CCCT with Pat Hunnewell, VP from Blue World Construction, Inc Video

CCCT sat down with Pat Hunnewell, VP from Blue World Construction, Inc. Formed in 2012 in response to a need for highly skilled construction expertise on complex environmental sites, Blue World has worked major remediation sites, expanded industrial processing plants, and installed thousands of feet of pipelines, helping clients reach their goals in innovative ways. The Blue World team includes civil engineers, construction managers, licensed operators, welders, and specialized support staff with a broad skill set in site and civil construction.

From design/build to system integration, our expertise includes process design support, site development, environmental remediation, hazardous materials management, and underground construction. Blue World methodology is site-specific and team-oriented, embracing and valuing both experience and new technologies. We believe in collaborating with customers, working transparently and openly, while readily responding to direction relative to schedule, costs, and technical and regulatory concerns.

Highly regarded for our adaptability, Blue World delivers, successfully fulfilling our contracts and concurrently completing complex and large-scale assignments. Blue World believes that every challenge can be resolved with the correct experience and technology. Working towards both long- and short-term goals, they remain dedicated to the challenge at hand while keeping the future in mind. Enjoy the conversation.

www.bluwrld.com

#construction #civilengineering #pipelines #remediation #industrial #environmentalengineering

Transcript

Hey there, Commercial Construction Coffee Talk fans. Thanks for chiming in. My name’s David Courson. I’m your host. I’m also the publisher and editor of Commercial Construction Renovation Magazine. I’ve got a little glare on there, but this is what it used to look like. I’m trying to get that little white off. This was actually from January-February 2018 when John Bovardos was still out there. Deidre Curcum, he’s on my editorial board, a facility manager. Now he’s at fragrance.net. So, Deidre, thanks for gracing the cover. Another nice-looking issue, 164 pages. Oh wow, I’m actually… This is when I was the varsity lacrosse coach at Alpharetta High School. We’re getting ready for our spring campaign in the rain, getting our troops ready. And that was a rough season. We lost a lot of games we should have won, but oh well. Got to bring your A-game for that kind of stuff. Anyway, I hope everybody had a great weekend. We’re starting the week out sizzling hot here. I think the heat index is about 100 degrees here in Atlanta, but we had some thunderstorms come through as usual in the summer, filling the lake up, and you just gotta stay cool because it’s still the dog days of summer. Other than that, like I said before, it’s kind of quiet here on the sports front. You know, you got the PLL playing lacrosse, got the baseball guys out on the diamonds, sweating their tails off. The Braves, what, they went three out of four against the Mets. I feel bad for the Mets because they had a great team starting out and they were in first place earlier in the season, but now they’re way back and they’ve done some spell-off. But other than that, high school football here is about ready to start, and North Gwinnett, they always have a really good team, my local high school, and go dogs as we say. And then obviously, we got the Bulldogs looking to repeat, three-peat if they can, which is going to be unbelievable, but they do, they’ve had a great recruiting class.

So, all in all, you know, SEC football, it’s king down here, and everybody and their mother is getting ready to fly their flags on Saturday, on the cars, and all that good stuff. So, everybody, uh, enjoy the rest of the summer wherever you might be, and uh, the fall weather, hopefully, will come here soon, and uh, cool down in Indian summer, and the leaves turn and all that stuff, and before you know it, it’s going to be Christmas. It’s amazing. I keep saying, I can’t believe it’s already the middle of August. It was just like yesterday, it was January 1st, and now we’re, you know, almost finished with Q3 going into Q4, and uh, time is just flying by. But like I said, time flies when you’re having fun, so everybody, uh, got a gentleman up in one of my favorite states, New Jersey. You know, I’m a Philly boy, New Yorker, I got the twang. I don’t know which way I have it, but I’ve lost it since I’ve been in Atlanta since ’92, but I still kind of have that Yankee tank. I know I’m a damn Yankee. I kind of moved here and I stayed here, so that’s what they call us down here, but it’s transplant city down here in Atlanta, half the city is, you know, from someplace else, and most of them are from up north. But anyway, my gentleman today, his name is Pat Honeywell, he’s the vice president with Blue World Construction, and the reason why I had Pat on is he’s going through, well, he’s been around for about 23 years, I think I’ve read in his bio, but he’s done a lot of the design build, and he’s kind of has a very intricate way of looking at how we weather the storm over the last three years, and I thought that many of you out there in Commercial Construction Coffee Talk might be able to take a few knowledge nuggets or lessons that he’s going to offer us and apply to your own firm as we, you know, finish up the year and go into 2024. So, uh, Pat, say hello from New Jersey.

