On a recent visit to one of our job sites, I noticed something that struck me as pretty profound. We were getting ready to pour concrete for a large foundation on a sizeable project that had been designed and planned – and was being built – with the help of very sophisticated technological tools. Still, before even a drop of concrete could be poured, the foundation bottom had to be cleaned of loose soil. And sure enough, there was a laborer down in the middle of those forms and rebar with a paper cup in one hand and a stick in the other, scouring that foundation bottom for dirt clods. Because it’s a job that has to be done on a site no matter what, and it’s not something that a computer can take care of.
Forty-some-odd years ago, I was the guy on cup-and-stick clod patrol. Now I’m one of the guys who walk around sites reviewing plans on hand-held digital devices.
In my career, I’ve seen technology fundamentally change the way we work. I remember back when fax machines started showing up on job sites. We huddled around them completely befuddled, like cavemen seeing fire for the first time. Soon, they became commonplace, and RFIs, submittals, change orders, etc. were being faxed instead of delivered via snail mail. Gradually, other electronic tools began to eclipse their analog predecessors. Laser levels replaced water levels; electronic surveying devices replaced slide rules; GPS grading monitors replaced guinea hoppers.
Those early innovations certainly simplified certain steps, but didn’t really alter the basic way we did things. But as the technology became more sophisticated, design and construction processes started to rely more heavily on them. Now, we just wouldn’t be able to do the job as efficiently or affordably without these modern technological tools.
But let’s get back to our friend with the cup and the stick. There’s no device in the world that could accomplish the task he was doing. Every job site needs someone down in those foundations removing that loose dirt. And technology can’t replace the laborer who trowels concrete or the carpet installer who kneels down to glue a piece into place. In this business, shovels and wheelbarrows will always be seen alongside cutting-edge technological tools.
Our job is to make sure our clients are getting the best of the old and the new. At VPCS, there are enough of us who still remember the pre-tech days and have adapted to the new ways of doing things. We also have an enthusiastic young crop of leaders who have only ever done this work in the digital age. Each generation teaches the other. Just as my brother and I learned from our dad that integrity is the most valuable thing in any toolkit, we’ve worked hard to pass that insight on to the upcoming leaders in our firm while encouraging them to embrace the new ideas that benefit the industry. And we learn from our younger counterparts how important it is to be open to the innovations that help us improve our work product.
Yes, technology is critical to our business and makes us better at what we do. But let’s face it: you can’t build anything without getting a little dirt on your hands. To be good at this job, you have to know how to work with both.
When my brother, Mike, and I opened VPCS in 1996 and printed our first-ever capabilities brochure, we promoted ourselves as “experienced construction and project managers.” Back then, that was an apt and accurate way to describe us. But in the 21 years since, we’ve evolved to do and be so much more. (And we’d prefer to think that we’re a couple of decades wiser, not older.)
These days, in addition to being even more experienced construction managers (CMs), we are also highly skilled program managers (PMs) capable of overseeing large-scale multi-site initiatives.
We’re currently hard at work on behalf of San Rafael City Schools, having been selected in 2016 to serve as PMs overseeing the eight-year, $269 million district-wide improvement program made possible by the passages of Measures A and B. While it’s not the largest PM assignment we’ve ever taken on (in terms of overall budget adjusted to current dollar value), it is definitely one of the most extensive and complex. It also serves as an interesting case study. By honing our CM skills over the course of decades, we have evolved into PMs capable of managing such a significant assignment.
Our first task in San Rafael was to evaluate the existing masterplan for the program. We worked closely with the District and designers (all top-notch professionals) to realign the masterplan to reflect the District’s latest goals and updated the budget accordingly. We are currently moving forward – getting things rolling in terms of permitting, design, scheduling, procurement, and community relations for every facet of the program.
Given the duration of any far-reaching program, market dynamics can shift dramatically as things go along. This will certainly be the case in San Rafael, as we are in the midst of a historically saturated marketplace in which prices are steadily on the rise. It’s our job to predict how those fluctuations will affect such factors as material costs and availability of labor, both in the near- and long-term. Between now and the end of the projected eight-year program, we need to keep a close and constant eye on budgets and schedules to minimize the possibility of surprises or interruptions.
Meanwhile, we must also remember that we’re here to serve the micro-communities within the district we represent. Any program of this size and scope is going to elicit a range of responses from members of the neighborhoods where work is taking place. Things can get political and personal very quickly, particularly in public forums. An element of any PM assignment is engaging in open, constructive communication with the community and ensuring citizens that the District is listening to their concerns. To be sure, this is a big part of our role in all of our program communities throughout the state.
