Thoughts from the field

It’s that time of year again when people take a moment to reflect, express appreciation and give good old-fashioned thanks. Here at VPCS, we have a lot to be thankful for – individually and as an organization. In the spirit of the season, we asked our team to share a...

We’ve all heard the adage that you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. This is certainly solid advice in certain contexts. But I believe there’s great value in building professionally appropriate personal relationships with clients. It’s the kind of intangible that...

Precision is always important in the construction business, but those of us who work on hospital projects understand the critical nature of what we do. In the healthcare segment, doing our job well can literally be a matter of life and death. We know this, we abide by...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...