Andrew Gardner 4:33
LIke a lot of people in commercial real estate industry, I fell into it. I graduated from Davis in 2013. And really had zero intention of getting into construction actually didn’t even register on my radar potential career path. But I met one of the Peacocks and actually that both of them and yeah, a few months later, I got a phone call and or they were looking to hire a project engineer. I really had zero idea what that meant. I didn’t I have an engineering background and majored in communication. I didn’t even realize that engineering had nothing to do with being a project engineer. But when interviewed with the company, ended up getting a job out of college, and I spent about two and a half years running projects. So I was estimating projects, manage project if we were awarded with a job. And during that time, I got pretty involved with the commercial real estate industry. And my community standpoint in was pretty active in some of the organizations. So it kind of developed like a great network of friends, and ended up like having some work come in. So it was, like, coincidentally, business development. While I wasn’t, you know, necessarily putting a lot of mental effort into it. It’s more just like just, you know, developing a great network of close friends. And we ended up working together, which has been great. And I think it was 2015, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted my overall career path to look like. And so I decided to take some time off, I quit. And I decided that in 2015 2016, is when I actually took off, and I went travel for a year down through Central and South America, and then was in Asia, I have family in Spain. So I wrap up the trip, hanging out with them for about a month is great. And then came back. And yeah, it was I reconnected with Peacock Construction, and ended up taking this role, it offered a lot of what I was looking for as far as growth potential great company enjoyed the people who work here. And it was kind of a natural fit. So now coming back into this role not running jobs anymore. So taking that knowledge that I gained over the past few years of doing it hands on and kind of apply it to my new efforts now to you know, kind of strange the partnerships, we do have continued my involvement with the commercial real estate industry, keep expanding my network and find people who you know, we see eye to eye with from business perspective, and enjoy working with those. That is my Yeah, that’s kind of where we’re at. Now. It’s a roundabout path. It was definitely not expected. But it’s been a good journey so far.
Greg Owens 6:53
Oh, that’s, that’s great. Well, what was your engineer and engineering? Were you in engineering at Davis? or What was your degree? Oh, no, I
Andrew Gardner 7:01
had zero engineering. I. It’s funny. Project Engineer is kind of a misnomer. Making sure you can engineer the projects, but not the physical construction of it. Really, it’s a project assistant, essentially, for an assistant project managers better word for it. So yeah, I majored in communication with a minor in global International Studies. Because I went and studied abroad in Spain for a semester and my, my credits transferred to a minor. So you know, I had zero production experience definitely didn’t have any engineering experience. And just kind of figured out as I went along, it was kind of just like, you know, pick yourself up by the bootstraps, and just keep moving forward.
Greg Owens 7:43
And that’s great, because I and I appreciate that a tremendous amount. Because I hire, I have some project managers that work for me, and salespeople, and I really do like picking from outside of our own industry, right, because it’s a different thing. They just, they’re not stuck in a sort of a path of being, like in the painting industry. And this is how it’s always done. They bring a lot of new fresh ideas that bring a lot of other other things that I would have never thought about to the table. And it’s been really, really valuable to us to have somebody have those sort of fresh eyes. It’s not been didn’t grow up in this industry. And there’s, there’s definitely a place for those people like, like myself, or others that have grown up in the industry, for sure. So how important was that year off for you?
Andrew Gardner 8:28
critical, critical, nice. Yeah, it was probably the most pivotal that that use the same word again, but it’s mostly pivotable time in my life.
Katrina Stephenson 8:39
And in the dream.
Andrew Gardner 8:40
Yeah, well, in the thing, for me that was most important was having such a long, extended period of time where there wasn’t anybody else, like influencing my thoughts and decision making, I was just able to kind of like, live with myself for a really long time and doing great stuff, right to your environment. And I was broke. So I mean, it wasn’t like living the life of luxury. So you kind of a challenge, you know, there’s some like harder situations. But overall, it’s like the sense of freedom and exploration, and the ability to just like, be with your own thoughts, and not have a boss telling you what to do not having external pressures, just being able to live with yourself. And like, think about what you want and kind of get down to what’s important. And that takes a long time. And it was I think it was probably like, it was after the six month mark for sure. The second half of the year that really started to like solidify some of those ideas. And we all have them, right. I mean, it’s not like you think of new ideas necessarily, but you just have time to like reinforce kind of like what your guts telling you and have confidence in it. Right? Because there’s nobody telling you that it’s right or wrong. You just get to think on it for a while is amazing. They’re good, I appreciate them. You know, it’s like you’re in beautiful places doing cool things many cool people who think way differently than you. I’m not just like, you know, the people who were in the country but everyone’s unique everyone’s got a different story. And you kind of like start to understand like what the breath of life can look like when you working a job, then there’s a lot of stresses that come with that, might you get tunnel vision, you kind of forget to Like, pick your head up out of the sand and look around. And so yeah, it
Greg Owens 10:08
was a pretty important time of my life. Yeah, no, as you’re speaking, I fully agree. So I did the same, something similar, but at a younger age, at the age of 16. I, like dropped out of school, but I came out from New York to San Francisco and started working with my uncle and I was painting and, and then took a year off, right, it was like, started to rain here, we didn’t have a whole lot of work, we went down to Mexico, I was like, I’m gonna stay here in Mexico and, and kind of figure stuff out and, and you know that I look back on that time with a lot of gratitude for being like you said, you sort of like get to meet other people and sort of find your way and find a path. And then also, I remember, like sitting on a fence in LA, and I was working for his family there. And I was thinking about, like, Oh, I should go back to my uncle and work, work and start working in his business again, more, because that was a good, it brought a new appreciation for that. And it sounds like it did for you too. And a lot of ways. It’s like, you went away for a year you explored the world, you got to see other cultures in the new, you came back and you’re like, that was not you probably had some new appreciation for Peacock Construction in that way.
