Founded in 2010 as a partner to its parent company, The Hudson Companies, Broadway Builders has developed a diverse team of professionals to serve its mixed-use clients. The company is a certified Women-owned Business Enterprise (WBE) made up of highly motivated and dedicated professionals who consistently deliver high-quality projects on schedule, in a safe and compliant work environment.

Broadway Builders also prides itself on its high proportion of women in the company compared to other construction firms. Fostering a diverse environment that is welcoming to women creates a unique dynamic that celebrates different working styles. Each one of its construction teams in the field has at least one woman, and Broadway Builders aims to continue on this path of diversity in seeking out diverse employee skill sets, backgrounds, and specialties.

Bernard Ruf, President of Broadway Builders, describes a unified bond among the staff. The family atmosphere in the company culture results in efficient and effective operations while also establishing a synergistic working environment. Since the company hires subcontractors for its projects, its strong values on teamwork are just as important in these external relationships, and Broadways Builders is always focused on partnering with the most qualified and skilled subcontractors.

In the last six years, the team has grown from just a few employees to a staff of 55. Broadway Builders has also successfully assembled its own self-insurance program through a CCIP, a Contractor Controlled Insurance Program. This global insurance program protects the owner of the project, Broadway Builders itself as the general contractor, and all of its subcontractors under one giant insurance umbrella. Currently covering five different projects, the CCIP is a tool that allows the company to be more competitive in the New York City housing market. The company has also established its own bonding and surety program, impressive accomplishments for a company as young as Broadway Builders.

“You can’t build greatness without that team, and it even reaches out to who your subcontractors are, who your vendors are… certainly if you don’t have those people around you, you’re not going to be successful,” Ruf says proudly. “And I think we’ve done an amazing job at attracting the best people in New York City.”

Broadway Builders takes a great deal of care cultivating these relationships with its trade and vendor partners, beginning with a careful pre-qualification and selection process. In fact, these relationships have been so successful that they have led to various joint venture (JV) operations on major contracts, which is a true sign of the company’s ability to collaborate.

The leadership at Broadway Builders manages the team in a top-down chain of command structure, while avoiding any micro-management. “We’re one foot in the box and one foot out of the box,” explains Ruf. “You need the space to be able to be the professional that you are and have your own style a little bit, but you also need your foot in the box so that we’re all working within common rules and a common direction.”

The primary sector of business for this diverse construction firm is affordable housing and supportive housing programs, making up roughly 80 percent of its business model. “We maintain a ground-up new construction division while operating a separate business model to accommodate the renovation and occupied renovation of affordable NYC housing programs,” Ruf explains. “Our relationship with NYC agencies is a strong one and we maintain a commitment to excellence in our work and relationships to ensure a successful project.”

While Broadway Builders is proud of dedicating much of its time to creating affordable housing projects, the team sees no real difference in the construction process. Affordable housing to them is just housing, and it is important to maintain the same high level of quality construction. Depending on the final product, the only aspect of the project that may differ is the type of material used, but the approach, attitude, and quality are the exact same.

One notable affordable housing project for Broadway Builders is the Logan Fountain Project located in Brooklyn, New York. Ruf describes it as a ground-up new construction building that will feature 174 affordable rental units for families who receive government assistance, and 169 supportive shelter apartments dedicated for homeless families. The building is a 13-story concrete superstructure with 324,000 square feet that includes a common courtyard, interior amenity spaces, and roof amenities for tenants to enjoy. There are also commercial use spaces available on the ground level.

“There aren’t a tremendous number of buildings that serve families in New York City, especially new buildings. So this is pretty exciting to us, that our building will be actually serving this dual purpose and helping a group of people who… need a place to live,” says Sally Gilliland, Broadway Builders’ Founder and Chair (and Principal and COO of head company Hudson Companies Inc.).

Another project that simply must be highlighted is The Peninsula, located in the Bronx, New York. This project is in its second phase, and the first of its five planned buildings is already complete and occupied. Currently, it is the largest current residential construction project in the Bronx area.

The Peninsula is an important project for both Broadway Builders and the city of New York. It has become known as a neighborhood rebirth story. Once occupied as a juvenile detention facility and decommissioned years ago, the residents saw it as a blight in the neighborhood, and were relieved to see the building torn down to become something new. With the community in mind, the mixed-use plan for The Peninsula will feature light industrial space for manufacturing, 740 units of affordable housing for the Hunts Point neighborhood, and a live/work area for the tech and creative industries of the South Bronx. Due to its size and complexity, the entire project is expected to be complete in about two years, making it a three-year project in total.

Always community-minded, Broadway Builders has already established a solid charitable base in its young existence. The firm has taken a philanthropic position with veterans’ organizations, including Hope for the Warriors, and it goes the extra mile by expressing a desire to support military veterans through employment at Broadway Builders. It is a company that helps the homeless community through its affordable housing projects, and focuses on energy-efficient designs to stay ahead of the progressive Passive House or LEED standards in NYC.

Prepared for the changing construction market in the years to come, Broadway Builders knows how to adapt. “Every economic segment of time creates unique industry roadblocks that require strategy alteration,” Ruf explains. “That coupled with ever-evolving regulatory changes, particularly in NYC, requires an open mind to alter operational imperatives to meet the changing environment.” Changes to energy codes, for instance, have not only affected the way contractors build, but also the time required to build. New technology is constantly changing the industry, both within the building envelope and in management operations. Broadway Builders is not daunted by these challenges; rather, it finds itself inspired to find the best solutions possible.

As a partner to residential developer The Hudson Companies, Broadway Builders receives the majority of its work through its parent company; in the future, the team hopes to allocate approximately 20 percent of its business to its own separate ventures. Ruf expands on further plans for the company, saying, “Broadway wants to be a six to ten project at a time company, depending on the complexity and size of the projects we are engaged in. We believe we have approached our planned ‘sweet spot’ and will do our best to maintain an operation with around 55 to 60 employees and operate on between six to ten projects at a time, with delivery cycles of between 24 and 36 months per project.”

There are only a few WBE general contractors in NYC with all the capabilities of Broadway Builders. As the core of the business, the firm has built a diverse team that consistently delivers quality products, and always prioritizes the recruitment of high-level trade and vendor partners to meet that standard. With a mission of aiming for building excellence through leadership, teamwork, integrity, and quality, the company has set itself apart in the industry by developing this loyal, reliable staff and creating an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion.

Says Ruf, “Broadway is a strong and dependable, upcoming, fast-growing, and energetic company that can provide the top tier of professional management for developers to take note of.”

The post Developing First-rate Affordable Housing in NYC<p class="company">Broadway Builders</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Building Knowledge Canada supports homebuilders with a trained team of expert advisors who have over thirty years of consulting experience. With their help, home builders certainly will not build them like they used to, and that is a good thing.

The company collaborates with home builders, renovators, and developers as a registered advisor for energy efficiency, net-zero qualifications, and the overall scope of building science. It focuses on Part 9 of the National Building Code of Canada and the Canadian Code for Residential Construction, which includes buildings with three storeys or less.

Building Knowledge Canada is also involved in industry-wide education efforts. The company often participates in public presentations about building science and developing high-performance homes. It aims to encourage discussion about the challenges of balancing new building regulations with the need to keep housing affordable. It works closely with several industry committees to offer training and educational resources that will help improve the industry’s knowledge of building science. By focusing these efforts on efficient and sustainable building patterns, the company hopes to raise the bar for home builders across Canada and beyond.

