About Me

I’m Andy McQuade.
I help people reach their goals.

Andy looking at the camera

When I left my W-2 as Director of Sales at a high-end sustainable building materials manufacturer to launch my business, I expected to spend all my time working with companies involved in real estate to improve their MRO processes.

The pandemic hit less than a year later…I found myself having to pivot and adapt to the “new normal” we found ourselves in.  I fell back on the knowledge and skills I’d developed over the last two decades and started helping other business leaders adapt to keep their organizations running and thriving through the most challenging times in recent memory.

Over the last several years, I’ve provided guidance and insight to VC funded startups, publicly traded companies, global investment banks, international management consulting firms, not-for-profit organizations, law firms, business owners, executives and individuals trying to stay ahead of the pack.

Meanwhile, my real estate clients have avoided, mitigated, and minimized supply chain disruptions and record-breaking cost increases, reduced their overhead and environmental impact, and made more money by using The TCO Method™ to add efficiency and resilience to their properties.

My Certifications
Andy taking notes from a text message

The key to success in business isn't micromanaging people, numbers, and processes...it's about creating and delivering value in everything you do.

Topics I Can Help You With

01.

Leadership

There’s a difference between “leadership” and “management”.  I help leaders.

02.

Strategy

It’s easy to get caught up working in your business instead of on your business.

03.

Sales & Marketing

How you communicate the value your offerings bring to your customer’s business.

04.

Real Estate

I’ve worked with developers and operators for over 25 years to help them hit their goals.

05.

Supply Chain

Your supply chain needs to be a partner in achieving business goals, and not just a cost center.

06.

Operations

Sometimes you can’t do it all without a helping hand to stay on time and under budget.

07.

Sustainability

Add resiliency while reducing operating costs, maintenance, and environmental impact.

08.

The TCO Method™

My trademarked process to minimize The Total Cost of Ownership for real estate.

What Clients Are Saying

My Career Journey

The ARM Companies

Principal, June 2022 – Present

I created the ARM Companies to reflect the pivot I made in my business during the pandemic.  While ARM Procurement Advisors is a great business that has provided great results for myself and my clients, I found myself falling back on skills and knowledge I developed in my career that weren’t related to procurement or real estate operations.

The ARM Companies brand helps me to market services unrelated to procurement that I started doing during the pandemic in a much more effective way.

I’ve done research projects for publicly traded companies, built marketing frameworks for law firms and 501c organizations, done market research and advisory for VC funded startups, been asked to speak to groups of investors on calls hosted by international investment banks, done presentations, speaking, training and more…this type of business activity just fits better under the ARM Companies umbrella, so I made the moves during the summer of 2022 to make it happen.

ARM Procurement Advisors

Principal, March 2019 – Present

In February of 2019, I received a phone call from Mark Benotti, a VP of Conifer Realty who I regularly worked with on their purchasing and capital projects…he just started a newly created VP position at Conifer as of VP of Procurement and Risk Management and wanted to sit down for 30 minutes over coffee.

That 30 minute coffee turned into an almost 3-hour-long conversation on their business and what I’d recommend he do to hit the ground running and improve their situation as it related to his position and their procurement operation.  During that talk, he said something to the effect of “you should be doing this full time”…2 weeks later the LLC was filed, I left my W-2 on April 30th and the rest is history.  Opening a business before I turned 40 was a nice checkmark off the bucket list for me.

ARM Procurement Advisors works with owners and operators of real estate to reduce costs by adding resilience and efficiency to their operations; reducing overhead and maintenance, extending the useful life of their spaces for their tenants between rehabs, reducing risk and improving compliance.  We integrate sustainable business practices into the operation without reducing profitability to drive many of these results.

This is where I developed The TCO Method™ and formalized it in a way that allowed me to write my book and create my educational courses and seminars on the system.

Quora

Partner, Jan 2019 – September 2022

This particular role was more of a social media marketing effort and an outlier on my journey, but one worth noting nonetheless. I took an opportunity to publicly share my industry insight as a subject matter expert and was compensated for content I created on the Quora platform.

This program is still in operation for other parts of the globe, but they ended the program for English-speaking regions and they have moved on to other forms of content monetization.

Pioneer Millworks

Director of Sales, May 2018-April 2019,

In April of 2018, I was approached by a third-party recruiter to interview with a local building product manufacturer to take a newly-created position to help their sales team succeed and grow their revenue, reporting directly to the CEO.

A sustainable and reclaimed wood product company producing flooring, siding, paneling, timbers and other products with a sister company that builds timberframe homes and spaces across the US was a definite change of pace, especially since they were on the road to being an ESOP.

I onboarded and helped develop and enable internal and external salespeople, helped make their Salesforce into a CRM tool that actually helped my team without micromanaging them, helped launch and market two new product lines, built relationships across the nation and expanded my skillsets into areas I didn’t realize I needed before taking the position.  In 12 months, we had over 35% Year-over-Year revenue growth between Q1 2018 and Q1 2019.

