Mark Hendricks is the Maintenance Manager of CountryHouse Residence, a residential home for individuals facing memory loss and dementia. CountryHouse Residence is part of the Agemark family of senior living communities, which operates several unique brands of communities spanning six states. Each brand has its own personality and offers a distinctive combination of senior living services.
Before joining CountryHouse, Mark worked for Kitchell, where he was Site Manager at the Google Mountain View Campus. Mark has combined over 40 years of construction, facility management, and teaching experiences to perfectly fit his new role.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Mark Hendricks recalls his transition from construction to facility management
- The benefit of having a construction background and being a generalist
- Mark describes his role as Site Manager at the Google Mountain View Campus
- Lessons learned from COVID
- Mark shares a few details about his new job at Agemark
- The future of business in the San Francisco area
- Mark emphasizes the importance of creating and following procedures
- What is piece work?
- How can you improve as a facilities manager?
- Where you can learn more about Mark Hendricks
In this episode…
What is the facility manager’s bread and butter? Simply put: it’s the ability to evaluate your experience and apply it whenever necessary. And though the position’s title may have changed over the years, a facility manager is still one of the most underrepresented roles in the current market.
Mark Hendricks, the Maintenance Manager at CountryHouse Residence and Former Google Site Manager, hopes to highlight his experience as a site manager and demonstrate how his combined background in construction, teaching, and facility management redefines what it means to be a Director of Facilities.
In this week’s episode of Watching Paint Dry, Greg Owens sits down with Mark Hendricks, Maintenance Manager at CountryHouse Residence and Former Google Campus Site Manager. They discuss working on the Google Campus, how COVID has changed the way businesses operate in the San Francisco area, and the importance of creating procedures in building management. Mark shares his joy of being a facility manager and emphasizes the wide range of duties and advancement available in the facility management industry.
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
- Mark Hendricks on LinkedIn
- CountryHouse Residence
- Agemark
- Kitchell
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.
Epiode 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, this is Greg Owens with the Watching Paint Dry podcast. And it is November November 6, the weather has changed here in the Bay Area, it’s feeling crisp and fall like and there’s some threat of some rains. And this This podcast is sponsored by my company McCarthy Painting. And McCarthy Painting is a painting company that does painting a both residential and commercial throughout the whole San Francisco Bay Area. And we’ve done work for companies like Google, Autodesk, Abercrombie and Fitch, and many, many others. And I’m super excited with me on this podcast is Katrina Katrina is joined us here. And she’s also with McCarthy Painting, and I’m super excited to have Mark Hendricks, an area manager for Agemark, and really glad to have you here. Thanks for taking the time mark, how are things for you? And with COVID and lock downs and all this stuff going on? How you holding up?
Mark Hendricks 1:44
Holding up pretty well. COVID has been pretty impactful for my life. But we’re doing pretty well. Obviously, you know, as I mentioned earlier, about 20 of us were laid off as a result of COVID. But dumb things are looking up. I have new employment, we’re gonna start moving forward.
Greg Owens 2:02
Right? Yeah. Um, and, you know, part of this podcast is where we’re talking to facilities managers, and talking about what like such a lot of people don’t even know much about what being a facilities manager is. And it’s always interesting to hear the origin stories, like how did you get started in being a facilities manager?
Mark Hendricks 2:24
Well, I’ll give you the short version, I spent probably close to 27 years in the construction industry, realized my body was starting to break down, went back to college, got my master’s degree, and I was actually teaching high school and still swinging a hammer. Wow. And I and I got an opportunity to work with the critical operations team on the Google campus in Mountain View. I went through the interview process, I was actually working for a company called the FMC Valley facilities management Corporation. And the interview process was was pretty intense. At that time, Google, Google, people would actually sit in on the interviews, I think, the interview, there was eight or nine people in the interview. So anyway, I was hired as a generalist because of my construction background. And within about six months, our manager, and I was being transitioned to the Google critical operations team. And so they asked me if I would take over the role. And I said, Absolutely, and rather naively, I gotta say, because it was a whole different world. But it’s incredible team out there on the Google campus, the Google critical operations team is incredible. In fact, six of our former employees are on that team. So there’s, it was a real good situation, because we work with former employees who now works for Google. We handle all everything from the utility and for electrical page fax included the UPS system generators, and I could go on and on, but I, I know you only have 30 minutes. So that’s how I started and it was awesome. It was absolutely incredible. I really enjoyed it. I think I was out there a little over seven and a half years before I moved up to the Sacramento area. Nice. Yeah, I’ve
Greg Owens 4:07
been out to the Google campus. It’s a phenomenal sort of facility, you know, and it just goes on and on and on. There’s so many different buildings and off buildings and so many different aspects of it. How, um, you see, you came from the construction background, how has that like influenced or helped you in being a facilities manager?
