Building Futures in Construction

Q: What started your career in electrical?

A: I was going to quit college and ran across an old neighbor who was in the field. He told me that if I was looking for a job to give him a call, so I did.

Q: How were you introduced to CSC and Building Automations?

A: When I started at CSC I was working for a sub-contractor doing the installs. When that sub-contractor went out of business during one of our installations with CSC I just moved over so I could finish the job. I want to believe that was 17 years ago.

Q: What does your day-to-day look like?

A: My day-to-day here is scheduling our in-house manpower. It’s also coordinating with the sub-contractors who are doing our sub-work, coordinating with the project managers, and the design guys with any questions we have.

We are starting a new job next week and we are trying to find out the logistics because it’s night work. What time can we start? Is there going to be a way to access the building? Do we need keys, cards, what’s the day to day of how we get in and how we maneuver around the job.

Q: What is something about your job that some don’t realize is so important?

A: Honestly, the amount of coordination goes into filling our schedule every week. I talk to my installer’s multiple times per week, and I talk to all my project managers every week. I just try to make sure to communicate to make sure jobs run smoothly.

Q: What do you enjoy the most about your position?

A: It’s not the same every time. Theres always a different project, environment. It’s just not cut and dry every day. Theres such a variety of what we do and where we do it, I would say it’s the best part about my job.

Q: What challenges you in the day-to-day?

A: Probably just workload, just managing the workload and the different personalities of everyone I work alongside.

Q: How has technology changed since you started?

A: I believe we are on the third generation of controllers so it has changed immensely. What we do and how we do it has stayed pretty much the same but the products we use to do it has changed.

Q: What advice would you give someone looking for a career in Building Automation?

A: We have lots of different options to do here from my group the installers to the startup group, I think its just ever changing. I think it’s the way of the future, all these schools want to save money so I don’t see us going away any time soon. Theres always the opportunity to get a better system and save money in the process.

Q: Do you have any wisdom for the younger generation?

A: Learn how to work hard. Theres nothing that supplements hard work. I can teach anybody controls, I cannot teach somebody how to work hard.

Q: How did you end up working at CSC?

A: I was working downtown at an events based food service job, training to take over for the controller. Because of Covid, there were no more events. I joined a temp agency who placed me at CSC. After the temp period was over, I was offered a job!

Q: What does your day-to-day look like?

A: A lot of e-mails, invoices, and bills. I make sure we bill properly and for the right thing. I make sure we have the right parts, and all our accounts are current.

Q: How did your previous experience play into your role at CSC?

A: Basic Customer Service skills go a long way in any industry. When it comes to phone etiquette especially, no one wants to talk about money to someone obviously having a bad day, or doesn’t want to be on the phone with you.

Q: What’s one thing you wish people understood about your position?

A: If I don’t know about a bill, I can’t pay a bill! Communication is extremely important for any company and accounting team, and it’s always a two way street. I don’t know if everyone out in the field realizes that accounting is the heart of it. If we don’t buy the parts, there’s nothing to install. It’s a big circle.

Q: What advice would you give the younger generation?

A: I’m learning new things all the time. If you don’t like to learn, you probably don’t want to be in this industry. Things are always changing & evolving. Better ways to do this or that. Technology is always changing and making things better. Start to love to learn.

Q: What was your first job and how did it lead you to where you are today?

A: First job out of college was in 1984 as an electrical engineer.

Q: How did you get into Building Automation from Electrical Engineering?

A: I was in quality control, but I always wanted to be in construction. So, I kept talking to the folks in the facilities group where I was working and eventually, like 6 years after I started, I got on. I’ve always loved that piece, I’ve always loved construction, home building to big buildings, the built world is just exciting to me.

Q: What first introduced you to CSC and WebCTRL?

A: As part of that, just about every project we did there was very mechanical and very HVAC driven therefore it had controls. I always wondered “What is that? It seems like magic” As part of that, all my buildings were using a product that I wanted to get replaced, which introduced me to Control Service Company. At the Data Center, they had WebCTRL set up there. I went over there and was just amazed by their product. John Crownhart came out and talked to me, looked at my building and talked me through what it would take to take it over. I ended up leaving there before they converted the building to WebCTRL. Ended up taking a position as the Director of Operations at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in the middle of building the Bloch building and the newer campus that you see there now. We ended up saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by switching to WebCTRL

Q: What career advice would you give someone coming out of college?

