Interview: Peter Taylor

The construction industry is a multi-faceted business that consists of experts in a number of different areas. From laborers to engineers, it takes a team of deeply skilled individuals to see a project through from inception to execution. But amongst the pool of talent, it is rare to find someone who has sampled all of the hard hats the world of construction relies upon, especially one that has done so with such trail-blazing success. Peter Taylor is one of those unique industry leaders.

Growing up in Maine, Peter began his career path on a typical track. After graduating from college, he lived in Minnesota where he pursued his MBA. It didn’t take him long, however, to realize he wasn’t moving in the right direction. He just knew there was something else he was meant to be doing.

While seeking his master’s, Peter got hired as a laborer on a job site in downtown Minneapolis. He was familiar with the trade and enjoyed it, having spent summers in high school and college taking on such jobs. The satisfaction he found in the work he was doing quickly began to take hold and because of this, Peter decided to change course on his future plans.

Doors quickly opened for the hard-working young man. The superintendent he reported to at the time enlisted Peter’s help doing bar charts to schedule the subcontractors and once he proved successful at this task, he found himself in the role of project engineer. From there, the layers of responsibility began to accumulate.

Highlights on Mr. Taylor’s resume include nearly 20 years spent in his early career with PCL Construction Services and afterwards, with Watershed Partners, Inc. (WPI), a company he formed with Steve Nulsen in 1997. His roles have varied from project manager to district manager to division manager, and more, and distinguish him amongst his colleagues as a man who can quite literally do it all. Peter maintains his focus on “solidifying relationships with clients, working with a good team and seeing job(s) to completion.”

It’s likely the very reason why he’s had such a strong partnership with Dickinson Cameron for all of these years. Having met Frank in the late 90’s as they worked on a project for Ralph Lauren, the two formed a fast friendship based on their like-minded approach to the business of “just wanting to work to fulfill clients’ needs.” In Frank’s words, “Peter can best be described as a consummate construction industry professional. He’s known in the industry as being ‘tough but fair’, advocating for his client but always willing to listen and take all sides and points of view into consideration.” With collaborations spanning the country from Boston to Honolulu, DCC and Peter have worked on projects from Polo Ralph Lauren to Chanel. With a client list that reads like a who’s who of luxury retail tenant construction, WPI, according to Frank, is the ultimate Owner’s Representative, and Peter has been a big part of that groundbreaking movement.

Despite being a power player in the world of development, Peter humbly sees himself as a “construction person.” And while absolutely defining the term jack-of-all-trades, he relishes the fact that he built a family-style business and a team where the “satisfaction of doing a job well done” is everything.