Getting to Know Our New Senior Consultant, Paul Griese

Wheaton Sprague Building Envelope is pleased to announce the hiring of Paul Griese, as Senior Design Consultant for our Building Envelope Consulting Division. Paul hails most recently from a position as Project Manager for Fabbrica where he managed unitized curtain wall projects with material sourcing from international vendors, involving major developers, architects, and top envelope consultants. His past experience includes nine years with Curtain Wall Design Consulting.

Paul comes to Wheaton Sprague with nearly twenty-years' experience in the commercial construction industry, including a background in design consulting collaboration with architects; technical consulting and dispute resolution for general and subcontractors; property condition reports to precede renovations and real estate purchases; forensic investigations and litigation support; thermal analysis of new and existing buildings; and incorporation of building science principles to new construction and remediation projects.  He background further includes general contracting, manufacturing, and industrial engineering. Paul has a special personal interest in research and development of building envelopes integration with mechanical systems.

Paul's educational background includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and an M.S. in Business from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Hartford.  Additional training has earned a BECxA Building Envelope Commissioning Certificate from the University of Wisconsin. He has received Solar Thermal training from Schuco, and PermaBarrier Air Barrier and PrePrufe Waterproofing Training from W.R. Grace, as well as NFRC Approved Calculation Entity training. Paul uses skills in AutoCAD and SketchUp for technical drawing, THERM and WUFI for thermal analysis, and Infrared Imaging and Blower Door for Field Testing and investigation. Paul is a past member of the Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA),

When not at work, Paul's life revolves around his family: His wife, Jody, and his active four-year-old daughter Kate, whose plethora of activities include dancing, gymnastics, swimming lessons, birthday parties, co-op preschool and the like.

A former avid whitewater kayak paddler, until he injured his shoulder and had to have it surgically relocated, Paul had the Eskimo roll down. Now, post-injury, it's flat-water only.  Paul has sea kayaked with his wife on Prince Edward Island (PEI), Nova Scotia,  Mystic (CT); and whitewater paddled on the Upper Hudson, Beaver and Fish Creek Rivers in New York, the Westfield and Deerfield Rivers in Massachusetts and some creeks in Connecticut.

Paul loves to eat Swiss chard and kale on the first week of his CSA farm share, but not so much on the fourth week. While on vacation in Norway, Paul was urged to try whale, and was told his had passed due to natural circumstances. Whale is not a dish he would recommend, nor would he consider trying it a second time.

Other than Norway, other travel spots he’s enjoyed include PEI, Nova Scotia, St. John USVI, Ireland, England, Germany / Belgium, Sweden. His claim to fame outside of the industry is that he was once able to dunk a basketball.

Paul enjoys repairing his antique home from the 1830's. He has replaced the single pipe steam radiators with hot water baseboards, and done several window restorations. Solar rooftop panels and a kitchen makeover were hired out. He's also into making hard cider & beer.

As for how he feels about building envelope consulting? Paul says he loves to help a design team get to the best envelope system for the project, and then see it through testing, install, and commissioning. He also likes to stop leaks in buildings, and gain the confidence of the clients that their problems will be taken care of.

Vice President Mark Coulis had this to say about the hiring of Paul Griese to his team. "The recent addition of Paul Griese to our building enclosure consulting staff brings all the more value to our clients that seek specialist expertise in this realm.  Prior to joining our firm, Paul was a design consultant at another leading building envelope consulting firm where I had worked.  Paul is truly a building enclosure expert in façade claddings and enclosures all types.  During his career, he has achieved remarkable success with design, condition assessment, and construction administration functions.  We are delighted that Paul has joined us, and are confident that he will continue to fortify our mission to be the best at what we do.”