Friday, February 22, 2008

A Beagle Wins Best of Show at the Westminster Kennel Club, Finally

If you know us, you know that we love dogs and we especially love beagles, we have two adorable beagles that work in the office. So we were really excited when Uno, a noisy "ah-rooing" beagle, became the first Beagle to win best of show at the Westminster Kennel Club. He is also the first beagle to win in the hound dog category since 1939.

Apparently, Uno seemed to know what was going on and proceeded to bark and bay when he won making the crowd go wild as they offered him a standing ovation.

According to Judge J. Donald Jones, "He's perfect, he was a 10," and "He does cuteness well." He beat out over 2600 dogs overall and for best of show beat out two poodles, a Sealyham terrier, a Weimaraner, an Australian shepherd and an Akita. Good job Uno!

This video shows the last run of the best of show competing dogs, Uno winning and the interview with Uno's handler after he wins.


We think he is handsome and really how could you not love beagles? They are great "people dogs" and are also smart, affectionate and energetic, and not to mention work as great therapy dogs at our office. We are sure they have held off numerous panic attacks here at the Nigro Firm.

Here is a picture of our office beagles, Wilbee and Izzy. Wilbee is a show breed beagle similar to the champion Uno, isn't he handsome?



Kudos, to Westminster Kennel Club and Judge Jones for recognizing the beagle and making Uno a champion.

Author: Pamela S. Stevens

Friday, February 15, 2008

Time Management: When clients miss deadlines, the snowball effect

Meeting deadlines is challenging enough, but what about when your client misses their deadline, which results in you struggling to meet your deadline? Over the past 16 years we have experienced a change in the way people interact in business, no, not quite right… a change in the way people interact in general. I am not complaining, I am trying to understand and hoping to help others understand what we are doing to each other.

There was a time when your word was as good as a signed document and a signed document was as good as money in the bank. But now it seems that people have a hard time keeping their word, as a result of outside pressure or personal logic, and signed contracts are in a constant state of negotiation, so how does this effect everyone involved?

When one party misses a deadline, it snowballs into problems for everyone down the line and pushes stress levels to the max. We recently had this happen, again, at the Nigro Firm. We are sure that everyone has to deal with these kind of delays and frustrations, but this is what it is like for us.

Signed contract = resources and time allocated to complete the review

When we are in contract negotiations with our clients we try to meet their needs and work with them to find solutions that are the best for everyone. Once this is accomplished we join in an agreement… and sign a contract. In this agreement is a strict time schedule. You can imagine that in the construction world time is a valuable commodity.

When we get a signed contract back from a client, we look at the start and completion dates and allocate resources to do the review work. The thing to realize, though, is that those resources are living, breathing human beings who have lives and care about their work and doing the best job possible.

Project shipped to us late = a review team stuck in limbo land
When a project just doesn’t show up, the entire review team is now adrift… in limbo land until we can learn what has happened and get a new schedule. While in limbo, we can’t do anything else… we can’t just decide to take the day off and go do something fun, or something on our honey-do list. Maybe the drawings will show up in a half hour. No, we have to hover around the phone, waiting impatiently until we know what’s up! It is extremely frustrating, the sense of not knowing what’s happening… of being lost and anxious. It is unsettling and does not set a good mood for the start of a project.

Delayed start date = compromised resources and schedule for everyone
A week delay in receiving the drawings may not just be as simple as pushing the completion date out by a week. That week may already be allocated to another project. Now what are we going to do? Shift work? Work overtime and weekends? Or perhaps, even worse, tell the client we can't do the job?

Challenged resources and tight schedule = stress for everyone
When all the breathing room is used up in our schedule (or anyone's schedule ) unpleasant things begin to happen...we either have to work evenings and weekends to get the job done by the original due date (even with the late start), or we are already doing that due to some other scheduling slips previously encountered (from another client) and we must then shift the completion date out much further than a week, or cut back on some of the review we can perform in the now shorter time frame. Typically everyone winds up unhappy… the reviewers get stressed and overworked, and the clients either don't get the review they want or must wait longer for it to be done and/or pay more. And none of these solutions are fun for anyone.