Its centre of operations is in Ontario with its headquarters in Cambridge. It provides consultation services to builders across all Canadian provinces, as well as to a few large home builder clients in the United States.

As it stands, the homebuilding industry is in a bit of a perfect storm. As material costs and labour shortages have continued to rise, so have the costs to build a home. “We recognize, along with our clients, that housing affordability is not only under threat, it’s almost become untenable,” explains Vice President and Director of Building Science Andrew Oding. “The world of building, developing, and renovating is becoming more and more complex due to all of the societal concerns and burdens.” Building Knowledge Canada is determined to apply its building science expertise to solve the problem of affordability in the housing market.

Over the last two decades, the world has awoken to the impending threat of climate change, and the home building industry has been transforming. Homes have become significantly more efficient in using energy to keep them operating. Designs have been adapted to manage and make use of solar heat; insulation materials have been substantially improved; windows and doors are installed with better seals, and much more. The enhancements are many and varied, and the resulting structures represent a drastic improvement in sustainable housing.

Home builders are continually adapting their practices as we refine our understanding of climate change, but requirements and recommendations change so quickly it can be a challenge to align regulatory compliance with customer needs. Building Knowledge Canada’s team of expert advisors specializes in applying building science to navigate these challenges.

Often, when building a modern home, the instinct is to focus on the most obvious environmental concerns, and there is a rush to implement those. Building Knowledge Canada consultants bring a deep understanding of building science to help home builders consider the less obvious concerns as well. With their expertise, builders can design a strategy that is sustainable and follows regulations, all while maintaining affordability in the final product.

For example, one way to reduce carbon emissions in a home is to focus on installing high-performance insulation, robust assemblies, more panes of glass, and specialized roofing material. A properly sealed home will reduce its carbon footprint throughout its lifecycle. This approach is necessary for building sustainable housing, but Building Knowledge Canada understands that there is more to this story.

“These things are good, and we will need to do them,” says Oding. “However, if we use certain materials in a house to reduce the carbon emissions while it operates, we could end up using materials that have high embodied carbon already in them, and the problem with that is we actually may make the problem worse. We may actually emit more carbon if we’re not careful about the materials that we’re using.” Embodied carbon is the total greenhouse gas emissions released during the complete lifecycle of material from manufacturing and delivery to installation and disposal. It is a balancing act, but one that Building Knowledge Canada understands well.

The complications go even further. Many of the low embodied carbon building materials best suited for these projects have drawbacks. These products are often naturally grown and harvested wood fibre products that can be prone to water damage. This makes it even more important to focus on rainwater management in the design of the home, to ensure that low materials can be used without adding the burden of water damage risk to the homeowner.

Building Knowledge Canada is committed to helping home builders balance all these concerns and design reasonable solutions that address them together. The company has identified three key focus areas that are helping to drive the industry in the most sustainable direction. These are energy efficiency, carbon reduction, and climate resiliency.

Energy efficiency has been heavily codified in the tiered energy code, reaching net-zero requirements for the highest tier. Canadian provinces have already adopted the requirements for some of the mid-tier levels, and these regulations will continue to move toward more efficiency going forward.

“What we have to remember though, is that energy was really just a surrogate for the real conversation, which is about carbon reduction,” says Oding. “Over the next five to ten years, we’re going to see more of an emphasis on not just reducing energy, but also reducing carbon.”

Beyond energy efficiency and carbon, resiliency is beginning to take on a bigger role in the design of modern homes. As the world continues to see more unprecedented climate events, homes will have to be built to accommodate extreme weather and other environmental threats.

The industry is evolving and so too must the tools and technologies used by home builders and advisors like Building Knowledge Canada. Recently, Chris Magwood and his team at the Endeavour Centre in Peterborough, Ontario released an innovative new tool called BEAM Estimator. BEAM is an acronym that stands for Building Emissions Accounting for Materials. An advisor can submit the main dimensions of a building and get back a list of raw materials with details about their carbon cost.

Tools, like Natural Resources Canada’s ‘HOT2000,’ have existed for calculating the energy cost of a building, but now with BEAM, the complete carbon footprint can be calculated as well. This includes not only operational carbon—the carbon released in heating, cooling, and providing electricity to a building—but also embodied carbon. These two metrics are being combined into a measurement that industry leaders have begun calling ‘carbon intensity.’

Carbon intensity is a relatively new concept, but some research is already being done. Chris Magwood, one of the members of the group behind BEAM, headed up the world’s first greenhouse gas benchmarking study, called Emissions from Materials Benchmark Assessment of Residential Construction (EMBARC). This research studied greenhouse gas emissions from building materials used to construct homes in Toronto and Hamilton. The results of this study revealed more than 840,000 tonnes of carbon and demonstrated the value of a more comprehensive metric for carbon measurements.

Building Knowledge Canada has long brought an understanding of both operational and embodied carbon to its consultations but the addition of these new tools and techniques will greatly improve carbon measurements not only for itself but for the industry at large.

As the director of building science, Oding keeps a very close eye on industry advancements. He is a past chair of the technical research committee for the Canadian Home Building Association and the Net-Zero Council. He is also a member of the Net-Zero Council Management Committee and has been since it was originally founded in 2014.

“To me, it’s been an absolute privilege to get to know the industry experts and stakeholders that participate in these committees. There’s really no other forum like it in Canada,” says Oding.

This year, Building Knowledge Canada President Gord Cooke was recognized with the ‘Clean 50 Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his ongoing contributions to sustainability in the Canadian housing market. Last year, Huso Ashimi, a Building Knowledge Canada energy advisor with nearly two decades of experience, won the energy evaluator of the year award from EnerQuality. But beyond these recognitions, Building Knowledge Canada feels that the real reward is watching its customers achieve new levels of sustainable home building.

Recently, one of its clients, Mattamy Homes has begun closing on properties in a new development called Springwater, one of the first net-zero-ready communities in Canada. Another of its clients, Activa Homes announced this last spring that every single-detached home it builds going forward will achieve net-zero-ready performance.

“This is really exciting to us because these are builders talking about building the best homes that Canadians could possibly live in. They’re efficient; they’re lower-carbon; they’re healthy; the air is fresh and clean. You’re giving the homeowner a place where their family can thrive, and you’re building them an asset that is not going to depreciate in the face of climate change,” says Oding.

The post The Science of Sustainable Home Building – Balancing Energy Efficiency, Carbon Reduction, and Climate Resiliency<p class="company">Building Knowledge Canada</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The company also has a network of dealers throughout the country that distribute its products and installation services. This is an area of the business that Reborn is looking to expand, specifically by way of its partnership with Costco.

In the early 1970s, with no real intended destination, Vinny and Brenda Nardo, along with their two sons, moved away from their home on Long Island in search of a better life. As a carpenter, Vinny was able to find work as a cabinetmaker here and there along the way. After exploring the country in their green station wagon and 22-foot trailer for a few years, the Nardo’s eventually ended up in Southern California.

Upon arrival, it became clear that the cabinetry industry was unlike other places in the country. Cabinet re-facing was a fairly new idea on the West Coast of the U.S., and Vinny Nardo gladly introduced the innovative and affordable method to the companies for which he worked in Los Angeles. The idea was a success, and it led to growth for those companies.

Getting tired of the commute from Orange County to Los Angeles, Vinny decided to branch off on his own and created his own company named Reborn Cabinets in 1983. It was a small operation with only one other person on staff, and the goal was simply to support the family. A short time later, his skill set and vast experience led the company to unexpected rapid growth, and the company began to add more employees.

