January 27, 2025
Kelley's focus areas in 2025
Kelley
The DJC contacted Presidential Washington's incoming AGC, Bryan Kelley.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Question: What are your priorities for AGCW this year?
A: I have a wanderer's mentality and like the feeling of always moving forward. Three specific areas of focus are: (1) How we engage others about our industry; (2) how we welcome people into our industry; and (3) how we strengthen our community.
First, we can do more to educate or remind the public and our elected officials about the importance of construction in Washington. Studies show that for every $1 invested in new construction, an additional $2.09 in economic activity is generated for the state's economy. But it's also important to understand that construction is a low-margin, volume-based business. Regulations and tax policies that overlook or misinterpret our business realities may increase project costs or otherwise result in new work.
|
Second, AGCW will continue to support inclusion by advocating for small, minority, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses. But we are also committed to socioeconomic diversity and, in particular, to the importance of business school education. Trade schools are critical to workforce development and deserve equal recognition alongside traditional four-year universities.
Third, the Washington AGC has nearly 700 members. Our organization plans to meet with each member this year and discuss the impact and value-added membership has on their success. Our local industry can achieve a lot when it comes to hosting. Feedback and understanding from member members is therefore crucial.
Question: What are the biggest challenges facing the industry? Local and national?
A: Workforce development and in particular a shortage of qualified workers. With this challenge, our tech-centric region often has “mega projects” that depend on specific businesses such as electricians. Recruiting and retaining the best and most inspiring workers to live and work locally should be everyone's concern. Those more interested in this topic should look into the AGC Education Foundation, which supports 12 skills centers and serves 90 school districts through its Core Plus building program.
Mental health and wellbeing is another challenge. Although our industry has made great strides in acknowledging mental health, construction by nature tends to be a performance-based industry, full of pressures such as budget, schedule, customer expectations or physical demands. Mandi Kime, AGC of Washington's safety director, is leading local and national efforts to bring this issue to the forefront – that mental health and well-being are a critical factor in keeping us safe and performing.
Lastly, rising costs and inflation continue to impact our industry. Construction costs are driven by many factors, not only material escalation, but also increasing wages and labor costs, taxes or other business costs. It wasn't long ago when a $100 million commercial construction project or a $1 billion infrastructure project was exceptional, but now it's the norm. Our industry must continually find ways to counter or accommodate rising costs in an ever-changing business environment.
Question: What opportunities or areas of growth do you have ahead in construction growth next year?
A. Using technology to improve our productivity and become more efficient. Companies that are nimble and open to adopting technology are already experimenting with AI, robotics, visualization tools, drones, wearable technology, 3D printing and other innovations.
Question: What keeps you awake at night?
A: Time – there just isn't enough of it. This extends to everything, not just work. I encourage my children to take this time in their lives to explore any activities or hobbies that might interest them.
Question: What was your path into construction?
A: I was born in Maine. My father owned a construction company. We spent many family vacations at AGC conventions, so I grew up around building and construction professionals.
I went to college and law school and then moved to Seattle with my wife, April, who is from Vashon. I was fortunate early on to find mentors in the Seattle building community. There are many, but I am particularly grateful to Jim Crutcher for calling favors that led to interviews. I eventually ended up at (what is now) Smith Currie Oes where I worked on countless construction problems. It was a great way to learn the business – not just what could go wrong, but how to move beyond arguments and come to solutions that everyone could live with.
I joined Howard S. Wright in 2016. HSW is a natural fit for me, and I am grateful to work at a company with such a strong people first culture and local history, but also international experience and resources. Every day I can look out my window at the quintessential Seattle building – the Space Needle – and think, “We built that!”
Question: What is something most people don't know about you?
A: I am a classics major and took eight years of Greek and Latin. I would like to say that my choice after college was law school or unemployment. So I'm very happy with how things played out.
Other stories: