In Canada’s Garden Province of Prince Edward Island, Arsenault Bros. Construction has expanded from humble roots to provide full-service drywall construction across Atlantic Canada. With 40 years in business as of 2023, the company is both a shining example of, and a testament to, the regional can-do spirit.

Like many businesses, Arsenault Bros. started up to satisfy a community need. After living in Alberta for several years, Carl and Anne Marie Arsenault returned to their native Prince Edward Island in the early ‘80s. “Dad had learned the drywall trade out in Alberta, and while he was home he saw an opportunity to start a commercial drywall company here on the island,” says son and current company president, Lucas Arsenault.

At the time, any building project involved off-island companies, and Carl resolved to change that. After recruiting several of his brothers and friends, Carl formally founded Arsenault Bros. in 1983.

The fledgling company expanded slowly but steadily, growing from five carpenters to an estimated 30 when Lucas returned to the island, having followed in his parents’ footsteps to Alberta.

Going beyond the Island
In addition to its growth, Arsenault Bros. had also evolved from simply hanging drywall to performing full-service interior construction. After an injury confined him to a desk job, Lucas transitioned from labour into management. “I took a few courses: cost control, project management, drywall estimating,” he recalls.

Lucas’s education continued until 2020 when he and his brother David drew up a formal succession plan with their parents. Today, Arsenault Bros. remains very much a family enterprise, with Lucas as president, David as co-owner, and several other close family members as senior site supervisors and foremen.

Once Lucas had taken the reins, he decided to lead the company in a new expansive direction, not unlike his father. “There are large general contractors that cover all of Atlantic Canada, and there wasn’t a commercial drywall contractor,” he says, “so I thought it would be beneficial.”

With such a seasonal work schedule, Lucas reasoned that establishing the company over as wide an area as possible would provide more projects and enable Arsenault Bros. to maximize productivity. “I had a bit of a growth mindset, and the new areas and new people were of interest to me,” he concludes, “so I decided to branch off the island and try projects in different areas.”

In just over ten years, Arsenault Bros. has expanded from a single office to operations across all four Atlantic Canadian provinces. “This year, we probably will average 350 employees in all of Atlantic Canada,” Lucas says. The company works in commercial, residential, and institutional spaces, providing not merely drywall but all aspects of exterior walls, interior finishing, steel studs as well as walls and ceilings, and soundproofing panels.

Satellite offices in Moncton, New Brunswick and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia now augment the company’s Cornwall, PEI headquarters and enable the team to work throughout the region.

Building on principles
To manage this balancing act, Lucas says, Arsenault Bros. is built entirely on trust and relationships. As a proud union contractor, Arsenault Bros. will typically send a foreman to a local job site, where they will recruit a work crew from local unions. “We might send a foreman that we trust, and then hire local guys.” Lucas says that this ‘delegation’ approach enables Arsenault Bros. to hire locally and complete jobs across Atlantic Canada.

Additionally, Lucas and his team see themselves as performing a vital community service, and Lucas constantly reminds his work crews: “You’re in service to someone when you go to work, and you have to keep that in mind,” he says, as Arsenault Bros.’ crews are consistently working for either general contractors or building owners.

But he also recognizes Arsenault Bros.’ impact lingers long after the dust has settled and the crew has left. “Someone’s going to own the space that we’re working on,” he says. “Someone’s going to live in it, someone could work in it, depending on what it is that we’re building or working on at that time.”

This, he concludes, is what prompts Arsenault Bros. to take the long view and see the people behind their work. “We want to send the message that our service is meaningful and that a person is going to take value from it.”

Reinforcing this philosophy are Arsenault Bros.’ three core values of humility, trust, and pride in the work. “This is a leadership-style company, not a dictatorship,” Lucas says, alluding to his family’s strong religious convictions in fostering an attitude of humble service across all departments.

Trust, meanwhile, is essential to daily operations as well as greater expansions. Lucas remarks that trust in Arsenault Bros.’ satellite offices is the leading company trait that has enabled the company’s expansion across Atlantic Canada, and it is equally important and effective in the office and on the job site.

“It all pushes up and down the ladder,” he says, “so if you build it on trust, then it’s very hard to break.” Finally, pride in the work helps build team competence and inspires team members to attain more skills and share greater accolades.

Making a difference
As Arsenault Bros. consolidates its operations across Atlantic Canada, its trademark quality projects can already be seen in every province in the region. In its native Prince Edward Island, the company has been tapped to provide interior residence space for the upcoming 2023 Canada Winter Games, which PEI will be hosting in February-March 2023.

“It’s the largest project we’ve ever done on PEI,” Lucas remarks. In fact, it’s the largest achievement in the company’s 40-year history. Yet even this is only a small part of the company’s on-island work, most of which continues to be projects that provide housing. A recently purchased subsidiary, Charlottetown-based Top To Floors, is helping in that endeavour.

“We’ll have 212 units fully rented on PEI by spring,” Lucas says with some pride. “We’re making a difference to a lot of people’s lives, which is the purpose.”

Outside its native province, Arsenault Bros.’ satellite operations are hard at work as well.

In New Brunswick, company crews are helping expand Fredericton’s Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital, as well as a large medical centre on the Canadian Forces Base at Gagetown and a new RCMP building in Moncton.

In neighbouring Nova Scotia, the company is flexing its multi-service muscles by providing a long-term care facility in Mahone Bay, repurposing an old department store, building a new port warehouse in Halifax, and expanding a Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) campus in Sydney.

Finally, the company is helping provide a new community centre in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

Help after the hurricane
Apart from its traditional mandate, Arsenault Bros. is assisting in the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Fiona, which hit Prince Edward Island hard in September. Several ongoing small projects are helping local homes, businesses, and schools get their roofs and water-logged interiors repaired in time for winter. “There were six schools that lost pretty much half their roofs,” Lucas explains, “and so we’re helping there.”

Coordinating with both the provincial government and the Construction Association of PEI, the private sector is setting competition aside, he says. “The industry’s really coming together on the island to help all these people that need this work done before it gets too cold. It’s good to see the generosity of people and the industry.”

Providing opportunities
As Arsenault Bros. continues to expand, it’s also operating a natural pipeline to incentivize younger Islanders to stay close to home and enter the construction industry.

“We give a $1,000 bursary to one student from every high school on the island, every year, who is going into the carpentry trade,” Lucas says. Meanwhile, he and his staff work methodically to foster a positive and inviting culture in the office and on work sites. “That’s what we’re trying to build—a place where people want to be and not a place where they have to be,” he says.

An in-house referral program ensures that employees volunteer leads to like-minded peers, helping Arsenault Bros. ensure a steady employment stream while also fostering the company’s value of trust. “It’s more your everyday atmosphere that recruits and retains people,” Lucas says with conviction.

While Arsenault Bros. has grown significantly over a short period, its new president has even larger plans. A goal is to have at least 600 employees, and the company is well underway with 350-plus currently in its ranks.

But above all, Lucas and his staff are committed to their company becoming the leading interior systems contractor in Atlantic Canada. With the region’s hunger for urban housing likely to increase, Arsenault Bros. is well-established in its market and on its way to becoming a regional powerhouse.

The post An Island Powerhouse<p class="company">Arsenault Bros. Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Mondev traces its proud history back nearly thirty years, when it began taking on property management roles across Montreal.

“We made money; we lost money,” Founder and Senior Partner David Owen recalls of that era. But after years of beneficial—if occasionally painful—learning experiences, Mondev branched out into commercial building and development in 2003 and has continued its residential building and management commitments since then. Its team has also branched out as well, with David’s two sons Mark and Jordan and younger brother Michael joining the family business.

Today, Mondev offers residential and commercial properties across Montreal for rent or purchase. The company owns and operates over twenty apartment buildings and condominiums in vibrant downtown areas like Le Plateau Mont Royal, Griffintown, Mile Ex, and LaSalle. At the time of this writing, three more are in their final stages of development in Ville-Marie and Saint-Laurent with estimated completion in 2023 and 2024.

The company also develops several homes and townhouses for sale, with two more under construction. Finally, it owns and operates approximately 100 commercial buildings, providing ultra-modern and efficient office space in prime neighbourhoods in one of Canada’s most beautiful cities. With this versatile business model, Mondev has morphed into construction of purchase-built rentals and acquisition of previously built properties. “We’re really, today, a fully-integrated real estate development and investment company,” says Michael Owen.

