Building PA Podcast

As the former international president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and a current adjunct professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, William Bates joined the Building PA Podcast to discuss the future of architecture.  Before we discuss the future, Bates shared insight into his tenure with the AIA and discussed best practices from his time traveling the world to promote the architecture industry.  As an industry leader, Bates has seen his fair share of change and challenges, but as a professor, he discusses his success tips, which include taking pride in the work, following trends, understanding the estimating and construction management process, and acknowledging how these components are assembled to complete a successful project.

Bates also shared his recommendations for future generations of architects.  Bates strongly encourages the next generation to work in construction during the summer months of college to understand the skills and training that are required.  He said, “future architects need to understand how a contractor not only builds but how the pre-construction phase impacts a project.”

Listen in as Bates talks about the future of the industry related to retail space, general building, and the technologies he anticipates will become indispensable.

Join the Building PA Podcast to listen to Kevin Trout share his insights into the benefits a strong culture will have on your company.  Kevin joins us as a former owner and CEO of a medical supply company and current Vistage chair and facilitator for CEO groups.

In the discussion, Trout emphasizes the importance of establishing a strong culture as part of the hiring, onboarding, and operations process.  Trout said the process of creating a strong culture begins when companies “think of their company values as nouns with the second step focuses on creating verbs to support the nouns.”  This two-step process defines the behaviors you expect and encourages team members to focus on action toward those behaviors.

Listen in as Trout shares his four stages of growth.  Within these stages lies the secret to a strong and robust culture, which includes:

• First gear – owner wears all the hats and begins acquiring clients
• Second gear – employees are hired and all report to the owner.  Profits in this stage are high.
• Third gear – owner begins investing in the company and hires professional managers.  Profits in this stage shrink due to additional employees.
• Fourth gear – owner becomes the face of the company and profits grow exponentially as the company grows.

Customer service is a part of our everyday lives, said DJ Craven of The Gildea Group.  During this episode on the impact customer service has on project outcomes, Craven shares his approach and explains a new approach to relationships now known as the Craven V.  In addition, you will hear how customer service as a core value has helped The Gildea Group grow and remain in business for over 60 years.

Within this episode, you will learn several tips necessary to avoid customer service mistakes including:

• A lack of communication
• Accepting your ego
• The use of bad judgment

The Laborers may be one of the largest building trades unions in the country and we had the pleasure of speaking with Eric Remetta, Training Director, Laborers District Council of Eastern PA to learn more.  In our conversation, Eric shares the requirements of becoming a Laborer including the time needed to become a journeyman.  It’s 4000 hours and you can achieve that by balancing work on sites and in facilities throughout Pennsylvania with eight weeks of classes.  Additionally, Eric lets Chris and Jon know of some of the challenges that a training director has faced in the past year including how the organization managed COVID-19.

In advance of becoming a Laborers’ apprentice, you can test your mettle at LaborersEastPA.org.  On that site, they have posted a sample test for review and preparation.

Listen as Nick Vuono, a Steamfitter apprentice shares his personal insight into what it means to be a Steamfitter.

Listen in as Jon O'Brien and Chris Martin share insight on the upcoming issue of the Keystone Contractor Magazine.

The latest issue will focus on the importance of culture and how a structured program to establish improved morale, focus, and vision will benefit your company.  Additionally, the magazine staff has created supporting articles that detail the connection between lean construction and culture, steps to improve morale and awards.  Each of these elements strengthens your company's culture.

Elements of the magazine will remain including the Opening Word, Insights from the Executive Director, a calendar of upcoming KCA events, and a KCA committee spotlight.

In this issue, we are also introducing a new section titled Young Professional Q & A.   For each future issue, we will reach out to KCA member companies to recommend a young professional to answer questions curated by the magazine staff and Jon O'Brien.  If interested in submitting a young professional for future issues email Chris Martin at [email protected].

According to Bob Dresser of Strategic Executive Consulting, workface planning creates opportunities for work schedules for a one-week period.  This includes preparing all tools, materials, and drawings for that timeframe.  In our conversation, you can hear Bob share how this element of project planning improves work retention and decreases talent loss.  Bob mentions that the best time to embrace workface planning is in the design phase as the key to best practices.  In support of best practices, you will learn how to engineer work packages, specify the geographic package for the project, the necessary software to identify the correct sequence of work to be completed, and how to streamline the field support required for success. 

This episode is part of the Building PA Podcast Building Better Project Outcomes Series brought to you by Strategic Executive Consulting.  

Do you know what it takes to be an apprentice Steamfitter?  Listen in as Tom Doran, apprenticeship coordinator for Steamfitters Local 449 joins Chris and Jon to discuss the program and the requirements.  Tom shares that each apprentice comes out of the program with certifications that ensure each person is ready for work in the field.  The skills learned are focused on welding, Hydronics, drawing, qualified course instruments, rigging, and more related to the mechanical aspect of the industry.  Those interested can apply in August and start their career with the Steamfitters.

Have you considered what is needed to develop a strong on-site project culture?  Listen as Eric Pascucci, Director of Estimating and Pre-Construction for PJ Dick, and Tom Price, Principal with Strada Architecture share lessons learned and practical recommendations for building a strong relationship between contractor and architect.  Both agree that collaboration is key, along with a heavy reliance on comfort and trust.  Admittedly, each of those characteristics requires time to build.  In this episode you will learn:

• The steps to building trust
• How to communicate before, during, and after a project
• What the most important aspect of a strong project culture is
• How to manage owner expectations as a team

In addition, our guests address the generational gap that exists in the industry today.  Eric and Tom discuss how to encourage mindset change among younger team members, the importance of establishing accountability without ramifications, and the advantage of coaching younger professionals within this process.

Link Business’s Chris Caldwell joins the podcast to discuss business valuation and the steps necessary to sell your business.  Caldwell mentions that to determine what a business is worth owners must set realistic goals, plan accordingly and communicate with those they are considering selling to.  He also highlights the value of defining what you plan to sell as part of this process.  Listen to a very useful discussion for any component of the construction industry.