As we continue to celebrate Kipcon’s 40th anniversary and the return of warmer weather, join us in welcoming (even though they’ve been here for a while now) Kipcon’s newest team members!
This month, I interviewed two members from our Inspections Team, Jason Roman and Carlos Mayor Lares. Jason joined the Kipcon family two years ago, and Carlos has been with us since September of 2025.
Jason is one of our project managers and Carlos performs Kipcon’s Third Party Inspections.
From Property Management, Landscaping, & Real Estate to Inspections
“I never thought about working for an engineering company,” Jason told me when I asked him if he’d always been interested in a career in the engineering and inspections world. “I had extensive experience inspecting properties from owning my landscape and construction company. I was also familiar with the work from my role as a property manager, but no, I never thought about working for an engineering company specifically. When the opportunity to join Kipcon arrived though, I thought it was a culmination of all my past experiences into a new opportunity.”
Throughout my interviews so far this year, I’ve noticed that while all of us at Kipcon might not have come into our roles with the exact experience needed to work for an engineering firm, our unique experiences made us the right people for the company seats we currently find ourselves in. We may have started in totally different fields with very different ideas of what work would look like, but in the end, we found ourselves here.
The new opportunity that Kipcon was offering was exactly the change Jason was looking for. “After almost 25 years in the landscape, real estate and property management fields, I was looking for a different challenge. I was already familiar with Kipcon’s positive reputation in the industry and having administered quite a few Reserve Studies with other companies as a property manager, I always felt Kipcon was the industry leader in Reserve Studies and was excited to join the team.” (Don’t forget to request a proposal for your community’s Reserve Study today!)
Jason Roman with Karen Thomlinson (Director of Inspections) and Jenn LaGuardia (Proposal Coordinator & Project Administrator).
Expectations Meet Reality
The opportunity to work on a wide range of inspection sites and projects was what initially drew Carlos to Kipcon. “My experience so far has lived up to that. Getting out into the field and seeing different properties firsthand is exactly what I hoped for when I joined the company.”
One of the nice things about working for Kipcon is that the experiences we hope to have while on the job, those that may have even been promised to us during our interviews, become our day-to-day. Like Carlos, I know this from my own experience. During my initial interview, I was told there’d be some writing involved with my role (my dream!), and while it took some time, here I am, writing a monthly blog.
We’re lucky. The Kipcon Team gets to do what we love and find new passions along the way.
The Kipcon Team at our February 2026 State of the Company Meeting. Carlos Mayor Lares can be spotted in the burgundy sweater and baseball cap (“I’m not a picture person,” he told me. But I still had to sneak him in.).
The Day-to-Day Challenges
In a perfect world, our jobs would be perfect. We’d love everything about everything we did throughout our days. In reality, every job has its challenges. Jason told me, “Some of the challenges of the position are dealing with a lot of different points of contact and waiting for information. Dealing with multiple people to gather that information can create delays and cause confusion.”
If your community is gearing up for a Reserve Study, and you want to minimize possible delays or confusion, check out Kipcon’s Five Tips below. Jason will thank you.
Clear Communication to (hopefully) Avoid Challenges
For Carlos, “One of the primary challenges is maintaining seamless communication with Project Managers across various sites. Because schedules move so quickly, there are occasionally gaps where an inspection might not get on the calendar. I’ve found that being proactive with communication is essential to ensure we’re on-site at the right time to conduct our work effectively without delaying the project.”
At Kipcon, we pride ourselves on being open and communicative with our clients. We value our relationships. The Kipcon Team prioritizes the work, and we do whatever it takes to ensure that the process from proposal request to project completion is as smooth as possible for our clients.
On the Road Again
Bumps along the way are inevitable, but there are greater stretches of finely paved highway for the Kipcon Team than not.
For Jason, one of the best parts of the job is being able to travel. “I love driving to different parts of the region I have never been to.” Kipcon has projects all over the country. We even have a Florida office (shoutout to Jennie Shannon who represents Kipcon in the Sunshine State!).
When I asked Jason if he’s had a favorite project so far, two came to mind. “My favorite project so far was when I traveled to Texas to complete a Reserve Study for a new Toll Brothers community. I also recently completed a large project in Manhattan that was part of the historic Hearst Publishing building, which was the largest single building project I had been assigned to. The project gave me some great experience on how to approach a high rise building of that size. I also gained knowledge on some of the more complex systems that are incorporated in large buildings in New York City.”
Carlos also expressed a similar sentiment. “I enjoy traveling to various sites and seeing a project transition from an initial plan to a completed building with the final landscaping in place. Watching that progress in real-time is incredibly satisfying.”
Kipcon offers us a chance to experience new things. There are new sites to inspect and new projects to tackle. If we’re involved in one department but curious about another, we’re encouraged to explore our interests. Like Jason told me at the beginning of our interview, the opportunity to work at Kipcon is an opportunity that can’t be missed. It’s the incredible destination at the end of the long journey. It’s the place we come back to when all of our inspections have been completed.
Connect with Kipcon
If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Kipcon’s newest faces in person, now’s your chance to reach out! For all your community’s Reserve Study and Inspections needs, you can call us at (800) 828-4118 or contact us here.