Expanding a business at such a pace brings on significant challenges such as higher turnover rates, and this inspired the Nardo sons to join the team after college. “I looked at the business, and I realized that my Dad really needed somebody that he could trust to come in, so I joined the company in the late 1980s,” says Reborn Cabinets President Vince Nardo. “And from there, we looked at growing more, and my brother joined. The company quickly grew over the next twenty years, and today, we have almost seven hundred team members. We manufacture our own products here in Anaheim, and we serve three states.”

During this considerable growth period, Reborn learned that it needed to focus its attention on developing its employees and the company culture. Successful growth not only relies on top-quality products and services but also on the people that are a part of the team.

This new focus on employees resulted in implementing a set of company values roughly fifteen years ago. “We thought if we’re going to create this team and we want to have winners, we also need to create and live by a set of core values,” says Nardo. “The core values really have to be the directives to which we hire, the directives to which we fire, and the directives to which we operate.”

The first principle is to ‘build a winning team,’ and the second is to ‘have the ultimate working environment.’ These two standards shed light on the importance of attracting highly-skilled people to the team and providing an environment that fosters progress for them. For this reason, the leadership set out on a mission to put together processes and programs that help to create the ultimate working environment.

One outcome was a program called Reborn University. The sole focus of this group of dedicated trainers is to lead people through a successful career at Reborn and supply them with the tools and the education necessary to achieve that. Everyone who joins the team goes through a Reborn University course which usually lasts two to three weeks.

Reborn holds a company-wide monthly meeting during which it goes through one specific value in detail. The managers vote for the team members who exemplify the core value featured in that month and show appreciation for their hard work and outstanding performance.

The way that this family-owned-and-operated company supports its large team makes Reborn an ideal choice for employment in the construction industry. Earlier this year, it won a 2022 Top Workplaces USA award for the second year in a row.

While intent on increasing its team size, Reborn also wants to expand its information technology development services to continue improving its processes. The technology-focused company is always looking for innovative ways to be more efficient. This provides an environment with consistently more advanced opportunities for its many employees.

Recently, the company carried out approximately twenty-five promotions as a result of new opportunities that were created and presented to employees. The Arizona office was launched only six months ago, and it was a great chance for some people to relocate and get promoted into management roles.

Setting Reborn apart from its competition is its unique team and their ability to be innovative in the industry. The company uses technology at a level that is uncommon in the home improvement business to ensure its customers have the best remodeling experience. A kitchen, bathroom, or window remodel is a complex project with a lot of considerations, and technology simplifies the process.

“Using technology and being innovative allows us to provide an experience that’s really unmatched by any other remodeling company. I think those are the things that really have helped us to excel over the last almost forty years,” says Nardo.

Prioritizing customer satisfaction, Reborn tracks every aspect of the project to look for potential errors and patterns. “I personally live by the philosophy here at the business that once is a fluke; twice is a pattern, and three times never happens. We’re constantly looking for that second repetitious problem,” says Nardo. Using the core value of ‘built it better,’ as guidance, the team works together to continuously improve its work.

When it comes to cabinet re-facing, there are not many large providers of this type of product. Costco became interested after a discussion with Reborn about cabinet re-facing and decided to roll out a pilot program with the company. After it proved to be highly successful, Reborn was named the authorized cabinet re-facing provider to Costco. It is now a national program and a great partnership that opens Reborn up to new markets.

Surviving two recessions and now a pandemic throughout its history has shown Reborn that it has exceptional resiliency. Many of the employees have been on the team for between fifteen and twenty-five years, and these people have helped the company grow through difficult times and come out stronger. “We learned a lot through those challenges. We learned a lot through the recession back in the 2000s; we learned where our weaknesses were. In COVID, we really learned that we can overcome anything,” explains Nardo.

As the remodeling industry continues to mature, Reborn expects to stay at the front of the pack, leading the industry with innovative developments. It is excited to take on more exciting opportunities as it grows while remaining loyal to the team and the core values that have brought forth the company’s ground-breaking success.

The remodeling company is grateful for its forty years in business. Developing this valuable experience has allowed Reborn to make advancements in the industry and prioritize customer satisfaction. Above all else, it will never underestimate the importance of the team and workplace culture.

Looking to the next ten years in business, Vince Nardo is motivated to ensure a long-term future for the three-generation family organization. “We have multiple generations now in the company. My son is a general manager here; my nephew works here, and my son-in-law works here. We’ve also got to look at this organization now as three generations deep, and so we’re really trying to continually build something that’s going to last for a very long time.”

The post A Strong Team Focused on Core Values<p class="company">Reborn Home Solutions</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Enter ENERSOLV Design + Build Ltd.

Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company has been transforming the industry for over 15 years. Already known for its turnkey delivery of HVAC and plumbing systems, Enersolv recently added an electrical division to offer complete Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) services for complex, mixed-use projects—making the company unparalleled across Canada when you factor in their unique design-assist and design-build processes.

While the traditional tender-bid-build process may have worked well in the past, the desire to hit lower carbon goals has increased the complexity and scale of projects to such a degree that the historical dollar-driven choices are no longer viable. Designers know the many ways to lower carbon emissions, but contractors understand the nuance of labour and material cost as well as real world practicality. When designers don’t consult with constructors and vice versa, developers find themselves spending more money than expected or are faced with an inability to meet their low carbon targets.

Enersolv has everything under one roof.

“In breadth of offering, I think we are pretty much unparalleled across Canada. There may be larger mechanical contractors or larger electrical contractors, but we have our own consultants, our own engineers, and our own asset developers,” says Business Development Director Adrian Ryan.

Enersolv’s ability to offer design-assist and design-build streamlines the process for developers and allows them to make well-informed decisions to maximize cost efficiency and ensure their low carbon goals are met or exceeded.

An example of the value of the design-assist and design-build process is in Appia’s SOLO project located in Burnaby, BC. Enersolv has worked with SOLO from its first phase through to its fourth, where the first phase began with a traditional tender-bid-build process. For its second and third phases, Enersolv was selected for design-assist. For its fourth and final phase, SOLO elected Enersolv to do the design-build process. Throughout the 10-year long SOLO project, we see in real time the market’s shift from the traditional process to new, more effective delivery methods.

Design-assist and design-build are the ways of the future. Having everything under one roof allows Enersolv to provide a business case backed by great engineering, robust financial analysis, and current market pricing. For developers, a business case tailored specifically to their project is an invaluable asset because it gives them financial justification based on numbers rather than opinion. With the big picture in mind, they are able to ensure their projects meet or exceed their low carbon targets both practically and efficiently in the real world and throughout its life cycle.

Ryan notes, “Those developments are now so complex that the developer has worn the scars of going for the cheapest contractor or the lowest bid, and they’ve realized that they now have to hire contractors that are more sophisticated who can help reduce risk with an integrated design and construction process.”

As the market shifts, Enersolv continues to grow. “We’ve expanded the business to such a point now where we have a world-class service offering, and we’re just focusing on building on our world-class team,” says Ryan. “We invest in our staff, and they, in turn, invest in us.”

Over the last three years, the number of employees has risen from approximately 75 to 150. The team leaders understand the importance of loyalty to its staff, which has resulted in a reciprocal commitment from employees. A world-class team will be instrumental in Enersolv’s continued work in transforming the industry, pushing the market limitations to encourage innovation and technological advancement, and solidifying the company’s seat at the table of large-scale, complex projects that exceed their sustainability goals.

