Andrea is Bukacek Construction’s 3rd generation family and first female owner of the company. She grew up in the business, working at the family company during summers while she was in high school. With 12 years of experience in commercial real estate and commercial banking under her belt, she looks forward to growing the business in southeastern Wisconsin.
How did you become involved in the construction and design industry?
I grew up in the construction industry. My grandfather started the company in 1963, and my father purchased the company from him so I was exposed to the general contracting business from a young age. This provided me with an opportunity to learn about the market and industry. The start of my career drew me to a parallel industry as a commercial real estate banker. That career provided me with the financial and credit foundation of construction lending. After 12 years in banking, I knew I was ready to go back to my family roots in construction. At that time, the company was employee-owned as an ESOP. I was able to work with the ESOP management team to purchase the company and bring Bukacek Construction into its third generation of Bukacek ownership. Today, we are a third-generation company, certified Women Owned Business and celebrating our 60th anniversary.
What is something that your company is doing that you consider innovative?
High-performing employees with strong technical skills are essential to our business. While we continue to hire the technical expertise necessary to execute our work successfully, we have focused strategically on our company core values of Commitment, Character, Competence, and Collaborative when hiring and developing our employees. Continuing education, focus on soft skills, and personal growth opportunities are a few examples. The job market is incredibly fluid, especially post-COVID, and Bukacek Construction is centered on long-term employment and opportunities for growth within the roles. This mindset has directly impacted our customers with our ability to focus on the long-term relationships and the tribal knowledge gathered through each building opportunity.
What poses a challenge/risk/opportunity for your clients and what is your company doing to address it?
Currently, there is a gap in qualified tradespeople. The industry appears to be trade heavy at both the front end and back end of their respective careers. This “sandwich effect” has resulted in a lack of qualified tradespeople in the middle of their respective careers. The industry has done a nice job of recruiting young talent, so we have seen a growth in young people entering the industry as apprentices. As the tenured trades professionals retire, I see the industry continuing to struggle with the next generation of field leaders. To combat this issue, Bukacek Construction is developing “Bukacek University” (“Buk-U”), a field training curriculum to identify and groom the next generation of field leaders.
What is something you view as an emerging trend in the industry, and what are your perspectives on it?
At the height of the COVID-19 material delays, traditional building methods such as precast/steel-frame (joist and deck) construction became increasingly more difficult to build due to material supply shortages, lengthening lead times, and price fluctuations. Alternatives to this construction became attractive to customers and their growing needs, especially to the market sub 50,000 square feet. Bukacek Construction is a pre-engineered metal building (“PEMB”) supplier. We have seen an up-tick in pre-engineered metal building solutions since COVID-19 as a more economical, faster approach, and shorter construction duration to the traditional steel frame/precast structures. The PEMBs of today are “not my grandfathers metal buildings” as you would not know they are metal buildings. They are architecturally stunning, aesthetically pleasing, and typically better performing than traditional building structures. This building type is now seen in a variety of industry verticals including, light industrial, retail, commercial, and office.
Any final thoughts on what to keep an eye on in the near future in the construction and design industry?
Our focus is to deliver the project at the best value. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) seeks efficiency and involvement of all participants through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction. IPD is a lean construction principle that allows collaboration with the design team, owner, and contractor at the onset to provide the best value. This leads to cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved communication through the project life cycle.
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