Case Studies

You’ve taken the leap and made the investment to own and operate a franchise business. The franchising company sells great products that are always in demand and provides the demographic data to help you find the best location, the real estate savvy to negotiate a good lease and the construction connections to build your store. […]

Each time Jim Fay helps Brinker International open a new Chili’s restaurant site, the average cost at the moment is close to $4 million as a result of inflation. In 2019, the cost was just over $2 million. While this may seem astronomical to the layman, working with this type of budget is typical for […]

For 15 years, John LaBare has directed facilities and operations for Uniondale Union Free School District, leading a team of more than 100 people responsible for “everything from the curb in.” That’s included sidewalks outside schools and hallways inside them, as well as playgrounds, heating and cooling systems, snow removal and plumbing. The work LaBare […]

For more than 40 years, Green Country Interiors has provided Oklahoma’s largest commercial contractors with services including exterior and interior framing, drywall, acoustical ceilings, exterior insulation and finish systems, stucco and plaster. But for Green Country’s employees, the work is more than just a job; it’s like hanging out with extended family. “We have employees […]

By many measures, Blue Arc Electric of Campbell, California, was a thriving business as it neared its 20th anniversary.  It was founded in 2003 by Jared Kroner, who began his career as a journeyman electrician and had become project manager and sales associate at SDB Electric Inc. before launching his company.  About six years after […]

Casinos are unique facilities, not because of all the lights and sounds—but because neither ever stops. Before stepping into the world of flashing lights, pinging slot machines and spinning roulette tables, Jim Arnold had already racked up nearly three decades in the construction and facilities management industry. In July 2022, he became the executive director […]

Describing how Jeff Tilly went from production management to facilities management isn’t exactly a “stop the presses” story. The story does begin in a pressroom, however—specifically, at the Rockford Register Star, which covers the Chicago suburb of Rockford, Illinois, and surrounding area. When joining the paper in in 1994 following his honorable discharge from the […]

So how does one enter that most exclusive of Midtown Manhattan neighborhoods, the so-called Billionaires Row along the southern edge of Central Park? Easily enough, at least at 520 Park Ave., one of the newer skyscrapers and completed in 2018. The doors are open to everyone to view as they stroll by, even if they […]

The hospital might be of fairly recent build, but diagnostic equipment doesn’t last forever. So Jenn De iuliis explains while overseeing the replacement and upgrade of one of the most sensitive and expensive facilities at Woodstock Hospital in Southwestern Ontario. “It’s all about how you and your team take the hospital’s mission to heart and […]

When John Jaffe briefly played football in college, he wanted a job that would keep him in shape during the off season. So, the Purdue University undergrad found the most labor intensive work he could—pouring concrete. He never expected his part-time job would lay the foundation for his career. “A lot of people in my […]