Just prior to the shutdown in March, the team at Landmark Associates received some exciting news. Owner Tony Chiarelli had been awarded the coveted “Business Partner of the Year” award by the Community Associations Institute – New England Chapter (CAI-NE). CAI-NE is the education and industry association for property managers, condominium owners/board members and multi-family industry professionals.

The companies nominating Tony Chiarelli for this award, cited his commitment to the condominium industry, his communications skills, and his ability to manage complex projects. Highlighting the Landmark’s work on a project that required access to several units daily for over a long period, one property manager noted, “Disturbing people’s homes for a prolonged period of time is a difficult task, but Tony and his team set realistic expectations and met them. I couldn’t think of many other contractors that would have done such a great job with organization and communication of a complex interior project.”

Another company lauded Tony’s “continued focus on trying to improve how things are done between contractors and management agents,” noting in particular the firm’s assistance in developing “a customized program that can be utilized throughout our portfolio” to identify qualified contractors for “one-off” repair projects. “Tony has shown a consistent willingness to maintain a viable relationship, helping us to sustain our core business.”

Congratulations to Tony and the Landmark Team!

Landmark Gives Back: Inspiring Students for a Future in the Trades

Over the last two years, I’ve taken the time to meet with local students at Milford High School who are taking classes in the trades and are considering a future career working with their hands. We’ve covered a variety of subjects, including practical advice on finding and interviewing for a job, how to be a good employee in any career that you choose to how to stay safe on a job site.

Safety is Your Choice To Make

Construction workers are particularly exposed to high-risk environments that pose dangers which need to be addressed.  You need to learn the proper safety measures, like how to be safe with the tools, how to handle a ladder, how to climb a ladder and how to carry equipment. Never put yourself in a position that you can potentially get hurt. It is not worth saving time if you are going to hurt yourself. As an employee or employer, it may be tempting to cut corners to save costs; but with high workplace related injuries, it’s in nobody’s best interest.

Though most of a construction worker’s skills can be gained on the job, safety is one skill set that is best learned before workers enter the construction site. Take the right precautions, double check your work area, be attentive when working with electricity and equipment. Work place accidents translate into days missed for work, reduced productivity, and lost profits.

My Advice

Reducing accidents and injuries on site must be a priority in the construction industry. To achieve this, companies must ensure their workers are aware of site hazards. Construction safety requires a constant effort always make sure that you thoroughly inspect the job site beforehand

So everything comes down to choices. The choices you make now will determine the kind of person, the kind of employee, and the kind of business owner that you’re going to be later on. Education is an essential tool to make positive changes in your life. If you want to reduce workplace injuries, and better your safety management is crucial to institute workplace safety as a core aspect of your company’s culture.

During this national healthcare crisis I felt it was important to reach out to all of my LinkedIn connections and share a message regarding future capital projects, renovations and tenant fit outs to ensure that you’re well positioned to resume business as quickly as possible when we emerge.

It is obvious that the way we all do business has changed, and it will change significantly for some of us for the foreseeable future.

Contracting Projects

Regarding Capital Projects, Renovation Projects and Tenant Fit Out Projects, consider these questions;

1. What SHOULD my business look like when we come out on the other side of this?
2. Will it go back to business as usual and we’ll just pick up where we left off?
3. I have no idea what the impact will be or what to do about it.
4. If the COVID-19 shut down is 60 days or longer, will the project delay process be the same time frame?

When this crisis has passed and contracting projects are ready to be moved forward, it’s important to realize that contractors’ capacity to take on new work won’t be extended by the length of the shut down, it will more likely be 3-5 months.  If you were planning a project to start in June or July you could be looking at October or November.

Project Planning

For any of you that were, or are in the pre-planning or early planning stages of a project, I would ask you to consider a few things;

1.  Does the traditional process of how you’ve always planned out and bid your projects still serve your needs?
2. Would you consider an alternative method or process if it saved your business or your clients both time and money?
3. Would you consider an alternative method if it made YOUR job easier?  Gave you more time to do some of the wonderful things you may have been able to do during this crisis like spend more time with family?

To help you plan for the months ahead and help ensure that your project gets up to speed as quickly as possible, I’d like the opportunity to talk to you, via Zoom video call. We can discuss what you may have coming up in the next few months and how Landmark General Contracting may be the right partner to get your project started 30%-40% faster.

Please click on my Calendly link and we can schedule a 30-minute call to see if Landmark is right for you.

Landmark Gives Back: Inspiring Students for a Future in the Trades

Over the last two years, I’ve taken the time to meet with local students at Milford High School who are taking classes in the trades and are considering a future career working with their hands. We’ve covered a variety of subjects, including practical advice on finding and interviewing for a job, how to be a good employee in any career that you choose, how to stay safe on a job site, and how developing a habit is the key to success.

Developing a Habit is Vital to Progress

What is it going to take for you to go from where you’re sitting here today to be the person that you want to be? That might take years, but there are steps to take along the way. When you identify what those steps are, you need to ask yourself what do I need to do to accomplish those steps and accomplish those goals? It takes 30 days to develop a habit, so if you’re doing something a particular way and you want to change how you do it, you need to establish a new pattern.

Developing a new habit is a choice. You want to create new routines, and then what you do with those routines is your choice. A lot of what happens to us today is the result of old behavior patterns that worked for us in the past. If you believe you can change, and all your actions are moving towards the change you want to see, it will become a reality. Habits shape your life far more than you probably realize.

