[00:00:13] David Tibbetts: Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Beyond Prequalification. We have a big episode for you today for a couple of different reasons. Today, I have Tony Iannessa and Chris Farrington from BIG Construction. Really excited to talk to you guys today, about your journeys in construction and kind of what led you both to BIG. Talk about the construction industry in general, talk about the importance of partnerships and collaboration. But why don't we start, Tony, if you could kind of introduce yourself.

You've got a really interesting history from starting out working in the trades during your high school years. You know, having a couple of different roles in construction and ultimately starting your own construction company, BIG Construction, about nine years ago.

Talk to us about that journey from, from your younger days working in the trades, up until what inspired you to start BIG?

[00:01:05] Tony Iannessa: I was always interested in construction, and in high school, I worked for a home builder in town during the summer and really got curious about transforming spaces. And that led me to, after I graduated high school, in the summers I worked, I joined the union, Local 76 Concrete Laborers Union.

And I worked for a concrete cutter for three summers in between, uh, school years. And then my last summer before I graduated, I worked at an internship in the office for the first time for an electrical subcontractor. And that helped me get into, into the general contracting world. And then worked my way up through a couple of large legacy organizations here in Chicago and estimating project management, et cetera, and started BIG, coming up 10 years now.

It's been a wild journey, but I've always been interested in the trades and I, I think, probably, the thing that stands out to me is being able to see a tangible product completed, you know, at the end of a month or six months is just, it's really hard to find a career where you can do that.

[00:02:01] David Tibbetts: Yeah, absolutely.

And we'll dive into that a lot more as we kind of move on here, but when we were prepping for this, you talked about an experience that you had, really an incredible story. A close call that has probably shaped your approach to safety in your current role.

It didn't scare you away from construction, but if you don't mind telling that story and kind of how it has, you know, shaped the way that you think about safety today.

[00:02:26] Tony Iannessa: Yeah, uh, summer 2006. It was my last summer working in the concrete cutting world, and it was actually one of my last days on site before I was getting ready to go back to school. We were down at McCormick Place, which is a large convention center here in Chicago. And we had spent the last couple weeks essentially there, cutting a parking garage in half. And we were working underneath a demo contractor, beneath a demo contractor.

And essentially what they would do is they'd shore up, you know, four or five levels of a concrete parking deck. And our job was to come in there with a slab saw, cut the slab, and a ceiling saw, and cut the ceiling, and then work our way up, you know, day after day after day.

And we're standing on the top floor now, we're making the final cut. It's a Friday, and we've got our truck and our hydraulic saw up there. It's myself and the operator, and I'm pushing slurry into the crack, like I, you know, had done for three or four summers at that point. And I felt the ground beneath me. So I'm standing on the side that's shored up and really getting separated, and I felt the ground beneath me just move just a touch. Said to myself at that moment, it's time to get back on the other side where the truck was. As I made my way over, so we're talking like a matter of two feet, the six-story building or so beneath us collapsed at my feet.

We quickly looked at each other, got the saw on the truck and, and drove down and went home for the day. But that's something that's never really left me, and I think it's shaped a lot of the way I view those jobs and I view this industry and the career. So it hasn't scared me from construction, but it certainly makes me appreciative for the folks that are out there doing the work every day.

[00:04:02] David Tibbetts: It's just an incredible story, right? And it is a near miss, if you will, of epic proportions, right? Because if I recall, no one was really even injured, and we're glad that you're here to tell that story, and to be the voice that you are in the construction industry.

So thanks for sharing that. Chris, you previously worked for another general contractor, and you know, this is just another great representation of the opportunity that the construction industry provides, right? Talk a little bit about your journey from an assistant project engineer all the way up to a vice president, and at your previous employer, the opportunities that were presented to you that you took advantage of, what that experience was like growing into those roles, and then how that led you to BIG. What was it that made BIG the right opportunity as a next step for you?

[00:04:48] Chris Farrington: Sure. Very similar to Tony I, I got my start in the home building world. So I worked for my buddy's dad building custom houses up in the North Shore.

