Careers in Construction Month: Matt Kirch went from banker to builder

Kitchell Project Manager Matt Kirch graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in business management and set out on a nine-year career in the banking industry. He excelled in the role, managing branches for a national financial institution throughout metro Phoenix’s East Valley. But he began to lose motivation when he felt he wasn’t building anything tangible.

“The tough thing about banking is that you don’t see your work come to fruition in a physical way,” he said. “Your results are on a dashboard – sales numbers, investments, mortgages – the final accomplishment never changes throughout your whole career.”

His cousin, Kitchell Project Director Aron Kirch, knew Matt would be a good fit at Kitchell. Matt admits that he never worked in construction and has a laughable random box of tools at home, but figured he was still young, eager to learn and could transition to something else with many years of work ahead of him. So, in 2015, he left his lucrative career in financial services and made the switch to construction. And there was no looking back.

“I took a pretty big pay cut and was older than the other project engineers who were starting out, but I also had more maturity so it might have been an easier transition,” he said. “After being in the business world, I had good communication skills. Although I didn’t have the education or background in construction management, because of my work experience I was probably less hesitant to call an architect, engineer or talk to an owner.”

Matt says the biggest benefit of his prior career is interacting with people. He was driving teams in banking – financial officer, mortgage brokers, tellers – who had different roles, but all worked toward a common goal of making a customer happy. He uses the same skills in what he does today.

“We’re solving problems. It may be complex, we may not have the answer, but we can find a solution that makes the client happy.”

Matt has worked on several healthcare projects while at Kitchell. Today he’s working on the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Medical Office Building.

“Construction has a flow – scrubbing bids at the beginning, signing trades up, getting things released, building, dealing with issues – even with a project timeline it feels different. It’s never the same thing every day – it’s always changing, and I like that.”

Matt admits that making a switch might be scary at first because you’re starting over, but time flies quickly, and before you know it, you’re an expert. You’ll be happier that you took on the challenge.

“If you’re a hard worker and have a good work ethic, Kitchell is a place you can really grow.”

Matt went from banking to building and is succeeding. Who do you know who would be a good fit at Kitchell?

Careers in Construction Month: Rob Previte preferred construction to carats, but his wife may have disagreed

When KCI Project Manager II Rob Previte attended ASU, he changed majors a few times and settled on housing & urban development, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in 2008. Like many who come out of college (especially during a recession), Rob wasn’t exactly sure where his degree would take him. He had worked in retail through college and continued down this road, first at Skechers, then at Kenneth Cole and finally at Capri Jewelers in Chandler Mall, where he was store manager for about four years.

“The transition from jewelry to construction was definitely harder for my wife, Emma, than for me,” he said.

Rob learned about a Kitchell project engineer position from longtime friends Mike Hancock and Aron Kirch (whose wife had gone to school with Emma). He figured he had the capabilities – organization, assisting with project schedule, document controls, meeting coordination – not to mention the people skills to convey nicely into a construction career. He interviewed with Scott Root, Brent Moszeter and others, and was offered a PE role in 2015.

His first project was the Banner Healthcare Corporate Office. From there he went to healthcare projects – a medical office building adjacent to the Banner University Medical Campus, then to multiple projects over the course of four years on the SJHMC campus, including the Barrow Neurological Institute Medical Office Building, and now he’s at the Valleywise Healthcare Medical Center.

“If you asked me when I was working on it, I would have said I hated it, but in retrospect, the Barrow project is probably the one I’m most proud of,” he said. “The functionality, what Barrow does for people with so many coming from out of state and out of the country to be treated – it was a complicated project, but very satisfying.”

In school, Rob was exposed to some aspects of construction when he was bouncing around between majors. But he feels his background in retail was most applicable to what he does today.

“There are a lot of abilities that transition nicely – people skills, communications skills and dealing with people with varying backgrounds – it’s all helped with what I do today. The ability to communicate effectively between design teams, owner’s reps and trade partners is extremely important. These skills translate from many different backgrounds, there is no reason to think you won’t be successful without a construction background.”

Rob Previte is a natural at the job. Who do you know who would be a good fit at Kitchell?