Hello from New Jersey, David, and thank you for having me. And you’re up in North Jersey in Florham Park, right? I’m in Florham Park in Morris County. I appreciate you bringing up the lacrosse too. I got two boys that played the game, love it. I grew up in Monmouth County at a time when they did not have lacrosse. I grew up playing baseball, still love baseball, but definitely have formed a love for lacrosse too. And it’s a great sport. So glad to hear you’re coaching it. But yeah, I’ve got my old guy’s black shirt on. I still play in the old man’s league. And you know, Gordie Howe played hockey till he was 63. So I told my wife, even though I’ve got both my ACLs replaced and a bunch of bruises over my athletic career, I was a hockey lacrosse player. But I just said, look, as long as I can go up and down the field and get X amount of shifts, I’m happy. You know, I had all the glory with scoring goals or whatever. I even, I’m even the backup goalie, and I get pelted. So I do whatever I need to. But it’s good to hear that your kids are playing lax. It’s the fastest sport on two feet, as far as I’m concerned. You know, lacrosse players are probably the best athletes out there other than hockey players. And like myself, I played baseball when I, you know, when I look at baseball, I played baseball until I had my sophomore year in prep school at Petty, which is in Central Jersey, right near Morristown. And I’ll tell you, it’s an amazing game. And I thoroughly have enjoyed sweating my tail off all over the years. And my son played at University of Denver too. And it’s a great game, actually. You know, the PLL, they’re playing every weekend, and got some buds that I know that played for DU that are all throughout the league. And it’s just good to see. And you know, when I came down here, I didn’t even know if they even had lacrosse, but now all the high schools, they all have lacrosse teams. It’s booming down here. So my boys play travel, and they, we played lots of teams from Georgia, Florida, it’s all over, and it’s great to see it growing. It needs to keep growing. And we have some family friends that play PLL.

It’s fun watching them on the weekends, that’s, oh yeah, you know, fantastic. And I think they’re doing a great job at that league. You know, it’s amazing, you know, when they had the MLL and the PLL came in, and I was like, you know, they’re gonna have to do something. And then they finally merged, they got the TV contract. I like the way they’ve set it up, where they rotated around different cities, no city really has their own team. It’s just a really good way to do it. Paul Rabel, if there’s an annuity, he went to John Hopkins, and he was just an unbelievable professional star, but he actually owns the league with his brother, and they’ve just done a fantastic job in promoting the sport, and it’s just blossomed all over the country. And it’s amazing, you know, how I’ve seen the progression of it here down south. And you know, it’s funny though, a lot of the local teams, like I did travel with my son, you know, I did the select team, and I was coaching and all that stuff, and we would go to other tournaments, and we’re like, oh, those Georgia guys, they don’t know what they’re doing, and we would just, you know, come out and cream them, you know, so it really doesn’t matter where you’re at. You know, it’s not like Long Island’s the or Maryland’s a little lacrosse haven anymore, it’s all over the country, right, right. Now the kids coming in from California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, you know, Minnesota, I mean, my son’s age group, I think, you know, Long Island still has a pretty good hold on that age, but Illinois, true, Illinois, one of the best teams, you know, they take catch from all over, but it’s just been a great sport to watch growing. So glad they both got to play it, and that the youngest still wants to play in college, so he’s heading there in a good senior year, and then he’s on the college point, so he’s looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to keep watching him too, gives me a couple years of sitting on the sidelines. Hey, well, good luck to your son on the lacrosse when he gets up in there in the college ranks, and whether he’s playing D1, 2, or 3, or even just club, it’s all still All good, lacrosse. So yeah, and then as they get older, they can play in the old guys’ league like me, you know, so let’s go and have their glory, so you can go for that shirt. I’ll give it to him as a hand-me-down. Yeah, absolutely. So, Pat, the way this works is we do our interview in three parts. You’re gonna tell us your story, where you grew up, you know, I know you got some kids playing lax, but how you ended up where you are today at Blue World Construction. Then we’ll talk about the last three years, the roller coaster that we’ve all gone through, and lessons learned. And then you’ll leave one positive thought or phrase and your contact info, and then we’ll close this session out. So with that said, the floor is yours. Tell us your story.