The bottom line: program management is an incredibly complex business. The key to success is knowing how to anticipate and control the potential chaos of it all. I’m very proud to report that our San Rafael VPCS team is striving to maintain this control on a daily basis. We’re well suited to this assignment precisely because we’ve been in the trenches on so many individual sites (both in San Rafael and in dozens of other districts). We know exactly what to expect on the single-job scale, so we’re equipped to handle things on the much larger scale.
I see a lot of parallels here. Just as Mike and I have carefully scaled our business from its 1996 infancy to the robust operation we oversee today, so too have we scaled the firm’s ability to take on more substantial contracts. We’ve grown from our humble CM-centric beginnings into a regionally-respected company capable of managing virtually any program. Whatever the budget, the size of the community, the necessary staff, or the potential challenges, VPCS is up to the task. We may not be as young as we once were, but our CM and PM clients definitely get the benefit of those 21 years of know-how!
As of this writing, I’ve been a member of Team Van Pelt for just over a year. And what a difference a year can make.
I was brought onboard last April when Mark and Mike Van Pelt asked me to help with what was then a single assignment: to oversee the installation of solar panels at numerous school sites for the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD). It was an important initiative for the District and they chose to put this specific piece of work in the hands of VPCS. I was happy to take the reins on behalf of the firm.
In the twelve months since, our work with SJUSD has expanded to more than $20 million in work under management. The VPCS on-site crew in San Jose has grown from a one-man operation (me) to a group of five, with another one or two more people likely to join us in the near future.
While I’d love to report that my charm and wit are the reasons for this dramatic business growth, I have to give credit to a few other factors. All of us on the SJUSD VPCS team have employed some time-honored business practices since we’ve been here and I believe they’re at the heart of our good fortune.
Here are some things VPCS has done … at SJUSD and other projects … to nurture and grow the client relationship:
Exceed expectations. First and foremost, we always get crystal clear on what’s expected of us and then we strive to deliver even more than that. Good relationships usually happen when clients get more than they pay for.
Work transparently. Everything we write or produce on behalf of clients is visible to them. We work collaboratively, not separately, on their projects. Whatever’s going on – even the challenges that arise – they’ll hear about it.
Remain accessible. We encourage clients to come and go from our trailers and offices. These projects and our product belong to them. There’s nothing in our work space they shouldn’t have access to.
Adopt then improve processes. In San Jose, we began by listening to their processes and procedures, then – when appropriate – offered our perspectives on how we might make them even better. The result is a hybrid of best practices.
Don’t toe the line. Clients bring us on to lend our professional expertise. We don’t shy away from opportunities to voice our opinion in service to our clients and their projects.
Make the work also be about the people. We make the effort to get to know our clients beyond how well they match their job descriptions.
Form cohesive teams. We honor each VPCS team member’s personal and professional individuality while simultaneously melding a strong unit that functions well together on a project.
One year ago, Mike and Mark Van Pelt entrusted the SJUSD work to me. Since then, we’ve done more than simply grow our book of business with that one client. We’ve proven that delivering an outstanding work product that’s backed by integrity almost always opens the door to more opportunities. And it certainly makes the trip – whether it’s around the job site or around the sun – a lot more enjoyable.
If I were the protagonist in an afterschool special, my story would begin with the hopes and dreams of a young girl who wanted all her life to work in the construction business. She fought hard and battled bullies until she finally landed her dream career that would put her in the field on job sites, side-by-side with the guys who once doubted her.
But that’s not me. I arrived at VPCS more than 15 years ago sort of by accident, looking mostly for a change. Although I grew up with a contractor father who built our family home, I must admit that the roots of my own construction industry experience were planted unintentionally.
Still, I now find myself in a position I love, working in an industry I enjoy, at a firm I respect. Being a woman in the traditionally male-dominated world of construction wasn’t necessarily what I sought out, but it turns out to be a great fit for me.
I am one of several female project managers at VPCS. While there are definitely more men than women in this role (both at our firm and throughout the industry), I, for one, have never been made to feel professionally “less than” because of my gender. I feel really lucky to work for a company that’s basically gender-blind. Mark and Mike Van Pelt hired me – and then promoted me – because they saw my potential. My gender, like my relative lack of experience, was irrelevant. What mattered then and now is how well I do my job.
