Flintco Talks

Bhavna Nim, Sarah Nario, and Alex Janota are just three of Flintco's many female professionals succeeding in the heavily male-dominated construction industry.

On this episode of the Flintco Forward podcast, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with these three successful women to discuss their different pathways to a career in construction and offer advice for the next generation in the industry.

A mere 9% of the construction industry is comprised of women, and only 3% are employed in hands-on production roles as opposed to administration, human resources and marketing roles that make up the bulk of jobs in construction.

Though they've found a home at Flintco, which has been a repeat winner of Constructech magazine's “Women in Construction” awards, Nim, Nario, and Janota will tell you they've faced plenty of obstacles getting to where they are now.

Family members told Janota, a project manager at Flintco and Vice President of the Austin chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, to consider choosing "something a little more feminine like nursing or teaching," she said.

Nim, virtual design and construction manager for Flintco, said she's also experienced these types of microaggressions. "But I wasn't going to be dissuaded," Nim said.

Nario, a senior estimator at Flintco, has found at least one surprising advantage to being a woman in the male-dominant construction industry.

"I think my presence actually keeps people in check with regards to their attitudes and behavior," she said.

On this episode of Flintco Forward, we spoke with Vernelle Chase, Director of Tribal Relations, Flintco, LLC, and Steve Eikanger, Vice President, Area Manager, Flintco, about Flintco’s long-standing heritage in building and growing positive relationships with the Native American Territories.

Chase works with the various tribes to ensure successful building projects and healthy relationships. “Understanding the sovereign immunity laws for the lands in which they build, and the various intricacies of the many tribes,” said Chase, “ensures the alignment of both the tribe’s goals and Flintco’s goals.” Eikanger added, “The learning never stops. The needs of the tribes keep evolving, and our job is to meet those needs and continue to grow with them.”

Chase and Eikanger noted some current building projects that were in the planning stages for 40-50 years. A new healthcare facility project will bring essential services and economic opportunities to a tribe. “A project like this does not just become the Healthcare resource for that area, it becomes a community center,” said Eikanger. Earlier this year, Eikanger attended a project groundbreaking ceremony that turned into a community celebration event.

Chase and Eikanger see a growing sophistication and knowledge of the tribal community in the understanding and execution of building & construction projects. Allowing tribes to rely less on contractors for every step of the process brings more control and ownership of these projects. Eikanger said, “We see a lot of tribes move to design/build procurement methods that are much more progressive than in the past.”

Regional Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) Managers for Flintco, Kevin Bromenshenk & Jason Schrader, joined us on Flintco Forward to help redefine as-builts as more than just being a two-dimensional format of marked changes made during the construction process by emphasizing the importance of as-builts during and after construction.

As Bromenshenk put it: “The perception of as-builts from the past is not what the definition of as-builts today.”

Bromenshenk explained that the perception of as-builts hinged onto its early stages, when the industry did not have access to advanced technology where assistance in planning and problem solving in the field were as readily available. As-builts as the industry understands the term today came to be through trial and error in the field.

“A PDF version of a red line drawing that was derived from something, whether it was a guy taking a tape measure in the field or marking up a coordination drawing, or construction document,” Schrader said, agreeing with Bromenshenk. “But to us, that does not really meet the need or the term in today’s world of an accurate as built.”

According to Schrader, as-builts are often a task that is completed at the end of the project, which can result in inaccurate data, lost time and lost money. Schrader insisted on placing an advancement of tracking changes as they happen, updating models during construction.

“It must be done along with the project,” he said.

It is crucial for contractors and their teams to systematically communicate and recognize each other’s role. According to Bromenshenk, taking this course of action could help take the burden off of the tradesmen, who frequently spilt their attention between the office and the field. With the entire crew participating, the integration of responses might continuously be used to update construction documents.

As-builts have evolved into numerous deliverables, surpassing simple PDF drawings.

“It is a conglomerate of different mediums or technologies used during the process,” Schrader said.

Technology such as 360-degree cameras can depict exact location. Laser scanning alerts engineers to preventable problems. Both pre and post project completion crews gain assurance of where everything is, resulting in a significant finished product for the client.

“In the end the owner needs, tangible deliverables, that defines as-builts,” Bromenshenk said.

Assimilating new technologies, such as laser scanning, designers, engineers and contractors are enabled to adopt a proficient workflow. Educating not only the crewmen, but the clients for current and future projects.

According to both managers, Flintco’s new approach to as-builts is being used as a quality control tool. Resulting in a decrease in unnecessary reverse-engineering and the costs associated.

It is only with accurate as-builts that engineers and work crews in the future could possibly know what is already installed and exactly where.

On this episode of Flintco Forward, we sat down with two executives who are making innovation management tangible by creating a technology working group for their construction companies: David Pounds PE, Director of Construction Support Services at Flintco, LLC, and Aaron Geiger, Chief Technology Officer for Alberici Group.

Tulsa-based Flintco specializes in commercial construction. The company is engaged in about 100 active projects at any given time. With that kind of volume, company-wide technology implementation has been sporadic.

Flintco isn’t alone. Construction as an industry has been slower than most in adopting and onboarding new technology and software for use in the field.

"The lack of connectivity [created] pockets of innovation, where there'd be only certain pockets that'd be innovative and try new things," Pounds said. "But because they weren't relying on any connectivity between the different software platforms, it never really would proliferate outside of their projects."

Flintco created a technology working group to aid process management, decision-making, and timeline implementation. They soon became an industry leader with this innovative approach to adopting new technologies.

"We developed committees and organizations within our enterprise that help us remain aware of the trends and capabilities of tech, so we can quickly hear through the noise to find products or procedures that will add value to the projects we deliver," Pounds said.

Meanwhile St. Louis-based Alberici Group, which offers design-build, general contracting, and construction management across a variety of industries, used construction technology robustly, but needed a better system for integrating them into their processes.

Geiger sought Flintco's expertise in innovation management and together created a solution for construction technology implementation.

"Our technology working group is a combination of an innovation committee that looks long term, three to five years out for the next big trends to investigate as well as a group that meets once a month with a very focused agenda to look at short term -- see where we are, evaluate things, and make decisions," Geiger said.

Geiger believes technology working groups can help companies embrace new technological advancements by putting a process to the decision-making landscape.

"Because of a few forward-thinking players in this industry, solutions have become more easily connectable, integrated, and more like one solution for your team," Geiger said.