Robert Law

Bob Law has been estimator and chief estimator for the Pankow companies for almost three decades. The first in a long line of university graduates to be hired from Purdue University, Charlie Pankow’s alma mater, Law earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering. Since then, he has been actively engaged in the university’s civil engineering and construction management programs as both an enthusiastic alumnus and a representative of his firm.

Law received his “baptism of fire” as a field engineer on the construction of the massive (410,000 square feet) office building constructed for the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company in San Francisco. Alan Murk was his superintendent. The project was one of the early development efforts of Charlie Pankow and Russell J. Osterman, who had left Peter Kiewit Sons’ with Pankow when the former formed Charles Pankow, Inc. (CPI), in 1963, and the telephone company had given them an incentive for early completion. The Pankow team completed the project 90 days ahead of schedule; the development entity earned a substantial windfall profit, as PT&T had agreed to begin leasing the building ahead of the agreed date.

Law spent much of the next five years in Braintree, Massachusetts, where CPI enclosed, renovated, and expanded South Shore Plaza, a regional shopping center that had opened in 1960. The mall was one of several that Pankow either built or modified for Winmar, the real estate arm of Seattle-based SAFECO Insurance, during the 1970s and 1980s. Law arrived on the job site as a newly promoted project engineer and returned to southern California as a superintendent.

Law’s return from the East Coast coincided with the sharp national recession engineered by Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Given the dearth of work in southern California, Law remained in the Altadena office, where he assisted Thomas D. Verti in estimating jobs. In 1982 the company created the position of estimator and assigned Law to the role. In 1988 Law was named chief estimator. He has worked in that capacity since then.

In 1998 Law was named vice president of Pankow Operating, Inc., the general partner of Charles Pankow Builders, Ltd.

Law has served on the industry advisory council at Purdue University, advising the School of Engineering on tailoring the curricula to meet the needs of the design and construction communities. He has also taken the opportunity on many occasions to speak to students about careers in civil engineering and construction management.