PCG Connect

Mel Renfrow: 00:04

Hey there, everyone. Welcome to pop culture. This series will focus on all things that are related to the people of performance. Get it? People of performance, pop, pop culture?

Mel Renfrow: 00:16

From individual interviews to hearing more about the programs in place to make all of our lives better, pop culture is here to tell you what's new in the performance people biz.

Erin Emory: 00:28

Good morning. Morning.

Mel Renfrow: 00:30

Morning. Morning. So I'm really excited because today, I have Erin Emery in the studio with me. Welcome, Erin. Thank you, Mel.

Mel Renfrow: 00:38

So, you're regional controller. I am. Yeah. Very cool. So I wanna get to know you a little bit more.

Mel Renfrow: 00:44

The reason why we, asked you in, you were one of my personal choices, so apologies.

Erin Emory: 00:50

Ma, or thank you. I don't know how to really look at that. So Yeah. But here we are.

Mel Renfrow: 00:55

It's an honor. I swear to god. Yeah. So I just think you have a really cool story. And one of the things that we're also going to be talking to Sean O'Donnell, and as we go through kind of a day in the life of all these different roles focusing on a controller.

Mel Renfrow: 01:11

I mean, I think everyone's dying to know what do you guys exactly do.

Erin Emory: 01:15

Throw it out. I'll let Sean do that part.

Mel Renfrow: 01:19

But, so Sean, obviously, he's getting ready to retire, and he's been in the job for a while. And so as somebody that's fairly new to the role, I I wanted to hear your perspective on it too. K. But first, let's find out a little bit about you. So you started here 2014 or so?

Mel Renfrow: 01:36

Yeah. Yeah. So happy tenure work

Erin Emory: 01:38

anniversary. Almost. Almost. In September.

Mel Renfrow: 01:41

And you were at the SOMO, correct, Southern Missouri. So, what was your background? First of all, did you grow up in Springfield?

Erin Emory: 01:47

No, I grew up in a small town in Northeast Missouri, Palmyra, Missouri, and went to Missouri State for college, and I I stayed there. I

Mel Renfrow: 01:58

had

Erin Emory: 01:58

I met my husband on the 1st day of college, and he was still in school down there. So I was kind of trying to figure out what I was going to do. Graduated with a degree in administrative management. So I went to work for a small commercial builder, and then kind of through disconnections that my husband had, and they knew I was looking for a job and then I we started doing work with McCarthy and so I went to work with McCarthy and, they were building the Mercy Hospital down there and PCI was one of our subcontractors. So a lot of the work that I had been doing down there, it was gonna end And so I kinda needed a home, and I knew Gil Rehman.

Erin Emory: 02:40

And Gil and I had we talked throughout the 2 years that I'd been working there, and he was like, hey. Would you be interested in coming here? I know your job at McCarthy is going to end. And so I kinda just took the leap of faith and went to work for PCI and started out as an hourly admin working in Springfield. And then he was like, oh, hey, by the way, I'm gonna move to Kansas City, and you're gonna actually work with Ryan Lane, who I had no idea who this guy was.

Erin Emory: 03:08

So we met at a Starbucks and kind of got to know each other and Ryan says it's all him. Everything that I've ever done in PCI is because of him. So I'll give him a shout out and say thank you for that. And then worked worked there for about a year before becoming the branch administrator.

Mel Renfrow: 03:27

What did you do at McCarthy? A lot

Erin Emory: 03:28

of the same stuff that I did as an administrator starting with PCI. So billings, PCI billed me. I billed the GC. I did hourly payroll. We were a union contractor as well.

Erin Emory: 03:40

So dealt with the unions, dealt with a lot of the subs, the AP, kind of a little bit of everything. I was the only administrator there on that project. So everything. You did everything. Everything.

Mel Renfrow: 03:50

Yeah. Did you so were you in a trailer?

Erin Emory: 03:52

I was in a job site trailer.

Mel Renfrow: 03:53

Yep. So what's the biggest difference between working on the job site and then working in an office?