So I grew up in Monmouth County. I was originally born up in Boston, but the family ended up in Monmouth County by the time I was five. And grew up in a great area, went to high school there, and then went to college in Philly. Ended up going into civil engineering, was exposed to a lot of the fieldwork and construction through my father and then through some, you know, his friends, and just always enjoyed being in the field. And through college, I did a couple of different co-ops and was exposed to the fact that I liked engineering, especially the civil, the geotech, and that, I’ll say, a lot of even the border resources. So when I graduated, I started with an engineering firm in northern New Jersey, but found myself in the office more than the field. And I was naturally just drawn to the field. I like getting dirty. I liked getting my hands dirty. I like playing on equipment. And to a degree, kind of felt like, “Wow, I wasted a couple of years in college when I really should have been in the field learning the tricks of the trade.” But I would never change anything. You know, I love where I went to school. I love the education I got, and it really helped set me up for where I am today. But after a few years in engineering, one of my coworkers, it was actually one of my college roommates, went over to a contracting firm that had been around for almost 75 years at that time and was a big, large union contractor working in New York City, Philly, Boston. And within six months of hanging out on the weekends, I didn’t know what he was talking about. And I thought I was a pretty intelligent person, but just listening to how he was talking about equipment and process and construction, within a couple of weeks, well, months, actually, of him being there, I joined and worked for this large union contractor in a way that did a lot of groundwater remediation. We did a lot of big soil remediation projects, started working on mining projects, and that’s where I really got the taste for the importance of having a diverse portfolio and maybe being an expert in a lot of things or a recognized expert, jack of all trades, was really helpful because, you know, the economy isn’t always strong, and having one set of clients or one client base was not always great for construction.

And really realized the importance of, like, look, can’t have all your eggs in one basket. We’ve got to diversify. We’re a multi-talented, multi-disciplined firm. And really just started branching out as we developed as a company. I was employee number six of that spin-off to the larger firm. By the time I left, we had 75 employees, and it was great to see that growth. Unfortunately, what happened to me, you know, it’s always good to get promoted. We like getting it. You make more money. And then I found myself in a position as chief engineer. I was like, “I don’t like being chief engineer. I’m not really responsible for anything.” So, you know, love the company I worked with, had great mentors and managers, and just said to them, like, “Look, I don’t know what my next thing is going to be, but it’s not chief engineer.” And I just kind of, I quit without another job with my wife’s blessing for A little bit of time, and then after about two months, she said, “You gotta get a job, buddy. You know, I’m kind of tired of you home, you know, yeah, our savings, yeah.” So, um, I was helping out an engineering firm, just doing some on the side, you know, design-build support to them. And, uh, they did some projects out in Arizona. So I hooked up with them. After a couple of months, within the first two months of working for this engineering firm, still here in Florham Park, um, they were having some issues on a large Superfund site with contractors and schedule and materials and resources. And as I started helping them through it, based on my background, uh, my boss brought up the idea, like, “Look, why don’t we form our own contracting firm? Like, I just really see great synergy, and we have this great project that we could start self-performing the work but have a firewall between the engineering and contracting. I think it’d be great.”

So if the nine months, you know, of me joining this engineering firm, that’s when Blue World came to fruition. And, uh, the best thing about Blue World starting at that time is we had a good client base. We had one Fortune 500 client who had three massive remediation and construction projects they needed our help with. So the first few years of our growth, it was very controlled, uh, no reason to really grow. But after four years of working on the same projects and we’re doing a couple million for a year of that natural competitive came up with me and like, “Look, you can’t have one client, just as I was saying, right? You never know when something bad is going to happen or they may not be able to pay the bills.” And I got, you know, kind of the okay to start to grow this thing as Blue World and diversify. Been in around 2016, we started getting into the mining and the process and working on dewatering them, building process plants in Pennsylvania and out in the Midwest. So we had both facets of the civil part up, we had environmental, and now we have the mining and process. And then by 2018, using a lot of my background on some new hires we had, we started getting into the wastewater and water resources site development. So we started hitting on all these market sectors that don’t all rely on one another. Certainly with water and wastewater, everybody recognizes that between infrastructure failing, needing to reinvest in it, but we all need water and we all need wastewater. That’s a pretty good business to always find yourself in. The other stuff, you know, it goes up and down with the market, and it’s usually, two, I’ve even found three years later after, you know, Wall Street, so to say, takes its turn, it hits the construction industry. So, but Blue World’s been around for about 12 years. We have a pretty good diverse client background, both in public and private, and both small and large sector clients. You know, Fortune 250 to a small two-man operation ever supporting an engineering firm on a large site development project they have. So I’m very happy with where we’re at and with where we’re going. It’s not the first time I’ve heard either, you know, architecture or engineering firms starting their own contracting gig, you know, within their, you know, underneath their engineering umbrella versus, you know, outsourcing it out. Why not do it yourself? So, uh, it’s a story that I’ve heard over the years. My family’s been in construction since 1888 on the outside of Philadelphia, from Pottstown.

