Industry sign banking montana job description template mobile
all right everybody welcome to our business panel discussion for Montana contractors my name is Meg Krause I'm a business development executive for first call computer solutions and preventively you that are unfamiliar with our organization we are a full resource technology company we specialize in IP managed services advanced security services voice over IP network design and implementation and we also help small businesses with websites I'd like to kick this discussion off by introducing David Smith David is Montana Contractors Association executive director he joined the staff of the Association in 2018 and prior to taking the home of MCA he served as a chief executive officer of the Helena family YMCA for almost a decade he was leading several high-profile capital campaigns for facilities improvements and instituting new innovative programs to improve membership David also spent 14 years as the president chief executive officer at the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce so he definitely has his finger on the pulse of Montana contractors um David can you give us a state of the industry introduction sure Thank You Meg and thanks everybody for tuning in today just to start off I guess a little background construction and its impact in Montana non-residential construction is about 1.5 billion dollars worth of construction across the state total construction is almost three billion which is about six percent of the state's gross domestic product so it's it's it's a significant portion of what happens in our state and address certainly drives a lot of economic factors as as we've entered the coronavirus challenges nationally there's almost a million people in the construction industry who have lost their jobs then unfortunately that's obviously not a good number its comparative probably to some of the other ones our observation is that probably a lot of that has and in the highly dense areas Chicago now New York some of the East Coast areas and uh I think more than anything else so it's probably occurred a lot in the residential construction area there's a lot been a lot of residential projects that have been put on hold a residential house does not take the length of time to build that a building or a highway does so it's easier to pull the plug start stop get back at it later so real quick on from Montana Department of Transportation vehicle miles traveled during the month of April not surprising is down about 43 percent across the state but because of the way the gas tax is collected at the storage facility not at the pump the gas tax collections are only projected to be down about 7% by the end of June which is the state's fiscal year that's still 18 million dollars which is not anything to sneeze at the MBT is projecting for next year would be down about 20% which would be 50 million dollars and again that's to sneeze at some of the things that are affecting contractors 30 percent of building materials come from China so I think that'll be a big rebound or not rebound but whiplash effect probably in the six to 18 months ahead of us there was a report from The Associated Building ABC associated building I forget there's some madness of acronyms in anyway they they're the backlog of projects in the building site of construction is now down to seven point eight months and that's OS that that's been since 2012 so there's been a nice backlog that some allowed contractors to kind of feather out their projects and that might be compressed a little bit as we go forward in that it's in the coming months so there's also just Smith Meishan that just came out I was on a webinar earlier today from the Bureau of Business and Economic Research about projections of the recovery we can talk about that some other time too but we're in this for a couple of years it looks like okay great thank you so much David really appreciate you being here by the way thank you so next before we get started I'd just like to introduce the other two panelists that we have with us today one is John Kapus he's a Missoula native as well as the president of Western excavating John has spent 26 years in the water utility world where he worked on the board with much of that time spent on disaster preparedness so he has a lot to say about this subject right now that includes being assured that an essential service or as an essential service that water utilities could provide water service to the community and under a pandemic situation so welcome John I really look forward to your input here is there anything else that you'd like to talk about in terms of viewer history especially with this preparedness stuff May thank you for having me um I think yeah a lot of a lot of work went into the path deck until services into and I think that a lot of that that foundation is helping make sure the essential services are working not only in utilities but also in the contract but I think there was there's a lot that we've learned when we went into the real world situation on a pandemic that just couldn't be anticipated and maintaining the flexibility so that as news comes out every day the things you need every day to be able to continue to provide service and adjust accordingly look forward to this discussion and during what we've got for you as an organization to be able to continue to serve in these interesting times to say the least well thank you so much for doing all the hard that you have and I really appreciate your time here today so so next we also have Connor Smith he is the CEO of first call computer solutions sokar also be my boss has spent over 26 years in the high-tech industry in Montana he really focuses on people because no business can be successful in the long term unless it listens to its customers to understand what they're trying to achieve and you know the truth is that from the technology perspective that's a really important thing to do you cannot solve problems if you don't understand people are going and I really look forward to your thoughts around some of this is well Connor thanks thanks both of you to be joining us happy to be here happy to be in Montana and happy to help all businesses work through this you know technology is a component and it really boils down to teamwork as organizations are struggling to figure out you know it's all these new norms going on how they can best