Welcome to the April edition of our newsletter!

As many of you know I really enjoy the spring turkey hunt. Success doesn't necessarily mean harvesting a bird, it's about being outdoors enjoying nature and spending time with my father-in-law.  The quietness of the outdoors allows my mind to wander and in some cases I can actually focus more on business matters and issues. It's the same with biking or running, they are outlets that get my creative side thinking.

So last Wednesday was the opening of the Minnesota Spring Turkey season. We saw plenty of birds and had opportunities to harvest a few too. Many were "jakes", juvenile males, that weren't up to the quality of bird that I was looking for so we let them go. My father-in-law and I hunted until noon and then returned to his home for lunch. I took that opportunity to check my e-mails and of the many that I received that morning one stood out. It was from a co-worker at Brin Contract and she sent me a picture of a turkey that was outside our office. I particularly like the one where you can see the downtown Minneapolis skyline. Apparently this Tom and a hen roosted in the large tree on our lot, which incidentally has to be one of the oldest and largest trees in the downtown area. As you can imagine the turkeys created a lot of interest. No one had ever seen turkeys on our property before. I think if we analyzed the efficiency of our staff that morning it would rival the opening two days of the NCAA basketball tournament! The turkeys left after a couple of days, I think they grew tired of all of the attention. Ironically, I finished the season without bagging a bird. I'm not sure if there is some sort of connection there or not but it does make me chuckle.

I may sound like a broken record, but we are finally starting to get into our backlog at all locations. This is good news as we were forced to go to short weeks for some of field and shop personnel and I feel bad for the stress that can cause on their families. We also continue to add to our backlog which is at historical highs which is going to create a different kind of stress with the eventual overtime and long hours that will be needed to meet the demand.

Finally I would like to share another example of how our team has created relationships that produce results. One of our better clients called a couple of weeks ago asking for our help in completing a project for a major client of theirs'. We had bid the project originally and we were not low. It happens and it is the nature of the business that we are in. No matter how much I would like to get every project we bid, it just doesn't happen. Well the low bidder had some scheduling issues and they were not going to be able to meet the schedule of the client so their contract was canceled. We were awarded the contract and are committed to getting the project completed on time for our customer. I am really proud that our team is able to rise in a time need for a client. Another example of our "quality clear through!"

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. I appreciate all of the positive comments and constructive criticism too. 
 

Wishing you continued success!