Parker University Begins Fall Trimester with Assistance from Skiles Group; New and Rebuilt Facilities Transform Campus After 2019 Tornado Parker University’s ParkerFit gym, built by Skiles Group, opens for Fall 2021 and garners TEXO Distinguished Building Award. Dallas, TX, Oct. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following extensive tornado destruction on its campus in October of 2019, Parker... read more
D Magazine: Part 2- The Hyper-Volatility Driving Today’s Construction Materials Market
ZANDY: Concerning forecasting, how are you managing this volatility? How are you trying to give GCs or owners accurate prices—and who’s carrying the escalation? What are you guys doing to leverage your risk contractually? PRESSLEY: We used to live in a market where pricing could be locked in for 30, 60, or 90 days from the bid date of a project, and then distributors had no issue holding the pricing for the... read more
D Magazine: Part 1- The Hyper-Volatility Driving Today’s Construction Materials Market
This conversation may not reveal things we want to hear, but instead, things we need to hear. The more we can inform our clients, the better off we’re all going to be. So, the hopeful purpose of this talk is for all of us to better understand what is going on with the hyper-volatility driving today’s construction materials. I feel like the big-ticket items—drywall framing, structural steel, mechanical... read more
The Zweig Letter: Are You Rewarding the Wrong Heroes?
There are a lot of heroes in our companies, but some are less noticeable. Their successes are quieter and less dramatic, but no less valuable. We wear our long hours as a badge of honor in our industry, swapping tales of how we saved the day and what we endured to rescue a project from the jaws of failure. Throughout my career, I’ve shared war stories and heard my mentors’, peers’, and employees’ stories of... read more
Definitely NOT just another day at the office!
It took one Blackhawk helicopter plus coordination with over 40 people from four companies—across four hours on a Sunday—to move and set four separate 3-ton AHU pieces on an active Methodist Health System hospital in South Dallas. This video shows just a little of this work, which we couldn't have done without DynaTen Corporation, 5 State Helicopters and DFW Movers &... read more
D CEO Real Estate: Healthcare Delivery and Facility Design Advancements for a Post-Pandemic World
COVID-19 has shaped the future of healthcare—and healthcare construction. Keyan Zandy sat down with Pam Stoyanoff (president and COO with Methodist Health System) and Mark Criswell, AIA, LEED AP (principal with GUIDE Architecture, LLC) to discuss lessons learned, emerging trends, underutilizing real estate, and more. You can read their conversation on D CEO's Real Estate... read more
The Zweig Letter: Mental Health Matters
The construction industry has the highest suicide rate across all industries. In fact, the suicide rate in construction is about four times greater than the national average, and five times greater than that of all other construction fatalities combined. This sobering information, provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, is hard to believe. But why does construction have the highest suicide... read more
The Zweig Letter: After the Pandemic
Here’s a statement on which I think we can all agree: The pandemic has been difficult and created obstacles for everyone, and in every industry. This public health crisis has highlighted or exacerbated existing issues that were previously hidden, created entirely new problems that now need a resolution, and changed aspects of the way we work – and think about working – with other people. But while change is... read more
Smart Safety Earns Patent
Smart Safety, the crisis management app that we created, continues to break new ground in the construction industry! Originally made to enhance crisis management response times on jobsites, Smart Safety has begun to redefine emergency action planning through its innovative technology—which has now earned a patent for our COO, Keyan Zandy, and his innovation partner, Manmeetsingh Sethi! These kinds of accolades are... read more
The Lean Builder: Old School Construction Lessons for New School Builders
I have seen and survived a lot in my 40 years as a superintendent in the construction industry. However, none of those experiences could have prepared me for the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This year was hard on many, for different reasons. As for me, I lost a couple of mentors who helped shape my career. The efforts these men took to share their knowledge and experience with me helped to mold... read more