Executives’ to-do lists show signs of an industry bouncing ...€¦ · upside down and adding...

here is a light at the end of thetunnel. The one commontheme surfacing from the 2012Commercial Construction &

Renovation Retreat was that compa-nies across all sectors – restaurant,retail and hospitality – have been mov-ing the dial forward, a sign that theremay be more good news ahead.

In an industry battered by a sluggisheconomy, executives representing allsectors of the commercial constructionindustry were optimistic about wherethe year has taken them – and where itmay lead. While there still is muchwork to do, there are signs of life.

The executives were part of theRetreat, held at the Epic Hotel inMiami, Sept. 27-30. CommercialConstruction & Renovation sponsoredthe event.

Following is the first installment of

our event coverage, including the wrapup of our Friday afternoon open-forum. For more coverage, join usonline at www.ccr-mag.com.

CCR: What’s the biggest thing onyour to-do-list these days?

Gina Noda, Sargenti Architects: Iwould have to say my biggest chal-lenge right now is to revamp ourwebsite, because as an architecturalfirm, we should have an outstandingwebsite with an awesome design. Wehave been growing and picked upmany new accounts this year, so wehave to make sure we have enoughteams in place, and that the teams arestaffed accordingly to handle theworkload. This year has beenextremely busy for us. I feel it will bethe same for 2013.

Mark Ganter, Total Wine & More:The big push in our department rightnow is managing a very fluid proto-type. We’re in the midst of going backand introducing a number of new pro-totype elements into three or fourexisting projects, turning the designupside down and adding things as wego to market.

Steve DeLisle, Jeta Builders: Thefirst thing that comes to mind isemployee training. With the recentrecession, like everybody else, we hadto downscale. So, with the little growthspurt we’re experiencing, we’re bring-ing in new staff and getting everybodyup to speed with new methods ofclient document/information manage-ment through FTP and internet-basedprograms.

It’s is much different than it was 10years ago, our industry doesn’t pick upthe phone and explain or notify you.Project management must be on top ofsurfing the information avenues forcritical communication updates. Thereare different policies and proceduresinternally that we are constantly imple-menting to keep us up to date. Thereis a different software and training withalmost every new client.

Larry DeBerry, Fast-Fix Jewelryand Watch Repairs: Currently, all ofour stores are franchises, but unlike atypical franchisor, we sign all landlordleases corporately, and then sublet tothe individual franchisee. Since ourstores are all mall-based, this providesa tremendous level of credibility andcomfort to the landlords. Additionally,

Executives’ to-do lists show signs of an industry bouncing back

Commercial Construction & Renovation Retreat

INDUSTRY EVENTS

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32 Commercial Construction & Renovation November/December 2012

November/December 2012 ccr-mag.com 33

Participating Retailers, Sponsoring Restaurateurs, CompaniesHoteliers

Amscot FinancialBob’s StoresConverseDesert Diamond CasinosFast-Fix Jewelry and Watch RepairsLiberty GroupRolling Stone LA Restaurant &

LoungeSpartan StoresStuart WietzmanTotal Wine & MoreTourneauWyndham Vacation Ownership

American Project & Repair, Inc.®BrandPoint ServicesGeorgia-Pacific GypsumGlobal Union/Danze, Inc., Global

Plumbing FixturesLido LightingJeta BuildersQuality Project ManagementSargenti ArchitectsThe Beam TeamThe McIntosh GroupWalton Signage

we control and project manage all thestore design and construction, bothinitially, and for remodels. We basicallyoffer a turnkey opportunity for thefranchisee. While this makes for awin-win situation for everyone, it doespresent certain challenges for us. We

must adhere to stringent FDD rulesand regulations. That translates to lotsof due diligence on our part. We fol-low a well-regulated process.

So for us, our to-do list has to startwith looking for ways to simplify andspeed up this process. Our growthplans are pretty aggressive, so the bet-ter we can streamline the process, thesmoother our ability to streamline roll-outs. We are currently incorporating anew project management system andanticipate this will help considerably.

We are also exploring more bulk pro-duction options on certain consistentlyused items like showcases, signage andflooring.

Jim Erickson, Walton Signage:There are two things that come tomind. First and foremost would beenergy. Everyone in our industry isworking on new solutions to thisgrowing issue. We are trying to makeeverything more efficient, last longerand light brighter. Then, make it cost

We’re also doing a new flagship in Milan,which will have one of the largest store-fronts in the Milan Fashion District.