With only a few exceptions, I’ve encountered very little gender-oriented resistance in the field. Sure, I’ll occasionally deal with someone whose eyes aren’t quite wide open when it comes to women in this industry. But once they realize that I’m there to do my job (just like they are), the issues tend to dissipate and we can all get back to work.
The best part about being a woman in this field – especially being part of the VPCS team that concentrates on school campuses – is serving as a living, breathing example to young people that they can be anyone they want to be. Once, while I was working on-site at a high school, a teacher pulled me into her classroom to participate in a spontaneous conversation with her students. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to answer questions about the whats, hows and whys of my work. I will always appreciate how that teacher singled me out as an example of professional possibility, for both girls and boys.
Perhaps my most profound “woman in a man’s world” moment occurred on a middle school campus. I was overseeing a sidewalk concrete pour, being watched by the curious eyes of a crowd of pre-teen students. One boy turned to the girl next to him and said, “You know – you can’t do that.” Without thinking, I responded immediately, speaking directly to her. “That’s not true. You can do anything you want.” The boy seemed surprised, while the girl seemed pleased. “Yes,” she said with a smile.
I like to think that both of those students’ perspectives shifted a little in that moment. If seeing me do my job helped adjust their thinking about women in construction, if even just a bit, then the sidewalk wasn’t the only thing that got re-formed that day.
I recently returned to VPCS after taking a medical leave. Being sidelined by a long illness is nothing I ever planned. (I don’t think anyone “plans” a long illness.) But when it comes, it comes like a sleeper wave. Still, at the risk of sounding clichéd, the experience taught me a lot – and it now informs many of the ways I approach both my life and my work.
First, a little about my illness: I had been feeling “not myself” for several months. When things became unbearable, my husband took me to the emergency department. Beginning that afternoon, I was in a hospital (either in Santa Rosa or San Francisco) for 24 straight days. I was diagnosed with not one but TWO rare blood disorders, and the doctors assumed I would need a liver transplant. The short story is that my team at UCSF performed a successful stent procedure, the transplant was deemed unnecessary, the doctors and nurses were amazed at my recovery, and I was eventually sent home sweet home.
Although I now take medicine on a daily basis, I’m back to my old activities, including community volunteering, exercising, hiking, kayaking and cooking.
I’m also happily back at work as a project manager for VPCS.
It can be a daunting prospect to come back to work after a long absence, particularly if the time away was due to illness or injury. Luckily for me, I work for a company that has always emphasized the value of workplace communication. That really came into play when I was recovering at home. My VPCS family kept in regular contact with me, always focusing more on how I was feeling and less on when I would return to work. They approached my return to work in an open and sensitive manner, maintaining an open-door policy. I never felt pressured by them; I knew that I could come back whenever the time felt right to me.
There are actually a lot of parallels between managing illness and managing work in the busy world of construction. Learning how to tackle a serious medical issue has broadened my perspective on coordinating complex projects. In both scenarios, it’s important to find the critical path forward. There’s always the potential for stress and even some confusion, but staying on the straight and narrow will lead to the best outcome every time.
I will be eternally grateful to my co-workers, clients and the rest of the VPCS team for the flexibility and peace of mind they have given me throughout this odyssey. In an otherwise unpredictable situation, I’ve always known that I can rely on their unconditional support. The close-knit nature of the VPCS family extends to everyone in the company’s circle. And there’s nothing more important in life than family – be it personal or professional.
Everyone wants to work smarter, not harder. This is especially true in the construction field. Clients expect their projects to be completed quickly and cost-effectively, and they still (rightly) insist on high quality. Construction teams that rely on lean practices are in a better position to achieve these goals.
One of the active VPCS projects offers a great example. We are working on a door lock project for the San Jose Unified School District that involves more than 50 school and operational sites. This project will help the district schools comply with the shelter-in-place requirements associated with California’s AB 211 legislation, which took effect in 2011. (The law calls for new construction projects that go through the State Architect to include locks for doors of classrooms and other large rooms to be operable from the inside.) Down the road, our team will also install security alarms and security cameras throughout the district to comply with the same law.
We began by identifying a vendor for the locks and keys and met with them to discuss project goals. Together, we came up with hardware schedules and plans that were then carefully reviewed by both parties to ensure accuracy and quality when the construction work eventually took place. In addition, we met with the contractor to incorporate some of their insights into the construction plan.
