Fort Worth, TX- The second ever 2025 Small/Special Projects Forum brought together approximately 30 professionals—including Project Managers, Estimators, Sales Representatives, Service Managers, and other industry leaders—who share a passion for learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Attendees engaged in dynamic panel discussions and interactive breakout sessions focused on sharing best practices, tackling common challenges, and generating innovative ideas. The event fostered a strong sense of community among professionals facing similar day-to-day realities, making it a valuable and energizing experience for all involved.
“This is by far the most potent form of training available. No course, nor curriculum could equal and the value it has created is immeasurable,” said David Rose of Harvey W. Hottel.
To kick off our meeting, we had Kathy Crosby with us, President and Owner of C2 Consulting, Inc. C2 Consulting is a firm that provides financial, safety, and other consulting services and training, where she focused on Small Project Management with our group. A highlight of her presentation included The Project Life Cycle and Zero-Cost Change Order she introduced. During the breakout session after her material, attendees focused on discussing what are the reasons for warranty calls/rework and how they can be reduced, how scope creep is controlled, and how to reduce non-billable hours.
“The information gained from this forum will be instrumental in shaping a new small projects division as we transition it to our service group at Air Controls,” stated Chris Stokes.
After a successful first day featuring an inspiring guest speaker and meaningful member discussions, attendees returned for the final day eager to build on the momentum and bring the conference to a strong close. We began with Exequiel Lopez of Environmental Systems Inc, Jake Chowdry of Intech Mechanical and Jake Emerson of Service Unlimited sharing their turnover processes for small projects. Another highlight of day two included panel discussions, which focused on getting the right people on the right projects and keeping customers while retaining margin.
“The best part of the meeting was really just being able to have unfiltered conversations with people in my industry that are not direct competitors,” shared Jerome Ryan with Robert Gibb & Sons. Lastly, we had Jared Krieg with Wiegmann Associates, Chris Stokes with Air Controls, and Matthew Thornton with A&G Services who presented on Close Out- discussing how once the job is completed who is responsible for follow up on warranty, startup and O&M’s. Jared Krieg then wrapped up the meeting with quoting work with subcontractors, presenting tips and tricks on each of the things that are crucial when working with subcontractors.
“If I didn’t attend the meeting, I would have missed the collaboration with people who hold similar roles as me, and as a result I come back with the tweaks that I can make to get better individually and as a department,” said Jake Emerson with Service Unlimited.
The 2025 Small/Special Projects Forum concluded on a high note as members gathered for a lively and well-deserved closing dinner at Texas de Brazil. Our time together in Fort Worth was not only productive, but also filled with meaningful conversations, shared insights, and a lot of fun along the way.
Zeke Lopez from Environmental Systems, Inc. shared that, “having those open discussions and having input from people with different levels of expertise is the best part. From the new PMs to the company owners, there was something to take away from everyone.”
Upcoming Forums include Human Resources, Construction, and Safety! If you are interested in learning more about attending a meeting or becoming a member of The Unified Group, contact Janet Kelleher at [email protected].
