SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Zach Gerhardt: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

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Hello! My name is Zach Gerhardt and I’m a New Construction Project Engineer Intern with McKinstry for the summer of 2020. Over the last few weeks, I have begun to get a feel for McKinstry’s culture. In a time as uncertain as we are living in right now, strong leadership is as important as ever. By listening to company executives, getting to know my project team, and virtually socializing with other interns, I have been able to experience this leadership firsthand. In a time like this, being able to count on your friends, family, and coworkers to be there for you is paramount.

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Clarissa Ferreira: Getting to know me & my journey to McKinstry’s B.L.U.E. Program

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My name is Clarissa Ferreira and I am a construction intern in the Phoenix office. I enjoy outside activities like hiking and off-roading—when the Arizona heat permits. I love country music, traveling and am a huge foodie. Usually—on the weekends—I can be found out at a food truck festival, sightseeing in a new city, or hanging out with my family.

Clarissa Ferreira.

I started out as an architecture and construction management dual major at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and it didn’t take me long to realize I don’t think like an architect. I just didn’t find as much passion for being artistic and creative as I’d originally thought I would. I ended up moving back to my native Arizona and taking some time off to be with my family. I am currently a senior and a construction management major at Arizona State University (ASU).

I come to McKinstry with more than six years of experience in the construction field. Before transferring to ASU, I worked as an administrative assistant (in the engineering and work management departments) and participated in “fire watch” during outages at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Tonopah, Ariz. Fire watch was a hands-on safety experience. Staff paired with welders and pipe-fitters to go out into the shutdown unit and monitor as workers made repairs to mitigate the chance of fire.

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Innovation is thriving at McKinstry

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Whether you’re talking about technology, systems, hiring or even building materials, the answer is the same: The construction industry is ripe for innovation. As our computers and phones have gotten more and more sophisticated, our buildings haven’t always kept up. However, this won’t be the case for much longer! As we celebrate International Women’s Day and Women in Construction Week, we spoke with three women at McKinstry who are on the front lines of innovation in the built environment:

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What is “Total Cost of Ownership,” and why does it matter?

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Blueprints

“Blueprints” is a new Spark series exploring McKinstry’s core business philosophies from our leaders’ perspective. This is the first story in the series, from McKinstry’s CEO: Dean Allen.

Whether you’re shopping for a car or building a skyscraper, your goal is the same: making decisions that maximize value and minimize cost over the long-term.

Constructing a multi-story building is obviously a bit more complex than buying a minivan, but the principle remains the same in both cases: educated decision-makers with comprehensive information in hand will make superior choices.

When it comes to being fully informed, there’s no better strategy than conducting a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis. TCO may sound like an intimidating and technical concept, but it’s much like the process of buying a car.

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Why (and how) the construction industry needs to embrace big data

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BigDataPhoto

Photo by Torkild Retvedt, via Flickr.

While building systems and technologies are capitalizing on opportunities to take advantage of the current technological revolution, the construction industry mainly continues to lag behind more advanced, innovative approaches used by other industries to leverage the most out of big data resources.

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