We're celebrating our amazing employees during our 50th anniversary year, highlighting team members who have helped make KEPHART who we are today.
This month we're introducing you to Associate and Senior Construction Administration Project Manager, Janet Grady.
How did you get your start at KEPHART?
It was a smaller office in the late 1990s, and I started as a drafter. At that time, everyone was transitioning from drafting on a board to drafting on a computer, which was great timing for me. I was just out of school and knew how to use Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) when few did. At the time, Paul Campbell wanted someone who would be a sponge of information, and that’s when our mentorship relationship began.
How did your role at KEPHART evolve?
Paul recognized the need to have a separate Contract Administration department. At the time, principals were taking calls from the field and the need grew for more onsite coordination. Paul pitched the idea to me, saying, ‘ You are good at problem solving and asking good questions, I’ll show you the ropes.’ So, I joined our original CA team, and I have enjoyed contributing to its evolution over the years. Another responsibility of mine is being a member of the QC team. I review drawings for competency and completeness before they leave the office, ensuring that the CA lessons are understood by staff and communicated clearly in our documentation. Years of experience with our firm’s design sets have provided me with a history of knowledge and lessons learned. I also get great satisfaction from being an associate at KEPHART and getting to advocate for our company culture and influence the trajectory of our business.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The most gratifying part is keeping promises. To me, our design team is the promise maker, and the CA team is the promise keeper. I want to ensure our clients feel the continuity of the relationship we’ve built throughout the entire life of the project, not just during design. I want them to walk away feeling like the whole experience with KEPHART was positive. I enjoy the fast-paced problem-solving of construction, bouncing around to multiple projects, and the relationship-building gained from this position. CA ensures that the finished product is something that is well built, looks good, is profitable and that residents are happy in.
How do you use the knowledge you gain in the CA field to help the entire office?
CA at KEPHART has three responsibilities: construction, client relations, and education. What really sets us apart is the education component. We are constantly sharing small nuggets of information with the office that can improve our drawings or catch surprise expenses. We hold weekly CA Corners that do precisely that, where we point out things we see in drawings that could be fine-tuned or items in the sets that are now required that previously were not. We also offer educational construction site visits to the staff. I personally remember how hard it was to visualize what I was drawing until I saw it built. These visits are also a reminder of the impact our sets have on the general contractors and owners. It also adds a layer of transparency and vulnerability because no set of plans, construction site, or anyone else will be perfect. We also have a dedicated CA Channel in Microsoft Teams that allows for open conversations and mentoring. I appreciated the mentorship given to me and now it’s come full circle, and I really enjoy mentoring others.
What is your favorite KEPHART project?
I like multiple projects for different reasons, but I really like The Henry. At the time, it was the largest project I had worked on in my career. I really appreciated the coordination that went into it on the design of it because it made construction easy. Nurturing relationships is a big facet of CA, so having highly coordinated plans allowed me to continue fostering our relationship with our clients and contractors in the field. Those relationships help build a better projects.