get the job done and do it effectively and make for a safer and better workplace so however we can contribute here to help great thank you very much so as far as my role today I'm going to be moderating the discussion and I'll be managing the questions so if anyone has questions throughout the the conversation please don't hesitate to throw those into the chat I'll be watching them you'll notice that I'm turning my head everyone so else because I have a separate screen so don't mind me I'm watching out for your questions and making sure that those get answered in a timely manner okay so moving on just a quick agenda here at the end of the day we all want our customers thinking about their workplace right which is going to mean different things to different organizations there's lots of complexity involved with the coveted pandemic and its economic effect there's lots of complexity around the key things we've identified to hell you know this conversation go through but at the end of the day these five key things that we've identified are basically what we want to talk about today so what's changed what hasn't changed what's continuing to change within the industry what are the good things that we can take away from this and where's the opportunity right the five key things also break down into work is still work the norms are changing and within those norms there's distance cleanliness and teamwork that are all changing we're also going to touch base a little bit on the phases of this process and then lastly we want to we want to touch on just how data the technology piece plays a role in all of these shifts does anyone have anything to add in terms of edge and agenda okay so we've identified these key contractor functions right at the end of the day I totally recognize that there are other functions that can be associated with contracting but we all know that there's accounting estimating design job management procurement cost control and record management they all exist within contractors so we're thinking about all of those things through this discussion so let's get to work place to start with since we've introduced that first what's changed what hasn't what continues to change where is the good where's the opportunity what is the paradigm shift if you will when I spoke to you last week David you said you'd like to ask people what keeps them up at night right can you start with your perspective on workplace and these key questions I'd like to hear from you John after that well I think it was a it really was keeping contractors and a lot of employers in other industries as well awake at night one how they were going to fill all the jobs that they had on their their to-do list and that's probably why that figure I've mentioned earlier was so so large of the the backlog of projects is because they just didn't have enough employees to get to it in in January the Bureau of Business and Economic Research put out a staff that said 63 percent of high school seniors said they would not take a job in the construction industry even if it paid $100,000 a year yeah people are they should try sitting at a desk for 25 years yeah well that's what they're gonna get they don't want that though my takeaway from that was that's awesome we just eliminated 63% of the people who might be in the wrong career or vocation so how do we find the 38% and go after them from contracting perspective so now the paradigm shift that's come about today is that maybe there's some contraction going on maybe there's somebody who is analyzing a little bit more do we need one more employee or one less employee do we let the projects as I've said feather out a little bit or do we try to you know change that and and although this isn't a huge impact on the construction industry what does the whole work from home phenomenon going to result in it's probably in the big cities it's probably going to result in fewer office buildings being built it may result in cubicle farms coming back and people working in cubicles but morning brew did a survey last week and they they came back they said 60% of the people who have an opportunity to work from home would love to continue that opportunity so there's a huge you know we're trying to build these big monoliths and in towns and maybe that's not what's gonna happen I mean again we're talking Montana here so that clearly isn't a huge factor but it I mean an office building whether it's 60 floors or two floors is still an impact of one way or another sorry last thing I want to throw out on this is I saw another thing that this week the the Pittsburgh Airport is in the middle of a just getting ready to start on a big expansion and remodel and they 8th called timeout and they're totally redesigning it based on all the co vyd standards and what we think we're gonna be needing in the future so got to be nimble to be in the construction industry and got to be you know creative and and out in front of some of these things - so okay John you were in the West book excavating business before kovat you know is it safe to assume you're still on the excavating business business but it definitely has change the excavating business I agree with think that how it's gonna change the world as far as how it impacts construction but I'll talk more about the excavation kind of zeroing in on that one thing that's the same is that what keeps me up at night is the safety employees I mean we're constantly putting our employees and also always having it look at how do we employ they're going into a trance trench box safety they're going up ladder think ladder safety so this this is just a new how do we keep our employees safe in the situation so it's not agree I think the construction world is able to handle that better because we think of it every day forever by keeping that in our culture and reminding employees that this isn't necessarily something usual as far as how we have to focus on everything because it's a new safety issue we have to deal with it's helped employees kind of stay within what we're good at and that is how it does have the impacts and how we do the work just like before people could jump into a trench without a trench box even trans boxes we had to rethink how our processes work how we get certain jobs and so look now we have to keep our employee separate by six feet or wear face masks for Tet or some sort of barrier how does that change how