Posted by

“Everything reflects leadership…”

-Pastor Greg Powe

The late Pastor Greg Powe, the founder of Revealing Truth Ministries Tampa, once said… “Everything reflects leadership”. 

When you hear about some of the great things organizations are accomplishing today; whether it’s generating sales with record-high margins, expanding to new territories, developing disruptive innovation or cultivating a culture that produces better people; at the heart of it all, you will find a great leader. 

The University of Tampa Fellows Forum has created an annual platform to showcase the impact great leadership has on a company, the marketplace, and its community. This platform brings together a distinguished panel of National and Global CEOs to share their perspectives with the Tampa Bay community on current business trends.

This annual event, held since 1987, attracts more than 1,000 attendees to hear from business leaders such as;

PNC Bank’s James Rohr, 

The HoneyBaked Ham Company’s Chuck Bengochea, 

Publix Super Markets Inc.’s Ed Crenshaw, 

Jabil Circuit Inc.’s Tim Main, 

OSI Restaurant Partners’ Elizabeth Smith, 

Airtran Airways’ Robert Fornaro, 

GEICO’s Tony Nicely,

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Dennis Lockhart,

And now, this year, they have selected our big brother, Fred Perpall, Chief Executive Officer at The Beck Group. This young dynamic leader has not only taught us how to be better business leaders, but how to be better people as well.

This year’s fellows forum will definitely be one that people will remember for years to come!

Read more
Envision Atlanta Team
Posted by

“Showing the world, that more can be built… together”

On January 10, 2020, we kicked off the year with a bang! On this day, we on-boarded two of our newest team members for the Envision Atlanta team; Christina Andrade and Stephen Woodard. These two awesome candidates came from an amazing resource located in the state of Georgia called Construction Education of Georgia (CEFGA). 

CEFGA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, created in 1993 as the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia. They were founded by leading construction presidents and CEOs who recognized a need for quality construction skills training in Georgia. Skilled labor was then—and remains now—a primary need of the construction industry.

CEFGA has realized vital talent pipelines by cultivating a long-term workforce with youth through their K-12 Pipeline and CareerExpo, while simultaneously addressing immediate labor shortages with adult Construction Ready participants who are screened, trained, drug-free and ready to work.

This organization has been instrumental in connecting with the people who live within the Georgia community and providing them with the necessary skills and certifications to begin a thriving career in construction. 

It’s because of CEFGA, we were able to not only introduce ourselves to a group of quality potential team members that live within the city, but, most importantly, expand our mission and purpose of impacting people to the Georgia area.

Read more
Posted by
0

2019, Our most challenging yet defining year ever!

In 2019 we experienced things that small businesses typically go through before experiencing real scalable growth; 

The realization that what we’ve done to get to where we are today no longer works for where we’re about to go. 

This was easy to identify as we began experiencing difficulties with end results on systems that, historically, produced “success”. When this happened once, we thought, okay; shame on me. But once we began seeing consistent patterns of misfortune and shortcomings, we began to seek counsel.

It was during our time spent with Lakendria Robinson, the Tampa Chamber of Commerce and all of their various resources, along with and our big brother, The Beck Group, that we began developing a whole new mindset which birthed completely new and different responses to the items we continued to face during our day to day operations. However, these new responses began producing different results. Results we have never seen before. In fact, we can even take it a step further and say results that began developing proprietary products and systems all built in house by our very own team members. It’s amazing what things can be accomplished through the willing hearts of the right people. 

These items include; Embedding our Vision, Mission and Core Values within our operations making everything we do streamline, uniformed and most importantly; consistent. We have also developed and deployed automated workflows that were designed with the sole purpose of being efficient, trackable and extremely accurate; from our pre-con all the way to close out. In conjunction with these new work systems, we’ve developed real-time tracking tools which enable us to track all cost and materials as it pertains to all of our projects. 

