Tiny homes are certainly nothing new, but they have been getting a lot of attention lately, and why not? Well-built small dwellings are perfectly adequate shelters from the elements as proven throughout history from the Celtic roundhouses built during the British Iron Age to the simple wood dwellings constructed by early American pioneers.

Just as throughout the centuries, financial considerations inspire many who decide to go this route today. Others are driven by more than financial freedom. Those who embrace the refreshing sense of adventure and autonomy that tiny homes offer share their advice for the stewardship of the earth as much as they share their vision for a more sustainable way of life.

So, how to define a ‘tiny home’? As it turns out, there is no set standard, and what is permitted will vary greatly depending on local laws and regulations. In general, it is a detached single-family dwelling unit that has less than five hundred square feet of living space.

If an area permits such structures to be placed permanently, they can be built on a foundation like any other home and be hooked up to water and septic systems as well as other utilities. If the tiny home is built on a chassis, it is technically a recreational vehicle and is subject to different standards such as those involving dimensions or weight that could affect towing.

Materials used are mainly dictated by considerations such as whether a tiny house will be fixed to the land, live on a trailer to make it mobile, or be built as a houseboat. When deciding on materials functionality is key. The choice of materials is myriad, from wood in all its forms to concrete, metal sheeting, plastic, and adobe and cob mixtures for fixed tiny houses.

Some people turn to unexpected materials like car tires, glass bottles (or plastic ones with more plastic waste collected from the environment rammed into them), sandbags, or straw bales. In South Africa and Ghana, recycled plastic turned into bricks is fast becoming a trend in affordable housing circles, while in Thailand, there are even tiny homes made of bamboo.

Other builders repurpose old grain silos, buses, and rare, vintage ellipse-shaped metal pods from the seventies. Known as Futuro Houses, these units were designed by Matti Suuronen. Some have been restored by a few creative people around the world. Whether salvaged or brand new, materials and repurposing options appear to be limited only by durability, the imagination of designers, and building codes.

Another aspect that needs careful planning is how to access basic services such as water, electricity, and sewage. How to store water is one thing, but getting it in and out of the unit is another matter altogether, especially in mobile and floating homes in winter. One option is to install RV heating pads on tanks, in addition to insulating water pipes. Adding skirting around units also goes a long way to keeping things warmer inside and adds some extra protection for pipes as this blocks off icy winds.

Without a connection to a sewage or septic system, personal waste is another head-scratcher, with many owners opting for composting concepts with safe disposal. In terms of electricity, when the home is not connected to the grid, most people use solar panels backed up with storage batteries to light up the inside of their tiny homes.

Once the most basic decisions are made there are scores more aspects to consider but, thanks to experts and researchers, YouTube channels, the Tiny Home Movement website, and actual builders of little dwellings, it has become pretty easy to draw up a checklist of questions to answer before getting knee-deep in wood shavings or savings.

This brings us to one of the most important questions: to build or to buy? When self-building, ensuring that one has the necessary skillsets in place first is the wise thing to do. Because as an old Afrikaans saying goes: buying cheap is buying dearly.

Do-it-yourselfers new to tiny home projects may find that leaving the job to a professional may save money, time, and tears in the long run. One trusted builder, D’Arcy McNaughton of Acorn Tiny Homes in Ontario, Canada, is an ex-firefighter who has years of experience in building and occupying tiny homes. McNaughton points out many little blind spots that may seem obvious to seasoned tiny homers but may surprise new owners.

One of these points covers heating and cooling because nobody wants to live inside a Dutch oven or a freezer. To cool such a space effectively and cheaply, having plenty of windows placed to allow for cross-drafts throughout the house on hot days is recommended. Mesh screens on windows that open help keep wildlife and insects outside.

For heating, hydronic underfloor heating drawn from a tiny home’s combination water heater is the top radiant heat choice at Acorn Tiny Homes. “Tiny homes tend to have very cold floors. So, by heating the floor, you are stopping that cold action at the source,” says McNaughton, who also advises having a second heat source for good measure.

