Employee Spotlight HGC Construction would not be the company it is today without its incredible staff. Each month we highlight one member from our team with a Q&A session. Justin Freeman is a Project Manager for Stanton Millworks. Justin Freeman, Project Manager WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY My philosophy is to listen and understand both sides of an argument. Then and only then, can you intelligently pick the correct side WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ASPECT OF WORKING AT STANTON MILLWORKS? I enjoy the challenge of being a Project Manager at Stanton Millworks. We work with every aspect of the project from estimating, shop drawings, fabrication, Finishing, Installation, Scheduling, Quality, Production, Purchasing and more. Plus, I enjoy learning something new on every project. Either how to build something or do it better for next time. ACROSS YOUR CAREER, WHAT HAS CHANGED THE MOST IN THE INDUSTRY? During the course of my career, the documentation of every conversation or meeting [has increased]. Now with technology and the sharing of information in an instant, people tend to lean toward sending the email rather than the phone call. With an email you can refer back to the conversation, rather than relying on the “he said she said” strategy. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO ON YOUR DAYS OFF? I always enjoy spending time with my two boys. Beyond that I like to stay active playing golf or basketball. ANY FUNNY MEMORY YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE? When I was Project Manager for another GC we always liked to give our co-ops a hard time by giving them nicknames on site. It was a rite of passage to be able to take some of the jokes and everyone would talk about their nickname from their co-op days. We had this superintendent who was a little rough around the edges and intimidating. I remember we were doing a site walk one morning with the excavator and this superintendent found and caught a cricket. He called the co-op over and told him to hold on to the cricket because he was going fishing later. Everyone laughed and didn’t think much of it. At the end of the day, in front of everyone, the co-op pulled out a water bottle with grass and twigs in it and asked if our superintendent wanted the cricket back. Apparently he had watered and kept this cricket in the water bottle all day. Needless to say we nicknamed this co-op “Cricket.” WHAT WOULD YOU DO (FOR A CAREER) IF YOU WEREN’T DOING THIS? I have always wanted to flip houses so I would try that. TELL US SOMETHING THAT MIGHT SURPRISE US ABOUT YOU. I married my middle school sweetheart. We started dating in 8th grade and continued all through high school and college. We got married August 24th 2012. Something else strange is that we have the same birthday, September 24th. She was born in 1988 and I was born in 1987 OF WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD? The one thing that I am most proud of is how I continue to grow as father, friend and employee. I am not afraid of change; I embrace it as an opportunity to grow. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A NEW HIRE? My advice would be to ask questions and learn everything you can with every experience, good or bad. Being in the construction world is not always easy. You deal with difficult situations and people but you can always learn something from each. Be humble and ask questions. That old school superintendent may not be able to use a computer, but they have more experiences to learn from than you can imagine. You just need to ask the right questions ANYTHING ELSE? Get to know the people you work with and for [clients]. Everyone learns the job and technical skills with experience. The contacts you make and people you meet are up to you. I have had a lot of people who have helped me along the way. Those individuals have helped me out far more than the technical skills I have learned.