Trevor Truax is the Chief Engineer for Paramount Property Company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has worked in building management for over ten years, learning the ins and outs of what it takes to maintain a clean and friendly atmosphere while meeting the tenant’s needs. With a background in aeronautical maintenance, Trevor has a specific expertise in fine-tuning problems and getting to the meat of the matter in building repairs and renovations.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Learn:
- Trevor Truax talks about how he is coping during the pandemic
- What does it mean to be a chief engineer?
- Trevor shares his challenges with COVID-19 and returning to work
- How will the future of the workplace change with companies requiring more space?
- Trevor recalls how he got started in facility management
- How do you create a career in facility management?
- Finding a work/life balance
- The importance of having a heart of compassion with customers
In this Episode:
Facility management is one of the many career paths that few people purposefully pursue, or even know about. This is a position that offers skill-building, on-site training, and the ability to advance across different career paths. Take Trevor Truax: he started his career as an aeronautical mechanic. He then transitioned to a career where his hands-on experience and understanding of human interactions and desires are put to the test daily.
In this week’s episode of Watching Paint Dry, host Greg Owens interviews Trevor Truax, Chief Engineer at Paramount Property Company. They discuss the challenges of building management, the future of leasing, and facility management as a career. Trevor recalls his journey to becoming a chief engineer at Paramount Property Company and the next generation of facility management.
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
- Greg Owens on LinkedIn
- McCarthy Painting
- McCarthy Painting Contact No.: 415-383-2640
- McCarthy Painting Email Address: info@mccarthypainting.com
- Trevor Truax on LinkedIn
- Paramount Property Company
Sponsor for this Episode:
This episode is brought to you by McCarthy Painting, where we serve commercial and residential clients all around the San Francisco Bay area.
We’ve been in business since 1969 and served companies such as Google, Autodesk, Abercrombie & Fitch, FICO, First Bank, SPIN, and many more.
If you have commercial facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area and need dependable painters, visit us on the web at www.mccarthypainting.com or email info@mccarthypainting.com, and you can check out our line of services and schedule a free estimate by clicking here.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Watching Paint Dry Podcast where we feature today’s top facility managers, property managers and property owners talking about the challenges and opportunities of managing hundreds of thousands of square feet of real estate and how to beautify and improve their properties.
Now, let’s get started with the show.
Greg Owens 0:32
Hello there this is Greg Owens with the Watching Paint Dry Podcast. It’s Friday, August 7 2020. And we are continuing our series talking to facilities managers, building owners, property managers, and really kind of getting into the unique challenges and opportunities they are facing. This podcast is brought to you by McCarthy Painting. It’s my company. It’s we do residential and commercial painting throughout the Bay Area. We’ve been painted for many companies like Google, Autodesk, SPIN, and many many more. If you’d like to find out more information about McCarthy painting and our services, go to McCarthyPainting.com or you can email info@McCarthypainting.com And today episode, we have Trevor Truax with Paramount Property Company. Welcome, Trevor.
Trevor Truax 1:35
Yeah, thank you. Pleasure to be here.
Greg Owens 1:38
And so first off, like how are you doing your family doing this? This was still a pandemic, even though it’s the first week of august?
Trevor Truax 1:47
Yeah, it’s crazy. We’re all doing well, you know, by the grace of God or whoever you know, and yeah, just trying to kill you know, the You know, in the incredible amounts of, you know, background stress that’s going on, everyone’s trying to normalize, you know, but write things down in that aspect. But yeah, just moving forward and
chopping wood and carrying water.
Greg Owens 2:18
Yeah, Yeah, no kidding. I’m kidding. And so I wanted to check in like Paramount Property Company. I don’t know too much about the organization and your role there. And what’s what what goes on there?
Trevor Truax 2:33
Yeah, Paramount Property Company is a property management company here in the Bay Area. And I believe we’ve got about we’ve, I bought I’ve been with the company nine months now. So been with their place where they’re managing out here in the background. What was sold. It was purchased repurchased in 2017 and then to accompany and then they just kind of flipped it and apparently ended up with it. So we’re the property management company, but we’re also associated with the parent company who who has
partial ownership in it. So
yeah, so we are a property management company here in the Bay Area specializes, you know, in in really kind of specialty properties and really kind of owe oriented to, you know, towards taking care of the attendant in the customer and when we also have a, you know, a commitment to building ownership.
Greg Owens 3:44
Yeah, yeah.