Erin Emory: 03:59

There's a lot of differences, especially, just the culture of it is a little bit different yet the same because it's the I've met a lot of people in that job trailer that I still talk to today. So a lot of friends in that you're just kind of a family in there, but you are in a branch as well. So it's a there's a lot of similarities. You work with the field more in that job trailer. I know you I think you've worked in job trailer before and it's you get to know a lot of different characters through that.

Erin Emory: 04:27

That's a great

Mel Renfrow: 04:27

way to say it. Thank you. No. I love it. I love people and just hearing everybody's story.

Mel Renfrow: 04:33

And a lot of times, like, when you see some of these grizzled looking construction people, and they're the biggest teddy bears.

Erin Emory: 04:40

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Mel Renfrow: 04:42

So okay. You became the BA. Yep. You're in Springfield. Yep.

Mel Renfrow: 04:46

And so how long did you do that? I think that's when I first met you, but then you came to Kansas City. So how did all of that go? Yeah. So

Erin Emory: 04:53

it became where Kansas City, we were hiring more administrators. So we had Kansas City, Springfield, and Des Moines. And so it was myself and one other administrator in Springfield. I think we had 3 or 4 administrators in Kansas City and then one in the Des Moines branch. And so managing the team from Springfield was kind of becoming lopsided because I wasn't able to really manage the team as well.

Erin Emory: 05:19

So we also at that time, the branch Kansas City took under the painting and coatings branch and so it was going to be even more work And so I felt kind of like, okay. This is a good opportunity for us to move to Kansas City. And I know Ron and Gil were always kinda like had that in the back of their mind to ask but didn't know how to because I had 2 small children at the time or 3 small at the time, and it was like, okay, we're not gonna ask, we're not gonna ask. And then my husband and I went on a trip to Savannah, Georgia, and on the way, I was like, we should probably move to Kansas City and think this would be good for us, and we did. So and I think Gil and Ron said that when I called them and told them that, they both just high fived each other and were like, cool.

Erin Emory: 06:05

We never had to really ask you. You just came to

Mel Renfrow: 06:07

that conclusion.

Erin Emory: 06:09

So it worked out in being able to move, and it was the it was good timing. None of my kids had started kindergarten yet. So it was just the right time for our family if we were going to make that move.

Mel Renfrow: 06:19

Yeah. Well, I want to point out 2 things here.

Erin Emory: 06:21

Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 06:22

1, I don't want to gloss over it. So you were the BA and you were from Springfield. Yep. And you had there were staff in Des Moines and then in Kansas City. So that was unusual.

Mel Renfrow: 06:32

At the time, you were one of the first people that did that. So trailblazing from the beginning. Sure. So that I didn't wanna gloss over that because that kind of set, a precedence for some other things Yeah. That now we're doing more regularly.

Mel Renfrow: 06:47

And then the second, what a great example of not being afraid to ask or, you know, a lot of times people might have a notion in their idea of things that they would like to do, but then they don't feel like they're in a position to go to their boss and be like, hey, I wanna do this. So Yeah. And you never know. Maybe your boss will high five somebody else. Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 07:05

Exactly.

Erin Emory: 07:06

You don't ever know. Yeah. Like they did.

Mel Renfrow: 07:08

So you moved to Kansas City, and then what did you do there? There were some other things that were kind of, revolutionary you did once you got Kansas City with the administrative staff and kind of I don't wanna say you were subbing out your services, but you were lending a hand.

Erin Emory: 07:23

Yeah. So one big thing that we've always kind of focused on is, and I was very fortunate to have a strong team that was there and they had so many capabilities and they always wanted more kinda thing. And so we were able to help out other branches whenever other branches were in need of, hey. I need AP help or I need this. And so we were able to kinda do that remotely because a lot of what we do, it's the same ish in each business.

Erin Emory: 07:50

And so we've had several administrators work for Portland or Denver or whatever, and we're still doing a lot of that today instead of maybe having to while they're in need, them having to hurry up and hire somebody, we've been able to kind of lend those services out and be able to help each other.

Mel Renfrow: 08:07

That's great. So like when a big project is ramping up or whatever the case may be that yeah. I think that also set it's kinda set a standard of different ways that we can get work done.

