Justin Dall’Osto

Iconica Construction Project Manager in Spotlight for Work in Sustainablity and Safety

To deliver top-quality buildings to our clients, we attract professionals who have something extra to give.  Whether it be a special interest, certification, or that can-do personality, everyone of our people has something special that they bring to our Iconica family.  So, it’s no surprise when one of our team attracts media attention.  Here is The Daily Reporter shining a light on one of our construction project managers, Justin Dall’Osto.
Dall’Osto takes his knowledge of sustainability, safety to Iconica
Justin Dall’Osto first felt the pull of the trades in middle school.
“Wood shop,” Dall’Osto laughed.
By high school, he had built a futon, a dartboard holder with routered edges and a dining room table with inlays and collapsible legs.
“I was in wood shop class almost every semester in high school. Looking back I wish I had done more, but I really took advantage of it. And it got me to where I am today.”
Today, he is a construction project manager with Iconica in Madison, where he’s running projects as small as 530 square feet and assisting managers on builds as big as 15,000 square feet, with budgets ranging from $30,000 to nearly $2 million. He even has a hotel project on the horizon.
It’s a move nearly 15 years in the making for Dall’Osto, who started in construction working on single-family homes for a residential contractor in 2002. He later worked with Habitat for Humanity through AmeriCorps, helping build more than 30 homes in the Milwaukee area before joining WasteCap Resource Solutions, a non-profit that provides waste reduction and recycling assistance to construction companies and other businesses.
“I’m definitely well-rounded,” Dall’Osto said. “And it was great to help others, but I missed building, having a tangible end product. That really satisfies me.”
So, after three years with WasteCap, Dall’Osto joined Iconica in March — an opportunity he hopes will allow him to share what he’s learned in the non-profit sector with his counterparts in commercial construction.
He’s starting small, building on practices already in place at Iconica and hosting an open forum Q&A with all of the company’s project managers to gauge their experience with job site sustainability and how they might incorporate more.
It’s a move that not only benefits the environment, but Dall’Osto said, can improve on-site safety as well.
“Job site sustainability and safety almost go hand-in-hand,” he said. “Where you’re recycling you have a clean site, and where you have a clean site, you have a safe site. It’s something that ever company should be aware of.”
The Daily Reporter: What surprises you most about your work?
Justin Dall’Osto: As the old saying goes, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun.’ It seems like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done.
TDR: What would you change about the construction industry?
Dall’Osto: It would be great to see the construction and demolition industries hit true zero waste goals. Around 40 percent of our nation’s landfills are made up of construction and demolition waste.
TDR: What do you consider your biggest achievement so far?
Dall’Osto: To be working in the industry that I went to school for!
TDR: What’s your biggest extravagance? What do you splurge on?
Dall’Osto: Home brewing and wine-making.
TDR: What device could you not live without?
Dall’Osto: Power tools. I love doing DIY projects outside of work and wouldn’t be able to accomplish as many of them without power tools.
TDR: What song is in heavy rotation for you right now?
Dall’Osto: ‘Wagon Wheel,’ by Old Crow Medicine Show.
TDR: What object in your office means the most to you?
Dall’Osto: With starting at Iconica (just over) two months ago, I would probably say my computer, as it holds so many answers to get the job done right.
TDR: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Dall’Osto: You know.

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