Established in 1879, J.C. Anderson Inc. (JCA) is one of Chicagoland’s oldest and largest interior contractors. J.C. Anderson performs interior construction for building owners, developers, private and public corporations, property management firms, educational institutions, industrial and health care facilities. With projects ranging from building maintenance to multi-million dollar contracts, the company represents an integral part of the Chicago region’s growth.
Bill Burfeind ’95 is J.C. Anderson’s vice president, overseeing the business development, including account management and project delivery. Burfeind plays a crucial role in team management, strategic planning, and building and maintaining client relationships throughout Chicagoland’s interior construction market. An alumnus of the Department of Technology’s construction management program, Burfeind was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Alumnus Award.
The College of Applied Science and Technology’s “A Day in the Life of a CAST Alum” series is designed to shed some light on how CAST alumni spend their days. As with many careers, our alumni will tell you that every day is different, but this series aims to provide a peek into an alum’s world.
5–8 a.m. “Bring it.” Start the day by logging 30 minutes of P90X3 exercise circuit at the home gym. This morning we’ve got CVX—hardcore cardio with weights. Me and my good buddy, Tony Horton (TV in the basement), get the heart rate up and muscle groups energized for the day. Grab my first cup of coffee (of many), shower and suited-up for work. If I’m lucky, family is awake for morning hugs n’ kisses. One-hour drive to the office sampling Sirius radio pre-sets like CNN, CNBC and ESPN. No phone calls until 7:30 a.m., except to our president, who’s on the same schedule.
8–9 a.m. Plug-in at my desk. Today, this will be my window to catch up and get ahead on email and phone correspondence. After 11:30 a.m. I’ll be using the iPhone exclusively. My correspondence is centered on internal and external accountability and communications. Internally review, read, write and provide feedback on detailed proposal responses, project estimates, team actions and contract execution. Externally coordinate, schedule and follow through on client facing services, interviews, presentation and outreach.
9–10 a.m. Chair internal “Look Ahead” team meeting. Participate and conduct our weekly meeting to review, report, guide, and understand current pursuits and opportunities, progress against new business development strategies, marketing activities and deliverables for the prior week and next two weeks.
10:30–11:30 a.m. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) updates and report maintenance. As an executive team, last year we committed to Microsoft Dynamics |AEC360 CRM system to further organize our sales pipeline, improve our process around lead development, project opportunities and conversion and bring greater visibility to our progress against annual revenue projections. I’ll find time daily to track, input, manage and update our system records and management report outputs. I need to make some headway today on an updated Forecast Report (current year revenue plan and projections).
11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Lunch with an architect partner. I’ll aim to make the lunch hour productive time in one of two ways: 1) Use the administrative time at my desk and continue working tasks to completion or 2) lunch meetings and connect with clients, partners, associates and friends. Today I’m lunching with an architect friend and partner at Valerio DeWalt Train & Associates. We have three current projects together totaling upwards of $20 million in construction for marquee clients. This is a 15-year relationship built upon proven trust, partnership, execution and shared success. Today we’ll share time (and sushi) to keep one another abreast of current objectives, goals, challenges and opportunities within our respective work portfolios and organizations.
2–3 p.m. Site visit and walk-through floors 9–16 at Riverpoint Tower (under construction). Chicago’s commercial real estate market, headquarter offices and tenant improvement projects are the driving revenue stream for interior construction firms. We’re 18–24 months into a boom cycle. New office development and corporate moves and relocations to Chicago project a continued upward trend and busy market through 2019. Three new Class-A, high-rise office buildings are under construction and Hines’ Riverpoint Tower will bring 50 floors and 1.1 million square feet of project opportunities. Our firm is invited to bid a 200,000 square foot law firm tenant build-out in the tower. This afternoon and in preparation to submit our approach response and value proposition, we’ll visit, walk through, and visually inspect the building site logistics, core infrastructure and tenant floor turnover conditions from which the interiors project will begin installation. This is a great opportunity for JCA and just “getting to the dance” is a privilege to Chicago’s leading contractor firms. To be successful, we’ll need to differentiate our firm; team experience and services approach within the RFP and interview process—key to developing our thorough plan and approach is the site inspection and understanding of the base building.
3:30–4:30 p.m. 5th Floor Expansion conference call. Attend, via conference call, the weekly team meeting and collaborative update for repeat and current clients Yelp, Inc. and CBRE Project Management. Call participants include client, project manager, architect, furniture, technology, the J.C. Anderson management and on-site construction team. Working on our third consecutive project for Yelp’s Chicago office, JCA is an integral team member in delivering 140,000 square feet of collaborative office space for Yelp on the fourth and fifth floors at the Merchandise Mart. Today’s coordination call will focus on current project schedule milestones, architectural planning details, budget cost alternates, audio-visual and security items, three-week look ahead on construction activities and furniture coordination.
5 p.m. Decompress and check-down. Check in at home. How was everyone’s day? Good day at school? How was practice? Did you play with friends? Daddy will be working late tonight but I’ll be home for dinner tomorrow.
6–8 p.m. Attend Big Ed Bowl charity benefit. Working daily with Chicago’s leading architecture and design firms and keeping with JCA’s corporate commitment to community involvement and civic stewardship; our partnerships extend well beyond construction projects and professional services. Through sponsorship and attendance, tonight we’ll help our friends at Gensler continue its support of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Looking ahead to City Of Hope’s April 28 REACH Social Event and much committee work and fundraising efforts taking shape, we’ll help City of Hope continue cutting-edge research and treatments in cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.
9:30 p.m. Home. Kiddos are asleep. Catch up with my best friend and wife, Kara (’96), on the day’s activities. We’re certainly buzzed with excitement for our spring break family vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, next week!
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