Andrew Gardner 11:19
Absolutely. Well, it’s almost the act of like grabbing a piece of life for yourself. And I think that like reinforcing that muscle is important, right? And not like settling for what’s there. And just like always, just never settling, right? keeping your eyes open to what the possibilities of life are, and not being afraid to go after it. And I gave like, everything, it’s a muscle, right? So like more you do it, the better you get at it, the more confidence you have that even though it’s scary, you don’t really know what the backside looks like, a lot of hope in it. Yeah,
Greg Owens 11:44
that’s great. very inspirational. And so tell me about like, you’re when you’re a project manager, and you’re coming in project engineer, and you’re coming in, what was that experience, like things you learned on the job doing that role?
Andrew Gardner 11:57
It was, it was dizzying. That’s like I remember the first couple of weeks like I have my head felt like it was physically spinning around on my shoulders, just like the knowledge is required to do the job. I mean, it’s being a general contractor, right? You’re the kind of like the hub of the wheel, not only do you have to understand like everything about the project, like what goes on for each trade, but then like, you’re the center pane between the architect and the owner and the subcontractors if there’s a construction manager, I mean, it’s everything right. And so like you, it’s your job to keep it on track. And there’s a tonne of moving pieces.
Greg Owens 12:30
There. There is, yeah.
Andrew Gardner 12:32
Part super fun, right, like figuring out a puzzle. There’s like competition involved because you’re trying to win the jobs, you try to figure out what your competitive advantage looks like, kind of like that, like the conversations that go with the client and trying to position yourself well during the process. And then you get the job. Great, right. And so now we get to work. And then after like, the paperwork is done, right, like you get the ball moving, like you get a little paperwork on the contracts and submittals and make sure everyone understands what’s going on. He kind of put the plan in motion, then it’s like firefighting, right? And then you’re solving problems. And it’s just a constant, like, I mean, the only thing you’re doing pretty much to solve problems, once it’s going once it’s going,
Greg Owens 13:06
I’m a general, I’m a general contractor, too, and try to stay away from those kinds of projects. You know, I don’t like pulling permits and dealing with all that, right? And all right, I mean, a general contractor, and being in that company, and Peacock Construction does all kinds of projects. I mean, they do everything from laboratories, and really sort of high end what not even like not even nice high end where there’s like the health inspections and health department, those kinds of projects, all the way to just warehouse, you know, building out warehouses and that kind of stuff. That’s a lot of different types of projects that Peacock Construction does. And you have to wear so many different hats. And you have to know not only like your trade, but all the other trades. To a generalist sort of view. You don’t have to know the details, but you do not know a lot.
Andrew Gardner 13:56
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and so much of it, too. It’s and what I learned, the only reason I was successful is because of like the partnerships with subcontractors that I was able to form, right and like identifying the right like individuals within the company that would work well with me, right, like looking for people who were like, willing to like, take me on almost like as a mentor to some degrees, you know, like, and I would trust them. And I would say, Well, I’m not going to be the one who’s going to tell you how to wire the suite like I want your recommendation and identifying those people and like forming the relationships was the only reason that I made it because there’s no way like you said there’s no way you can know everything. Like I can’t, I can’t step in an electrician’s shoes pretend like I know what I’m really talking. Like, I might be able to understand it. It’s like speaking a language right? Like maybe you could understand some words in Spanish but like you can’t put a sentence together and that’s kind of how it felt a lot of times infinite amount of things you have to know.
Greg Owens 14:46
And then your Yeah, and like what you also said about your intermediary between the owner the subcontractors, the all the other pieces of that puzzle, the architect That kind of thing. And I know, I’ve seen this multiple times, and you probably have to where, you know, like the architect draws sort of a line and on the plans, and then everybody’s spending a tremendous amount of time trying to decipher what that line means and how you’re going to build it
Andrew Gardner 15:15
Hoping it’s in the right spot. And then yeah, you’re like,
Greg Owens 15:17
Well, wait a minute. It’s kind of like there’s a window, but then this pipe needs to come right down through here. Like, wait a minute, did we make a mistake here? Like, we get this wrong before you go to the architect and be like, Hey, I think this pipe is in.
Andrew Gardner 15:31
Yeah, or having that conversation with the architect kind of like, behind the scenes. So like, the owner never gets wind of it. And like, everyone happy Yeah,
Katrina Stephenson 15:39
keeping everyone happy while you’re doing it.
Greg Owens 15:42
Yeah, because you can’t blame. You can’t blame him. We never do this, but 30 or 40 pages to plans. Right?
Andrew Gardner 15:47
Exactly. Well, it’s funny, because, you know, a lot of general contractors, look at architects kind of this, almost like an adversarial type of like engagement, right? Like they’re trying to control us right it’s their job to make sure we do the right thing. And it’s our job to make sure that whatever they put on paper is actually buildable. Right. And so it’s very easy to butt heads during that process. But at the same time, if you reframe it, like we should be our like, our best allies, right? It should be like us figuring this out together, and we’re operating as a unit, they can, you know, like uphold the vision of the owners. So it’s all by how you frame it, how you approach the situation. It’s so
Greg Owens 16:21
great, yeah. And then and then you go away for a year, you come back, and you come back to work for Peacock Construction, but now you’re in a different wearing a different hat and your business, marketing business development for a construction company, it must be super helpful to have that project engineering sort of background with the same company. So because I can see how those two pieces how, how is that transition? And how are you enjoying that experience,
Andrew Gardner 16:49
part of the transition, it’s been challenging, you know, just because it’s a part of it’s, you know, we never had this role in our company previously. So it’s trying to understand, like, what that even looks like, like internally, right, and like, how I operate with people in the company, what my role is, like, what things should I be doing, what things should not be doing, trying to, like develop that role on the fly. And, you know, it took some time still working on it, I don’t know if it’s ever going to be you know, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I think it’s a constant process. And it right, there’s new challenges all the time. But in that, like being such a flexible role, it’s been super fun now, and like been, like, really engaging. And I’ve always enjoyed kind of being on the front edge of like the point of the spear, you know, trying to figure new things out. There’s a lot of like, flexibility and creativity and thought and strategy that goes into it. And I’m able to, like really interact and be be, like, super ingrained within the industry, the commercial real estate industry in the Bay Area. And there’s just a lot of like, great feedback comes from that, you know, and like developing a great network of people. And, I mean, now I look at a lot of the people we do business with, and they’re genuine friends. And so like being able to, like operate in that capacity has been great. definitely challenging, you know, and there’s no rulebook or playbook for it, you know, it’s all kind of trying to figure it out. So it’s overall been great. I really enjoyed it.
Greg Owens 18:01
Yeah. And there’s so many different ways you can spend money looking look on marketing, right? And, yeah, just and you’re not sure what you’re never sure which one is like, correct, and which one will work well, and which will be the best return on investment, right. And
Andrew Gardner 18:19
Yes, very speculative. Yeah, it changes based on like the individual person you’re targeting or like the industry, you know, it’s there’s a lot you just got to pick your lane and just kind of like dive deep on it. Right. Right. We’ve
Greg Owens 18:31
been playing with a lot of different marketing channels here lately, because there’s so many different ways, you know, and and it’s been interesting to watch things like Next Door, like when it comes to sort of residential right, sure. And what’s blowing my wage is you just set it to is, is different people are at different places in their lives when they’re looking at different social media platforms or other types of platforms. Right. And so LinkedIn has been wonderful for business. But Next Door has also been interesting in that you know, somebody that lives in Sausalito but is a facilities manager up at a at a facility up in in Vallejo, right and he’s he’s like, Oh, I saw you guys on Next Door so I you know, I liked what you guys were talking about and you never you never never know which direction a client is gonna come in. Right so it’s like so much trial.
Andrew Gardner 19:25
I know that’s funny one of them speaking of not knowing where stuff’s gonna come from, like one of my like best partners of the industry originally got in contact with Peacock because he was a copier salesman. He I think he worked for like Canon or something like that to try to sell us a copier like way back in the day. then fast forward four or five years he started work for furniture company, and for reaching out the guy’s name is Tony Chan, one of my good friends. He’s awesome. Reaching out like he ended up like bringing me in on this project that turned into like one of the bigger jobs that I’ve ever been on. Then like we continue like doing work today. Right and it’s all Because he sold Peacock copier way back, it’s uh, he just never know, right?