Another important consideration in places with extreme winter weather, according to experts, is keeping the space warm safely while it is unoccupied for any period during the day or night. One way of doing this is by using a solar-powered heat pump, like those by Canadian company ÉcoSolaris. The panel functions by pushing heated air into the area being heated through a solar-powered fan system. As long as the panel faces south, it also works in wintery weather.

As with any building project, deciding on land is vital in the early planning stages of a tiny home. Even for fixed houses, leases can be arranged on someone else’s land, depending on local by-laws. Therefore, whether a site will be borrowed, bought, rented, or just camped on temporarily in the case of a mobile tiny home, must be decided early as the cost will have to be factored into the budget.

Another cost aspect to consider, say seasoned tiny homeowners, is transport, not only with regards to hauling a unit but also general transportation. It is, therefore, wise to ensure that there is space to store a vehicle and or easy access to public transport if needed. Some tiny home owners store a bicycle or two to get around in fair weather.

A possible downside for some is that, generally, tiny homes tend to drop in value rather than gain investment potential, much like RVs. That is especially true when a unit is not attached to independent land, so acquiring a new site and moving the home become future costs to take into account when plotting its resale value.

In addition, insurance is a matter that is best cleared with a trusted professional before building commences because some companies only insure professionally certified builds, even when it qualifies as an RV rather than a house. When a tiny home qualifies as an RV, it is wise to sign up for transportation insurance when relocating the unit. Read the fine print, however, as not all policies cover self-transportation. In such cases, experts suggest finding a professional haulage company that automatically insures the cargo it carries under its policy.

Once the nitty-gritty of the realities is sorted out and decided, the fun can start, and there is a lot of that to be had when one listens to the incredible passion of tiny home owners. While there are certainly challenges, the pleasures and financial gains make tiny homes anything but the novelty many take them for.

Instead, they seem to have an uncanny way of setting people free in the best possible sense. Whether for a season or two or three or even for a lifetime, these small habitats offer considerable long-term benefits. Great quality is, undeniably, no small affair.

The post Big Gains on Small Beginnings<p class="company">Tiny Home Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

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.

With a background in the Electrical industry, Dan completely restructured the company into a great success. It now boasts up to three hundred employees with around four hundred active projects with a boom in business over the past near-decade. “Everything was built to the new way of business,” he explains; new policies and procedures had to be put in place to meet new company standards.

Under Dan’s direction, Gil-Son restructured as a full Electrical contractor before evolving to add Mechanical services like heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC-R). Gil-Son also offers Sheet Metal and Welding fabrication, at its current location. Gil-Son can handle any part of construction services, from Electrical to Mechanical and beyond.

Dan is quick to tout the efforts of many past and present employees who helped the company become an industry leader. This includes his wife Melissa and his father, Don Hiltz, who Dan names as being instrumental in every aspect of the business.

Dan is proud of the family atmosphere that the company now has, adding that his goal is to create an environment in which people can grow and succeed, a place that everyone can be proud of. “We pride ourselves on trying to make everyone feel like they’re a part of a family, not just a corporate number,” he shares.

The company wants to stand out from its competition in all respects, and its low turnover rate combined with employee enthusiasm is one way that it has distinguished itself from its competition. Internally, Gil-Son operates under an open-door policy at all levels, and this is encouraged even for new hires. Dan says that he and upper management also try to keep employees apprised of the company’s financial situation and are open about new projects while encouraging input from all levels.

It is important that employees, in his words, “are part of the machine and that they understand where the machine is heading.” This family atmosphere extends outward to its local Atlantic Canada community, wherein Gil-Son regularly contributes to many local charities and causes such as Children’s Wish and local minor sports.

This firm focus on fostering strong and healthy links with both employees and the community is also exemplified in the way that Gil-Son approaches its customers. Dan affirms that much of the company’s dealings with clients are relationship-based and that it prides itself on developing long-term connections with its customers. “We try to stay in constant contact with past and present customers to keep relationships strong,” Dan says, and this includes keeping tabs on clients even outside of the parameters of a job or contract.

