About Keith Jones

A brief note about this webpage. I'm actively seeking a construction management job in the USA. I would consider other countries, but I'm probably done with warzones. In a formal resume you, as a prospective employer, cannot get a real feel for what type of individual you are reading about. On this webpage you will see some references to non-construction non-engineering related topics. As I complete this page some of my construction related articles will be placed online here. Currently one article about daily report writing is posted down toward the bottom of this page. I prefer west coast or southern coastal regions and the majority of my construction projects have been built in California. Most recently I've working in Afghanistan, Thailand and the Philippines.

Summary of Construction Employment

    Louie Louie’s Espresso    Design & Construction consultant – Philippines – Develop franchise construction
    Bar, 2013 - 2014         and equipment standards. Supervise construction of first two model stores.

    Exception Construction     Senior Project Manager – Afghanistan – contract & consultant position
    2009 - 2014                       Military projects on Kandahar Air Base and some F.O.B. bases.

   Deb Construction              Director of Field Operations – California G.C. a bank and hospital specialist.
   2008 - 2009                                   scroll down for a detailed description of my position with this company.

   TMC Construction             Superintendent – Engineering Dept. Mgr. - Construction Operations Manager
    2004 – 2007

    Public Storage Inc.             National Senior Project Manager, retail and commercial self storage projects. Managed 3
    2000 - 2003                      Project managers & 1 superintendent to build about 50, multi-million dollar projects annually.

    Sonora Convalescent         Superintendent, 120 bed convalescent hospital, OSHPD permitted project from ground
Hospital 1999 - 2000      breaking to opening of the hospital.

   Davcon Inc.                       Superintendent, promoted to Field Operations Manager directing all superintendents.
                                              Managed dozens of commercial projects primarily mid-rise buildings to 11 floors.

   Koll Company                    Superintendent 1 major multi year project plus hundreds of T.I. projects.
                                              Home Savings Corporate Headquarters project plus many tenant improvement projects.

                         sonora convalescent hospital

                              Credentials & Education

   LEED AP Green Building Council accredited

   CIPM Certified International Project Manager

   Member Society of American Military Engineers

   California B1 General Contractors license (in the past I also held roofing and electrical contractor’s licenses)

   Graduated BA Architectural Design, Pacific College of Art and Design

   AA Civil Engineering ICS Technical College, not completed

   OSHA safety certificates 10 and 30 hour & OSHA 510 certificate working toward OSHA 500

   First aid & CPR certified

   Bilingual capabilities: I speak conversational Spanish

Countries outside USA in which I have been involved in construction projects:
Afghanistan: A series of military projects that included a helicopter landing and refuel base, communications headquarters, perimeter security development, closed area de-mining to make areas usable, on site camp Conex facilities for other contractors.
Mexico: Residential home construction. Seasonal camp resort.
Canada: Public Storage self storage projects as senior project manager and direct project manager.
Thailand: Residential home construction.
Philippines: Restaurant franchise development and construction. Bamboo hut of superior style and design.