And really had a love for seeing things come together and having a finished product at the end of the day. And I never really thought of it as a, as a career. I know we'll get into some of Tony's thoughts later on, on, you know, construction's a really good path for individuals.

There was just this, this part, you know, I was always brought up to be like, oh, you gotta go to college and, you know, get a degree and, and go get a, you know, the big job in the big city. But I never really thought of construction as this path, to not necessarily just use your hands to physically put something together, but actually your mind to help, develop people, and pull a project together.

There's a lot of ideas and thoughts and planning that go into any kind of construction, up to the point that you actually quote-unquote put shovels in the ground. So I tapped into some connections I had, and those individuals actually worked at, at Pepper, and I just said, Hey, give me a chance. I don't necessarily have the schooling, so to speak, to go into construction, but had a, had a passion for it. Lo and behold, it was a, a 20-year march at a, at a legacy firm here in Chicago, and I learned a ton from submittals and all the stuff it takes to do, you know, being a PE, PM, Senior PM, each getting more involved on more technical projects and bigger teams. So really had a front lines to growing my career.

And like I said, I think that's what led me to BIG potentially as I navigated my career.

[00:06:19] David Tibbetts: One of the things that we may talk about as we go forward is like, you know, just in general for folks who haven't worked in the industry, to have a real understanding of what it takes to, you know, take a project from planning through construction to completion.

It's just incredible. But also, I don't think people realize all of the different roles that people play in that process, right? From the frontline workers who obviously, you know, hands-on the work building these buildings, but everybody in between, from the frontline worker to the frontline supervision to the PMs and the PX's and the field engineers and the quality control folks, and, and, uh, estimating and marketing, like, there's so many opportunities, right? And there's opportunities to step through those all along your way, too, right? Just because you start in one role doesn't mean that that's where you finish by any means, right?

[00:07:08] Chris Farrington: Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, to really understand all the facets and understand the, the parts and pieces that, that actually come together to actually build a project. Like, there's a lot of different avenues in the construction world that people should be really excited about and not just look at it as a blue-collar world.

You know, there's a, a ton of opportunities for sure.

[00:07:27] David Tibbetts: Yeah, absolutely. So, Chris, what was it about BIG that made it the, the right next step for you?

[00:07:33] Chris Farrington: I met Tony, I don't know, probably about 8 to 9 years ago. Our path started to cross at industry events and some of the trade partners we would know, and you get to know through the years, obviously it's, you know, you're, you're not just building projects, you're also building, you know, relationships and some of those relationships crossed paths and, you know, we had a, a connection just through some of the events and, and things we've done. And, Tony had, I'll say he'd courted me for on and off for about eight or nine years. But he's obviously had, had developed a really great company and was looking to take, you know, BIG to that next level.

And I think when he approached me with this president role, I loved the work that I was doing at Pepper. I love, you know, enjoyed the projects and the people. And then it was like, all right, well, what more could I offer this industry? And, how could I take my experiences and bring it to maybe another place and actually bet on myself, to hopefully help Tony grow BIG, which we've already continued to do.

So it was that moment in time, I feel like I had this fork in the road, and then can pivot in my career to really tap into what could be, right?

[00:08:36] David Tibbetts: Definitely sounds like a really exciting opportunity for sure.

Let's transition a little bit into who BIG is, right? Talk about what kind of work you do. What are your core markets? Where do you perform work? What would you say differentiates BIG in the market in Chicago?

[00:08:52] Tony Iannessa: BIG is a commercial general contractor, as I mentioned, about to celebrate 10 years.

We've really made our bones, and I think what we're probably best known for is commercial TI work. So, high-end corporate office interiors in the downtown Chicago area and the suburbs. You know, to us, we don't chase projects. We chase relationships. I think that's a huge differentiator. We don't just talk the talk. We walk the walk. We are actually so fortunate and maybe unfortunate in this market to have a tremendous amount of really strong competitors. We have a tremendous amount of amazing tradesmen, tradespeople, and competitors.