He admits that Atlantic Canada has a unique way of doing business that differs from other parts of Canada; as the market is limited by smaller communities, a company like Gil-Son must work to build trust with each client to be successful. The relationship-based model is all too important in finding new business as well as keeping clients on board, but with such an approach woven into multiple facets of the company, it has become second nature.

Dan is positive about the state of the construction industry in the Atlantic provinces, seeing no end to its operations or government investment in the region. A popular perception has been that the Atlantic provinces handled the pandemic well with health and safety measures. According to Dan, this, in turn, enticed more people to move to the area, and as such, more living and working spaces will be needed as the population grows. To meet this demand, construction will likely keep compounding year on year for now, as evidenced by the sheer amount of construction work visible in the company’s home of Halifax today.

As with many areas globally, obtaining materials continues to be a challenge due to global supply chain problems, meaning that construction costs more. As well, though work is abundant in areas like Atlantic Canada, construction is generally still seeing a labour shortage. Gil-Son, however, has positioned itself well in the construction industry and is fortunate to have secured and retained great employees throughout the years.

Dan believes the business is up to the challenge of these ongoing situations if it keeps clients aware of the rising costs. All involved must adapt and concede to market conditions that will likely become the new norm, and Gil-Son has adjusted to do so. “Companies need to be a lot more flexible with long-term business models to adapt to modern realities,” he comments, underscoring the ability of the company to do just that.

Now operating with seventy vehicles on the ground between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the company has come quite far and plans to stake its claim even farther in the coming years. It will be constantly looking to strengthen its existing client relationships with the approach that has won it respect in the past eight years. There are many large clients in the Atlantic Canada region that will enable expansion, which will allow the company to be at the forefront of its area and industry and meet its goals.

Dan reveals that the company will be looking to expand regionally into new areas, such as further into New Brunswick and even into nearby Prince Edward Island. “We want to follow the opportunities as we grow and expand,” while making sure not to grow beyond a manageable size, he says. It continues to examine other options very closely. With a surge in local construction still swelling, Gil-Son Construction will be keeping busy for the foreseeable future. With the help of his newly restructured management team, Dan is convinced that Gil-Son will continue to grow and expand for years to come.

The post Building Relationships with Clients and Workers Alike<p class="company">Gil-Son Construction</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The company found its niche early and stuck to it. “We put ourselves in what I call the mid-to-higher-end [market]. I didn’t want to be the most expensive; I didn’t want to be the cheapest. We have offerings at every price point,” states company founder Robert Taylor.

The company specializes in flooring finishes, including all manner of carpets, hardwood, tiles, luxury vinyl, laminate, vinyl, and waterproof flooring. Laminate and luxury vinyl are the company’s top-selling product categories, with tile remaining a popular choice. Water-resistant laminate is rapidly becoming a burgeoning sub-category.

Customers can choose from an enormous range of products, in person or online. In addition to the Dartmouth headquarters, the company has branches in Sydney, Bridgewater, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For clients who cannot visit a branch in person, the Taylor Flooring website offers an extensive look at the company’s wares. In the carpet category alone, the company carries a huge array of colours, brands, and fibre types from major manufacturers. It also offers advice on décor to help customers make selections.

The company has more than flooring and household products, however. The team can also provide professional installation, and in addition to flooring, can install cabinets, lighting, custom showers, custom area rugs, and staircases. Installation duties are performed by company staff and trusted subcontractors. Clients can request estimates for installation services through the Taylor Flooring website.

“Lighting and cabinets are new for us. Those are areas we’re just starting to get our feet wet with. Our longstanding services would be full-home flooring renovations, new home builds, and then custom showers, backsplashes, and area rugs,” Patrick says.

Full-home renovation is “probably the biggest,” revenue-generating service at present, he adds, noting, “That’s really where we focus.”

While private homeowners make up a substantial portion of the company’s client base, Taylor Flooring also provides products and services for multi-unit apartments, hospitals, offices, and retail outlets.