The clients were also involved in the planning phase. VPCS team members met with each site’s principal and office staff prior to the design phase to listen to their ideas on how they would like their schools’ doors to be keyed. This ensured that the work would be done not just to district standards, but to these clients’ standards.
Communicating with and getting input from each member of an effort is fundamental to lean practices. Doing so on this project has allowed us to eliminate wasted money and time, and avoid potential errors by anticipating and solving them before they occur. Clients appreciate this as it makes for a quick and efficient process, and minimizes the demands on their already busy schedules.
We have completed the first ten schools, working closely with the contractor and vendor, and are on our way to starting the second and third batch of schools slated for improvements as part of this project. For each phase, we will follow the same plan and build on it using discoveries made on earlier sites. Those bidding on the remaining phases of the project (including the contractor from the first ten sites) will be delighted to know that our lean approach has yielded valuable information that will help them purchase materials and allocate their time with confidence.
The Van Pelt “family practice” favors a lean approach because it’s a method that works. As a relative newcomer to VPCS, I can attest to how easy it is to get up to speed on lean practices. It gets people involved, engaged and committed to quality. It has the power to open doors for everybody on the team.
Program and Construction Management has become more and more sophisticated through the years. At VPCS, we’ve been able to maintain the quality of our product while keeping up with the ever-changing expectations of the industry and – more importantly – our clients.
The application of meaningful technology has affected virtually every aspect of our business. These days, there seems to be an app for everything! So finding the proper balance between human and technological input has become part of our job. Operating in the eye of this technology hurricane, we are often lured down the road by the “be all, end all” construction software that promises to solve all of our daily challenges.
Along the way, we’ve discovered something pretty profound. It turns out that very few of these applications and software packages solve the most important aspect of our services: person-to-person communication supported by professional expertise with a touch of intuition tossed in for good measure.
Public works construction, at the ground level, remains a time-honored process. No computer or robot has yet to be developed that can match or replace the skill of an experienced craftsperson. Complex construction projects, many of them on occupied campuses, simply can’t be planned or assembled without human effort and interaction.
This is not to say that technology doesn’t have its place in our industry. VPCS uses software every day for document tracking and control to streamline operational processes. Architects and engineers use computerized design, including computer aided drafting, building information modeling solutions, etc.
Still, no piece of software can really get its hands dirty. Staying close to the ground is what sets VPCS apart from its competition.
New ideas don’t easily find their way into the world of construction. Whether it’s due to the age-old excuse of “We’ve been doing it this way for as long as we can remember” or just good-old fashioned resistance to change, the industry has not fundamentally altered its ways for many years.
As a result, our industry’s production stats have decreased in certain places while other industries have increased production exponentially.
Take the manufacturing realm, which has been steadily improving its production statistics for a while now. All because they’ve been open to being “lean” – a concept the construction industry has only very recently begun to adopt. But it’s an idea whose time has come, and one that can radically improve our processes as well as the buildings we construct.
To speak in very general terms, the lean concept focuses on optimizing workflows, removing waste, continually improving processes and making decisions that will add value to a project. If you think these sound like broad ideas, I agree with you. So I won’t attempt to explore here all the ways we can incorporate them into our construction practices. For the purposes of this post, we’ll touch on my favorite element: optimizing the team! (Watch this blog for more on other elements of the lean construction and design idea.)
Let me explain what “optimizing the team” means. If you think about it, you probably spend as much time during the week with your “construction family” as you do with your actual family. Strange but true, given the demanding hours in this business. So the bonds that tie together your team are extremely important and worth strengthening.
Why is that so important? Because a strong team is built on trust. When you know you can count on the people next to you to do their jobs, you won’t have to spend time double-checking their work or making multiple follow-ups to make sure they’re on task. You can rely on each individual’s commitment to achieve at the highest possible level so as not to let the team down. In other words, when a team is optimized, they are far more productive and less wasteful.
Everyone who works on a construction project is a member of the same team, even if we don’t work for the same company. We share the same goals of making a profit for all the companies working on the project (including our own) while delivering the best project with the highest value to the owner.
There are a couple of tools we use to do this. The first is co-location, which calls for all members of a construction team to work out of the same open office. Co-locating builds relationships across the entire team, streamlines the communication process, improves efficiencies, and simplifies the collaborative effort. My multiple experiences co-locating have all been met with great success.
There are different ways to achieve this at the company level. First, trust your employees and empower them to make strong, decisive decisions without having to check in with management at every turn. Second, make sure all companies that are part of a project team have the correct personnel on site who can make these decisions in the co-location space. Third, don’t work in silos and ask individuals to solve problems on their own. Instead, use your team and their strengths to resolve issues as they arise.