is it going to change when we get into the hot weather it's kind of nice now people are fine but there are they we wear face masks and and you really can't miss it's a challenge we have you can't maintain six feet of separation Bangkok work can do in get incremental boxes so how do we protect our employees under those those scenarios and so that's that's what we've been working on probably the most is is that change at the change to continue to be the excavation company continue to do the work we've been doing but under the you said safety we're gonna wrap this and I don't think it's just in the short term I think you know these safety practices are gonna continue on for quite some time yeah sounds like it I would agree it's definitely a 9/11 type moment you know there there are certainly people potentially on this webinar that don't remember going to the airport before 9/11 and what you know that used to be like versus what it's like you know today so I think it has lasting changes in terms of the the office spaces and buildings and things along those lines you know people there's a lot of people - if you survey em that are yearning you know to get back to the office and around their peers and to be in that professional setting and there's so many different factors you know that those immeasurables of what you learn and gain you know from being in an office and I know it's a kind of a buzzword now around remote work but I definitely think organizations need to be thinking about not so much remote work but flexible work and if you really keep that as kind of your guiding light all of those factors were there any way before kovat I've given the demands on families with two working parents all the different you know things that we're trying to get done in our lives mobility you know people just need that flexibility so strong encourage contractors and as they're working you know with with the developers and all those types of things it just heat that flexibility is kind of your your your main goal yeah absolutely what about I got some just questions on in terms of the opportunity now there's challenges with this but David or John anything you know there's the operational changes that people can make you know any opportunities that you're seeing in that and then in terms of people's business models and the types of services that they offer and you know is this opening up any new potential markets to people you know or the way you deliver it a lot of your stuff requires hands-on in the fields enough but but anything new or innovative that you're hearing out there well I'll go first I mean there's there's several things that I think are important to know here first of all the construction industry as a whole has been one of the slowest industries to embrace technology and I saw something where of the top 15 companies that are investing in construction technology the top 14 are not construction companies so the 15th is caterpillar so it's other people see the opportunity the construction industry hasn't quite seen it yet too but they are we are seeing some things that are very creative there's robots that can go into buildings and do surveys at night after the work is done to measure how much has been completed during the day John probably knows the use of drones anymore is is very prevalent and you go talk to a high school kid they think construction is gross but then you show them you know a three thousand dollar drone looks pretty cool yeah exactly um cloud-based like lik
pre manufacturing and you know getting things more built you know off-site and then bringing it on-site there's a there's a I think it's a I want to say it's about a sixty story hotel right in downtown it's a Marriott product in downtown New York City on Manhattan that's belt entirely in a warehouse in New Jersey and they're gonna bring it in and in three weeks assemble it on-site so I mean think about the magnitude of that especially in a state like Montana if there's opportunities to build in warehouses rather than on a 20 degree below zero day those are the things that are gonna be exciting still gotta excavate you can't change the temperature of the the ground right so that's kind of the exciting sexy stuff but John what a you know what are your peers talking about you know in the real world on the ground well I think it definitely is pushing acceptance of new technology and you know even our employee group last year we had we had moved into electronic time cards and there was definitely some close back and we had the normal you know issues but trying to get people to use their false but in time cards boy with this pandemic all of a sudden employees really like the fact that he Nets coming in the office they didn't have to fill out paper time cards and so there was an instant embracing of that we also then if like I said it made us really refocus on our processes and one of the things we look at what where are we missing technology that are pierced we do we sell to customers so how are we interacting with the customer how can we make sure that the customer feels safe get a good customer service and so I I love that point John of not only can you reinvent a lot of your delivery process and just record-keeping process but you can reinvent the customer experience process you know to and I think it's necessary to reinvent that customer experience process and I think it's going to be important for business is going forward that they really look at that customer and say okay we're gonna have to deal with customers I think this is nothing the customers have really are scared of what's going on and so how do we interact to make sure we make all those customers comfortable and so that's a challenge but it's it's it definitely is providing opportunities for us to really rethink how we're we're interacting with our customer and I think you know for us we've done we've taken some steps that we will leave in place because they are definitely improvements that I don't know if we would have gotten to in the next five years I think they all right what about the demographic changes you know in the workforce you know as David you pointed out you know it's it's an older traditional industry you know but there's a lot of new blood coming in you know is there opportunity you know in terms of their energy you know the way that they interact you know to build off of that that may be the industry's