Robert Taylor launched the company that bears his name in the early 1990s. “It was incorporated in ’92, and we opened the doors in February of ’93,” he recalls, chuckling at the company slogan with its deliberate play on spelling: “Need a floorist? Call a Taylor.”

Then, as now, a strong emphasis was placed on providing superlative customer service. “It’s been pretty much the same concept right from day one,” he says. “I’ve had thousands of letters from customers over the years with compliments but not one of them ever said, ‘Thank you very much for the great price.’ It was always, ‘Thank you very much for the great service—the install was professional.’ This tells me our customer service was doing its job.”

He sold the business in 2012 and today, it operates under the auspices of Creative Flooring Solutions Inc. (CFSI). This parent company also owns a roster of other flooring-related businesses. After completing the sale, Robert left the company for a time. He returned in March of this year and currently manages the Taylor Flooring retail segment.

The company employs roughly thirty people across all its branches, up from approximately twenty-two at this point last year. This total only covers Taylor Flooring; when the company first started, it had a separate division devoted to commercial work. Currently the majority of the commercial segment now operates under “the CFSI label, not Taylor Flooring,” explains Robert. However, some branches of Taylor Flooring still perform their own commercial work because of location or relationships with contractors.

When it comes to hiring new staff, there is a preference for workers who are outgoing, self-motivated, team players who are able to absorb information quickly. “There’s a lot to learn in flooring: products, measuring, installation,” notes Robert, adding that the company wants “somebody who can use a measuring tape, as silly as it sounds.

The company also likes new hires who show a “high attention to detail,” adds Patrick.

Clearly, the public likes what the company is doing. It has won consecutive Consumer Choice Awards for Halifax for over a decade. These annual wins are evidence of the company’s excellent customer service and ability to “keep the Taylor brand fresh in the minds of the people out there,” says Patrick.

When it comes to vendors, Taylor Floor likes to establish long-term relationships with suppliers of high-quality goods. That does not, however, mean that the company is content to rest on its laurels. An effort is made to keep up with new trends, designs, and technology, says Patrick, pointing to recent “innovations in porcelain and ceramic tile. We push our installers to up their game and gain new skills by working with different products. This helps keep us at the forefront,” he adds.

Quality is further maintained through staff training and customer care. As with any construction-related service, problems can sometimes arise during an installation. In such cases, Taylor Flooring works hard to identify the root cause of the problem, satisfy the client, and determine ways to avoid repeating the error.

“When you go out and do a job and it goes off without a hitch, [the client] will tell a couple people. But if you went out and did that same job and something went wrong and you go and fix it right away, they’re ecstatic. They’re going to tell twenty people,” Robert says, noting that the company’s mission “has always been to make sure we don’t let the customer down.”

This supportive ethos is also demonstrated by the company’s commitment to the communities it serves. Among other initiatives, Taylor Flooring sponsors kids’ hockey teams around the province.

Like all North American businesses, it has had to cope with the COVID crisis. The company was deemed an essential service and allowed to remain open. Installation crews were equipped with face masks and hand sanitizer.

“That was a complete re-work for us. We had to learn how to be in a space and keep our clients and workers safe. We had to find new ways of working. A lot of the [practises] that we used then, we continue to use because they are better practices and make us a little bit sharper,” recalls Patrick.

While pandemic lockdowns stifled some business activity, “We have a lot of new home construction [in Nova Scotia] which really helped to keep the economy going. [Taylor Flooring] survived a little better than some did, because we were able to keep going, although on limited staffing… but we had the same impacts as a company as anybody else,” he adds.

These impacts include COVID-related supply disruptions and price increases.

“Ten, twelve years ago, to bring a trailer load of product from Asia would be $3,000 to $5,000 a container. Back a year ago, it was anywhere from $20,000 to $25,000 for the same container. So, pricing has become a huge issue,” says Robert.

Some companies switched to European-made products, only to find supply chains in that part of the world thrown into disarray because of the brutal war in Ukraine, he continues.

