Milford, Connecticut · Construction Operations

Blaze Graham

Director of Business Operations·Electrical, Solar EPC & Commercial GC

I build the operations behind growing contractors. 15+ years of experience — from Army sergeant to superintendent, project manager, and Director of Business Operations for a Connecticut electrical contractor and solar EPC that grew from $10M to $70M.

$70M
Revenue scaled, from $10M in 2023
4×
Headcount growth — 30 to 130 employees
19.1%
Gross profit on a $10.1M project P&L (2022)
15+
Years of experience, field to executive
About

Field-tested. Systems-minded.

I'm a construction operations leader with 15+ years of experience across field supervision, project management, and business operations for electrical, solar EPC, environmental, and commercial general contractors in Connecticut and the New York metro.

Since 2023 I've been the first dedicated operations leader at All Electric Construction & Communication and AEC Solar, where revenue grew from $10M to $70M and headcount grew more than fourfold. My job is the machinery underneath that growth: project controls, revenue and labor forecasting, contract administration, municipal compliance, the solar service department, and the systems that let a 130-person contractor run like a larger one.

Before that I ran a $10.1M market P&L at 19.1% gross profit as a Project Manager, directed workforces of up to 60 as a Superintendent with Pavarini Construction (Structure Tone), managed $7M+ project budgets with a commercial flooring contractor, and ran environmental remediation projects from initiation through closeout. I'm a U.S. Army veteran — Sergeant, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Warrior Leadership Course graduate (top 10%).

What I do best

Turn a growing contractor's chaos into cadence — reliable forecasts, clean contracts, staffed crews, and systems people actually use.

How I work

Field-first and numbers-driven. I've carried a radio and a P&L, so the systems I build are designed around how crews, PMs, and owners actually operate.

Currently targeting

Director or VP of Operations roles with general contractors, electrical and specialty contractors, and solar EPCs in Connecticut and the NY metro. On-site or hybrid.

Selected Work

Systems I've built for a $70M contractor.

01

Proprietary operations platform

Nine live modules plus a client portal: projects with change order and RFI logs, manpower scheduling and labor capacity, estimating, financial forecasting, HR, service dispatch and O&M agreements, solar fleet monitoring, and executive dashboards. Designed and built in-house as role-based, audited, company-owned software with no per-seat licensing.

02

Solar service department

Wrote the SOP for service calls, O&M, QA/QC, and commissioning; designed the dispatcher role; implemented ticket → dispatch → verification → billing controls and a client portal — turning O&M into systematized recurring revenue.

03

Fleet monitoring platform

Roughly 110 solar installations across SolarEdge, AlsoEnergy, Fronius, SolrenView, and eGauge, with rule-based production and offline alerts that convert directly into service tickets.

04

Forecasting and capacity planning

Company-wide billing forecast plus a Smartsheet/Excel workforce capacity model with live dashboards — used for PM capacity, crew gap analysis, and staffing plans.

05

Contract intake automation

A Make.com and Claude pipeline that reads executed contracts and routes the data to Smartsheet, Dropbox, and Slack, alongside automated project kickoff, PO generation, and recurring material ordering, and a Slack-triggered site-services ordering workflow.

06

Municipal and public-sector compliance

RFP responses and project compliance documentation — submittals, transmittals, and state and municipal participation and hiring requirements — for K-12 and municipal solar PV projects across Connecticut.

Experience

From the field to the executive team.

All Electric Construction & Communication LLC / AEC Solar LLC

Milford, CT

Electrical contractor and commercial solar EPC serving municipal, K-12, institutional, and commercial clients across Connecticut

Director of Business Operations

December 2025 – Present
  • Direct business operations for a two-brand electrical contracting and solar EPC organization that scaled from $10M to $70M in revenue and from 30 to 130 employees since 2023; lead project management, warehouse operations, and the solar service department.
  • Designed, built, and deployed a proprietary operations platform — nine live modules plus a client portal covering projects, change orders and RFIs, manpower and labor capacity, estimating, financial forecasting, HR, service dispatch and O&M agreements, solar fleet monitoring, and executive dashboards — as role-based, audited, company-owned software with no per-seat licensing.
  • Built the solar service department into a systematized recurring-revenue operation: wrote the service SOP (service calls, O&M, QA/QC, commissioning), designed the dispatcher role, and implemented ticket-dispatch-verification-billing controls with a client portal.
  • Built a solar fleet monitoring platform covering ~110 installations across SolarEdge, AlsoEnergy, Fronius, SolrenView, and eGauge, with rule-based alerts that convert directly into service tickets.
  • Own revenue, backlog, and labor forecasting: built the company-wide billing forecast and a Smartsheet/Excel workforce capacity-planning system with live dashboards used for PM capacity, crew gap analysis, and staffing plans.
  • Oversee contract administration across all active portfolios — AIA contracts, MSAs, change orders, subcontractor and vendor agreements — including analysis and formal correspondence on a compensable-delay claim under AIA A232.
  • Lead municipal and public-sector RFP responses and project compliance documentation — submittals, transmittals, and state and municipal participation and hiring requirements — for K-12 and municipal solar PV projects.
  • Spearheaded company-wide AI and automation adoption, including a Make.com/Claude contract-intake automation that extracts executed-contract data into Smartsheet, Dropbox, and Slack; automated project kickoff, PO generation, and recurring material ordering, and designed a Slack-triggered site-services ordering workflow.
  • Own talent acquisition, performance management, and organizational design with ownership — recruiting and interviewing across PM, project engineering, field, service, and warehouse roles — as headcount grew fourfold.