At VPCS, we’ve relied on these same tenets for our entire 20-year history. Now that these common-sense ideas are also recognized as the foundational ideas of lean design and construction, it’s easy for us to adapt. Building our business on these principles has allowed us to deliver higher-value projects — constructed by optimized teams — to our owner clients.
This month, I will attend my fourth California State University Facilities Management Conference, which is held every two years. As we prepare VPCS’s exhibitor booth, choose fun giveaways and assemble information on the long list of CSU major capital projects with which we’ve been involved, I’ve been thinking about the important relationship between VPCS and the CSU System.
The CSU Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime) gave VPCS our first major project way back in 1997. George Owens, a well-known figure in the CSU Facilities Management community, chose to entrust an important assignment to two guys just starting out on their own. It was a good call and a great fit . . . a new CM for a new CSU campus. In the nearly 20 years since, VPCS has managed every major capital project at Cal Maritime, as well as numerous projects at CSU campuses throughout the state. This is a fact we are more than a little proud of. The best part of this story is that years after that fateful day in 1997, George Owens ended up coming out of retirement to work for our firm. A former client interested in working on our team – truly the highest compliment.
This give-and-take, this strong and lasting client relationship, all started at CSU Cal Maritime. Now, that foundational assignment represents our relationship with the CSU system itself – a system that has given our firm so much! Yes, it’s allowed us to work on exciting new projects. But more profoundly, it’s given us an opportunity to collaborate with true professionals and to work within an environment of diversity, forward-thinking and creativity. It’s no coincidence that those very characteristics embody the true spirit of the Facilities Management Conference.
I have never left this conference without having picked up a new concept, a new delivery method or a new approach to planning/design. CSU is always looking for ways to reinvent itself; always striving for more success in capital planning, design, construction and facilities management. This aligns with the larger goals of higher education and resonates with those who have worked within and for the CSU system.
Attending the conference also gives me the opportunity to connect with a community of people with whom I have worked over the years. Like the conference itself, these individuals and the projects we have in common have shaped the way I manage construction. They’ve given me a template for success, which I also apply to my work in the K-12 arena. I catch myself saying over and over again, “Do you not have a process for that? Well let me share my experience with how the CSU system handles this kind of thing.”
I’m excited to see what this year’s conference has to offer. If you’d like more info about the processes, procedures and staff that make the CSU Capital Planning, Design and Construction program tick, check out their site here. Also, look for more updates from the conference in this blog and via Facebook and Twitter as the VPCS team shares what we learn.
Welcome to the new Van Pelt Construction Services blog. It’s one of the many exciting things we’re celebrating these days at VPCS.
First, we’re thrilled to unveil a brand new VPCSonline.com. It offers a complete picture of our firm, our people and our work – all wrapped in a beautiful modern design and presented in a format that’s easy to navigate from any device. We’ve included overviews of our core service offerings, as well as a rich collection of project summaries (complete with accompanying photos) spanning all the market segments where we operate.
This blog is one of the site’s most noteworthy features. It will continue to build as we fill it with insights, observations and news from VPCS team members who devote their time and attention to our many projects around the region. Alongside this debut entry, you’ll find posts from our two regional vice presidents, Kelli Van Pelt Jurgenson and Eric Van Pelt. Kelli writes about this month’s CSU Facilities Management Conference and reflects on the long and fruitful relationship shared by VPCS and the CSU system. Eric provides a glimpse into how and why lean design and construction is becoming the way of the future in the first of several posts in which he will delve more deeply into the elements of lean principles.
We created the new website and blog as part of a milestone event: our 20th anniversary. It’s sometimes hard to believe that my brother Mike and I established this business a full two decades ago. In the years since, we have had the great privilege of working for and alongside some of the finest professionals in the business. Respected educational institutions, school districts, healthcare systems and other organizations have entrusted us with their projects and their legacies. In turn, we have striven to provide a level of quality and service that demonstrate how seriously we appreciate the honor.
That original two-man operation that opened its doors in 1996 has grown steadily, carefully and strategically. Today, we are as proud of our expansive reach as we are of the fact that VPCS has never strayed from its day-one commitment to integrity. Whether you’ve been along for the ride with us since the beginning, or are a more recent addition to our “family,” we’re glad to have you. We are grateful, we are humbled, we are VPCS.
