Legacy building

A discussion with Mike Dunn of Construction Engineers

By Andrew Weeks

Mike Dunn has been working in the world of commercial construction for years, and the passing of time hasn’t lessened his excitement about seeing new projects come to life.

One project he is excited about this year – a first for Construction Engineers Inc., based in Grand Forks, N.D. – will take place at the International Peace Garden when it will help upgrade the garden’s conservatory and do some general infrastructure upgrades and renovations.

Dunn, business development manager for the company, didn’t have a date when the project would begin, but said the collaboration between North Dakota and Manitoba is a unique project for the company.

“This will be the first time for us with an international partner,” he said.

Another project he mentioned is KodaBank in Grand Forks, which will be completed this summer.

That project is 15,000 square feet – a little roomy for the small staff that will work there to begin with, according to a previous interview with KodaBank President Pete Anderson, but it provides room for future growth.

Something unique about the structure: It will be a two-story building with a tunneled drive-thru in the middle. The bank will be on one side of the drive-thru, and the leased offices on the other. The bank’s offices will be located above the tunnel.

Construction Engineers, which has around 200 employees, also is working on projects at the University of North Dakota campus, including the new Memorial Union building, and collaborating with Marvin for a campus-wide window replacement project.

Enough to keep busy for the rest of the season, but that’s not all. There’s also the High Plains Equipment project in Carrington, N.D. That project will be going on Highway 200 in the northeast area of Carrington, he said.

Dunn, who said he is excited about all of these projects, answered several questions for us about related topics pertaining to his work and the industry: continued on page 34 continued From page 32

If you set the bar at competence, how do you reachexcellence?

What made you decide to go into the construction industry?

Well, to be honest, I worked as a construction laborer a couple of summers in college and always thought it was pretty cool to see these big projects come together. Even at that age, without much skill, I thought it was cool to be part of that kind of team. And then as I got into business school at the University of North Dakota, I pursued a few different internships and jobs, I focused on marketing, business development, sales, team building and coaching, presenting and public speaking, those kinds of things. In our industry, there's a need for people to do those things. I work with our pre-construction team.

What are some of the challenges in the industry?

I think right now challenges are about workforce retention. Also, there are a lot of challenges right now with material availability and material price increases. That's unfortunate because it causes projects to cost more for the same square footage. That’s tough when you're talking about a school or a public facility with already limited means, and so we're trying to be efficient with schedules, to help move projects along quickly and counteract some of the additional increases in material cost.

What are some positives in the industry that you're noticing?

I think it's becoming cool to be in the trades and to be in technical careers. I think that's awesome. I love this industry and there's plenty of jobs and plenty of availability to work for a company like ours and develop your talents and develop a good living and have steady work for a long time. A lot of folks think there's not enough work or jobs available, but I think that's the direct opposite. I think there's more jobs available than there are people who want to get into them. Also, buildings that we're building are getting more and more unique, more sophisticated, more complex. I think that's cool to see multi-story buildings, to see new health care facilities with cutting edge technology, to see sports facilities that have some of the newest training opportunities, to see the new schools with the most unique lighting and design features.

Any projects that you're working on now that have those features?

You’ll see a lot of glass and windows on the High Plains Equipment project. The Memorial Union in Grand Forks. … With the amount of glass in that project compared to the old Memorial building, it's just a huge difference … We're part of a campus-wide window replacement project, where all the windows, on all the buildings are going to be removed and reinstalled with the new window technology, where you're incorporating a new Marvin window system on those and it's really going to enhance those interior environments.

What would you say to those considering going into this field?

In our office we have folks who have gone to college for professional degrees and we have folks that come right out of high school. Either one of those individuals could have a career path with our company, whether you want to be in an office space, become a project manager, an estimator – we have a 10-year career path set up that would take you through and learn the business … and (allows you) to really develop your reputation and resume as a construction professional. I think that's really cool and that's happening here in a small town in North Dakota. I think if you want to work in the field, we have a career path that allows you to advance from laborer to carpenter to foreman up to field superintendent. ... We’re offering some really cool paths to a good career – and good-paying careers – with a lot of satisfaction.