Mondev has marked its upcoming anniversary with a look back on its growth as a real estate provider and manager. “It’s really evolved in different areas of the real estate business,” Michael remarks. “Property management turned into construction and large scale developments projects.”

The expansion continues today with the largest project being new developments in the Montreal arrondissement of Outremont. A disused CP rail depot has been purchased by the University of Montreal, and Mondev is one of several area developers tapped to redevelop the area into new condos and businesses.

“We’ve created a whole new part of town that didn’t exist before,” Michael says. David estimates that, between the Outremont, Griffintown, and other projects, over 1400 units are now in development.

Remarkably, the company has achieved thirty years of success without going public; all of its funding is entirely private. While this may limit its ability to take on large projects, this also removes any outside interests. “That allows us to own the entirety of the project,” David Owen explains. “Even though we’re very, very active, we’re very cautious with the types of properties we buy.” This strategy of internal funding helps keep it grounded and focused. “We’re not chasing deals… at prices we feel are out of the market.”

Another feature which differentiates Mondev is its noteworthy ability to find new locations and identify neighbourhoods ripe for development, a testament to its long time in business. This has given it a large array of land and properties for potential development, leading to a full development pipeline with little opportunity for downtimes. The company’s experience has taught it to stockpile supplies well in advance to keep lead times manageable, more necessary than ever in today’s world of supply chain difficulties. As Michael explains, this helps not only keep projects moving on schedule but also within budget. “We’ve stocked plumbing supplies, we’ve stocked electrical supplies in buildings to guard against any rapid increase in costs,” he says. Finally, after nearly three decades in business, Mondev has been fortunate to build a strong network with its partner contractors and suppliers across its operational area.

However, it may be the company’s range of amenities throughout its properties that truly sets it apart. With cities becoming more vertical and centralized, tenants are asking for more features such as lounges, pools, and gyms. Regarding the last feature, Michael is specific: any gym in Mondev’s buildings is “a very well-equipped gym—not the kind of gym with two treadmills and an elliptical trainer,” he affirms. “Our gyms are real gyms.”

David notes that, in today’s real estate market, amenities are not an extra but a necessity. Additionally, he says they are a minor financial investment: “The cost of the amenities, compared to the cost of the entire project, is not very high,” he says. “For us, it’s a must-have.” As living units worldwide become smaller and more functional, the company sees its mission to help tenants enjoy their living spaces as much as possible.

Part of that mission, and a difficult balance to strike, is obtaining tenant feedback. Apart from empirical means such as statistically measuring when, how often and at what times of day tenants use certain amenities, Mondev proactively solicits regular feedback to ensure tenants are receiving and enjoying the amenities they need. From managers on down, the company also does its utmost to hear all perspectives. “We try to treat everybody in a fair way,” David says.

It is tempting, in real estate as in any business, to stick with one’s chosen niche. The company, however, has decided to boldly embrace a wide market beyond rental property management with its broad portfolio. “We’re entrepreneurs at heart, so when we see opportunity, we’ll go for it,” Michael explains. He recalls an occasion from earlier in Mondev’s history, when the company had the chance to buy and repurpose some old industrial property. “Had I operated with this ‘singular focus’ strategy, I would have missed out on an opportunity that resulted in an enormous success for us,” he states, emphasizing the importance of taking risks and having a forward-thinking philosophy. “I think that, if you’re in business and you see an opportunity, then you should grab it, and if it’s a little outside of your focus—so what?”

Partly thanks to this bold strategy, Mondev has been riding a wave of market-related rapid growth in recent months. When the pandemic hit, the company was able to fall back on its decades of built capital and wait for the right openings. David relates that the company bucked the business trend of pandemic-induced conservatism to buy properties when competitors were not. “We’ve built up a big land inventory, which we still have now,” he says, estimating that this inventory will keep it going for up to ten years.

As Mondev looks forward to its future, David and his team are well aware of the important balance between market factors and a growing population’s needs: “People are always going to want to have affordable housing,” he points out, elaborating that, in Montreal, cries for more housing are starting to drown out other voices calling for more sustainable development.

Mondev is in a strong position to adapt to changing market trends. Its experience and policy of internal financing have given it rich capital reserves on which to fall back. Rising inflation and interest rates are giving some the fear of an oncoming recession, but David says that inactivity is occasionally acceptable. “Sometimes, to do nothing is also an option,” he says. “We’re going to listen to what the market is telling us.”

He and his team remain convinced Montreal is one of the best places to live in Canada and, indeed, the world. Its rich demographics, growing economy, and vibrant culture provide Mondev an excellent place to build, he says. “We’re really grateful for all that and plan to keep going.”

The post Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence<p class="company">Mondev Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

In Andover, Massachusetts, 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Boston, there’s a well-established company that has shown its mettle through hard-earned experience with a consistent focus on its customers.

It’s not surprising, then, that ACE Solar has been ranked the #1 solar contractor in Massachusetts for six years in a row.

With combined decades of experience in solar and a reputation for professionalism, ACE continues to brighten the future of renewables around its home of New England.

Those professionals who would one day comprise ACE Solar entered the industry in 2012. ACE traces its origins to their 2015 regrouping, organizing themselves around a common purpose.

Building on combined experience, ACE expanded quickly, acquiring numerous area subcontractors and earning its place among New England’s leading solar providers and construction contractors.

In only seven years in business, ACE has installed over 300 megawatts of solar energy, making it one of the largest and busiest outfits of its kind in New England.

Today, ACE offers solar installation and maintenance experience in greenfield, brownfield, landfill, and roof arrays from 2 kilowatts to 20 megawatts. The company has also acquired a large assemblage of subcontractors, 86 in all, to facilitate ACE’s commercial and residential solar projects.

“We’re positioned nicely for the onslaught of growth in renewable energy in the solar space,” says Bob Kiley, Co-founder, Managing Partner, and Director of Sales. As both inflation and the relative price of fossil fuel energy continues to rise, Kiley is confident more customers will see the long-term value of investing in solar.

In addition to these market forces, ACE’s experience and customer focus continue to provide it with uninterrupted growth, excepting the pandemic-related slowdown. “At the end of the day we’re a client-driven company,” says Co-founder and Director of Operations Eric McLean, who himself has over 15 years in the solar industry.

McLean has an interesting take on ACE. “On the residential side, we’re a home improvement contractor,” he says, comparing ACE’s work to installing kitchens and the like. “To homeowners, their homes are their castles, so it’s important to them.”

He adds that, in contrast, after dealing with the residential side ACE must switch gears when dealing with commercial clients: “On the commercial side, we’re a general contractor, and we need to act professionally, stand up to our work, and really meet our clients’ needs.”

By putting themselves in their clients’ shoes, ACE’s team is able to empathize and communicate better with the company’s client base. “From the top down, Bob and I will bend over backwards to make sure we complete what we’re contracted for in the best manner we can, and drive home that client focus,” says McLean.

While ACE does boast 86 employees, it’s remarkable how its executive staff still get on the phone to deal with every customer project. Thanks to this nimbleness, ACE has weathered the tide of COVID, supply chain mishaps, and economic shortfalls.

In contracting, mishaps and setbacks are inevitable, McLean says. “To a homeowner or building owner, that can be a big deal; how you then handle it is what makes you a good or bad contractor and makes the experience good. From the top down, we strive for that.”

He mentions how ACE does not upsell its services and strives for clear communication, even when it’s not necessarily in the company’s best interest. “We’re not a nickel-and-dime contractor,” he remarks.

Which brings us to ACE’s carefully cultivated company culture. First of all, Kiley says, “We look to recruit and retain.” ACE offers its employees numerous incentives including fair and competitive compensation, profit-sharing measures, and equity participation in company ownership.

Yet perhaps above all is the company’s largely “hands-off” attitude toward its multitude of subcontractors. With all ACE’s experience behind them, the management staff has intimate knowledge of their subcontractors’ capabilities, deftly assigning each contractor the projects that suit their skills. As Kiley remarks, ACE’s team sets up a secure balance of trust with both employees and subcontractors.

“We give them the power and the tools to do their job, and I think we set an example for them in how to deal with issues, problems, and resolutions,” he says.

Several recent projects exemplify ACE’s growing capabilities, scale, and skills. A recent project with local solar partner Catalyze has ACE building a large solar plant in the southern Massachusetts town of Blackstone.

