Bobby gets our projects built. He started working summers at Beck beginning in 1973 and joined the firm full-time after graduating college in 1979. Since then, Bobby has led countless projects. Some early ones he worked on include One Galleria Tower, Mid-America Tower and Two Galleria Tower in Oklahoma City. More recently, he was integral in building The Domain in Austin, Shops at Clearfork, and Sundance Square.
His hands-on experience and leadership make Bobby one of our most seasoned superintendents and mentors. He is skilled at building strong relationships between our team and the owner and knows that “good common sense goes a long way” in our industry.
2021 marks Bobby’s 40th anniversary with Beck. We caught up with him to learn about his career, accomplishments and insights into what it takes to succeed in construction.
Read on to see what he had to say.
Can you share your biggest accomplishment?
To date, I have never been unemployed in my over 40 years in the industry.
What is your favorite project to have worked on and why?
That is not an easy question to answer. I would say Science Place OmniMax at Fair Park. It is a unique type of building, and at the time, we completed it two months faster than one that was previously built.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is just starting their career in this industry?
If you are “thin-skinned,” get out of the business. In construction, you must be ready for the long hours, have the flexibility to change your “game plan” because change happens, and trust but always verify.
How did you start your career in construction?
My grandfather was a residential carpenter, and my uncle was a superintendent for a commercial construction firm, so it was in my “blood” to some degree.
My grandfather hooked me up with a general contractor during my senior year in high school and college. We did just about everything except MEP work, so I had exposure to the whole building process and sequence of work. Upon graduation from college, my uncle offered me a job in construction. I took it, and he gave me more and more responsibility to see how much I could handle. I was supervising tenant work when I was 23 years old due to this effort.
