Commercial Real Estate Today: Andrea Piering of Sun State Builders On 5 Things You Need to Create a Highly Successful Career in the Commercial Real Estate Industry Today
Communication skills are extremely valuable; strong time management, the ability to multitask and prioritize. Important subjects in school include geometry and general math courses and taking advantage of opportunities to develop leadership skills; serve as an officer in a club, run for school government, serve as a team captain. Learn how to motivate and influence others to rise to the occasion and work together to achieve goals and objectives.
The commercial real estate industry is a dynamic and challenging landscape that offers enormous potential for success. However, it requires a unique blend of skills, knowledge, and aptitude to truly excel. How does one establish themselves in such a competitive field? What does it take to consistently rise to the top in commercial real estate? How does one rise above the headwinds that are challenging the commercial real estate industry today?
In this interview series, we’re seeking to learn from the experiences of those who’ve successfully navigated these challenges. We’re interested in interviewing commercial real estate professionals, brokers, investors, leaders of Real Estate Firms and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), as well as anyone who’s found significant success in this industry.
As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Andrea Piering.
Andrea Piering is a 25-year veteran in the construction industry and co-owner and president of Sun State Builders, a leading design build contractor in Arizona. A Phoenix native, Piering graduated from Arizona State University earning a Bachelor of Science in biology and chemistry. During college she began working part-time at Sun State Builders and discovered her passion for construction management.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would like to learn a bit about your origin story. Can you share with us a bit about your childhood and how you grew up?
I was born and raised in Phoenix, the youngest of three with two older brothers. My father worked in construction management as a General Manager and taught us all the value of hard work. I was a diligent student and was very active in sports. At an early age, I started playing volleyball and soccer. In high school I was selected as captain for Moon Valley High School’s first women’s soccer team.
Can you share with us the ‘backstory” of how you decided to pursue a career in commercial real estate?
When I was 14 my Dad taught me how to lay electrical conduit underground. During my teenage years I would work weekends on the construction site to earn spending money. When I was a college student at ASU, I began working part time for Sun State Builders as a courier. At the time, I was a double major in biology and chemistry with plans to become a doctor. During my senior year, I considered the path to medical school and the changes happening in healthcare. After years of working in construction, I realized how much I enjoyed being part of the construction process and accepted a full-time position at Sun State Builders as project coordinator. Over the course of my 25-year career at Sun State, I’ve worked in all areas of the company, except accounting and I’ve managed hundreds of projects. You could say, I’ve literally worked from the ground up to my position as President. I love the process and challenge every project brings; things are always changing and every day there is an opportunity to learn something new.
Can you tell our readers about the most interesting projects you are working on now?
We have multiple projects in process at any given time and each one is unique. One of the interesting projects we are currently working on is a new headquarters for JFN Mechanical, a large plumbing and mechanical contractor. It’s a 75,000 square foot state-of-the art building that includes office, warehouse and manufacturing space. It is a high-end contemporary design with glass walls, no visible duct work and clean lines throughout the space. This is the third project we’ve done for JFN, so we know the client well and they are a lot of fun to work with.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are two people that truly helped me get me where I am today — my Dad and Sun State Builders founder, Jim Chamberlain. My Dad instilled my work ethic and taught me construction and the importance of delivering quality service. When I started working in the industry there were not a lot of women. Jim encouraged me and believed in me and gave me the opportunity to learn and grow.
As with any career path, the commercial real estate industry comes with its own set of challenges. Could you elaborate on some of the significant challenges you faced in your career and how you managed to overcome them?
25 years ago a female working in the construction industry was immediately discredited. You had to prove your worth. I found the best approach was to ask questions and show humility rather than trying to pretend I knew something I didn’t. People are open to teaching and once I learned, I was able to prove myself and earn their trust. I am very proud to share that while the commercial real estate industry is still male dominated with only about 11% of women represented in commercial construction, Sun State Builders is exceptional; approximately 50% of our employees are women and they work in all areas of the company, including out on the job sites.
Some of the biggest challenges on projects is working with municipalities and navigating the stringent changes in standards. Municipalities are less willing to collaborate today, which makes it difficult when you are trying to move a project through permitting and approvals. Working in the industry for years helps — as it is about working with people and building relationships and showing the decision makers that you understand. Supply chain issues continue to be a challenge. Rather than wait for final approved drawings, we now work with shop drawings and will place material orders in the pre-planning stage,
Ok, let’s now move to the main part of our interview about commercial real estate. What are the 3 things that most excite you about the industry now? Why?
