JOHN KARMANN IRVINE SUPERINTENDENT With over 30 years of experience, John is a superintendent with a strong track record completing multifaceted hospitality, restaurant, school and prison projects, as well as healthcare projects. His favorite Alston project was Ramar Foods because even though there were challenges, he feels, “We have exceeded his expectations in working with their design team in getting the project to the finish line. John loves traveling with his wife and being a high school football coach.
CRAIG CLAFFEY ATLANTA ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER Craig has been a part of the Alston team for 5 years and has been a part of many of our milestone projects such as Project Azalea, which is the largest footprint Alston has constructed to date. He enjoys being a part of the onsite team and considers project teams family. Craig, a foodie, loves traveling and finding hidden gem restaurants and stores.
WHAT KIND OF PREPARATIONS DO YOU UTILIZE TO ASSURE AS STRONG OF A PROJECT START AS POSSIBLE? This always starts with a good solid risk methodology, risks that become reality, become issues. So I, start with a good risk plan. You need to track and address issues with a system, otherwise, you are engaging in crisis-management throughout the project. A properly planned project schedule will prevent hold-ups and clashes on the project often caused when the primary important tasks have not been completed. You need to prep the team for potential roadblocks and have a process in place to solve these problems quickly. DURING THE ACTIVE PART OF A PROJECT, NAME SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN KEEPING ON SCHEDULE AND SUBCONTRACTORS ENGAGED? Missed deadlines are one of the most common attribute to a delay in the project. Weekly subcontractor meeting participation is vital to all personnel prioritizing effectively. HOW DO YOU MANAGE FOR GOOD RELATIONS AND RESPONSE FROM BUILDING INSPECTION OFFICIALS? Always stay professional and offer help when able and insure you have an in depth understanding of your plans, documents and insure all details are complete prior to commencing any inspection. This will optimize the inspector’s time onsite; instead of his need to search for deficiencies. Have any addenda available for the inspectors review prior to inspection. WHAT METHODS DO YOU EMPLOY TO REQUIRE SUBCONTRACTOR ACCOUNTABILITY RELATING TO ALL CONSIDERATIONS – I.E. SAFETY, SCHEDULE AND QUALITY? Continued communication throughout the project via weekly subcontractor meetings is vital to all subcontractors remaining focused on their weekly task and projected task as it relates to other subcontractors. Alston provides us with an unlimited amount of tools associated with safety to insure an accident free work environment. Daily walks enable you to address quality and mitigate any deficiencies in a timely manner, as opposed to one large letting them manifest into huge punch lists.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INITIAL CHALLENGES OF STARTING A PROJECT? Identifying any scope gap as early as possible is critical to long term success. Clearly laying out expectations for the project, especially safety, is critical to short term success. Keeping the full project team informed of changes as it transitions from preconstruction to construction teams and people come and go. WHAT KIND OF PREPARATIONS DO YOU UTILIZE TO ASSURE AS STRONG OF A PROJECT START AS POSSIBLE? I try to reach out early to critical project team members to set the tone of the project as cooperation as early as possible. Whenever possible when coordination calls are scheduled, emphasizing coordination and cooperation helps a lot. The mindset should be “one team, one fight.” WHAT SPECIAL STEPS ARE TAKEN TO KEEP CUSTOMERS ENGAGED AND PROVIDING IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO KEEP THE PROJECT MOVING FORWARD? Keeping clear and open communication with the customer throughout, and sometimes even seeking their opinion (even when you may not need it) is a great way to keep them engaged. Taking good pictures, and when they can’t make it to site often, a markup of the drawings showing how much is completed for the shell helps them to visualize the site. HOW DO YOU PROMOTE GOOD, COHESIVE FUNCTIONING OF THE ALSTON PROJECT TEAM? Managing morale has the biggest impact to the team’s dynamic in my experience. Talented employees working in the same trailer is a lot different from a team attacking a problem from all sides. Sometimes it is as easy as sharing a cup of coffee in the morning to talk about home, sometimes it’s as fun as a cookout with the team- including some subs too! Bringing little touches of home to the out of town team makes a big difference too, reminding them that they have support and they aren’t alone.
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