These sophisticated custom tools automatically scrape specific information triggered by specific keywords, programmed by us, throughout all of our various data sets. The automation allows us to track every unit in real-time as it’s being installed. This level of real-time insight allows us to understand exactly where we are in the project in terms of, contracted unit cost and labor versus actual unit cost and labor, while these items are being installed. 

The mindset we had going into 2019 was the thing that produced everything you see today. However, what 2019 did to that mindset, is it produced a level of strength, stability, wisdom, and insight that can only be obtained by overcoming. 

2020 will be our year of Greater Works! 

Envision 20|20

Read more
Posted by

Envision Flooring is on the move!

Over this past year, our company’s Flooring Division has placed an intense amount of focus on operations and infrastructure. One of the many pitfalls that small businesses like us experience is the ability to know how to scale a company. Though opportunities are great, without the right systems at the foundation to support it, they can potentially cause the small business to struggle and in some cases; fail. 

Through the mentors we have had on our journey, they have exposed, guided and taught us how to operate at a higher capacity. Now, with our newest flooring projects, we are able to be highly effective. Through the use of our various realtime production tracking tools, we are far more efficient and much better stewards for our clients and partners’ resources.

Hillsborough County Public School’s “TTT High School”, built by Core Construction and Horus Construction, is the newest flooring project our self-performing crews are actively working on, with over 55 years of combined experience, coupled with our new operational workflows and project systems; all to build a facility for the future students and families of Riverview, Florida. 

Project Name: TTT High Scool

Client: Hillsborough County Public School

GC: Core Construction and Horus Construction

Scope: Installation of Floor tile, Wall tile, Waterproofing, Carpet, Resilient, Wood, Floor Prep

#WeAreEnvision

Read more
Posted by

Meet the new “Evolve Mechanical”

Smaller businesses within this great community continue to thrive and two key attributes that promote this growth are humility and willingness.

When these two attributes are coupled with an experienced and vested mentor, it allows for pure impact to take place.

Humility positions the mentee to receive guidance, insight, criticism, and direction from a source outside of their control. Willingness creates an atmosphere for active application of what has been shared.

This is exactly what took place with Reggie Clark, founder of the formally known company “Reggie’s Affordable AC Heating and Cooling”. 

As we began guiding him through the Beck Envision pursuit opportunities, we also shared with him the importance of establishing and building something bigger than himself. 

Your brand should represent the core of your beliefs. So that once it’s shared with the world, those who relate, will begin to connect and help advocate for your mission. 

This is where Reggie Clark connected with Envision’s very own, Gabrielle Howard. Through a series of conversations— pulling comments, responses and even personal testimonies from Mr. Clark—his new yet unique identity within the marketplace began to take form. 

After days of conversations, Evolve Mechanical was born. 

Evolve Mechanical is a family-owned business that specializes in residential and commercial HVAC services. They earned their humble beginnings in early 2006 with one service truck, one toolbox and one service/installer employee.

“Our company uses every opportunity to learn and grow so that we are constantly evolving. Because while change is temporary, evolution is constant.”

Reggie Clark-
#StrongerTogether

Read more
Posted by

“Exposure changes people. Let’s expose East Tampa to something they’ve never seen before.”

When you understand your life’s purpose, you begin to live life more intentionally. In other words, you are more aware of the tools that are needed for the task ahead. This purpose-driven mindset can be found within certain men and women living within our community, however, what makes this force even more powerful is when those people meet other like-minded individuals, or groups, who share the same purpose. At this point, partnerships can be formed and lives are positively impacted. One thing that our journey has taught us is that the right partnerships can change the course of one’s history, forever.

This clearly illustrates what took place on September 4, 2019 at Sligh Middle School. Leaders and businesses, who have identified that it is their purpose to help build a stronger community, came together to connect with Thaddeus Bullard, also known as WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil and founder of the Bullard Family Foundation, to learn how they can partner with his vision to help engage, build and empower the families of East Tampa. Thaddeus looks to accomplish this impact by building the “Sligh Avenue Community Center”. This modernized-urban-style arts center, designed by Beck Architecture, will be the birthplace for inspiring and cultivating new futures for the youth who live in this area. 