Operations Manager

January 2023 – December 2025
  • Joined as the company's first dedicated operations hire; built project tracking, reporting, and coordination systems from the ground up as revenue grew seven-fold.
  • Implemented Salesforce CRM with API integrations, unifying pipeline, project, and service data across departments and eliminating manual reporting gaps.
  • Deployed Slack as the company's internal communication platform with structured channel workflows; standardized SOPs and document templates, and supported project managers with submittals, transmittals, RFIs, and change orders.

RW Dake Construction

Wallingford, CT

Commercial construction and general contracting firm with offices across the Northeast and Southeast

Project Manager

November 2021 – January 2023
  • Held full P&L accountability for the Connecticut market — all projects, personnel, warehouse operations, and estimating.
  • Delivered $10.1M in project volume at 19.1% gross profit in 2022 through disciplined cost control and schedule management.
  • Recruited and managed 30+ field personnel; built a competitive subcontractor network from scratch in a new market.
  • Established a formal partnership with the Minority Construction Council to meet project participation requirements.

Pavarini Construction (Structure Tone)

Stamford, CT

Commercial construction management and general contracting

Superintendent

September 2019 – November 2021
  • Directed on-site workforces of up to 60 across concurrent commercial projects within the Empire State Realty Trust portfolio, with accountability for site operations, budget, and schedule performance.
  • Negotiated with subcontractors to resolve budget deficiencies and protect margins; built and maintained project schedules to deliver on time.
  • Led owner and designer meetings; managed RFIs, documentation, and stakeholder communication across multiple active projects.

M. Frank Higgins & Co.

Newington, CT

Commercial flooring contractor

Project Manager

January 2018 – September 2019
  • Managed project budgets of $7M+ with full accountability for cost control, procurement, and on-time delivery.
  • Wrote and distributed bid packages; allocated subcontractors, suppliers, and company labor across active projects.
  • Maintained working relationships with contractors, design teams, and end users from kickoff through closeout.

Union Flooring Installations, LLC

Watertown, CT

Project Manager / Estimator

October 2016 – January 2018
  • Managed estimating, subcontractor procurement, and scheduling across commercial flooring contracts in Connecticut; coordinated field crews and client relationships to deliver on time and within budget.

AMC Environmental

Woodbridge, CT

Environmental Project Manager

April 2014 – October 2016
  • Managed environmental construction and remediation projects from initiation through closeout — budgets, subcontractor coordination, regulatory compliance, and client communication across concurrent projects.

United States Army — Sergeant

December 2005 – December 2012
  • Led and trained up to 30 soldiers; completed a twelve-month deployment to Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom); awarded the Army Achievement Medal and Army Commendation Medal.
  • Graduated Warrior Leadership Course in the top 10% of class.

Education, Training & Certifications

  • OSHA 30-Hour Construction Safety and Health Certification
  • U.S. Army Warrior Leadership Course — graduated top 10% of class

Systems & Tools

Procore · Smartsheet · Salesforce CRM · Foundation construction accounting · Microsoft 365 (advanced Excel, Word, Outlook) · Slack · Dropbox · Make.com · Claude AI · Replit (AI-assisted software development)

Skills

Where I add the most value.

◈Construction Operations

  • Project Controls & Scheduling
  • Cost Control & P&L Accountability
  • Subcontractor & Vendor Management
  • Workforce & Labor Capacity Planning
  • Estimating & Bid Strategy
  • Safety & Quality Management (OSHA 30)

◉Commercial & Contracts

  • Contract Administration (AIA, MSAs, Change Orders)
  • Municipal & Public-Sector Compliance
  • RFP Strategy & Proposal Development
  • Revenue & Backlog Forecasting
  • Solar O&M & Service Operations
  • Owner & Client Relations

⬡Systems & Technology

  • Procore
  • Smartsheet
  • Salesforce CRM
  • Foundation Construction Accounting
  • Microsoft 365 & Slack
  • Make.com Workflow Automation
  • AI Adoption & Automation
  • AI-Assisted Software Development (Replit, Claude)
Contact

Recruiters and hiring managers — let's talk.

I'm open to Director and VP of Operations conversations with contractors in Connecticut and the New York metro. The fastest way to reach me is email; I typically respond the same day.

Milford, CT · Connecticut / NY metro · On-site or hybrid