2020 Year in Review: Greg Beeman, Associated Builders and Contractors of MA

What was the most difficult part of working during the pandemic of 2020? We are a membership organization and so it was keeping up with all the COVID requirements for construction, and in general, in order to keep our members informed. 

What aspects of working from home have you enjoyed most? After the initial adjustment, it was learning that I can function in the virtual world. As a technology dunce, I was impressed that I could (somewhat) hold my own!

What was your greatest professional accomplishment or most notable project,

deal, or transaction in 2020? It was being part of a great staff team than immediately pivoted from being a largely in-person membership organization to a virtual one. As soon as the pandemic hit, we were up and running with three webinars a week and we continued at that pace through the early months. It was crazy to pull off, but very rewarding to see that the information was helping our member firms. 

What are your predictions for commercial real estate in 2021? From what I hear from our contractor members, I would say activity will generally be fairly strong overall, but we’ll be seeing flux as things continue to play out from COVID. As one contractor said, it’s a very safe bet that the tenant fit up market will be very strong as many organizations are rescaling. 

What is the best advice you have received, and who was it from? It was to take a breath amid all the craziness and look at how some of the forced change can be helpful long term. It came from a longtime contractor who has been through several recessions and industry ups and downs.