Trevor Truax 3:46
span many, you know, many different relationships, many hats.
Greg Owens 3:51
Yeah, and I’ve been onto your property there in in Mill Valley, and it’s a it’s a beautiful location, and it’s a really Sort of the set the set the set back against the hillside and just absolutely, like they just did a great job. I remember when it first got built, and it was probably how many years ago was it
Trevor Truax 4:12
when it was finished in 2000? So yeah, it took 15 years to get
marine planning to approve it. So
Greg Owens 4:20
about 15 years. Wow. Yeah. Now, were you part of that construction process or at all? Or do you come in after the
Trevor Truax 4:28
I came in after that? I came in in 2005. Right. Just after but yeah, it’s it’s a premier Class 1-A building and southern marine. There’s, I think there’s, I think it’s about it, you know?
Greg Owens 4:44
Yeah. And it’s like, I think WeWorks only marine location. Is that correct?
Trevor Truax 4:49
so far? Yes.
Greg Owens 4:50
Right. And they and they occupy most of that particular space.
Trevor Truax 4:54
They’ve got about 40% of it. Right, right.
Greg Owens 4:59
And what are you seeing now with COVID-19? And what kind of challenges are you running into? Or what is how is your role changed in this time?
Trevor Truax 5:11
It’s a very interesting question.
I, you know, I’m fairly boots on the ground here, things haven’t changed that much. For me personally, I’m still, you know, made, you know, interface for tenants, you know,
doing all the maintenance, you know,
budgets and so forth. Everything’s still the same, however, really just trying to make things you know, accommodate the tenants in reoccupying. So right during the first I guess, the first part of the the, you know, the Shelter in Place Order. That week, we lost about everybody
and then
Number of tenants, I’ve got a number of banks here. They decided they were bank. So they came back. So, and then they kind of do shift work, you know, part of the half there, you know,
forgive me, go ahead after employees, the word employees
come in, you know, do like Tuesday, Thursdays, Monday, Wednesday, Friday kind of thing. And so they can space, you know. And
Greg Owens 6:38
so in that first week, everybody just took off and then and then they slowly started coming back in as they felt like it was safe, and that they had necessary services that they had to sort of be at their offices to do some things. Exactly. Yeah. But within limited capacity for for it.
Trevor Truax 6:57
Yeah. We have about just Under 400 tenants if we were completely full Hmm, including all, you know, over half that’s WeWork so
they’re pretty densely occupied.
But right now we’re sitting around 40 to 50 every day so
Greg Owens 7:17
yeah, and WeWork as an interesting business model we’re hoping to get the facilities manager for WeWork Global on this podcast we’ve kind of bounced back and forth with him. Do you know him?
Trevor Truax 7:32
I do not.
Greg Owens 7:33
Yeah.
But I it’s an interesting business model because it was they you know, something really needed before and I think there’s a lot of people shaking their heads thinking like what is going to be WeWorks business model going forward? Do any any ideas from your standpoint or what you’re seeing how they’re using the space?
Trevor Truax 7:53
Yeah, this this COVID thing really met them head on, so to speak. But everything they All About they had a fairly densely occupied floor plans and crammed a lot of people in spaces a lot of sharing, you know, and they had a band play here every Thursday, they had live music for a while you know, and free beer and wine and and so that’s all halted, you know, stopped and and so
Greg Owens 8:26
they were barely social sort of, you know they they they rented out office spaces but they were very socially orientated and a lot of memory orientated and a lot of ways, huh,
Trevor Truax 8:36
yeah, exactly. So that so that stopped. I think now, there’s been a quite a turnover and, you know, of their staff. And so they play they’re playing catch up, you know, quite a bit. And I’m just continually re educating, you know, new site managers for them. And I think we’ve got a couple of people are gonna stick now. Yeah. So I believe that they are kind of trying to spin us to their advantage, and that they’ve got a lot of small, you know, sectioned off spaces as well. So for you know, for really a decent price, we, you can’t just get that anywhere, you know, if you’re a small business and so that makes those spaces safe as well during this so I think they’re, they’re kind of going from, you know, approaching it from that angle now. And
I don’t know, I kind of have a good feeling about it.
