Building More Than Projects: Dana Wells’s Approach to Leadership
Large construction projects bring together owners, designers, contractors, and workers whose responsibilities intersect throughout delivery. Keeping those responsibilities aligned involves decisions about budgets, schedules, quality, and safety. How those decisions are handled can carry consequences for the people doing the work and the communities surrounding it.
Dana Wells, CEO of EPC Consultants, believes that broader responsibility should remain part of project leadership. His approach to owner advocacy and oversight draws on a career that began in ironworking and later moved into management and consulting. Through EPC, he aims to bring the lessons of that experience into how projects are planned, reviewed, and delivered.
Wells’ connection to construction began through his father, an ironworker who helped him enter the trade after they reconnected when Wells was in his late teens. Working in the same industry gave them a way to rebuild their relationship. His father eventually worked for him during the final decade of his career, and Wells’s son and grandchildren have since entered the trade.
That family history gives the work a personal dimension. Wells connects his time in the field with his understanding of the effort required to turn plans into completed structures. Moving into management added another perspective on the decisions affecting that work. He believes both experiences inform how he considers the pressures facing project teams.
Continued learning has remained part of that progression. After attending college later in life, Wells continued taking courses through universities, community colleges, and online providers. He brings the same openness to mentoring, encouraging people to seek guidance when a responsibility is unfamiliar.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying, ‘I don’t know,'” Wells notes. “I don’t see that as a weakness at all.” He considers a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty valuable in work where assumptions can influence subsequent decisions. Within EPC, he wants that attitude to support a culture in which experience and continued learning remain closely connected.
His approach to project risk follows a deliberate sequence. “Long before you open up a set of blueprints, you open up the contract,” he explains. Wells begins by establishing the obligations involved, then reviews specifications to understand the design intentions before examining the drawings. He believes that preparation can help clarify responsibilities and bring potential difficulties into view earlier.
The same emphasis on clarity shapes his thinking about commercial relationships. Wells recognizes that project participants need to earn a profit and sustain their businesses. In his view, those goals can coexist with responsible delivery, provided individual financial interests do not displace shared commitments. He sees transparent communication and agreement on responsibilities as important parts of that balance.
An assignment as an owner’s representative strengthened his interest in advocacy. Wells explains that he joined a troubled project late and became concerned about whether the owner’s interests were receiving sufficient attention. The experience reinforced his belief that owners need clear information about decisions, obligations, and emerging problems. It also helped shape the role he wants EPC to fulfill.
That responsibility extends beyond the owner in Wells’s thinking. He believes major developments should consider how temporary construction workforces may affect nearby housing, services, and daily life. He favors addressing those questions early and considering what the completed facility will mean for the community after construction ends. Outreach, in his view, should reflect those continuing concerns.
Within project delivery, Wells places similar emphasis on accountability under pressure. He cautions that tight schedules may encourage teams to rush routine checks or inspections. His concern is that stated commitments to safety and quality need to remain visible in everyday decisions, especially when work falls behind.
“I take everything that works, and I try to improve on it,” Wells observes. He applies that attention to problems as well, considering whether an approach needs refinement or a more substantial change. He wants EPC’s team to share that willingness to examine decisions and carry useful lessons forward.
“What I want is EPC to be an industry name,” Wells explains. He hopes owners will consider the company when discussing advocacy and oversight early in development. For him, building that reputation depends on carrying personal principles into organizational practice, including learning continuously, communicating responsibilities clearly, and keeping the people affected by a project in view.