— Gary Rissler, Stuart Weitzman


Retailers, Restaurateurs,Hoteliers

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Joe MaynardDirector ofConstruction & FacilitiesAmscot Financial

Punit ShahPresidentLiberty Group

Art O’StranderDirector, Designand ConstructionSpartan Stores

Helen BromfieldCreativeDevelopment -Sales, Marketing,& EntertainmentRolling Stone LA Restaurant & Lounge

Larry DeBerryVP of RealEstate, Leasing & StoreDevelopmentFast-Fix Jewelryand Watch Repairs

Bob BedardManager of Store PlanningConverse

Jim HarteConstruction &Facilities ManagerBob’s Stores

Randy HoweConstructionManagerDesert DiamondCasinos

Gary RisslerDirector of StorePlanning,Construction andFacilitiesStuart Wietzman

Bill MatiasVP of StoreDevelopmentTourneau

Mark GanterSenior ProjectManagerTotal Wine &More

Gary RallVice PresidentResort Renovation& DesignWyndham VacationOwnership

November/December 2012 ccr-mag.com 35

Ted MastrucciPresidentAmerican Project& Repair, Inc.®

Bill Pierro, Jr.PresidentLido Lighting

Gina NodaMarketingManagerSargenti Architects

Ron StupiPresidentQuality ProjectManagement

Steve DeLislePresidentJeta Builders

Alan ZeedykNational AccountsGeorgia-PacificGypsum

Matt MercerNational AccountsBrandPoint Services

Gary CardonoDirector ofHospitality SalesGlobal Union/Danze, Inc., GlobalPlumbing Fixtures

Rick HallPresidentThe Beam Team

Jim EricksonRegional VP of SalesWalton Signage

Brad GaskinsPresidentThe McIntoshGroup

Sponsors

half as much as it did two years ago.Secondly, most are doing a lot ofemployee training, as the economycontinues to grow. As the economystarts growing, we're bringing newpeople on to handle these (anticipated)projects. Companies that are stagnantor waiting to see what happens withour economy, are going to find them-selves unprepared to manage your programs.

Helen Bromfield, Rolling Stone LARestaurant & Lounge: Since I’mrolling out a new concept, there are alot of things on our to-do-list. We havestaff training, branding Rolling StoneLA model, and then identifying othermarkets that will best suit the brand. Itis about truly creating a living embodi-ment of the magazine.

Ron Stupi, Quality ProjectManagement: We have two primarythings we are working on. One is thatclient expectations have changed for usa little bit. The models fall from lessnew-build construction to moreremodels catching up on deferred capi-tal. I think our employee base, muchlike everybody else, is changing a little.We have evolved from relying on avery high level of construction knowl-edge, to more of communication-basedproject management and a lot of coor-dination, and how we handle multiplephases in an open facility, whether it’s arestaurant or a store. I think the skillset of our project manager is changing

as the market continues to grow andevolve.

The second thing will be to continueto develop our project managementsoftware, which is a web-based, collab-orative system. All the customer pro-gramming is done in house. The soft-ware is something we developed sixyears ago to improve our internalprocesses. Over the last three years ithas taken off. So we are continuing tofind a niche in the market place.

Punit Shah, Liberty Group: Ourhotels are branded as Intercontinental,Hilton, Starwood or Marriott proper-ties – and each brand has differentchallenges and requirements. One ofmy team’s priorities is to identify effi-ciencies for operations that will workacross all the different platforms, interms of vendors, suppliers and even

standardized systems. It actually is apretty challenging task. If you considerall the materials and items in a particu-lar hotel, from notepads, to sheets, andpillows, finding one supplier that canstandardize those across all our hotelsis a pretty challenging test. But I thinkthere could be a lot of savings there. Sowe have put a task force together toexamine this.

Matt Mercer, Brandpoint Services:We have been investing in technologyand systems development. With proj-ects to coordinate across two countries,its important we have efficient meansof communication and real time datatransmission. It’s what our customersare demanding these days. Even withthese tools in place, communication isdriven by people, and we are constantlystriving to improve our communica-tion, both internally and externally.

Jim Harte, Bob’s Stores: We recentlycompleted a new prototype storedesign that won a number of awards.As we move forward, our goal is tocontinuously value-engineer our new


Open Forum

We’re doing a lot of employee training aswe continue to grow. As the economy startsgrowing, we’re bringing people on to han-dle all the new projects.

— Jim Erickson, Walton Signage

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Right now, we haveabout 1,700 condo-minium units underactive renovation;we’re in the pur-chasing phase forour 2013 projects,and we’re in thedesign phase forour 2014 projects.”

— Gary Rall,Wyndham Vacation

Ownership

design so that build-out SF costsdecrease. This will support increasing-ly profitable new store openings. Bob’sis excited to include this store design aspart of our anticipated growth plans.

Brad Gaskins, The McIntoshGroup: Our biggest challenge rightnow is trying to spread the word andthe emphasis between the truth andthe myth of the ADA (AmericansDisability Act). There are a lot of mis-perceptions out there. Some of themcan get our clients into a lot of trouble,and some will cost them a lot ofmoney. Everybody is very afraid of theADA. They like to keep everythingclose to the vest. We’d like to get themto open up and talk to us – let us guidethem in a very real world way. Wewant to help them understand how tomake their businesses compliant with-out costing a lot of extra money.