Greg Owens 20:05
I have so many of those kinds of stories you just never know right like this person that you help out, you know where they’re going with their career and and and you stay in touch with them. Yep. What? So back in a year ago when COVID first hit, what was your challenges? And how did you guys pivot, overcome continue to market? What did you guys How did that work out for you or lessons learned there
Andrew Gardner 20:29
two challenges everyone stopped building, right everything shut down even the healthcare stuff while it was considered essential and like we did have projects that were going on without elective surgeries, there’s no one to pay for the hospitals, there’s no to pay for the capital improvements, there’s no need for operating right. And so like the whole pipeline dried up on the commercial and healthcare side, we’re lucky that we do work like a lot with landlords, I would say that’s kind of like our, like our primary client base is owner operators, as opposed to tenants themselves. And so companies that have like longer term, like investment strategies are still maintaining their buildings, especially people who went through, you know, some different like acquisitions recently, like they have long term plans for the building. So those clients were still active, but what you really found was that forming new relationships was really, really hard, right? Because in times of trouble, like we always resort to our friends, right, we’re going to take care of the people that we already have existing relationships with, and we, you know, care about, and so like branching out has been very difficult, especially now that there’s no ability to engage Personally, I mean, Zoom is, getting a little bit more comfortable. But as we can all remember, like beginning of shelter in place, like it was the most awkward thing ever, right. And so it’s like, I’m sitting here, like, behind a computer screen, like either typing away a message, or like, calling somebody who I know, we both know that they’re not building anything, but I still supposed to call them to ask if they are, and if we can, you know, give a bid for it. So it’s really weird thing and it kind of, you know, it’s, it changed the way that like, we have to, like, operate, right, and not just like on a, like a physical level like this, like Zoom versus in person. But like before, it was very, like relationship driven. And it still is, but like establishing these new partnerships with people, it’s like, it’s much the emphasis is put more on like the product itself, I would say than on like, Hey, I like you, you like me, like, I know that Peacock’s gonna do a good job building stuff, but like, I want to work with you that I want to work with you, which used to be such a huge part of it, it’s being less and less right now people are, especially now that you know, the economic impact has been rippling through the industry, people are really like cost driven right now. And so it’s like, it’s almost becoming more like a commodity than this kind of like social network of people doing business together. And all kinds of like, like benefiting from synergies of doing that and getting in these, like, very like incent partnerships, which is really where like the most value comes from. And from my perspective, once you like, get in, and you guys know how to work with each other, you enjoy working with each other. Everybody knows what the expectations are, that’s when like, you get the best value in the commercial real estate industry. And that’s changing. It’s not changing from like the endpoint perspective, but initiating the conversation and like developing the momentum is tough. And so one of the things that we did is they took a really hard look at life sciences projects, and like developing like a new client base, we
Greg Owens 23:12
buy Life Sciences, what’s that?
Andrew Gardner 23:14
the life sciences are like all like the pharmaceutical companies or research and felt like it can be anything like, like Beyond Meat would be considered a life sciences company to like Pfizer, right? Or Genentech or I mean, there’s constantly a churn of like new startup companies who are like trying to research and develop like new pharmaceutical drugs, whatever it is, right? Like Life Sciences, biotech. And that’s one industry that never stopped, they continue through the entire time, we have done a lot of Sciences work since like the 80s. Like one of our first clients was for tech, it’s now added, but at least like they build lab spaces for him. And we’ve been working for him ever since on a small scale, not doing like really complex lab build outs, but more like like maybe like facility maintenance problems, and projects and things of that nature. And the reason that we’ve kind of like hesitated and branching into it further is because like lab construction requires a different level of expertise. It’s not a it’s not an office, right? Like, there’s like serious infrastructure that’s required for all the equipment like each like company’s going to have different requirements of that space based on the equipment that’s required to develop the drugs that they’re working on. And so like the level of knowledge required, just like a general construction standpoint, is much higher than it is for a simple ti. And so it’s like you have to have the right team in place. And you can’t just like build labs or you need to have like some various construction professionals. And about a year and a half or two years ago, we like brought on a few people who are like very well qualified for that kind of work. And so I’ve had some relationships in the industry and I just really haven’t capitalized on it. But this was an opportunity to do so. And so we’ve been like actively pursuing different life sciences opportunities. Were like been fortunate enough to actually secure a few of those. And so now we’re kind of like building up another division. So that’s kind of like our main pivot out of this The third leg of the stool will have commercial healthcare. And then, you know, over the next like, year or two, we’re really going to be putting our emphasis on to developing our Life Sciences Division. Yeah, that’s
