b'MEMBER PROFILEbuildings. That [division is] the core of our business.3. Major Projects: Those are projects of around $8-$10 million, to as big as somebody will give us the opportunity to do, and weve got a couple that kind of fit into that category, says Panopoulos. One of them is an applied research centre for Okanagan College, and another is an operations building for the Kelowna airport. Thats a fire hall with administration offices on the upper level, and then a few other associated projects at the airport.Being a smaller company, TKI is able to prioritize the personal toucha factor that Panopoulos believes sets it apart. Everybody says its about people, he acknowledges, but I think we actually deliver on it. We treat our clients with respect, which not every company excels at, and we really do care. If the client has a specific requirementwhether its for their end users, a date requirement or a financial requirementwell figure out how to actually achieve those or die trying. A lot of our work is word of mouth and repeat clients, so it would be very unwise of us to fail on any of those fronts.When asked for an example of TKIs favourite projects, Panopoulos highlights two, and for very different reasons: The operations building at the airport. Working with the airport and City of Kelowna team has been great.TKI CONSTRUCTION The second one is a little more complicated. A few years ago, we did the Child & Youth Advocacy Centre PRIORITIZING THE PERSONAL TOUCH (CYAC) in Kelowna, he recalls. It BY KELLY PARKER was really hard to meet their budget, which we did, but then they asked us if we could shave off almost 10 per cent more. We did that, which allowed T KI Construction is a Kelowna- 1. Maintenance: Anything fromthem to add that 10 per cent back based, full-service buildinggoing in and fixing a door closer,into the project, but it was just what contractor, supporting commercial,to somebodys driven through thethat project actually was that made it institutional, light civil and residentialfront of a store or something, saysso memorable.projects throughout British Columbia.Panopoulos. Small projects, up to say Brandon Panopoulos first launched the$50,000 or maybe a little bit bigger,This is where Panopoulos says that if company with a former business partnerbut more service-oriented and ofhe goes into much detail as to why, he in 2009, when he came to a careershorter duration. might cry. In a nutshell, he details the crossroads with a large contractor, andchallenges that children who have been says that billing was pretty light for the2. Special Projects: Those are from,subjected to abuse face when coming first year before the company started tosay, $20,000 and up todepending onforward for help, and how intimidating find its footing. the complexity of the projectmaybeand downright scary getting that help $10 million, explains Panopoulos.can be, adding to their trauma. The Within that, we do a lot of healthCYAC exists entirely to ease that trauma Currently, TKI has siloed services intocare, municipal government andand make the experience of coming three categories: commercial projectsbuilding smallerforward gentler, with all support 14 SOUTHERN INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION'