Five Questions with Matt Swann, Senior Superintendent
In the latest installment of our Five Questions Q&A series, we get to know Seattle senior superintendent Matt Swann.
Matt brings field leadership experience across some of Lewis’ most technically demanding projects: multi-phase, multi-building corporate work and highly specialized life sciences facilities. He has a reputation for watertight logistics plans, deep trade partner relationships, and cultivating a jobsite culture that people gravitate toward.
While growing up, Matt’s dad taught classes at the carpenters union hall in Chehalis and drove to Seattle to work as a carpenter foreman. Matt followed in his footsteps, first joining the industry as a journeyman laborer before transitioning to carpentry and rising to superintendent.
In this Q&A, Matt talks about the importance of communication to any successful job and why the old superintendent stereotype is long overdue for retirement.
Q: What misconceptions might people have about superintendents?
A: There’s an old stereotype about a superintendent being the guy with a coffee in his hand pointing at stuff and losing his cool. The new-school superintendent listens to people — colleagues, trade partners,
other key stakeholders — and makes sure that great ideas are implemented. I like to disarm people with humor and honesty.
Q: What’s your approach to field leadership?
A: As a superintendent, we set the tone. It’s important people see we have a good team dynamic in the office and that we have our eyes on the prize. If we’re firing on all cylinders, when we onboard trade partners, they fit into that puzzle. A huge part of this job is routing communication between trade partners and the owner and creating systems that keep it flowing. You can’t assume people will communicate.
In the latest installment of our Five Questions Q&A series, we get to know Seattle senior superintendent Matt Swann.
Matt brings field leadership experience across some of Lewis’ most technically demanding projects: multi-phase, multi-building corporate work and highly specialized life sciences facilities. He has a reputation for watertight logistics plans, deep trade partner relationships, and cultivating a jobsite culture that people gravitate toward.
While growing up, Matt’s dad taught classes at the carpenters union hall in Chehalis and drove to Seattle to work as a carpenter foreman. Matt followed in his footsteps, first joining the industry as a journeyman laborer before transitioning to carpentry and rising to superintendent.
In this Q&A, Matt talks about the importance of communication to any successful job and why the old superintendent stereotype is long overdue for retirement.
Q: What misconceptions might people have about superintendents?
A: There’s an old stereotype about a superintendent being the guy with a coffee in his hand pointing at stuff and losing his cool. The new-school superintendent listens to people — colleagues, trade partners,
other key stakeholders — and makes sure that great ideas are implemented. I like to disarm people with humor and honesty.
Q: What’s your approach to field leadership?
A: As a superintendent, we set the tone. It’s important people see we have a good team dynamic in the office and that we have our eyes on the prize. If we’re firing on all cylinders, when we onboard trade partners, they fit into that puzzle. A huge part of this job is routing communication between trade partners and the owner and creating systems that keep it flowing. You can’t assume people will communicate.
Matt (second from left) poses with teammates in front of a recently-completed Lewis life sciences project.
Q: What caliber of field leaders does Lewis bring to projects?
A: We have exceptional foremen, for example, because of how we set up our company structure and treat one another. We train everyone to develop the next generation. What you get is a motivated
group of people who learn to pay attention to the details and act as mentors, because they know the path forward is through their teammates’ success.
Q: What’s your approach to building a great logistics plan?
A: As a superintendent, I like things in order. My brain just works like that. Starting out as a laborer and carpenter gave me the foundation. I worked side by side with every trade, from day one to closeout, and I heard exactly what each crew needed from the one in front of them and from the one behind them. That was a perfect training ground and that’s where the sequencing instinct comes from.
One of Matt's recent projects involved converting 32,000 square feet in Fred Hutch Cancer Center's Eastlake Building (E3) and 18,000 square feet in the Thomas Building (D5) into flexible wet labs supporting cancer research.
Q: Communication boards are one of your calling cards. What are they?
A: Uncertainty is what generates complaints and stress from building occupants. So we give them a window into our work with physical boards or even email updates: here’s what’s happening over the next three weeks, here’s what you might hear, here’s why. Building users aren’t living in our world but they’re curious. So after seeing the boards, they may no longer have the question, and they may not go to their manager, and their work doesn’t get interrupted. Keeping people informed minimzes impacts.