Located on a repurposed dairy farm, the plant will comprise nearly 16,000 solar panels to generate 3 megawatts and 6.4 megawatt hours of energy to the surrounding residents and businesses. Expected to be up and running by the time of this publication, the Blackstone project will power over 700 homes and displace 6,500 tons of carbon dioxide from the air—the equivalent of the exhaust from 1,200 cars.

Another project to showcase ACE’s capabilities and scale was the provision of integrated solar power for Arsenal Yards, a mixed-use, smart growth development in the Boston satellite city of Watertown. More than just an apartment building, Arsenal Yards comprises a number of discrete structures such as a hotel and parking garage, each with its own set of engineering challenges.

As all new construction must include renewable or solar energy infrastructure, per state law, ACE was the natural choice for the job and was consulted for its expertise in the design and build of such projects. But the biggest challenge was Arsenal Yards’ urban location—the facility itself, including all storefronts and the parking garage, had to remain open during construction. ACE aced it. “The build, challenging as it was, can’t beat solar,” Kiley says with satisfaction.

A third project, well demonstrating ACE’s versatility, was the dual contract to install panels at the middle school and high school in the small town of Auburn, just south of Worcester. Both these schools, opened within the last ten years, meet Massachusetts’ requirement for renewable energy, and gave ACE a rare opportunity to explain the benefits of solar power to the next generation.

Bolduc recounts how the company to set up kiosks to explain its operations and solar power in general to students and curious visitors.

But one of ACE’s ongoing projects may be its most ambitious yet: building a solar farm in one of Massachusetts’ famous cranberry bogs. “That’s a little challenging, from a design and construction standpoint,” Kiley remarks dryly. As the harvest season cannot be paused, ACE must work around the bog’s nearly century-old vines and take care not to disrupt operations.

“We’re veterans in solar, and we have the experience to accomplish difficult projects,” says McLean, adding that this project reflects ACE’s all-round ability with the most complex challenges. “There’s not one we can’t overcome.”

While these achievements exemplify ACE’s ability with large-scale projects, the many smaller projects remain the company’s bread-and-butter.

Even with utility prices rising, many potential clients, both residential and commercial, initially consider solar to be unreasonably expensive. As director of marketing and technology, Casey Bolduc notes that ACE’s customer focus means empathizing with clients and not trying to upsell solar features.

“It’s more of a consultative approach when we work with clients,” Bolduc says. “We get into the costs that you’re offsetting, and that makes it more tangible.”

Kiley breaks it down to simple economics for clients. “In our proposal, we give them the predicted cash flows of the system for the next twenty years,” he says. “In most cases, the return on investment for residential solar is in the five-, six-, seven-year range,” and he predicts that the trend will continue as fossil fuel energy prices continue to rise.

As ACE approaches its eighth year in business, the company is emerging from the COVID-induced slowdown to take on new projects, as well as pick up some older ones where they left off.

Solar subsidies, such as Massachusetts’ SMART program, continue to provide market initiatives for consumers to switch. And while pre-pandemic, ACE had planned to expand into new markets in the Carolinas and the Midwest, its leadership team is content to remain closer to home, as New England provides numerous markets ripe for expansion.

The post Leading Through Expertise<p class="company">ACE Solar</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Vice President Patrick McMahon says that the company has maintained its growth for twenty-five years and is pushing forward into a new era. “We have certainly travelled with the increased demands on EPS, and we have certainly been part of that increased growth through homebuilding,” he says.

Amvic’s story began in 1997 when founder Dr. Victor Amend applied his Ph.D. in building science to the private sector. Steady growth followed, with Amend himself providing much of the fledgling company’s research and development. Today, Amvic operates two plants in Ontario, a third in Calgary, and a licensed production facility in Utah to supply the U.S. market.

As Amvic celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary, the company is hardly resting on its laurels. McMahon sums up how the company is celebrating in a single word: “quietly.” He and his colleagues recognize more than ever the issues facing our world today and are always refining what makes Amvic stand out—its innovation, design, customer service, and quality.

“We’re continually evaluating what we do and raising the bar to be better,” he says, adding that Amvic is committed to creating and manufacturing products that improve comfort, quality, resilience and performance; we do it every day,” proud to have bettered the well-being of anyone who has used its products in their buildings. “It’s been a quiet celebration for the company but, that said, it’s also one of great pride.”

As part of its ongoing product development, Amvic is offering two new products to help its clients and end-users increase the quality, efficiency and sustainability of their building envelopes. The additions of Envirostrap and Amrad will further raise Amvic’s ability to offer versatile building envelope improvements at manageable costs.

Envirostrap combines the insulation of EPS with the support of two integrated plywood furring strips. These deliver a dual solution, incorporating both insulation and finish attachment surfaces and are applicable in both above grade and below grade interior applications. The furring strips can either protrude from the foam surface or be fully recessed within it, for exterior cladding installation.

Amvic’s newest development is Amrad, insulation paneling designed to mitigate and remove radon gas. Amrad replaces the need for 4” (102mm) gravel and a dedicated soil gas retarding membrane. This panelized solution with its unique channel design, void percentage, film and foam density creates a strong and durable panel, giving builders the ability to build an insulated concrete slab while meeting radon building code requirements and improving the interior air quality for the occupants.

The panel is 48×48” (1219x1219mm), molded from high-density, closed-cell, Type II EPS insulation. Amrad comes as a 3.5” (89mm) thick panel at R12 (RSI 2.11) and is also available in 4.5” (114mm), R16 (RSI 2.82) panel.

McMahon notes that these products, like many in Amvic’s lineup, reflect the company’s goal of improving the building envelope. “When you look at all the components of our products, they’ll all have a degree of enhancing that envelope, one way or the other,” he says. “Comfort, quiet, safe, energy-efficient and responsible, resilient to weather extremes.”

To ensure adequate production levels, and that costs remain manageable for end-users, which is more important than ever in today’s economy, Amvic is investing in automation. This evolution has been in two distinct parts: firstly, and more visibly, is robotic manufacturing equipment to accelerate and enhance production.

Secondly—and more behind-the-scenes—is Amvic’s investment into automation software to aid in all company operations, from warehousing management to lead management to communications with customers. In McMahon’s words, “these investments increase Amvic’s productivity, quality, and business intelligence, improving our customers’ experience working with us. We want to make sure we are able to improve our efficiency so we can improve our costs and provide a better product to the marketplace,” he says. “We also want to ensure that we are accurate, so the degree of accuracy is important to us.”

Additionally, Amvic advances its shipping and receiving processes, essential in an era of supply chain snags, with more of its product coming and going from its plants. “How do we streamline that process?” he asks rhetorically. “How do we take away time delays wherever we can? How do we move product in and out of our plant in an expedient manner?”

While more recent months have offered expansion opportunities to add new distributors, McMahon cautions that it is easy to be overstretched and not be able to provide the same level of service. “At the end of the day, you can only take on so much demand, and you only have access to so much raw material,” he says. “Focus on your current customer as they will be the ones with you for the long term.”

This commitment to quality reflects the company’s history as a company focused on innovation and design. McMahon says that, “in reality, we design exceptional products, then we had to become an excellent manufacturer to ensure the quality and supply chain were in our control. We became a manufacturer to support our products, our innovation.”

Finally, he notes the paramount importance of a strong communications policy and strategy. “Communication is more than just a greeting, more than just celebrating the wins,” he remarks. “Communication is being able to have tough conversations, to be truthful, mindful, and empathetic to those around you.”

Forged during the tough days of COVID, he relates that Amvic’s communication strategy evolved to not assuage staff with vague promises but to lay out the occasionally unpleasant truth, get ahead of the curve, be straight, be honest. “For us, communication was really critical, and the company put a lot of focus and a lot of discipline around that.”

As Amvic celebrates twenty-five years, McMahon retains a quiet pride in the accomplishments of his colleagues. “If I’m going to celebrate anything on our twenty-fifth anniversary, it’s the fact that our people put customers and other employees first; they are focused on not disappointing those that have always supported us. The dedication, perseverance, and resilience of the staff has been amazing. This is worth celebrating.”

He expresses confidence that Amvic’s ongoing commitment to quality over market penetration will continue to drive growth above all else, and give good returns. “People like our product, they like the design,” he says. “That has created significant growth for this company over the last twenty-five years, and it will continue.”