Greg Owens 25:08
great. I, you know, the same with all your subcontractors working in life sciences, buildings, they like just even thinking about like painting one of those, the specs are so much beyond like, just the tenant improvement thing. You know, there’s lots of inspection points. There’s lots of certification processes for lab lab type coatings and that kind of thing. Yeah, it’s a it’s a very, very interesting and there’s a lot of depth to that industry. And boy, there’s a lot of money being being invested into that. Right, you see that all of that stuff that’s going on South of Market, tremendous amount of that is all life sciences, buildings. And
Andrew Gardner 25:45
yeah, work right. Well, it’s funny, because like, the whole industry, like turning that direction, everything for people from painters, general contractors, and building owners, and it’s funny, like, it’s not, and I’m not a building owner, I’m not a large like read or anything who’s like, you know, seriously considering this, but it’s a big leap. I mean, they taking like office books and getting them to like start like acquiring life science properties, or repositioning them for that uses a big undertaking. Right. And, like, I just I’m always curious what the long term play is. And I’m hoping that the people who are interested aren’t doing it just reactionary, right. Like, this is like, this is something that’s a little bit more like, ingrained within their long term like strategy, because it’s a huge undertaking. And it requires a separate set of expertise. You know, yeah, it’s a really interesting industry, the more I learned about it, the more attracted to it I am. And one of the great things is that people who operate in that community are smart. And you’re taught like these are, these are very sophisticated real estate professionals, right. It’s almost like a different tier, it feels like some time and it’s important for you to think about, like building out an office versus building out an R & D facility for a pharmaceutical company. I mean, like the gravity will one business is producing versus the others like life sciences folks like bear, it’s I mean, it’s what’s keeping us all alive. Like it’s a pretty big deal. It’s pretty important. That’s fascinating.
Greg Owens 27:05
That is, it is Yeah, and I you know, and I have a friend that has a company, that is what they do the for life science, buildings and labs, but especially for for drug companies, pharmaceutical companies, they do the inspections to make sure it could because there’s so many details in those kinds of contracts that they work as a an in between the general contractor and the owner to make sure things are all in compliance, because there’s so many boxes to check, right, that it’s just so unbelievably challenging to make sure that unless you have it’s like, he says company is just a specialist company that goes in and make sure that everything is done correctly, so that it can be approved by the FDA and that kind of thing. Right? And yeah, yeah, just, it’s it’s a lot. Yeah, I mean, I think I have definitely been we, you know, Katrina and I have talked about this quite a bit is, is because it COVID like, what what other types of markets do we need to explore and get into more to sort of not get squashed? When they shut everything down the way they did? Right? And so we were too heavy, heavy San Francisco centric and a little bit more of what my direction is, is like more Bay Area and spread out and kind of jump over San Francisco because San Francisco’s rules were very, very strict. Whereas like Sacramento is not.
Andrew Gardner 28:26
Yeah, absolutely. If you go North of Sacramento. It’s like it didn’t even exist. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I
Greg Owens 28:35
mean, and you know, it’s they we did our part, but it’s, it is not fun to be told that you can’t go to work. And we, you know, we’re we’re doing everything we can to be safe. And we’re used to it, right. Like, as a painting contractor. We already have all the gear and protective equipment and all that kind of stuff. And are you sure? Yeah, right. Oh,
Katrina Stephenson 28:56
also. See, I just like to add a year ago, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I thought it was going to be around two weeks a month maybe shut down.
Greg Owens 29:06
And, and you know, and things are looking bright again. And the the governor I think made an announcement saying that, like by June these openings can open up fully in California. Yeah. Which that would be that would be wonderful. But I don’t know, I don’t know what that means, though. Like, we’re probably still gonna be wearing masks at the grocery store. Right? Like, I don’t see that going away anytime soon. But that’s okay.
Andrew Gardner 29:29
I’ll take what I can get.
Greg Owens 29:31
Yeah, no, totally, totally. And so and now a year later what what do you see on the horizon is like that’s, that’s awesome. What the direction you guys are going in and life science buildings and things like that. What do you see that’s been working really well for you? In 2021. As far as marketing goes,
Andrew Gardner 29:52
a lot of it has been like expanding through like existing partnerships that we have and finding people who like are able to refer us, and that’s been a huge source of business. And really one of the things that we’re focusing on now is kind of anticipating, like the demand for construction coming up towards the end of the year. We know people like to procrastinate. And everybody thinks that return the opposite. Well, last week, if that was never gonna happen, and then Google announced that they were going back and Facebook, I think said something similar.
Greg Owens 30:22
Did they really? Did they really? Wait a minute? They did? Yeah.
Andrew Gardner 30:25
Yeah, they’re all
Greg Owens 30:26
sort of funny, because they were the ones early on, it said, we’re definitely not going to come back.