Erin Emory: 08:18

Yeah. And we were very fortunate to have a general manager and ops manager that allowed us to do that, knowing that we had the capabilities and wanted to be able to do that and have that in the back of our pocket and say, hey, we were able to help this out. And so that was always kind of cool. And we had that freedom to be able to do that.

Mel Renfrow: 08:35

It's a great way to train people too, I would imagine.

Erin Emory: 08:38

100%. Yeah. So when

Mel Renfrow: 08:39

did they approach you about becoming a controller? How did all of that play out?

Erin Emory: 08:44

Yeah, I've been trying to think about that since I got this, you know, we'd started talking about this. I don't know. I don't know the answer to how all of that kind of came into play. I think I was always being trained for it and didn't know I was being trained for it, if that makes sense. And then I think whenever 1 PCG of came and we knew there were gonna be some transitions in the controller in our building and things like that, it was kind of the next, I don't wanna say next step because I loved being a BA.

Erin Emory: 09:14

It was just, hey, does this make sense? And it made sense for our business.

Mel Renfrow: 09:19

So what kind of conversations were you having, like, during your performance appraisals or anything like that? Were you letting them know, like, hey. I like what I'm doing, but I could do more?

Erin Emory: 09:29

No. I think that I do think that they knew I wanted to do more, and that maybe I this is my take on it is I think people probably saw me being kinda stagnant in my role, and I felt that way. It was kinda like that 7 year itch. You've got you wanna do something different and kind of change the roles and whether that means taking on more or completely changing your position, it was just kind of a natural transition into that. I was always fortunate to be allowed to be in FAWs and be able to be in the business planning process.

Erin Emory: 10:06

And so a lot of that kind of thing just came natural for it and was a natural transition.

Mel Renfrow: 10:12

Do you miss okay. So explain. I'll I'll save that question.

Erin Emory: 10:16

K.

Mel Renfrow: 10:17

So explain kinda what your monthly output on the monthly as in the controller role, kind of your major responsibilities and what you do.

Erin Emory: 10:25

So forecasting is a huge thing every month. And I I like the controller role because it is. It's so repetitive. Every month is kind of the same but different if that makes sense because every job is a little bit different. The forecasting is always that first part of the month, getting those done, getting those loaded, kind of working with your GMs and your PMs to see where your month's gonna land, the rest of the year's gonna land, and then we kind of skip the second 2 weeks.

Erin Emory: 10:51

You get we're doing stuff, but it's all behind the scenes. And then we go into the FAWs in that 3rd 4th week of the month.

Mel Renfrow: 10:58

So explain what an FAW is for people that might not know.

Erin Emory: 11:01

It's the financial analysis did And did we spend it? And we, you know, forecasting, it's kind of the same. And why did your what changed from your forecast to the end of the month? Did something change? Did it not change?

Mel Renfrow: 11:23

And why? Yes. Is it hard? You're in a branch. So we have this in strategic development.

Mel Renfrow: 11:28

You have people that are part of our the branch. You're not really part of a corporate. Yeah. So is that a weird transition?

Erin Emory: 11:45

Yeah. It is. Especially like when you're a branch administrator and you're in a lot of the things, taking that out, that was probably the hardest thing at first was, hey, I'm now not a part of that, but you still are. You still are a part of it. You're still in the branch.

Erin Emory: 12:00

You're still doing all the things. It was just a shift in my mindset. But so it was me. It wasn't necessarily the branch. Now I won't say that everyday people aren't like, you're corporate now.

Erin Emory: 12:11

So, you know So

Mel Renfrow: 12:12

thank you.

Erin Emory: 12:13

Yeah. I'm like, cool. Thanks. Like, you're getting me for free, is kind of how I look at it now. And so it's it's good.

Erin Emory: 12:20

It's just been different.

Mel Renfrow: 12:22

Yeah. And it's before your perspective is, hey, the branch. Right? And so, like, it your perspective just expands. Now it's for the entire company.

Erin Emory: 12:30

Yeah. Exactly.

Mel Renfrow: 12:31

So what kind of questions are you giving people? Like, it's forecasting time. Yeah. Last month, they said it was gonna make a ton of money and then something has changed. Or I don't know if you know this, but sometimes people will keep money back.