Thaddeus says it like this;

“Exposure changes people. Let’s expose East Tampa to something they’ve never seen before.” 

Thaddeus M. Bullard is an accomplished athlete, philanthropist and entertainer as WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil, who has a heart for youth and the community.  He is a fixture with the WWE regularly appearing on “Monday Night RAW”, “Smackdown,” “Wrestlemania” and other marquis events around the world. Out of the ring he is known for his commitment to philanthropic activities. He has helped to raise millions for various charities, secure scholarships for student-athletes and regularly mentors at-risk youth. His annual Joy of Giving holiday event in Tampa gives 10,000 underprivileged children gifts, and services to families in need. 

Read more
Posted by

“The Part of the Story that People Rarely Ever Hear About”

Care: The Purest Agent of Change

It’s amazing to witness what’s possible when people make the decision to come together; not because they can, but because they care.

In this industry, tactical-logistical planning and coordination is a factor that cannot be overlooked and most importantly; rushed. 

However… In the time of need, an intangible attribute kicks in, and simply bypasses the laws of principles and produces something extraordinary. This attribute is called care. 

“People who do things because they care, will always go over and above what is required; which exceeds the expectation.”

That was exactly what took place when Beck Envision got the call that a portion of McLane Elementary School, located in Brandon Florida, caught on fire under an act of God; a lightning strike three weeks before school started.

This was the activation that called the great people within our community, who know how to build great things, to ignore everything around them and come together to submit themselves to serve the need.

People like;

Adelmarie Bones, with Air Analytics, helped us obtain all testing approvals within a few days to make sure the building was safe to demolish.

Ben Moore, with HCPS, expedited the entire process. He, along with the maintenance and facilities staff, assisted with disconnecting systems and utilities, which was critical in order to get us started.  

Chris McLaughlin, with HCPS,  helped us plan each shut down for chilled water and startup of the system.

Corries Culpepper, with HCPS, Corries helped us develop a safety plan to ensure work could continue with staff and student safety in mind.

Allen Greene, Sr., Co-Founder of Envision-CS, and Olukayode Badmus, Superintendent with Envision-CS, provided us manpower and supplemented staff to keep things on schedule. Their crews helped with all types of miscellaneous work, clean up and hand graded over 14,000 square feet for sod and sidewalks.

Brian Bishop, with Ervin Bishop Construction, arranged crews on short notice. His crew did an excellent job working together to complete the job as planned.

Don French, Jr., French’s Air Conditioning, and his team were instrumental in helping us to plan and complete multiple chilled water shutdowns.  Even with very poor conditions, things were kept safe and French’s Air continued until they were complete and lines filled.

Chuck Gray, with Kimmins Contracting Corp,  helped expedite approvals from the county.  His crew went above and beyond; they worked over two weekends to keep us on schedule. They also delivered 17 truckloads of fill after demolition and rough graded before demobilizing.

Principal Langston, with McLane Middle School, coordinated with staff to avoid our work areas so that we could continue without interruption.

Scott Anderson, with HCPS, expedited the demo permit, helped with inspections and repair planning for safety and sidewalks.

We asked Shea Hughes, with Sunrise Landscape, if he could find 11,600 square feet of sod and install it in two days or less. He did not let us down. His crew worked all day Friday and Saturday to get it done.

Harley Anauo, Superintendent with The Beck Group, worked three weekends in a row, while also working long hours during the week. He did not let the weather impact the schedule. He handled anything that had to be done, big or small, to keep things moving.

The future of our community will always be strong, simply because we have people who care.

#StrongerTogether

Read more
Posted by

Good Companies are Made from Great People!

The success of our partnership can be heavily attributed to the value of our team members. 

Envision team member Spotlight: Dustin Dunton

Dustin is one of Envision’s newest Red Team (Field Management) members. 