So we were in demolition and recycling before sustainability was even a word. And, uh, now fourth, fifth generations, uh, my cousins are running it outside of Philly. At 16, you get your license as one of the grandsons. When I got my license, get your ass up out of bed because you gotta be in the summer, you gotta go to the, you know, the scrap yard and, uh, watch out for the overhead cranes dropping stuff on you. But, uh, I did everything. I shoveled asbestos, I laid railroad tracks, I built paint booths, uh, I did a couple of demolition jobs on I-95, and uh, you know, it was, uh, I always grew up playing on the cranes and down the scrapyard and so it, uh, you know. But now I built a magazine, you know, this is, I’m a construction-built one every month, I’m just doing it with different materials but, uh, it’s, uh, all those things that I learned, you know, being on time, my Uncle Frank was my superintendent, oh my God, he was a tough son of a gun, you know, may he rest in peace, Uncle Frank, I love you, but, uh, you know, you learn all these things and that you take from your past and as well as on the athletic field and you can put it into your business. And, uh, and you never know, you’re exactly right, the economy goes like this, it’s, it’s just a, it’s just a wave, sometimes it’s up, sometimes it’s down, and you don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket, so I give you, uh, credit for realizing that because you never know when someone’s going to go belly up and then if you don’t have, if that was your, your main client and you didn’t really diversify, you know, you, you might be in trouble and, um, uh.

I agree 100 and the idea too what you were just saying, working for the family business in that you know you’re the people you’re exposed to teach you so much more than than what you can learn, I’ll say behind a book or behind a desk and that’s again that’s why I like to feel that’s why I like being outside because I think the education and what we do is it’s, you know, it’s a master’s, it’s not a bachelor’s, it’s getting your PhD but being there early and staying late, um, work ethic is is something that’s also a foundation of our company and we try to make sure that everyone follows it but, uh, you know, I’d love to hear where what you came up through and what you had to do because you know it just shows nothing’s handed to you and and I’ve I’ve kind of felt that about blue world nothing has been handed to us um as much as our first client was it was a good one we had to work for everything I mean everything was bid yeah he was just you know he liked us this is the client rep but we had to bid everything we had to win it and we didn’t win everything but he always kind of gave us a shot to understand after the fact we lost the work and that’s was that client relationship um that I think we’ve developed with a lot of clients but that our first one uh that individual really understood the importance of having a good strong relationship with your contractor and working fair um but he’s like you’re not going to get you’re not going to be given anything you know so do a good job and keep getting an opportunity to get good work Ellis my family’s military my grandfather was underneath Patton in World War II he was a combat engineer and he rebuilt all of the bridges to the Allies bond in WW2 and he’s got all these Super Eight uh eight millimeter uh film of after the war all the tanks and the jeeps that that came back they recycled and then cut them up and uh so when I uh uh you know I lived in my grandparents during the summer and uh you know I’d have to deal with uh you know Grandpa’s you know my grandfather’s name was Sid and uh every night at dinner I remember this one this is one of my classic stories actually Universe it was the University of Denver alumni client they were building these uh train paint booths that we had to lay the railroad tracks and then we had to weld the uh the you know the booths and so forth and my grandfather came in and uh uh the PM on the job his name was Dominic and he’s like David you got to go up there and undo the uh uh the overhead crane.

I’m like dude I am not going up there and he’s like don’t you trust your own welds I’m like yeah but it’s like 20 feet down on the railroad tracks if they don’t hold he’s like your grandfather’s there dude you better get up there so I had no choice so I went up and I’m hoping the thing doesn’t break and I unhook the crane you know and went down and uh shook the University of Denver client’s hand so that night at dinner when I got home after I got out of the shower and washed all the uh lead off me because ocean so so forth I went home for dinner and uh my grandfather was like Hey I was really proud of you getting up there because I don’t even know if I would have gotten up on those the paint booth, man, because it looked pretty shaky, and I’m like I know, but believe me, I was scared to death. I’m like I’m not gonna let go of the overhead crane, you know, before that, you know, I, like, unhook it, but, uh, I look back but, you know what? It was fear, but I had to face my fear to go do that, and, uh, I knew I could do it, but, you know, there’s always a little voice going, don’t get up there, man, it’s dangerous, but you know what are you gonna do, you just do it and yeah, it’s well, I’ll tell you like it it’s one thing that has changed I think since um probably you started in construction with the family I started construction but that safety mindset what you were just talking about you know nowadays one of the things we preach to our folks is listen don’t just go grab that crane whereas I would have done the same thing and I think 30 years ago it was widely accepted don’t question and now like that’s one of the big things that I think has been a huge Improvement in construction across the board is the idea of safety and the worker has total control and they can you know people say no but say hey is this safe they can question the process so um because I’ve been where you you are like you don’t want to let somebody down you just jump right into it and uh you know we’re lucky you know because some people aren’t as lucky but that’s a big proponent of our our success today it has been our been our safety oh oh yeah yeah and and listen I.