Mel Renfrow: 12:44

What? What? They do? Yeah. That's crazy.

Mel Renfrow: 12:47

So keep some bank. Uh-huh. So I guess for people that are listening that have gotten a call from their controller Yeah. That are like, hey, do you have any more money in there? Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 12:57

What is prompting that call?

Erin Emory: 12:59

Because they're missing their forecast. It's, hey, what are and we have so many tools now with Power BI that we're able to see it, like, pretty easily, like, where you're missing. And we do a we talk about it every day, really, with the PMs. Like, hey. You had this forecasted.

Erin Emory: 13:14

What shifted? I mean, it's just it's having those conversations and keeping those open lines of communications have really helped that. But we're, yeah, asking about AP. What was gonna hit this month that now isn't hitting, or what did you think was going to hit? Why didn't it hit?

Erin Emory: 13:31

Those types of things. And then a lot of it's, hey, the schedule shifted. That's a huge one every time, you know, is, hey, the GC's pushing out the schedule, and so now we're not gonna be able to hit these numbers this month. What do you miss

Mel Renfrow: 13:44

the most about being an admin?

Erin Emory: 13:46

I used to think that it was I don't get to help people, and I don't get to train people. And that was like the biggest, I think, thing for me the 1st year, year and a half of the new role is, well, I don't I'm just kinda behind the scenes doing this, and I don't really get to train, and I don't get to do all those things with everybody. But now, like I've like I said, it's kind of taken me a little while to shift my mindset into what that really is. I'm still doing the exact same thing. It is still training people every single day.

Erin Emory: 14:17

Maybe training a little bit different person, but it's still the same. You're still training. You are still able to work with those people closely on a lot of these things with their jobs. It's maybe just not a day to day. It's not a billing now.

Erin Emory: 14:30

It's not their AP. It's their forecast or FAWs, and it's still so much training because as you know, we have a lot of new APEs, PEs, PMs, and GMs, really, that you're still training everyone. So that has been it's taken me a while to get to that point where I'm like, oh, I can still do those things that I enjoyed before.

Mel Renfrow: 14:48

Yeah. And plus, I think, you know, you know all the steps that actually get you to Yeah. The results that you're reading. Yeah. So are you training to some extent other controllers sometimes like, hey, how does this get entered?

Erin Emory: 15:01

Yeah. Absolutely. Because I do have the administrative background that I'm able to say, hey, this is how this happens. This is how that flow happens. So I'll get calls a lot from other controllers on that aspect.

Erin Emory: 15:13

And then I get to ask them harder questions. Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 15:16

So let's So what are the things maybe you didn't realize about the position that, you know, you're still learning or?

Erin Emory: 15:23

So I'm not an accounting expert. Like, I'm not. And that's just that was never I was always okay at it. Right? And so I always, like, held the standard of, hey, Sean O'Donnell, Ron.

Erin Emory: 15:34

Like, those guys that I saw doing this, and they're so accounting driven. And that's the hardest part to get me to, hey, what does all this mean? I'm not an Excel whiz, you know, so I'm calling those guys for those types of things or how do you look at this? And so fortunately, I've built a lot of relationships and I'm able to call them. They can call me.

Erin Emory: 15:54

And so it's really helped be able to still train me every single day. There's I ask people questions all the time.

Mel Renfrow: 16:57

So what branches are you, over have oversight of right now?

Erin Emory: 17:00

Kansas City, Des Moines, Springfield, and Denver.

Mel Renfrow: 17:03

Okay. So do you have to travel

Erin Emory: 17:05

a lot? Not a lot. Not a ton. I should travel more than what I do because I enjoy going to the other branches. I just got back from Denver last week, and I enjoy going there and meeting the people.

Erin Emory: 17:18

And, you know, there some of their employees are newer to the PCI way. So that is a real that one's really fun because I do get to go train. It's brand new people and things like that and being able to train them on the way we do stuff at PCI.

Mel Renfrow: 17:32

So how do you balance it all? So we were talking before I think the mics were on. So you have 4 daughters. Yep. And they're all under the age of 10?

Erin Emory: 17:41

Oh, 11.