The post Pushing the Envelope of Building Envelopes<p class="company">Amvic Building System</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Campbell & Company traces its lineage to founder and namesake Mike Campbell, who established a small HVAC repair and installation shop in 1983. Nearly 40 years later, Campbell serves over 650,000 customers in the area, serving their plumbing, electrical and sewer needs in addition to HVAC. General Manager Brian Campbell, Mike’s son, is now taking his father’s company into a bright new future.

Despite his company’s unprecedented growth, Brian explains that he and his colleagues are staying true to its original philosophy. “We’ve been growing like crazy, and anytime you experience that level of success as a business, you have an additional level of responsibility,” he says—responsibility to the team and to the broader community. “We’ve tried to make sure we’re evolving in every aspect of the business, not just in revenue,” he says.

Part of this revenue increase has come from Campbell & Company’s desire to become less seasonal and operate year-round, an effort which has helped the company increase both wages and retention. Additionally, new customer service lines help Campbell & Company serve as ‘one-stop shop’ for its customers, providing a robust and loyal customer base.

Campbell has always operated on a philosophy of closely held values, which Brian Campbell says persist even in today’s rocky world. “A business has the ethical responsibility to provide its customers with a fairly valued service for a job done right,” he says, explaining the company’s philosophy of providing regular maintenance, thereby saving its customers money in the long run. “Doing preventative maintenance and completing repairs and installations the right way is the most cost-effective way to manage any mechanical systems.”

Indeed, in an era defined by supply chain woes, Campbell & Company is relying on its reputation and network to keep jobs moving. Brian relates how the company has worked with its vendors and other industry peers to anticipate shortages and then secure supplies of parts and equipment to have them on hand when competitors won’t. “We’ve placed some significant stocking orders on critical equipment and repair parts throughout the last two years,” he shares. Multi-year contracts with specific vendors help secure parts at fixed prices.

Despite rising costs and the resulting risk of losing customers, Campbell & Company refuses to cut corners and reduce quality to save money. Brian says Campbell’s level of trust and transparency with its customers has persisted through both good and lean times, leveraging its pre-pandemic policy of clear communication. This, he says, lets customers know and understand why changes are coming and how that may change their relationship.

As a measure of its continual focus on professional development and operational success, Campbell & Company is embarking on a new partnership with the TurnPoint Services Group, a collection of service brands across the Continental United States. From its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, TurnPoint helps coordinate nearly 50 varying HVAC, plumbing, electrical and sewer service brands. Describing itself as a ‘servant-leg organization,’ TurnPoint emphasizes principle over policy in its cultural emphasis, leaving its brand partners free to focus on their own customers and employees while remaining secure through TurnPoint’s overall support. TurnPoint provides world-class tools, support, technology, and other valuable resources that will support Campbell’s local brand equity and commitment to delivering high-value customer experiences.

Curtis Bragg, TurnPoint’s Chief Strategy Officer, lays out the relationship succinctly: “The story of TurnPoint begins with the story of Campbell & Company and all the other brands that comprise TurnPoint,” he says. Since Campbell’s partnership with TurnPoint began in September 2021, the two businesses have been working closely together to bring about an even higher quality of service to Campbell’s customers.

The result is a mutually beneficial relationship, as Curtis makes clear TurnPoint reaches out to companies already doing well on their own. “We’re not looking to interfere,” he says. From TurnPoint’s national network, Campbell is now enjoying enhanced benefits for its team members, additional operational support in the field, considerable professional development opportunities, and training for team members. TurnPoint, for its part, gains new in-roads in the Pacific Northwest and helps ease Campbell’s growing pains.

For Brian, this partnership has come about at just the right time in Campbell’s history. “The more advanced a business gets, the more you’re pulled away from the fun parts—why you got into the business in the first place,” he says. When the question arose as to how he and his colleagues could afford to stay engaged with both customers and team members, TurnPoint stepped forward to offer a new solution. As Curtis remarks, TurnPoint has been able to offer high-level support and ensure Campbell’s staff is able to take care of daily business. “It’s really about being better at what you’ve already been doing, because you can concentrate on the things that are truly important to the business and we’re here to support the rest,” he says.

Further, TurnPoint and Campbell share a great deal in their business strategies and cultures, in particular a focus on continuous improvement for both staff and management. Brian remarks how even small changes at a high level can have rippling effects. “One percent improvements throughout the business make drastic differences, and it’s been a great partnership in that aspect so far,” he says.

One of these improvements is a new focus on employee recognition. As part of its employee retention strategy, Campbell has been ramping up its employee recognition efforts to an all-time high. Brian remarks how, more than big things, it’s often the little things that businesses do that keep the core workforce intact. “Every business wants to have an engaged workforce,” he says, “and we can’t expect them to be engaged if we’re not engaged with each of them.”

Commercial Project Foreman Jerry Cooper, who has been with the company for 16 years, says that, “Our insurance and retirement plan has seen a significant improvement [since partnering with TurnPoint]. I really like that I can have half of retirement go into a Roth and the other half go into a traditional account. I really appreciate UKG/Kronos; it is really nice to be able to submit time off from anywhere, and I also appreciate the formatting and ability to check out old paystubs and whatnot. It is comforting that Mike and Brian are still available and willing to listen and help with any day to day issues. Honestly we have seen minimal change in the day to day operation; we are still Campbell & Company.”

HVAC Technician Josh James, who has been at the company for two years, agrees. “Our benefits package and 401(k) has improved. It has also improved our ability to get parts and equipment so we can serve our customers in a timely manner. As a technician, it is nice to see new vehicles in our fleet; it seems that other businesses are struggling in these areas and we are excelling.”

On top of this day-to-day employee support, Campbell & Company hosts annual recognition events, holiday parties, summer days out, cornhole tournaments, and more. Smaller gestures such as small gifts to new parents and first homeowners are also a part of the company culture. “Those are big milestone achievements on their end,” Brian says, while also noting that recent struggles have placed small victories in a new and better light. “The last handful of years, it’s really trying to be engaged in the day-to-day victories,” he shares. He relates examples of a technician struggling on a repair job and working to overcome a barrier of learning by studying outside of work hours. That hidden battle, Brian relates, is being highlighted as well.

The result is a new workplace atmosphere. “You can feel it in the hallways—there’s more laughter, there are great people who genuinely care about the people they work with,” Brian says. Beyond mere words, these improvements are quantifiable through annual engagement scores and surveys. “Over the last three years, we’ve gone from 59 percent to 83 percent,” Brian says proudly. Additionally, retention has jumped from 72 percent in 2019 to 92 percent today. To Brian, this all vindicates Campbell & Company’s philosophy of offering long-term employment: “Really, we’re not here to hire and fill jobs, we’re here to support careers, and we look for the efforts that employees are making that facilitate a great career.”

His counterpart at TurnPoint agrees. “At TurnPoint, we’re all about building the company we would want to work for, and that all starts on the front line with the employees,” Curtis says. “It’s not about the hoopla and great events; it’s about the day-to-day engagement and caring about the most important part of your business, which is the people who are out there interacting with your customers every day.” A former HVAC tech himself, Curtis echoes Brian’s deep passion for the trades and their importance to economies. “It is about creating a career path, not just creating and filling a job.”

With the new partnership between Campbell & Company and TurnPoint Systems, the two companies are able to pool their talents—proof that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. Both Brian and Curtis relate plans to continue to grow Campbell’s workforce, which will help ease the training of the next generation of American trades professionals. Internal training programs, developed with the aid of TurnPoint’s operational expertise, will help make the coming generational transition as smooth as possible.

“We’re investing in that overall educational ecosystem,” Curtis says. “You need people to be able to fill the gap when growth occurs, and you can’t start doing that soon enough.”

The post Partnering for Greater Success<p class="company">Campbell & Company</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The company traces its roots to German founder Sabine Presch, supported by her father Peter, an early leader in German polyurethane chemistry. After operating and growing the business for twenty years, Vancouver-based Pender West Capital Partners acquired the business from Sabine in 2008.

Dinoflex has continued expanding its product lines to cater to multiple markets around the world. Although there have been bumps along the way, the market appears to be solidly embracing its business model of sustainably sourced rubber. “2020 did not come without its challenges given the COVID pandemic; however, our strategy enabled us to emerge from it quickly realizing significant growth in 2021 and now halfway through our fiscal 2022 year,” states Chief Executive Officer Mark Bunz.

