About Our Company
Our Brands
Our Work
Our clients are Property Owners & Managers, Governmental Organizations, Developers & Contractors, Product Manufacturers & Suppliers, Insurers, and Lawyers. They come to us with an expensive building problem: the construction process went wrong. Sometimes it's construction defects like leaks or cracks; or an accident that caused damage or injury; and sometimes it's a contract dispute about money or time. Our clients need to understand the technical building issues and costs, so they can make smart decisions to solve the problem, and negotiate from a position of strength.
Pete Fowler Construction is a team of building experts and project management professionals who help clients figure out what happened, what should have happened, how the problem should be solved, how much it will cost, and who is responsible. The hardest part is translating the technical speak of building design, engineering, estimating, contracting, construction, and investigations, into plain-English that everyone can understand and use to make smart decisions. Our projects include building inspection & testing of many kinds; estimating, quality & construction management; and building claims & litigation including construction defects, general liability claims including property & injury, and contract claims. Every year we work on hundreds of projects as widely varying as single-family residences, multi-family projects, mixed use developments, commercial, institutional, industrial, low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise construction. We operate both in the private and public sectors and with for-profit as well as non-profit organizations. We are often called to consult and testify in claims and litigation and we have been hired by the lawyer or insurance company for every major party in the building industry, including every major sub-trade. The building claims & litigation we work on falls into three major categories: property & injury claims, construction defects, and contract claims like delays and cost overruns. We have consulted on virtually everything imaginable that could make someone sad or mad about building construction, buildings, or property.
Our Process
We do all this by combining technical expertise in building and buildings, building claims and litigation, and project management discipline. Our Experts are Architects, Engineers, Building Inspectors, Contractors, Estimators, and Construction Project Managers who are educated, licensed, registered, and experienced. Our Project Managers and Coordinators and our Marketing & Sales Campaign Managers and Coordinators are educated, trained, and certified in the professional discipline of project management; they always have a written plan and budget, organize the data sensibly, make sure every T is crossed, every I is dotted, and everything is translated from techno-speak into plain-English. They work together in our continually improving systems & processes, including our magical, proprietary information system that helps us do everything faster, better, and cheaper, because everything is connected to everything, and it's all saved in The Cloud (access.petefowler.com), forever, for no additional cost.
Our Focus
We focus on real, practical solutions. We call our service guarantee, our written measure of excellence, "Awesome Work," since our solutions require us to (1.) always communicate in plain English that everyone can understand; (2.) turn data into information so we, and our clients, can use it to make smart, informed decisions; (3.) to prescribe a set of SMART (specific, measurable, assertive, realistic and timed) recommendations or opinions that (4.) will move our client from where they are to the best available alternative as quickly and inexpensively as possible, while maintaining our professional integrity.
Our Values
Act with Integrity. Solve the Problem. Do Awesome Work.
What Our Values Mean In Practice
1. Act with Integrity
A. We never do anything unethical.
B. We have a bias toward ACTION.
C. We put client interests ahead of the firm’s.
D. We always consider costs vs. benefits.
E. We have an obligation to dissent; that is, we have the courage to apply professional judgment and articulate our opinions, even when they are not popular.
F. We care about respectful treatment of people, which tends to lead to Psychological Safety.
2. Solve the Problem
A. We have learned that complex problem solving is best done by a diverse, healthy team.
B. We always hypothesize a solution before we begin. Every project is "engineered backward." We ask "What is the best possible outcome?" And we plan accordingly.
C. Every project has a written plan, including a plain-English Objective that everyone can understand and a “Sensible List” of Milestones, and we communicate this plan to applicable stakeholders (especially the people we expect to pay us).
D. The objective for most projects is to move our client from where they are to the best available outcome as quickly and inexpensively as possible while always maintaining professional integrity.
E. We frequently compare our performance to the plan.
F. "No plan can be considered complete - or satisfactory - until it produces measurable outcomes and incorporates mechanisms that allow mid-course corrections based on results." - Judith Rodin
G. We always prescribe SMART (specific, measurable, assertive, realistic & timed) recommendations or opinions.
3. Do Awesome Work
A. We do high quality work that makes us proud.
B. We always communicate in plain English, in a way everyone can understand.
C. We turn data (facts, observations, etc.) into actionable information so we, and our clients, can use it to make smart, informed decisions.
D. We exercise a "Deliberate Practice" throughout our business, which simply involves a disciplined pattern of (1.) performance, (2.) analysis of the performance, and (3.) modification of performance with the explicit intention of improving.
E. We have an accountability-based "Peer Review Culture" with quality control milestones built-in to every project plan, which puts everyone in the production process responsible for quality.
F. We apply quality improvement tools like Lean Six Sigma to perpetually improve our core processes, set the highest standards, and decrease variability.
G. The clarity and quality of our writing is synonymous with the clarity and quality of our thinking.
Our “Why?”
Our PURPOSE is to help people make smart decisions about the built environment.
We help clients understand technical building issues and costs, so they can make smart decisions to solve their problem. This includes helping people balance their decision making about physical safety, durability, costs, and aesthetics. Buildings must be safe, durable, and cost effective. We recognize that every 1% of over-engineering can price someone out of a project; and sometimes these people are the most fragile in the community. We believe safe and affordable living conditions have become, in our modern, affluent society, a basic human right. Continual improvement (Quality) tools should be applied to the development of safe and affordable living units.
Building and buildings are important and interesting. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 125 million homes, more than 333,000 residential community associations, and 5.6 million commercial buildings, comprising 87.4 billion square feet of floor space. The building maintenance, repair and improvement industry is messy, inefficient and the ignoble recipient of more consumer complaints than almost any other industry. Most people spend 20-50% of their income on housing. Saving even a small fraction of the lifetime cost of these buildings has an extraordinarily positive and tangible impact.
Construction management is hard and it’s complex. Construction Management is a professional discipline that could be regulated like architecture, engineering, or even cosmetology; but it’s not. This lack of recognition, that there is a set of well-defined construction management principles, leads property owners and managers to try to save money by managing complex projects themselves. Our experience is that for maintenance, improvement or repair projects that cost $50,000 or more, our services are cost-neutral. For projects of $100,000 or more, our services are a cost saver. So technically, our services are FREE, plus a profit! In addition to the economics, our services create the closest thing to a guarantee of success that the construction industry can offer.
And since this business adds far more value to the communities that we serve, than it consumes, it’s just that the business nurture the people who work in it. We have striven, from the day the business began, to be a great place for great people to do good work. We are not a great place for everyone. And we have not always been “our very best selves.” But we are so much better than we used to be, and we have learned the tools of continual improvement, so we will continue to get better and better over time.
In Memoriam
No story of Pete Fowler Construction would be complete without the wisdom and expertise of our beloved Alex Prokop. Alex worked with Pete from 2009 until his unexpected and tragic death in August, 2021. Renowned for his attention to detail in every project, clients and colleagues alike deeply mourn his loss.
Alex’s 20 years of residential and commercial construction experience combined with his superior intellect placed him at the forefront of many of the most important and interesting projects during his 12 year tenure here. Because he was always at the core of activity within our organization, it is only fitting that the hub of our physical office activities in our company headquarters be named The Alex Prokop Conference Center henceforth.
Alex’s legacy will continue to positively impact our daily consulting activities for the lifetime of our company, and we proudly share this collection of brilliant resources based upon Alex’s work.
Alex Prokop