Despite being a short-lived stop in my career, running a team scattered across the US and Canada taught me the value of trusting your people and enabling them to succeed by removing roadblocks to their success, giving them the tools they need, and letting them focus on what you hired them to do.

The Home Depot

Territory Commercial Sales Manager, February 2015 – May 2018
District Commercial Sales Manager, February 2010 – February 2015
District Pro Sales Manager, September 2007 – February 2010

In August of 2007 I received a call from a headhunter at The Home Depot who wanted me to interview for a District Manager position over Pro Sales as part of a focus shift happening since Frank Blake took over as CEO earlier that year.  I interviewed, negotiated and accepted the position.

Being brought into that position at 28 years old made me the youngest of my peers by a significant margin and raised some interesting challenges I hadn’t had to deal with on the same level as when I was running stores at 84.  Over the next 11 years,  my district went from seven stores to nine stores and then I picked up a second district while expanding the volume my key customers spent with me over tenfold.

Out of over 210 people nationwide in my role, I finished in the top 10 in the company for key customer volume, maintained the largest volume in my region, and built the largest property-management key account volume in the US and the world.  I was based in a tertiary market but was lucky enough to find and build relationships with clients whose portfolios spanned across 17 states and in total, managed more than 100,000 doors and tens-of-millions of square feet of commercial space.

This company, more than any other, prepared me for larger leadership roles and helped me develop the skills needed to consult for the real estate industry as a career. This position gave me the opportunity to work closely with all levels of leadership in my clients’ companies – from the owners and c-suite to regional and individual managers working across the spectrum of real estate up and down the east coast. I made it my job to understand their business needs and priorities and helped them solve problems in their operations.

84 Lumber Company

Outside Sales, June 2004 – September 2007
Outside Sales Manager, June 2003 – June 2004
Store (General) Manager, May 2002 – June 2003
Co (Assistant) Manager, January 2001 – May 2002
Manager Trainee, November 2000 – January 2001
Part-Time Manager Trainee, May 1997 – November 2000

I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people at 84 Lumber that gave me a shot at my first job…one that ended up being my career.

As a senior in high school I applied and got a job at 84 for the summer…Chris Martin hired me in May and they let me come back the next year after my freshman year of college.  That second summer I ended up with keys, opened and closed when needed, made bank deposits and ran the store on weekends while learning as much as I could about the business. I learned more about work ethic, leading by example, and getting things done from Chris than anywhere else in my twenty-five year career. 

When I got a call about the opportunity to go full time and be a salaried manager at twenty-one, I jumped at the opportunity.  I withdrew from college, took a pay cut per hour to go full time, and less than three months later I interviewed with Bill Myrick (the COO at the time) and became the Co-Manager of a smaller store in the suburbs.  Six months after that, Chris passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from pancreatic cancer, leaving behind his wife and three teenage sons.   I was moved back to his store as Co-Manager, which had become the largest store in New York State, to support the new store manager as he tried to fill some very big shoes.

Before I turned twenty-three, I traveled to Pittsburgh with my girlfriend (now my wife) to interview with the EVP of Store Operations, Frank Cicero, and was promoted to Store Manager of a rural location a few weeks later.

After a year spent completely resetting the store and returning it to profitability, I was offered a position running an outside sales team doing twice the volume my store produced the next city over.  I accepted it, and a year later, when one of my salespeople moved to a new position as a buyer at the corporate office, I saw opportunity and took it.

I worked in outside sales for the next 3 years, working in the field with high-end custom home builders and remodelers, learning the ropes of being an outside salesperson working on commission but also the technical details of construction and remodeling so I could be an asset to my customers instead of just another sales guy trying to take their money.

I owe more to the leaders at 84 that supported me and helped me than I can ever repay, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunities I was given and education I received during my stay there. 

Boards, Commitees & Councils

NAHB 55+ Housing Industry Council

Member, June 2019 – Present

The National Association of Home Builders 55+ Housing Industry Council serves builders and industry professionals who work in the strongest growth segment of today’s housing market: meeting the needs of aging, but vibrant boomers. As the only national organization that focuses on the needs of 55+ residential builders, developers and their clients, we understand the sector. Our members produce housing that will be in high demand now and throughout the next decade. They communicate and collaborate with other 55+ professionals to make deals and valuable business connections as well as discuss industry issues.

The Council provides education programs and networking opportunities for NAHB builder and associate members who serve the rapidly growing 55+ housing market. Council members can take advantage of exclusive industry research (55 Plus Housing Market Index), members-only news publications, a nationally recognized awards and recognition program, regulatory and legislative assistance, and other benefits.

NAHB Multifamily Council

Member, June 2019 – Present

The National Association of Home Builders Multifamily Council represents the specific interests of builders, developers, owners and managers of all sizes and types of multifamily housing, including affordable and tax-credit housing, garden and low-rise apartments, mid- and high-rise apartments, multifamily condominiums, student housing, military and veterans housing, and mixed-use multifamily communities.