The company’s primary advantage is in its manufacturing process. Unlike most recycled rubber products which are manufactured in cylinders, the company’s products are fabricated and molded in block format. Rubber’s natural elasticity causes cylindrically-formed rubber to continuously want to revert back to its original form, but as a result of Dinoflex’s manufacturing process, that never happens. The company’s ‘Made Flat, Stays Flat’ guarantee ensures rapid installation and that the product will never curl for the life of the installation. “This gives our customers peace of mind that for the life of their Dinoflex flooring they will not have the liability of curling edges or corners which can cause significant injury,” explains Bunz.

Dinoflex’s stringent sourcing of its materials has helped it manage production costs despite rising prices. “Our investment in automation and our relentless focus on continuous improvement has enabled us to limit what we pass on to our customers while keeping our business viable,” Bunz says. “We have also engaged alternate sources of raw material supply that meet our specifications, which has created some relief on increases simply due to a more robust competitive landscape.”

Dinoflex can work with a wide array of clients through its custom solutions capability. Typically, a rolled good manufacturer requires a minimum of 2500 to 5000 square feet for a custom order. At Dinoflex with block manufacturing, clients can create a custom colour for as little as 300 square feet.

“The water jet cutting of material also allows the company to cut logos and patterns, further demonstrating its versatility. It can even match speckled patterns, creating custom flooring guaranteed to fit with a client’s existing flooring with minimal variation.

As a result, the company has gained valuable contacts among architects and designers worldwide and is able to work with clients of all sizes. The company’s Colour Innovator is tailor-made for these professionals, allowing them to create their own inspired flooring designs using over 60 different EPDM color pantones along with its black rubber crumb.

Whether curated or custom colours, the result is a diverse product catalogue suitable for all manner of applications. Products can be installed for indoor and outdoor use and have earned their reputation through their durability, combining the ruggedness of harder materials with the pliability and comfort required for high foot traffic.

A recent development, the Vulca-NO! product line provides a non-vulcanized flooring solution with all the durability and quality of vulcanized rubber. Being non-vulcanized, it is also LEED credit generating and FloorScore-certified, ensuring clients share in Dinoflex’s commitment to sustainable manufacturing. FloorScore is an indoor air quality certification that was developed by SCS, a sustainability standards organization, and the Resilient Floor Covering Institute (RFCI), a flooring manufacturers and suppliers industry trade association.

Other product lines reflect the company’s tradition of creating flooring for high-intensity areas like gyms. Its Stride, Sport Mat, and Next Step lines particularly suit the high shock absorption and fluid repellent properties required in such venues. For less intense applications, Nature’s Collection blends reclaimed rubber with sustainable cork to provide depth and texture, and Evolution brings together all qualities into one tile: sound dampening, durability, traction, and comfort.

Dinoflex’s outdoor product lines are no less robust. PlayTiles reduce injuries in outdoor play areas with a fall height of up to 12 feet, and NuVista is an esthetically pleasing rubber paver tile that provides year-round durability making outdoor spaces more liveable.

A recent example of Dinoflex’s versatility and precision manufacturing is a new wing at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital in Arizona. Being a hospital, it required flooring capable of accommodating massive daily foot traffic, and the designer selected a custom design incorporating many colours and shapes to cheer its young patients. Thanks to its custom capabilities and wide product selection, Dinoflex provided a highly customized floor that undoubtedly will last for decades.

Now, it is continuing its commitment to sustainability with new product offerings made from its industrial by-products. No manufacturing process is perfect in any industry, and waste is inevitable. Post-industrial waste is being used in the creation of rooftop tiles and impact-resistant backing material for its Next Step High Impact line, further enhancing its durability while preventing more rubber from reaching landfills. Additionally, the company is using its by-product rubber as a base layer for pour-in-place playgrounds, an internal idea. “It’s creative thinking from our team that keeps us on the forefront of sustainability and helps us eliminate any post-industrial waste from entering our landfills,” Bunz remarks.

Dinoflex will be introducing new underlayment and cargo containment product offerings this summer which will be available in a 4’ x 6’ format with thicknesses of three and five millimetres. The underlayment is designed to provide support under carpet, luxury vinyl tile, or other rubber floorings. Combined with its robust product line, it is sure to continue the company’s track record of solution based, high-quality products.

All research and product development is done entirely in-house, as Dinoflex’s talented team uses its skills to create new and better products. Haskell says the process reflects the company’s commitment to quality and precision. “It’s very methodically done at Dinoflex, to make sure when we launch a product, it’s a good launch with a quality product,” she says.

Modernizations and investments in automation at the main plant will boost productivity and improve worker safety now and into the future. The company has been investing in automation since 2018 when new investment incorporated robotics and automation into its manufacturing process. This allowed Dinoflex to increase capacity to meet market demand and create opportunity for a more diverse workforce throughout the organization.

The company “will continue to do whatever it takes to meet current and future customer demand while being true to our core values; Safety Above All, Customer Intimacy, Business Innovation and Extreme Ownership,” Bunz says.

Haskell elaborates that advances in automation continue to boost production while maintaining staff levels and significantly reducing potential workplace hazards. “For Dinoflex, it’s all about safety,” she says.

As Dinoflex looks toward another thirty years, the company is assured of its position due to its long history, unique product line, and thirst for innovation. As Bunz reports, the company intends to stay true to its values and become a globally recognized brand. But beyond the business focus, its team enjoys being part of a new, more sustainable economy.

Haskell says that Dinoflex is graced with exceptional business partners around the globe, and everyone on staff relishes the opportunity to go beyond merely making money to generating a positive impact. “It’s a wonderful feeling to work for a company with such a far reach that’s doing some good for the environment,” she says, “because everybody appreciates that.”

The post A Better Floor for a Better Tomorrow – Sustainably Sourced, High-Quality Rubber Flooring<p class="company">Dinoflex</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

One company has a bold new future in mind for construction, helping decrease build times and costs while simultaneously repurposing plastic and construction waste. PLAEX™ (pronounced Play-X) Building Systems is looking to fundamentally change both the construction sector and plastic waste recovery in its native New Brunswick, throughout Atlantic Canada, and beyond. This rapidly-growing enterprise is moving beyond the start-up stage to bring its first proof-of-concept products to consumers across the area.

Thanks to the hard work of the team at PLAEX™, plastic waste by-products from Canada’s agricultural industry can now have a new use by becoming PLAEX’s interlocking blocks. An estimated 40,000 tons of plastic generated annually in baling wrap, greenhouse film, silage bags, twine, and more present a plentiful source from which to draw materials.

Founder and Product Developer Dustin Bowers explains that those products, along with plastic from marine applications like winter boat wraps and rope, are well-suited for PLAEX’s purpose. “Those products have stabilizers in them that are designed to give long life within a natural environment,” he says.

Bowers describes the transition from construction professional to entrepreneur. “I’ve been building houses since I could walk, really,” he says of his years with a family construction business. After working on the West Coast for several years, he returned to New Brunswick in 2017. With the birth of his first child, a natural shift in perspective followed. “One of the things that struck me, with the work we were doing, was just how much garbage we were dealing with,” he says.

PLAEX™ was born out of a desire to not only reduce this waste but repurpose it into a positive. “Twenty to thirty percent of all materials purchased for a job site end up going straight to waste, which is pretty substantial when you think about it,” Bowers says. “Just that alone can create massive savings in a project, by eliminating all the waste material.”

Thanks to Atlantic Canada’s heavy investment in entrepreneurship, the company was able to get organized quickly, with a patent filed for its proprietary composite material and products in 2019. While the company’s Brick&Panel™ system requires further testing, the material itself has been proven viable. Its compression strength has been measured at over 19 megapascals (MPa), considerably above the Canadian National Building Code’s required minimum of 15 MPa.

Bowers admits his biggest concern was the material’s ruggedness in the face of Canada’s fluctuating freeze-thaw cycle. “Our material has a 0.3 percent water absorption,” he says proudly, placing PLAEX’s metric far above concrete’s 8 to 12 percent water absorption and clay brick’s 18 percent water absorption. “We’re expecting to get that down to zero.”

The material’s composite nature means that the blocks are stable through any weather. “Due to the nature of the composite, we have very little thermal shrinkage or thermal expansion,” Bowers says. Finally, the material’s composite nature is expected to greatly expand its longevity. “We’re still in lifespan testing,” he remarks, “but we’re expecting over 100-year lifespans for all our products.”