Bill Matias, Tourneau: The biggestinitiative we’ve taken on is our cus-

tomers’ experience in our stores, espe-cially as retail changes cycle everyseven years. It’s all about the customerexperience. On the design side, we’rereformatting our stores at the cus-tomer counters. For example, we’retaking away the typical type of selling,where the customer gets behind thecounter and the salesperson is on theother side. We’re trying to take thatbarrier away, moving some prototypestores in that direction.

We’re also experimenting withbrand boutiques within our stores.We probably sell more than 100 dif-ferent type of watch brands withinour stores, (although not in everystore), but most of them. Thenewest thing we’re doing is that allthe watch brands want their ownpresence – not just a case, but asmall build-out within our stores(boutique). We’re not really expanding; we’re refurbishing andrebuilding with a new direction of demand.


Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

What Miami rooftop dinner would be complete without the excitement of a helicopter battle in the airspaceabove the city? Yes, that actually happened. Thanks to a movie crew filming scenes in and around the downtownarea, attendees of 2012 Commercial Construction & Renovation Retreat received a little added bonus to thenight’s agenda. The air show, cocktail party and rooftop dinner were part of the first night festivities of the Retreat,held at the Epic Hotel in Miami inSeptember. Commercial Construction & Renovation sponsored the event.

Currently, wedeveloped our own software in2006. It is quite anundertaking, but at the end of theday, it will make us more efficient.

— Ted Mastrucci,American Project

& Repair, Inc.®

Meet me up on the roof

Rick Hall, The Beam Team: Ourbiggest initiative is improving ourproprietary software system that we’vebuilt over the last 10 years for ourproject management. It is designed tomanage people. It is getting older andwe are trying to take our business tothe next level. Constantly using tech-nology to drive efficiency is the onlyreal way we can drive down costs. Asan execution company, with a nationalwork force, it’s very difficult to man-

age people across the country, andmanage them well. Technology helpsus do that, especially with all the greatthings happening with phones, iPads(tablets) and laptops. They all reallyallow us to drive a lot of informationand gather information. We havesome incredible survey technology weuse in the stores. We have been ableto build surveys in such a way that thedata is super clean. Clean data makesfor better decisions and very accurate

BOM’s (Bill of Materials), which savesbig money.

Randy Howe, Desert DiamondCasinos: From a day-to-day stand-point, from the three properties wehave within Indian country, gamingtechnology is growing at such a rapidpace that our properties can’t supplythe power these games need. Ourbiggest issue is converting our proper-ties to where we can do data centersoff site, which ultimately can supportthree properties and run huge, mas-


Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Excuse me, could you pass the alligator…?

So, did you hear the one about the construction executive who went on an gator excursion and …” We’ll stop right there. Remember: “What happens in your airboat, stays in your airboat.”

At least that’s the story attendees of our 2012 CommercialConstruction & Renovation Retreat can share following theirnetworking trip through the Florida Everglades. Aboard a pri-vate airboat, attendees toured one of the last remaining wet-lands in North America, complete with some up-close-and-per-sonal alligator time (you were able to hold a little fellow for a

donation toward the reserves). The adventure was part of the three-day Retreat, held at the Epic Hotel in

Miami inSeptember. CommercialConstruction &Renovation sponsoredthe event.

We have been growing and picked upmany new accounts this year, so we haveto make sure we have enough teams inplace, and that the teams are staffedaccordingly to handle the workload.

— Gina Noda, Sargenti Architects

sive gaming devices. We’re workingto convert all of the properties to aproperty, where we can have theinfrastructure, the server, IT and thepower requirements together, whichwill help move us into the next gener-ation of gaming.

Alan Zeedyk, Georgia-PacificGypsum: Our primary goal is to pro-mote Georgia-Pacific Dens® Brandproducts as the proven fiberglass mattechnology in the construction indus-try. The market place has becomeincreasingly competitive, so it’s para-

mount that we emphasize our 25-yearhistory as the technology leader, andcontinue to innovate with new productintroductions.

Bob Bedard, Converse: We have afew things going on that present quitea number of opportunities for us.We’re finally seeing an uptick in thenumber of stores we’re building.We’ve been waiting to do that for along time. We’ve also decided to dostore expansions, as well as do LEED-certified stores. Our parent company,Nike Inc., has mandated that all future

stores be LEED certified. That’s beingpushed down to the affiliates.