been a little resistant - yeah and it sometimes changes thrust upon you like John said that you know maybe this is exactly what the construction industry needed to be thinking outside the box on on this and and working with employees I mean they there's a different you can't have flexible hours if you're building a road I mean the behave right back down at certain times it's got to be done in a certain way you can't have somebody saying well I've hit my 40 hours I've got to go home so a lot of a lot of you know social intellectual changes need to become as well in future the workforce minds of the HR what we've seen one of the challenges with the stimulus that came out is that there was unemployment benefits that means a lot of employees say hey I'm better off staying at home so that really challenged us especially as we were coming off the layoff season but people are on unemployment OS I mean you back and they're looking the same hand I'm better off at home and so what it allowed us to do is interact with our employees benefits of health care and the other aspects that you get by having a good employer and so for us we were able to bring people back and we didn't have you know a little blip of having to deal with that I think it's gonna open up the eyes of some of these employers that don't have benefits and haven't really drawn employers want to work there this is opening up their eyes to say hey wait a minute we're gonna have to have more than just the normal pay only because you do that you're going to compete against other industry now stimulus that that could lead people at home so I think I think that's going to be good for the construction industry to continue to look at what what health benefits what do we provide our employees that we are very attractive to to people wanting to work for us absolutely anybody else have anything else to add on workplace not for me okay I'm going to breeze through a couple of other things here one of the one of the things beyond the broad question of workplace is ultimately we understand that work is still work right but the norms have changed and those changes are distance loneliness and teamwork so let's talk through some of those things and we've actually touched on some of them already through the conversation we just had right but from from the perspective of distance specifically like how our business is in terms of contractors working to distance some co-workers the customers and vendors versus the that goes home from the workplace comes back after being in their own bubble with their friends and their family are they are they needing to do a lot of testing are there new things that are being implemented right now that are going to be standardized going forward and what do you think about that David let's start there well I'd yeah the that people have to have to separate the work life from the personal life and and that's uneasy all the time and I mean I know there's several analogies I've heard where the the home life has dictated that you know you're not going back to work now because this is too volatile and we want you bringing something home so you know there's been some of that John mentioned the $600 a week that now is an opportunity to collect so but I mean contractors are you know they're they're they're stubborn and they they work hard and so they're gonna figure out ways to you know deal with the physical distance and the things that have to happen and they're starting to figure out this zoom world yeah when we spoke last week you also mentioned from one another earth yeah and in fact it actually came into play down in in the Big Sky resort Yellowstone Club area where a an employee they were wearing this this it's a device that you wear it's near your upper part of your chest and it detects if you are within six feet of another person and you can it can also detect if you are if you are asymptomatic or if you have that corona virus so I see you know there's an area where the technology that is not a construction technology is now being brought into the construction world just as an example of something sure sure so from the cleanliness perspective I just pepper and one one thing I carry us from John's standpoint on on distance so John like you said with the trench boxes there are certain things that you know very difficult to achieve the distance component and a lot of organizations you know that's what they're doing they're breaking down their core job their core function and then applying it to distancing so if we go back to those you know previous you know estimating and procurement and fieldwork and all of those other elements I assume you've identified the things that it's just very very difficult to achieve that is that 50 percent of of your job or is that you know ten percent where it's very difficult to achieve these these distancing guidelines with any consistent manner you know that's an interesting question because I think initially everyone thought it was a hundred percent of the job we can't do this you can't do that and it was it was it at first tough for people that think in that concept but as we started that you know kind of breaking it and break it down on me I can kept our teams that Britain and we kind of separating teams even in the field so that we didn't have crews it's a terrible contaminate other crews kind of all right these four people you know if one if one of you gets sick you're all sick type deal but we didn't just have our whole company shut down so very important distance even within our crews that were in the past we know some some of the synergies we get small crews working and interacting together so if we lost synergy I think when we really did focus down on where the tough places it's it's probably a 20 percent really when we looked at it and then I'm glad to hear that and we work with countless industries across the state and that's basically you know I've been asking that same question and fundamentally getting that same answer you know that it's typically you know somewhere between 10 to 15% where that distancing really becomes a challenge once you break it down so glad to hear that's true of contracting as well I think one of the things that we were the first is when they first came out with the face covering you know they said you you couldn't couldn't assume that you get could then get within six feet so then that was still tough it's