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The Corban Group
Executive Insider Interview Series
February 2008
Bill Bland
Senior Vice President
Choate Construction Company
8200 Roberts Drive, Suite 600
Atlanta, Georgia 30350
(678) 892-1200
Choate Construction Company is a regional general contractor with more than $640 million in revenues for 2006. Choate Construction Company is a founding member of The Citadel Group, an alliance of Best of Class firms providing principal involvement, reliable project delivery and depth and diversity of industry experience. As the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bill’s primary responsibility is to originate and implement a marketing and sales strategy while focusing on procuring projects which fit the company’s experience and qualifications. On select projects, he works with the pre-construction team to review plans, and offer input into the program and schedule. Bill has been with Choate for 13 years where he was a project manager before joining the executive management of the company.
Prior to joining Choate, Bill was a Principal and Project Manager for Wood, Morris & Bland where he built numerous healthcare-related projects across the country. Bill earned a Bachelor of Science from Georgia Southern University and he is also a graduate of Georgia College, where he received his Masters in Business Administration.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Bill serves on the board of The Great Exchange. Bill is also an active member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), the Great Economic Development Authority (GEDA), the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), the Georgia Biomedical Partnership, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and North Point Community Church.
Bill was born in Thomasville, Georgia and has been married to his wife, Dee, for 22 years and they have two daughters and the family resides in the newly formed city of Milton, Georgia.
Bill Bland
Senior Vice President
Choate Construction Company
1. When did you first realize that you wanted to be in commercial construction?
It was probably 17 years ago. I had previously worked in the design field, primarily in architecture, and thought that architecture was going to be my way of life. I got exposed to construction administration early on in my career. I dealt with contractors, developers, and gained field experience along the way. It was at that point that I decided to prepare myself for a career in construction or in development. I knew that in order to position myself with a contractor or developer I needed to do something different with my education. Trey Wood, an architect that I worked with encouraged me to go back and get an MBA to have that ability to pursue business along with the technical expertise of architecture. Then, he added, position yourself at the right time to go to work with a contractor or developer. I was involved on a project dealing with the construction and design of a hospital, and it was at that time that I was introduced to Choate Construction. I was finishing up Graduate school, and I really felt compelled to talk with Choate about an opportunity and the rest is history. I came on as a project manager with Choate, and I got involved in hospital, manufacturing and interior projects. I also spent a little time helping with our pre-construction group. About a year later, I was asked by our President/CEO, Millard Choate “Hey, why don’t you get involved in sales? Why don’t you give it some thought?” So after some gentle prodding I said I would give it a shot and, as you can see, it has been a whirl-wind since then. I’ve been here approximately 14 years and have been involved in sales for about 12 years.
2. Who is or was your biggest professional influence?
I have thought long and hard about this question. From my family perspective, my father and grandmother had a big influence in my life. My father never met a stranger and he was always very accepting and loving of everyone. I think that as I get older, I can see that seed he planted in my life. He has always enjoyed interacting with people and helping people. I figured out as I progress along in my career that it’s a people business; it is people that make the decisions and it is people that are going to get things done. I think my grandmother was the most loving person that I’ve ever known. I remember when spending time with her we would go “call on our cousins.” That is to say she would make me go visit and interact with aunt so and so and what she really meant was I was expected to go sit down and socialize with them. To this day I rarely deviate far from that early rearing that I received as a young child and teenager. Professionally, Millard Choate has taught me to find your niche, and excel to be the best. His advice has proved to be on target. I work closely with Ben Bunyard, Steve Soteres, Willis Armstrong, David Page, Croswell Brim and Rob Hickman. These guys are my fellow brothers at Choate and provide me with inspiration and drive to work together as a unified team.
3. How would you define a great commercial contractor/leader in today’s commercial environment?
It is not one big thing but more of doing the little things right and not cutting corners. I think that a great general contractor is one that understands pre-construction and executes flawlessly. A great contractor can conceptualize estimates, and work in a strategic manner with an architect and owner early in the design phase of a project to form a unified team. The contractor can collaborate with the team in an effort to control the budget, control the schedule, and control risk. A great contractor offers ideas on constructability, and different materials while at the same time never jeopardizing the design intent of that project. Along with pre-construction, a great contractor builds high quality projects. Their field and management staffs run a very organized and efficient job site. They provide leadership for all trades involved to provide great service. The best sales people for our company are our project managers, pre-construction managers and superintendents. They are the ones executing the bulk of the work and help facilitate new projects. They create the reputation for the company.
4. What is your organization’s most effective tool/method for developing talented individuals?
Our best tool for developing talented individuals is our seasoned and highly experienced employees who embrace our project control systems. They, in turn, train new and younger employees. First, we identify and hire qualified and ambitious people. We take interest in employees as soon as they come on board through mentoring, training and professional development. We retain all checks and balances and at the same time allowing the employee to develop and grow as a construction professional. We want them to interject their own styles, but manage the objectives within the realm of the conditions that have been established. We offer unparalleled support and growth.