We’re doing more collaborationswith Nike: Where there would typical-ly be project managers for each indi-vidual affiliate working on the projects.We’re going to share project man-agers, so one person would manage theNike build-out, Converse build-out,the Hurley build-outs. We will evalu-ate how all of this works out; how thecollaboration works. Doing this itallows us to leverage all the consult-ants, vendors and GCs. Everybodywho is not working specifically for mewill still have to respond to my needsand Converse’s needs, as I’m still ulti-mately responsible for getting theConverse stores done.


Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

One-on-one time pays off for attendees

After two days of networking and roundtables, attendees were able to put all of those connections and informationto use during our one-on-one meetings. The session enables end users and vendors some quality face-to-face time

(15 minutes, to be exact). One of the indus-try’s best business opportunities, the

one-on-ones were part of the 2012Commercial Construction &Renovation Retreat, sponsoredby Commercial Construction &Renovation magazine.

As a mall-based service retailer, we thrivein both an up economy and a down econ-omy. We are now entering a new era ofexpansion where our goal is to have over500 stores within the next five years.

— Larry DeBerry, Fast-Fix Jewelry and Watch Repairs

Ted Mastrucci, American Project &Repair, Inc.®: Currently, we devel-oped our own software in 2006. We’rekind of at a crossroads where we haveto decide if we want to do our internalsoftware which, basically, controls allof our work orders, manages out in thefield and internally, or put it on theCloud. We’re wrapping it up and get-ting down to the final decision process.It is quite an undertaking, but at theend of the day, it will make us moreefficient. It becomes a business deci-sion as to whether we want to redo itall or find an easier solution.

Art O’Strander, Spartan Stores: Ourcompany, which is nearly 100 yearsold, has been a grocery wholesale dis-tributor. We service about 350 inde-pendent grocers in Michigan. Butsince the late 1990s, we’ve openedretail stores of our own, mostlythrough acquisition. For the first time,we’re developing a new store banner ofour own. We have four open now, withthree more planned by the end of this

year. Our plan is to roll out eight to 10a year after that. It’s a whole new valueformat for us, something we haven’thad in any of our corporate storesbefore. The new value formats are18,000 to 20,000 square feet, whereour traditional supermarket is about50,000 square feet.

Bill Pierro, Jr., Lido Lighting:Something that’s always on my to-dolist is staying at the forefront of newlighting technology. My customerscount on me to be in the know ofevery new item available. Our biggestchallenge is deciphering the differencebetween the technology and the salespitch. People will tell a retailer that thetechnology is the greatest thing in theworld, but they really don’t know. Youhave to be able to test it and see if itworks out. If you are going to roll itout nationally, it’d better be tested andrugged.

Gary Rall, Wyndham: WyndhamVacation Ownership has more than


We have a fewthings going on thatpresent quite anumber of opportu-nities for us. We’refinally seeing anuptick in the num-ber of stores we’rebuilding.

— Bob Bedard,Converse

Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

On the block or so walk to dinner on night two of our 2012 CommercialConstruction & Renovation Retreat in Miami, attendees were treated to a lit-tle extra treat. Docked at the harbor was the Seven Seas, the yacht owned bydirector Steven Spielberg. Only in Miami, right?

The final destination for the evening was Scalina, one of Miami’s best Italianrestaurants. Defined by its Venice-like view of Brickell key and overlooking theMiami river, attendees were treated to a taste of old Italy.

The dinner was part of the second day ofour Retreat, heldat the EpicHotel in Miamiin September.CommercialConstruction &Renovationsponsored theevent.

Italian style – Attendees wind down with downtown dinner

190 resorts across North America.Right now, we have about 1,700 con-dominium units under active renova-tion; we’re in the purchasing phasefor our 2013 projects and we’re inthe design phase for our 2014 proj-ects. In addition, we are installingnearly 200 pool lifts to meet ADAcompliance standards by Jan. 31,2013. We also have four resorts thatsustained damage from HurricaneIsaac, where some units are out ofservice. We are anxious to get thoseback up and running.

Gary Cardono, Global Union/Danze, Inc., Global PlumbingFixtures: We’re always trying to stayin the forefront of water conservation ,so we’re designing new products to useless water and be ADA compliant.

Danze is looked at as the new playerin the market and is only about 11years old. Globe Union is one of thelargest brass plumbing fixture manufac-turers in the world with a large privatelabel business. Danze is our ownplumbing fixture brand. We are tryingto get the hotel brands and the multi-family building companies out there torecognize who we are. Globe Unionacquired Gerber Plumbing Fixtures in2005 on the brink of bankruptcy andwe became the third largest manufac-turer of Vitreous China in the UnitedStates this year. Gerber is known for itsprofessional brand amongst the plumb-ing trade. Right now, we’re planningour budgets and action plans for next

year. There is a lot going on. It will bea busy time of year.