The supply chain for many flooring companies “has shifted back to Asia a little bit, and the pricing has come down but I don’t think we’ll ever see it where it used to be… Supply is definitely an issue and pricing but that’s not unique to this industry,” he adds.

Manpower has also become a challenge, in part due to the company’s success. A rising volume of work means it takes longer to carry out installations. It is an ironic problem to be facing, but further proof of Taylor Flooring’s growing popularity. Still, the company would like to shorten the lead time for installation work, in keeping with its customer-first focus.

On top of COVID, Nova Scotia also recently endured the wrath of Hurricane Fiona. Taylor Flooring worked with insurance companies and contractors to deal with some of the fallout from this massive windstorm.

Moving forward, Patrick says “lighting and cabinetry” are “the new services we’re really trying to focus on.” For the future, the general aim is to “get to a place where we’re really that one-stop shop, to be able to meet flooring, lighting, and cabinet needs all in one place, so we can service our customers with more features and make the whole experience a good one from start to finish.”

The post There is No Ceiling for This Thriving Nova Scotia Team<p class="company">Taylor Flooring</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With experienced personnel available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Safety First provides equipment for roads, sales and rentals, detailed traffic control plans, assistance during natural disasters, and also teaches 30 safety courses throughout the Atlantic Provinces and Ontario.

Whether it’s highway equipment for utilities, construction, film and special events, barriers, or arrow boards, Safety First offers a wide range of traffic control and safety-related products, many manufactured in Atlantic Canada, and the most experienced and knowledgeable instructors in the Atlantic provinces.

The initial owners, Ed Hennessey and James MacDonald, founded Safety First in Newfoundland in 1993. The business flourished and in 2018 was acquired by private equity firm The Riverside Company. Safety First will celebrate its 30^{th anniversary in 2023.}

“We’re excited about it,” says General Manager Jason Hiltz. “It’s a huge testament to the quality of service that we provide out there. It’s also interesting that not only are we the largest traffic control company operating in Atlantic Canada, but also the longest-running, so it’s kind of cool.”

When it comes to the qualities that have contributed to the company’s success, Hiltz has an immediate answer. “I always say it’s all about the people you have working for you. It truly is all about the people. I’m very thankful for all of our employees and managers that have contributed along the way.”

As General Manager for the past 10 years, Hiltz has experienced a variety of challenges during his tenure and is visibly proud of Safety First’s people and what they’ve accomplished.

“We provide traffic control service, and it’s a 24/7 job,” he says. “We provide emergency services to many of our customers, whether it be power utility groups such as Nova Scotia Power or NB Power, or even the Bell and Rogers companies of the world.”

When internet service or the power grid goes down, the expectation is that Safety First operates with a high degree of urgency and gets crews out there quickly, he adds. “In the event of an emergency on a Saturday night or Christmas morning, Safety First is there to provide a service, and that comes with a ton of hard work and dedication by our people.”

While the people are what certainly have tied the company to 30 years of longevity, success is also about making bold moves, says Hiltz.

“Running a business isn’t easy and sometimes you’ve got to take some risks,” he says. “Thankfully, I think we’ve made and taken appropriate risks along the way and they’ve worked well for us.”

Bold moves enabled business diversification and a customer-first approach has contributed to success in the long term.

While Safety First is predominantly and primarily a traffic control service provider—what it does day in and day out and where 95 percent of its energies are focused—the company is also quite diversified, Hiltz says. “A lot of folks are surprised about everything we do.”

Safety First has two divisions with a natural fit to support its traffic control operations. The first is the traffic safety products division, which makes, manufactures, and sells traffic safety products used in the field while completing the task of providing traffic control service.

“We sell cones and traffic control signs and stands, pavement tape, anything you see in the roadways including speed radar signs, all the arrow boards and trailers and everything that gets used out in the field,” Hiltz says.

