A Day in the Life: Mark Holmes, Senior Project Manager
I’ve been with CMM for 35 years and have seen our industry go through many changes since my humble beginning as a carpenter's helper. Back then, the day started at 8:00 a.m. and when it ended at 4:30 p.m., I could look up and see the work I had completed.
These days, my job is a little different than it was back then. I usually get up around 5 a.m. and have some coffee while reading e-mails and messages to make sure the day will go (mostly) as planned. Key word, mostly. If construction has taught me anything, it's that if it were baseball, the most popular pitch would be the curveball.
By 7 a.m., I’ll be in my truck making phone calls to CMM teammates, vendors and subcontractors so that we’re all on the same page and working as a unit when the day begins. Communication is everything. Have you seen the bumper sticker that says every house = 100 jobs? That’s a low estimate. In a typical day, I’ll meet, talk, text and email a hundred times, easily.
Then, it’s on to visiting the job sites, listening to people, keeping materials moving, quality control, and occasionally still gearing up myself to put out a fire (the latter of which I secretly enjoy sometimes). By the afternoon, I’m in the office for team planning and paperwork. Around 5 p.m., I’ll head home for dinner with my wife. To end the day, I’ll send out my own emails for others to read at 5 a.m. Ha.
Seems like a long day, right? So, what’s in it for me? Well, that kid who used to look up at a house and say, “I did that today,” has since been blessed with seeing families in those houses. I’ve made friends with them and watched their children grow up. It’s not just some pretty house. It’s a home, filled with laughter and life and love.
That’s why we do this. It’s our passion. And it’s that passion that gets us through all the challenges, the red tape, the weather, the cuts and scrapes. From our start in the 1980s, through all the economic ups and downs and devastating storms, we’ve continued to build beautiful homes for people to live in, where they can always wake up feeling grateful for the day and excited for the future.