Kari McCormick, National Director Native American Markets

Our series shining a light on Kitchell’s employee-owners continues with a conversation with Kari McCormick, one of the country’s leading authorities on construction in Indian Country.

What attracted you to Kitchell when you first joined?

Jeff Begay, now retired, was very influential in my decision to come to Kitchell. I had already been impressed with Kitchell’s work in Indian Country, and when I learned about our dedicated Native American Division with a commitment to give back to Tribes and our mission to hire American Indian construction graduates, I knew it would be a right fit for me. I wanted to work for a company that wasn’t about just profiting from the Tribes, but was truly interested in giving back as well.

What are some of the Tribes you’ve worked with throughout your career?

Well I’m not sure you can count this, but technically the first Tribe I ever worked with was Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. As a young child I helped clean desks and put up bulletin boards in my mother’s first grade classroom at SRPMIC.  But I have been blessed by serving so many Tribes throughout the years. It’s all about relationships, and many times not about the job. I have assisted Tribes from Washington to Massachusetts, from Florida to California in various capacities over the years. Of the 567 federally recognized Tribes, I’ve probably had some kind of contact, relationship or assisted in some capacity with nearly half of them. Indian Country is much smaller than you would think.

What have been three highlights of your career?

There have been so many. Of course building the courthouse at SRPMIC has very special meaning as a connection to my mother, but it’s also very exciting that Kitchell is now a player in the Northwest beginning with the Tulalip Tribes in Washington. That project win was compilation of longstanding relationships, a commitment of leadership and the hard work of a team to make it happen. Serving two terms on the National Indian Gaming Association’s executive board and now being selected to be the first-ever Associate Member Representative elected to the board of the  California Nations Indian Gaming Association were real highlights. Prior to my appointment at CNIGA this position did not exist. Receiving the AZ Association for Economic Development Tribal Practitioner of the Year Award was such a surprise and the award was presented in honor of a friend and colleague who had recently passed away, so it had very special meaning to have his children sitting in the audience.

Is building in Indian Country different than building elsewhere? If so, how?

Yes. It’s like no other industry or market. When working in Indian Country, one has to understand it’s not business first, it’s relationships and trust. You also have to understand that when a tribe receives funding to build a project, you have to know that most times those dollars were not simply procured by going to a bank to get a loan. It usually involves years of funding strategy, loans from nontraditional markets, bonds and grants. Many times if a project is funded, it means there are other important projects that are not prioritized. Those who make those hard decisions are responsible not only to stockholders and investors, but to their community, their families and future generations. Tribes are also incredibly burdened to maneuver red tape and governmental bureaucracies, so moving quickly is not always possible. It may take years to get a project going, so patience is key and sometimes helping them with resources and information that would be unusual in any other market is necessary.

Anything else you would like to share?

The two most important things to know when you start your career working in Indian Country is to understand and respect that each Tribe is a Sovereign Nation with its own government, culture and distinct community. Second, your reputation is everything. To have integrity and be sincere are critical to longevity and success.

It is truly an honor that I am part of a great company like Kitchell that allows me to do what I love and give back in so many ways. Every day I receive so many blessings by the people I have the good fortune of working with at Kitchell, and those in Indian Country. In the end, I hope I am honoring my mother and her legacy with my work.

If you listen closely as you walk into the integrated services area at Kitchell’s Arizona office, you’ll hear the soft whir of the company’s 3D printer hard at work. You’ll also find Steve Berry close by, Kitchell’s 3D printer authority eager to share his enthusiasm about this innovative technology. While 3D printing technology has been around since the 1980s, Berry is quick to point out that the terms “ground breaking” and “revolutionary” are really meaningful when describing how 3D printing is transforming the construction business. Improvements in technology and an increased demand have allowed 3D printers to drop in price, making them a more attractive tool, especially when it comes to integrated projects produced by highly collaborative teams, an increasingly popular construction delivery method.

As a sales tool, Kitchell’s 3D printer has paid for itself and then some. The ability to quickly print different design possibilities enables owners to essentially see their future product in the palm of their hand. Owners (and people in general) love to pick up a miniature version of their vision and turn it around, peek through openings and then envision themselves in the modeled space.

Benefits of 3D printing

3D printing, also known as Additive Manufacturing, is a process where thin layers of warm plastic material are successfully layered up according to a digital design file, which is extracted directly from a Building Information Model (BIM). Berry shared additional ways that Kitchell is benefiting from 3D printing:

Prefabrication and 3D printing are a perfect match, as both allow faster and more accurate construction of complex items where cost is lowered and waste reduced. Kitchell is at the forefront of prefabrication, especially when economies of scale can be achieved utilizing duplicate components. Examples of facilities that can benefit are hospitals and ambulatory clinics, which typically need hundreds of the exact same exam rooms or bathrooms which require redundant framed wall components. Even complex hospital patient rooms with utility headwalls can be prefabricated and installed with significant time savings. 3D printing enables builders and designers to create precise prefabrication models that can then be easily tweaked to increase production efficiency or incorporate changes without wasting time.

Sauer and Berry both agree that the past 10 years have seen a flood of technological advancements that can make us ever better builders. We are always pondering, “What’s next on the innovation horizon, and how can we utilize the technology to bring value to our customers?”

Project Executive Clark Sauer works with a model of California Hospital Medical Center

3D printing for seamlessly linking digital and physical worlds

The ability to share digital model information between contractors, designers, engineers and owners with tangible forms of a construction project is transforming ideas to objects. Kitchell and Devenney Group Architects recently created a scaled city block of more than 20 buildings from a 3D printer to showcase three design options during an interview/work session for an expansion of California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles. “The owner loved the model,” said Project Executive Clark Sauer, a 35-year healthcare construction veteran. “Three tremendous benefits of the 3D-printed model were 1) The extruded plastic model wasn’t as fragile as traditional cardboard and wood models so we could all ‘pick up and play’ with the proposed building parts; 2) creating it was a fraction of the cost of traditional models; it took just days to print as compared to the hundreds of man-hours it would have taken to build a model the ‘old’ way.” Berry explained the 3D Printer can run 24 hours a day so models can be extruded and layered throughout the night (Berry actually has a webcam positioned on the model so he can check the 3D printer’s progress when it’s “working” in the wee hours).

Benefits of 3D printing

3D printing, also known as Additive Manufacturing, is a process where thin layers of warm plastic material are successfully layered up according to a digital design file, which is extracted directly from a Building Information Model (BIM). Berry shared additional ways that Kitchell is benefiting from 3D printing:

Prefabrication and 3D printing are a perfect match, as both allow faster and more accurate construction of complex items where cost is lowered and waste reduced. Kitchell is at the forefront of prefabrication, especially when economies of scale can be achieved utilizing duplicate components. Examples of facilities that can benefit are hospitals and ambulatory clinics, which typically need hundreds of the exact same exam rooms or bathrooms which require redundant framed wall components. Even complex hospital patient rooms with utility headwalls can be prefabricated and installed with significant time savings. 3D printing enables builders and designers to create precise prefabrication models that can then be easily tweaked to increase production efficiency or incorporate changes without wasting time.

Sauer and Berry both agree that the past 10 years have seen a flood of technological advancements that can make us ever better builders. We are always pondering, “What’s next on the innovation horizon, and how can we utilize the technology to bring value to our customers?”