I listen people know that when they watch my my episodes and stuff you know I’m all I always say look you know make sure you stay safe because we want you to go home to your family and we want you to be able to do it the next day and drink lots of water and stay hydrated because you you know it’s still hot out there you think it’s you know the end of the summer but it’s still hot dehydration headache yuck and that’s when accidents happen when you’re not feeling 100 so you know yeah I mean it’s just like lacrosse we you know when I was playing lacrosse years ago uh you know checking clothes on we played all the big high schools in New Jersey they’re all they were always beating up on the petty school and they thought we were just a bunch of preppies and uh I got clotheslined a bunch of times you know now they’re it’s got concussion and all this stuff but believe me I probably had a ton of concussions and it was like walk it off get back out there you know the game you played in high school in college was extremely tough game like I used to watch and I’m like oh my God these hits you know now they’re protecting kids and doing a good job and every once in a while those hits squeak through but you watch some of the old videos and the the 90s and it’s like wow like where were the rules there were no rules you know if you’re playing clothesline headshot you know if a guy if attack me came across that crease he was going to get hammered by the goalie and all three bulbs so yeah we were playing I think hundred and Central you know big high school in Central Jersey and uh yeah it’s breaking out and I’m looking up you know goalie’s doing the fast break and I’m looking like this and there was this big old defenseman waiting for me at Midfield man he’s probably like six five 220 240 and uh I caught the ball and he just cleaned clotheslined me and and their whole crowd is cheering we had no fans there we were on the road you know and I hit the ground and I’m like I had I just popped back up I was not going to give them the glory man you know that you know they thought that was knocked out I popped right up but when I went on the side I was like where am I man you know but I wasn’t gonna I wasn’t gonna give them the glory you know uh I think we ended up these guys so uh but well I’ll tell you not nowadays Huntington Central probably wouldn’t be allowed to play Petty because you know Petty plays with Lawrenceville and they play with player and yeah all the other big prep schools and it’s a different level across at those Preps.

I mean 100 Central is always top 20 in New Jersey they got some very very good talent you know my art my son’s school is a smaller group one every once in a while they get to play then but we all stay away from you know the Lawrenceville’s and the petty’s nowadays because they’ve just gotten looked lacrosse as their bread and butter it’s huge and hockey for that matter oh yeah yeah but I still I store I still remember that guy clothesline to their client said hey we’re going to back we used to do you know 45 days now we’re gonna do uh you know 120 uh or whatever it might be but a lot of the companies that took a hard look at themselves learned how they could weather the storm and keep their company culture whether they were hybrid or in office or you know completely uh you know you know all over the place and uh you know last year I used to talk to companies at the end of the year like you know we had a great year if I could have found more PMS or superintendents I could have been more you know taken on more business but the last you want to do is buy it off more than you can chew and not have the labor or uh you know whether it was a labor shortage or products not being able to deliver that would hold your project up but um for the most part some of my some of my clients had some of the best years that they had you know in 2022 going and this year it has and it hasn’t even stopped I mean uh most of the contractors that we talk to are just booming it’s just a question of you know being able to find the labor I have some clients that said they’ve turned away business because they just don’t have the the staff to to to you know to cover these projects and I’ll tell you what that was a struggle to you know work for us and I don’t know that it matters what business you’re in um certainly some business had to benefit from it because I think a lot of people left the construction and Engineering markets um and I can’t really say why certainly it’s not meant for everybody um some of the folks that I know left it went off more into Tech sales it was stuff they could always do from home and they’re like look I think I always wanted to work from home you know and it’s there’s a lot of hours involved in what we do in construction and engineering and um you know it is not a nine-to-five job and you got to work hard you know not just for your clients but to stay ahead of your competition and you know it’s it can it’s still tough to this day to find the right people we’re still searching whereas I feel we have a strong team you know we we do see a lot of good growth ahead of us and we need to expand our team and uh that’s one of our goals is to really you know create a structure and environment that we hire the best and the brightest but it’s not easy you got to draw and especially as a small Contracting firm.

