Built from Within: Talon Baez

Meet Talon Baez, a project manager who is approaching his tenth anniversary with CS in December. Talon started as a project manager (PM) and was recently promoted to his current role, where he supervises some of our more complicated projects. He supports a team of PMs through all phases of a project’s life cycle, from the point at which the project is awarded through execution and completion.

 

What led you to the construction industry?

My inherent nature. I do have a certain type of mind for this kind of stuff, and it was a gravitational pull, so to speak. Even before that, as a kid, I’ve always been a tinkerer, into cars and all that. So, it was an easy and natural progression to find a way to tinker into construction.

I was a project manager at another subcontractor, focused on stone—natural stone cladding, for example, for high-rises in New York City.  We had extrusion systems to create these panels and then install them up on these buildings, which was stone at first, then extrusions.

What did you study in school?

[Laughter]

I went to school for criminal justice, but actually graduated from the fire academy instead. I was a firefighter for a bit.

So from the law to firefighting to construction?

We have a lot of law enforcement in my family, so it felt like, not necessarily an obligation, but something I was familiar with. Then, as I got further into the program, it didn’t hold my interest.

I was interested in the fire department, so I went through fire academy and got my full certification. After graduation, I did a short stint before breaking both of my wrists in a snowboarding accident, so, unrelated to work. That put a freeze on everything because I could no longer use those tools the way I needed to.

So, I found the job at the stone company I mentioned earlier, which was a gigantic pivot for my life and one that I’m grateful for.  It hasn’t been a linear line, but I’m happy where I am.

Good transition—let’s talk about where you are now. You work on complex projects. Is one the most noteworthy for you?

LAX. It was weird. It was hard. There was a lot to do. But it was a fascinating project.

That project was particularly challenging, not because the product itself was complicated—it was relatively simple shapes—but because its application usage was something we’ve never done before. There was a lot of apprehension leading up to it, and even during the execution.

 

Some projects require you to learn new skills; this was a project that tested everything I’d learned up to that point. There was a lot of genuine collaboration with the customer because it was a new application for them as much as it was for us.

If a project like that tests you and is stressful and complicated, what makes it fascinating to you?

The way my brain works, every challenge is a puzzle. I get joy from swapping the pieces out and rotating them to find my way through those challenges.

That’s a good way of putting it. The end result of a project is like a finished puzzle, and everyone involved has figured out their different pieces.

It’s one of the most rewarding things I experience and part of what keeps me in this area of the industry. Construction is so broad, but on the project management side, there’s a certain degree of onus that a PM has as they navigate a project. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small scope of a project; at the end of the day, what I can do is look back at all the projects I worked on—and some of them are incredible feats of engineering—and say, “Hey, I had my hand touch that.”  There’s a certain degree of pride in being able to see it on a building.

Ultimately, it’s a collective effort from so many people’s inputs, and it’s rewarding to be able to share that. The LAX case story is an example again—I was so happy to share that with the drafting team, because I had been on the job site, on the phone with one of the drafters who was trying to help me understand all these compound miters at the bottom of the fence. So just to be able to share the finished product and rejoice together is something I love.

 

What does your spare time look like?

I’m a father of three—a 13-year-old, a six-year-old, and a three-year-old—so I do nothing but that. There’s a whole lot of planning and managing, which is actually fitting for my personality type and my role. Schedules are insane, bouncing between different schools.

For myself, I like to woodwork and work with my hands. I don’t necessarily get to go down to our plant too often to cut up clip angles or anything like I used to. It’s funny to see how much work I can translate from behind the desk here at CS to in my hands with wood at home. 

My favorite things to build are little gifts for people like cutting boards, clocks, heirloom boxes, things like that. I find it cathartic. I get to flex my head and my fingers, and it’s rewarding.

What’s something about you that your colleagues don’t know?

Back in the day, I competed in strongman competitions. Although it wasn’t a secret—the folks who were on the third floor at our Cranford office at the time may remember it because I was heating up a pound of ground beef every two hours. 

What would you tell your younger self?

Ignore your nerves and acknowledge the itch. This construction thing was such a pivot for me that, walking into it, I was apprehensive. But I would say if you feel an inclination toward something, continue chasing it