People That Build Your Homes | 2

Magis Men and Women

She Said The Quiet Part Out Loud | Stephanie

Engineer Steph, without hesitation

When Steph was asked whose job she wanted in her first interview, she answered without pause:“Neil’s.”

There was no challenge in her voice, no bravado. Just a calm certainty. For most, it would have sounded outrageous. For Steph, it felt like the natural order of things.

From the start, she stood out. I first saw her with Clarence, a cantankerous foreman, only a few weeks in. The two moved in sync, almost like Daft Punk—two halves of the same rhythm. It was less about style, more about substance: she was present, precise, and entirely at ease in her role.

Steph has a way with people. Our men describe her as empathetic, committed, and unpretentious. She listens, which is rarer than it should be, and because she listens, she earns trust. With trust comes momentum. Things move forward. Problems get solved.

She is steady and reliable. That steadiness inspires confidence. You feel it in the room, the way you feel balance when a structure is true.

So when she said “Neil’s,” it didn’t land as arrogance. It landed as possibility.

At Magis, we look for people who don’t just do their jobs but quietly redraw the map of where they could go. Steph is one of those people. And if her empathy is any indication, she won’t just get to Neil’s chair—she’ll take others with her.

Update: Steph successfully turned over an important project, and was made a Junior Partner in 2023. In 2024, she became the first graduate of our interpreneurship program where she established StephPM, a project management company built on similar values as Magis. Magis engaged her company as an independent auditor of all Magis sites.

Magis Men and Women

The Man Who Accidentally Stopped Salary Advances | Gener

Most men on site spent Mondays hungover. Gener spent them straight.

He never asked for a salary advance. In the early days of Magis, that made him an anomaly. His peers would run out of cash before Wednesday, having spent most of it over the weekend, much of it on booze. Gener kept his house in order. In 2016, we quietly followed his example—we banned salary advances altogether. If he could live within his means, maybe the rest of us could too.

Monday mornings have been more sober ever since.

Gener has always been the adult in the room. Even when he first joined us in 2014, you felt safer when he was around. Perhaps it was the posture (he was once a security guard). Maybe it was the stare—steady, unblinking, the kind that makes you believe he’ll do exactly what he says.

Today, Gener is one of our most trusted foremen. But titles don’t define him. He’s still one of our best carpenters, producing furniture-grade output. Architects with impossible standards—one a modernist icon, the other a perfectionist interior designer—request him by name. They know his work: cabinet edges that meet like they were always meant to, corners that feel inevitable. There is pride in every line.

And yet, Gener never went to carpentry school. He picked it up in 1989 at a fit-out firm (by chance the premier fit-out firm in the country then), after stints as a diesel mechanic and port security. A pivot so unlikely, it borders on absurd—except the proof is in the output.

During one of Manila’s many lockdowns from 2000-2002, half his team was down with COVID. He still turned over the site - a complex one - on time. Unsurprisingly, the client was delighted. We weren’t surprised.

At Magis, we talk about ending “construction hell.” Men like Gener are how we do it. He doesn’t make noise. He makes order. He makes trust visible, tangible.

Some men leave a legacy in concrete and wood. Gener left one in company policy.

Update: Gener officially retired in 2024 to dedicate more time to his family, Redila and Jeremae. However, this retirement was brief. Feeling the absence of action, Gener came back after six months and is now working as a site consultant. He remains as capable as ever.

#magisconstruction #magis #celebratinglabor

Magis Men and Women

Clarence: Results, Relationships, and the Long Road to Masbate

Two weeks ago we got the kind of call no one wants. Clarence got a heart attack.

The news hit hard. Clarence is one of those people everyone roots for. I arrived to find three of his men waiting outside the MRI room. They were swapping theories about cigarettes, booze, and the wear-and-tear of age. They weren’t wrong. But I kept thinking: Clarence has always carried more than his share of stress.

He works with immense pride. Yes, it’s a cliché. But it’s a cliché because it’s true. His output shows it. He obsesses over timelines — never more so than every December, when he insists on being home in Masbate for Christmas with his daughter. The Philippines can be a hard place for results-driven people; every step forward meets resistance. Clarence simply pushes harder.

When they wheeled him in, he apologized for worrying us. He said he felt fine. He wanted to get back to work. And he wasn’t bluffing. That’s Clarence: the same man in bad times as in good. If we could give him Employee of the Month every month, we would.

What makes him exceptional comes down to three things:

1. Leader of Men Clarence knows leadership is a balancing act: results and relationships. Sacrifice relationships, and no one follows you to the next project. Sacrifice results, and you’re just spraying deodorant on a deeper problem. Clarence’s teams are small, tough, and effective. He shows up with fire in his belly, but enough empathy to keep the room together. It’s why he has been a stellar PIC in one of the riskiest roles to fill.

2. Initiative and Drive He started as a steelman in an affiliate company before joining Magis. He mastered trade after trade, making himself indispensable. By 2014 he was a foreman; by 2020, a PIC. He is quick to mention that he stopped after high school. But his technical knowledge and judgment make that detail invisible.

3. Purpose-Driven Clarence’s daughter, Khrezel, is eleven and the top student in her school in Masbate. He lights up when he talks about her. Every December, no matter the project pressure, he makes sure he’s home for Christmas. He is determined that she will finish school. We’ll do what we can to help.

Here’s to Clarence — a strong recovery, and a proud father. Khrezel should be proud of him too. We all are.