Greg Owens 9:37
Yeah, I’ve heard some things where a lot of companies need more space. And so they were contracting with WeWork in order to have like, extra just sort of summon take get taking over some of those extra offices that WeWork as and having their employees use those because they need you know, they’ve a lot of buildings like your own is as has these shared floors where there’s a lot of shared shared spaces, and a lot of that’s going away and they’re looking for those little smaller offices to occupy. Yeah. And and I like when I when I’m visiting with you and you showed me the what is it like the secret room that WeWork there? I guess it’s not very secret anymore. But yeah.
Katrina Hayes 10:26
No, I’ve actually been to that building as well. I went to an event there and I’ve been inside that WeWork and I know exactly the room you’re talking about. But are you? Are you are you guys doing anything like thermal scanning for people coming in? Or is that WeWork’s
Trevor Truax 10:41
deal. That’s all WeWork to kind of at this point. I think that will probably start happening at some point.
Greg Owens 10:49
And I forgot to mention Katrina’s on the podcast too here She works in the office of McCarthy Painting and sometimes chimes in with some questions of of her own
Katrina Hayes 11:00
Yes.
Greg Owens 11:01
And yeah, and there’s a what the, the room has it’s like a library. It’s really well done and has like a complete collection of vinyl records, which I thought was really interesting.
Trevor Truax 11:14
Yeah, those were Michael Gross number two and command for them at the time. bought a house in the area along with just after Adam had and they decided that they were going to make this like, next level WeWork so that they’re going to have personal offices here. And that’s kind of why I got the special treatment.
Greg Owens 11:35
Right, right.
Katrina Hayes 11:36
That full-bar two, right.
There is a full bar back there
Trevor Truax 11:41
that you got to like make it through the day.
Greg Owens 11:46
Well, and a lot of those high tech companies I know we’ve done work with like Airbnbs at their headquarters and every floor has a full bar which is just mind boggling that they can have that at any point in Employees can go out and get a drink and stuff but nobody seems to abuse it. And it’s all done with respect, right? It’s pretty amazing.
Trevor Truax 12:07
It’s kind of like Yeah, yeah, prohibition, you know, we will drink more when they when they couldn’t, you know, I
Greg Owens 12:15
yeah, you’re making it illegal than you make it wanted, right. Yeah. And so how did you get into into facility facility managing?
Trevor Truax 12:27
Well, you know, I, I’ve done a fair amount of it. Throughout my life I’ve always been very mechanically inclined. And yeah, I ended up I was in construction for a number of years. done a little bit of everything and I ended up getting married actually. And to my kind of surprise that the family they are married into own a number of high rises in the South Bay Area. So I kind of had. I just I had kind of a glorified handyman business at the time, and I had just finished aircraft mechanic school. And this is just right during 911 When that happened, and they laid off all the mechanics and right, so I just kind of naturally went into like, helping out with the family and the business. And
when that ended,
I was actually talking to them to some folks in the city and a VM manager happened to be kind of in the crowd in the area and overheard me and said, you know, we’d like to bring you on if you’re available. And he was just, we’re just kind of talking in a circle and he didn’t know you know, who he was at the time and was just very serendipitous and yeah, so I started working for IBM in 2005. Hmm and what’s what’s ABM? ABM? Let me see I believe it’s an American building maintenance. Oh, yeah, they’re they’re like a huge nationwide do janitorial engineering, parking
Greg Owens 14:20
that kind of thing so right and they supply the facilities managers to two buildings to a dude. Yeah, they’ll take property on it. You can just contract with them and get Yeah. Right. Everything so wow what timing You were so you had this you’re going to school for aircraft repair.
Trevor Truax 14:40
Yeah,
Greg Owens 14:40
that’s just not easy tinkering with an aircraft is not an easy not an easy job.
Trevor Truax 14:46
No, no and and it was there was
so much paperwork involved and everything was in triplicate and you had to cite like, you know, sections, you know, you know the approved you know, manual that it came out, which is that had to be FAA approved. You had to cite that, you know? Yeah, it was tough to be effective. But I was able to just grandfather to use that and be grandfathered into local 39 with that experience, so that that was great. It was a godsend for me. And
Greg Owens 15:20
right, yeah, that’s great. Cuz, cuz I mean, it’s so interesting. And in that timing of because 911 and then I can just imagine there’s like, no jobs for mechanics.
Trevor Truax 15:32
Right? Yeah. They laid off 5000 mechanics in the you know, in the country, and those guys were first in line when the jobs did start coming back. So write airline into this. Yeah.
Greg Owens 15:43
And I can only imagine what they’re going through now because they must be. I haven’t heard too much about airline cuts, but it must have happened.
