Erik Santiago, president of East Coast KHS&S, knows his market. As someone who began his career with KHS&S in 1993, he is the poster child for those workers that enter the construction workforce and climb from an entry level to a top level position. Here with W&C, he tells this story.

As someone that through an internship in college had opportunities to work in Washington D.C. out of college, Santiago elected to stay in the Sunshine State and continue work there, considering a job with KHS&S. As he states in this interview, he began working mostly in the field and from there—over the years—was promoted from this position to the next. Today, Santiago leads KHS&S’s several different offices spanning from Texas to New Jersey, with several in his home state of Florida. KHS&S has a very large footprint in contracting across the country.

To Santiago, the future of the industry lies in the technology. He says as the industry grows, more and more of those entering the trades will and are aware of newer software systems that help lead the trades further in the 21st century. This new technology doesn’t concern him and he sees this as the future of the modern workforce. And while the supply chain issue does have him currently concerned in the short term, long term he thinks BIM, estimating software and the like are the way forward.

Although KHS&S has a great footprint east of the Mississippi, Santiago considers Texas the true growing market.

 Listen to the episode here or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.