So, you know, coming in and executing high-end TI work in Chicago on time, on budget, is sort of table stakes. So where we really like to differentiate ourselves around the margin is we're not here for this project, we're here for this relationship. And when we put a client on our BIG treadmill, we never want them to get off.

So what does that mean? That means that we might start a relationship in corporate interiors with a client. Build that trust, execute, do what we said we were gonna do, build that trust. And then a lot of times they'll say to us, We have an industrial project, would you have a look at this? Or, we work in financial services, private equity companies.

They may say to us, Hey, some of our portfolio companies need your help. Can you go help us? When you're chasing relationships, those are the kind of things that you say yes to. Additionally, we've got a pretty deep bench on our service, day two service work, ongoing maintenance team. And so most of our legacy competitors, in fact, I would say all of our legacy competitors have no interest once the big job is done, they have no interest in being there for the client. And a lot of our clients need ongoing service and maintenance, and we say to them, Show us where it hurts, and we're here to fix it. In fact, we're continuing to invest in our service and maintenance team. We also have a small self-performed carpentry division, which kind of falls into that same category.

They're not necessarily set up to do large production, drywall, carpentry jobs, but they're there to go do ceiling tile work for clients. Some of our high-end private equity financial clients have high-end folks in their office that don't like to see chipped ceiling tiles, and we're in there before they ever step into their office and replacing that stuff.

When you chase relationships, not projects, I think you go about things differently, and you go to market differently. To me, that's our biggest differentiator, as we sit here today.

[00:11:14] David Tibbetts: I like that a lot. Relationships just came up twice, right? The relationship that you guys developed over the years, right?

Tony, you and Chris developed over the years that ultimately led to you guys becoming partners, and trying to build this business. And then you just talked about the importance of the relationships that you build with your clients, right? Which is critical to you guys continuing to grow, as well, right?

You build those relationships, you build that reputation. When you deliver successfully for your client, they're gonna call on you again for the next project.

I noticed that you guys got voted as one of the best places to work in Chicago again in 2025.

Which also speaks to the value that you place in your employees, the trust that you're building with your employees, and the way that you treat them. Can you talk about how important it is that your employees feel valued and your employees feel trusted, and what that means to your business?

[00:12:09] Tony Iannessa: I just wanna give Chris some kudos on this because I think these awards can sometimes be viewed as like popularity contests. And this one in particular is, is one of the few recognitions at Crane Chicago business that you can't buy with advertising dollars. You really do need to have all those anonymous surveys come back.

So, you know, a lot of the work that Chris put in place in the last two years is really come to fruition, and I think that's why we're back on the list.

[00:12:33] Chris Farrington: Thank you. Yeah. Uh, yeah. To answer the question, I think when you put people first, and you build like a strong foundation, you build trust. You can do amazing things, right? So to see where we were and where we're headed is has been pretty, pretty awesome. And I think a lot of that is listening. A lot of the answers are around you. Like, you just have to have the communication, and we can say like, Hey, this is the way we should do it.

But to get buy-in builds, builds trust. And then when you have trust, you can, like I said, you can, you can really do anything. I just, I love to see, you know, individuals grow, not just in their career, but in life.

And like I said, when you, you see all that coming together, it's pretty special to see.

[00:13:15] David Tibbetts: That's what creates that great workplace, right? Where people want to come. I also saw some messaging from you, Chris, recently around, listen, I have to admit that I don't have all the answers.

Right? Like, I'm not gonna pretend that I have all the answers. And that's why you have a team of great people around you, right? I really liked that message that you shared, because sometimes you see other messaging out there about how great people are executing and, and you might start to feel a certain way, but I think you just saying that was really important too, and I think it's reality, right?

[00:13:50] Chris Farrington: Absolutely. When I came over to BIG, you know, it's humbling. And when you, you know, make yourself vulnerable, I think you can bring people in a, a lot closer.