Andrew Gardner 30:33
I know, I was skeptical of that. But now we’re looking at it. And just the way the permitting is working, and how long it’s taking how long just like, basically, like office design takes in construction. We’re running out of time. And so people who aren’t planning right now we’re going to be late, right? And yet, because there’s the capacity at the planning department, and at sort of doing this, there’s only so much they can’t have this, what have all this procrastination. Yeah, from a whole year of holding off on projects. Right, exactly. And so you’re gonna have that plus, everyone’s gonna be like running back to the office, because everyone I mean, a lot of people want to be, and I think we’re gonna have this like crazy amount of demand for construction, that’s gonna, like run into like, a really depleted labor pool. And I think it’s going to be, it’ll be, it’ll be tough. I think it’s like, I think it’s going to be, I think a word of the shit show. But that’s kind of the only one coming to mind right now. So that’s kind of like, what we’re what we’re like trying to anticipate. So we’re like in a hiring mode right now, I know, there are so many great people out there who are looking for work, I’m hoping that we can start building up our team, and just talking to clients and letting them know, kind of what we’re seeing, what we’re expecting, is still a great time to buying construction, because prices are still pretty low. Cuz everyone’s we’re seeing like a 25 to 30% drop in construction pricing, great time to be building, but it’s not going to hold right by the end of the year, like we could be right back to the end of 2019, where it’s like, you can’t even get an electrician to show up on your job block, let alone give you a price for it.
Greg Owens 32:02
Right. We’re having to look at the same thing. And you know, it’s like, yeah, I mean, right now, pricing is so much more competitive out there. Right. And there’s definitely that reduction. But and timing it because, you know, me as a business owner, I don’t want to keep it that low. I want to make sure I claim it correctly. Right? Because we you know, we’re farmers, we have to make money while the sun shines, right? Yep. The sun’s coming out. There’s a tremendous amount of people wanting to do things and we don’t want to get stuck in that trap of being too low for too long. Right? It’s you do have to start raising your prices and changing things.
Andrew Gardner 32:33
Absolutely. Well, it’s like what happened in the last downturn? Like I wasn’t, I didn’t actually work through it, I was in school and during the last recession, but you know, like, the way that like fees are being presented, right. Like during the last downturn, everyone dropped their fees, and all of a sudden, like people are trying to, like, pretend like they’re still charging that are working. It’s like, yeah, so it’s, it’s very interesting to see how, like long term pricing trends are impacted by what’s happening right now. And it’s that’s a big, yeah, it’s making us a little nervous. You know, this, because it just changed things. And people. Yeah, I won’t get too far into it. But
Greg Owens 33:11
on the flip side, it’s it’s good problems to have, you know, because the alternative problems are known are no fun at all right? The problem with hiring new people, or you know, like what to do about pricing, because we have too much work. It’s such a great problem.
Andrew Gardner 33:27
Let’s get back to that.
Greg Owens 33:28
Yeah, let’s get back to that. Let’s get back to growth. And hugging people and the little things, right, little things, right, for sure. For sure. Yeah. And you’re in East Bay. What’s the range for Peacock Construction? You guys throughout all San Francisco down to San Jose? What’s the Yeah, so
Andrew Gardner 33:49
the greater Bay Area? Yeah, I mean, if we’re going like wave in the North Bay to the South Bay depends on the project and the client, but for the most probably will, we can build stuff pretty much anywhere in the Bay Area, even do some stuff out in sac very little. But every once in a while something will come up from a client that we’ve got here locally to want to help out there.
Greg Owens 34:06
Right, right. Yeah, that’s basically what we do today is the greater the greater Bay Area. It’s been really nice right now, although traffic is getting worse to get around and to look at projects and that kind of thing. And I was, I heard what you were saying about the referrals and networking, and it’s such building those relationships has definitely gotten much more challenging in the last year. I mean, it is the primary reason I started this podcast a year ago, right? Like, I was like, how can we continue building relationships when there’s, there’s no way to build a relationship anymore, right? It’s a cool way to do it. Yeah. And it’s been it’s been phenomenal. And both Katrina and I have learned so much. We’ve even had like people from overseas from Canada, you know, and just learning about what other parts of the world are having to do in this in these times. Right, it’s been just Denmark yeah. A lot. So what else are you excited about here in 2021 and moving forward?
Andrew Gardner 35:06
Got it about getting a beer inside having like it from a tap. Pretty excited about that. Yeah, I’m excited. Like, like the resurgence right I think I’m just I can’t wait for like the euphoria that’s gonna come out when we’re all able to go back. It’s going to be summertime, it’s going to be I there’s like a lot of great times ahead. I’m most excited just for like, like the resurgence right, like having everybody back out in streets, like enjoying each other’s company celebrations. Like I’m excited for all that stuff business will come to but I think like, like the first box to check is like the personal side. You know, like what, like we all need like in our hearts and souls. And I think that’s going to be a really fun, fun period of time to be part of
Greg Owens 35:44
Yeah, big day coming up would be like Memorial Day, right? Like that’ll probably that Memorial Day weekend. barbecues and all that kind of stuff the way things are opening up like right now to see that. And then fourth of july of course.
