CEO Message - Fall 2020

Where did the summer go? The last 2 months seemed to fly by! At home, my family finally celebrated a pandemic wedding and I got a fantastic new son-in-law! My daughter chose wisely! We enjoyed a post-wedding ceremony dinner with a small group of 15 family members. It was a weekend we’ll never forget with our special wedding masks as souvenirs.

Like most of you--my work days are very long, but we now have clarity on 2020 and what we must do for 2021 to keep all of our Partners working and keep TD growing in a very tough economic cycle. Texas and Arizona have come off their peak infection rates for COVID-19 and TD is also seeing lower infection rates. Our communities and nation continue to grapple with RACISM-20 and I can see baby steps forward on the long road ahead. Inside TD your leadership team continues to learn about systemic racism from wise counselors and each other through reading and dialogue. We are committed to continuous improvement so that TD can be a positive example for others. 

Your company will have a very good Q3 financial result and our projections for yearend are currently solid at 3.3% operating income on about 10% less revenue than our original budget. Construction backlogs are relatively steady, but we are having to fight hard for every new booking. Our new work is not all located where we want it to be, which will continue to require many of us to travel, but the overtime and per diem will ease the pain of being on the road. Tighter cost estimates will require all our collective wisdom and great planning to squeeze all the margin that we can from every job. Thank you for planning your work and working your plan--while embracing change and new ideas.

We are investing more time and money in our future capabilities than we ever have before. This will position us for long term strength to capitalize on opportunity as we come through the pandemic.  Most of this investment is in our new Enterprise Software Project (ERPr) which will go live in early February. It will simplify and transform our execution and accounting in all aspects of our business from marketing and sales to operations and finance. We are also making big investments in PROCORE project management software and many of our Construction Technology tools from estimating and engineering to fabrication and construction. The world is changing and we all have a lot to learn to keep up!  Hold on to your seats!

After a really tough July and August, where COVID-19 positive cases were increasing, our TD rate has slowed to about 3 positive cases a week.  We have had a total of 154 positive tests since early March, with most of those being traced to exposure outside of TD.  We are blessed to have had only 2 very severe cases that were in ICU for weeks. PROSO has been working thru the loss of Luis Boch after a long battle due to COVID-19 complications.  Thank you for your support of the Luis’ family and his 2 sons who are also TDPartners.  Our prayers for strength and peace were felt by the Boch family.  TDCares has also been able to assist over 100 Partners who have been severely impacted by the pandemic with an average award of about $1200 each.  Thank you for your support of TDCares through your payroll deductions or PPT donations. 

My own journey to learn about the history of racial injustice and systemic racism in our country continues to move forward. It has not been easy, and I am regularly shocked by what I did not understand and what I am learning. We continue to have regular dialogue with my direct reports to learn from each other and explore ways that each of us and TD can do better. The latest resource that I want to share is a YouTube channel by Emmanuel Acho titled“Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man."  It was recommended to me by my kids and friends at TD.  It is well worth your time and contains many powerful lessons that come in bite size chunks of 30-60 minutes---much easier than taking on a book like "Stamped," which is also excellent and available as an audio book too. 

Thank you for your disciplined adherence to our safety protocols and your hard work that continues to create value for our customers. The virus has not changed, so please do not let your guard down.

Let me close with a grateful heart. In spite of all the difficult daily news in our world, we have much to be thankful for! We are still providing essential services in the greatest country I know of, working in a company where Partners care about each other, and very few of us are experiencing a severe medical impact from the disease. Our partnership is strong and getting stronger through these difficult times.  

I hope you get some backyard time this weekend with close family to enjoy these new fall temperatures.

Make it a great day for someone else!  Stay Safe. Stay Above the Line. 
#TDStrong!          

Sincerely,  
Harold

Bonus Thought!  The 7 Commandments of COVID-19 Leadership Amidst Soul-Crushing Tumult  (From Tom Peters)

•  Be Kind.
•  Be Caring.
•  Be Patient.
•  Be Forgiving.
•  Be Present.
•  Be Positive.
•  Walk in the Other Person’s Shoes.