I mean, learning together is, is also super special. Because then I think it just creates that human connection and bond that is pretty indestructible.

[00:14:08] Tony Iannessa: Chris is the safe, warm blanket of the organization, and I think this is obviously a safety podcast.

I think it's important to talk about emotional safety. And that trust that's built within that, and what comes of that when people feel emotionally safe in their career, in their organizations, and with their managers, is unbelievably powerful.

[00:14:31] David Tibbetts: I think that's really an important message that, that you guys are sharing, and it does come back to relationships in, in some way as well, and the importance of them. We talked about client relationships. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of building that trust with your trade partners as well, and how you view partnerships with your, with your trade partners?

[00:14:51] Tony Iannessa: I love analogies, and I'll give you an analogy to sort of, I think, explain how we view this topic. Chicago is known for some of the best steakhouses, probably, I would argue, the best steakhouses in the country. You go to these restaurants, okay, you expect great service, you expect amazing food. And I look at our trade partners a little bit like, all of the producers and the suppliers to these wonderful steakhouses.

If you want the best steak, you want the best arugula, you want the best, et cetera, at your restaurant. You need to treat them with respect. You need to pay them on time, sometimes early. You need to settle disputes quickly, and in doing so, you're gonna get the best product that's out there. So I eat at the same steakhouse in Chicago.

It's the only one I will go to. They're the only one outside of New York that gets the steak that Peter Luger gets. And they do that because they've built that trust and relationship with that supplier. And I honestly don't even like steak that much, but people, people enjoy that part of the story. And I always sort of looked at that and said, Gosh, we need to be treating our trade partners like these folks, treat their suppliers, because we want the best foreman.

We want them to pick up the phone the moment that we call. We don't want them to dread our phone call. So what does that look like? It looks like we were open and honest with them during bidding processes. Okay. If they're not gonna win, if they're not gonna win work, we're giving 'em feedback as to why they didn't.

We do try and spread work around to ensure that we're, you know, being fair. Once they get on site, we wanna provide 'em with detailed schedules and make sure that they're efficient, safe, and profitable. We want them to run the jobs the best way that they can, most efficiently and safely, and make money on our projects.

And if they're efficient and they're scheduled properly and they have, you know, the information that they need to execute the work, that's our job to provide. We hear all the time from trade partners in Chicago. We are the fastest at paying, and the only reason we are the fastest at paying is because we internally have an emphasis on getting bills out on time, so my analogy there is sort of like, you know, how do we get the Peter Luger steak? We want the best trades in Chicago, and we want their best foreman, and so we treat 'em like they're Peter Lugers.

[00:17:03] Chris Farrington: I think Tony said it best, but I, I think, you know, developing, you know, back to relationships and, you know, we've, we have a lot of, you know, great trade partners here and tapping into them and treating them like how we wanna be treated, you know, along with our clients, like make some, this is, this is Human 101.

You know we're a team, not just like they, you know, while we subcontract with them, like we can't do the projects without them. So to have the support and develop those relationships and those partnerships is, is super important to you know, having a clean, safe, amazing project that, again, our clients, like Tony talked about, like, that cycle that we wanna wanna get 'em on.

Like, that's the ticket, right?

[00:17:40] David Tibbetts: Yeah, I think, you know, I've kind of said it this way a few times in the past, which is like, as a general contractor, if your trade partners are successful, it's gonna make you successful. If you are successful, you're gonna make your client successful, right?

You all succeed together, right? And so at certain points or maybe with certain companies, that spirit of partnerships isn't necessarily always there. I sat on the owner side for many, many years as a safety professional for an owner, and I worked with general contractors and construction managers every day, and interacted with trade partners every day. The mindset that I always had was, you know, I, because I could have, as the owner for a prestigious university, I could have said, You need to do it my way.

And when they aren't doing it my way, I could have reacted a certain way. Right. But it was never kind of the mindset that I had. You know, like construction is really hard. It's really challenging. You're building complex projects, and one of the things that I've seen you guys say is that our best projects are built on strong partnerships.