The post Adding Value through Design-Build and Design-Assist Services<p class="company">ENERSOLV Design + Build Ltd.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The traditional method of using a drill and a bucket is not an efficient way to mix material for a construction project. Having applied its expertise in Europe for many years, Collomix manufactures machines that are designed to properly mix many different types of material.

Recently, the company expanded its product line to include the AQiX, which is a tool designed to measure the exact amount of water needed in the mixture, consistently. “We kind of look at it like a math equation. You start with the material like concrete, mortar, or whatever is in the bag, plus water, plus mixing, equals results. Up to this point, we have been the mixing part of the equation and we still are, but now with the AQiX we’re part of the water part of the equation as well,” says Al Karraker, President of Collomix.

The AQiX connects to a standard garden hose and doses out the exact amount of water that the bag of material requires. The volume can be adjusted to one tenth of a quart, gallon, or liter.

Generally, any imperfections that arise in small batch mixing are the result of mistakes made in the mixing process rather than defects in the material itself. The two most common ways that mixing can go wrong are when the material is not mixed thoroughly enough, or when the amount of water added is not consistent with the amount specified. Collomix has helped its customers solve the first problem with small batch mixers, and now it’s helping them solve the second problem. With the help of a dosing instrument like AQiX, the person doing the mixing will be able to measure the exact amount of water every time, resulting in consistent, high-quality results.

The companies who make and sell the mixing material also appreciate the consistency offered by the AQiX. Customers tend to be much happier with the material overall when it is properly mixed because the results are more consistent. Rather than relying on a person’s memory to use the same amount of water with each batch, the AQiX reliably produces the same mix every time, resulting in less waste, fewer mistakes, and better quality.

In the past, other bucket manufacturers have endeavored to mitigate human error when measuring water, but developed products that are not as foolproof as the AQiX. “As far as we know, this is the only way that you can do this consistently, and consistency is the key. If you’re just doing one mix it might be okay, but if you are doing one after another and these materials are physically next to each other, like if you’re doing a floor leveling job, it all has to blend,” says Karraker.

Introduced originally in Europe, the AQiX was released in North America in March of 2021. The initial plan was to hold the launch one year ago at the World of Concrete 2020, but the demand in Europe was overwhelming and inventory quickly ran out. Collomix pushed the release date back one year and ramped up production to catch up with the growing demand.

The AQiX operates on two AA batteries which can last a full year with normal use. It’s designed to connect to and work with the level of water pressure in a standard garden hose, so setup is fast, easy, and accessible in most situations.

Approximately 95 percent of the 120 Collomix employees are located in Germany, although the company is steadily growing its customer base and distribution footprint in North America. Its two North American warehouses are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Cambridge, Ontario, outside of Toronto.

Using a standard hand-held electric drill to mix materials in a bucket is a common approach in North America, but it comes with a number of major drawbacks. An electric drill is designed for high speed and low torque, but mixing works best with low speed and high torque. Using a drill to mix will often cause it to overheat and break. Worse, the mixed material may end up inconsistent. When there are a number of batches to mix, often the mixer will get sore leaning over the bucket. This results in the last few batches being mixed less than is required. Since mixing depends on a chemical reaction, those last few batches may end up being lower quality.

Certainly, awareness of the importance of small batch mixers has grown in North America. However, the traditional method of using a drill in a bucket to mix material continues to be an ongoing issue. Collomix is dedicated to taking the time to recognize this and demonstrate the benefits of proper mixing to others in the industry.

Ten years ago when the company first started on this continent, the response was quite reluctant. The hesitancy has eased over time and in the last year, customers have begun to reach out to Collomix after seeing its products on job sites. Those looking for efficient, sustainable, and quality results in small batch mixing are increasingly looking to Collomix.

Collomix defines a small batch as one using between one and four bags of material. For construction projects that require mixing within these parameters, the company releases educational information on the correct tools and methods to optimize mixing results.

There are a number of different shapes to the paddles when mixing and people often pay no attention to their various functions. One of the most important messages Collomix has for small batch mixers is that the paddles are designed for specific uses, because certain materials need to be mixed in a certain way. “Some materials are mixed from the bottom up, some are top down, and some are side to side, and we are trying to, among other things, educate people about what style of paddle goes with what material,” explains Karraker.

The company aims to provide its customers with a program of units that work together and make the mixing process more efficient for their specific needs. For one of its customers, Collomix created a customized booklet labeling all the materials they may use and ranking the best choices of paddles. Karraker explains that if the correct paddle is used there will be better results, and all parties involved will be pleased.

“For example, if you’re going to be doing floor leveling, it should be mixed from the top down so you don’t get air bubbles. Therefore, if you don’t know that and you mix from the bottom up, it’s full of air and you pour that out and it’s supposed to be smooth on the floor but now it has bubbles all over it. It’s a disaster, but if you don’t know, you don’t know. That’s one of the things we’re trying to bring to the party, just that little bit of education,” he says.

Small batch mixing is continuing to grow in popularity in North America, and Collomix is demonstrating how it can be done consistently and efficiently. As the company makes progress in raising awareness, it looks forward to how the industry will move into the future. Its new product, the AQiX, fills a void in the market, and Collomix will continue to innovate and manufacture products that maximize the quality of small batch mixing in the years to come.

The post Sustainable Solutions for Small Batch Mixing<p class="company">Collomix</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Jacobsen Homes has a long history of customer satisfaction as well as excellent dealer relations with its customer base, which is the wholesale market rather than the retail market. The company has continued to succeed using the combination of cutting-edge designs, the highest quality materials, and a wealth of experience.

The company builds to all grade levels and complexities with a multitude of aesthetic options. Its manufactured and modular buildings range from entry-level family homes to multi-acre country estates.

Jacobsen began in 1959 with Bill Jacobsen when he realized the need for quality, affordable housing in Florida. In 1981, his son Bob Jacobsen purchased the company, and it has now moved on to the third generation in the family, Bob’s sons, Beecher and Colby Jacobsen. Their father remains the chief executive officer as they take on the daily responsibilities.

Specializing in manufactured and modular homes, Jacobsen Homes has the primary goal to provide an affordable and high-quality product to its customers. “One of our philosophies here is that we build to a standard of quality beyond code. We do not build to the minimum Florida building code; we add our own additions to it based on our history of building in Florida for so many years and surviving every storm that’s come through this state, which are many,” says Vice President of New Business Development Mike Wnek.

Many of the company’s competitors in the area start with a stripped-down, entry-level product that is more likely to be damaged in a catastrophic storm. Jacobsen Homes chooses to start fresh with a product that will weather the forces of nature and exceeds the state’s regulations in dozens of areas.

For example, within the HUD guidelines for manufactured housing, the sheathing options include thermo-ply, foamboard, and other materials that Jacobsen Homes would consider substandard. The only sheathing used by Jacobsen Homes is OSB or plywood sheathing. It uses the highest standard of sheathing because the wind in the state of Florida commonly hits speeds in excess of 130 to 140 miles per hour in hurricane season.

Other instances of steps taken by Jacobsen Homes to go above and beyond code standards are that it uses 2×4” interior walls rather than the 2×3” studs favored by other manufactured home builders, and its products feature a double marriage wall, ensuring an eight-inch thick wall at the center line. “We want our product to have the best chance of standing up to storm after storm for the history of the ownership by the customer who buys our home,” says Mike.

Another aspect of the company of which the owners are proud is the length of time many of its employees have been in the industry. It employs roughly 230 people, 170 of whom work in the factory. More than thirty percent of its workforce has at least ten years of tenure at Jacobsen Homes, and the senior managers have over thirty years of experience.