A: Its difficult to me and anyone I think to really understand where you want to go. ? I was in electrical and really thought that was my world and it’s much more mechanical now so to figure that out, you just have to get in someplace. Just get someplace, get in the trades, get into whatever excites you right now. You really have to do to figure out what you want to do. You just have to get in there and figure it out and it will lead you to the places you need to go.

Q: Did you ever think you would end up where you are now

A: Its amazing where you end up. I ended up in the best possible place I could end up. I knew it was the greatest product in the world and I didn’t ever think I would be selling that product. John Crownhart kept talking to me over the years saying “you really ought to come work for me”. I didn’t know why he wanted that. I didn’t know why he wanted me as a salesperson but I figured it out quickly. My first sale was to blue cross blue shield and I quickly figured out was the first thing I needed to do was go to their CEO and say “here’s some things you really need to do here’s some cost savings and some energy savings you’ll find as a result of this” and this was the same thing I would do as a facilities director. I would go to my CEO and say, “You really ought to do this because…” and after I figured that out, I figured, maybe I really am made to be a salesman.

Q: Where did you go to school and what did you study?

A: I went to the University of Missouri for Mechanical Engineering.

Q: What was your original goal to use your degree for?

A: I wanted to get into more Engineering that helped people when I graduated and would be more of an asset to my community. That’s how I got into more of the Energy sector.

Q: What did you do before coming to CSC?

A: My previous company did Engineer- Procure- Construct assignments. I really liked being able to see from the design to having a finished building. Usually, Engineers don’t get to see what they produce. It’s special when you not only get to see the design, but your physical contributions.

Q: What does your current day look like?

A: My job right now is to look at current client’s Building Automation Systems and seeing how they can be more energy efficient. I also help with expanding to new clients and showing our system’s energy savings.

Q: How are you enjoying Building Automations?

A: It’s really cool to me how so many commercial, municipal, and educational buildings have and need a well functioning BAS. It’s really the backbone of energy savings. Without a well-functioning BAS, systems just run however they want or need manual adjustments to be efficient. Without an automated system, it’s easy to lose the real energy efficiency among all the tasks.

Q: What’s your favorite part of the job?

A: Getting to dig deep into our system and the tools we use is my favorite part. We actually had WebCTRL at the last company I worked at, but I didn’t know anything about the system. It was truly eye-opening how much is built into the system that isn’t being utilized and that can help buildings conserve energy. One of my goals is just getting the word out about our products. We already have so many elements that make well optimized systems, engineers just need to use them and we can help.

Q: What advice would you give to someone thinking of a similar career path?

A: When I started college, I had no idea how diverse the engineering field was. You almost have to get into your career field by happenstance. Start doing something and see if you like it or not. Don’t get caught up in thinking you have to be in a certain field. Explore the possibilities and if you don’t like it, find something else.

Q: How did you end up working at CSC?

A: I went to trade school for welding/pipefitting out of high school and after traveling and working I came back home and joined the plumber’s union here in KC. Before I got into the HVAC side of the industry I didn’t even really know BAS existed on a scale like this. I just never ran into anything that we do here in the field.

Q: What are some of your normal duties?

A: Checking what jobs sales have put into our machine that we need to price. Writing scopes of work to send to electrical subcontractors for install quotes. Writing scopes of work to send to electrical subcontractors for install quotes. Going through drawings and specs to determine what material and labor are needed for potential projects. Pricing and writing proposals for change orders that come through on current projects.

Q: What’s one part of your job that people might not realize is so important?

A: We must walk a fine line between accuracy and speed. Bid deadlines wait for nobody, but missed material can add up to 10’s if not 100’s of thousands of dollars we will be on the hook for providing.

Q: What kind of projects or challenges get you the most excited?

A: The weird buildings are the best to bid. Labs with specialty equipment, venues, historic buildings, stadiums…

Q: What do you enjoy most about the work you do?

A: The moment you get a contract for a job that you worked hard on, it’s a great sense of accomplishment and like all the hard work paid off.

Q: How do you keep learning in such a fast-changing industry?

A: Curiosity is a necessity in our field. Every day new products and processes are changing and if you want to continue to be better, you have to be open to learning.

Q: What advice would you give to someone considering a career in construction?

A: Being in the field and in the office are both hard work. They can both be very rewarding if you enjoy what you do and who you work with. You get out what you put in.

Q: Where did you go to school and what degree did you pursue?

A: I went to school at K-State for Mechanical Engineering.

Q: What did you imagine for your future career while you were in school?

A: I wanted to be able to solve problems and help people In some way and have some impact in the world. What that looked like when I was a freshman, I wasn’t really sure.

Q: What was your original interest in BAS?

A: I just thought it was cool that there was a way to control a whole building and all of the equipment in it from one central place.

Q: What do you do as an Engineer for CSC?

A: I work to make prints for the field guys. I lay out the wiring diagrams, so they have a smoother installation process. And I try to make sure that all of it is catalogued nicely so that the customer can see what’s in their building and so that if we come back years later to work on that building again, then we will be able to accurately see what all is there.

Q: What projects have you worked on in your year at Control Service Company?

A: I’ve worked on a couple of hospitals, a couple of public buildings, a library, a prison.

Q: What has been your experience with CSC so far?

A: CSC is a really welcoming company in general. Everyone is really friendly and they have done a good job of onboarding me so I understand everything. They also have been really friendly and understanding that I don’t know everything coming into it.

Q: What advice do you have for those in college?

A: The thing about college that’s really helpful for any career is figuring out how to solve those hard problems. That never really stops. Just stick with it, it’s worth it. It’s hard but you’ll get through it.

Q: What should people know about Building Automations?

A: With building automations in general it’s not always obvious to people that there are so many sophisticated systems within a building. So, when you walk into a large building like a library, or a school, the air conditioning just works, and you don’t really think about it. It all comes down to understanding the equipment we are working with and what it takes to control it. On the engineering side, there’s expertise that you really wouldn’t think, just a lot of knowledge that comes from years of experience.

Q: What first drew you to BAS or the Construction Industry?

A: What kind of drew me towards BAS was my first job out of college was working in the mainframe industry in data centers so I did a lot of data center work. When I got into the data center world, that’s when I started seeing technicians on the BAS side of it and getting a feel for that and it interested me.

Q: How were you introduced to BAS?

A: I started out in the late 90’s in the data center world. I was working at maintaining mainframes and doing all the technical aspects of it. I had no idea what BAS even was. I couldn’t even tell you what the acronym meant. I hadn’t heard of it in my life, and it wasn’t until I got into the mainframe data center setting that I started to run across people that were working in that field.

Q: What does your typical day look like?

A: I’m in project management so I have a lot of projects that I’m trying to corral and keep moving forward. My day-to-day is typically jumping in and addressing my active projects and seeing where we are at. What issues I need to handle, where I need to send people, crews, what meetings do I have pertaining to those projects. It’s basically keeping my projects moving forward and resolve any issues. I’m constantly trying to heard everything and keep it moving forward.

Q: What is part of your job most people may not realize is so important?

A: financials, scheduling, solving problems before your crew even gets on site. Theres a ton of stuff that needs to happen in the background. So it’s a lot of background noise and minutia that needs to be handled before anybody is even looking at your project.

Q: How has the industry changed since you started?

A: The rapid pace of projects, the way they move. They seem to move a lot faster these days. Timelines are much tighter, especially with the advent of technology today. With AI rising, everybody is in a rush to get a data center built, power ran here, whatever to make something happen to be ahead of their competitor.

Q: What makes the industry rewarding to you?

A: Working with teams, working with customers to solve their problems, addressing their issues and presenting solutions for them.

Q: What advice would you give to someone new to the industry?

A: Be prepared to stay focused. It’s a fast-paced industry. Theres a lot of facets to it. Stay driven, stay focused, and that’s about it.

If you’re interested in learning more about a career at CSC, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Head over to our careers page to see what positions are available and submit a resume.