Mel Renfrow: 17:41

11. Okay. Yep. So how do you do it all? And plus, by the way, aren't you like a Girl Scout, den mother, or Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 17:47

Forgot what it's called.

Erin Emory: 17:49

Girl scout leader. Leader. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Erin Emory: 17:52

So I have to look at everything as I have a ton of support in every everything I do, both work and at home. So I don't know. I don't know how you do it all, but you do it because you want to do it. And I like I said, my mom helps a lot. We have a village of friends that help, because we're a lot of us are working moms.

Erin Emory: 18:11

And so we have to figure out our schedules every Sunday. Everybody's messaging each other. Hey, who's doing pickup? Who's doing this? How are we doing this?

Erin Emory: 18:20

And so we all just kind of work together and figure it out. And because I also don't want to miss those things with my kids.

Mel Renfrow: 18:27

Yeah. And, hey, there's a way you can do it. And honestly, you're gonna look back one day and you're gonna be like, how how did we do

Erin Emory: 18:33

all of that? 100%.

Mel Renfrow: 18:35

So do you think having girls, what does that mean to you for them to see you in your job?

Erin Emory: 18:40

I don't think they have a clue of any of it. They just, they know mom goes to work every day and comes home and that's and that's it. Like, they.

Mel Renfrow: 18:52

And they're so cute. Yeah, they are. So, what's the biggest challenge you think have you had either, even when you were a BA and now as in the controller role?

Erin Emory: 19:03

So I think a big thing for me is kind of like what I said, like I always envisioned what a controller was and, like, what that looked like. And I thought it had to be a certain person in my head of what exactly that was. You had to be this accounting genius. You had to have all of these skills. And doing the role, you still have to have a lot of those things, but it can look different and it might look different for every single person that may take on that role.

Mel Renfrow: 19:32

What do you think has made you the most successful?

Erin Emory: 19:34

The relationships that I've built with people that like building that same support system and not being afraid to ask questions. I know I get, I've built a lot of relationships with PMs that, you know, I can go to them and ask them questions, and they can give me the ins and outs on their jobs where I may never understand the constructability like they do. I don't think that I'm ever going to be Gabe Daubalier and be able to look at labor control from his perspective a 100% or be able to go build a building like he will. But being able to ask him those questions and him being able to have the open, honest conversations with me on how this works has really been helpful.

Mel Renfrow: 20:15

I can remember when you came in and this is the way things have been done for forever, And you were always good at looking at something and like, okay, it's currently 10 steps, but can it be 7? And here's why. And you were never you just had a good way about it. Yeah. But I think that's kinda how you're wired.

Mel Renfrow: 20:31

Like, how do we make this more efficient Exactly. And better to do. I'm gonna switch, like, 1 PCG. So you kinda got a jump on that with what you were doing, working for other branches and all of that. Have you from your perspective, have you seen any change?

Erin Emory: 20:47

Yeah. So like you said, we did get a jump on it and like the our my first, like real experience with it was the TSMC project. Derek Lane went down there from Kansas City. And so he was the project executive, on that job.

Mel Renfrow: 21:02

And he was Phoenix. Right?

Erin Emory: 21:03

In Phoenix. Yeah. And the administrative team from Kansas City was actually the administrators and still are on that project. So they were able to do everything administratively, mainly, not the high new hires in the pay out of Kansas City. So some of it was done by Phoenix, but it's kind of working together on that and making sure that everybody's on-site, but we still were able to do all the AP, the billings out of Kansas City on that job.

Erin Emory: 21:32

And then I was the controller on that job. So it was kind of a it was just something different that we were doing on that, but it was, I guess, a jump on it because then we got to work with all these people from everywhere, on that job. And so that was a really cool experience. And then it made one PCG. It was like, yeah, we're this is not a thing.

Erin Emory: 21:53

Like, we're already doing it. And it was it's been a really cool experience because you're now not working with just Kansas City or Denver or Springfield or now you've opened up to Phoenix, LA, Dallas, all of these other branches as well.

Mel Renfrow: 22:07

What do you think from a administrative, what's the toughest part about those 1 PCG jobs or the big joint venture jobs?