“We wouldn’t be where we are without the good people we’ve got working here for us doing what they do every day, and that’s everywhere from the people sweeping the floor in the shop to people like Mike and myself to our salespeople and everybody else,” says company Co-President Beecher.

The challenges of the pandemic made Jacobsen Homes a stronger and more flexible team. While adapting to all the changes in the market, the objective was simply to run production every day and stay afloat. The resulting supply chain issues have also caused problems for the company, but the resiliency of its employees has allowed it to pull through.

“Managing to stay somewhat profitable during that whole ordeal was a very big feat for anybody, and we’re extremely proud of everything our employees have done here to enable us to do that. This pandemic created a market like we’ve never seen for housing, and made it tougher than it’s ever been to build and supply that need,” explains Beecher.

As a private, family-owned-and-operated company, Jacobsen Homes can respond to changes in the market quickly, which has been particularly useful in the last two years. “One thing that sets us apart is being privately held, we do not have an ivory tower that we have to go to to get things approved, and this market changes daily. Building departments change daily, the requirements for permitting change daily, and when something happens in our marketplace, we have the reputation and history of being able to respond immediately,” says Mike.

The backlog of the supply chain has diminished the ability to provide manufactured and modular homes with a fast turnaround time, which is usually part of the product’s advantage. Still, the benefit of manufactured and modular homes is that they are built just as well, or even better, than any site-built house.

“There’s a big misconception about them being cheap or flimsy because they are made in a factory when in fact, they are inspected every day in the plant, and then they’re driven down a road, sometimes several hundred miles, so that’s going through almost hurricane-force winds before you even get the house there. I think that speaks of the quality and the construction standards that we build by,” says Beecher.

As Mike Wnek puts it “You wouldn’t build a computer out in the rain, you wouldn’t build a car out in the rain, so why would you build a house out in the rain?” Particularly in Florida, where six months of the year have the potential for torrential rains, it can be especially problematic to have the building materials exposed to the weather elements. After soaking up moisture from the air, buildings are then to be assembled on-site in a near air-tight package, and this becomes an ideal opportunity for mold and other issues. It is much more sensible to build in a factory when possible.

“It’s also better for timing. Being out of the weather, we don’t miss any of those building days. When you hit storms like we do in the summer, production at the site-build level can plummet. In our case, rain-in, rain-out: build them; ship them; get them on the highway.”

Building in a factory does limit some flexibility options. When building on site, the product can have multi-angle roofs and other complexities that are difficult to accomplish in a factory setting. However, when building essential and mid-range housing, building in a factory is the better choice. The product is inspected far more often than at a site-build, it is more energy-efficient, and it is highly cost-effective.

In regards to the cosmetics of the home, any aesthetic in a site-built home can be done in a manufactured or modular building. This includes various roof heights, trim levels, or floor coverings. Customers can select from the same palette of options either way.

The difference between a manufactured and modular building is that manufactured homes are constructed to the federal HUD Code, and modular homes are simply homes built in the factory that follow state or local guidelines.

The Ocean Breeze project, owned by Sun Communities and located in Jensen Beach, Florida, is a great example of how Jacobsen Homes is able to combine features of manufactured homes and modular homes in one project. The two-story modular buildings, with the lower concrete level stilt platform built on site, are situated on the water and feature amenities that allow for a very laid-back lifestyle. Part of the project is made up of HUD manufactured homes and then moves up into more of a modular building. Built on stilts, the product is unique, highly detailed, and structurally strong to keep up with the weather in Florida.

“It is probably just as stylish as you can buy at any price point in Florida, and they buy the home but they lease the property from the developer, so they also get an incredible presentation of amenities: clubhouses, health clubs, a swimming pool, spas, hot tubs, you name it. They have everything from yoga to woodworking,” says Mike. Ocean Breeze in Jensen Beach has proven to be a tremendous success both in sales rates and customer satisfaction. People love living there.

This type of home and lifestyle is growing in popularity in Florida as more people are selling their large homes up north to find a more simple and comfortable way of life. The lower-end, affordable housing market will continue to supply the demand for manufactured and modular home construction, although the higher-end market is picking up steam as well. As parks that were built thirty to forty years ago are replaced over time, they will move towards more modern and stylish options that are available today.

Jacobsen Homes is excited to see where innovation will lead the manufactured and modular home industry. When upgrading the factory, it will look for ways to improve quality wherever possible and to make production less labor-intensive on its employees. “We’d like to continue what we’ve been doing and get better along the way, but we are proud of what we build because we build with our customers in mind,” Beecher concludes. “Aside from that, we try our best to treat our staff and employees the right way, because none of this happens without them.”

The post Florida’s Answer to Structurally Sound, Affordable Homes<p class="company">Jacobsen Homes</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Specializing in radon mapping, radon testing, radon measurement, and mitigation, Vancouver-based REM is also a consultant. To educate and raise awareness about the risks of radon, the company presents educational seminars for building associations such as the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, the Canadian Green Building Council, and similar organizations in the United States.

As the only full-service radon company, REM is leading the industry. With a team of geologists, it produced the first geologic radon potential map of Canada in 2012, and it offers a complete line of radon detection options. These range from residential home self-tests to professional devices for home inspectors and radon mitigators.

The primary focus of the business is radon mitigation solutions. “We’ve invested a lot of money and time over the last ten years developing new technologies that go beyond what the requirements are in the code to prevent radon during new construction, so we’re quite unique in that respect,” says Alan Whitehead, President and Chief Executive Officer at REM.

This involves radon reduction and mitigation of indoor air and the level of radon in well water. Radon is soluble in ground water and it can enter the home through taps and faucets. When a toilet is flushed or a shower is running, the water is aerated and radon gas is released as a result.

REM is heavily involved in the research and development of its high-performance technologies, and has ownership in the intellectual property through patents and registered trademarks. Its most well-known and trusted products are Radon Guard™, Radon Block™, Radostat™, and Airwell™

The company has developed essential partnerships in the industry and uses many distributors to sell its products in various markets. These sectors include residential home building, custom home building, commercial construction, and industrial construction

For five years now, one of the company’s most beneficial partnerships has been with the Holmes Group. REM is the exclusive consultant and provider of radon reduction and prevention solutions for Holmes approved builders. “These builders are building to the Holmes standard and beyond the code in most areas of construction. They’re building healthy homes, and to do that, you’ve got to understand that radon could be an issue in regards to indoor air quality. They’re all about ‘building it right’ and take measures during new construction to put in the best systems that are available, which is where our technologies come in,” says Whitehead. REM’s line of products is the perfect match for the high standards of Holmes Approved Builders.

The move toward net zero energy homes drives the need to continue raising awareness about radon exposure. The building envelope of a net zero home is built much tighter, and there are fewer air exchanges, which creates a perfect storm for the build-up of soil gases and volatile organic compounds. Fortunately, the majority of architects, developers, and builders now understand the need for a plan to ensure that the indoor air quality is safe and healthy.

“Radon is present in every indoor environment bar none, the only question is to what degree and the only way to know is to test. You can’t see, smell, or taste it, so the only way to know what the level is in a home or school or workplace is to test using a radon detector and from there you would look at whether you need to mitigate,” explains Whitehead.

Building codes have progressed significantly in the past five years to require that radon control measures are installed in all new construction, whether it is a home, commercial, or industrial building. Radon awareness in the building sector has grown, and REM often consults with large project developers to design efficient radon control systems.

