TE Taylor Erwin
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Shopify Toronto executive lounge with the CN Tower framed through curved glass
620 King St. · Shopify
Owner-side Construction, Capital Delivery & Technical Workplaces

I deliver complex technical workplaces from pre-construction through closeout.

Owner-side construction and capital delivery leader with 15+ years across technical workplaces, infrastructure, hospitality, and global site deployment. I build the delivery systems, teams, controls, and contractor accountability needed to move complex projects from ambiguity to operating assets, including Shopify’s $500M, 1.9M sf workplace portfolio through 400% headcount growth.

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$500M
Capital program
1.9M sf
Portfolio
400%
Headcount growth
40+
Multidisciplinary team led
Career
01

From field execution to owner-side capital delivery

From reading drawings on jobsites to building the delivery system behind 400% growth.
2007
Kiewit
Field engineer · lead estimator
Heavy civil estimating and field engineering across complex infrastructure, including a $40M hydroelectric powerhouse and a $46M New York City bascule bridge. Built the field discipline to read the work, challenge assumptions, and hold contractors accountable.
2012
PlanMac
Project manager · contract admin
Owner-side project management and contract administration across buildings, transit, bridges, roads, and municipal infrastructure, from tender and inspection through change management, claims, approvals, and closeout.
2017
Food Dudes
Director of RE Development
Directed high-stakes custom restaurant builds end to end — concept, financing, permitting, design, construction, and operation. Led Sara, a Victorian house gutted into a $2.1MM, 50+ seat, 5-star restaurant.
2018
Shopify
Sr. Real Estate Project Manager
Built Shopify’s capital-delivery function from the ground up. Led a $500M, 1.9M sf workplace portfolio from pre-construction through closeout during 400% headcount growth.
2025
JetX
Chief of Ops & Expansion
Real estate strategy, site deployment, and physical delivery for an AI robotics platform expanding across North America, LATAM, Europe, and APAC, including feasibility, permitting strategy, partner coordination, and launch readiness.
02

What I bring to complex capital delivery

The build-side reference checklist, pre-construction through handover.
Pre-construction & estimating
Built Shopify’s pre-construction and estimating discipline from zero, turning ambiguous growth requirements into executable scopes, bid packages, GMP strategies, VE decisions, constructability reviews, and executive-ready budgets, with estimating experience across $3M to $1.5B pursuits.
Technical workplace systems
Led technically dense workplace scopes including commercial kitchens with Type I hoods, high-capacity exhaust and MUA coordination, AV and acoustics, server and IDF rooms, redundant power, supplemental cooling, elevated power density, integrated security, life-safety systems, and operationally sensitive workplace infrastructure.
GC selection & contracting
Owned GC and vendor strategy from RFQ through award, including pre-qualification, bid leveling, scope normalization, contract structure, exclusions and qualifications review, owner-direct versus GC-held scope decisions, and long-lead vendor management across GMP, lump sum, CM-at-risk, and design-assist models.
Owner-side commercial controls
Owned cost governance across concurrent GMP and lump-sum projects, protecting scope, contingency, and owner position through trade-level budgets, pay-app review, PCO-to-CO substantiation, claims posture, forecast-to-complete reporting, and executive cost-risk communication.
Commissioning & closeout
Drove operational handover of technical spaces, coordinating systems commissioning, kitchen exhaust and MUA balancing, BMS, life safety, TCO/CO, as-builts, O&M manuals, warranties, owner training, deficiency closeout, and final turnover so projects moved cleanly from construction into operation.
PM team & delivery systems
Built the PM team and delivery operating model behind Shopify’s $500M portfolio, setting technical standards, playbooks, project controls, risk reporting, executive visibility, and governance rhythms that helped PMs manage complex work with clear cost, schedule, scope, and contractor accountability.
03

Selected capital delivery work

Number-led, owner-side delivery across campuses, fit-outs, and hyperscale.
JetX site
Site deployment
JetX factory floor
Factory
JetX · site deployment & global expansion
JetX Site Deployment Platform
45+ sites International deployment platform AMER · LATAM · EMEA · APAC

As Chief of Operations & Expansion, I lead real estate strategy and physical delivery for an AI robotics platform scaling across international markets. My work spans market and site selection, feasibility, lease and partner coordination, permitting and AHJ strategy, preliminary design, cost planning, technical requirements, and launch readiness.

I built the delivery playbook behind the platform: repeatable budgets, site criteria, vendor and GC qualification, project controls, partner accountability systems, and commissioning standards so each new site can move from concept to operating asset with speed and consistency.

