Joseph Girgenti, CEO, Wilson & Girgenti
In an interview with Invest, Joseph Girgenti, CEO of Wilson & Girgenti, talked about the firm’s expansion into multifamily design, adding a construction division, and implementing new technologies, such as AI and 3D modeling to improve its operations. He also described some of the challenges that the firm faces in terms of scarcity of engineers and rising costs.
What are the key highlights for Wilson & Girgenti in the Greater Orlando region from the past year?
Our Orlando group has gotten heavily into multifamily design, which is a sector that we had not historically been a part of. As many developers from around the United States came to build apartments in Florida in early 2021, we started having opportunities in that sector as there was more demand than supply. We now have a nice portfolio of multifamily developments around the state, including several high-rises and some nice apartments. That was spearheaded by our Orlando group.
Moreover, being in Orlando, we have connections to the theme parks and entertainment, and have worked with some of the major theme parks.
What are the key characteristics that set Wilson & Girgenti apart from its competitors?
Our backbone is in small and medium-sized projects, but we are growing to be a large engineering firm. Large engineering firms typically focus on larger projects and peel off to do some smaller stuff here and there. Our case is quite the opposite. We peel off to do larger projects, which has enabled us to cater to a lot more renovation work around town.
Most renovation work is historically done by smaller, local firms. Nevertheless, property managers and many companies that do that type of work on a large scale like having the same team in multiple locations, which is something that smaller, local firms cannot do. That is where we fit in. We have the horsepower to do a large amount of work, but we also do small and medium-sized projects across our different cities.
What is the strategy of Wilson & Girgenti to approach innovation and stay ahead of market trends?
We are engineers, so we love innovation and software. We are actively launching project management software to better allocate resources within the company, ensure productivity, and keep everybody busy. Moreover, our business model is diversification across cities. In the last few years, some cities have been hot and some not so much, so we need to make sure that we are capitalizing on that.
We are allocating resources to feed the fire in the cities that are hot and to keep people busy in cities that may not be as hot. We are making sure that people can communicate well and that we can train well. We are also digging into artificial intelligence. We are trying out an AI-powered program for code research, for example.
Aside from AI, what other technologies has Wilson & Girgenti implemented to advance its operations?
We are using 3D modeling to design the structure and major systems of a building, including HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and fire sprinklers. If not coordinated properly, those systems end up hitting each other. That can be a bad situation when contractors are building our designs and need to make modifications. Modeling three-dimensionally can eliminate those conflicts in our design, so we are pushing it more and more.
What initiatives or projects does Wilson & Girgenti have in place to give back to the community?
We have a Volunteer Day across our six locations. As part of that, everybody takes that day to volunteer at organizations that give back to the communities we work and live in. We also do lots of sponsorships for different organizations. People within the company bring things to our attention for their own families and kids, and we participate in those as well.
We also have an extensive internship program year-round. We are planting seeds, and hopefully some of those interns stick around. If they do not, they still contribute to our industry as engineers in construction. We also sometimes have high-school kids interning with us. They have no idea what an engineer does at all. We give them a taste of it so that they are enticed to study engineering when they go to college and then come into this industry.
Additionally, in the past couple of years, we have become more involved in industry-related nonprofits, such as Black Architects in the Making — Orlando and working with students to get a more diverse representation in our industry as well.
What is the firm’s approach to talent acquisition, development, and retention?
Our internship program is a significant part of that. About 10 years ago, we made the decision to hire engineers right out of school and train them. There is a shortage of engineers in some areas of our profession. This might not be the case with structural and civil engineers, but it is with mechanical and electrical engineers. There is a lot of cool technology happening, so mechanical and electrical engineers may want to go into robotics, AI, and electronics. They often do not think about the commercial real estate industry.
Nevertheless, people need buildings. We really try to highlight that as you get into your profession, what gives you fulfillment is not just what you design. You also need to see what parts of the engineering profession and the industry will satisfy you, what kind of lifestyle you want to lead, and what schedule you want to have. Additionally, many engineers go into industries where they never really see their work product, whereas we see our work product everywhere. That is hugely satisfying for creative people, so we promote that a lot.
We also aim to recruit entrepreneurial and business-minded people. We decided that we want to be a very large engineering firm, so we need the people who are going to build that. We want the business-minded ones who have the drive to create not just what they design but also a company. Additionally, we have a work hard, play hard mentality, so we try to always do some kind of fun function to blow off steam. In our Orlando office, we have beer pong tables, a golf simulator, and a few other perks that promote this.
What are some of the overarching challenges that Wilson & Girgenti face in the Orlando market?
As with every company, we are facing higher costs, but not a proportionally higher productivity.
It has also been challenging to keep people motivated. All our costs have gone up, so we need to produce more. Nevertheless, it is hard to get that productivity based on higher costs. We have focused on ramping up the extracurriculars and doubling down on the work hard, play hard concept. This is a hard profession, but we are trying to make it enjoyable along the way.
How does Wilson & Girgenti address the gap between the design and the construction processes?
We started a construction division that builds the HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and fire sprinkler systems. That has been exclusive to Florida and focused on Tampa and Orlando. We expect to get a lot of traction there and will continue with that push.
There is a shortage of people in the trades, so we are trying to attract new people there. Part of that is cross-training between construction and engineering. We are using our construction side to train engineers better and vice versa. A lot of construction workers are curious about how we come up with these numbers and values, and why we do what we do. We are using our engineering side to inform and educate and train our construction side.