The circumstances are vastly different for the existing housing stock. Currently, there is no requirement in Canada to test and subsequently mitigate if the radon level is high. In the US, it is a requirement in most states that a residence must be tested for radon at the point of home sale, and if it is above the Environmental Protection Agency guideline, it must be mitigated before being sold.

Unfortunately that is not yet the case in Canada, but there was one step forward in British Columbia as of June 2020, where it is now a real estate disclosure requirement when selling a house to provide information on whether or not the home has been tested for radon. The Prairie Provinces, which have high levels of radon potential according to REM’s radon map, are also beginning to include more legislative measures to prevent public exposure to radon.

The changes are helpful for new housing developments, but since new construction represents only about ten percent of the housing stock, the real issue is raising awareness among homeowners.

To increase education for the other ninety percent of the housing stock, REM partners with the radon industry’s biggest stakeholders: Health Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, Provincial Lung Associations, and other organizations that want to make the public understand the risks of radon exposure.

Radon is produced through the presence of uranium in the soil and rocks, and the health risk for people is that it causes lung cancer. Even when the radon exposure comes from well water, the primary health risk is lung cancer, as it enters the body through inhalation. As mentioned earlier, this is because radon in the water returns to a gaseous form when using the water for household activities such as running a bath or flushing a toilet.

Radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. “The World Health Organization estimates that sixteen percent of all lung cancers are caused through radon exposure, and just to put that in context, that’s about 200,000 cases worldwide a year resulting in death,” says Whitehead. Three causes of lung cancer—smoking, exposure to radon, and asbestos—are all completely preventable.

Non-smokers can get lung cancer, and it is often due to radon exposure. Even worse for smokers who are also exposed to high levels of radon, the risk of developing lung cancer goes from one in seventeen to one in three because the effect is cumulative. “When you breathe in radioactive gas, there are alpha particles which are basically radioactive particles that attack the DNA and break it. Usually the body is pretty good at repairing that DNA and returning it to normal but sometimes, depending on the genetic makeup, that doesn’t happen, and that’s what results in lung cancer,” explains Whitehead.

One of the reasons Whitehead is so passionate about radon prevention and mitigation is his personal experience. Ten years ago, his wife Janet was diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of extremely high radon levels in their home. She has fortunately beaten the disease and continues to be a major driving force for Whitehead and the important work being carried out by REM.

A good indication of the increase in radon awareness is that REM’s business and sales have doubled year over year for the last two years. Also, the pandemic, in general, has influenced the demand for better indoor air quality. With more people working from home, it is especially important to test the area where they live, work, and sleep. Homes with finished basements are particularly hazardous because radon is heavier than air and sits in low places, but it can travel up through the rest of the house with the stack effect as windows and doors are opened.

The positive news is that testing for radon is inexpensive. With a new build or an existing build, it is affordable to mitigate the problem through REM. Typically, testing is as low as $40 for a single test kit, and around $300 for a continuous radon monitor. A professional device can range between $1,500 and $2,000. Mitigation for a standard home of roughly 2,000 square feet would cost approximately $3,000 to $5,000 for both new construction and an existing home.

Radon is present in every indoor environment, and what matters is finding out how much. Health Canada has been very proactive with mail-outs in the last three years and has sent roughly 3.0 million postcards to homes in high-risk areas. Through clear messaging, the cards let people know that radon is in their home and they need to test the level in order to protect their family.

“They used to say radon may be in your home, but now they just say radon is in your home and you need to know the number. That triggers a lot of testing, and that’s what we want to see,” says Whitehead. “There are quite a few stakeholder groups now that are very active and trying to get legislation in place to make it a level playing field so everyone knows about it and can take action if they need to.”

The post Radon Prevention and Mitigation – Raising Awareness and Exceeding Code Standards<p class="company">Radon Environmental Management Corp</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Focusing on framing and forming, the first of the sister companies, Sea to Sky Construction, was formed in 1999 by Avi’s father. As a teenager, Avi took interest in the business and was often found onsite with his father. He went to McGill University for structural engineering in 2009, and after graduation, he worked at a local engineering firm for roughly two years before deciding to jump back into construction with his dad. With a clear passion for construction, the two officially launched Canvas Homes in 2014 to specialize in constructing single family, luxury custom homes.

“The first few years of Canvas Homes were just building spec homes, flipping them, and selling them, and then, as the company grew and matured a bit, Avi’s focus really went to that high-end custom home market,” says Pardeep Chandi, Project Manager at Canvas Homes.

Soon thereafter, Canvas Homes grew quickly and attracted larger projects. The only problem was that putting together a product for someone else forced the company to use someone else’s design and vision, and this led to another big business move. In 2017, Avi decided to use his structural engineering background and learn more about architectural engineering to launch another company called Avi Dhaliwal Designs.

The newest branch of the company focuses on architectural design, planning, and engineering to fill out its portfolio and provide a full comprehensive product. “Basically, Canvas Homes then becomes a design/build firm. We design our own projects through one of our sister companies—Avi Dhaliwal Designs—then Canvas Homes steps in and builds, and then we actually hire Sea to Sky Construction to do the framing and forming of every house that we build as well,” explains Chandi.

The current challenges for Canvas Homes are not unlike those of the rest of the construction industry. Supply chain issues and their ripple effects have resulted in extended lead times for material such as metal and glass. “Things we were expecting from two to three weeks are now eight to ten weeks, so that’s a big challenge, and you really have to start planning ahead now. I think going forward for the next four to five years, you’re going to have to start ordering materials way before you normally would,” says Chandi. The construction industry shows no sign of slowing down, and with longer lead times combined with a labour shortage, companies will surely have to plan ahead in order to survive.

Another big issue is the labour market. The labour shortage sees no sign of improvement, and Chandi believes that part of the problem is the rapidly growing food delivery market. For many years, a large number of construction workers have been immigrants looking for employment in a new country. These days, another option for newcomers to Canada is delivery for Uber Eats or SkipTheDishes, and food delivery from the comfort of a vehicle may be more appealing than manual labour.

One unique challenge for Canvas Homes is all of the bureaucracy surrounding foreshore construction work. “We’re doing a project right now on Marine Drive. It is a beachfront property in West Vancouver, and the project is super challenging because the property touches the beach and then essentially the water, and any work that touches the beach is called the foreshore,” says Chandi. The reason this type of project is so complex is that in West Vancouver, the beach is leased from the provincial government, and all construction work has to be approved by both the District of West Vancouver municipal government, and the provincial government of British Columbia.

The water and its marine life make this a delicate area, so the project requires consultation with a wide range of parties. A seawall is constructed, and this requires the support of structural and environmental engineers. Foreshore work calls for extensive planning, and the design must show that the project is built to last one hundred years. Canvas Homes’ project on Marine Drive in West Vancouver was in the planning stages for a considerable time. The project started two and a half years ago, and the foundation was only recently put in because the seawall took two years to build.

Another interesting project for Canvas Homes is just wrapping up, and this is The Murray in Lower Gibsons. The three-storey, multifamily, residential, low-rise building features seventeen luxurious units and is one of the company’s first multifamily projects. Only a forty-minute ferry ride from the mainland in West Vancouver, this popular, up-and-coming area is currently experiencing a construction boom.

“Going from a single-family custom home builder to a multi-family home builder, it is a very fun project because we’re now tapping into a new market. Multi-family is really challenging in its own aspects because you’re essentially trying to create seventeen homes within one building, and there are a lot of restrictions and codes around fire protection and safety that you do not need to tackle with single family,” says Chandi. As The Murray project finishes and looks to fill occupancy any day now, Canvas Homes is moving on to its next project in West Kelowna. It is building five, lavish, single-family, custom homes in the three to three-and-a half-million-dollar range.