Joe Maynard, Amscot Financial: Wehave 180 stores open in Florida, mainlyin the Tampa and Orlando markets.We currently have plans to double thatfootprint in the South Florida area.That includes opening about 30 storesper year. We’re on track to open oneevery two weeks. So my time revolvesaround growth, managing the design,permitting and construction process tofeed that beast. We’re also openingsome new stores throughout our exist-ing markets and investing in some ofour current properties. We have aboutthree or four remodels going on at atime. Our new and existing locationsare mainly in-line spaces, some are freestanding. To accommodate our expan-sion, we are staffing up at a corporatelevel and opening a new regional ware-house.

Gary Rissler, Stuart Weitzman:We’re developing a web based soft-ware to manage our construction,renovations and facilities mainte-


Our biggest challenge right now is trying tospread the word and the emphasis betweenthe truth and the myth of the ADA(Americans Disability Act).

— Brad Gaskins, The McIntosh Group

We recently com-pleted a new proto-type store designthat won a numberof awards.

— Jim Harte, Bob’s Stores

Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Since I’m rolling outa new concept, thereare a lot of things onour to-do list. Wehave staff training,branding RollingStone LA model, andthen identifyingother markets thatwill best suit thebrand.

— Helen Bromfield,Rolling Stone LA

Restaurant & Lounge

nance, while creating a permanentdata base. In addition, we’re devel-oping three levels of prototypes. I’vebeen doing that and trying to use myyears of experience to develop waysto change the existing prototype lookof the white Corian look you mayhave seen in the stores around theworld. I’m putting together an inter-national book so I can help ourinternational partners implement it.

We’re also doing a new flagship inMilan, which will be one of the biggeststorefronts in the Milan FashionDistrict. We hired Zaha Hadid to bethe designer. She doesn’t do a lot ofretail, but she’s going to do ours. Sheis, without a doubt, the most famouswoman architect in the world. We aredoing five or six flagships with her.

CCR: What have been some of thesurprises you’ve seen in 2012?

Rissler: I’ve been very involved withlistening to our teams talk about sales,shoe sales, global sales and the econo-my. One day it’s gloom and doom, andthe next it’s great. One thing that hascontinuously amazed me is that peopleare continuing to buy high end prod-ucts like our shoes. Our average shoeprice is just under $400,with someshoes and boots all the way up to$2,700. That is somewhere in the mid-dle for the luxury line. So people whowere buying $3,000 shoes are nowbuying our shoes.

Maynard: The biggest surprise I’veseen over the last 12 months is the dif-ference in markets, even within myown state of Florida. It’s just totallydifferent. The pricing and demand forreal estate in one area of the state ver-sus somewhere that is four hours awayis eye opening.

Cardono: I think the biggest surpriseis that over the past two years, Gerberhas increased 25 percent. Every yearwe try to do over 25 percent. I thinkthe reason for the success is that wewent after more of a niche market. Wewent after the professional plumberwith a professional performance prod-uct. And they liked it. They don’t haveto compete with retail. So we havefound success with that. It is a shockerthat you are in that market and stilldoing good business. It is all in howyou go to market. A lot of companieshave to sit back and take a hard look atwhat they do and find a niche. Theones that did succeeded. The onesthat didn’t sit there and found them-selves in a difficult situation.

Rall: 2012 has been a very strong yearfor Wyndham Vacation Ownership.We’ve been fortunate to have exceededprojections each quarter. In fact, werecently acquired Shell Vacations,adding 19 resorts and approximately115,000 owners. Our renovation andrefurbishment projects continue to bebusy due to the fact that our funding isnot driven by revenue, but instead isfunded from a percentage of the main-tenance fees paid by our owners.

We have planned renovations foreach unit at our resorts every five tosix years, in addition to lobby renova-tions, exterior coating, food and bev-

erage outlets and other site amenities.However, we also have un plannedprojects that come up due to regula-tory requirements such as ADA TitleIII compliance. We also manageunplanned projects as a result of vari-ous disasters such as fire and stormdamage like Hurricane Isaac.

Pierro: The biggest surprise I see istrying to match all the restrictionsaround the country. We have ways toget creative. We deal with a variety ofengineers, so there are different levelsof talent and creativity. Sometimes you


Something that’salways on my to-dolist is staying at theforefront of newlighting technology.My customers counton me to be in theknow on every newitem available.

— Bill Pierro, Lido Lighting

We’re seeing good news, but it is hurry upand spend money as fast as you possiblycan. The bad news is that it stops.

— Ron Stupi, Quality Project Management

Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

have to go back and find wattage. Ithink the energy codes are getting sostrong that the lighting hasn’t caughtup yet. Certain applications have moreallowable wattage than others.Overall, I believe the “Standard LightLevel” we have come accustomed to isgoing to be reduced in general. Thebenchmark will be lowered unless wedo more with less. I think it’s going toforce lighting companies to push it. InEurope they are there. We haven’tcaught up yet.