Massively.
Trevor Truax 15:52
Yeah. I have a friend who is doing building maintenance in the in the attic. stuff oh, and he just got laid off so oh wow yeah there’s no cutting back.
Greg Owens 16:08
Right right that whole travel industry I mean you know, we we got we got had to shelter in place and had to stop working for a couple of months there you know, doing a few jobs that were we deemed as necessary sort of projects and that kind of thing. But I can only imagine like some of these some of these industry anybody in in the travel industry or anybody in the restaurants and things like that they just hit incredibly hard so we’re fortunate we’re able to be back out and painting and doing projects again, which is which is great and hopefully we don’t go backwards with all these shelter in place rules that the governor keeps coming up with.
Trevor Truax 16:49
Seriously, I don’t know if we can live to another one of those
right I want the video down damned if you don’t, right it’s
Greg Owens 16:59
Yeah, yeah. And so what is what’s some of the unique, unique aspects of the building that you’re, you’re a part of now what? What parts of it like what do you see as some of the challenges? And what do you see as the opportunities going forward?
Trevor Truax 17:15
there? Hmm, that’s a good question. I think getting getting fully reoccupied, you know, will be, could be a challenge, you know, we we put up sanitation stations all over the place. And and I think, you know, here in Southern Marine, there’s a good, good percentage of the population that’s in their in their late 50s. And anybody who can is working from home, so our kind of goal is to, you know, make it as safe as possible and, you know, accommodate those who are, you know, want to come back back here, but and we’re doing like, you know, we’ve stopped up like all the air filter changes, you know, that kind of thing just double up over can
but as far as going forward
I think this is gonna take a lot of flexibility, a lot of communication
with folks and really as, as I’m kind of speaking for ownership here, but I think there’s gonna have to be some Well, just just working trying to be as flexible as possible and to accommodate the tenants and, and I’m not really seeing any need for that so far everyone’s still trying to is paying their rent and you know, honoring their leases and so forth. What I what I am seeing from the tenants is they’re having to be very flexible.
You know, and really kind of adapt to the change
in We have a lot of financial and wealth management here. So they’re kind of changing their strategy to keep their businesses you know, alive and afloat and going where the money is. And I think
we’re going to have to really, you know,
get creative to accommodate each other during this time.
Greg Owens 19:26
Right? I think that’s a key word there is is the creativity that is necessary even for ourselves as a painting company, we’ve had to get extremely creative really latch on to technology that we were sort of using before but now we’re really using in like, in having like these zoom kind of conversations and that kind of stuff. I mean, Katrina is the only one working at our office these days. Some of the other like myself, I used to just work. I was already always working from cafes and sort of this new way. experiences like, now I’m trying to have to find like parks or different places where I can kind of set up shop and write proposals and get things out and that kind of stuff. Because I find when I’m at home, it’s not the same. It’s not not an easy environment to be working from. And I’m sure that that’s true for a lot of people, right?
Trevor Truax 20:21
Yeah. I don’t think you said it. But the benefit is getting outdoors more, you know, and getting people people are getting out to nature over more and that’s, you know, between that and
it kind of forced, you know,
I know isolation, in a sense is causing us to go inward more. And I think that’s a really good prescription because I know the last five years I keep just
Greg Owens 20:49
like a you know, on the hamster wheel just running full, full force and knowing that that is not sustainable, you know, and so this is kind of giving a breather in essence, you know? right i think that i think you’re right I think that’s one of the hidden sort of opportunities and, and the bright side of this whole thing is that you get to have this work on it and sort of an inner journey like you said, and get out to nature. I know I, I I just started mountain biking again, marine counties just so great. Are you a mountain biker too?
Trevor Truax 21:23
Yeah, it keeps me sane,
Greg Owens 21:24
Oh, yeah, we’ll have to get out sometime. Although I’m a beginner again, because it’s, it’s about killed me to ride to the top of Mount Tam from Mill Valley.
Trevor Truax 21:34
It’s like riding a bike. You know?
Greg Owens 21:36
It was Yeah.
Trevor Truax 21:37
Go you’ll get it back.
Greg Owens 21:39
I think it took two and a half hours to go to get to the top of Mount Tam. And it took me 30 minutes to get down.
Trevor Truax 21:48
Yeah, it was amazing. When you get up there. It’s like you did this on your own volition. You know, it’s like you can view and you look down it’s like wow.