With a very extensive background in residential construction, Dustin was eager to do whatever it took to learn more about how to build commercial buildings. 

With this type of drive and dedication already instilled within him, coupled with the Beck Envision team integration model, this combination has shown to be an effective formula for cultivating the next generation of construction professionals. 

Dustin’s first commercial job was our Beck Envision USF St. Petersburg Student Housing and Dining Project. On this job he was teamed up with Beck’s seasoned veterans; Craig Gormley, Senior Superintendent Beck Group Tampa, along with Evan Dupont Senior Superintendent Beck Group Tampa. It is through their guidance, direction and correction that Dustin is not only learning, but excelling. 

Thank you, Dustin, for all of your hard work and dedication! 

#WeAreEnvision

Read more
Posted by

BEPP Tampa Class 4: Where Brand Culture Meets Sales Culture

During Class 4 of the Beck Envision Tampa Partnership Program, the team shared with our partners how to effectively win work. The instructors for this class were Jacques Duval with Envision, Robert McNair with Business Brand Guys and Chris Nichols with The Beck Group. 

One thing about each of our team’s journeys is that we understand the value of personal experience and testimony. For the team at Envision, we, as a small business, have experienced firsthand the value that implementing an effective culture has on establishing a strong infrastructure, not only externally through brand recognition, but internally as well. 

Being a small business, our most important objective starting out was, of course, opportunity and chasing work. However, as a small company beginning to grow, the first thing you begin to recognize is that you simply cannot do it all on your own. Instead, a focus must be placed on creating an organization that will attract the right people to help you build the right foundation for your company’s objectives. 

As our own testimony goes, when Envision began to grow, we saw the need to develop an onboarding process, we developed our vision statement, our mission statement, and established systematic processes to help instill our values within every team member from entry to the execution phase of their tenure at Envision. Through establishing these processes, we found that it was equally important to communicate to the public those same values and remaining consistent through every touchpoint and every engagement. 

For Envision, our purpose is simple; people first. Everything that you see today, including our internal and external culture, is simply a byproduct of our “Why”; A “Why” and purpose that isn’t something that we chose, but instead, is something that we discovered over time.

Read more
Posted by

BEPP ATL: This Moment Marks the Beginning of, New-Long-Term Partnerships

By Jeff Landefeld, Director of Preconstruction, The Beck Group, Atlanta

At the beginning of 2019, we shared news of our inaugural BeckEnvision Partnership Program kicking off in Atlanta. Now, we’re pleased to report that all five participating Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) firms graduated from the program.

A ceremony celebrating the graduation of firms South Fulton Landscape, Fresh Start Construction & Management Inc., EGM Services, H&M Restoration Services, and Pristine Cleaning Services of Georgia was hosted by our Beck Group team in Atlanta and our partner, Envision, to honor the milestone.

Representatives from each firm shared personal stories of what they learned and how the program is already impacting their business. Following the stories, Ben Bard, Regional Director of Beck’s Atlanta Office, and Envision Co-Founders Allen Greene Senior and Allen Greene II, awarded participants a special plaque to commemorate the accomplishment and experience.

To graduate, participants from the five firms met once per month to learn about topics like mission and vision statements, cash flow management, winning work, project execution, safety, contracts, and growth strategies. Classes were taught by experts from across our firm, Envision, and sometimes included guest speakers from thriving AEC-related firms in the Atlanta region.

The goal of the program is to give diverse companies the knowledge to grow their businesses, build networks, and develop relationships to pursue work with The Beck Group and similarly scaled construction managers. It was also crucial that we create a program which could lead to successful long-term partnerships.

In speaking to everyone in the room, Envision Co-Founder Allen Greene Senior aptly noted, “We’re not done. The journey is just starting. You have tools in your arsenal that you can take to move forward. You can strategically move through this journey and be successful.”

If you are interested in learning more or applying for a spot in the Atlanta 2020 BeckEnvision Partnership Program, please contact Jeff Landefeld.

Read more