Tri-G Consulting

Eric Gannon, Co-Founder & CEO

Yet, when consulting firms are hired to drive successful project outcomes, it invariably ends in a set of recommendations. A truth that is commonplace across industry verticals, as any self-performing contractor or general contractor in the construction industry would know. It is typical for any consultancy assignment to start with an audit of the business to ascertain the current state of affairs. Subsequently, the findings of what has to be addressed come as ‘recommendations’ neatly presented in a binder. Guess what, the binder, unfortunately, gets shelved somewhere and gathers dust. And the recommendations never get implemented.

It is simply because the contractors may not understand how to implement them within their organizations. Tri-G Consulting is set to change this scenario. “We do things a little different from other consulting firms by providing results, not recommendations,” says Eric Gannon, co-founder and CEO of Tri-G Consulting. Tri-G’s forte as ‘hands-on consultants’ is in finding solutions to the most difficult challenges in project management and estimation, construction engineering, and overall business management, among others. “What sets us apart is the implementation,” states Gannon.

The Tri-G team treads a different path. They don’t just stop at informing their clients about a particular problem. They follow a three-phase approach of defining the problem by interacting with the crew on the field, analyzing and developing the best fit strategy, and subsequently implementing it by working with the concerned management teams of client organizations.

The Value of Relatability

Bridging the gap between recommendation and implementation comes naturally for Gannon. Rising through the ranks as a laborer, carpenter, foreman, project manager, and finally, an operations manager in the subcontractor industry helps him relate to his clients’ predicaments and easily figure out the potential points of failure across the various phases of a project. He points out that the critical area of focus for self-perform contractors should be labor-management. While most consulting firms are geared toward guiding owners and developers, Tri-G is focused more on people that have their boots on the ground, in the mud, as Gannon believes that it is labor costs that can equate to as much as 50 percent of the project costs.

In a time when wages continually spiral upward and contractors have no choice but to settle for a less skilled talent pool, labor productivity takes a beating. As a result, quality concerns raise their head, eventually driving up rework costs. Tri-G steps in to find the points of failure in the labor and field management processes, installation procedures, and tracking and monitoring of quality. The Tri-G team develops recommendations and changes processes that save their clients’ money spent on labor and rework costs. “Our focus is to ensure optimal labor productivity to set them up for success, while implementing optimal market strategies, cost controls, and project management procedures that allows them to capitalize on the reduction in labor costs,” explains Gannon.

Success is at the heart of the Tri-G experience. The company starts off their client engagement with a complete audit and full-scale analysis of their business operations. This reveals how the clients are managing their preconstruction business development, the process flow through their estimating department to generate bids, and how the bids are tracked post estimation. It also throws light on how they are negotiating contracts, developing construction plans, and executing the work. On the business front, the Tri-G team also understands the self-performing contractor’s business goals and long-term strategies for growth, among a host of intricate parameters.

This gives more profound insights into the critical failure points in order to develop the plan of action, which takes into consideration the contractual terms, requirements, and preferences of their clients’ customers. The implementation is directed at resolving the potential failure points. The Tri-G team goes a step further to train and guide their clients on managing the critical items that have been discovered, as part of their implementation plan.

Tri-G’s well-rounded team comprises people who have general contractor experience coupled with that of working in the trenches alongside the field crew in both the government and private sectors. This enables them to gain a holistic view of the real pain points to schedule and mitigate the impacts on a project effectively.

Gannon, however, believes that there is no single right path or project management style to implementation excellence. Through the initial audit that puts the spotlight on what works well for their clients, Tri-G designs systems based on the key strengths of their clients to make them successful in the long run.

While Gannon’s sound understanding of the self-perform world stands him in good stead, the fact that he has worked with several leading general contractors helps him provide clients with the right solutions for their field problems and effectively deal with upstream clients.

Mind the Gap between Recommendation and Implementation

His vast experience apart, the surprise in store is Gannon’s passion for teaching and coaching, which has been instrumental in launching another side of Tri-G Consulting’s business focused on helping self-performing contractors successfully grow their business. Today, the construction industry wears a buoyant outlook amidst amazing growth and project opportunities. As the skyline continues to change and the bigger self-performing contractors start to reach their capacity, it leaves a lot of room for numerous other market players to step in and make a mark on the business landscape.

"What sets us apart is the implementation"

Nevertheless, for most contractors, taking the first step, especially in big federal projects, requires a deeper understanding of the contracts, compliance regulations, submittal processes, reporting and compliance documents, certified payroll requirements, and more. Now, not many smaller contractors can afford to hire expensive project management experts in the market and drive up their overhead costs to complete challenging contracts. It is here that Gannon lends a helping hand to teach, coach, and mentor their client’s employees using various management tools like Lean methodologies and Six Sigma to upskill their project management expertise.

It was while working for a large corporation, building various federal mission critical facilities and infrastructure projects, where Gannon dealt with numerous subcontractors that he understood firsthand how small businesses, although had great talent, often lacked the business acumen to grow and run their business successfully. “We recognized a need within the industry for someone who can have the subcontractor’s best interest in mind, help them lean out their operations, deal with the quality control aspects, understand the project management requirements on big federal jobs, and protect their interest in claims,” he remarks.

Claims management, according to Gannon, is vital for contractors dealing with federal projects. The Tri-G team trains their client’s employees on how to avoid claims by gaining a better understanding of contractual requirements and documentation. However, in a claims processing scenario, the company helps their clients to best position their claims to recover the losses and can even provide litigation support depending on the level of claims.

The bulk of Tri-G’s work is centered around working with up-and-coming subcontractors and helping them grow their business. It is geared toward establishing not only their project management side but goes further to refining their estimation processes, developing better operational controls, general business strategy, goal setting, and imparting executive coaching to grow their business strategically.

Where It All Started

Not yet a three-year-old company, Tri-G’s ethos have their origin in Gannon’s blue-collar roots and his formative years on the Gannon ranch in Texas. “My family instilled in me the values of honesty, integrity, and hard work, which I have always strived to bring to the table,” mentions Gannon candidly. For the contractors, this translates into complete transparency in all their dealings with Tri-G. For example, during an audit or while evaluating a claim, if the Tri-G team knows that it will not be in a position to bail their client out of a difficult situation, or if they feel that they will not be able to deliver a significant return to their clients, then they are very upfront about it. “Even as I fight for our clients’ best interests, I give them honest feedback though they don’t want to hear it,” quips Gannon. With such rock-solid principles and ideologies, it comes as no surprise that the business has grown in leaps and bounds over the last three years.

Gannon has drawn ambitious plans to grow beyond their stronghold in the home market of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The company is broadening its horizon and expanding its operations into other markets across the country, specifically along the Gulf Coast (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida), Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), and is soon to start projects in New Orleans. “Our long-term plan is to expand offices through organic expansion with the growth of our clients, as well as expansion through acquisitions with the right opportunity,” Gannon says.

Their next endeavor is to add more full-time scheduling experts and serve clients with a holistic scheduling department alongside hiring federal proposal experts and offering preconstruction services. The services portfolio is also slated to have BIM coordination added into its fold soon while the company envisions becoming a holistic one-stop shop for construction services. “We believe in succeeding by helping our clients succeed, and that is what makes our efforts worthwhile,” concludes Gannon.