One party misses a deadline = everyone misses a deadline = everyone unhappy
When the project is late, what does that really mean? I can’t really say for sure, but I am going to imagine. It means the project manager who signed a contract with us has to find a way to say he/she couldn’t keep their word. Whether their fault or not, they have to accept they didn’t do what they said they would do. This can often put the project manager in a negative mood. From here on tensions rise, after all who can trust, believe or even count on the other one.

Over the years this problem of folks not doing what they say is happening more and more. Where does it begin and with who? It can happen anywhere along a long path of events, but when one person fails to do what they say, then the path falls apart and is broken. Anytime you do not do what you say, or promise, or agree upon in writing, you can be negatively effecting one, ten, a hundred, or thousands of other people. It snowballs.

However, flip side, what one person does can effect others in a positive way too. So, though we have been venting for a bit about what happens when one person makes a mistake, we also know how powerful one person can be with a positive action as well.

At the Nigro Firm, we do everything in our power to complete our coordination reviews by the date we have promised… and with over 16 years of business and over 200 projects reviewed, we have never been late. We hope we can keep saying that for many years to come.

Author: Shirley Nigro

Nepotism in the Workplace: Talent might be Genetic


Not only do we let dogs come to work… but we let family members work too! Most of our subs have family members working with them. We’ve found that the talents and abilities of great coordination reviewers have a tendency to run in the family, maybe talent is genetic!

Currently we have reviewers with the following relationships: siblings, niece and aunt, and husband and wife. Of course, the principles of the Nigro Firm, Inc. are a daughter-mother team… so, family is important to our business.

Of course, nobody gets any special favors! Business is business.

Author: Natalie Nigro

Featured Construction Project: Solaris Residences

Peter Knobel’s 5-Star Dream

Despite the multimillion dollar price tag, Solaris Residences are selling fast and quickly becoming a new standard of excellence for Vail ski homes. Do you think they will have a beagle walking service?



Solaris Residence: Luxury Homes with 5-Star Service

From conception to ground breaking, developer Peter Knobel has had a goal of creating family friendly homes in Vail that offer incomparable quality coupled with the convenient luxuries of a five star hotel.

“Everything is right on schedule and proceeding very smoothly,” Solaris director of sales and marketing Craig Cohn said. “We are very pleased with how well sales are going and the excellent progress of construction.” Everyone involved with creating and constructing the Solaris Residence has been focused on high quality, from the materials used to the construction drawings and specs. The Nigro Firm, Inc. was delighted to be a part of the team by performing construction document coordination review.

The building when completed will be the tallest structure in Vail and will include not only luxury condos but also a public plaza, theater, bowling alley, restaurant and retail space. The plaza will be available to the community for concerts and other events. During the winter the plaza will feature an ice skating rink and in the summer a pop jet fountain.

The designer’s aspired to create quality homes consistent with Alpine style yet rich with modern, high-tech features. For example, every unit will be a “smart home” with full climate control and access to the front desk through a touch control screen. Even though Solaris is over a year away from completion, over two-thirds of the 2 to18 million dollar homes have been sold.

The Solaris Residences in Vail, CO is expected to be completed by the summer of 2009 and so far, they are right on schedule.

To see other projects that the Nigro Firm has reviewed see, Projects.

Want to know what we do, see Nigro Firm Services.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Client Relationships: Not just good, but great clients


To state the obvious, great clients are invaluable (and hard to find). Running a business isn’t just about providing a useful service, or finding and training people to perform that service… it’s also about finding the type of clients you want to work with.

Sometimes finding clients is hard enough, but finding great clients is even more difficult. In our business, we strive to create a team type situation where we work together to achieve the best possible outcome. So in this arrangement, how do great clients stand out?

Great clients keep me in the loop! They explain their situation, and don’t hesitate to fess up if they’ve messed up. They do everything in their power to deliver what they’ve promised. However, they realize that being human is what we all are… and forgive themselves and others for mistakes.

Great clients don’t expect something for nothing. They realize that there are consequences for actions (both good and bad) and accept those consequences. They hold up their end of the client agreement.