O’Strander: Being from Michigan,the recent economy has been hard. Butthings are starting to turn around forus. We’re staying positive in our stores.We’re starting to add more and moreprojects out on the street. Our vendorsand contractors are a little reluctant tokeep up the pace because they don’tbelieve it’s true.

Bedard: We are taking a look atremodels. That’s historically the lastplace we’re looking to spend money,as we have been focused on newstore rollout, but we’re going to gothrough that first generation of ourstores and remodel. We are not justlooking at doing this as a phased-inthing, picking so many stores peryear. We are considering doing halfthe fleet in one year. That was a littleunexpected on the top of everythingelse we are planning. It’s good news,

but it is also just a whole other levelof challenge.

Zeedyk: I would say we’ve beensomewhat surprised by how somemarkets have seen such fast construc-tion recovery and others still contin-ue to struggle.

Howe: The one thing I found inter-esting over the past 48 months is howmany large architects and generalcontractors are willing to do businessin Indian country. When we puttogether our first property in 2007,we probably had half a dozen archi-tects answer the RFP for that particu-lar casino. When we sent out ourrecent RFP for the property inGlendale (Arizona), 22 (out of 47)architects bid on the design process.It is different than a lot of the thingsyou have to deal with. So we werefortunate. There are a lot of hungrycompanies out there finally willing towork in Indian country or sign a con-tract with a Native American tribe.

Hall: The biggest thing I see is thatwhen we build our pipeline in sixmonths, everything looks great. But,throw out any kind of bad news andretailers turn around and cancel proj-ects or push themback. We’re tryingto deal with the volatility of thisentire situation. Will it start tosmooth out eventually? Right nowwe’re looking at a great fourth quar-ter. It’s looking like a really good firstquarter. Who knows how it will endup? How many customers will pullthe plug? When you have a mobilework force like we do, we try to move

resources around. It’s tough on ouremployees because it can be sovolatile. So we’re working really hardto get more customers to fill in thegaps this volatility creates.

Matias: It’s funny you should say that,because I’m surprised and confused onthe retail side because. We know theeconomy is bad to a certain point.We’re not expanding; we’re just reno-vating just to stay up to par. And on


With the recentrecession, like every-body else, we had todownscale. So, withthe little growthspurt we’re experi-encing, we’re bring-ing in new staff andgetting everybodyup to speed.

— Steve DeLisle,Jeta Builders

Open Forum

I have my team working on finding efficien-cies for operations that will work across allthe different platforms, in terms of vendors,suppliers and even standardized systems.

— Punit Shah, Liberty Group

INDUSTRY EVENTS

the other side of this world, take theAsian culture, they’re buying like crazy,especially our product. On the WestCoast, we can’t keep enough of it. Onthe East Coast, we can’t sell enough of

it. So it’s a little confusing trying to seewhere everything is going. One day ispositive, and the next it stops. Westarted products; we stopped products.There’s money out there. It’s just notbeing distributed right. It impacts howwe do our construction design.

Noda: I was surprised on how we havegrown in this economy by the amountof projects that we have been doing inCanada and internationally. Theireconomy was not affected like ourshere in the United States. We havebeen doing a lot of CD sets interna-tionally for various retailers and thework in Canada has been boomingcompared to ours. Our office is locatedin New Jersey and we are licensed in48 states, but most of our work hasbeen out on the West Coast the lastfew years.

Gaskins: What hasn’t surprised us?What is going on out there? What wehave faced still shocks us. Our busi-ness has tripled over the past year, andit’s all related to ADA. A number ofpeople we visit with still want to sticktheir heads in the sand and wait untilthey get sued before doing anythingabout ADA and accessibility. It does-n’t need to be that way. You can do iton your terms or theirs. One of thebiggest secrets of accessibility is that itcan be done on your terms. With aneconomy like this, you don’t have todo as much as you do when things aregood. What you need to do is findout what is not in compliance anddevelop a plan to become compliant.The ADA is just difficult to under-stand; its not always black and white.Removing barriers has been part of

the requirements for the last 20 years.Take a step back and look at the num-ber of ADA lawsuits filed, which havegone up 10 to 15 percent each yearthe last seven years. ADA complianceis where the industry needs to beheading and where businesses need to


Open Forum

Right now, we’re planning our budgets andaction plans for next year. There is a lotgoing on. It will be a busy time of year.

— Gary Cardono, Global Union/Danze,Global Plumbing Fixtures

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Riding Millionaire’s Row

If any of our attendees and familiesfrom the 2012 CommercialConstruction & Renovation Retreatwere looking for the homes of theincredibly rich and famous in Miami,we set them up. The Island’s QueenTour rolled through the Port ofMiami, Fisher Island (think moviestars), Miami Beach and the vauntedMillionaire’s Row. The 90-minutecruise offered something for everystar seeker. The excursion was part ofthe three-day Retreat, which washeld at the Epic Hotel in Miami, inSeptember. Commercial Construction& Renovation sponsored the event.

