We’re celebrating Nate Heid, a skilled problem-solver and a valuable member of the Franjo team. His hard work and dedication earned him a promotion from Project Engineer to Assistant Project Manager. Get to know Nate a little more:
What do you do?
I am an assistant project manager. This includes most of the responsibilities I covered as a project engineer – coordinating subcontractors, RFI’s & submittals, document management, and more. What is different about this role is the added level of responsibility, sort of in between a project engineer and a project manager. I get to mentor our newer project engineers, helping them to learn and grow, while also taking on more “project manager level” tasks.
What about before Franjo?
Franjo is my first job out of college. I also completed a co-op program at another construction company, which is where you rotate semesters between working full-time and studying full-time back at school.
What skills or traits have you always had that relate to your job?
I have always loved to puzzle different things. As a kid, I built all kinds of things: a mini-bike out of weed whacker, old bike, and some scrap metal; A downhill go-cart out of wood and old lawnmower wheels. My dad was always skilled with that kind of stuff. It was never really anything formal – just tinkering.
What activities were you involved in as a child/teen? What about now?
In addition to building the things I mentioned before, I’ve also played soccer forever. I played in-line hockey in high school and baseball for a little bit. Currently, I like to do a lot of mountain biking, camping, and hiking. I also enjoy modifying my car. At some point, I may give autocross a try, but for now, it’s just another fun opportunity to tinker and learn.
Something different I’m into is graphic design. I printed tee shirts in high school and designed logos for two different soccer teams. I also dabbled in a little web design during my time at Pitt.
Why did you choose construction?
I think it’s always been an interest of mine, given that I wanted to build things. During high school when I was starting to think about a career path, I considered being a technology education teacher, soccer coach, architect, designer, or engineer. As I started looking at college, I decided on civil engineering. Initially, I thought structural design would be my choice, but I discovered my interest really was in construction and construction management.
I chose construction because I can be out on-site a few times a week. It offers that visual learning component.
I simply enjoy building and understanding how things come together.
Do you have a favorite project?
I can’t discriminate.
What is your favorite thing about what you do and why?
The problem-solving aspect; It does a good job of tying my interest and my abilities together.
What is your least favorite thing about this job?
I think it’s a bit sedentary. Being active is important to me, and it would be nice to incorporate more activity during the day.
What are some of the resources you commonly use?
PlanGrid – it’s a mobile construction database. The biggest thing we use it for is sharing up-to-date drawings and documents between the office and the field. This is how we do things like verify and coordinate design intent, etc. The nice thing is the markups and comments are available immediately upon entering into the system. We can tie RFIs & submittals to a drawing to clarify things.
BlueBeam – it’s a pdf editor/viewer driven towards construction for scaling and take-offs.
Tell us about your home life.
I’m engaged to my best friend, Lindsey. We bought a house in November and have been renovating it non-stop. We’re talking full gut. It’s been a big challenge, but we’re loving it. Once it’s done, we’ll get back to wedding planning.
What is your favorite food?
Cheeseburgers! Usually with bacon.
Favorite TV show(s)?
Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad
What’s on your vacation bucket list?
I’d love to travel a ton… Rome, Germany, and somewhere tropical are the first places that come to mind.
What else can you tell us about yourself?
I think I’m friendly and easy to approach, but also quite competitive. I’m extremely meticulous when it comes to being organized and how I like to operate. People will move things on my desk to mess with me. It’s fun though.