Mark Hendricks 4:30
Will because I was, because of my experience in the construction industry. I had a background on a lot of different systems. Again, classified me as a generalist, not necessarily subject matter expert. But because of my knowledge, I was able to manage a team and I get a certain level of intuition about how things should go and how things are supposed to go together because you’ve seen those systems for, like I said, a long time. 27 years Prior to my started after on the campus, so I think that was a big help. I have to tell you that the facilities industry is is incredible. I didn’t even know it existed when I’d heard facilities when I was a younger kid, I was thinking custodial. And there’s nothing wrong with custodial. But, you know, I wanted I wanted to do something different. Critical operations and facilities is a whole different ballgame. And like I said, I wish I’d known about it earlier, because it’s fantastic. I love it. It’s really passionate about it, actually.
Greg Owens 5:30
Oh, that’s, that’s great. Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m with you, in a lot of ways. I like that word generalist. Because like, Yes, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a general contractor, and I’m a painting contractor. Right? So we do specialize in painting and that kind of thing. But a lot of times, we’re just going and, um, it’s a lot of like problem solving, and being a generalist, and some of those like, interesting problems that come up, right? Like, how do you fix this or solve this issue that’s come up, has been very helpful for me to be able to think sort of outside the box and pull from different areas of the construction industry. Exactly. Yeah. And, um, what like, when you first started with, with Google, what were some of the interesting sort of challenges of that campus, because that is, that is definitely a behemoth of a, of a facility to be starting with. And it’s also so like, technologically, they are off the charts when it comes to the security features that they have, and all the other things. Tell us more about that.
Mark Hendricks 6:29
I wouldn’t when I started on the campus, and again, I worked for the FMC. And then the FMC was purchased by Kitchell. So, just a little background there. When I started, it was 3 million square feet, which I thought was pretty big campus. And the challenge was to learn the campus. But since I was brought on as a generalist, I was given free rein, I asked, Well, what exactly will I be doing this make the job your own. And so I did. And so I spent a lot of time going through all the buildings, looking for things that needed needed to be done checking the procedures, making sure that everything was being managed, like like it was supposed to be managed. So that was the biggest challenge, just learning the campus. People that are being hired now out on Google campus have an even more daunting task, because it’s so when I left it was 12 million square feet. Oh, my, wow. Yeah. Close to close to 200. buildings. So it’s a huge challenge, just learning the campus. It’s a, it’s a very friendly campus, it’s a great place to be, to Googlers are for the most part, awesome people. And you know, you give them what they need and keep them happy. And you could live a long time out there. So but that was the most daunting challenge was learning to campus.
Greg Owens 7:43
Right, right. And there’s so many different aspects of a campus like Google’s there, because I remember like they had, they had restaurants on campus, they have like, like their own, like rental car agencies and bicycle rental, like not even rental, I think the employees can just go up and just take a bike, take a bike or take a thing and go right like, it blew me away. It was like vending machines for any type of computer thing you might need. So if you need a new, like headphones, or you need a mic, or you needed like a new internet cord or something, you just go up and you just get it and it was simple. Right?
Mark Hendricks 8:22
Exactly. And then of course they had, oh, gosh, I’ve drawn a blank on the name of the texts that they had that would actually you go into their office, and they’d show you what was going on with your laptop, why isn’t it working? Or, you know, who, whose fault a laptop or you. But you walk in there and they and they take care of it. And it’s it’s fantastic. And you mentioned the food when I left there were 57 restaurants on that campus. In addition to that, every single floor and every single building had what’s called a micro kitchen with just about anything you want to eat in that kitchen, from breakfast foods to snacks and drinks. I don’t know how they’re doing it now with the COVID. But go ahead Katrin. I see you want to ask a question.
Katrina Stevenson 9:03
I’m so curious. Do did did you ever take advantage of like the cafeteria and all these cool things and like take a bike for the day and just go across the campus?