The company is still undertaking tests on its larger Brick&Panel™ system but the company’s first product is almost ready to hit retail shelves across the region. LinX™, a line of smaller interlocking blocks, is designed for landscaping applications and will also demonstrate the company’s trademark recycled plastic composite. The LinX™ system’s components are currently available with eight sides, enabling connections at 45, 90, or 180 degrees. A twelve-sided version is currently in development, to facilitate even more precise angles for more design flexibility.

Easily bolted together and attached to a foundation, LinX™ will be able to form retaining walls, flower beds, privacy walls, playground edging, and more. The blocks also come in a variety of naturally dyed colours, which Bowers describes as intended to aesthetically match existing building materials as closely as possible. “Initially, we’re looking at a grey and brown, and potentially a red and a black product,” he says.

He and his team see LinX™ as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional materials like concrete and clay, while simultaneously giving PLAEX™ a chance for its materials to enter the market on a manageable scale. After years of testing formulas, Bowers says, it is time to go public. “We have something that gives us a very consistent product end result now, and now it’s just a matter of scaling that up,” he says. “We’re hoping to have it in retail stores in early 2023.”

While LinX™ enters the market, PLAEX™ will be able to continue testing and certifying its larger Brick&Panel™ system to get them market-ready, with numerous proof-of-concept projects in the works. “We will be building a few showcase buildings with them,” Bowers says. These include a storage shed and several retaining walls. As with LinX™, exhaustive tests will verify the bricks’ responses to fire, saltwater, and hurricane-force winds to prepare them for harsh Canadian winters.

When deemed ready—Bowers estimates a further eighteen to twenty-four months—the Brick&Panel™ system will integrate seamlessly with other building materials such as drywall and be able to incorporate electrical and plumbing infrastructure to drastically reduce assembly time. The Brick&Panel™ will also eliminate the need for exterior features such as siding, by replacing it with the fully interlocking PLAEX Panels™. Though its insulation R-value has yet to be proven through testing, it is much higher than concrete, and the PLAEX Panels™ allow for the addition of laminated insulation materials to meet any local requirements.

One future addition to the Brick&Panel™ system is the integration of PV solar panels into the PLAEX Panels™. “The solar integration will be a key step for our Brick&Panel™ system, as we move into a future focused on sustainable energy,” Bowers says. “That is really quite a simple integration with our panelling.” As PLAEX™ expands operations it will likely be possible for clients to further customize PLAEX Panels™ designs according to their needs.

PLAEX™ is also hard at work developing an in-house Builder CAD (Computer Aided Design) to help simplify and streamline project design and ordering. The PLAEX Builder CAD™ will allow designers, architects, and DIY clients to design their dream project in a virtual world with the assistance of AI (to identify and resolve structural issues), and to order directly through the software. The software will allow for auto generation of instruction booklets and structural drawings. PLAEX™ also sees a great opportunity here to leverage block-chain technology to ensure more accurate shipping logistics, helping achieve the goal of zero waste. “It is very much in Alpha mode at this point but will be a major game changer.”

As it moves beyond its seed round, the company is seeking early adopters to help prove the viability and versatility of its products. The company is also expanding its personnel ranks and is seeking like-minded employees who share PLAEX’s passion for the environment. Roles in logistics, manufacturing, engineering, equipment operation and automation, as well as bilingual sales professionals, will help the company expand nationally and internationally.

He makes it clear that the company intends to cherish its workers: “We offer all of our long-term employees equity options and have a culture of lateral information flow to remove bottlenecks and encourage innovation and reward efficiency.”

“We are in the early stages of becoming a certified B Corp and are committed to the UN’s 17 sustainability goals,” Bowers says. This certification is given by international non-profit B Lab to recognize environmental and social performance.

Once the LinX™ system has proven PLAEX’s composite formula and its bricks have entered the larger construction market, Bowers foresees changes nothing short of exponential in build-time reduction. “We’re looking at being able to do builds in a day rather than months,” he says. “Stick-frame construction has so many different parts and steps involved,” he continues. “Something like ours will be competing in speed with 3D printing.” He believes that the LinX™ and Brick&Panel™ lines will be superior to 3D printing, as they can be prefabricated offsite, require no curing time, and are easy to disassemble/modify when the homeowner inevitably wants to do a renovation, or the structure is no longer needed. “No more waste.”

Accelerating build times even further is PLAEX’s embrace of automation. “We’ve developed this whole system with automation in mind,” Bowers says. “The future of construction is autonomous.” Eventually, he hopes that the entire production line—between material collection, manufacturing, and installation—will be fully automated. To this end, the products have been designed for easy manipulation by current-generation robotics, allowing for rapid deployment and integration as the company expands.

This, Bowers explains, harkens back to a philosophy of simplification. “How we really create the efficiencies and solve the waste issues is by reducing the cost as much as we can and simplifying things,” he says. “People like things to be simple. If you want people to recycle, it has to be easy, and we’re really working hard to make that happen.”

But above all, he and his colleagues hope consumers and businesses see the massive versatility in PLAEX’s offerings, as well as their environmental advantages. “We’re excited to see what people build with them,” he says, noting that a sizeable part of the idea behind the product came from his own sense of childlike creativity. By making building materials environmentally responsible, easily assembled, and cost-effective, Bowers hopes PLAEX™ can help reinvigorate construction as a passion rather than just an industry.

“We want to make building fun again and encourage people to be creative about the things that they build,” he says. “We’re dedicated to making sustainable products that can allow people to creatively express through building.”

The post The Building Blocks of Tomorrow – A Bold New Future in Sustainable Construction<p class="company">PLAEX Building Systems Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Part of a family of 17 Coreslab facilities, Coreslab Structures (OKLA) now has the most concrete producing capability in Oklahoma, building a new generation of weather-resistant structures across the Sooner State and beyond.

We spoke with Coreslab’s Oklahoma City-based team last April, to review the company’s latest achievements in precast concrete and its applications. A year of general upheaval and change later, and Coreslab OKLA is continuing to fill its specialized niche with distinction.

While all Coreslab Structures facilities across North America specialize in precast concrete, the Oklahoma plant has found a role uniquely relevant to its location. “Our plant has established expertise in the design and production of Precast Concrete Storm Shelters with occupancies of hundreds of people,” says Engineering Manager Sean Morris.

Concrete growth

Coleman Harrison, project consultant at Coreslab OKLA, describes how the plant has upgraded its batchplant and various casting beds to cope with the company’s growth, much of it due to its Oklahoma-relevant product. Two planetary four-yard mixers now produce four yards of concrete every two minutes.

Additionally, the mixers can be set up to cast concrete in multiple mix designs for differing purposes, such as Coreslab’s Architectural blend. “We can now produce a bunch of concrete very quickly,” Harrison says, with some understatement.

Coreslab’s trademark tornado shelters especially have evolved. The company can now produce 115-foot (35 meter) spans, utilizing 5 foot wide (1.5 meter) Double Tees, for an ICC 500 storm shelter design. “We block out the width of our 8 foot wide Double Tee form to produce a 5 foot wide Double Tee,” Morris remarks, “but that’s a pretty long span for a storm shelter.”

Like all Coreslab’s shelter products, its ICC 500 storm shelters withstand winds of up to 250 miles per hour (400 kph).

Coreslab is continuing to expand the use of insulation and height of its tornado shelters. “The Double Tee spans is the primary area where we’re trying to push the limits,” says Morris and notes that longer span lengths maximize the utility of shelter buildings, many of which take on a double role – such as a school gym – to maximize their use. “Obviously, you don’t want columns in the middle of your basketball court.”

These multi-use solutions fit well with Coreslab’s design strategy of not constructing tornado shelters in a vacuum but fitting these structures harmoniously into the client’s existing architectural design.

Challenges, challenges

As the company’s design portfolio expands across educational institutes of all sizes to casinos, office buildings, and retirement communities and more, Coreslab appears to thrive on the new challenges.

Morris recalls an Oklahoma City high school needing a shelter under stadium bleachers, which were also precast concrete risers. “We had to convert our typical riser design, which was not designed to take on debris impact or the wind load associated with a tornado shelter, and we had to redesign the risers to do that,” he says.

By creating a recessed area similar to a shiplap joint, Coreslab was able to tie its risers together without leaving gaps for debris.

“It was a unique project that we had never done before,” Morris says.

Now Coreslab’s involvement with the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, or CAMI, has given rise to a challenging new project. This Oklahoma City-based government agency is building a massive facility to test aircraft rescue techniques, known as the Wind and Wave Evacuation and Survival Facility or WiWAVES.

