Mainebiz

V O L . X X X I N O. V I I R E A L E S TAT E / C O N S T R U C T I O N / E N G I N E E R I N G S everal Maine construction firms have made changes in their head offices over the past year as own- ers and longtime company presidents have either retired or stepped aside from day-to-day management. Mainebiz checked in with a few of the new leaders to learn how they're structuring their expanded roles while meeting the challenges and opportuni- ties they're seeing in the industry today. Dave omas, regional manager for Consigli Construction Co.'s Portland office, last year succeeded longtime leader Matt Tonello, who now focuses on leveraging the firm's mass timber construction expertise on projects in Maine and companywide. "I'm lucky to have such a collabora- tive partner and Matt has been truly instrumental in growing our business," omas says. "I've been his sidekick for more than 20 years, helping him out with operational planning behind the scenes and managing high-profile proj- ects, so it was a pretty seamless transition for not just us, but for our teams and employees. Being more in the spot- light now is the biggest change for me," omas says. Consigli, which is based in Milford, Mass., is a 120-year-old firm with 16 offices along the East Coast, from Portland to Raleigh-Durham, N.C and the Caribbean. e team in Maine has built and expanded numerous office and medical buildings, most notably for both Bigelow and Jackson Labs, Immucell, and Maine Health and Northern Light Health hospitals. ey've done large builds at the University of Maine, for Colby and Bowdoin colleges and for the University of Southern Maine in Portland where they're currently completing the Crewe Center for the Performing Arts, which features the use of mass timber. Consigli is manag- ing construction of the future Portland campus of the Roux Institute of Northeastern University. e biggest challenge for omas and for the industry as a whole, is man- aging workforce shortages. "We have more people retiring than coming into construction, and the impact is felt pretty significantly here in Maine," omas says. "We have a good stable of people and talent throughout the state, but we aren't unaffected in feel- ing the workforce crunch." e firm has 140 employees and is actively hiring for several positions including superintendents, carpenters and laborers. "It's hard to find labor to support the region's projects, which is why Consigli takes such a proactive approach to F O C U S Smooth transitions New construction CEOs tackle workforce shortages with progressive strategies and strong teams B y T i n a F i s c h e r P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Dave Thomas, regional manager for Consigli Construction, on site at the firm's build out of the Crewe Center for Performing Arts on the campus of the University of Southern Maine. A P R I L 7 , 2 0 2 5 20

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