I think it’s even more difficult not having to name that some of the the large companies have because their marketability I think is a little easier yeah you know some you know being being uh you know not being one of the big boys and not being one of the smallest but you know in that in that realm of you know big to small uh listen if you were in the beginning of Walmart uh expansion and you got in there at the ground floor and you stayed with him you’re probably a much bigger firm than you were right when you started out but I always look at you know we do a general contract report in our uh you know we Rank and list uh the contractors big and small and everybody in between and I always tell people I say look you know going with the big guys is great but going with a smaller company they probably give you a little more better customer service you’re not just a computer number and really uh if you find the right if you find the right company that has the same vision that you do uh with the way that you want to handle your projects and your family and uh you know we’re in this together I think those those are the brands as well as the the contractor and the subs that are working on those projects they’re going to be much more profitable people down the road and they’re going to feel better about themselves and and their companies are going to thrive I never judge a book by its cover just like you know when we’re playing Huntington Central.

We were just a little school with 500 kids versus you know 3 500 people whatever that thing was that monstrosity that’s about right yeah so it really doesn’t matter you know it’s not what you don’t have it’s what you do with what you have and and what and what what you do with what you have you you got to do it great because you know you you’re you’re battling you know other companies that want to take the business from you so no I mean if your competitors are always watching and average gets us nowhere you know even in the public sector people used to say you know you I grew up hearing like oh that you know that guy’s gonna lose his shirt or you know he bought the job and it’s that’s something that would never ever entice us you know that’s not a good business model. I don’t believe it all um but I don’t think I whereas 10 years ago maybe even 15 years ago I’d still see that I think a lot of those contractors have faltered they’re not around anymore they have been absorbed or just fell apart you know I see um one of the things I admire is the the competitors we have a you know a couple competitors we see on almost every project we did and they’re good competition led by good people and I think that shows the strength of the construction industry right now there’s a lot of good competition out there and people aren’t buying jobs at least in the market we’re seeing and that always makes me feel good too that you know if I’m going to lose a job I want to lose somebody’s who’s as good or you could even say better than we are.

They looked at that job better at the same time that you know we’re all competitive we play team sports and we push ourselves to beat them the next time that’s also been really healthy for our growth you know we we pick and choose the projects where we’re going to have good competitors for those that are bid. And that has actually helped us get away from the struggle of the low bid platform. I always had the uh the Mantra of if you wanna if you want to be best be the best you got to play the best I don’t care if it’s only athletic field or in business you want to go up you know I’m just a little publisher an independent going up all against these massive you know companies and so forth I was at Nielsen before I went on my own so I knew what kind of uh you know the big corporate monstrosities are versus you know being an independent and uh I I like being the underdog I just do and uh but you know people are like you know how do you do this I’m like yeah I do with very mental people I run lean and mean but I’ve done everything in my company so I understand what you know has to be done but I’m always learning new stuff uh I’ve just taken almost a year of boot camps you know learning AI uh you know new social media Tick Tock all this stuff and uh I thought I knew everything the day I stopped learning is the day I should go do something else you know when I finish up this thing I’ve got to go on to into a class and uh so I’m always learning and I you know just the little things that you might separate you from your from your competitors uh that uh you know that’s going to be the difference of you winning the bid or not winning it or getting an ad schedule in the magazine or so forth so and like I said I I gave it the credit you know to the way I was brought up as well as uh you know all the things that I learned on you know whether it was the ice hockey rink or the lacrosse field I ran track too so but it was all team sports but there was always that individual Flair that you had that you could you know take for yourself and but it was still a team sport there’s no I in team so uh nope and that’s the way that I operate my business and uh it uh I.

