Seattle Office
2200 Western Ave
Suite 500
Seattle, WA 98121, USA
Description
About You:
Advocating. You see the potential in others. You give everyone who reports to you the opportunity to thrive, while holding them accountable to clear expectations. Your teams appreciate your commitment to their success.
Activating. You make things happen and you take a player-coach leadership approach. You know when to strategize and when to jump in and take action.
Connected . You’ve built relationships that last with your clients, trade partners, and past teammates. You’re actively engaged in our community and industry.
About Us:
At Lewis, where every employee is an owner, our people are empowered to make decisions – big and small – to meet the goals of our clients. We are passionate about our work and driven to build quality buildings that stand the test of time. With fulfillment as one of our six core values, Lewis has a collaborative and supportive culture committed to the success and development of our people.
A 100% employee-owned company, Lease Crutcher Lewis offers competitive compensation and benefits, like medical, dental, and vision.
Position Summary
The Director of Preconstruction is a client-facing team leader who understands Client’s priorities and their unique values. Organizes Lewis’s efforts to exceed client expectations including cost certainty, schedule optimization, and design support across a variety of markets and delivery methods. Brings an innovative mindset to enhance Lewis’s offerings to deliver unsurpassed value to the client.
Champions quality design and supports design evolution with in-the-moment pricing, constructability reviews, tactful design critique, material sourcing, and options analysis. Ensures a collaborative and seamless transition to the operations team.
Positions Lewis as a thought leader in solving complex problems, while providing alignment, partnership, and cooperation across internal and external teams.
PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Leadership
- Maintain strategic fluency in evolving construction methodologies, delivery methods, regulatory/code requirements, and emerging building technologies.
- Participate in industry organizations and events to enhance Lewis’s brand in the market and develop an understanding of market dynamics that affect our services and delivery.
- Differentiate Lewis as industry leaders that provide creative solutions and best in class service to clients and design teams.
Client Engagement and Business Development
- Actively participate in business development initiatives: provide expertise, innovative insights, and creative ideas that support Lewis’s business development and marketing efforts to win new work.
- Lead and prepare comprehensive presentations for prospective and existing clients, clearly articulating the project approach and value proposition.
- Interface with the client, building trust and maintaining transparent communication regarding our services and their level of satisfaction.
Employee Management
- Sets annual preconstruction budget and manages departmental expenses, striving to achieve high levels of client reimbursement.
- Optimizes the size of the preconstruction team to meet the needs of the business.
- Work with People Services to identify needs, recruit, hire and onboard best in class talent for the preconstruction team.
- Manage departmental resources to ensure efforts are properly staffed.
- Mentor and develop the preconstruction team including estimators, preconstruction managers, project managers on rotation, and SME’s including regular check-ins, goal setting, consistent feedback, and annual performance evaluations.
Preconstruction Systems and Process
- Establish, implement, and continuously refine best practices and operating procedures for all estimating, budgeting, and proposal generation processes.
- Lead the selection and utilization of appropriate preconstruction software and technology (e.g., estimating platforms, scheduling tools, BIM integration).
Technical Execution and Oversight
- Oversee every preconstruction effort, and collaborate closely with the VP of Operations, Operations Directors, Design Integrators, and Project Executives to ensure budget continuity and consistency of preconstruction services across markets and delivery methods.
- Align design intent to clients’ drivers and develop procurement strategies to maximize clients’ buying power.
- Partner with builders to preplan work and develop creative approaches to project challenges.
- Partner with our Design Construction Integrators and Virtual Design and Construction teams to provide industry leading value-added services in our preconstruction efforts.
- Lead cost analysis and target value design workshops with design teams and owners, focusing on maximizing owner value without compromising design intent or quality.
- Share experience and tools developed across various projects/markets for consistency and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Ensure every project is set-up for successful execution including a contract estimate, contract schedule, site logistics plan, site specific safety plan, yard rental plan, risk management plan, etc.
- Advise the client on local permitting requirements/processes, particularly those on the critical path.
- Provide comprehensive guidance on decisions dates, processes, and priorities for job setup and initial design.
- Aid projects in life cycle/material/system analysis and selection.
- Develop project-specific tools as appropriate.
- Work with Chief Estimator to maintain comparative metrics (Cost/Material/Space) across projects/markets.
- Work with Chief Estimator to maintain a robust historical cost database.
- At established intervals, alongside Chief Estimator and Project Executive, reconcile actual cost or methods used versus planned.
- Ensures a collaborative and seamless transition to the operations team.
COMPETENCIES AND ATTRIBUTES
- Proven ability to solve complex problems in a collaborative, team-based culture.
- Comfort in an environment that requires frequent switching between leading, managing and doing.
- Ability to flex between being detail oriented and seeing the big picture, based on the situation.
- Quickly builds credibility and rapport with teams: a relationship builder.
- Adept at providing tactful feedback, questions, and alternate ideas tailored for the audience (Designer/Client etc.)
- Ability to look beyond the current design/estimate and provide alternates that suit the client’s needs.
- Ability to anticipate long-term market trends, material cost fluctuations, and potential project delivery challenges.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present complex financial data clearly to non-technical stakeholders (e.g., owners, developers).
- Deep understanding of construction cost estimating, cost control principles, and risk management related to project risk exposures.
- Dedicated to mentoring staff, fostering a positive, high-performing culture, and promoting cross-departmental collaboration.
- Exemplifies Lewis’s values and leadership principles through daily acts and deeds.
SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS, AND EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related field.
- Minimum of 15 years of experience in Commercial Construction, with at least 5 years in a dedicated Preconstruction or Project Executive role.
- Experience in building large scale commercial/ground-up projects is required.
- Proficient in conceptual and detailed estimating.
- Deep understanding of building components and systems in commercial building construction.
- Proven expertise in various project delivery methods.
- Expert proficiency with industry-standard estimating software (e.g., Sage Estimating, Bluebeam ) and scheduling software (e.g., Primavera or Microsoft Project ).
A 100% employee-owned general contractor, Lease Crutcher Lewis offers a comprehensive healthcare plan with medical, dental, and vision coverage. Our employer-funded Lifestyle Spending Account supports physical wellness for employees and their pets, and our employer-funded Headspace membership supports mental wellness. We also offer a generous Health Savings Account with annual employer sponsored contributions. Lease Crutcher Lewis provides support for a financially healthy future, including our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (enrollment covered at no cost to you) and a 401(k) with a competitive matching program. To support employee philanthropic efforts, employees are eligible for volunteer PTO and charitable giving matching programs.
Lease Crutcher Lewis is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of, and will not be discriminated against, based on the basis of race, color, gender, pregnancy or breastfeeding, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, age, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, disability, or other status protected by state or federal law.
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.