Great clients are team oriented. They appreciate people who genuinely are working towards a common goal. They have a positive outlook.

Great clients make you smile. When these type of clients call and you see their company name on the caller id, you look forward to talking with them and enjoy your conversations with them.

Overall, we have had many positive experiences. And we look forward to many more stellar client relationships.

Author: Natalie Nigro

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Partner Relations: FedEx Rain, Snow or Shine

FedEx does its best and they usually show up when they say they will, but sometimes mother nature messes up everyone’s plans. Really, what can you do? Last month our area received over 50 inches of snow and our office is located on a hill to top it off. So we all work around it as much as possible, work from home when we can and so on. But to receive and ship drawings, FedEx has to be able to get through.

I chatted with our FedEx delivery woman this morning as she was dropping off over 200 pounds of drawings and specs that were a day late due to the weather. We both agreed that the uncharacteristic incessant snow had not been helpful! She hated the delays and the anxiousness that blossomed within her clients when she couldn’t deliver packages to people when they expected them. She was looking forward to her Caribbean cruise in seven days!

She made my day, though, when she said that she didn’t really want to deliver our drawings so early in her route because their weight was the only thing giving her truck traction!


Author: Natalie Nigro

Friday, February 8, 2008

Working GREEN: The Nigro Firm can help you become more Environmentally Responsible


Build Green and Save Your Greenbacks. Let us help you build more green.

We can help you build more efficiently, with less resource use, fewer phone calls to the architect, less pesky RFI forms to fill out and surprisingly few change orders.

It is fantastic that the construction industry is considering the environment more… they are often going “green.”

There are many environmentally responsible builders out there, and you may be one of them, but are you doing all that you can do?

Perhaps you are doing everything you need to do to become LEED certified, such as maximizing your open space, using recycled materials, utilizing an innovative design, creating water efficient landscaping, using low emitting materials and more. So what else can you do?

You can use the Nigro Firm to help you obtain clean and accurate construction documents, so your building goes up fast, with minimal waste and with minimal energy expenditure.

How can the Nigro Firm do this? With a construction document coordination review, that:


  • Dramatically reduces the number of RFIs

  • Significantly lowers the number of change orders

  • Creates the opportunity for tighter bids
This can potentially lower the overall cost and energy required to raise a building by:


  • Preventing material waste by work being done right the first time, less rework

  • Reducing potential crew downtime and travel

  • Reducing energy expenditure for overhead (such as electricity, heat, etc.) while spending time to resolve issues

  • Eliminating the waste of huge quantities of paper for redesign, as well as processing paperwork
It is difficult to quantify exactly how much a construction coordination review can save you in the long run, but you can imagine how much you will gain by having consistent, accurate, and easy to understand construction documents.

Corporate Environmental Responsibility: What to do with drawings, specs and shipping material

If you work in the construction industry and especially if you work with drawings you likely have wondered what would be the best thing to do with the paper and shipping material you accumulate. For example, recently we had one project that totaled around 2000 drawings for just one set! Imagine what the design team and contractors had to deal with.


The best way to recycle is to find another use for an unwanted item without having to expend any further energy (to recycle without use of electricity, fuels, etc.). We do this in many ways here at the Nigro Firm, Inc.:

  • Save and reuse cardboard boxes and packing materials (peanuts, bags of air, bubble wrap, and even scrunched up paper) for reuse in shipping, we rarely have to purchase packing material.
  • Use paper for landscaping. We use extra sets of drawings as weed barriers and soil-amenders in our gardens. To harvest tasty organically grown fruits and veggies with the aid of recycled drawings is a true treat.
  • Reuse. Extra specs that are printed on only one side of a page are cut in half and bound to make scratch paper notebooks. Or extra paper can be sent to local schools for scratch paper or art projects (provided that sharing does not violate a non-disclosure agreement).
  • Recycle by traditional methods. If we can’t find an immediate, direct use, we do our best to recycle as much as possible through normal recycling channels. Each room has a recycle bin for paper, plastic, soda cans, etc and we have two large curbside recycling containers available for pick up bi-monthly.

