Case Studies

With a degree in construction management, Richard Carr says there were plenty of opportunities early—and throughout—his career to take a lucrative position in the market-rate housing industry. He could’ve worked for a large real estate organization and helped build luxury townhouses and high-end apartment complexes, for example. But for him, there was always something missing […]

Rob Young wasn’t making a career of digging ditches—he was a successful master electrician. But he was digging one to lay conduit the day he got a call inviting him to join MyMichigan Health in 2007. Almost 15 years later, Young is the system director for facilities and construction for the nonprofit health system, which […]

Building the “cloud” may seem abstract, but the companies that create and manage clouds are faced with practical challenges that are grounded in the reality of data centers.  As Robbie Sovie explains, data centers supporting cloud operations require strong power and fiber networks. They also must be built to withstand seismic activity, heavy wind, fire […]

Buoyed by mentors, Rosalie Mignano-Aste has spent more than 30 years in roles that have taken her around the world, many of them with the same employer.  After being hired by global talent and event-management agency Endeavor (then IMG) in 2008, she restructured its facilities management department. Detail intense, that job involved establishing roles and […]

Some people climb the ladder in their industry not by taking others down, but by becoming indispensable to everyone around them. Such was the case with Roger Beck, the global facility and real estate manager at IHG Hotels & Resorts, whose brands include InterContinental Hotels, Regent, Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza. As an example of […]

The Kenilworth Apartments were built solidly enough during the 1960s to still be home to several hundred dwellers, but Avanti Residential saw need for upgrades after buying the Prairie Village, Kansas, complex last year. “Though well maintained, the place still feels like it need modernization,” says the young but very seasoned man who’s been directing […]

Its heavy equipment is a go-to for construction, engineering and agriculture, but not every corporate client can afford to buy what’s on a Caterpillar lot. Even the automotive companies in Michigan often opt to rent rather than purchase machinery when upgrading their production lines. So noted MacAllister Machinery a decade ago. An Indianapolis-based renter and […]

Though her stamp was already on much of modern Manhattan, Rey Black still wanted to do more when she brought her architectural skillset to The Howard Hughes Corporation in 2018. “I had built so much, but never a pier,” she tells Blueprint in August. “We were pulling out old piles and driving in new ones […]

In 1913, Henry Ford developed his assembly line for mass production, famed for its efficiency. In the 1930s, Toyota took it a step further, developing a manufacturing production method—often referred to as LEAN—which not only limited waste and overproduction, but made it possible to create more variety of cars. Since then, the LEAN process has […]

As a slew of general contractors will attest, there’s a definite shortage of young people entering the trades, but those who do are well-positioned for career growth. At least in some locales, the message seems well taken, including at Patrick & Henry Community College where there’s been a waiting list of students seeking training in […]