Last week nearly 30 Unified Group members from across the country met in Burlington, Vermont for our 2017 Construction Forum. This 2 ½ day event, Hard at Work: A Focus on Maximizing Productivity, focused beyond the individual job and encouraged attendees to develop the big picture to maximize productivity in all areas of construction. Bobby Grimes (A&G Piping), Chris Schaff (Air Controls), Mike Brown (Environmental Construction Services), Quinton Selin (Mechanical Services and Systems, Inc.), Josh Byler (Blauch Brothers), Ashley Fernandez (B&I Contractors) and Dave Brown (VHV Company) were all selected to share their challenges, successes and best practices in our show-and-share format. Discussions included a variety of topics including prefabrication, foreman responsibilities, project management and job closeout. “I’m always really impressed with the openness of conversation at these events” said Byler.

Members also had the unique opportunity to tour VHV Company’s facility. The attendees met for a large group overview in VHV Company’s training room where they heard about their award-winning safety program and they shared information about Pro Core and IPS, new technology they are using.  Members then broke out into small groups to see the following areas: service, tool crib, estimating, projects, planning and the piping and sheet metal fabrication areas. Following the tour of VHV Company, attendees visited one of their job sites for a hands-on demonstration of their methodologies. “Top- quality craftsmanship and innovative approaches were obvious” says Selin. “The good relationship of the company with the client is still present and that is very impressive.” Selin also adds that it “says a lot when others are taking pictures of your work.” 

Special thank you to Bobby Grimes, Chris Schaff, Quinton Selin, Dave Brown and Jon Murphy (VHV Company) for serving as our task force to help plan this meeting.