Erin Emory: 22:15

It's not being there on-site. You know? You're only getting the information that you're being told on some of it and then trying to make sure that the process that maybe you had in that other branch is now the same way you're doing it. And so sometimes you have to, like, say, hey. You're gonna have to do it this way for right now.

Erin Emory: 22:33

That may not be how you're used to doing it, but I think it also opens your eyes on both sides to being able to do things maybe a little bit different. Like, hey, maybe our way isn't the best. Like, we can take bits and pieces of all these different branches and make it really, really good now.

Mel Renfrow: 22:48

Yeah, that's what I that's what I like about it. And, you know, now that you go to other branches, you think I was guilty of this too. You think the way you do it is the right way. And then you go somewhere else and you realize like, oh, wait a second. Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 23:01

Maybe there

Erin Emory: 23:02

is a better way to do this. 100%.

Mel Renfrow: 23:04

Yeah. That's the biggest thing too is, like SD, when we train, no matter what it is, how to set up a job, no matter what it is in your job, we can train you to, like, 80% of the way, and then there's always that last percentage where it might depend on which branch you're in

Erin Emory: 23:21

and how it gets done. Absolutely.

Mel Renfrow: 23:22

Yeah. So what advice do you have for somebody, because you've you've moved up and you've had all these different positions, for somebody new into the company that is looking to stay here for their career? Like, what are what are some, like, tips you have for them of how to be successful here?

Erin Emory: 23:39

I think just be open minded because like I said, it wasn't like a sit down conversation like, hey, do you wanna be a control? Like, that wasn't the question that was ever asked. It was just, I think, be open minded to what you never know what you may be doing in 5 years. Like, you just may never know. And so continual learning is the other piece of that.

Erin Emory: 23:58

And like I said, I've had a lot of people that have taught me things. They may not know they're teaching me at the time. It's not like we sat down and we have to go through this We're gonna learn now. Training process. It's just having those relationships to be able to ask the questions, and then they're teaching you along the way.

Erin Emory: 24:14

And so you're just constantly learning and not shutting doors because you really don't know where you're gonna be in 5 years.

Mel Renfrow: 24:21

Yeah. So what at the end of the day, like, okay, you're driving home. Mhmm.

Erin Emory: 24:25

What

Mel Renfrow: 24:25

gives you the most satisfaction when you're like, yeah. Today was a good day. I think just knowing

Erin Emory: 24:29

that I felt good about what I did today, and that sounds weird because I don't I used to have checklists. Like, it was like checking off a list. You know, when I was an administrator, it was, hey. I got all these emails done, and then I was able to go home, right, and then be able to shut it off. And that doesn't really happen as much anymore, because everything's always revolving.

Erin Emory: 24:51

You never know what's gonna next come up. I just think, like, feeling good about what I did that day. I don't know. That's not I don't like this question.

Mel Renfrow: 25:04

How about, like, how about, like, when you have somebody that's new Yeah. And I'm trying to think of somebody. So like when you see somebody new come in like a Matt Murphy Yeah. When they're pretty green Yeah. And then you see where they are today.

Mel Renfrow: 25:19

That's always a good one.

Erin Emory: 25:20

That is a good one. Yeah. And knowing that you you are able to help them and now they're able to help you, That's pretty fun too. Like, we've had several of PEs that as an administrator, I was able to kinda train them that way, and now we're training each other every single day on different things. And so that that is a fun one is just seeing them grow in their roles as well and where they're gonna be as well in

Mel Renfrow: 25:45

the next 5 years. Another thing you did is you would raise your hand quite a bit. So whether it was software testing or other, you know, other things coming over and helping out with trainings and things like that. How did you find the time to do that? And then that's the first question.

Mel Renfrow: 26:01

And then do you feel like that was, you know, kind of one of the keys to being successful?

Erin Emory: 26:07

Yeah. I I think you just do find the time. Like I said, that's not a good answer for, like, kinda when you asked me how you do it with the kids and stuff. You just do it and you figure it out. It's not you're just gonna have to give that time and it does help.

Erin Emory: 26:20

It feel like it's really helped me. It's helped me build relationships with people that maybe I wouldn't have had I not done it. And also when you raise your hand to do a lot of those testings, you're getting to see the things before they go out to everybody and help shape what it looks like for everybody. So it's always, I think, beneficial to raise your hand for those types of things.

