Masonry Magazine February 2006 Page. 13
that have worked here for a while see how we do things. If they go and work somewhere else, and if there's an opportunity to come back, they always do. We're really getting positive feedback from the field about that.
The other thing is that, financially, it's improved our MOD rate and helps with our workerman's comp insurance cost. I know it seems like it costs you money on the front end, but in the long run, you're protecting your workers, you're making a better workplace for them, and you're getting returns on the workerman's comp. It is such a focus with general contractors and a lot of the larger corporate customers right now, it's going to help get you in the door.
Masonry: Since 1993, your company has received nearly 20 awards for its quality work and efficient construction, and has been ranked by ENR as one of the top 25 mason contractors in the country for the past 13 years. What are your main strategies in keeping a high caliber company over the long term?
Kinateder: I stay involved and get anybody else involved my sons are starting to get involved in the company now. We try to train them about the quality and the things that are important to us you have to keep stressing that. You can't ever let that go. We stress to the people in the field and in our dealings with them that we want qualified individuals. I've been on the apprenticeship program for a lot of years and we stress it with the apprentices so that we're training them to learn that right away.
Masonry: Your company places a strong emphasis on teamwork, and past clients have commended your team's ability to work diligently, quickly and professionally. To what do you attribute your company's success in teamwork and how does it impact performance?
Kinateder: One of the things we've always stressed is that it's really easy to get tunnel vision when you're dealing with somebody and you think that you're not being treated fairly. What I've always The Voice of the Mason Contractor tried to stress to the guys here is that you have to look at it from the customer's standpoint. They have an expectation of what their building is going to be, and, if we don't live up to that, we're not going to get repeat business.
Rather than fighting or having a contentious relationship, I try to get everybody to look at it from the customers' side and what their expectations are. If their expectations are realistic and fair, then we have to perform up to that standard.
Masonry: FKMI specializes in projects that have unique requirements, such as site restrictions, exceptional detail or compressed schedules. Tell us about a few unique jobs or challenges that you've come across and how you've overcome the obstacles.
Kinateder: This one's kind of hard because I guess there's a unique challenge for each one. The big challenges we're seeing right now are the site restrictions and requirements. We're building in a lot of urban areas, such as downtown Milwaukee, where you just don't have any room to work - the building is right up to the street. And they all have compressed schedules, naturally.
We did the Milwaukee theatre and Miller Park.... Both of those had a lot of other obstacles there, just because of the sheer size.
With site restrictions, we really try to stay up-to-date on equipment. We just purchased a Potain tower crane because we had two jobs where we couldn't get to the back side of the building. With this crane, we could swing right over the top of the building and land our materials on scaffolds. We really don't spare any expense on equipment if it gives us an edge.
With compressed schedules, one thing we do is look at their milestone dates and work backwards. We figure out what we need to do to get there and then we make sure and let the generals or construction managers know if they're holding us up, how they can help us, or if they're hurting us. If they have a milestone date and there's something that's
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CIRCLE 183 ON READER SERVICE CARD
February 2006
Masonry
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