VP, Estimation & Project Management at McGill Restoration

​What does a typical day at work look like for you?

• Right now, bouncing between managing the I-480 job that we are doing with Hawkins, reviewing bids, and distributing estimates to the team.

What do you like most about your job?

• Reviewing bids and deciding just how aggressive to be.

What aspect of your job do you find the most challenging?

• Managing people, it’s a lot harder than managing projects.

How did you get into the heavy highway construction industry?

• I took the long way around. In the early 2000s, I moved to Texas and worked in the automobile industry for a few years before moving to New York City and getting my Construction Management degree from NYU in my 30s. I have been with McGill Restoration for six years now.

What is your favorite moment of your career so far? Favorite project?

• While I was in New York City, I interned for MTA, the company that inspects the foundation systems in the subway tunnels. I was there when they were building the new World Trade Center and got to be involved with that process.

What are your hopes for our industry?

• That the material and labor issues don’t derail the industry.

If you could provide one piece of professional advice, what would it be?

• Don’t rush into anything. Make sure you choose the career path you truly want before settling in.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

• Dino, a superintendent of mine in New York. He had a lot of experiences to share with me and really taught me how to survive and thrive in this industry.

What did you want to be when growing up?

• An astronaut.

What was the first job you ever had?

• Worked at a golf course.

Before working at your current company, what was the most unusual or interesting job you have ever had?

• Back in New York City, I bartended at a hotel right by Grand Central Station. All kinds of people came through there.

If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self-one thing, what would it be?

• Slow down and appreciate the moments instead of rushing through life.

What is one skill/ability you wish you had?

• Public speaking.

What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?

• Play golf. Thankfully, my seven-year-old enjoys going out so I get to play on the weekends with him.

If you could be anyone (past or present) for just a day, who would you be?

• Neil Armstrong on the day he went to the moon.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

• Lazy people that put in very little effort.

Favorite restaurant?

• Cent’Anni back in Brooklyn.

Assistant Project Manager at Judds Brothers Construction Co.

Lukas is a 2022 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Construction Management Program from Milford, Nebraska. He worked as an intern at Judds Brothers Construction Co. for 3.5 years before transitioning to his full-time position in May.
  
What does a typical day at work look like for you?

• About half the time in the office and the other half in the field. Anything from laying pipe and pouring concrete to ordering materials and reviewing one calls.

What do you like most about your job?

• The varying aspect of it, I am not stuck on one thing. It is fun to get out in the field but also get to come back in the office.

What aspect of your job do you find the most challenging?

• The long lead times and pleasing the field guys has been the most challenging.

How did you get into the heavy highway construction industry?

• I applied for an internship at Judds Brothers after seeing their listing on Husker Handshake my freshman year and have enjoyed it so much that I stayed through college and now into my career.

What is your favorite project of your career so far? 

• A steam tunnel replacement at East Campus in 2020. It was a little bit of everything that we do all in one project.

What are your hopes for our industry?

• To see it get younger. About 90 percent of my graduating class at UNL went commercial, but heavy highway is the place to be.

If you could provide one piece of professional advice, what would it be?

• Try new things, that’s how I figured out how much I enjoy utility contracting.

Who has been the most influential person in your career?

• John Judds. He took me in with no experience, has introduced me to so many people and gives me the right amount of freedom to learn as I go. 

What did you want to be when growing up?

• A bridge contractor. From playing with Legos as a kid and even now, building a bridge over water seems really cool.

What was the first job you ever had?

• Farming for my dad is really the only other job I have had.

If you could go back and tell your 18-year-old self one thing, what would it be?

• Get involved as much as you can in college. 

What is one skill/ability you wish you had?

• Operate an excavator. The loader and skid steer are no problem, but something about an excavator hasn’t clicked for me yet.

What is your favorite thing to do on a day off?

• Go to the lake and wakeboard with friends.

Do you have any hidden talents? If so, what are they?

• No, but hopefully one day I will be able to golf well enough for it to be a hidden talent. I’m trying to learn.

If you could be anyone (past or present) for just a day, who would you be?

• Scott Frost. I’m curious to know what kind of pressure he is feeling going into his 5th season.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

• When people are late and end up wasting other people’s time.

Favorite restaurant?

• Huhot