Katrina Stephenson 35:58
So Cal, So Cal’s pretty open right now.
Greg Owens 36:01
So Cal has been open this whole Yeah, I’ve got friends down there on Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, we did. Were you able to get in a lot of skiing this winter? I only went up once Oh, no.
Andrew Gardner 36:17
I know. I used to be a ski bum to like I worked in Sugar Bowl Ski Resort or for a couple seasons. I just can’t Yeah, I don’t know why just kind of got away from it a little bit. Now. It was it was great to get up there.
Greg Owens 36:27
Yeah, no, I’ve been I’ve been up a tremendous amount was just up there this weekend. And it was spring skiing. But the snow is still really good. And it still had a tremendous amount of coverage. It was great. Love that. Yeah. So I mean, you know, and that’s, that’s such a beautiful thing about living in the Bay Area here is is the outdoor activities that we have access to. Right. And I know for me, it helps keep me sane for sure to be able to, you know, to do those kinds of things. Yeah.
Andrew Gardner 36:55
Makes you feel human again.
Greg Owens 36:57
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I know. Katrina went also down to San Diego here, like a few weeks ago and got to enjoy beach life down there.
Katrina Stephenson 37:05
Yeah, they were open. Not wearing masks. But
Andrew Gardner 37:10
yeah, right.
Katrina Stephenson 37:12
They were wearing masks, but the majority of people our age were not wearing masks.
Greg Owens 37:17
Yeah, that’s so true. And, you know, I think looking at it from the youth standpoint, when you look at the numbers is so very few that have gotten very sick or have died of COVID. So I can totally understand watching. Like I was mountain biking here and then went around a turn. And there’s like 20 kids on a hillside all kind of like snuggling together. They’re smoking pot, you know, they’re like teenagers, right? Yeah. And I was like, oh, man, really, this is early on in the pandemic. And I was like, Oh, this is great. You guys, you know, have no worries at all. And they’re like, Oh, no, we were we totally worried about it. We wear masks when we go home. I’m sure your parents don’t know that. Yeah. Absolutely. So and one thing I’d like to touch on before we end here is because I love like talking about this industry, right? The industry that you’ve come into, and you’ve gotten to see a few different parts of it, right. And so speak a little bit about what you really enjoy about the industry, and then also how somebody that wants a career change or is new to looking for careers, like why they should consider this and how to go about doing that. Sure.
Andrew Gardner 38:34
It’s the two things that jumped out as far as like what I like about the industry is one that it’s like physical, right, it’s a very tangible asset, like product is real estate, and I just I love that product, I like be able to touch it, like I just like the entire strategy around it. And it’s something that we’re always going to need, right, it’s very stable, like, overall, we saw a little dip here, but like real estate’s not going anywhere, right. So like this is a long lasting industry to be part of the other piece of it is, I don’t know if it’s just the San Francisco Bay Area, or if this is the same throughout the country, but like the sense of community that we have in the commercial real estate industry here like it, it almost feels like you’re like back at school, right? Like we all know each other. It’s like being able to be part of a community that’s so tight knit and have so many great relationships. It’s just a very like everything about real estate feels very like real physical. And that’s something for me that’s like really attractive. I’m not by being a millennial like I’m not a big technology person. Like it just I like the real world stuff. And for me like real estate is real world. So that’s why it’s simple. I just real estate, right? There’s the thing isn’t magic, we’re not dealing with rockets, attributes like physical structures and the people that maintain that and the simplicity of it is something that I you know, I really have a lot of appreciation for
Greg Owens 39:46
Yeah, and that tangible piece, right being actually able to walk in and walk through a you know, a construction site and then see it more from this thing that was you know, maybe it’s dingy and not updated or that kind of thing and see it become this You know, amazing place where workers can really do their their best work? Yeah,
Andrew Gardner 40:04
it’s it’s incredible is that like walking into a finished project? A lot of satisfaction is just cool. You know, it’s just, it’s a fun thing to be part of.
Greg Owens 40:14
Yeah. And then yeah, then what how, what do you suggest to people to look into this? How to get into it? You know, what would you suggest is a good path?