I agree like I’d love to hear you know you’re learning new things because you’re not learning you’re flatlining and you’re falling behind you know and you’re gonna level out and I think that’s one of the things that pushed too is you know reading um seeing what else is out there you know following others uh uh leading to new technology there’s been a lot of you know you mentioned sustainability before the idea has been around what for 50 years right um it’s how we implement it how we do it that’s I think it’s it’s different and it’ll be different again in another five to ten years so you gotta not as much roll at the punches but role of Technology learn it and see how you can apply it and make us more efficient so are are you uh bullish or bearish as we finish up the year and go looking into that 2024 where are you there uh that’s a good question well again uh my boss will tell me I tend to be the negative one and I’m always on the uh the the bearish side of things I’m always worried right so I think with you’re looking at having a great 2023 and we already have a good backlog going into 2024 which we’ve never had before but I’m always worried about what you don’t know and that’s what kind of keeps me going too. Probably is why my hair’s so great at a relatively young age too but um you know I I think things are looking up. I have a great team working with me that’s growing immensely together and uh but I always worry right, you know all you got to do is flip on a computer and look at the internet and there’s a lot of negative stuff out there and it’s how to keep that to the Wayside and push it away so it doesn’t get in the way of the Positive Growth we have coming so. But I mean we just won a really nice project for the National Park Service down in Sandy Hook and um we beat some pretty large companies in order to get it so I think people see the value in that maybe we’re a small company but we’ve got a lot of creative thinkers and some great ways of doing things and I think that’s going to help us become more on that the bear side and look positive towards the future. Uh listen I I don’t have time for negativity, you know if you’re if you’re working with someone who’s negative whether it’s a client or someone with your company you got to get rid of those people because they’re just gonna it spreads and uh it just it negativity I don’t have time for it stay positive and uh have fun and you can’t control some things you can’t control like the weather, you know I can’t control it but you gotta roll with the play, you know I’d like to be a weatherman he’s got the best job in the world every day it’s partly cloudy or partly sunny you know how can you go wrong you got a 50 50 chance of getting it right you know those are pretty good odds you know just just gotta look good and report and there’s no repercussions for every day you’re getting it wrong.

So and I get all this technology and it still seems like you know maybe it is the hardest job because no matter what it’s the weather it’s mother nature and she’s going to do what she wants. Oh yeah oh yeah I I thoroughly agree um if you were gonna if you were gonna leave one positive thought or phrase with our listeners out there on commercial construction Coffee Talk what would it be from all the things that you’ve done? You know are we from uh just kind of a recommendation or looking towards the future or or about us so to say. Yeah uh you know it doesn’t matter no it doesn’t matter no I mean I I think from a you know from my perspective um small contractors can be looked as limited and I think looking at Blue world and what we can do we are a very diverse contractor that’s capable of big things and just because we only have 40 people I think we’re showing I mean we can do a 20 to 25 million dollar project without pointing an eye and I think you know the the idea given opportunities to small businesses is really important and it’s something that I look to to do myself in the future as we start working with other subcontractors make sure I give the the small going growing guy a girl a good opportunity just like I’ve been given yeah like I said before uh you know there are there big guns there’s fun there’s everybody in between and if you know you’re if you’re a client out there looking for some for a contractor you always want to make sure that you have the same vision you can see how they built their company and hopefully you know they see the light and they they give you an opportunity to prove yourself and I will say give me a chance let me prove myself and I will and then some and you’ll be glad that you hooked up with me and I’ll back everything up that I say just like it when I go out in the field.

I’m like look we’re going to try our best and if you can look yourself in the mirror after you leave it all in the field and you can look yourself in the mirror at the end of the night you get back and win or lose it’s okay because winning’s great you can win ugly or you can win great but if you lose it doesn’t really lose 20 nothing or 4-3 the bottom line is you have to learn from it and so the next time if you see that team or you get that project you’re not going to do that and You can implement it and you’ll have that much more of a percentage opportunity to, you know, be successful so I’m all with that, you know, with that point. Um, if someone wanted to get in touch with you and then, you know, look, they’re looking for a contractor, they never heard of Blue World and they wanted to find out more about you, how would they reach out to you? You know, uh, you know, I always say with me, my if it’s okay to get my cell phone, that’s, oh yeah, my cell phone is 201-572-4910, but yeah, I get so many emails every day they can get lost sometimes so the best way to get a hold of me is always on the cell, send me a text or give me a call. Hey, um, this is your most powerful tool for all you out there on commercial construction coffee talk. I picked 10 people a day to make a phone call to because I send way too many emails to way too many Zoom calls and, uh, but just having a nice conversation on the phone, this is your best tool. So, yeah, I agree, you know, get, you know, give this gentleman a call, he’s been around, you know, he’s, you know, he’s not the biggest, he’s not the smallest, but he’s got the right attitude and, uh, who knows, maybe there’s some synergies between your two firms and, uh, they can, you know, you can talk turkey and see if there’s a, you know, a fit to, uh, you know, do some business. Um, if anybody wants to reach me, I’m at davidc@ccr.mag.com. Once again, the way the pat got on here, his publicist sent me a press release and they, you know, they were just, you know, regressive and, you know, we started talking and finally we got him on the schedule and, and, uh, this is the way that you do it.