And I've seen you say that, you know, when you work with teams who share that same kind of standard, you said, communication gets easier, decisions can be made faster, and execution gets smoother. But I think that's a really important mindset to have. And I think it can only help you guys build really strong relationships with your trade partners, right?

You guys are passionate about this. It's something we've touched on a little bit as we've progressed through our conversation here. Tony, you post a lot about the construction industry and some issues that need to be addressed in the construction industry, or I guess you could say just in society as a whole. Right? Can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges that you see with, workforce, you know, driving people to the industry and, and maybe some of the mistakes that have been made when talking about construction over the last 10, 20, 30 years?

[00:19:43] Tony Iannessa: We don't have a workforce problem in construction. We have a marketing problem in construction. I think it starts at home. I think that we, as a society, and this is very, very slowly changing, but I think as a society, we've taught our kids construction is a fallback plan.

You better get good grades, or else you're gonna be out there pouring concrete. See those guys out there? If you don't shape up at school, that's gonna be you. It never was a plan A. The trades, in large part societally have been viewed as a plan B. And we've also told generation after generation of kids now, you gotta go to a four-year college, you gotta get a four-year degree.

Meanwhile, the higher educational industrial complex is continuing to spin this narrative, while the logical side of the argument is pretty easy. So I, I view this as like a logical argument and an emotional argument. The emotional piece of this is like we want to start telling our youth that this is a noble career path, whether you're in the blue collar trades, you're in the white collar version of construction.

You're working at a factory, it needs to be the emotional side of the story is where I think we're really struggling on the marketing side. The logical side of the story is a math equation, and to me, like the data's pretty clear. The likelihood of financial success, building equity, not debt. For a large swath of our population, not going to a four-year degree and going into the trades in some capacity, or the tool belt generation says the, the blue collar work, you know, the logical side of this argument, the math equation's pretty easy.

You could come outta school at 22 with a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt at usurious interest rates, or you can be making six figures debt-free, potentially building equity in a home that you're able to purchase 'cause you can afford to do so.

So I think that's part of it, but I do always come back to that emotional side of it where we, we really do need to get parents and grandparents and teachers bought into the nobility in this industry.

[00:21:43] David Tibbetts: Yeah, I've got three kids. I live just north of Boston. You can look at any number of schools in and around Boston that are 80,000 a year, 90,000 a year, pushing a hundred thousand dollars a year. It's just mind-blowing, the financial burden that that puts on students, but also parents, right?

Who maybe have felt like for years, like, I've gotta send my kid to the best school. This is where they have to go, this is what they have to do. How can I make this happen? Yeah. They'll have 40,000 in loans a year. I'm gonna have 20,000 loans a year, but we'll make it happen. And where does that take you?

Right? That would seem to be the best path, but it's certainly not the only path. In some cases, maybe it's, it's not the best path. And it also comes down to the person themselves. Right? But to that sort of marketing engine or that societal belief that college is the path, it's not, it's not always the path. There are a lot of other great paths you can follow.

[00:22:38] Tony Iannessa: You know, for me, my dad didn't go to college, so guess what all four of his boys were gonna do. He didn't graduate college, I should say, clarification. So all four of us were going to college, come hell or high water, you know, there might be 50% of us that probably didn't belong in college.

But it, it starts at home, and for him, hell or high water that was happening, right? I think in 5, 10, 15 years, if you were in that same situation again, I would hope that, you know, society would say, Hey, there is another option.

There are actually several other options, but let's just talk about it.

[00:23:10] David Tibbetts: Absolutely. And you point out some other things that are happening with, like even 529 plans, right? That can now be used for trade school certification, for getting commercial driver's licenses, and other licenses and credentials. It's a good starting point, right? Like, think about incentivizing younger people to enter the trades. That's just, that's just one avenue. But there are some others as well, right?

