The Office versus the Shop: a KCB Intern Tell-All
There is no secret that we are in the midst of a considerable skilled labor shortage within the building industry. There is an ever-increasing demand for work, and a major decrease in young individuals entering the labor market in construction-based jobs. Many homeowners have struggled with not only battling increased housing prices but also finding contractors to turn their newly purchased property into their dream home.
I’m about to enter my senior year at Babson College—a small business school tucked into 370 acres of some of the most expensive real estate in the Northeast. Some of KCB’s projects, such as The Tudor, are but a five minute walk from campus. Babson is known globally for its entrepreneurship program, and the main substance of these classes are strategies for starting successful businesses. Often, they teach you to focus on industries where there are identifiable consumer surpluses (i.e. customer demand far outweighing the market supply). I’ve always had a love and appreciation for the craft, but having also seen this disparity of market demand to the market availability of contractors, my interest was piqued enough for me to focus in this industry.
Often when there is a large imbalance of consumer demand in a market, it can incentivise businesses to cut corners to maximize profitability, and by capitalizing on the market’s lack of competition they would ultimately sacrifice their quality of work. I have come to the realization that what makes KCB unique is the entire company's mission towards delivering an exceptional quality of work, not only from our own team, but also from the subcontractors we work alongside. With the common goal of creating an end product of nothing but the best, we are able to deliver the client a custom home that they adore and that is uniquely theirs.
I have been at KCB during the summer months for two consecutive years now, spending time both as an onsite carpenter apprentice, learning from some of the most talented craftspeople in the greater boston area, as well as working as a project coordination intern, learning the ropes of project management. There are clear differences between the two roles, such as being taught to cope crown molding compared to working with orders in spreadsheets, but there are also more parallels than one would think. A prime example: problem solving skills are put to the test constantly. With building, and especially remodeling, you are forced to be flexible and prepared for change. When opening up walls, floors, and ceilings of beautiful and historic 100+ year old homes that we are typically working within, you never really know what to expect. Similarly, in an administrative position, you are balancing lead times for orders, changes in design, and many other time-sensitive tasks—all while providing support for the onsite teams to be able to continue their workflow to ultimately enable them to adhere to the estimated time frames. Even though in the office most of your work may be on the computer, it is far from mundane as there are constantly times where critical thinking skills are put to work and learning experiences are made. In the rare instances when there are days where everything is going as planned, and I may be completing more repetitive tasks such as invoicing or order entry, I will often take a step into our tool room to give my eyes a break from my screen. I will set to work, spending fifteen minutes calibrating a miter saw or fixing a broken part on another tool, to be able to get it back out into the field for our team of craftspeople to continue to do their job to the highest quality.
While I still have a deep love for working with my hands and working on projects with tangible progress, I am extremely grateful for my time with the administrative team at KCB who have granted me the opportunity to learn the business process inside and out. The rewarding nature of this line of work is put on display by the love and dedication of our team, along with the fine craftspeople and trade partners within our community, who have to be able to take plans from architects and designers and transform them into reality.