Mark Hendricks 9:15
Well, as contractors out there we were allowed to use the cafes. Oh, free meal. And it was really good food they call it the Google 15 you gained 15 pounds when you start working. Oh wow. Our team though we never played any of the we didn’t play pool we didn’t play the air hockey. We didn’t do any of the video games because it just didn’t look good for people to be playing. Oh yeah. Working even if they’re on brand could just our team was was was pretty special. And that’s that’s might be a little biased. But I it was very special. And it just didn’t look right for us to be playing games when any number of things could be going wrong. As far as the bikes, yeah, you know, kind of sometimes, but it’s Not, it’s it seems cool, but after a while, like, I got us a car. So,
Greg Owens 10:08
right, yeah, I’ve tried to, like use a bike for what I do and stuff. And sometimes it just gets too challenging when you’re trying to like, deliver some tools to a job site, and you gotta buy
Mark Hendricks 10:22
or needs to be done a little quicker. And you can get it done with a bicycle. Right? Right. Right,
Katrina Stevenson 10:27
it sounds nice. Sounds like a good idea.
Mark Hendricks 10:31
And it was and then, you know, there are times where you kind of relax a little bit. It’s not bad.
Greg Owens 10:37
Yeah. Um, what other kinds of surprises coming from this construction industry and becoming a facilities manager? I mean, I can tell you’re very passionate about it, what are some of the aspects of the job that you really have really sort of, like, found that you gravitate towards?
Mark Hendricks 10:56
I would say, again, I don’t want to belabor the point. But since we were critical operations, the absolute responsibility to make sure that there was zero downtime, because of an equipment failure, we were on all the time, we were 24. Seven, and we made sure things didn’t break. And if they broke, we made sure that it was corrected very quickly. I don’t know how much money a minute, Google could lose when certain things go down. But it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s dramatic. And then with all the different special teams they have out there with the the special projects that they’ve got going on, there’s always something going on, and they cannot afford for their project to be shut down for any length of time. So it’s, it’s intense, and you’re always on your toes, and I cannot I kind of enjoy that environment. Because it’s up to you to fix it. And fortunately, again, we had a great team and, and it was enjoyable out there. As far as other aspects of it, that that was the thing I liked the most. I also liked the fact that we had a team that practice something called eyes wide open, whether it was our responsibility or not, we would take care of it. If we were going to do something that needed to be taken care of it on the way we noticed something, we would make sure that we notify the right people, and then we would follow up to make sure that was done. And I think that’s part of what made our team so special to Google could count on us to make sure things were running correctly.
Greg Owens 12:34
Right, right. And there’s all kinds of things that come up along the way you might be on your way to one, one thing that’s down, but you could see other things along the way in a facility that is is going wrong or about to go wrong. And I think that’s true, like the downtime, right? Like, what most people don’t really understand is like, they they don’t think about the building and the environment and those kinds of things until there is something wrong, right. And that’s the way it should be they should be just able like those those super smart Google Googlers, as you call them, they’re they’re just trying to get things done and do their job and work in their teams and that kind of stuff. But when all of a sudden it gets too hot, because the HV AC is is down and you know, things are starting to get heated up in a way, right. Like that’s not a fun, pleasant environment anymore. And it’s harder for them to work in.
Mark Hendricks 13:27
Exactly, especially in some of the labs with certain parameters that needed to be met for for the environment in those labs as well. So I was wondering,
Greg Owens 13:37
yeah, I was walking on the Facebook facility knew what the Facebook facility not the new one, they’re older campus. And as we were walking, we saw like, remnants of a raccoon, like, like, right. And he’s like, Oh, no, they’re getting in again. Right. And then he was telling me how they have like these like, I mean, it’s a, like the new facility then I think they’re like 2 million square feet, their new facility. It’s three storeys, and it’s got a park on the, on the third floor. And he’s telling me that like the new facility also has like raccoons and a fox that have gotten in onto this top third floor Park. And they don’t even know how it got up there. They’re like, what’s it like? How did all of a sudden these animals get up on top of this third floor park that we built?
Mark Hendricks 14:24
Yeah, they’ll find a way. They’ll find a way. Right.
Greg Owens 14:28
Yeah. And then they had to figure out ways of you meanly, you know, getting them getting them off of there.