My Advice

Hard work and good habits are assets that should be nurtured. Sound practices are essential for all students to protect investments of time and money and to achieve educational goals. All learning, however, is a process that takes specific steps.

Good habits are easily forgotten if we lack the discipline to act on them daily continually. Some of the practices that can make you more successful are already within your grasp you need to figure out how to work them in throughout your day. The good habits of a person contribute to the building of their career when a person has good habits in their daily life, then they will be happier and satisfied with their work.

Landmark Gives Back: Inspiring Students for a Future in the Trades

Over the last two years, I’ve taken the time to meet with local students at Milford High School who are taking classes in the trades and are considering a future career working with their hands. We’ve covered a variety of subjects, including practical advice on finding and interviewing for a job, how to be a good employee in any career that you choose, how to stay safe on a job site.

Knowledge is Power and a Key to Success

Think of knowledge like a tool belt. When you start out, you have this nice belt and you’ve got a hammer and a tape measure. You are pretty limited to what you can do, but you’ve got some tools. Now you’ve got a speed square. You might be able to build something now. Knowledge is power. Any analogy you want to use, the more you learn, the more you know. So keep seeking knowledge.

Make a new habit of going out on your own in the community for 10 minutes every day, looking to learn something new. Whether it’s related to carpentry or it’s similar to anything that would like to learn or improve in your life. You may start out as a carpenter’s apprentice or a laborer. You’re learning the trade, and then eventually, you want to become that home builder or the owner. You are building on your knowledge.

My Advice

Knowledge helps us in our future planning and steers us to the right path. After a few years in the business, you may decide that sales, or marketing, or even opening up your own business is your long-term goal. These are attainable if you’ve put in the time and energy into building your knowledge of the tools and techniques of the trade. Education is an essential tool to make positive changes in your life.

The one thing that no one can ever take from you once you have acquired it is knowledge. Take the time now and then to reevaluate, consider, and envision your future. You may not realize it, but your skills, education, and competency are valuable intellectual property. To guarantee that you will stand out from the crowd in your industry, make sure you invest in your development.

Landmark Gives Back: Inspiring Students for a Future in the Trades

Over the last two years I’ve taken the time to meet with local students at Milford High School who are taking classes in the trades and are considering a future career working with their hands. We’ve covered a variety of subjects including practical advice on finding and interviewing for a job, how to be a good employee in any career that you choose, how to stay safe on a job site, and how gaining EXPERIENCE is the key to success.

Hands-On Experience is Your Key to Success

Students spend their days continuously learning new things and, in a trade class, some of that learning is actual practical experience such as working with the table saw or building small projects. Plus, in this digital age, we all spend a lot of time looking at YouTube and “learning” how to do things. (This sometimes leads to mishaps as do-it-yourselfers of all ages watch a video, suddenly think they are master electricians and get in over their head!)

The truth is that hands-on experience is really the best way to learn. It’s difficult in this day and age of instant gratification to understand that mastering any skill takes a lot of time, generally years.  But as long as it’s leading to your long-term goals, experience is invaluable.

My Advice

After a few years in the business, you may decide that sales, or marketing or even opening up your own business is your long-term goal. All of these are attainable IF you’ve put in the time and energy into building your knowledge of the tools and techniques of the trade. After all, you can only effectively sell something that you’re very familiar with and know how to do yourself.

In fact, this is how my career evolved over the years. I started by laboring with construction crews, then, after I had a few years of experience, I was leading my own team and it grew into project management. From there my eye was on building my own business. Taking the time now and then to reevaluate, consider, and envision your future provides that path you need…and EXPERIENCE is what will ultimately lead you to your career goal.

Landmark Gives Back: Inspiring Students for a Future in the Trades

Over the last two years I’ve taken the time to meet with local students at Milford High School who are taking classes in the trades and are considering a future career working with their hands. We’ve covered a variety of subjects including practical advice on finding and interviewing for a job, how to be a good employee in any career that you choose, how to stay safe on a job site, and that the early stages of a career may be tedious, but the experience gained at each “job” will lead to a solid career.

Real World Experience Takes Time

Entry-level jobs aren’t always fun, but they’re just that: ENTRY. They are the first step towards a real career that pays well and is enjoyable. School and classes like the ones in the Milford High School trade program are an excellent place to start, but it’s important to understand that, once school is complete, your training isn’t. A lucrative, long-term career in the trades always starts with an apprenticeship – starting at the bottom and working your way up slowly, but surely.

We’ve discussed how hands-on experience is really the best way to learn, and that in this day and age of instant gratification, mastering any skill takes a lot of time, generally years.  For example, if you’re just staring out with a building crew that’s working on decks, “guess who’s on the end of a shovel to dig the holes? You are. [But] You can’t get all up in your head about it. It’s part of the process…You’ve got to put your time in.”

My Advice: Dedicate Yourself to the Job at Hand and Opportunities Will Follow

No matter what job you have, in any industry, if an employer or supervisor sees that you’re diligent and are focused on the job at hand – no matter how menial – you will rise to the top and opportunities will follow.  Having been in this business for so long, I can spot the “up and coming” workers who are destined for more responsibility fairly easily. They are the ones who show enthusiasm for the work and see EVERY job as an opportunity to learn and ask questions.

Over time, each job you have will also give you a better idea of the job you really WANT. You may be on a roofing crew and discover that you don’t enjoy it, but many of the skills you learn driving those nails and putting that roof together may lead you to try rough carpentry and eventually finish carpentry or cabinet making. Using your experiences and taking time out now and again to reevaluate your career in the context of that experience, will guide you towards a career that you enjoy and that will support you over time.