The mission of the Council is to provide a forum for members to share ideas and address concerns, and to help members:

  • Build expertise and connections,
  • Advocate for productive building policies and regulations, and
  • Prepare for new opportunities and unexpected problems.

Upstate Building Industry Alliance

Board of Directors, May 2016 – Present

A 501(c)6 sister organization to the Rochester Home Builders Association in Rochester NY, focused on local businesses that provide services to real estate developers, but that don’t benefit from national membership in the National Home Builders Association.

The UBIA is an alliance of builders, contractors, remodelers and other professionals in the construction industry based in Upstate NY. These businesses choose to be a member of an organization that provides networking, education, training and information to be sure they stay informed and up to date on everything from new regulations to newly implemented building and construction codes.

Freedom First REIA, Ltd.

Advisor to the Board, April 2020 – Present

Freedom First REIA, Ltd. is a 501(c)6 not-for-profit organization based in Rochester, NY that provides education and networking opportunities for individuals seeking financial freedom through ethical real estate investing in markets across the US.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, networking and trade organizations across the country suffered heavy attrition and a lack of participation from members due to lockdowns and the inability to adapt quickly to the situation.

I worked with the Officers and Board of Directors to pivot the group in order to maintain their five meeting-per-month schedule despite the lockdowns by:

  • moving meetings immediately to a Zoom-based format,
  • developing a process for hosting and recording the Zoom meetings,
  • creating a repository of recordings behind the organizations’ paywall for members who could not attend the meetings live, and
  • engaging an external marketing firm to handle the necessary social media and website tasks needed for these changes to be successful

While most networking groups completely ceased to function and hemorrhaged thirty to fifty percent of their membership over the 18-month lockdown period, Freedom First’s membership remained flat and grew over ten percent in the first six months after the lockdowns were lifted.  Within three months, in-person meeting attendance was back to pre-pandemic levels and the ability to livestream and record those meetings on location via Zoom for participants who could not attend in-person was maintained.

I also provided guidance to the Board on succession planning in order to create a roadmap for seamless transition of leadership at both the Board and Officer levels.  As a completely volunteer-operated organization, it was vital that the process be simple and that the time requirement of the various volunteers was minimized in order to keep engagement high.

We built roadmaps and purchased equipment and software to enable volunteers to step into the various chairs and roles without a labor-intensive learning curve while establishing transparency and control of Freedom First REIA’s intellectual property and improving the security of the members’ personal information.

My Communities

National Association of Home Builders

The National Association of Home Builders strives to protect the American Dream of housing opportunities for all, while working to achieve professional success for its members who build communities, create jobs and strengthen our economy.

The NAHB represents the largest network of craftsmen, innovators and problem solvers dedicated to building and enriching communities in the US. Operating at the local, state and national levels, the NAHB Federation helps its members gain a competitive advantage through:

  • Knowledge: Offers education and other resources members need to expand their businesses and achieve personal success.
  • Networking: Creates opportunities within a community of home building professionals for members to build key relationships and increase their profitability.
  • Expertise: Develops solutions for members’ businesses through access to experts who provide insight and information.
  • Advocacy: Improves the business environment on Capitol Hill, in state capitols and in local communities by eliminating excessive regulations.
  • Savings: Saves members money through advocacy efforts, exclusive services and products, and the Member Advantage program.

Made up of more than 700 state and local associations, the NAHB represents more than 140,000 members. About one-third are home builders and remodelers, and the rest work in closely related specialties such as sales and marketing, housing finance, and manufacturing and supplying building materials.
 

National Apartment Association

The National Apartment Association is the leading voice for the rental housing industry and as a trusted partner, valued connector and a powerful advocate, committed to serving 141 state, local and global affiliates, over 92,000 members and more than 11 million apartment homes globally.

 

National Real Estate Investors Association

National REIA is the largest broad-based organization dedicated to the individual investor, made up of local investor associations, property owner associations, apartment associations, and landlord associations, representing the interests of approximately 40,000 members across the United States.

U.S. Green Building Council

USGBC is committed to transforming how buildings are designed, constructed and operated through LEED, the world’s most widely used green building system with more than 100,000 buildings participating today.

USGBC’s vision is that buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation. Our mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

LEED certified buildings are proven to save money, improve efficiency, lower carbon emissions and create healthier places for people. They are a critical part of addressing the climate crisis, meeting ESG goals, enhancing resilience, and supporting more equitable communities.  Today, green building has grown into a trillion-dollar industry and USGBC’s members are leading these efforts.

GreenHome Institute

The GreenHome Institute, formerly the Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (AES) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to empower people to make healthier and more sustainable choices in the renovation and construction of the places we live.

During my career, I've had the pleasure of collaborating in different capacities with these great organizations
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