M Moser workplace lounge with city views and a custom mural
Workplace lounge
M Moser workplace-strategy floor plan — community, focus, workshop, mind-hive, wellness, and flex zones
Workplace-strategy plan
M Moser · workplace advisory & design-build
M Moser
Fortune 500 Design-build LEED

Workplace strategy and design-build advisory for Fortune 500 clients — translating brand and culture into space, with LEED-oriented sustainability delivered end to end.

The Well, Shopify HQ, Toronto, at dusk
The Well, Shopify HQ campus
Shopify HQ · flagship campus pre-construction
The Well
$130M 255,000 sf 25,000 sf kitchen & servery

Led pre-construction and delivery strategy for Shopify’s $130M, 255,000 sf flagship campus, including a 25,000 sf commercial kitchen and servery, restaurants, bars, event and community spaces, executive-facing amenities, technical infrastructure, Class estimates, constructability review, RFP, GC selection, contract strategy, cost governance, and executive alignment.

620 King Street West tower exterior from the street — King Portland Centre, brick base with curved glass tower
620 King St W
620 King social kitchen and servery
Social kitchen
620 King rooftop terrace over Toronto
Rooftop terrace
620 King mural meeting room
Mural meeting room
620 King · Shopify HQ · occupied-tower delivery
620 King
$48M 180,000 sf 15-story, occupied

At-risk occupied 15-story tower turned around under budget and on schedule — a full commercial kitchen, social spaces, and rooftop terrace woven into a live workplace.

San Bernardino hyperscale fulfillment center
Hyperscale fulfillment center
Shopify · hyperscale fulfillment delivery
San Bernardino
$250M 1.1M sf 575k packages/day

Delivered TI and design for a hyperscale fulfillment facility, including technical infrastructure, MEP coordination, high-tech equipment integration, costing, vendor negotiations, and delivery planning across 1.1M sf.

Sara restaurant dining room — minimalist white interior with banquette seating and vaulted ceiling
Sara · dining room
Sara restaurant custom oak millwork, curved cabinetry, and bar shelf
Custom millwork
Sara restaurant curved banquette dining nook with bay windows
The cave
The Food Dudes · Director of RE Development
The Food Dudes Restaurant Group
$5MM 50+ seat · 5-star Concept to operation

As Director of RE Development, I ran high-stakes custom restaurant builds end to end — concept, financing, permitting, design, construction, and operation. The flagship: Sara, a $2.1MM gut-and-conversion of a Victorian house into a 50+ seat, 5-star restaurant, alongside a $1.2MM food-court build.

Kiewit heavy-civil work — a hydroelectric powerhouse under construction beside the Hamilton Avenue bascule bridge, New York City
Hydroelectric powerhouse · Hamilton Ave Bridge
Kiewit · heavy civil estimating & field engineering
Kiewit
Field Engineering Lead Estimator Heavy Civil

Built technical field discipline at Kiewit on complex infrastructure — a $40M hydroelectric powerhouse and a $46M NYC bascule bridge replacement — the estimating, sequencing, and constructability judgment behind my owner-side leadership.

Shopify Soho skylit brick atrium with tiered seating
Skylit atrium
Shopify Soho cafe space
Café
Shopify Soho podcast studio
Podcast studio
Shopify Soho photo studio
Photo studio
Shopify Soho · retail · NYC
Shopify Soho
$1.5M 8,000 sf Retail · NYC

Flexible retail concept — pop-ups, meet-ups, and workshops — with café, podcast studio, and photo studio; led development, design, build, and reporting.

Additional relevant projects
57 Erb / 85 Willis WayShopify · ON
$15M · 65,000 sfState-of-the-art tech-office fit-out — two 5,000 sf commercial-grade kitchens and serveries (200+ seats), upscale hospitality areas, and structural and base-building enhancements.
Burst Flex Space620 King
$10M · 60,000 sfOffice floors L10–L12 redesigned and built into a 200-person Burst flex / event space — $800K of special art installations, three café spaces, and outdoor areas.
Strategic Think TanksShopify
Co-founderCo-founded “The Future of Work in a Digital World,” a multidisciplinary think tank mapping Humanity, Environment, and Technology with renowned external subject-matter experts.
04

How I lead complex delivery

Complex physical work, under speed and governance.
01
Make ambiguity executable
Turn unclear mandates into sequenced, deliverable plans without waiting for perfect information.
02
Build the operating system
Create governance, reporting, and process that outlast any single project.
03
Surface tradeoffs early
Put real cost, schedule, scope, and risk decisions in front of leadership before they harden.
04
Protect speed and control
Move quickly inside a delivery frame that keeps capital, risk, quality, and stakeholders under control.
Contact

I can deliver your most complex workplaces from pre-construction through closeout, with speed, cost discipline, and control.

Get in touch LinkedIn
Taylor Erwin
Taylor Erwin
California, USA
taylorerwin@gmail.com linkedin.com/in/taylorerwin