Constantly usingtechnology to driveefficiency is theonly real way wecan drive downcosts. As an execu-tion company, witha national workforce, it’s very diffi-cult to managepeople across thecountry, and man-age them well.Technology helps us do that.

— Rick Hall, The Beam Team

go to be protected from lawsuits. Weuse the term “lawsuit repellant.”

Harte: I’m surprised that the economyhasn’t recovered to the point whereadditional retail growth can happen.We all know that there is not a lot ofconstruction going on. Based on thisslow construction market, I am contin-uously challenged with the question ofwhy contractors aren’t willing to workfor less? Most contractors gave every-thing back that they could a few yearsago. They don’t have any staff and theowners are doing what used to be doneby a project manager. It is difficult forthose outside the industry to acceptthis premise.

Mercer: I’ve been a little confused bythis part, too. This is normally whenwe start seeing things slow down forus, but this fourth quarter will be ourbusiest time. We probably did more inthe fourth quarter than we did thewhole year. A lot of that is attributedto Canada. Our Dollar Store cus-tomers are making a big push inCanada right now, which is helpingquite a bit. Bidding projects is verypainful because you’re asking us to cutmore. But there’s just nothing left.Being a smaller contractor, we’re see-ing opportunities on remodels. Thereare pretty good opportunities out therefor companies like ours.

Shah: I’m surprised to see that theconsumer has traded down. A guest

who would typically stay at this hotel(Epic Hotel in Miami) during thepeak-market has now traded down andmay likely stay in select-service prop-erties such as ours. As a result, theirexpectations for what they demand inour hotels are tremendously highergiven their prior hotel stays. So,instead of spending $400 per night,they’re spending $200 per night. Butthey still demand the $400 quality ofstay. That puts some pressure on us.Also, the FF&E lifecycle in our hotelsis generally seven years, before we justgut everything from lobby carpets, toshower fixtures, and everything else.

The hotels we developed in 2005,which were state of the art at thetime, have to be revisited today. So in2012, we’re looking at renovatingthese properties. And our cost of ren-ovation has gone up significantly ontechnology and FF&E items becausethat $400 per night customerdemands a pillow top bed with six pil-lows instead of two. That’s just oneexample, but it goes all the waythrough the construction material andfinishes. Unforunately, we’re forced tospend more money on things that aguest doesn’t ever see behind thescenes, which requires us to spend alittle bit less on the tangible.

Stupi: We’re seeing good news, but itis hurry up and spend money as fast asyou possibly can. The bad news is thatit stops. So instead of having a long-term plan, it seems like you are goingquarter by quarter in a lot of situations.So it has been good and bad, and it has

been less predictable and more volatile.On the flipside, we’ve been able toleverage that. When someone needs itdone, they need it done now, and notover the course of time. So that hashelped our business a little.

It comes back to people. Our busi-ness started to turn around over thelast couple of years. We started hiringpeople in 2010 and 2011. We wereable to find a lot of qualified peoplewho were willing to do whatever ittook. Now, as we move into 2012, wecontinue to grow and look for peoplewho are willing to change and adapt.That has become more difficult for us.Finding qualified people who are will-ing to accept some change and a new


What we are drivinginto everybody’shead right now is to communicate,communicate, communicate.

— Matt Mercer,Brandpoint Services

Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

We’re working to convert all of the proper-ties to a property where we can have theinfrastructure, the server, IT and the powerrequirements together, which will helpmove us into the next generation of gaming.

— Randy Howe, Desert Diamond Casinos

culture has been more of a challengethan we thought.

Bromfield: When you’re creating anew concept and new venues from theground up, what isn’t surprising?We’re picking out vendors and target-ing consumers. This is a completelynew plan.

Rissler: It’s very spotty.

Shah: The average guest’s check isdown.

Bromfield: It’s about sharing meals.On top of that, if you have a greatFriday and Saturday night, what hap-pens Monday through Thursday, andSunday? People aren’t going out fivetimes a week like they used to.

Erickson: And they’re using couponsnow more than ever.

Bromfield: In my world, it is great togo out and do those marketing pro-grams with the Groupons of theworld, but the trade off question is, areyou cheapening your brand by offeringthese types of discounts? You’re giving50 percent off of a meal to get you in.Where is the ROI? It has been tough.You have to target the local demo-graphic? And in Hollywood (where thefirst restaurant is located), that’s tough.

CCR: Is a place like Orlando a consid-eration? That’s touristy.

