Bryson Reaume, the 34-year-old president and chief executive of downtown L.A. firm City Constructors Inc. co-founded the company in 2003 with several partners, including his dad. Reaume and his father had a hand in the early stages of downtown L.A.’s flirtation with loft culture, completing the Douglas Lofts, one of the first loft conversions in the area, followed by the conversion of the Rowan and the El Dorado loft buildings. Reaume eventually took over the company with his business partner and Vice President Evan Richardson, growing it into a full-service general contracting and construction management firm. These days, he oversees projects ranging from renovating the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood to constructing brick-and-mortar Warby Parker stores and tenant improvements in downtown apartment buildings. We spoke with Reaume about how he keeps up the juggle.
Question: Describe your morning routine.
Answer: I usually wake up at 5 a.m. I try to get up before my wife and kids wake up, and get to the Los Angeles Athletic Club to workout before traffic hits, since I’m commuting from Pasadena. Breakfast for me is usually a banana or something I can eat on the go. I’m in the office at 7:30 a.m.
What does your typical work day involve?
What it’s morphed into in last two years with a lot of big growth is a lot of people management and job site review. I find myself out in the field making sure everything is running properly. In construction, it’s so cyclical that you’re always chasing the next project, so there’s a lot of lead generation and networking and keeping up to date with what’s going on in the downtown core.
What do you like to do downtown when and if you’re not working?
Since I work so much when I’m there, enjoying the downtown core, for me, means lunches. Since our offices are in the Arts District, we go to Zinc Cafe a lot, but I try to make a point to branch out and go somewhere new since there are restaurants opening here all the time. At the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Invention, their new bar there, has a very cool L.A. feel to it.
How do you achieve work/life balance?
Before I had a child, there wasn’t much balance. It was 70-hour weeks for my first five years at company. Then we had our first boy, and it was an eye opener in terms of what life/work balance is. We’ve focused on priorities and I sat down with my family and talked about what’s important going forward in terms of family and business. We see those things as law, simple things like not missing any major events in our child’s life.
Do you encourage your employees to have work/life boundaries, as well?
We try to create an employee-based culture. L.A. is a very work-centric society, but we try to relay that it is OK to work a 40 hour week and go home to your family, to your life. We want people to be in a good state of mind, and I find that people are more productive when they are not working 12 hour days.
How do you make time for your son?
I try to be home by 5 p.m. It’s a constant struggle though. I try not to take evening meetings. I keep my weekends free for him. I keep it simple.
