Bill Schoonveld, President
We interviewed at Zeeland Public Schools a little over a month ago. No decision has been made yet, but the committee meets on August 16.
As we wait for award notification, I have been thinking a lot about our interview with the district. We opened the discussion by asking Gary Feenstra, the Superintendent, what was most important to him when it came to construction. Without hesitation, Gary replied that having a project completed “on time” was the most important aspect. He shared that he doesn’t get involved with the daily details, but that it is vital to have the work completed when the school buses arrive.
Then, halfway through the interview, he looked at Jim Bockheim, one of our proposed Project Superintendents, and asked, “When I walk through your job site after hours, what does it look like?”
The comments about project schedule and job site appearance have stuck with me. We were fortunate that Gary was so straightforward, but not all Owners verbalize their concerns this way. It is safe to assume that staying on time and maintaining a clean site are important to all Owners, even if they don’t say this out loud.
Interesting how our success is partly determined by the answer to the question: “What does it looks like?”
