Matt Perhatch AGC Superintendent of the Year Content
We are pleased to announce that our very own Matt Perhatch was named the 2022 AGC Build Washington Safety Excellence Awards SUPERINTENDENT OF THE YEAR!
Matt has been at the heart of what safety means at Aldrich since he joined the organization in 2004. Leveraging his 35 years of hands-on construction industry experience, Matt spent a decade as a superintendent managing some of Aldrich’s most complex healthcare projects. Since his promotion to General Superintendent and Safety Officer in 2017, Aldrich’s safety records have continued to improve.
Images from left to right: (2022) Matt presented with the AGC Build Washington Superintendent of the Year Award, (2011) Matt was Superintendent for the Seattle Children's Hospital (SCH) Sleep Center and Behavioral Health Clinic at Overlake Medical Tower, (2012) Construction team meeting at Franciscan Medical Building at St Joseph Medical Center.
Guiding Corporate Safety
Matt has been instrumental in reimagining Aldrich’s corporate safety program over the past five years. Under Matt’s leadership, our Washington Department of Labor and Industries experience modification rating (EMR) has been consistently trending downward from 2019 to 2022 and is currently the lowest it's been for Aldrich in more than a decade. With Matt’s guidance and company investments, Aldrich has improved its safety protocols and overall performance. Our safety record speaks volumes relative to the success of enacting these practices. Working in complex and challenging occupied healthcare environments, Aldrich has had zero OSHA 300 time lost for three years in a row in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
Safety Innovations
In addition to championing new programs and protocols, Matt has shown a real knack for safety ingenuity. He built an “infection control lab” to test and improve the construction of new infection control barriers and openings. His research and developments have led to highly efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality barriers, and we have proudly implemented these innovative ICRA barriers using temporary sliding ‘barn doors’ on several of our job sites. This method has helped save space and avoid incidents typically associated with traditional swinging doors. It has also enabled us to incorporate negative air pressure systems to protect adjacent occupied spaces from construction activities and debris.
Matt’s creativity also supported us through COVID-19 protocols. Matt designed and fabricated an economical, portable, potable-water sink unit to allow for regular handwashing during construction activities within occupied facilities. His innovative design was produced at a fraction of the cost of those sold on the market by other local contractors and has proven so effective, that they are now used at almost all of Aldrich’s jobsites.
Matt was the genius behind our innovative barndoor infection control barrier system. To demonstrate to our teams how easy it is to install and its effectiveness in infection control Matt built a mock-up of the barrier system at the main office.
Built out of necessity during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Matt designed, fabricated, and delivered cost-effective, portable, potable-water sinks to our jobsites.
All-in, All the Time
When Matt isn’t busy innovating effective safety tools or implementing new programs, you’ll find him walking job sites and spending time with the project team as well as the public. Matt makes himself available to facility staff and project teams at all hours to assist in resolving issues during off-hours and visits each project once a week or more. Matt offers himself up in support of each Aldrich project team, lending a hand, and helping teams identify and implement creative solutions to construction challenges.
In every way, Matt embodies our A+ Values and demonstrates leadership, teamwork, and unwavering support for safety in our industry. Matt strives to spread and reinforce Aldrich’s values and prioritization of safety. He helped create Aldrich’s A+ Approach to Quality and recently wrote a letter to his colleagues and industry peers celebrating Construction Safety Week. Read all about it!
A family man first and foremost, Matt and his son, joined project manager MariJane Daumen and friends at 2021's UW vs WSU Applecup game in Seattle.
Matt with the A+ Team at K1 Speed for a team building "no agenda just for fun" event in 2018.
Matt's winning, all-in attitude and drive to succeed has been instrumental in developing our cohesive company culture. His colleagues had this to say about him:
“I’m so happy for Matt Perhatch to get recognized for his efforts and amazing talent. Aldrich is very fortunate to have Matt leading our safety and field teams. He’s incredibly positive, dedicated, and creative when it comes to solving construction industry challenges that we all face. We are blessed to have Matt on the Aldrich Team.” ―Vice President John Schuh
“Matt has been both a calming and resolution-oriented influence on some of my more challenging projects. He has the intuitive, instinctive ability to rally a group of people around a common goal that aligns with a high level of quality control, but also the correct path forward to meet the entire project team’s needs. He is a true leader, and the epitome of what Aldrich stands for.” ―Matthew Schultz, Project Manager
“I had the privilege of submitting Matt for this award to the AGC. I feel lucky to have been at the awards ceremony for Matt to receive this much-deserved honor and I am thrilled for him!” ―Marketing Coordinator, Lara McNulty
Congratulations, Matt, and thank you!
We’re all incredibly proud of you and honored that the Washington construction community recognized your commitment and achievement. We count ourselves lucky every day to have such a passionate and dedicated General Superintendent and Safety Officer.
Left to Right: Around the table at the 2022 AGC Build Washington Awards at the Museum of Flight were Superintendent Randy Carlson, Lead Estimator Nate Jensen, CFO Brett Lantz, VP John Schuh, President George Ward, Superintendent Christian Sanchez, Superintendent Chris Stearns, and Superintendent of the Year Matt Perhatch (photo by Lara McNulty.)