I wonder if he would describe himself as a construction worker, or maybe he would say he's a surfer who does construction to make a living? Sometimes you can see a struggle to define a person independent of their jobs, why does it matter here?
I see the headline here changed, it used to be:
[Calif. construction worker unofficially broke a fabled world record]
I see the headline here changed, it used to be: [Calif. construction worker unofficially broke a fabled world record]