This is just one of my three published books. Titles of my other books are: Giant Pandas and Me, Ten Years Of Discovery Ghost Tripping Coming soon, "Burgers, Bikinis and Bubbly" Coming soon in the Discovery series "Narwhal, Ten years of Arctic Adventure" Scroll way down below to read some Amazon.com reviews of my books.
Deb Construction Position details Director of Field Operations 2008 - 2009 A 35 year old family owned company that had increased in size in just 3 years from $10 million to over $100 million in 2008 sales. The company had outgrown it’s management's ability. This family run operation needed outside expertise to improve the quality of the operational side of the business, both PM & site superintendent and union trade staff. Prior to 2005 the company was predominantly an interior tenant improvement build out contractor. The change to new construction required major revamping of the corporate project management program. I was responsible for developing training programs in computer software such as scheduling and estimating. I developed a new corporate safety training program. Implemented strategies for managing projects that are more in line with modern business practices. In 2008 to match increases in business volume I increased the field staff by 50% to meet increased sales, while maintaining overall corporate control and without increasing the number of project managers. Through a collaborative team building effort I was able to increase productivity of individual Project Managers by upgrading the skill levels and abilities of the superintendents. With Superintendents handling more paperwork that PMs had been doing this freed up PM time that in the past was being used to micro-manage field activities, that were well within the capabilities of well trained site superintendents. We managed this increase in staff while increasing both profitability and the quality of completed projects. Much of the work performed by Deb Construction was remodeling or renovation of existing bank branches. This work was performed exclusively during off banking hours and with the criteria always present that not one DUST MOTE from our work could be allowed to settle on desks or other surfaces. If any bank employee came in to work and brushed against some surface that left dust on their black or blue suit, a major client issue would result. If any project was ever completed late, it would have been a cause for review of the company position on the select contractor list. While I worked at Deb Construction, completing more than 150 projects ranging from ATM installations to new building construction, no project was ever completed late. Every project was "scored" by the bank construction management firm and the direct bank project manager. Our competition typically scored 85 to 95% on these score sheets. We only accepted 99% or better as an acceptable score from our superintendents. This required my personal inspection of every project weekly, plus my final inspection a couple days before the turn over and scoring assessment. My successes in this postion included achieving a 100% success rate for on schedule project completions based upon more than 150 projects ranging from $300,000 to $20 million in size. Another significant success was to achieve a 22% net profit margin on all projects completed in 2008. We achieved this very nice profit while maintaining and building superior client relations. I instructed scheduling classes for MS Project for Project Managers, Project Engineers and Site superintendents. Before my arrival site superintendents did not develop or maintain the project schedule. Most did not know how to make any changes or updates to a schedule file. That was a task for the PMs only. I changed that procedure and educated the superintendents in the use of software to develop and maintain the project schedule. I also provided one on one mentoring about real life techniques for forecasting site work activities accurately. I instituted the corporate LEED AP study program that helped 80% of our Project Managers, 50% of Project Engineers and 25% of superintendents achieve the LEED AP rating during my tenure. As corporate safety manager for the company I succeeded in bringing the accident ratio down from 1.2 to .8 & in one year placing the company into the top 20% of general contractors with the best safety records in California. My responsibilities included hiring, training and supervising up to 25 site superintendents in two offices, one in Northern California and one in Southern CA. By the end of 2008 with my knowledge of healthcare construction and the introductions provided by the marketing manager, the company had gained new clients in healthcare and critical data facilities. This new work came to comprise 15% of the business mix by the end of 2008. We were awarded and successfully completed our first healthcare related project for Hoag Hospital and the first critical data facility project for REI in Seattle, both shortly before I was laid off. The U.S. economic slow down & especially in banking has brought this business near to closing. My position was eliminated because of the slowdown.	I'm working on placing detailed job descriptions for my other projects on this website soon. But you can always call or send me an email. PHONE in USA: 1-562-889-4016
Davcon Inc. Position details I started at Davcon as a construction superintendent, hired to manage critical schedule projects and high visibility projects. Bob Lewis a senior V.P. at Davcon was my V.P. project manager when I was a superintendent previously at the Koll Company. When Davcon grew into a position where their projects were beyond the comfort level of their existing 15 superintendents, Lewis asked me to leave Koll and come to work for him. The promise of a smaller, more people oriented company along with the promise of full charge on site responsibility for large iconic projects was too good to pass up. After 3 years Davcon promoted me to the position of General Superintendent (like Field Operations Manager) responsible for the 10 to 20 superintendents. Along with this added responsibility I continued to be the superintendent on the largest most complex projects that Davcon built. I was able to use new hire superintendents as my assistant superintendent or second super. and to train them to our standards. This job ended during a construction recessionary period when the two partners, David Conover and Jim Egner decided to pursue different career goals. My first project for Davcon Inc. ROCKWELL ELECTRONIC DEFENSE B-1 Bomber support group 210,000 square feet of interior and exterior building improvements, including structural and architectural face lift of the exterior, 85,000 square foot mezzanine, elevators and laboratories. Many high tech electronics labs and computer labs. Most were top secret and while I built them, I have little idea what the scientists did after I left. I then built the Inn at Laguna and the John Dominis restaurant and Marina projects. These two projects were both seaside multi level projects with significant subterranean work. They were in different cities but both were located between Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean, making the working conditions difficult and highly politically charged. Then I built LEADING SYSTEMS: Predator Drone research and manufacturing facility. Another military air oriented project while at Davcon was this new manufacturing and research facility that was built to facilitate this company's growth in this mysterious airplane. At the time I had never even heard of drone war airships. During my tenure at Davcon I also completed the Galassos Bakery near Ontario, California. The Household Finance Regional Offices in Pomona was a turnkey new tilt up two story project with 200,000 square feet of office and computer data completed in a rigorous schedule to meet client lease conditions. Other projects included a new MRI imaging building at the Pomona Hospital, four story office tilt up project that featured the tallest tilt up panels ever designed and constructed up to that time with roughly 70 foot tall panels.