So, uh, you know, if you have something cool, send it to me, we’ve got a ton of social media, we got a couple million people every month hitting the website consuming content. We post stuff every day, very tough to get in the magazine but we look at everything. It could be an anniversary, it could be a new personnel announcement, it could be a project that you just finished, uh, you know, whatever it might be, let me be the judge, I will come back to you or my digital specialist will and, uh, if we post it, we’ll send you the link, you can share it, it’s good for our SEO for both of us, a win-win. But, uh, I always say it’s like playing the lottery, if you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win, if you don’t send me something or reach out to me, I can’t get you on the podcast or in the magazine or, you know, up on social media, so, uh, send it to me, we look at everything, you know, and listen, I’ve been taking these data classes for the last year, I’m addicted, I love that, I look a lot, I, I love learning, like I said, the day I stopped learning is the day I should go do something else and that hasn’t happened yet so I’m still here. So, um, any final thoughts, uh, before we sign off? No, not today, I appreciate you having me on the show, this has been great, better than I could have expected, it was, uh, great talking to you and I’ll be fun to catch up about LAX another time. Yeah, maybe you seem to see one of those PLL games. Hey listen, uh, I, I love talking LAX, I just like sports in general, I just, you know, I, I like talking to sports people because they understand winning, losing, especially if they have kids and, uh, they’ve seen them progress and if they really like something, they take it to heart, they want to get better and, uh, and that’s just the way that I lived my life and, you know, sports was a big part of it and, um, uh, and I’m still playing and hopefully, uh, you know, I’ll be able to go until well, I just turned 60, uh, at the end of June so I’m thinking that, uh, you know, I’ve got a ways to go, I can as long as I can still run up and down the field, you know, and I’ll, uh, or own the frozen pond or actually, I play Roller Hockey too on the concrete Pond as long as I can still do that, you know, I’m, I’m game and then, uh, but eventually the body will tell me that I’m not going to be able, that’s right, you know, but we’re still playing the kids’ game until we can’t.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like you, I like running with the youngsters here and there, you know, there’s a pickups, there’s a pickup League, you know, on Sundays and, uh, the 20 year olds are out there, you know, my son’s like Dad, you’re looking slow and I’m like Brody, I’ve had both my ACLs done, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not 20 anymore that was way back in my Glory Days you know but I can still bring it you know and, uh, so but uh, yeah, no I’m gonna play till, uh, the old knee said no okay man it’s time for you to, you know, to retire. So well good for you well listen everybody out there a couple things before we sign off first hit that like button we wanna we want everybody to find the uh, you know, this episode out there and we got to play with the uh, you know, YouTube algorithm so uh, we want to find out if you know we want to get the message out about what Pat had to say so hit that like button once again if you’re out there in that construction side be safe we want you to go come home be with your kids and your family and be able to get up and do it the next day and once again it’s still really hot out there okay I gotta go out and cut the grass here shortly you know know about seven o’clock it’s still going to be steaming hot make sure you drink lots of water if you put any of those electrolytes powder and you know in in your water bottle do it don’t get dehydrated because that’s you know dehydration is the worst and that’s when mistakes happen or accidents and we don’t want any of that stuff to happen so be safe drink lots of water and you’ll be able to go do it then you know the next day so Pat pleasure meeting you I look forward to hopefully uh coming up to Jersey uh no fist pumps I’ll shake your hand maybe I’ll bring my stick and I’ll throw it with your kids or whatever and uh sounds good and uh you know always like meeting people uh you know uh from uh one of my favorite States you know Jersey Philadelphia New York the Tri-State you know it is you know it is what it is so and that and that and that story of a hundred and Central that was classic about you know we shouldn’t play them and stuff and uh you know it’s funny I coached a a like I was in the Catholic league but they were like Petty school you know small schools and they all they were all playing each other but we would still go play some of the big high schools after like 100 Central down here in Georgia and uh they all think they always think that oh they’re just a bunch of you know preppies over there they’re not gonna go but we you know once again.

I put that mindset I said look man I came from the school I only had 100 people in my class we had 500 students totally but we played you know the big schools we didn’t care who we played and like I always had that mindset to be the best you got to play the best and uh and you got to learn from it so you can’t be scared of how big they are or whatever they’re just like you and uh uh anyway it uh uh it’s a pleasure talking to a dad an athlete and uh you know someone that’s bringing their kids up especially and loving the game of Lacrosse you know the fastest sport on two feet so everybody was great yeah so everybody out there have a great rest of the week stay cool and uh I’m gonna sign off uh from uh Sugar Hill about 30 miles north of Atlanta right below the Beaver Dam on Lake Lanier with 627 miles of Coastline I think and Pat’s gonna sign off in 4 Park up in New Jersey and we will see you next time on another episode of commercial construction Coffee Talk Pat thank you you’re the best it was great I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation all right take care yep thank you bye-bye man ball [Music] thank you.