The well-appointed homes built by Canvas Homes stand out because of the special consideration to details. The company strives to optimize the design with small but significant details such as ensuring that the pot lights are perfectly centered on the ceiling and that all of the electric sockets in the house are at the same height and in the same location of each room.

“We are heavily design-focused. We have two interior designers that work within our office and then Avi has an eye for detail, and those sorts of things really stand out,” says Chandi. Canvas Homes understands the real value of overall conformity and flow within a house; its work is not about simply putting houses together for the purpose of a sale.

“With a custom-build compared to a spec home, you’re really paying a lot of attention to the planning of the house in the initial stages, and then, after planning, you are focusing a lot of your attention on the products that you use, so using higher-end faucets, tiles, flooring, and finding the best paint. I think that what sets apart the luxury custom home compared to the spec home or the generic home.”

Demonstrating this eye for detail, Canvas Homes won a Georgie Award for best custom home valued between $1,300,000 and $1,899,000 in 2018 for its uniquely contemporary design of the Cube House in Britannia Beach in Squamish. The entire project was designed by Avi, and the exposure from winning the award really put Canvas Homes on the map in the luxury custom home market.

As the company continues to attract more complex projects, it will bring on additional employees to keep up with its growth. Currently, Canvas Homes has revenue of $15 million in construction per year and within the next three-to-five years it hopes to have grown to the $80 million to $100 million mark.

Avi and the team are excited to see the company grow and attract bigger projects. The plan is to continue expanding into multifamily projects and bringing that custom luxury home appeal to the multifamily side as well. Many multifamily homes are merely cookie-cutter projects with builder-grade products, but Canvas Homes believes that a home should not have to be a single-family dwelling to be a forever home worthy of amenities and attention to detail.

“With the little details like in-floor heating in the washrooms, the LED lights when you open up your cupboards or closet doors, things like that really set our luxurious homes apart from the builder-grade multifamily projects,” says Chandi.

The post Expanding to Create Luxurious Multi-Family Homes<p class="company">Canvas Homes</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Founder and CEO of RADISE International, L.C. (RADISE) and sister company Smart Structures, LLC (Smart Structures), Kumar A. Allady, is a civil engineer whose passion is to be an entrepreneur, innovator, and champion of smart infrastructure. While ‘smart’ can be used to describe many things, for Allady, the word has a particular meaning. Smart infrastructure has measurable resiliency and sustainability.

“For resiliency, the first thing that comes to mind is the picture of the great boxer Muhammad Ali. When growing up as a kid, I was taught that resiliency is when you can take a punch and then have the capacity to come back to normalcy.” Allady compares this notion to infrastructure. With the growing number of extreme global weather events such as Category 5 hurricanes, wildfires, and record-breaking rainfall, the challenge for engineers is to reopen infrastructure services following a disaster as soon and as safely as possible.

Resiliency is measured by how quickly services such as traffic lights, power, and bridges can return to normal operations after receiving a punch from Mother Nature in the form of an earthquake or storm. The firm Smart Structures builds technology that allows infrastructure to increase its resiliency and reopen faster. RADISE deploys these important technologies.

In addition to resilience, the second component of smart infrastructure is sustainability. Allady explained that sustainability has three legs: economics, environmental, and social. Demonstrated by the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, the construction industry is one of the largest economic sectors in the U.S. The technology implemented by RADISE is capable of increasing the efficiency of the construction industry and its projects by reducing the uncertainties that often lead contractors to overbuild. More efficient construction as advocated for in the infrastructure bill allows for the development of additional projects, which results in more employment opportunities. This is another way to measure the economic benefit of sustainability in construction.

The second leg of sustainability is the environment. “In the U.S., we are the number one nation in terms of innovation, but when it comes to adoption of innovation, we are not number one, we are probably ranked somewhere in the twenties or thirties,” said Allady. He adds that environmental efforts are commonly geared toward specific industries and that minimizing the use of cement and steel material should not be overlooked, though this requires the adoption of new technology.

“The carbon footprint of cement and steel is sometimes 80 to 120 times bigger than that of oil and gas, so I think along with the oil and gas industry, we should also be looking at better ways to utilize cement and steel. I’m not saying we should ignore oil and gas but we should also address these other industries,” said Allady.

The third leg of sustainability is social and, similarly to the economics leg, the additional employment opportunities created through increasing the cost efficiency of projects would have a positive social impact. There is also a public safety impact on society. When RADISE helps to build better infrastructure with technology in place to monitor an asset’s condition as it ages, there is a warning before a disaster such as a collapse. All structures have a lifecycle and will eventually decline; the key to public safety is having the information in time to prepare.

The UN has reported that climate change is a “code red for humanity,” and building smart infrastructure is a necessary step in the right direction. As an engineering firm, RADISE is a solution provider, no matter the cause of the problem. Its technological expertise is in the effective deployment of sensors, often those created by companion company Smart Structures, to improve civil infrastructure. Smart Structures has created several quality product lines over ten years in business, and it continues to grow along with the philosophy of smart infrastructure in construction.

For various infrastructure construction projects, RADISE can provide corrosion sensors, vibration sensors, temperature sensors, and/or embedded data collectors. The company specializes in construction engineering testing, construction materials testing, geo-structural monitoring, quality management services, dynamic load testing, information technology, geographical information systems, and environmental consulting services.

“What we do is we combine different sensors for different infrastructure applications. The data we get from these sensors through data acquisition systems is pushed to the Cloud, and then on the Cloud we build all kinds of other apps to make digital assets a reality,” explained Allady. The sensors can be used in combination to improve the construction quality, operation, and maintenance of civil infrastructure, with limitless possibilities.

The take-up of innovative and sustainable products and methods can be more of a challenge than their actual invention. Most of the infrastructure projects across the country are developed by the government, and though people advocate for change at the policy level, it does not always translate directly to the world of construction.

“The adoption of innovation is a very tough subject because the big challenge is that construction is a sixteen-trillion-dollar industry, and the whole business model of the construction industry is volume-based. You get paid by the amount of material you use,” said Allady.

Clearly, it will not be easy to get contractors to adopt a technology that allows less material to be used, as this will result in lower pay with the current system. The entire volume-based business model of the construction industry must be altered to decrease waste of cement, concrete, and steel. This challenge of volume-based work also applies to engineers who are paid to do inspections, since their wage is based on the number of hours spent inspecting the site, and sensors reduce the need for inspections.

One of the main drivers for the more widespread use of embedded data collectors is likely to be the cost. The technology is very affordable, and many case studies have already proven that total project development costs actually decrease with the use of embedded data collectors, because sensors can be designed to identify waste in raw material usage in the early stages of construction. Moreover, total life cycle costs of the structure will always be lower with the use of this technology. Project owners are beginning to take notice.

The technology to improve efficiency already exists, and there is no time to be wasted. Eliminating the volume-based model benefits the government, the public, and the environment but, unfortunately, it will come with a lot of pushback due to disruptions to the usual process. With business models and procurement models based on inefficiencies, it is the forward-thinking contractors and engineering firms like RADISE that are making a stand for change in the construction industry.