5. What motivates and drives you?
God gives my life a purpose. This purpose is to communicate His message of love, peace and hope. The most effective way to communicate these traits is to live a life that exhibits these characteristics. The motivation for this is fueled by knowing His love for me. He is the power source for living these traits through my life. If I concentrate my efforts in all that I do based on these facts, I am confident that I will do my job at the highest level possible. I believe that 100 years from now I’m going to be more alive than I am right now. I know that no matter what happens in life I am loved by a sovereign God and that there is a greater plan in existence.
6. What should developers know about Choate that should differentiate you from the rest of the industry?
I believe it is primarily our people, passion, and systems. Number one, our people are very motivated to perform, motivated to do the right thing, and motivated to manage effectively. It is our culture to get enthused about what we do. I think this enthusiasm is contagious and it shows in the way that we manage projects. We have a clearly defined project control system in place and that project control system allows us to execute flawlessly. So, it is our people, passion, and systems that differentiates Choate. By focusing on these basics, developers can feel confident that we are going to provide them the best return on their investment; the best value for their dollar spent. We protect their assets.
7. What makes Choate a highly desired place to work for potential employees?
It is the camaraderie, and the family like atmosphere that we portray. We have fun and we work hard, but we play hard at the same time. We have a reputation for excellence and I think that people are attracted to Choate because they know they will be trained well, they are going to be able to work on good projects, and they are going to grow professionally. I think these dynamics coupled together have and will continue to attract people to Choate. Our field staff and our superintendents are second to none. These guys that are out in the field everyday managing the work and executing are the best in the industry. I am sure you have seen an organizational chart that starts with the CEO at the top and then a pyramid that goes down and at the bottom are the foreman and the superintendents. Well, we invert that here, we have turned it on its head and it is an inverted pyramid and what the managers do – we all serve. So, it is really servant leadership. We serve those people that are in the field – that is our job.
8. What gives you the greatest joy in being associated with Choate?
Being part of a team, specifically this team. My primary role is sales and marketing and I take it very seriously. It is a team approach here and to see our project managers, our estimators and our superintendents getting involved with a presentation and help win business is rewarding. It gives me joy to know that part of sales and marketing is to create a livelihood for our employees and it makes me feel good to know that I am part of something that allows people to have a place to go and work and support their families. I feel blessed in that regard and I have got the greatest job in the world; I go and tell people about what we do and I create opportunity. But that is only because we have a staff of people who execute and do the heavy lifting which makes my job easy.
9. How do you anticipate and keep up with the constant change that is in your industry?
I spend a tremendous amount of time talking with a lot of people and for me that helps to gauge the economy. I try to stay 18 months or 2 years ahead of our operations staff. Simultaneously, we have 4 other offices with their own sales team and we are all talking to people constantly –architects, developers, engineers and owners. I think because of our constant communication, we have an opportunity to be strategic about what opportunities we pursue and what markets we penetrate. This fact is based upon the reconnaissance that is being constantly accomplished and tracked through sales and marketing.
10. Where do you see the industry in 5 years?
I think the industry is headed to more of a merge between pre-construction and pre-design. The motivator behind this merge is the development of Building Information Modeling (BIM). I do not know if it will happen in five years but it is going to move closer and closer so that in essence you are going to be creating a model that is three dimensional with cost attached. The architect will control the model but the pre-construction staff is going to be responsible for understanding the model and taking bits and pieces of that model out and actually doing pre-construction with virtual models away from a flat, 2-D world. What that implies is that you are going to have more people in construction that are going to be more keen to architectural thinking in such a way that they will be able to visualize three-dimensionally. You will see more architects be able to understand cost and scheduling. For example, GSA, the largest owner of real estate in the world, now mandates all of their projects be delivered using BIM technology. We have the technology in our offices and we use that technology now. Furthermore, I think that 20 years from now there will no longer be any two-dimensional flat drawings. Instead, the model will be displayed on a master computer that can be shared at the job site. The superintendent will manipulate the model and actually walk through the model to review the scope of work.
11. Do you want to speak on Choate’s position or initiative on the direction of LEED?
Yes, we saw this trend a number of years ago. Additionally, we have a consultant service now that is part of our pre-construction and we consult with developers on how you design a building in the LEED parameters. Choate has several associates that are LEED accredited professionals. So, we’ve embraced it, and we want it throughout our organization. We think it is what we should do to preserve our environment. The payback cost on just saving energy alone makes it worth the case. In fact, there are municipalities now that will actually give tax credits to projects that are developed and certified. Sara O’Mara, LEED Certification Manager in our Charlotte office, leads our LEED initiative. Sara is a LEED Management Steering Committee Member for the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Southeast Regional Chair for USGBC 2007.
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