Gilbane builds on lessons learned

By Paul Snyder

A little bit of help can go a long way.

And for a company like Gilbane Building Co., which operates in nine regions throughout the country, keeping the lines of communication open for an exchange of any useful information is vital to project success, said Gary Grunau, the regional manager of the company’s north-central regional office in Milwaukee.

“Gilbane is an extremely communicative company,” he said. “There are 1,700 employees throughout the country, and there’s always excellent transference of lessons learned on the job site. If there’s ever any question on a project, you can send out an e-mail, and you’ll have an answer in almost no time.”

With 1,700 points of reference forming a living library that’s accessible 24 hours a day and seven days a week, help is not something in short supply at Gilbane. And Grunau said one of the company’s best resources is an ever expanding library of “lessons learned,” which employees submit after solving new project quandaries that they believe could benefit other employees.

Anyone on a project can submit a lesson learned, which then goes to a review committee that decides whether or not the lesson is worthy of being entered in the company database. The north-central region is particularly attentive to the resource.

“We turned in 55 lessons learned in the last year, and about 150 over the last three years,” Grunau said.

“This is an industry that is constantly introduced to new materials and new technologies, so whatever assistance you can either offer or gather is highly appreciated.”

And with projects ranging in scope from the Medical College of Wisconsin/Children’s Research Institute in Milwaukee to new concourses at General Mitchell International Airport and parking deck additions at Potawatomi Bingo Casino, the learning field is vast and varied. But having support from all over the country makes everything a little easier.

“The jobs we get really bring together the reason we became a part of Gilbane,” Grunau said. “And that is because of the national resources that can be brought to the table. It’s a fantastic support network.”

And like the lessons-learned catalogue, that network continues to grow, which Grunau said should mean bigger and better things still.

“Our employment base has grown by 60 percent over the last year,” he said. “2005 was a continued year of growth, and 2006 will be another big year for us.”

General Contractors