The second is the industrial safety course division, supporting its safety control operations, which Safety First brings to its long list of business-to-business contacts and customers. “Everybody on the road needs to be trained on various courses and certified; each province has an additional course tied to understanding the provincial traffic-control manual.”

Each of the company’s eight brick-and-mortar offices in the Atlantic provinces provides facilities for in-person classroom training for traffic control and first aid courses. Additional training includes fall protection, confined space, bucket evacuation, and other safety certification courses in an ongoing push to diversify the company.

“We have a parking enforcement division where we help municipalities with their winter parking bans. We put our workforce to good use and look for opportunities where Safety First can find a nice fit. Another example of this ‘can do’ attitude can be shown through our meter reading services division as well as our work at city landfills.”

Over the years, that fit has also included dealing with hurricane relief efforts such as during Hurricane Dorian, a rowdy visitor that blew in at the tail end of 2019, and the more recent Hurricane Fiona, the company’s largest hurricane-response effort to date.

“That was five weeks of full utilization of every crew we could put out in the field, seven days a week, 24/7, night shifts, and day shifts,” Hiltz says. “It was truly a multi-province effort. We sent crews from one province to another, from New Brunswick to PEI and to Nova Scotia to help them out. It was a record storm for Atlantic Canada.”

The last few years in particular have also seen labour costs rising 24 to 36 percent, and fuel costs exceptionally high, two significant variable strikes against the profitability of the business.

But despite the ongoing challenges, Safety First continues to embrace the promise of its name, ensuring safety in the workplace is always a priority.

“These days, health and safety workplace procedures are important for the well-being of both employees and employers,” Hiltz says. “Human loss is immeasurable and we can’t tolerate it. Every person who leaves their home for work in the morning should come back to their home in the evening in good health.”

The trouble with traffic control is it’s truly a high-risk environment, he says. “When you think of what it is we do out there, unfortunately when it comes to vehicles travelling at sometimes very high and excessive speeds, should a collision occur, you don’t get a second chance.”

With distracted driving seemingly at an all-time high, the risks imposed on workers also continue to rise.

“Our employees must have their head on a swivel to avoid a potentially catastrophic incident,” says Hiltz. “Workplace safety is important for every employee because all workers want to work in safe and productive conditions. It’s the company’s duty and moral responsibility to look after employees’ protection.”

Safety First does things differently, starting with referring to its flaggers as “protectors.” “The reason is that the primary objective of our business is to provide temporary work zone protection for our customers while they work on the streets and highways,” Hiltz explains.

“One of our company mantras is, ‘protecting your people, your time and your business.’ Taking a step back and considering what that means correlates well with safety and why it’s so important in the workplace. It speaks to the reduction of accidents and incidents as well as running a profitable, efficient business. That’s why selecting reputable traffic control service providers to complete your work is so important.”

The 24/7 nature of the environment means managing a variable workload, he adds. Safety First is entirely business-to-business as related to traffic control; if the company doesn’t need traffic control one day, it might not have work for everybody versus another day when the phone could be ringing off the hook. There are not enough people to supply the demand.

“It’s that variation of one day to the next and trying to find the correct ratio of the staff. That’s always a moving target and it’s hard to hit, especially in today’s labour market where finding quality employees is so hard.”

The job is not only hard, it’s risky, and the competency of protectors in complex situations is obviously essential. “It’s more than just flipping paddles out there,” Hiltz says. “It’s a skill set and takes a certain type of person, one, to enjoy the job and, two, do a good job of it.”

Along with diversification and qualified employees putting Safety First on the road to success, it also has reliable partners, such as JP’s Garage, says Hiltz.

“We can explore efficiencies, as we have a fleet of approximately 175 ‘company assets.’ We’ve converted some to a dual fuel system so they run on propane and gasoline to combat the rising fuel cost,” Hiltz says. “It’s that attitude that keeps you in business for 30 years, the bold moves that allow you to try different things that hopefully work out.”

While Hiltz has a host of milestones in mind for the company, a notable one is expanding business outside of Atlantic Canada. Currently operating across Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick and PEI, together with parent company Area Wide Protective, Safety First is the largest traffic-control-service provider in North America and maybe the world, Hiltz says. Operations stretch to California and Hawaii, and throughout Atlantic Canada.

Being the largest brings with it the largest workforce, the greatest ability to manage changing workloads, and allows the company to diversify into other industries, says Hiltz, as well as giving access to capital, the latest technologies, and the best practices in the industry.

“Being the largest and the longest-running company is again proof of the state of the practices we provide in putting safety first and putting the customer first. When a storm such as Fiona hits, you can count on Safety First to have the largest workforce to satisfy the recovery effort, whether we’re moving crews from Newfoundland to New Brunswick or New Brunswick to Nova Scotia. That workforce is impactful.”

It certainly is: another milestone has 700 protectors out conducting traffic control activities in one day, he says, beating the previous record of 600 earlier in 2022.

Of course, protecting those protectors is the top priority for the company every year.

“Going a full year accident and injury-free is the goal and that would be just an extraordinary milestone to achieve,” Hiltz says. “Everyone coming home safe the same way they started out. Safety is always at the forefront of what we do. It has to be, it’s our name. That’s our shooting-for-the-star milestone.”

The post Safe Travels<p class="company">Safety First-SFC</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The Toledo tower was built for a company called Cleveland-Cliffs, which describes itself as “the largest flat-rolled steel provider in North America.” The client wanted the tower built quickly, in winter.

Not counting weather, heights, and a looming deadline, the Mohawk team faced another challenge. For a project like the Toledo tower, “exterior appendages such as piping, cable trays, and conduit trays,” are usually installed after cladding is put in place, Quarture points out

This tower, however, was erected in modules, with each premade section already containing outside piping and other appendages. These extrusions meant extreme care had to be taken when erecting scaffolding and rigging around the tower.

To describe the project as challenging would be “an understatement,” he says. “Kudos to our folks,” he says, saluting the workers who toiled on the tower. “They were operating in winds and winter conditions at 500 feet on scaffolding. That’s definitely a job I am very proud of and proud of the men on that project.”

The Toledo tower was completed in 2021, as the company’s workload began to return to life following a temporary dip during the worst of the COVID pandemic.

Difficult assignments are all par for the course at Mohawk Construction, where the team excels at projects involving building exteriors.

“We are a specialty contractor in the metal cladding arena. The caveat is, we don’t do glass, and we don’t do curtain walls for the most part but, along with metal cladding systems, there are stone veneer cladding systems; there is terracotta cladding; there are aluminum plate and aluminum composites. There are several different products that we use to clad the exterior beyond the metal product.”

Mohawk’s work can be categorized as either architectural or industrial. The architectural category covers commercial offices, colleges, universities, and hospitals, while industrial includes automotive plants, mining operations, steel manufacturing facilities, aluminum smelters, and power stations.

Project management, procurement and most fabrication work are handled in-house, while certain specialties such as structural and thermal performance or stamped drawings are usually subcontracted to engineering firms. Mohawk typically works in partnership with a general contractor. The company has established master subcontract agreements with some general contractors with which it does repeat business but remains open to new customers.

In addition to the head office in McMurray, the company maintains a warehouse and fabrication shop in Avella, Pennsylvania. It has an expansive reach and has taken on assignments in over half of the U.S. states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico.

“When people say, ‘Where do you go?’ I say, ‘We go until we hit water.’ We’ve done a tunnel to cruise ships in Miami, Florida; we’ve done the Louisiana [Veterans Affairs] hospital; we’ve done work in California, Arizona, and Nevada but our sweet spot is probably the area ten to twelve hours [from] Pittsburgh,” Quarture states.

Mohawk Construction and Supply Company was officially launched in 1980, but its roots go back to a firm called Viking Erectors. Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, Viking installed roof decking for building contractors and worked with decking suppliers in New Jersey and other locales. Viking and Mohawk, which has always been a contracting and supply company focused on metal panels, eventually merged. In October 2019, Quarture, a long-time Mohawk employee, purchased the entire company. He remains the sole owner today.