Involving both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ testing areas, the facility uses massive fans and pools to simulate plane crashes and subsequent rescue techniques at sea. “Once the project is done, it’ll be the only facility in the nation to have a dry-test and wet-test area in the same facility,” Coleman Harrison says.

Harrison is forgivably upbeat in describing how the project showcases Coreslab’s ability to provide concrete structures that can withstand the worst of weather both inside and out.

Additionally, the company is working to reduce its carbon footprint and increase its use of recycled products. The production of cement and concrete is still an unfortunately high source of CO₂ emissions in construction, but Morris says Coreslab’s staff has embraced going Green and found it more attainable than many would think.

“A lot of people associate being Green with not being as profitable as doing things unsustainably,” he says. “We have an opportunity to be Green and find ways to make it more cost-effective than if we hadn’t done it that way.”

Recycling comes to concrete

One aspect of this Green attitude is the company’s increased use of recycled products, as well as more responsible disposal of by-products.

Coreslab as a policy is using more waste concrete in its products, with Morris mentioning one of the sister plants in Canada producing hollow-core placements. “100 percent of the waste concrete from that plant is going back into new products,” he says.

Additionally, Coreslab OKLA has introduced the utilization of a common waste by-product to replace some of the cement in its concrete-casting process. “We can replace up to 20 percent of the cement in a product with fly ash,” Harrison says, thus giving this surplus substance a new use. “If you can reduce the volume of cement that it takes to make the same amount of concrete by adding fly ash, you’re helping with that part of it as well.”

At the same time, Coreslab is switching over to more renewable energy, particularly in cement production. And in a highly literal embrace of Green manufacturing, some of Coreslab’s plants are deliberately infusing their concrete with captured carbon dioxide during the casting process.

First of all, the result is an improved product, says Morris. “The CO₂ has the effect of making the concrete stronger, and then it gets trapped in the concrete and doesn’t go back into the atmosphere.” The net result is a cheaper product with better structural integrity, plus a positive impact on the earth’s atmosphere.

While Coreslab OKLA has yet to embrace this technique, Harrison expects it to happen soon.

Bye-bye rebar

But Coreslab’s biggest Green achievement is an increased focus on prestressed concrete. With the reduced need for steel rebar support, Coreslab, with its expertise in concrete production, can produce more efficiently and therefore use fewer resources.

“Prestressed concrete, in a plant environment, is usually more cost-effective than traditionally reinforced members,” Morris notes. “We can produce more products in a single day with a prestressed member.”

An example of this right at hand is Coreslab’s flagship product, Double Tee, which typically measures around 500 feet (150 meters). Morris explains how Coreslab can produce eight prestressed 60-foot concrete sections from a single Double Tee, in a single process.

“Hardly any reinforcement has to be present in the member, because it’s prestressed, and it uses a smaller cross-section of concrete because it’s prestressed.”

Morris remarks that the company’s product line has greatly expanded as a result of Coreslab embracing prestressed concrete.

Coreslab can focus on exclusively concrete products and cast more precise forms while staying within its budget. “Now, we’re pre-stressing almost everything,” he says. “With prestressed strands, the material costs are ridiculously low compared to rebar.”

Since prestressed members can be taller and thinner than traditional members, Coreslab is using less concrete and producing more products.

That’s the aim – as Morris puts it – using less to do more. “Our plant produces more prestressed members than conventionally reinforced members,” he says and remarks that this shift is true across Coreslab’s entire line of products including Double Tees, columns, beams, and more.

He notes that this change helps Coreslab remain profitable while also being more eco-friendly. “When those things happen, there’s always an incentive for businesses to remain sustainable and green.”

As Coreslab and its peers in concrete production fully embrace prestressed concrete, Morris explains that this is one step towards a higher goal: “The industry is moving towards high interest in UHPC,” or Ultra High Performing Concrete.

Ultra-high performing

“That particular type of concrete can reach compressive strengths that are two to three times stronger than traditional precast,” he says.

While current infrastructure costs make UHPC cost-prohibitive, Coreslab’s team is showing that it can be easily automated in its casting process through its lack of required reinforcement and can be extremely thin with an extraordinarily high tensile strength. “It’s almost like pouring liquid steel into a form.”

On the environmental front, prestressed and UHPC can generate positive ripple effects throughout the concrete industry, and others besides.

Morris explains how shipping will be less frequent, leading to less air pollution, as fewer members will need to be shipped via truck. Plants will create a smaller carbon footprint through this less intensive process, and even cranes will be used less frequently, as UHPC weighs an average of 25 percent less than traditional members.

Finally, foundation sizes can be reduced as less weight-bearing ability is mandated. “All of those advantages trickle down for the industry,” he says.

While concrete remains a high carbon emitter, Coreslab OKLA is taking steps to make the process more efficient and eco-friendly.

So, while the company forges ahead, making deep inroads into the market for precast concrete tornado shelters and tornado-resistant architecture, Coreslab is also working to ensure our infrastructure adapts right now to the needs of a changing world.

The post Prestressed, Precast – and it Tops a Tornado in an Eco-Friendly Way<p class="company">Coreslab Structures (OKLA) Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Named for Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, Borea began in 2006 and has constructed nearly one-third of Canada’s renewable energy projects, leading the charge in this necessary transition.

Over 70 large-scale projects, comprising over 6800 MW of completely renewable energy, have been completed or are in process.

Borea’s staff boasts over 200 skilled and experienced professionals, with an estimated five hundred site employees across Canada. Thanks to its experience and ability in renewable energy, the company can focus its skills on bringing cost-effective, turnkey alternatives to move the nation’s entire energy grid forward.

Putting the ‘new’ in renewable
Despite the pandemic, Borea’s mission to “deliver renewable with care” is moving ahead without interruption. Borea is using new technologies to improve renewable energy as well.

A major recent example is the Suffield Solar Facility in Alberta, owned and operated by BluEarth Renewables, which completed construction in October 2020. Borea was hired as the EPC contractor for the construction of this facility, which utilizes both bifacial panels and solar tracking technology.

The union of these two technologies heralds a bold new development in solar energy and may prove instrumental in future plant design.

Suffield’s location in Canada’s Energy Project is no coincidence. Although Canada’s Western provinces are facing a moratorium on coal-fired power plants, they have a far greater resource available; thanks to the flat terrain, they boast the sunniest weather in Canada.

Alberta alone enjoys an average of 1,900 hours of sunshine in the north and 2,300 hours in the south, making it the nation’s sunniest province—and a natural hotbed of solar development.

BluEarth’s Suffield Solar Facility boasts 90,000 solar panels organized into ten blocks; it will help Canada move down the road toward its renewable energy future and it demonstrates bold new technologies as well.

As their name implies, bifacial solar panels display photovoltaic cells on both sides, substantially increasing their output capacity. But more practically, the bifacial panels mitigate the blockage caused by accumulations of snow. This technology significantly improves the reliability of the solar farm during the frigid winter.

Making light of snow
With many types of solar panels, snow accumulation can at the very least necessitate tedious cleaning, and potentially take whole power plants out of commission. But with bifacial technology, power can still be generated on the panels’ reverse side from sunlight reflected off fallen snow.

This advantage provides enough power and heat through the power generation process to melt the snow and hold power generation steady.

Project Engineer at Borea, Moran Wang explains that as our planet faces the extreme weather that will result from climate change, it will be more essential than ever to maintain a resilient power grid during these events—and bifacial technology can help provide that.

But the bifacial panels are only one half of BluEarth’s Suffield Solar Facility’s new advantages. Panel tracker technology, which adjusts the panels so that they remain perpendicular to the sun on a single axial, helps the panels maintain constant optimal power production. The result is that their output, early and later in the day is superior to static panels, which in comparison enjoy full sunlight only for a limited time each day.

The second function of the solar tracker is to facilitate the snow removal process. Wang explains that, “If the panel detects snowfall, it will be triggered into a ‘snow-dumping’ mode. That makes it more reliable, in the sense of facing a more extreme environment.”

Generally speaking, trackers can increase electricity production by up to 15 to 20 percent, dependent on geographic location, and the bifacial panels produce 5 to 7 percent more energy than traditional panels.

Or as Wang prefers it, “To achieve the same amount of energy, you have a smaller footprint.”

