Fast 15: Brandon Wall

A fourth-grade assignment sparked Brandon Wall’s interest in design and led him into a career in construction.

The assignment was to draw the floor plan and elevations of his house, and his love for design quickly developed. “While kids were out at recess, I was inside drawing with a ruler and mechanical pencil,” he said.

His fourth-grade teacher, Janice Price at Bellview Elementary School in Rogers, was “one of the most influential adults in my childhood, and the greatest teacher I had through school,” he said. “I didn’t quite realize until today how much good has come out of that class assignment.”

While he was a teenager, Wall studied architectural design at NorthWest Arkansas Community College and worked for Harrison French & Associates for about two years, completing construction documents for Wal-Mart Stores and Sam’s Club. He was HFA’s youngest employee at the time — “hadn’t even graduated from high school yet,” Wall said. In 2006, he not only graduated from high school, but he also earned an associate degree with an emphasis in architectural design and became an Eagle Scout.

Wall also was interested in construction, and in the summer, he would work on framing houses for a residential builder and found a lot of satisfaction in it. In 2013, he earned a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Brigham Young University.

After graduating, he moved to Las Vegas to work for Burke Construction Group. As an assistant project manager, he oversaw more than $7 million in commercial construction projects. He worked there for more than two years before joining Nabholz as project engineer in early 2016.

In February, he was promoted to assistant project manager and is part of the team overseeing the $167 million project to build Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale. Wall earned the company’s first remote pilot certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. This allowed him to operate drones for jobsite construction updates, which would previously require an airplane to achieve similar results.

Other technology he’s implemented includes the use of Google Cardboard and 360-degree cameras.

Wall is a member of the Centerton Planning Commission and elders quorum president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He enjoys old hit-and-miss engines, hobby farming and canoe building.