This article below was written to help create good detailed job reports from the 20 + superintendents I supervised. These supers were working on Bank projects primarily for Bank of America and Washington Mutual with some other smaller banks on occassion. Some critical data center projects and smaller renovation of hospital projects were also ongoing. These Jonesy's Friday emails were gathered into a book that became the basic superintendent training manual. Subject: Elements of a good daily report I’ve been reading every daily report written by each of our superintendents for two weeks now. I think it is time to make some comments about the reports you are turning in to your PMs. The most obvious area that needs to be improved upon is writing enough detail. Most of you write these daily reports as if words are priced by the letter. Even though you may have to hunt and peck to type the report, please remember that these reports are the primary documentation of the day to day activities on your project site. They should give the reader a good idea of what took place at your project site each day. Your attention to making your reports more professional will be a benefit to all of us. And of course, as always, if you have questions or comments you can email me, phone me or talk to me when we meet out on your project site. Elements of a good daily report 1. Clear explanations of special occurrences. This is possibly the single most important element of a good daily report.  2. Accuracy and conciseness: Be accurate, don’t write more than needed, but write all that is needed to document the activities of the day. The reader needs to understand what you are telling him or her.   3. Completeness - - Don’t speculate or write gripes on daily reports. Do that in separate notes to me or to your PM. The daily reports should be written with the approach that they could become documents in a court case. If you have a particularly difficult, urgent or bad situation take place on your project you need to document that issue completely. The proper place to do this documentation would be in a separate written memo or note to your PM or to me. Your daily report might have a simple one or two sentence note regarding this serious issue stating, “An issue between a deb Construction sub-contractor and a bank vendor took place this morning. I intervened, but there were words exchanged between the two men involved. See my memo dated 10-12-08 that goes into detail about this situation”. If this issue is complicated or will require a written explanation that is too long for you to type or to handwrite yourself, then you should ask me for assistance. I will gladly help you draft the note when I am out on your job site that week. I am fortunate to have learned to type fast while still in high school and so I can use a keyboard to quickly assist you in putting together a lengthier explanation about some important issue.  4. Attention to detail - - The superintendent should know more about the project site than anyone else. If someone says “I wonder where the shut off valve is located for that device?” I would expect the superintendent to know exactly where it is. . . in the ceiling – outside – under a counter? Mention special or unusual job details or installations that are taking place that day in your report.  5. Consistency – fill out the same data, the same way each time, from day to day. This provides ease of comprehension for the reader. Then when you make changes to the normal routine they stand out to the regular readers of these reports. 6. Describe coordination problems on the daily report. If a bank vendor shows up and the project was not ready for them, you should note this. You should also mention why they came out if we were not ready for them. Perhaps we were not informed about their schedule. Perhaps you talked to their office, but they ignored your advice about the schedule. Whatever the reason for this coordination problem, you should write an accurate explanation so that your PM knows what to expect. Identify the sub and if possible how many people and what equipment/material they brought with them. 1) Daily reports begin with standard, basic information. You should fill these basic details out daily.  The basic information includes job site details and weather details. Weather details are important for such obvious reasons as possible delays to the project. Other reasons that weather might be important later is if there are warranty or defect issues and weather might have affected the installation or application of the product. Examples of this? If it is too cold, some caulking and paint should not be applied. Millwork brought into a project and installed without acclimation might be affected by excessive humidity in the project site. Freezing weather requires special consideration for placement of concrete. Inside and outside temperatures may be important. You decide and comment accordingly. However, it is always pertinent if there is foul weather outside and this should be commented upon. 2) deb employees: Be detailed here. Why are we using deb labor? Is this something that requires action, such as the project manager charging a sub for the labor because of clean up or other back charge issues. I have noticed that on many daily reports the deb employees are listed, but details of their work activities are sparse or missing. If we are self-performing the framing – say that. If the labor was there to sweep, then say that. 3) Material:  This entry is intended to track material arrivals at the site. Take note of all materials delivered and used. If there are owner furnished materials just dumped on your site, then this is IMPORTANT to document completely. Say when the material or equipment arrived, where stored and who used them. 4) Visitors:  As the superintendent you should know who every person on the job site is. Under “visitors” also include architects, engineers and public inspectors. You should note these visits and document conversations if anything is discussed which changes or clarifies RFIs or contract documents. 5) Safety:  Under “did job site inspection”: It is your responsibility as the site construction superintendent to do a site job walk every morning! Just note that you did this job walk, unless something unusual is uncovered during the walk. 6) Subcontractors: This area also should include informational entries for our vendors – such as fire extinguisher delivery etc.- and also for special inspectors such as welding inspectors or concrete inspectors and for outside vendors sent by the client. You would document what they inspect or what work they observe and comment upon it. PLEASE NOTE: Any special inspectors should leave you a daily report of some type. Do not let them leave your jobsite without obtaining the report. Surveyors should always leave you a cut sheet. Before they leave, you should take a minute to review their cut sheet and make certain that you UNDERSTAND exactly what the cut sheet shows!  For every entry under this heading you should DETAIL the work accomplished that day. Simply stating “installed light fixtures all day” is not a satisfactory entry under “electrical sub contractor”. That entry should have stated : “2 electricians installed light fixtures in the break room. 1 electrician worked on outlets in the cash room”. Or similar notations This concludes part one of a multi-part Jonesy’s Friday Report targeting daily report writing. Thanks to all of you for getting into the spirit of good report writing.
This is my personal construction oriented page. If you are looking for information about whale watching trips please go to www.bajajonesadventures.com webpage.