2 min read August 2023 — Invest: spoke with Charles DeVoe, senior vice president and regional leader for the Dallas-Fort Worth region at construction company McCownGordon, and discussed the company’s Dallas opening in 2021 and the opportunities and challenges, especially talent recruitment, that accompany the accelerated growth of the region. “We’ve reached a point in time in the region where there are more opportunities for projects than there are firms available to serve them. Firms and trade partners are being much more selective,” he said.
What sets McCownGordon apart in the Dallas-Fort Worth region?
McCownGordon is based out of Kansas City and opened in Dallas in 2021. We’re 100% employee-owned and that has advantages when attracting talent. But as a firm, you must have a story. We have three core values: integrity, performance and relationships. And Texas has a relationship-based economy because people want to work with people they trust, like and can engage with. That is where we feel a strong connection with this region because of our focus on building deep relationships with clients and giving back to the community with intentionality. We also want to deliver the best building experience for clients. We believe, beyond our strength in construction management and preconstruction, our Building Performance Solutions team, which includes architects, structural and MEP engineers and experts at virtual design construction and building information modeling, offers our clients tremendous value.
What have been your key takeaways from the past year?
We have a strong portfolio in both public and private work. It’s good to maintain that diversity of market sectors so we can better manage shifts in the economy. When the economy is downward, public work tends to outperform private work, for example. But in Texas, we don’t really see downturns when the national economy falls, which is what makes Texas unique. The state has always been able to navigate strong economic challenges and lead the recovery out of those challenges. McCownGordon maintains a strong balance of public and private work. Our public sector includes education-related work, from community colleges to public schools. We have a strong civic and cultural portfolio, including performing arts centers and museums. Communities continue to grow in Texas, as do the needs for more schools, healthcare, industry and municipal services.
On the private side, there is a good group of firms that have been in North Texas with long histories of big projects. However, we believe there is a commercial market segment that’s not being served, and with our solid background working with developers and private owners, we feel we can meet that need. We’ve started in DFW doing corporate interior work and corporate renovations, along with work in healthcare. We want to build on McCownGordon’s impressive commercial portfolio, encompassing everything from Class A office to high rise research and healthcare institutions here in DFW.
How has client demand shifted since the pandemic?
Costs in the supply chain have settled a bit and volatility has decreased since 2022. What we saw a year ago was something none of us have seen in this market. One positive that has come out of this post-pandemic era is all stakeholders are much more aligned with respect to the volatility in the market. Clients and design partners along with developers and brokerage firms get it. As contractors, we want to do everything we can to understand what the real costs are, forecast those costs and provide a level of protection in our estimates that clients feel will keep them from experiencing the financial impact of those last-minute delays. There is no silver bullet, but we are relying more on external data and have brought in a national firm to partner with us on developing economic reports to help our clients ascertain market conditions and risk. Our Building Performance Solutions Group also provides analysis and guidance in a collaborative approach with clients and design partners. This is a great resource to communicate issues and resolutions during both pre-construction and construction phase services – a real differentiator for us because it is all in-house.
What have been the challenges for the construction industry in the North Texas region?
Texas is a great place for the construction industry, which has seen nothing but growth here. That said, there is a lot of demand and that includes finding good, strong talent. Firms are looking at the same pool of talent, so there is an abundance of opportunities for those who desire to be in our industry. Opportunities out-number available candidates. Given the vibrant economic growth here, it’s an even bigger challenge. We know trade partners struggle to find craft workers with adequate skills to produce the work in demand. We are strategic about how we build up our backlog and take on partners based on construction schedules and market capacity. We’re also at a point in the region where there are more opportunities for projects than there are firms available to serve them, so there is a lot more selectiveness. Owners are now very interested in getting their projects on the street quickly because those who wait find it challenging to attract the quality and volume of firms that can be competitive given we’re all so busy.
How can the industry effectively grow the talent pipeline in construction trades?
A big priority is how we can sell the construction business to primary and secondary students as a viable and well-paying career. We want to promote education of the trades, whether its electrical, plumbing or bricklaying, as an alternative to the college pathway. There is such a good opportunity to make a great wage in construction in North Texas and numerous partners are pushing for more workforce development at early educational phases to inform students of career opportunities. A lot of the current workforce is beginning to retire along with those who’ve left the industry altogether, so it is an important strategy to replenish the talent pool. The further you get out of the metroplex, these challenges only compound and often require additional incentives because of the travel distance.
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