like well if you can't get within six feet no matter what you do you heard you almost can't do anything but once I started blasting that a bit and said if you have face covering some sort of protection then you can start being within that six feet realm that then opened up where it wasn't difficult really for any of our our functions now it just puts more of a burden and probably slowly down and any out in the field working with other contractors like you guys do all the time you know subs and all those types of things I guess kind of same thing going on the community everybody gets it you know and everybody's trying to work together I think that is something we we focused on right out of the gates with community perception because one of my one of my biggest concerns since we were deemed an essential function we were out there and we were working right in one wait a minute why did you forget working there being a say-so so that community perception is really important because there are contractors being turned in all the time there are complaints because something a lot of contractors aren't taking it serious and so I think Gordon that the industry really focused on that says hey wait a minute we we have to be safe the good of the community cuz we're out interacting with other contractors with the government with vendors so it's important for us to do our part that you assure that the community state now and some of this so it's easy to say ideally what could happen but then to make sure it actually is happening in the field we find it is you know that it's that's the that you have the greatest procedures in the world but if you can't get buy-in from your employees to eat that change and to break the habits paid furnace not being applied so everything I'm keeping I'm saying I that's our ideals I can't say we've instilled that culture yet that always takes time this may take care of national great well I I definitely again talking lots of industries you know there is the ideal there is utopia and then but I think organizations in industry seem to be finding a good feasible ideal and that's covering a number of bases which is I think part why we're seeing the numbers that we are even within your industry that's continued to be critical and active so it's great so we've really kind of touched on loneliness as well is there anything that we want to add in terms of workplace or workspace before we get to teamwork anything tactically at all you know you want to share with other members at all you know again it seems like those details are pretty clear and out there for a lot of people yeah I think I think one of one thing we're seeing is that early on it was tough to get the cleaning supplies to be able to provided the employees and the supply chains up a little bit when everything was closed down now that it's opening up it's starting come difficult to get the kind of hand fight and disinfectants I think the supply chain will be challenged as more organisations try to kind of got me there their supplies well let the team work piece is seeming to be you know the most difficult you know people can understand the distance and the functions you know and as John said it's really just a matter of okay let's do this folks and then but now you're kind of disrupting all of those connections that people have that we're natural and organic and the way that they worked you know what what struggles you know are you seeing there well I address it from the the association side of things I mean the reason why people belong to an association in part is to network and mix and get to know each other borrow resources from each other and grow so you know if we can't have events where people can get together and meet and and share that that becomes very challenging and it it's I mean we're very social and this is a tough time to to be doing that I think especially in Montana we really like our summers and we like our summer events this is gonna be a tough summer for all of us and in those kind of things so connecting whether it's with our teams our families our friends it's going to be very challenging going forward so well I think people will make a they'll find ways to make through and I think you know one more thing I think from the from the employers standpoint though employers need to be very tuned in to the depression and the the social challenges that come with this such a such a violent upset of your life and how you have to stay home you know it employs are gonna be concerned about their employees and what's going on in their home lives you know our kids kids are being home now until September there's there's a lot of ramifications that come back and they do affect the teamwork and I you know that can be a real positive things too you know if people have those challenges it can bring people together you know as to how do we flex you know and and communicate and understand those things so that we can do the best we can to juggle right now and that can be a good team building exercise in and of itself yes there's lots of different how it's bringing people together how it's it's challenging the family atmosphere so all of those things are really important for the employer to recognize in order to be successful through this pandemic I would totally agree with both of you here um let's talk a little bit about phases in terms of what's going on in the next 45 days six months twelve months operationally technically and emotionally you know start with you David really quickly with one of the big operation and emotional challenges that you see amongst your members right now that you have a concern and you may have touched on all of that but if there's anything else you'd like to add this is a great time well I think we have covered a lot of these things already and it's just you know if there's a 20% reduction in the gas tax collections next year from July till June of 2021 that affects the projects that are on the books in 2022 so you know well while the charts go like this and then hopefully they come back up that this part isn't until 2023 or 24 out here and again the supply chains it's not just getting cleansers and sanitizers it's getting steel and it's getting drywall and an equipment honestly - I mean if factories have been shut down for two months and then they've got a reassemble and and work on ventilators you know now we can come back later and start building equipment but you know meanwhile there's there's the whole ramifications of not getting the equipment then do you need employees we talked about that that there's going to be a lot of people that are quite happy to get $600 a week and not work there David that that point on national state and local I know the Association has a lobbying you know side of it and yeah you guys have been critical infrastructure you've been working through you know this entire kovat situation and the health numbers are pretty
