Here at Powerhouse, we take safety as a top priority. Over the past several months, like most, we had to shift and pivot to align with the changing times. We recently had the opportunity to interview Sue McCarty, our Senior Vice President of Operations, to get the inside scoop on how Powerhouse has maintained safety in our remodel and refresh projects amidst a pandemic.
Our world drastically changed at the onset of COVID-19. Despite the challenges Powerhouse endured, when it came to completing our remodel and refresh projects, one thing remained: our company’s foundation – People, Process, and Technology. Powerhouse took an agile approach and pivoted by implementing strategies in these three core areas to keep employees and customers safe. Let’s take a look at how Powerhouse became stronger than ever to take on the challenges of tomorrow.
People – Keeping Employees and Customers Safe
Here at Powerhouse, we believe in creating partnerships and “raving fans.” In a pandemic, that means doing everything we can to partner with our
clients on COVID protocols. Sue explained that our safety managers got to work on a manual that outlined everything Powerhouse would require to prevent the spread of the virus, including barricading off areas, wearing masks and gloves, and even implementing temperature checks. By closely following these guidelines alongside the guidelines laid out by our clients, we were able to continue your projects while preventing the spread of COVID. In fact, Sue explained that our field employees are still following these COVID protocols, as we understand that your remodels and refreshes should not bring about worries of spreading the virus. Powerhouse worked tirelessly to keep your businesses looking better than ever while maintaining the safety of your customers and employees.
Process – Implementing Processes to Ensure Safety
Preventing the spread of COVID is a process, and luckily at Powerhouse, creating effective and efficient processes is 
one of our specialties. Powerhouse works with many essential businesses, meaning when our world seemingly stopped, many projects couldn’t. That’s when Powerhouse got to work implementing processes that were sure to keep everyone safe. “We put a checklist in place,” explained Sue, “[so] every single day the team would have a safety meeting and literally check a box” for every protocol item and person. By taking a proactive approach and quickly reacting when necessary, Powerhouse successfully completed a multitude of projects, prioritizing safety in each and every business we entered.
Technology – Utilizing Technology to Prevent the Spread
Constant, quick communication has always been a priority at Powerhouse, and this became ever so important once COVID hit.
Utilizing our best-in-class technology, Powerhouse integrated our COVID protocol safety checks into our digital platform. Just as our project managers can see our project milestones within our portal, they can now see the results of the safety checks every day, allowing them to be responsive to any issues and quickly pivot if need be. Connectivity between our field employees, project managers, as well as our clients became the key to ensuring safety, none of which would have been possible without our top-tier technology systems.
Project Spotlight – Persevering in a Pandemic
While discussing safely persevering during a pandemic, Sue could not help but rave about a major remodel program for a big-box retailer that Powerhouse recently had the honor of leading. Beginning in June of 2020, Powerhouse completely gutted and reinstalled an entire section of each store – 253 stores in fact – all while following COVID guidelines and maintaining safe work environments. Powerhouse was determined to finish the project and was happy to jump the necessary, constantly changing hurdles if it meant ensuring your safety and success. Sue was excited to say the program was a success on several levels. “Great program, raving fan of a customer, the team knocked it out of the park during some difficult times of transitioning through COVID,” Sue exclaimed. Now the client has a fresh new space in each store that is sure to draw in the customers, and the safety of their employees and customers was never compromised along the way.
Help us make a raving fan out of you!
Start a project with Powerhouse, and we’ll stop at nothing to prioritize YOUR safety!
