Our Team
Chris Guard
President
Chris Guard is the founder and President of Guard Construction & Contracting Corp., which he founded in 1993. Chris Guard began his career at Kimmins Industrial Service Corporation where he rose to the position of Operations Manager and Chief Estimator. There he was responsible for daily project operations, including overseeing several superintendents, and project managers. In that time, he completed several large scale industrial, DOT Bridge and commercial demolition projects. With that experience in hand, coupled with a tremendous drive and a solid work ethic Chris Guard has grown the business to where it now has nearly thirty employees and is a trusted industry leader in the WNY building industry. Chris Guard’s vision has the corporation well prepared for future growth. Mr. Guard is an active committee member of the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life for nearly 20 years now. He has successfully chaired the event for four years, exceeding contribution goals, every year.
Henry (Hank) Balling III
Vice President
Mr. Balling has spent approximately forty years working in the construction industry, slightly over five years of that time was spent in Dallas, Texas where he worked as a structural engineer and thirty years as President of Arbour Construction Management Inc. Mr. Balling merged his firm and staff into Guard Construction and Contracting Corp on January 3, 2022. Included in his completed project portfolio are several AIA award winning projects in the public and private sectors all the while working with many clients in the institutional, educational, commercial, industrial and multifamily housing markets. Mr. Balling is an Officer of Guard Construction, Inc. He has directed numerous GC, fast-track, GMP, and (most notably) multiple prime Construction Management as agent to the Owner projects.
Collin Dingwall
Chief Estimator/Lead CPM Scheduler/Project Manager
Collin is built much in the mold of our President (Chris Guard.) Collin has been blessed with a tremendous work ethic. Collin began his career by working in the field working for Guard Construction and Contracting Corp. soon after Chris Guard immediately saw that Collin had many of the same positive traits, he himself had as a young man and so brought Collin into the office fold where he has excelled. He has a detailed mind, and he couples that with excellent team building skills. Collin is fully versed in computerized estimating and scheduling functions that even a decade ago were done long hand. Collin has successfully estimated and/or scheduled millions of dollars' worth of construction projects.
Hank Balling IV
Project Manager / Field Inspector
Hank began his career in the field while working towards, and ultimately graduating with, a degree from the University at Buffalo. Hank now has over 10 years of project management experience. His recent projects include the $4 million historic renovations at Gerard Place, $2 million Early Childhood Facility for Westminster Foundation, and was the $4 million Buffalo Heritage Carousel Roundhouse Project at Canalside. He thoroughly enjoys flying the company drone, shooting with the corporation's DSLR camera/lenses, and/or obtaining images with the corporate FLIR (Forwarding Looking InfraRed) camera at our job sites. DSLR and Drone documentation is key to keeping all project participants informed as to job progress. FLIR Imaging is a valuable tool to document pre-existing areas of concealed conditions concern and/or to view otherwise inaccessible renovation areas and to document as built remediation of such found deficiencies.
Cheryl Martin
Office Manager
Cheryl is the glue that holds the whole team together. Cheryl is a CPA with vast accounting and office management experience. She oversees all Corporate and project specific cost control requirements. Cheryl has been at Chris Guard's side for last quarter of a century now. Cheryl is also expert in public and private sector compliance requirements and documentation related to same.
