In the early 1970s, Canyon Construction founder Deva Rajan began to mentor Chris Avant — a young carpenter exposed to historical restoration and green building who showed strong leadership skills. Eventually, Rajan groomed Avant to lead the already successful company. Canyon Construction is known for high-end custom homes, remodeling, and historical restorations and as a leader in green building. In 2009, Avant converted the oldest building in Moraga (circa 1912) into the company’s LEED Platinum headquarters.
• Avant uses the Web-based management programs to set clear accountability standards for staff and plans to move all the company’s processes to the Web. He uses Web-based Smartsheet for scheduling, Constant Contact for marketing, Procore for construction management, and Salesforce.com for CRM.
• He meets regularly with colleagues, architects, and green building pros to discuss project management and building industry trends.