Q&A with McCarthy's Kelly Ortiz

We love our Join Champions--customers who have taken a deep dive in the Join pool, found new ways to add value to collaborative teams and owners, and enthusiastically continue to share their discoveries with others.

We decided to do our own discovery and find out what our Join Champions are really like, either in a work trailer, a Big Room, or out in the wild. Our first Join Champion Q&A is with Kelly Ortiz, Assoc. DBIA, Director of Estimating at McCarthy Building Companies.

Q: What drew you to the field of construction/preconstruction?

A: The ever-evolving project delivery and methods of construction. It's always changing and I'm always learning.

Q: What do you love about the industry? Your job?

A: I love that we impact so many communities and people through what we do. We impact internal folks in helping young professionals develop and work toward their goals, while also helping transform the community in ways that benefit our society. In terms of my job, I love the analytics that we pull from the construction lifecycle. There is so much cool data that we can use to help forecast trends before they actually become a tangible thing.

Q: What are the top three challenges in construction today and how can they be mitigated?

A: We as an industry need to do a better job educating our youth on the different career paths within construction. If we can expose our youth to the types of work it takes to build, I believe they would see that construction is really cool!

Q: What is the most enjoyable project you've ever worked on and why?

A: I was afforded the opportunity to work on a mass timber project in the Bay Area, which consisted of two buildings and a central utility plant. It has been one of the most enjoyable to this point in my career, as it was a new type of building for our company and provided a great learning experience. It was also one of the first times I was able to help with the start-up of a project, which taught me the importance of building a strong project culture.

Q: What were you hoping to get from the Join platform when you first started using it and how might that have changed over time?

In the early stages of the platform, I was excited for the collaboration it would bring to the design phase of construction. It quickly evolved to the analytics we would be able to pull from our work during this phase.

Q: What are the top three benefits of Join?

More owner joy! Reduced risk. Maximizing team trust.

Q: What does success look like for you in your current role?

A: An enjoyable design-phase process that brings value and collaboration to all stakeholders within each project.

Q: What motivates you at work? In life?

A: My family is my main motivator in life. I'd like for my wife and children to see me as a great father and husband who is passionate about all aspects of his life, including his career. In terms of work, I am motivated by learning. Construction keeps me on my toes, which is awesome!

Q: Who's on your personal Mt. Rushmore? Can be famous or not.

A: Obama, my mother, Steve Young, my grandmother.

Q: What is something we likely don't know about you?

A: I'm the first in my family to graduate from college; a great accomplishment of mine.

Q: What's the best advice you've ever received?

Continue to be curious.

Q: Three bucket list items?

A: Road trip across the U.S., visit all the NFL stadiums, see the Northern Lights.

Q: Last great book or movie?

A: Llama Llama kids series. My little ones loved them.

Q: What's on your current playlist?

A: The Paw Patrol Theme Song.

Q: What's your superpower?

A: Adapting, I tend to do well in always changing environments.

Q: Best way to spend a day off?

A: A sunny day at a beach enjoying the sunshine and listening to the waves crashing on the sand.

Q: Anything we didn't ask about you/Join that you want to include?

A: Join was my first experience working with a start-up to launch a product as their first user. It has been an incredible experience.

Thanks, Kelly!