good you know what is that what impact does that have from a lobbying standpoint you know what's going on with the state conversations well I mean the the fuel tax is a user fund that's segregated so it won't be affected by the income tax that probably will be declined over a short period of time so we'll have to watch that from a national perspective you know we're gonna be you know watching the PPP guidelines a lot of contractors did apply and get the Paycheck guarantees EP so there's again we're flying the plane and building it as we go and so there's a lot of uncertainty and there's a lot of anxiety over some of these big things at the federal level so AGC has a great organization with a very deep team of people that are studying a lot of these things so stay tuned stuff that you see coming across your computer from them and are you getting engaged at the state you know and local levels government of you know just like you have in the past with safety records and other areas you know are you getting engaged around you know how is the health and safety you know during kovat you know of the workforce in the construction industry and contracting industry well I've been I've been really emphasizing all the contractors kinda like what John mentioned make sure that your hand washing stations are very visible from the street especially as a county sanitarian drives by we don't need reasons and unfortunately there was a store and it was a letter to the editor in The Chronicle today the Bozeman Chronicle somebody kind of griping about contractors not wearing masks and sitting too close to each other while they were eating lunch and so we have to realize we're kind of in a glass house and we have to hold ourselves to higher standards and you know it's not easy for a lot of these guys that's just not their persona their persona is put their head down and work hard but we got to take a step back on that so again the market employees I think some of these other things we've talked about a little bit but there'll be there'll be some slowdown coming but I think it'll help it's it hopefully it'll just be a correction in Montana John you had touched on you know just some of the emotional aspects you know within employees and the different you know viewpoints you know that might might exist there can you talk through how you've been managing that yeah and I think early on people that you know that they were they didn't know there was information everywhere about what what this man and so trying to get the employees kind of on the same page of what based on everything we know other corporation what stance are we going to take though and I think that was very important and I think it's gonna be very important for companies moving forward is to articulate their culture of what this means to them because it the Union business they're gonna be just you know it's over let's cruise everybody's good other businesses are gonna take a more you know careful approach and I think it's going to be important that you articulate to the employees what you're going to do as a company and I think keep constant communication to those employees because things are gonna change on a daily basis so you can keep your employees on the same page and I think it's gonna be as the economy starts opening up I think as we go into this November election and it becomes even more alittle sized I think it's gonna be a real challenge for corporations and companies to keep their employee group working together through this and then and that's probably one of my bigger concerns as we open up and as people have different views and we're just gonna get bombarded on social media and media what both sides of the political aisle believe on those what would it be fair to summarize that that from the top down in organizations you know communicating who we are and how we behave is super critical right now absolutely and I think that's been a strength of the construction industry too I mean you know if the owner's name is on the side of the truck you know he cares about how that truck looks he cares about how those guys look and and what the office is like yeah that's his name on the side there you know or her name and and they they care so culture is a very important thing in John's right it'll be really critical and and and the ones that are gonna come out of this in good shape are the ones who have that good culture and the ones that take good care of their people and are there for and benefits to well I'll give you just a technical piece and then I'll kind of intro into this next slide here but on you'd mention just simple things like time records you know time sheets you know there's been resistance you know embracing you know more of a digital approach to that and that barrier you know has been broken down and if anything it's like this is now better are there any other quick examples you can give where you're starting to rethink you know from a technical standpoint and now maybe I don't have this cultural limitation you know are there some other things I can introduce I think some that was interesting and it goes back to teamwork you know in the construction world it's them it's the plans out on the hood of the pickup truck everyone gathers around and that's what what it was and now as we were trying to keep our project manager separated or supervisor separated we did have to go do more of a virtual world and it was interesting the first meeting we had everyone sitting in their trucks living lunch with their phones and there was a lot of pushback on that to be able to get things up on the screen I think there was a better understanding and a better realization that there there is some benefit to that install so I think we've been able to put that into the culture a little bit you get a little bit more acceptance that that has real potential in the future I say that but to your point earlier