If for some people, climate change is not enough motivation to make these necessary changes, hopefully preventing injuries and death from infrastructure collapse will have an impact. In June of this year, the Champlain Towers South, a twelve-story condominium partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida, and ninety-eight people died. The failure was primarily due to the long-term degradation of the concrete structural support at the ground-level parking garage as a result of water damage and steel corrosion. This type of disaster could be prevented in the future with the use of sensors developed by Smart Structures and deployed by RADISE to predict the degradation.

“There are always going to be failures of structures. The important question is: ‘Can we have advance warning so that we do not have a loss of life?’ and that is where we are creating solutions,” said Allady.

The Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapsed while under construction in March of 2018, causing six deaths and ten injuries. It is another example of where new technology in the construction industry could have saved lives.

“A lot of people are ready for incremental innovation but not for disruption. Disruption takes time to accept,” said Allady. This futuristic technology can immediately reduce the material required in a project and provide essential information about its lifecycle. However, the construction industry is dictated by the specifications and codes, many of which were written over forty years ago when the technology of today did not exist. The next step is to continue raising awareness to make massive changes in the construction industry.

“With the workforce, I see that a lot of the millennials are ready, savvy with tech, and I see there’s a shift that’s already happening. It is such a big industry, and I think it’s just a matter of time,” said Allady.

The United States is a hub for innovation, with the solution-oriented engineers and futuristic technologies needed to drastically improve how infrastructure is built, operated, and maintained. The focus now has to shift toward adjusting the construction industry’s business model and adopting the technology that is available to increase the sustainability and resiliency of civil infrastructure.

“The future is bright,” said Allady. “Solutions are coming from U.S. engineers to address global problems in the construction industry.”

The post Innovations in Smart Infrastructure – Measuring Resiliency and Sustainability<p class="company">RADISE International</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Framaco runs two Divisions. The construction management division acts as a Prime contractor for design-build and bid-build projects, primarily for the United States Government’s Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the USAID. Established in 2003, this division has successfully delivered eighteen construction projects from start to finish with a total value exceeding $800 Million, and is currently completing the construction of the all new U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby.

The other Division is the procurement management business, and this was the foundation of the company when Framaco was created nearly thirty years ago. The U.S. government spends billions of dollars annually building facilities outside of the country. Since these healthcare centers, military facilities, embassies, and consulate buildings have specifications from American designers and are funded by the government, the materials must also come from the U.S.

The role that Framaco has taken has been to focus on standards and specifications made in compliance with the Buy American Act, passed in 1933. The act requires the U.S. government to prioritize American-made products in any purchase. The company does not need to compete with the local contractors in other countries and does not use subcontractors in procuring these materials and providing logistics services to get the materials to the overseas contractors that work for the U.S. government.

Complete construction projects are broken up into sixteen divisions as defined by the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) to be carried out in order. Initially, Framaco’s supply chain business focused solely on the division that specialized in Architectural doors, hardware and windows. The company’s fully trained staff gained a wealth of knowledge covering projects from small facilities to large aircraft hangars, airports, and mixed-use facilities.

“The contractors found our strategic approach very enthusing and unique since we acted as a single-source responsibility to their contracts, bringing to them a large array of products. So, of course, this has added value, and this is how it became an exceptional win-win for us and for them,” says Gilles Kacha, co-founder and CEO at Framaco.

Its vendors in the U.S. are manufacturers that mainly focus on the North American market. These companies welcome the opportunity to serve American contractors overseas with the support and experience of Framaco.

“They don’t know how to approach a project in many corners of the world, and suddenly they have this U.S. company, based in New York with established overseas branches, staffed with very well trained personnel to take their product from, say, Ohio and move it to 20 to 30 countries around the world. In the past two years, we set ourselves a strategic plan and penetrated a new marketplace in the Pacific region and have since landed several new clients and projects there. We plan on growing aggressively in that region that is hungry for professional groups such as Framaco,” says Gilles.

The company has established exclusivity with its vendors. It does not act as a representative; it is in the role of true distributor. Many manufacturers in the U.S. are searching for ways to expand beyond the borders into international markets, and Framaco is an excellent partner for the task because of its years of expertise and experience. It has worked in every corner of the world, counting 78 countries this year, on a robust portfolio of American-manufactured projects.

Framaco has also expanded into the commercial sector. One project Gilles calls his “crown jewel” is the Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar. The $6 Billion project is one of the largest medical centers in the world, at four million square feet, and was designed by Cesar Pelli and managed by the U.S.-based company AECOM. All the products and materials for this massive hospital had to be sourced from the United States. Framaco completed the supply of thousands of doors, hardware and state of the art access control for the project and was rated as one of the top subcontractors of the dozens subcontractors on that healthcare facility.

“Everything that we do involves value-added engineering that very few companies are capable of doing. Additionally, after we do the design for these contractors, all the engineering, shop drawings, and technical submittals, we also move the products, and that is where the logistics come in,” explains Gilles.

If a contractor has an American project to complete in Guam, for example, Framaco will skillfully select, estimate and procure while contributing to designing and engineering the products that are then consolidated in its warehouses in New Jersey and transported to the defined destination into Guam. The company provides its services as one complete operation.

The Framaco team thrives on communication and employee engagement, and this became more complicated as a result of having to adjust to a new work style during the pandemic. However, the leadership faced the challenge head-on, and the company has pulled through quite successfully.

In the first few months of the pandemic, the company equipped its employees with the technology tools to work at home and maintain consistent communication. The leadership was pleased by the results, realizing that working from home actually increased productivity for its sales force. “You end up working more because your desk is right there, and you maintain productivity and keep up with meetings on the client and team sides, so the result of the pandemic was it grew our Division revenues, and our sales were up twenty-two percent in 2020 over 2019,” says Gilles.

The strong team spirit has led to real transparency within the workplace. All department employees are acquainted with each other’s work to ensure a seamless and effective transition if and when someone needs to be interchanged into a project for any reason. The company also rewards its people for exceptional performance. In the procurement division, the turnover rate is less than two percent, and some staff members have been with Framaco for over twenty years, which speaks volumes about the company culture.

Moving into the future, Framaco intends to stay ahead of technological advancements in the industry. The access controls and building security systems continue to improve, and these are key components to any project. Blast proofing and fire and life safety systems are always a priority, and it is important to stay up-to-date concerning the technology in this area. Acoustics is another part of construction that continues to develop. The company constantly trains its personnel to be educated on new product generations, and in turn deal skillfully with the new demands from owners, designers and engineers.

Employees are invited to all sorts of regular training and new certification sessions in the U.S., and before the pandemic, they would even travel overseas for these opportunities. “We are training them all the time, and as the person responsible, I communicate with them daily. I spend, on average, two to three hours a day in virtual communication with my sales and technical staff in the U.S. and internationally every morning. From 9:00 am until almost 12:00 pm, I am in full communication via video conferencing with our various teams addressing ongoing and new client projects, along with logistics matters,” says Gilles.

Framaco Procurement Division has grown between ten and twenty percent annually since its first year in business and attributes much of this success to the repeat business and track record it has experienced over the years. “Most of our clients come back to us. I have customers that I started with on one project in 1991, and we have now completed in excess of fifty projects with them. This is the type of relationship that we have forged over thirty years with these clients and these vendors, which for me is a measure of our success,” says Gilles.

Gilles makes clear, however, that the true backbone of the company’s achievements is the skilled and experienced employees. “It’s all about the team, integrity, loyalty, and the collaborative and excellent relationships. That’s how our company was built and how it has been growing over the years, and we plan on continuing that thriving trajectory in the future.”

The post A Complete Materials Procurement and Logistics House<p class="company">Framaco International</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.