Mel Renfrow: 26:39

So what are some of the things you, helped with?

Erin Emory: 26:42

I worked back in whenever before Box went live, like whenever everybody went to Box, I worked on that with Stephanie Suthers and Brian Kavanaugh. And then now doing d 365 testing, done some of the Procore stuff, still working through a lot of those things, especially on the financial side as we continue on with Procore.

Mel Renfrow: 27:03

Well, we thank you for your service and for everybody else too, because that's that is truly how you get a system that works for the end users. You need the end users in there Telling you how everything should work and then trying to break it. That was always fun. You were Yeah.

Erin Emory: 27:17

I'll that's probably my favorite part.

Mel Renfrow: 27:21

That's the drive home.

Erin Emory: 27:22

Yeah. That there's my drive home successes. What's a win

Mel Renfrow: 27:26

in your in your current role?

Erin Emory: 27:28

So I think it kinda goes back to being a BA as well. So I wouldn't have been able to take this role on had I not had people trained to take on my previous position. And so I have there's 2 branch administrators that Larissa and Kristen took my role, as the branch administrators and really without flaw. Like, it wasn't like, oh, we miss Erin now. It was they went in and they did it.

Erin Emory: 27:58

And so knowing that they are trained and they can do the job without needing me all the time is a pretty big win because I was I was able then to take on a new role and they were able to take on a new role and the branch did not suffer at all. Yeah. So it's not really my current role, but it still is. Erin, who's that?

Mel Renfrow: 28:18

Yeah, exactly. Who's she? Yeah.

Erin Emory: 28:20

That girl at corporate.

Mel Renfrow: 28:22

What about, what's your proudest achievement that you've had so far in your career?

Erin Emory: 28:27

That is one of the big ones, like seeing Kristen and Larissa be able to come into their own and being able to just flawlessly be able to roll into that position. Also, another one, and it it's actually kind of a recent one, but I was having a conversation with somebody at LEADCON, who was a branch administrator. And we were talking about just the day to day things that we do and, you know, being a mom, how it's hard to take that time off. And sometimes you just like you have to. You have to take that time because you want to be there for your kids.

Erin Emory: 29:02

And she took the time off to go to her child's field day, and she messaged me afterwards. She's like, thank you so much for telling me to go do that. I'm so glad I did it. Yeah. And so it's not necessarily a work thing, but it's like, hey.

Erin Emory: 29:19

We're all out here doing this and we have to be there for each other. And so her going and having that win personally was really important.

Mel Renfrow: 29:26

Yeah. I can tell that it meant a lot to you too. Yeah. That's the thing. You you get so caught up in the whirlwind, right?

Mel Renfrow: 29:33

And you feel like, okay, if if I take off, these are the things that aren't gonna get done. Yeah. And Lori Weddle, who was my mentor, she was a trainer. She used to say, you know, the 10, 10, 10. Is it gonna matter in 10 minutes, you know, 10 months or 10 years?

Mel Renfrow: 29:48

Absolutely. Your, your kids will remember, will remember that. And we don't get

Erin Emory: 29:52

to go to everything. No. Yep. Nope.

Mel Renfrow: 29:54

You don't. So take them when you can. Absolutely. Can we talk Procore for a second?

Erin Emory: 29:59

We can. Yeah. Are you excited about it? Or how much do you

Mel Renfrow: 30:04

think it's gonna change? Because Procore is the new software that's gonna be, like, the project management. So tracking change orders, RFIs, all that type of

Erin Emory: 30:12

stuff. The PMs, seem really excited about it right now. Like, I think it's I think it's gonna be pretty smooth transition into it. From my perspective right now in the finance side, we haven't quite gotten to those pieces yet. So I don't quite know what that's gonna look like.

Erin Emory: 30:29

But I do think for the project management team, they've been in Procore, a lot of them, for years. And so I've heard for years, why don't we just go to Procore? Why don't we just go to Procore? And so now that we finally are, I think that it's gonna be a really smooth transition when we roll out.

