It takes a lot of patience and attention to detail to become a project manager with a large commercial construction team. These skills are fine-tuned over time in addition to keeping up with technology and potential risks. Long before joining Franjo Construction, Mike Guciardo had learned many of these skills.

Patience and Focus

Mike Guciardo is a prime example of the Franjo mission: Identify, hire, and retain the best people to ACHIEVE MORE. In his 14 years with the company, he has held roles including Assistant Estimator, Project Engineer, and his current role as Project Manager. No matter what is thrown at him, Mike continues to exceed expectations. The reason? He learned early in life about patience and managing many moving pieces. When he was young, his family owned a farm to provide the freshest food for the family. As the oldest, Mike helped daily with farm chores and maintenance. This instilled a mindset that, although there were many things to take care of, the tasks needed to be done on time and done right. On top of that, Mike is the oldest of five children. Birth order tells us the oldest is organized and a natural leader. When it comes to Mike, this is absolutely true.

These skills really shine in the vital role Mike played in the Aldi projects. Over the past 12 years, Franjo Construction has completed over 100 Aldi grocery stores in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and now Florida. Along with Franjo’s President, Joe Leonello, Jr, Mike has been a catalyst in building and strengthening the Aldi relationship. 

Project Management Skills Translate into Personal Life

Similarly, Mike manages a large amount of personal and family tasks with a high degree of success. When he’s not participating in commercial construction, he can be found making time for the activities his three daughters take part in. This includes years of experience in coaching his oldest, Aubrey’s softball travel and recreational teams, and his middle, Lilly’s t-ball team. Anyone with children knows just how much patience that takes!

The same degree patience and precision that he applies to work can be found in his other personal interests as well. Mike enjoys fishing, hunting, and any outdoor activity, especially visiting the family’s camp in Tidioute, PA. He also enjoys using his meat smoker and grill and is known to be an excellent meat cook.

He and his wife, Kim, have been together for 13 years and also have a 1-year-old girl named Paisley. Kim notes that Mike is the best “girl dad,” always making time for his daughters through their sports activities, playtime, and snuggles.

Project Manager Responsibilities:

  • General project organization and administration 
  • Participates in pre-construction meetings to value-engineer each project with Project Engineers, Architects, and Owners representatives. 
  • Upon bid award, Michael is responsible for the planning, execution, and closing of each project. 
  • Prepares project schedules, maintains budgets, and allocates manpower and resources for each project. 
  • Performs periodic site visits to ensure that the project is in compliance with the owner’s objectives and budget. 

Mike has managed nearly $20 Million in Aldi construction projects and has worked on almost all Aldi projects as an engineer. Other notable projects include ASCEND (Pittsburgh’s first indoor rock climbing gym), the Housing Authority Building in McKees Rocks, and a retail strip center called Beesontown Shoppes in Uniontown.