How Jaynes Sets “True North”

When We Do Everything Right, Profit Is a By-Product

In navigation, there’s a distinction between “magnetic north” and “true north.” A compass relies on the earth’s magnetic field, which is always moving and shifting as the planet’s molten core churns.

But the true North Pole sits at the very apex of the planet, the peak where the imaginary rotational axis of the earth intersects the surface. True north is a fixed position, unwavering and specific, around which all other directions can be oriented.

The concept of true north applies to a lot of other things in life, too. Not in the sense of magnetism, but in the idea that some things will always be true, regardless of outside circumstances and scenarios. By aligning yourself to those truths, you’ll always be able to find your way back to the right path despite whatever setbacks you encounter.

At Jaynes, we call those truths The Jaynes Way, and they’re not just values we post on a wall somewhere. They’re who we are.

What Are You Using as a Compass?

Our mission is to build places, lead people, and grow the capabilities that will bring about a prosperous future.

In some ways, you could say our “true north” is profitability. After all, we are a business, and we need to pay our employees, to grow our operation, and to expand into new territory to remain competitive. In order to do the best quality work, we need to be able to pay top talent and use the best technology and techniques for the job, and none of that is cheap. Like the North Pole, profitability is a real, fixed point to move toward.

But that’s just a small part of a much bigger picture. The way we see it, our first priority is building relationships, leading the construction industry to new heights, and growing the communities we call home. We believe if you do what’s right – for the project, for the Owner, for Jaynes – that the profit will come. Money becomes a by-product of our greater purpose, which is doing the best job we can for the people we serve.

Staying True

None of us are equipped with perfect direction sense. For all of human history, we’ve needed to rely on external tools to help us find our way, from navigating by the position of the stars to using a compass to point north. Values can be like that, too.

Every day, there are challenges and setbacks to overcome. It’s always necessary to course correct for operational excellence. Otherwise, you can swiftly find yourself wandering off the path and getting lost in the wilderness. In construction terms, that might look like cutting corners on building materials, rushing a project to completion without the appropriate close-out procedures, or sacrificing safety measures.

We don’t believe those are acceptable solutions. And we take the time to build better processes to prevent those shortcuts from ever being necessary. Then we share our wisdom and insights with others in our field, because raising the bar for quality across all construction work in the Southwest is more important to us than being protective of our knowledge.

Jaynes is a leader. As general contractors, we lead our own teams and orient different crews of subcontractors toward a shared purpose. We lead our Owner clients toward greater understanding of the scope of a project and their expectations at every stage. And we lead our industry forward with improved processes and redemptive innovations that help to raise the quality and efficiency of work – for everyone.