Delivering on Time Under Difficult Circumstances
Adam Gutierrez is the Vice-President of Phoenix Masonry and has been with the company since its founding in 2010. A Denver native, Adam is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys recreational activities such as riding his side-by-side utility vehicle, a Polaris RZR, and practicing marksmanship. He loves the Colorado sunshine and spending quality time with his family, including his three boys.
At work, he’s all business. And these days, you have to be. The commercial construction industry is facing multiple threats and challenges brought about by the ongoing pandemic. Adam is on the front lines for Phoenix Masonry, making sure that the current job sites are progressing according to schedule. In our latest company blog, he discusses how they continue to deliver quality work on time under difficult circumstances.
On the Biggest Challenge Facing Commercial Contractors
“The biggest challenge we’re currently facing is staffing. Hopefully we can get more people feeding into the industry, but it’s been really difficult. In some ways, the work that we do kind of feels like a dying art, but the reality is that a lot of people are just not willing or interested in the manual labor trades anymore. We’re trying to do our best to recruit and retain a new generation of skilled laborers. Phoenix Masonry is very involved with apprenticeship programs to attract the younger crowd and get people interested in masonry work. We do offer apprenticeships with in-house training, and we try to place at least one on each job site. That’s the best experience—for them to be in the field working under a job foreman that’s teaching them the day-to-day trade. We have to create those future bricklayers.”
On Going Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
“The problem of understaffing has a way of trickling down with project work. It can lead to disorganization, lack of the right equipment, and affect the coordination of deliveries. The best way to meet these challenges is to keep an open line of communication between the general contractors and subcontractors to keep everyone working as a team. We’ve had the opportunity to step up and take on some additional responsibilities when the situation called for it. Even if we’re going beyond our original scope, we’re always trying to find a way to help. That builds relationships and helps Phoenix Masonry maintain its reputation as a dependable partner.”
On Shifting Resources
“When it comes to staffing, there are times when we’ve had to work with the general contractor to shift our manpower to accommodate scheduling challenges on multiple projects. If a certain job doesn’t have the materials and supplies to match our crew, we’ll pull them off the project and relocate them to other projects. It takes a continual amount of coordination to make the best decisions.”
On Becoming the “Go-To” Masonry Contractor
“Even under difficult circumstances, we’ve never missed a deadline and that’s a credit to our staff. Phoenix Masonry has kind of developed that relationship as a company where, if another basic contractor can’t perform, they know that they can call us. We’ll figure out a way to get it done for them. We’ve taken over several projects in the last few years where another company’s schedule changed, and they were unable to complete a job and we were able to come in and finish it. It’s helped Phoenix to become that ‘go-to’ mason right now, because that’s the kind of the reputation that we’ve developed. Just give us a call, and we’ll figure out a way to help you.”
On Working with Phoenix
If you’re looking for a dependable partner for your next project, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to learn more about the work and demonstrate how we can be of service. At Phoenix, we value the trust our partners place in us and strive to complete your project with integrity, craftsmanship, and timeliness.