Mark Hendricks 14:34
You issue mainly relocating,
Greg Owens 14:36
right. Yeah. Um, and and so like, what have you seen as we’ve been talking on this podcast quite a bit about the pandemic and COVID and that kind of stuff. What have you seen sort of evolving, changing or lessons learned, let’s say at this point in time, so we’re like, almost a year into This, and it’s hard. It’s really hard to believe. But yeah, go ahead, like what lessons learned along the way here?
Mark Hendricks 15:09
Well, I think, first of all COVID serious, and it has some ramifications. And it’s something that needs to be taken seriously. But I think in the beginning, there’s a lot of I don’t want to call it an overreaction. But a lot of companies came out with the with the newest whiz bang thing to fix the problem, right. And I think we’ve seen that kind of morph a little bit people are have a better understanding of COVID, and maybe how we can prevent the spread. Obviously, some of the things they did in the beginning, were worthwhile. And were needed. And then they’re continuing this distancing in the offices, I’ve noticed that there’s actually match they’re being placed on the carpet 16 apart for people to be this is, this is your six feet. The plexi glass partitions. One thing I saw that was very cool, the crash bars on doors that you would touch, and I apologize, but I forget the technology that they were using, but it automatically sanitizes itself. Every time it gets open. It’s really cool. Wow. I’m sure it’s quite pricey. But if you’ve got 12 million square feet and 40,000 employees on your on your facility, and you want them to feel safe, you’re going to spend the money. Early.
Greg Owens 16:32
Yeah, yeah, that’s interesting to see, I know that some facilities now, um, they’ve upgraded there, you know that there was a period of time where we’ve walked in to do some work, and we had to take our temperature and that kind of stuff. And they’ve upgraded that to this new technology, where it’s facial recognition, and the video takes your temperature and then allows you to move forward through the building in a way.
Mark Hendricks 16:57
Wow, that’s very cool.
Greg Owens 16:58
Yeah, it’s still in the trial. And from what I’ve seen, in most buildings, it’s still in the trial, like, it’s, it’s got some bugs, right, but they’re working it out, and it’s working out really fast.
Katrina Stevenson 17:09
It’s not similar to the thermal scanning, or is that is that
Greg Owens 17:13
it’s using thermal scanning, but it’s also like taking my picture with the thermal scan, saying, okay,
you’re,
you’re at the right temperature, I don’t know yet what it will do feel like you’re over temperature, I think sometimes it didn’t, wasn’t able to read my temperature, and it’s like, unable to read. And then they had to, like, do it again. And then it cleared, right. But you know, I don’t know if like a trap door opens up, you drop in it, or somebody comes out and grabs you. Security,
Katrina Stevenson 17:40
like those body scanners.
Greg Owens 17:42
Yeah. Our security takes you away, right.
Mark Hendricks 17:47
And I also watched a couple of videos. And I believe it’s ultraviolet, light, and they were using those fixtures to, to, to kill the cold as well. So there’s a lot of technology out there. And it’s worthwhile, like I said, You’ve got employees coming into your place of business, you want them to feel comfortable, as well as guests to come in. So they want to be safer, they’re not going to come
Greg Owens 18:14
say and I just I just read a really good article on, like, you know, in the beginning of all this, they were still learning and they didn’t know enough, and we were sanitizing every single thing and clean washing everything. And there’s their fogging buildings and that kind of stuff. And now I seem like the new parameters, they’ve kind of, you know, scaled it down and kind of going to what you said is like those high touch points, right? And, and, like really cleaning those, but not necessarily like using a whole fogger on the whole facility after you’ve had people walk through it, which
Mark Hendricks 18:48
I think it gets to be a little overkill at some point. But
Greg Owens 18:52
Right, right, I mean, you’re not sure what those like how much using No, like I walked into, like the gym facility that I’m involved in. And it’s It was so the bleach odor was so strong that nobody everybody was like complaining them and trying to train and they’re like, we can’t do this. So they’re gonna have to come up with something else than bleach because that was just
too much.
Mark Hendricks 19:16
I’m surprised that they were using bleach is really strong. It’s obviously Yeah.
Greg Owens 19:24
Well, I think some people are more germaphobic than others. So they’re like, pour more of this bleach in here. I’m gonna make sure there’s no no germs.
Mark Hendricks 19:33
We’re not even looted. It’s hundred percent bleach or.
Greg Owens 19:38
Yeah. And, you know, like, I know, you said you started with it, like a new company now and what’s the what’s what’s the differences are Like what? Like, you know, you’re coming into a new job, new role, that kind of thing. What are you finding out new about this?