Empowered CM LLC | Commercial Construction Management

What we do.....

Construction Management

Empowered CM provides commercial construction management services ranging from pre-construction and conceptual estimating to operations management, training, and data integration. Decades of translatable experience deliver mindful solutions — from improving everyday processes to navigating the most challenging situations.

619.730.8575 | info@empowered-cm.com

Open office space delivered under Patrick Willette's leadership

Who we are.....

Patrick Willette LEED AP, Principal

Patrick's path into construction started on the tools, not behind a desk — he left school as a young man to work in the trades, and that hands-on grounding earned him a shot at Operations that reshaped the rest of his career. Over four decades since, he has moved from Project Manager to Operations Manager, Regional Manager, Project Executive, and ultimately Vice President of Construction, building a successful San Diego regional office from the ground up.

Along the way he has delivered work across Government, 5-Star Hospitality, Institutional, Manufacturing, Class A Tenant Improvement, and Life Science. Projects from a $20M design/build life science facility to prestigious law offices, 16-floor campus renovations, high-security buildout for the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Passport Office.

He has negotiated multimillion-dollar construction claims with the State of California, mentored generations of project managers and superintendents, and was named a 2023 San Diego Business Journal Leader of Influence in Commercial Real Estate. What ties it all together is an understanding of this industry earned in the trenches — knowledge he brings to every client relationship and every project he leads.

Why Empowered CM?

We believe in empowering builders with key principles and experiences to bring meaningful change to their business models — resulting in enhanced profitability and growth.

Initiative

I learned early on that the distance between ignorance and knowledge is far shorter than the distance between knowledge and execution — and four decades in this industry have proven it true again and again. I've watched a raw, newly trained project engineer run circles around a seasoned project manager, and I've watched veteran professionals, armed with all the right knowledge, stall out on tasks that should have been simple. The difference rarely comes down to experience or credentials.

"It comes down to initiative — the willingness to act."— Patrick Willette, Principal

Experience

Forty years in construction, starting on the tools as a young man who traded a classroom for a jobsite. That start earned me a shot at Operations, where I moved into project management and, over time, into senior leadership roles including Vice President of Construction. Along the way I've worked across Government, 5-Star Hospitality, Institutional, Manufacturing, Class A Tenant Improvement, Life Science, and, most recently, 300,000 SF of "Electrification" including Heating Hot Water and domestic Hot Water hosted in New Air Handling Units — a breadth of experience that means I've likely already solved a version of the problem you're facing now.

Strategic Solutions

Not every challenge can be solved with a cost/benefit analysis — some of the greatest value comes at no cost at all. Kindness is one of them. Strategic problem-solving often isn't about having more data; it's about stepping back with a less invested, more objective perspective to cut through the noise and ask the question everyone else missed or was unwilling to voice.

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