one reason people want to interact we did have to have a lot of meetings out in parking lots with all of us separated just because people wanted to interact you know yeah absolutely you know a large part of being around other folks on any job you know work site or in the office is you know excuse the French but that element of bullshitting and so even that we've seen in our organization you know move to kind of a fun digital interactive you know way to so that people can express their personalities and get that outlet and you know work is still work but you know it should be enjoyable too and part of that is you know being around other people and joking and having fun and that type of thing as well so okay great all right well let's move on to the next piece that you're going to talk about here Connor which is really acting or reacting from a leadership perspective do you want to go around the slide and yeah I want to you know speak to this for the contracting industry you know there is opportunity in this thing you know to change some behaviors and embrace you know some new technologies and not because you have to but because it's better for your people it's better for your bottom line and you begin to choose to and just use in John's example you know COBIT might have pushed you into digital time records or digital time sheets but when codes over you're probably not going back you know you're going to continue you know to do that so I think leadership has got just a super important job right now you know obviously on the operation side and obviously on the emotional side but also on that technical side of establishing a vision plan and then commitment amongst you know your leadership team as to how it is you know you're going carry that through the organization and that doesn't mean it has to be some big fancy MBA you know 20-page you know here's our technology plan it can be simply talked through this is not new stuff it's technology that's been out there for a while that next piece is data and voice flexibility and as I mentioned before don't be thinking about just from old work work is work and people need to be able to do their jobs in lots of different places and that's true for your accounting people and your procurement people and your project managers you know field folks etc flexibility is where you want to keep your your eye on and both on the data side and on the voice side of things and so some tools that we've been implementing with lots of contractors is Microsoft 365 which is a stack of tools in the cloud that is very affordable for all organizations and then the other thing we're finding is contractors are coming to us and saying okay you know this isn't quite working things aren't quite lined up between our estimating application and our project management application and accounting if there's Hoppe there's dysfunction there and so ultimately when you begin to rely more and more on digital it's gonna put your existing tools under stress and what you're gonna find is we've got some alignment issues and so you know just trying to get those line of business applications that you use aligned will also make the work flow more naturally throughout and then finally as you know just on your your voice technologies you know we've got the the mobile phone the mobile phones we've got you know desk phones you know and ultimately you want to get that stuff to where you know people can work the way that they need to work and a lot of that is turning your personal phone into your business phone as well and leveraging apps so we've got a technology called all works which basically makes your mobile phone a desk phone with an app and then also Microsoft 365 same thing you can just turn your PC your Mac your mobile phone into a test phone or where you do need desk phones you know on job sites and things along those lines you know it will do that and accommodate that too so flexibility is key those the next one is cyber security and backups and I'll keep this one short if you make your data flexible you're gonna have to revisit how you're securing that data and how you're backing it up so you can't make one change without making a change on the other and then this this last one which I think is probably the the most interesting to folks on this call is is Workforce Development and so if you go and you get new tools and you implement them obviously that's going to require behavior change and so the key thing that that I want to a couple of key things is one make sure the tools that you're investing in are actually gonna make your employees lives better because if you can show them that if you can turn on that light if you can give them that aha moment the resistance goes away we want to make sure that you know you're not buying technology that nobody's going to use and then you've made the investment and now you have confusion and frustration you know amongst your workforce so the key there is make sure you're getting technology aligned you know it's how people actually work giving them the coaching through it so the light comes on and you got to do it in small chunks you can't just revolutionize everything overnight you know do it in a way that people can write off one chunk at a time feel good about it and then you know they'll move it forward so my main message to folks and the contracting in all industries is you know make sure to seize the opportunity act as leaders you know I'm really think it's going to be good for Montana and good for this industry you know to embrace and lead through this you know not only tech or functionally and operationally but but also technically great thanks Connor a gentleman thank you all for your input I'm just going to do a really quick recap so that there's time for a few questions if you get a few questions here so ultimately we basically talked about the fact that work does still work right but there are normals that have changed and we talk about the distance cleanliness and the teamwork around those we do need to embrace that challenge of and change operationally technically and emotionally I think that everyone on this panel today is done a good job of talking through that and and how it's currently being done and where they're seeing that vision going forward and the bottom line we have to stay connected with our people there that's vendors or employees within the industry itself in the marketplace itself so um all that being said again I'm really grateful for you guys it's time I do have a couple of questions I want to get to and then we can close this up we just have a few more minutes so one of the questions that I got here um is specific to you John it's from a contractor that says it's been my experience over the past two months that the cities have been really backed up when it comes to building permits and the processes have you been experiencing that you know our understanding from developers and customers we have is that it has it has slowed down at the city and at the state level it's tougher from my perspective of how much of it is is slowed down from the government view and how much is maybe some customers tapping the brake a little bit and not on their projects to go so all I can do is say you know from from our in the work has new work coming out we've heard is slowing down and we've heard it could be government related but it also could be just people wanted to kind of see how this all rolls out what one thing I would add is kind of like what John mentioned with his electronic time clocks is you know it's generally been the the rule has been that you need a what's called a wet signature on approvals and notaries and things like that and so I think there is there's been some exemptions to that and some allowable because if a city inspector can't come out or can't be on site how are the bank can't you know you're gonna sign owned up it's in the parking lot then we you there needs to be some change and maybe that's one thing that's changing there too is but the city's definitely you know this caught them flat-footed and in their their procedures as well yeah from our perspective because we work with a that local government and those types of things it they are behind the curve in terms of you know technology and there will be good things that come out of this as well in terms of them changing their operations and streamlining and digitizing things that will help all citizens and all industry so I think that there is some silver lining on that so the next question we have is for David and we only have a few minutes left David I know that you just a little bit so just may be clarified for this audience member so what's the difference in your opinion right now for the homebuilding sector versus the more commercial building or utility sector how are they being affected differently and and I think you did mention or earlier this question came in at the beginning so just touch on that real quick right well the the Montana Building Industry Association is co-located in our office with us and they are the the overarching Association for the local home building associations and in our conversations there they you said they're there people are having a really tough time there you know there are much smaller operations so if they've got four guys on a crew and one of them can't come in they're down 25% immediately on their their workforce so it's a longer it's a broader impact on the residential and if the supply chain again is disrupted and and framing materials and things are going towards larger projects or hospitals or institutional things that that's an effect to but it's that's what I'm hearing is that the residential is being impacted more right now immediately by this that the heavy civil and the commercial building side of things that doesn't mean that that's not going to change next year which I think it there's a good chance of that yeah I would agree and based on the conversation today it sounds this this is going to be a all right so that's all the questions that I have right now gentlemen thank you so much let me just get on to my last slide here just to be considered of our buddies time I got one minute left Connor has been speaking today quite a bit he is the CEO of first car computer solution we do have a couple of different links here both from the Montana Co
tractors Association is a resource page but also a couple of new specs and some some information around code 19 and performance guidelines from first call as well so please reach out to us if you have additional questions again I just want to thank John and David and Connor for being with me today John would you mind just giving a closing comment any you know things you'd like to say the you know industry or potentially government stuff that you know might be watching this later I think as Ben pointed out I think there's been a lot of challenges with this situation but I do think the opportunities that are out there for organizations have really embraced the the looking at the processes looking at their technology looking at their people this can be an opportunity to get out on the other side there's some real improvements of how you how you operate how you treat your employees and how you interact with your customers so I think we keep that positive approach I think it'll be good for the whole community if it what about you same thing I think that yeah it does sometimes crisis can force you to think differently and and yeah focus on the opportunities that are out there and available that's that's where we're gonna be well from from my standpoint again it's wonderful to be in Montana with all of the different professional industry groups that we have and all the professionals you know that are out there doing the work as well you know there's wonderful positive things coming out of all of our behavior you know through this and there is good opportunity to change you know there's always these big words you know remote work collaboration you know all of that kind of stuff the tui guides that we've got posted you know there will kind of bring that back down and to tactically you know what you can do so the first one is if you're not familiar with Microsoft teams it's a great solution you know really built around helping organizations work together and in different ways and achieve better outcomes than ever the next one is that kovat crisis leadership performance guide we've seen so many recovery guides out there you know we decided to put together a performance guide because you know I don't want to just recover I don't want to just normalize I want to be better than ever and that's really what our mission is and what we're trying to help people do so again thank you very much for your time and your contributions today they should put this on have a great day