Mel Renfrow: 30:46

Do you think people are gonna have, trouble giving up their Excel spreadsheet tracking?

Erin Emory: 30:51

Everyone will always have their Excel spreadsheet tracking to some extent, I think. But I think that they will get there. Yeah. And I I mean, you have a lot of the PEs and the PMs, you know, they're wanting this. You know, they want that.

Erin Emory: 31:06

They don't want the Excel spreadsheet. So Yeah. So I think it will be really nice.

Mel Renfrow: 31:12

So let's switch. What do you do for fun?

Erin Emory: 31:14

Well, we've talked about my kids and I, I used to be a lot cooler and like had, like we rode motorcycles on the weekends, went to concerts and things like that. And now my weekends are filled with kids stuff, sports all the time. I like to listen to music. I really enjoy the lake. I enjoy hanging out at the pool, and then my kids' my kids' sports are really my hobbies right now.

Mel Renfrow: 31:42

What else sports are they playing?

Erin Emory: 31:44

They're doing wrestling, swimming, soccer, basketball, and softball.

Mel Renfrow: 31:51

Oh my gosh. So we were talking to one of your daughters that is at a camp today, and it's supposed to be a 110 with the heat index here.

Erin Emory: 32:00

Yeah. Yeah. It'll be brutal. I'll be in the air condition. I do feel for her.

Erin Emory: 32:07

Her. I gave her a nice big water bottle, though. Sorry. Good.

Mel Renfrow: 32:12

Okay. I'm gonna so you said you like music. These are just a fun question as well. What was your very first concert?

Erin Emory: 32:18

My very first concert was Beach Boys. Is that what you thought I was gonna say? Absolutely not.

Mel Renfrow: 32:25

Did you go with your grandparents?

Erin Emory: 32:26

No. My dad. My my parents. Yeah. Then we went to Beach Boys.

Mel Renfrow: 32:31

Okay. So what year I mean, how old were you?

Erin Emory: 32:33

Like, 5 or 6. Okay.

Mel Renfrow: 32:34

Yeah. That's a good first concert. Yeah.

Erin Emory: 32:36

It was a yeah. Why not?

Mel Renfrow: 32:38

What was the first one you went to that you were, like, fangirling? Christina Aguilera. Oh, yeah.

Erin Emory: 32:44

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Then Destiny's Child, you know, all the great early 2000.

Mel Renfrow: 32:50

Those are solid. What was the last one you went and saw?

Erin Emory: 32:53

What was the last one I went and saw? Oh, Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel. I was there. Yeah. Yeah.

Erin Emory: 33:00

Yeah. Really hot day there. So we just saw her

Mel Renfrow: 33:03

that day. Yeah. One thing I appreciated about, Stevie Nicks when she was on stage and they, like, literally had this air conditioning Yeah. Tube. It was huge.

Mel Renfrow: 33:12

It was really, like, 3 feet in diameter just blowing on her. And she was like, get that out of my face. It was messing with her voice. And then the next song, she was like, I'm a woman. I can change my mind.

Mel Renfrow: 33:22

Move that thing back over.

Erin Emory: 33:24

It was a good concert.

Mel Renfrow: 33:25

Yeah. It was a good show. Well, thank you for being here today, Erin. You're welcome. Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 33:30

It felt kinda weird because we talk so much to actually have a formal conversation.

Erin Emory: 33:34

I kinda forgot it was being recorded, but, yeah, it's good.

Mel Renfrow: 33:37

Perfect. We did our jobs then. Well, thank you very much. And and by the way, congratulations. I think, you know, I'm really, happy to see where your career has taken you and, you know Thank you.

Mel Renfrow: 33:49

Yeah. Appreciate it. Yeah. It'll be cool to see where it keeps continuing on. Yeah.

Mel Renfrow: 33:53

There you go. K. Thank you. Thank you. Nice.

Mel Renfrow: 33:59

We cranked ow. We cranked that out.

Erin Emory: 34:01

Yeah. Well, hopefully, the answers were decent. Not too many umms.

Mel Renfrow: 34:06

He cuts them out. That's what his job is. There were not that many ums.

Erin Emory: 34:09

Alright. It's good.