We also feel strongly about using renewable sources of energy… and have subsequently been getting the majority of our electricity from wind powered sources (Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky Energy program).

We are serious about being green and doing our part to keep our environment as clean as possible.

Author: Natalie Nigro

Corporate Environment: The Corporate Environment at the Nigro Firm is COLD


The Nigro Firm office is located in North Ogden Utah, an area that usually gets quite a bit of snow, but this year the snow fall has been crazy. Our snow removal crew (Natalie and Shirley) have been working sometimes all day to try to keep walkways and parking areas clear. And their backs are feeling it.

The average temperature in Utah for January was 23.9F and the snow fall was 120% over the average, but on the bench, where our office is located, it must be more like 150% with nearly 52 inches of snow! One particular storm dumped 17 inches in one day, good thing many of our reviewers have 4-wheel drive.

Dog - Dog In Snow

Pretty soon, you may have to come dig us out.

Author: Pamela S. Stevens

Monday, February 4, 2008

Pets at Work: Training the Humans

We have two dogs at the office and welcome other furry friends. However, often the humans need more training than the dogs when it comes to establishing a controllable, calm atmosphere for both the humans and the dogs.

Dogs are easily trainable, humans are a bit more difficult. But before a dog is brought to the office it should be able to follow basic commands like sit, lay down, stay, come, no and should be comfortable on and off the leash.

Before dogs are introduced into the workplace, the humans need to understand and be willing to uphold some basic principles in regards to introductions, discipline, food and treats, patience and pack mentality.

Introductions. It is best to bring a new dog to the workplace on slower days, when the humans have enough time to properly introduce the dog to the other dogs and the humans. Also, don't "surprise" the dogs currently there. For example, when I bring my dog in she in on leash and the Nigros require the beagles to settle down and be calm before they are allowed to interact. In the beginning, it may take up to a half of an hour to get all of the dogs to settle down.

Discipline. The hardest thing for humans to do is to restrain themselves from overexciting the dog with how they interact with the dog. Raised voices, slamming items or making other loud noises, or hitting a dog are NOT required. Often, a “sharp” look works, dogs are good at picking up subtle signals. In some cases, you may need to physically block or restrain a dog… but there is never any need to do it in a violent way.

Food and treats. If you know dogs, you know that they will eat just about anything. However, all people around the dog must understand that it is very unhealthy for the dog to overeat and become overweight. So make sure that everyone knows they must consult with the owner of the dog before they give treats to the dog and train the humans to keep their food out of the dog's reach. In addition, keep in mind that most dogs love fetching, pets and scratches almost as much as food, so treats are not necessary to praise the dog.

Patience. As mentioned above, it may take up to a half an hour for dogs to become acclimated to the other dogs, their new surroundings, the new people and the interesting smells. Some dogs may even require several short visits before they feel comfortable and calm in a new environment. If there are problems with having a particular dog around, then address it. Try to figure out what the problem really is and then brainstorm ideas for fixing it, and then give it a try. And if it doesn’t work, brainstorm some new ideas, and try those!

Pack Mentality. Dogs are pack animals and they must understand that the humans are the pack leaders and not a specific dog. When meeting new dogs (or humans), dogs want to know where they stand in relation to the new dog… the pecking order is very important to them. So, you have to make it very clear that the people are in charge…no dog should be allowed to correct another dog (through nudges, barks, growls, or nips), no dog should demand attention over another dog, no dog should claim a space as its own, etc. The key is for each human to know that they are the boss (at least when it comes to human-dog relationships) and the dog will do what they want. In most cases, just believing that will give the human the proper body language and energy for the dog to know what to do. Dogs can sense and in some cases, even smell human emotion. So it’s important not to be fearful, timid, apprehensive, afraid, powerless, etc. If you are, the dog will be in control!

We believe that the benefits of having our furry friends in the office out weigh the effort involved in teaching them (and the humans) how to be good members of the team! I mean really, how could you look down at their sweet faces and not smile?

Boo at Work


Author: Natalie Nigro and Pamela S. Stevens