- Arizona is one of the fastest growing states in the U. S. and Maricopa county is booming with new residents and businesses moving to the area. As we see the influx of new people and businesses to the area, we are seeing Phoenix becoming a Tech hub, which is bringing opportunity for additional commerce and jobs. It’s an exciting time to live and work here.
- The start of AI technology as a tool in commercial construction is exciting; we are looking at how we can use AI for improving processes for plan review/design and project management. As AI continues to evolve we anticipate more innovations that will help us work smarter and increase efficiencies.
- We are starting to see more trade programs and opportunities for apprenticeships. There is a real need for skilled labor and the need to create opportunities for people to learn and build a career path. We are seeing local businesses collaborating within the industry going out into the community, working with high school students teaching skills such as welding.
What are the 3 things that concern you about it? Why? What should be done to address and alleviate those concerns?
- The difficulties we encounter working with different municipalities; the review process has gotten slower and more cumbersome. The city of Phoenix needs more people and needs to rethink its process.
- Labor shortages are an ongoing concern; we often hire people referred to by our employees and trade partners. We also look for people that are good multi-taskers, communicators with transferable skills. We can teach skills and other specifics on the job. We also try to promote from within and we hire more women that have the transferable skills. We have a female superintendent that works out in the field that used to remodel and flip homes.
- Delivering projects on time and on budget; we are good at what we do and have an incredible team, but often there are things that are out of our control such as supply chain challenges. Fortunately, we have a very experienced group that understands that by thinking and planning ahead we can circumvent most issues.
If you had the power to put in place 3 changes to improve or reform the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples, if possible.
- I would have the city of Phoenix go back to allowing design professionals to self-certify. This change will help speed up the permitting process. I would revise the requirements on the audit process to conduct audits on certain site sizes. The current process is backlogging and slowing projects unnecessarily and making it more difficult to get projects moving forward. What used to take weeks, now takes months.
- Institute reforms around inspection to give staff the ability to override design review and limit capacity; allow approvals in plan review, looking at it from the start. The current process is inefficient, contributing to the bottleneck of projects waiting to move forward.
- Change the procurement with schools, going back to competitive bid process. The current system leaves room for a more biased bid and takes advantage of tax payer dollars. A straight competitive bid keep dollars and margins more transparent.
For a young person who would like to eventually make a career in commercial real estate, which skills and subjects do they need to learn?
Communication skills are extremely valuable; strong time management, the ability to multitask and prioritize. Important subjects in school include geometry and general math courses and taking advantage of opportunities to develop leadership skills; serve as an officer in a club, run for school government, serve as a team captain. Learn how to motivate and influence others to rise to the occasion and work together to achieve goals and objectives.
Ok, here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share the “Five Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Commercial Real Estate Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
1 . Responsiveness — communicating to others in a timely manner is crucial for building credibility
2 . Recall/attention to detail — this is a business with a lot of moving parts; the ability to remember and pay attention to the details
3 . Honesty — this is one of the most important qualities for building trust and proving yourself as someone people can rely on
4 . Team player — willingness to collaborate, listen to others and encourage those around you
5 . Self-starter — taking initiative to undertake a project or task; stepping up to get the job done
What do you believe makes your commercial real estate company distinctive? Could you share an anecdote about that?
As a general contractor in commercial real estate what truly sets Sun State Builders apart from others in the industry is our company culture. We have a team of people that take immense pride and ownership in the work they do. They care about our customers and the projects they are working on — treating it as their own. This results in a lot of long-term, repeat customers. We also give our employees opportunities to learn and promote from within whenever possible. We are very family oriented and offer employees flexible work schedules. This allows parents to easily attend their children’s events and/or care of elderly parents and other family members. As a result, approximately 50% of our employees are women in a field that females only represent
What is your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that had relevance to your own life?
“Never make decisions when you are angry or promises when you are happy.” This statement always resonates with me and reminds me that to be a good leader you need to be even keeled and not allow your emotions to get in the way. When you lead with your emotions vs. reason, that’s when poor decisions are made.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would bring together industry trades and businesses to reach out to impoverished communities to develop training and career programs. Working together we would introduce opportunities to learn and build a career path; it could include mentor and apprenticeship programs that offer guidance and support system for experienced individuals to share their knowledge and open the door to job opportunities and a means to improve their life and their families.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
LinkedIn: @sun-state- builders https://www.linkedin.com/company/sun-state-builders/
Instagram: @sunstatebuilders https://www.instagram.com/sunstatebuilders/
Facebook: @SunStateBuildersAZ https://www.facebook.com/SunStateBuildersAZ
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Commercial Real Estate Today: Andrea Piering of Sun State Builders On 5 Things You Need to Create a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.