Spotlight On: John Curry, CEO, Knutson Construction

Spotlight On: John Curry, CEO, Knutson Construction

2022-10-18T15:24:43-04:00October 18th, 2022|Construction, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Spotlight On|

2 min read October 2022In an interview with Invest:, John Curry, CEO of general construction firm Knutson Construction, discussed the advantages of the region, the services that are experiencing the most demand and the key challenges in the industry.

What advantages does the Minneapolis-St. Paul region offer for the type of construction Knutson does?

When you look at all the key ingredients in a thriving and growing community, MSP has a lot of them. The K-12 education is phenomenal, there are plenty of higher-education opportunities for students to pursue impactful degrees, there are a lot of Fortune 500 companies in the region, and it is a mutually beneficial relationship between educational institutions and businesses. We have big, successful high-quality organizations with deep histories that were funded and grown here. It leads to a great foundation for a thriving community with diverse industries that include healthcare, medical devices, retail and agriculture.

What services are experiencing the most demand?

Our biggest industry has traditionally been healthcare. We’ve done a lot of work with the major healthcare systems in Minneapolis-St. Paul and with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. We continue to see stable growth there. Healthcare is changing rapidly and every year there is a new trend. We have some high-quality health systems in the region and it has been a great place to grow the expertise on our team as well.

We’ve also seen substantial growth in a broader category of life sciences in the biotech industry and how it intersects and interacts with the higher-education community, the research that is done and how institutions are developing both knowledge and talent. We are seeing a lot of growth and startup activity in the life sciences space. From a construction and real estate standpoint, there is a lot of connection between the stakeholders in those spaces, so we are excited to see the growth in that area.

What are the key challenges for the construction industry in the region?

The inflationary environment has been the biggest hurdle over the past year. 2020 was a big challenge with the pandemic. We had projects that were on hold, delayed, or canceled. The last 12 months have been equally as challenging but in different ways. 

We’ve taken a different approach to how nimble we stay and the processes that we utilize to elevate our work. We have our fingers on the pulse of the material and supply chain, so we know when something pops up. The supply chain disruption has affected different materials and supplies over the last 12 months. When we hear something, we must be able to share that information and factor it into our planning. There are some examples of it improving but as it gets better in a couple of categories, it becomes challenging in others. It isn’t something we can control but we are doing our best to address it.

As a top place to work, what strategies are you implementing to recruit and retain talent?

We’ve been fortunate over the last year to retain and continue to grow our team. We’ve encountered and experienced the challenges that are out there when it comes to filling open positions and replacing members of our team who have retired. You can see how tight the market is. It is very competitive with everybody fighting for that top talent. That has been the biggest focus for our organization over the past 12 months.

In terms of strategies, we have taken a simple approach to engage the members of our team regarding what we are doing as a business and what our goals are. We have been engaging more of our leaders and future leaders in the conversations about where business is today and where we want to take our business. At times that can feel slow but it has made the work product better and has allowed us to engage the organization. Employees have a lot of options, so it is important for us to put ourselves in their shoes to understand what they want from their career and the place they work in. We have changed our policies to be more flexible and trust our employees and leaders to make those decisions.

How do you incorporate sustainability? 

Sustainability is increasingly important, especially for clients in the front end of their projects, either in the selection of a contractor or designer. It is leading to a lot of innovation in the mechanical and electrical systems that they use and the materials that are selected, and it has come at an interesting time. With the price inflation, sustainable options can be at the same cost or even more affordable than non-sustainable options. My guess is that that is leading to an acceleration of this trend. It has always been part of our conversation but decisions are being made more quickly and confidently to be more sustainable.

What strategies are you implementing to foster DEI in the company and the community?

We are taking a fresh look at DEI and examining where we are and where we want to go, not just Knutson but the industry in general. We had invested in the community relations aspect of DEI and the subcontractor and supplier diversity. Those have been key initiatives for us over the past decade. We want to continue the progress we’ve achieved in those areas and keep progressing forward.

We are committed to continuing to develop our team through the talent pipeline to move the needle toward becoming a more diverse organization. It is interwoven into who we are. Our culture is a key component in integrating DEI into everything we do. We want to make sure every part of the Knutson experience reflects our focus on growing diversity internally.

What is your outlook for Knutson and the construction industry for the next two to three years? 

Despite the inflationary challenges and interest rates rising, we are continuing to see demand for new projects. I believe, at least in the regions we are closest to, that we are going to continue to see a busy construction market over the next couple of years. If there is a true recessionary impact, I think the construction industry will start to see that in 2024. Most predictions that I’ve read suggest a mild to a moderate recession or none at all. I think if you ask anyone in our industry, we are watching it on a monthly and quarterly basis.

For more information, visit: 

https://www.knutsonconstruction.com/ 

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