Meet Michael Kruse - Director of Sales and Estimating
Meet Michael Kruse - Director of Sales and Estimating
Born in Hawaii, Michael grew up in Arizona and later Orange County, California. With similar interests as his mom who was a mortgage banker, Michael gravitated towards the subjects of math, accounting and engineering. Precise computation has always been natural talent for Michael, and he finds enjoyment from working with numbers. This landed him a mortgage banking job in Los Angeles at a very young age. A short time later, a seemingly insignificant move to Las Vegas to continue his growth in the banking industry is how Michael ended up with a lifelong career in commercial landscaping.
Always a dedicated provider for his young family in Las Vegas, Michael took an extra job as an estimator for a smaller landscape contractor. This chance opportunity really energized him due to the complexity of this role. It didn’t take long for his new managers to notice Michaels accuracy and work ethic at cost estimating. Curious about all thing’s administration, Michael also learned the ropes of project management, materials procurement, subcontractor relations and business development. At that time, Las Vegas was producing some of the most high-profile construction projects in the world, and it was in this ultra-fast-paced and competitive environment he spent 18 years building up his experience. He devoured one project at a time, assessing high-level risk for three separate firms and was very successful in that market.
Unfortunately, booms don’t last forever, and eventually things in Las Vegas slowed down. Michael was no small talent and it took a place as big as Texas to contain him, so it was a natural fit when he and his family set off to Houston, Texas and moved here permanently in 2009.
Michael joined the EARTH FIRST team four years ago, when it was needing an experienced and proven industry leader to help keep up with the rapid growth in Houston. He was a perfect fit for EARTH FIRST’s culture of high standards. Michael has adapted to various roles as the company’s needs have changed. In his current position as Director of Sales and Estimating, he is responsible for bringing in new projects as well as managing a sales team, estimators and construction engineer. He is an essential resource for our project managers and his rapid comprehension of complex projects has helped EARTH FIRST take on new opportunities in development projects of most any size.
When he’s not managing multi-million-dollar projects, Michael enjoys spending time at home with his family, wife Amber and daughters Alyx and Hadley. Riding his road bike for exercise, relaxation and service is one of his favorite weekend activities and he has participated in the MS150 on multiple occasions. This two-day ride raises over $13 million annually and is the largest fundraising event for the national MS society. Community service is one of Michael’s most admirable qualities, and he quietly helps support not only MS, but many other causes for people in need statewide.