, necessary in order to renew an authorisation in relation to the maximum load and weight of the lorries evacuating the rubble, it was two pages last year whereas, now, it is six!" The lack of landfill sites in the country is also "a problem that needs to be seriously addressed", he says. "Companies have to travel too far." Yannick is also concerned about the lack of manpower in Luxembourg. "In six years' time, 50 percent of our workforce will retire. It's very close…" Internally, there is no solution. "Most of our young people with potential tell me that their salary is enough and that they do not want more responsibility." So the company has to find new people on the labour market, which is "a huge challenge".

According to Yannick, the Grand Duchy does not provide optimal training. "Yes, you can study construction, but what does 'construction' mean? In Germany, France and Switzerland, we have, for example, the job of site manager. That's a valuable job." In addition to the lack of suitable training, parents in Luxembourg often force their children to opt for academic studies, even if they have a gift for crafts. "I think you notice early on whether a child is good at working with their hands or good at calculations, so you should channel them and encourage them in the direction they want to go." But this is rarely the case. Law is more funky. "Parents push. 'My child has to go to the grammar school, it has to study…' And then they are surprised when grandma is in hospital and the nurse only speaks French or German. It's sad. I hope that the new campaign of the Chamber of Crafts, which is always there to help us, will be successful…"

At lunchtime or at the end of the day, when the pressure is too big and the cup is about to overflow, Yannick can fortunately count on his hobbies: the HBK Handball Käerjeng, of which he is President, the charity club of the Table Ronde in Esch-sur-Alzette, where he is also President this year, but above all fitness. "I try to go to the gym twice a week, even if I don't look like the greatest athlete… (laughs) It's good because it clears my head. Sometimes when I'm upset, I come in and say 'coach, make me suffer' and then I feel lighter. I go and get a little salad, I eat it and I feel good."

The rest of his time is spent with his family and friends. The good times and the good memories, he only has eyes for that. This is also what makes him the perfect man for the job of Director of Serge Bressaglia: he embodies it’s values. Family, humanity, passion.