[00:23:37] Tony Iannessa: Somebody last week was talking about what if we created nationalized trade schools. And what if we charged, you know, $20,000 ahead to go to trade school, and you could pay back that over 20 years, a thousand dollars a year, interest-free?

And I said, that's a really, that's a really interesting idea. Um, but yes, the current administration, some of the changes in the 529 program, I think, indicate where, you know, maybe some thoughts that are, that are happening in Washington, and maybe if we can continue on this path, we'll see some more incentive to do this.

I was really encouraged by that.

[00:24:10] David Tibbetts: Yeah. It's, it is, it's cool to see. Chris, when you think about your, you know, your career in construction over 20 plus years, how do you think about that kind of sense of pride that you, you feel, just to sort of, kind of generate some excitement here, right? For folks who might be thinking about a career in construction, whether that's a career in the trades or in construction management, as, as you look back and you think about all the projects that you've been involved in.

How do you think about that sense of pride that you have?

[00:24:38] Chris Farrington: Yeah, I think, like we had said, construction's inherently difficult. 'Cause you, you've got all have a, everyone knows the common goals, like to get the project done, but it's navigating all the different personalities.

You know, and not just the things that have just happened on job site. There's, there's things that, that are going on in other people's life, but you're still managing through all of that on a, you know, I don't know, six to eight months, for us, you know, currently on our typical length of project.

You're navigating those, those personalities, and a lot of the issues that come up are why people maybe blow up or yell, aren't really related to the project. So to get a group of individuals, architects, owners, like we as the GC hold a pretty important role in making that happen because a lot of, we are the, we are the hub that kind of bring all this together, right? Everything I feel like always flows through us. Whether an owner has a different objective or an architect wants this, to look a certain way, like we're that hub to really try to make things happen.

So, it's a pretty cool place to be in. And when you move into that, that project stage, like people are looking to you for solving a lot of problems, but to collectively get all the individuals to the finish line, it is super rewarding to be that go-to individual, to get a collective bunch of people to the finish line.

There's so much that can go wrong in construction because there's so many human beings outside of just the project. Like there's people making widgets that, that will eventually make it to our job sites. And, and things happen, and you have to navigate and, and it's so hard to prepare for all those different, um, scenarios that, that, that come up.

But keeping a steady, calm, approachable demeanor will, will, you'll be successful in this, in this business.

[00:26:31] David Tibbetts: Yeah. And you know, when you think about folks who serve in superintendent roles or project manager roles or even safety directors. I'll speak from a safety professional's perspective. Some of the best safety professionals that I've met are folks who started in the trades.

They didn't go to college. They don't have a degree in safety. You could say the same about superintendents, I'm sure, even project managers, right? And so it's just this idea that, you know, even if you, if you start. You go as an apprentice, you become an electrician, you become a a laborer, you become a carpenter.

That career path in and of itself is great. You can, you can have a incredible career. You can earn lots of money. There's lots of rewards that come along, along with it. You can become a frontline supervisor, you can become a foreman, you can become a leader, right? You can take that path, but you can also grow from the trades into some of, you know, what you might think of as more of kind of the white collar role, right?

You can become a superintendent, you can become a field engineer, you can become a safety professional. So there's that, there's that path too, right? You might grow from, you might start as an assistant field engineer and grow to a, a, a super, a PM, a PX, but you could also start as a, as a frontline worker, as a carpenter, as a laborer, average as a concrete worker.

And you can grow into, into, you know, the, the opportunities are almost endless.

[00:28:00] Tony Iannessa: David, we, Chris, and I have a mutual friend, and when he graduated high school, he had two choices, uh, Fallujah or the trades. And he wasn't worried about dying as much in Fallujah as he was coming home.

And so he became an electrician, and he worked in the field for 10 plus years. He moved into the office for another 10 years, and now he owns the company. There really isn't, I mean, from an apprentice electrician to the owner in 22 years. That show me another industry where you can start in the mail room and be the CEO. I mean, it's really, really, really uncommon.