Bromfield: Yes. It’s a brand that’sgoing to speak to the tourism market.But the live entertainment and thehigh-end atmosphere – great food andthe live entertainment – will appeal tomost local markets. When you arerolling out those kind of venues, you’relooking at Orlando, New York, Dubai.It’s definitely a tourism market-basedbrand that I believe will be very suc-cessful. We’ll also have some greatopportunities in other cities.

Shah: One of the things that reallyshocks me is the usage and incorpora-tion of social media into our business-es. It has created a level playing field.And it’s exhausting. Before we used tohave the occasional hotel or food critic.Now, everyone is a hotel and food crit-ic. Every person every night is a criticfor the world to see. In our world, it’sTrip Advisor. Every guest in our hotelsis a critic.

Stupi: And as customers, we all readthem.

Shah: One bad review disqualifies 25great ones.

Bromfield: And the damaging reviewsare posted faster than the praises. Thehardest part, in todays social media andinternet world, is that magazinereviews are now read as often as Yelp.You’re going to spend a lot of moneywith a PR firm to bring in all thebiggest critics for an extravagant mealand it doesn’t do me as well as train-ing my team to service my tables as ifeverybody was a critic. My money isbetter spent there right now. I’m

adding Facebook to my marketingbudget. Things have changed.

CCR: Do the hospitality companiesspend a lot of time training their staffsto make sure everything, from towels,to soap, and air conditioning are allworking perfectly?

Shah: All of our brands have 100 per-cent guarantees. So if they’re missing


For the first time,we’re developing anew store banner ofour own. We havefour open now, withthree more plannedby the end of thisyear. Our plan is toroll out additionalstores in other mar-kets on a go-forwardbasis.

— Art O’Strander,Spartan Stores

Open Forum

INDUSTRY EVENTS

We have 180 stores open in Florida, mainlyin the Tampa and Orlando markets. We cur-rently have plans to double that footprint inthe South Florida area. That includes open-ing about 30 stores this year.

— Joe Maynard, Amscot Financial

one towel I’m refunding a $200 room.People know how to work that systempretty well – and they do. They use itas a threat, “We’ll just post a review onTripAdvisor.” What’s your recourse?You give them a discount. They haveimmediate access to social media.There is no filter.

Bromfield: None.

Shah: We teach our staff to respond ina positive manner. We make sure oursales managers aren’t negative inresponse. They work to resolve everysituation. It’s all in public. It getsindexed on Google and every othersearch engine.

Bromfield: It’s part of your SEO.

Shah: Those immediate responses andreviews are one of the biggest chal-lenges we face today in the hospitalityindustry.

Ganter: And you get the most exposure.

Pierro: You’re talking about hiring dif-ferent levels of talent, and you’re evencounting on the person putting towelsin 2,000 rooms. They don’t alwayshave the same passions as you do atthat level. And yet that’s the personwho is responsible for your representa-tion. That is a challenge.

Shah: We’ve had to hire a director of

social media who basically oversees ourTwitter, Facebook and Trip advisor sitesfor each property now. We didn’t havethat overhead burden a couple of yearsago. Now it’s a full-time job.

Bromfield: They’re more educated onthat right now. You can get an entireeducation on social media marketing.What your teenagers do on Facebooksomebody is getting paid $65,000 to$100,000 a year. I’m not only a restau-rant; I’m a nightlife venue, too. So Idon’t know if anybody has seen it, butyou’re inundated with nightlife,Facebook, social media invites.

CCR: Do you feel like you’re beingheld hostage?

Shah: I think this industry is. Thinkabout it. We have thousands of peo-ple who stay every night in myhotels. The reality is that somethingmight happen, just by sheer the vol-ume something of people and cir-cumstances. We have no recourse,none whatsoever.

Bromfield: Nothing has to actuallyhappen. It could be perception, andperception is reality.

Noda: I think it is only going to getworse. The generation behind us isconstantly online, I don’t even thinkthey know how to speak on the phone

Shah: As of January 1, virtually all theTripAdvisor reviews on our propertieswill be intregrated into our hotel web-sites. That’s how normal it’s getting.

Bromfield: That’s when it’s good tohave your social media director.

Shah: If you go to Hilton.com, andyou want to stay in Miami, you canpull up a hotel of mine. Every reviewon TripAdvisor will show up, asopposed to you having to go theirsite and find it. We’re just incorpo-rating it on the sites. The brands aredoing that because it allows them tofocus on the good of the hotel. Mostbrands are franchised, right? So theburden is not on them. They’re notlosing money. The Owner is.


We are, barringanother prohibition,largely recessionproof. We have notseen any downturn.We’ve grown steadi-ly adding 10 to 12stores annually.

— Mark Ganter, Total Wine & More

Open Forum

Our biggest initiative we’ve taken on is our customers’ experience in our stores,especially as retail changes cycle everyseven years. It’s all about the customerexperience.

— Bill Matias, Tourneau

INDUSTRY EVENTS

CCR

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