Bird’s eye view
As project engineer for Borea on the Suffield Solar Facility, Wang also oversaw development of the plant’s weather station, Suffield’s eyes and ears, plus another innovation: an aerial drone outfitted with infrared cameras.

“It’s a huge asset,” says Wang, who pilots the drone himself. The bird’s eye view can highlight panel problems instantly, saving time and money during diagnostic procedures.

“We used to spend a huge amount of money to call in actual aircraft with human pilots and human camera operators to do this kind of service,” Wang recalls. “Now, we can use a tiny little drone operated by someone on-site.”

With the success of BluEarth’s Suffield Solar Facility, Wang says he believes the next step in renewable energy is increasing energy storage capacity and reliability; keeping the power flowing so energy grids don’t need to fall back on fossil fuel backups.

“I think one missing piece of the puzzle is making it more reliable,” he says. “From there, we can only improve it.”

Advances in battery technology can ensure wind power and solar continue supplying grids even during night hours or inclement weather, bringing renewable energy more in line with Canada’s ever-increasing energy requirements.

But while the Suffield Solar Facility highlights Borea’s ability to implement new ideas, it is but one of the company’s recent projects.

In Saskatchewan, approximately 10 km south of Herbert and approximately 40 km east of Swift Current, the Blue Hill Wind Energy Project is a 175 MW facility comprising 35 wind turbines with a capacity of 5 MW each. This project called for careful planning, as environmental constraints and hot afternoon temperatures presented some unique challenges, which Borea rose to meet.

Carbon-neutral coming
As Borea continues to advance these renewable energy projects as well as the relevant technology involved, the company is still committed to building a carbon-neutral energy grid in Canada.

“I do think renewable energy is the way of the future,” Wang says. He adds that although wind and solar power are hardly cutting-edge ideas, it is only recently that they have become really practical.

He agrees that with the additions of bifacial panels and tracker technology production, implementation costs may increase, but he argues solar technology is still very much an industry in its infancy.

“With everything in human history, we have to let it grow,” he says. “I’m proud to be at the forefront of this.”

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This proud family business traces its official lineage back to 2003, but founder Timothy McFayden has over forty-five years of construction experience to his credit. Starting as a residential service and repair technician, he branched out into his own business in the 1980s. Son Nick McFayden, now Manager of Business Development at Pro-Craft, says he and his siblings grew up in a unique environment. “We’ve grown up in the plumbing industry, in the sense that it’s always been there,” he remarks. “We’ve grown up in the industry, all of us.”

After Timothy McFayden had begun several successful smaller businesses, Pro-Craft Plumbing was launched in the family garage in 2003. Starting small, with as-needed repair jobs for local schools, the company expanded quickly, gaining its first project over $1 million in 2006. By 2010, the Great Recession had begun to bite but Pro-Craft’s small size helped it change with the times. “Fortunately, we were lean, nimble and still growing, so we were able to adapt,” Nick McFayden says.

After rebranding itself Pro-Craft Construction to operate in a wider market, the company continued to expand and today fields over one hundred skilled and highly trained professionals. In 2019, it finally outgrew its old Yucaipa location and relocated to its present, 50,000-square-foot headquarters in San Bernardino.

A new satellite office in San Fernando has further augmented the company’s service area throughout Southern California, giving it room to grow. McFayden explains that Pro-Craft’s team was now able to consolidate all operations under one roof. “We really started looking at the business as manufacturing and logistics, rather than just a construction company stick-building on-site,” he says.

This versatility has continued to define Pro-Craft’s overarching strategy to “control our own destiny,” as McFayden describes it. While continuing to specialize in plumbing, the company has moved far beyond its roots to handle all phases of construction projects completely in-house. As it owns its equipment, including transfer trucks, in-dumps, and all other relevant equipment, it can be a one-stop shop for its clients without any third-party involvement.

“We’re known for getting the job done quickly and being a resource for the industry,” McFayden says, adding that Pro-Craft has loaned its equipment to peers and even competitors on occasion. Because of this advantage, the company is not tied to any other players and can be more efficient. “When we get to a project, we tend to push the schedule, and it’s very seldom that somebody’s waiting on us,” he says.

Today, Pro-Craft has embraced technologies such as AutoCAD, BIM 360 Glue, Revit, and Autodesk’s PlanGrid, among many others, to assist its continuing evolution. The company continues to offer top-quality plumbing and process piping service for a myriad of applications, including piping for specialized needs such as argon, helium, grease, and both fuel and lube oil.

But in addition to fabricating and installing pipes, company crews can provide services in underground utilities, from backflows to booster pumps and septic tanks. Other services include mechanical, general engineering, design/build, and even fire sprinkler services. True to its rebranding, Pro-Craft has evolved beyond plumbing to encompass all aspects of any construction project.

The company’s work is perhaps best exemplified through its relationship with the local Long Beach Unified School District, for which it has completed many projects over the years. “We’ve completed so many projects in that district that my project manager knows the scope and spec better than the contractors that are hired to do the work,” McFayden comments. Pro-Craft also has extensive experience in medicine and higher education work, with projects at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) the University of Southern California (USC) and the 110-acre City of Hope Medical Center.

But its biggest and most ambitious project to date may be the James A. Musick correctional facility in Irvine, which, when completed, will provide beds for approximately nine hundred inmates. The project has total state funding of over $180 million, of which the company has received $18 million for plumbing throughout the facility. Thanks to its capabilities in prefabricating and logistics, Pro-Craft has built modular rooms at its main facility which can then be transported and quickly installed at the site.

Pro-Craft’s ability to manage all aspects in-house helps keep projects on schedule and within budgetary constraints. In the company’s large warehouse space, many components can be prefabricated and sent to job sites as needed. The estimation department uses real-time, on-screen estimating, analyzing building materials and transferring estimates to the building information modeling department.

“Once we win the project, they already have a rough idea of what materials are needed for a particular project,” McFayden says. Using this planning, Pro-Craft can procure needed materials months or even years in advance, bypassing supply chain mishaps, so components are prefabricated and ready to go when needed. “Nobody’s waiting on us,” he says, noting that this behind-the-scenes maneuvering sets Pro-Craft apart.

“We’ve done it so efficiently that it doesn’t affect our price, so we can still competitively bid on projects.” The strategy not only keeps Pro-Craft competitive but also increases profitability.

In a world dominated by pandemics, safety procedures, and supply chain shortages, Pro-Craft provides a rock of stability in the construction industry. To deal with the obvious risks on worksites, the company takes a proactive approach to safety which balances work progress with worker safety. “If we fail to be proactive, we’ve failed to look ahead,” McFayden says.

“Failure’s not an option,” he says. “We’ve built a culture of people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.” He says that he and his team are always on the lookout for prospective hazards. “What are the hazards? What can slow down production or get somebody injured?”

Pro-Craft is committed to both employee safety and responsible job advancement. On the latter front, its project management team stays in continuous contact with clients and suppliers, monitoring potential problems and ensuring projects stay on track. McFayden says that everyone, from management on down, pursues a common goal of working safely and efficiently and, in the end, making it home to their families every day.

“At the end of the day, they’re working under the same premise,” he says. Setbacks and failures, he continues, are treated as learning opportunities. “All you can do is look for a solution.”

The result is a unique and award-winning company culture that McFayden says emphasizes both proactivity and productivity. “Proactive is the culture,” he remarks. “It’s healthy; it’s collaborative, team-focused, solution-driven… and to do all those things, you have to be proactive.” Its safety protocols have earned the company Gold and Platinum standards from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) STEP safety benchmark tool, while its current Experience Modifier Rate (EMR) of 0.74 places the company considerably above its peers.

As a result of its commitment to its employees, Pro-Craft has enjoyed little turnover, and many of its more senior employees have worked with the company for the entirety of their careers—a rarity in the modern workforce. “They stay because of the culture; they stay because of the values,” McFayden says. This seniority has inspired others to do the same while being continually trained by their more veteran colleagues.

McFayden states that Pro-Craft is a company where talent truly rises to the top. “The best performers are looked up to and looked after,” he says. “We always look for that rookie that shows talent and promise and try to shape them into the next ‘Best Employee.’”

As Pro-Craft approaches its twentieth anniversary, the company is well-poised for the generational shift that comes with long-lived family businesses. From simple plumbing beginnings, it now offers five trades, with the experience, infrastructure, and personnel to back it up. With its balance of progressive strategies and employee safety, plus its rich and growing experience in prefabrication, the company is open for business across California and beyond.

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