[00:28:36] David Tibbetts: You're right. And, and that, that path in construction exists. So that's, that's pretty cool. So I appreciate your perspectives. I'm glad we, we got to talk about that.

We tend to talk about it, uh, on, on all of the podcasts that we do because we know that we need more people in the trades, and we want people to know what the opportunities are and how exciting it can be. So appreciate it. As we kind of come to a close here, can you talk about what's next, right?

What's, what's the vision for BIG construction in the next three to five years? What excites you about where the company is headed? And if you both wanna kind of, you know, share your different perspectives on there, that'd be great.

[00:29:14] Tony Iannessa: Back in 2023, when Chris and I really started seriously talking about him coming over, I created a BIG 2.0 vision, and it's built on four pillars because we can't help ourselves in construction, but to build plans with foundational aspects and elements, architectural schemes.

But, um, you know. The, the crux of it is really based on growth, both in our core market, which is commercial office. We wanna be the market share leader in what we do here in Chicago and corporate interiors. We don't know exactly what that market's gonna be by 2030 when this plan comes to fruition, but we want to be the market share leader.

We also want 40% of our revenue to come from other diverse markets. So, a larger company, a more diverse company, a more stable organization. We're sort of the things that we're working towards. Never getting away from our mission and why we exist, though, so we're not out there with plans to throw a flag in Raleigh. What we are doing, though, is we are marketing to our existing clients that like us know us, trust us. And saying, we can help you with this, we can help you with this, we can help you with this. So fast forward, you know, we're probably almost two years into this 2.0 plan. We're well on our way in some of these diversification plays.

In fact, we had an existing client of ours come to us and hire us to do a civil and sort of horizontal, uh, construction project, not commercial office. It's a client who's like, We know you. We know you do what you say you're gonna do, and you're not gonna sign up for something that you can't do.

We found ourselves this year inside several active industrial projects, food and beverage projects, lab projects. So, but again, through existing client relationships, we exist to build meaningful relationships. And taking those meaningful relationships to the next level and having our clients help us expand is a huge part of the, really the vision, to be honest.

[00:31:08] David Tibbetts: It sounds like you're being very thoughtful about it, right? I, I mean, I know that the idea of expanding into new markets or maybe, you know, supporting your clients in, uh, sort of outside your typical region is appealing, but you've also, you've gotta do that in thoughtful ways, right? And I think Chris delivering on that vision is, is a, a big part of your role, right?

[00:31:30] Chris Farrington: Yeah. I think, you know, uh, we've got a really good foundation built, really strong culture, how our teams show up for our clients.

And if we can expand that into other markets like this is, this is a no-brainer, right? I mean, this is super exciting. The team we have built, and where we're headed. We don't just like having projects that will continue to energize the team here at BIG, like they're just gonna get more and more excited about, like, what's next, right?

Gets me excited about just talking about the, the addiction to like bringing these cool projects to life. Like seeing something come together at the end and, and making sure we're giving the individuals here the opportunity to do that. So one, chasing those, those meaningful projects to help energize them and excite them and their careers and watch them grow as, as human beings is, is pretty, pretty awesome to do. So, yeah, we've got a great foundation, you know, Tony's leading the way, as a visionary, and then, we've got the plan to execute to, to, to make it happen and getting the right people on the bus, the culture and all that stuff, matters to, to, to make it, make it come together so.

[00:32:40] David Tibbetts: Yeah, it sounds like you guys are on your way. I wish you the best of luck, and congrats on what you've built so far. You know, you guys really have a great, a great mindset. I think that, you know, centered around partnerships and building relationships and building trust, the way that you talk about your trade partners, is really special.

To me, what I heard you guys say. So really appreciate all of that, and I think it's gonna serve you well as you continue to grow and move beyond your 10-year anniversary, which is coming up soon, which is really exciting. Appreciate you guys joining me today to share your thoughts on the market, to talk to us about BIG, and share your perspectives. It was great talking to you. Enjoy the holidays.

[00:33:17] Tony Iannessa: Take care.