Andrew Gardner 40:23
It’s a hard question to answer because there are so many of them. I mean, you could be anything from asset manager of a commercial class, a commercial building down to a business development representative for contractor and any other service providers. Man, I don’t even know where to start actually getting in touch with one of the commercial real estate organizations, I think, is probably one good avenue just because there’s so many different members and you’ll be able to, like speak with and get to know about all the different like avenues you can take within the industry, I think they starting out, we’ll just figure out like what you like, like you like being social, because there’s stuff for that, like you like you like financials, because there’s plenty positions that involve that you like actually building things, you get to the trades, and you can be one of the people we’re actually building these structures. So I think just starting out, like they’re gonna like, what is it that you’re looking for? What do you want your day to look like? Because there’s tons of applications for each like, like one, but just start somewhere, you know, like, don’t worry about finding the ultimate place off the bat get involved with the industry because by being involved like the whole world will open up and there’s huge growth potential, you want to be a broker, go make seven figures, I go do that, like anybody can do it with the right kind of work. So let’s start that. My advice is to start Don’t worry about you know, like looking into every corner before you make the decision, but just get involved in something like BOMA, CoreNet, NAIOP, IFMA, IREM. I mean, there’s tons of real estate organizations out there, and just like reach out to local representative now, like they have job postings being connected people for informational interviews, and there’s a lot of different ways to go about it. But it’s it’s a tremendous deal to be part of.
Greg Owens 41:58
And like what you said, You mean, you have to just kind of get get, get your foot in the door. And and your eyes will be opened. Right? Because I think you you know, when you first got out of college and you first started your first day at Peacock Construction, right? You probably were like, holy cow. I didn’t know something like this exists, and then all the different other things that could you could be a part of within that one organization.
Andrew Gardner 42:21
Yeah, exactly. Then it’s, there’s a lot there’s a ton of opportunity out there. And the demand for it’s really not going anywhere. I mean, we’re far from having robots doing our jobs in this industry. So it’s like, yeah, we’ve got some time. Yeah.
Greg Owens 42:36
We talked about it on another podcast. They’re coming. But yeah, there’s still I think only but surely. Yeah, I think yeah, I think I’ll still be okay for a while. Yeah,
Andrew Gardner 42:46
I saw I saw one like Japanese robot that was hanging drywall. There they go pretty slow.
Greg Owens 42:54
Right. Yeah. Well, I’ve seen some painting things to where they, you know, they they got him programming, but those things were going pretty fast. And what I saw Oh, fair enough. Only on like a tilt up, you know, mile long tilt up. So it had to do the same thing. repetitive tasks, right. I can’t see it going from room to room, you know, and figuring out colors yet. Yeah. Right. But But of course, I would probably buy one if it got to a certain point, you know, and make sure we’re, we’re there. Right? Absolutely. Because how fun would that be? Right? So I’d love to have a drone that can paint this viewing behind
Katrina Stephenson 43:34
a robot, which is probably more fun.
Greg Owens 43:36
Right? Right. That? Yeah, your own personal robot, and
Andrew Gardner 43:42
long as we can make coffee too.
Greg Owens 43:43
Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see. Because I know we work for a few of the companies that have the autonomous vehicles. Right. And, and, you know, it’s unbelievable what they’re coming up with, but they’re still not quite there yet. You know, you see him drive around San Francisco, but they still have people in the cars. Right. And that’s gonna be there for a little while. The public doesn’t really like the whole idea either.
Andrew Gardner 44:06
Exactly. Yeah. The adoptions a whole nother piece of it, whether or not the technology is there.
Greg Owens 44:10
Yeah. Well, this is this is wonderful talking to you, Andrew, and how would people reach out find you find out more about Peacock Construction? What’s the best avenue for that
Andrew Gardner 44:21
I think the easiest one to just look me up on LinkedIn. Yeah, just shoot me a message there. If you want to shoot me an email, you can do that as well. agardner@peacockconstruction.com. Yeah, just look me up on LinkedIn.
Greg Owens 44:33
And we’ll put we’ll put your LinkedIn information in the in the show notes and that kind of thing. You have it there.
Andrew Gardner 44:38
Oh, I appreciate that. It was great being invited. You know, I’m flattered. You guys even want to have a conversation. And so thanks for I think for including me in this.
Greg Owens 44:45
Oh, absolutely. It’s It’s a pleasure to talk to business development and they get a different perspective. Right now. I’m sure Katrina’s got some new ideas. I saw her writing some things down as you’re speaking
Andrew Gardner 44:55
did and I appreciate that. Thank you for being on the show. Have you ever want to collaborate on anything just yet reach out and happy to work with you.
Greg Owens 45:04
Sounds good. So we’ll end it here. This is the Watching Paint Dry podcast and it’s April. It’s a beautiful day everybody enjoy it. Things are opening up and it feels so good
Katrina Stephenson 45:17
Thanks Andrew.
Andrew Gardner 45:18
See you guys.
Outro 45:29
Thanks for listening to the Watching Paint Dry podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.