The company is composed of inter-related divisions, or ‘entities’ as Quarture prefers to call them. One entity handles administration, sales, and contracts while other entities are responsible for fabrication and additional services. The labor force that does the installation work still goes by the name Viking Erectors. On big assignments, Viking will augment its ranks with subcontractors.

While Mohawk offers start-to-finish services, clients occasionally hire the firm on a labor only basis. In such cases, the general contractor or client has already purchased materials and simply wants Mohawk to erect and install the cladding. For these jobs, “Viking takes the contract in their name directly with a client and performs the contract without Mohawk being involved,” explains Quarture.

The company’s upwards trajectory was blunted by the arrival of COIVD in early 2020. The pandemic had a direct impact on Mohawk Construction; one of the company co-founders died of the disease, and several projects were put on hold.

“Like everybody, we had a lot of ups and downs—a lot of downs at first. We had contracts cancelled. People really didn’t know what to do,” recalls Quarture.

Fortunately, some projects were considered essential, so Mohawk was able to continue working even as sales took a slump. During the worst of COVID, office staff members were given the opportunity to work remotely, while masks, hand sanitizer, distancing policies, and comprehensive cleaning efforts of tools, workspaces, break, and lunch rooms were implemented.

“Our sales kind of slacked off. Now, we have a backlog and seem to be doing a lot better,” Quarture states.

The company has roughly fifteen office staff and fifty-five iron workers in the field at present. The number of field workers expands if additional resources are required on a project. Field staff members are unionized, and Mohawk has “an international agreement with the ironworkers. Anywhere we travel in the U.S., most of the time, fifty percent of the guys we use are from the local union hall and fifty percent are our guys whom we send as travelers,” he explains.

The Toledo tower is not the only high-profile project in Mohawk’s portfolio. The company has also worked for Amazon in Ohio on assignments that entailed “a large requirement of manpower and equipment. We own a lot of our own equipment, man lifts, forklifts. Mobilizing that equipment, mobilizing the men [was a challenge],” says Quarture.

The company also worked on the Port Miami Tunnel, a recent initiative to create direct access between Florida highways and a seaport where ships dock. It received a $2 million contract to install a complicated architectural wall cladding system.

“I think the job required, at the high point, fifty-five or sixty guys. [We did] the supports and cladding on that tunnel, to and from the cruise port… The roadbed twists and turns in that tunnel. I think our guys did a phenomenal job with the layout. [They had] a very aggressive schedule. I think they performed admirably, and I know the customer was very, very happy,” Quarture says.

For all projects, Mohawk adheres to strict safety protocols. “By the very nature of our business, our work is fraught with peril. If you’re not aware of potential problems, then that is a problem,” he says, adding, “Our company men are very well-versed in our safety practices.”

Working with general contractors, Mohawk teams participate in weekly toolbox and safety meetings, while worksites undergo a job safety analysis to identify hazards and detail safety equipment requirements. Thanks to the company’s safety-first focus, Viking Erectors’ five-year experience modification rate (EMR) average is below 0.8. A low EMR—an insurance company formula that determines how likely it is that employees at a business will file workers’ compensation claims—indicates a good safety record.

Non-COVID-related challenges include difficulties in hiring personnel. Across North America, skilled trades workers are approaching retirement age, and insufficient numbers of young people are stepping up to take their place. Mohawk is doing its best to attract new workers.

On top of finding new staff, “There’s the passing of knowledge too. You don’t want all that knowledge [from retiring staff] to walk out the door and have a brain drain,” says Quarture, noting that the company wants to “transfer some of that knowledge base and the dos and don’ts of metal panel 101.”

Mohawk has brought in outside help as the company moves forward. It recently hired construction consultancy agency FMI to scrutinize its operations. This comprehensive review is expected to last between twelve and eighteen months. “We’re kind of reinventing ourselves,” says Quarture.

By engaging FMI, Mohawk hopes to enhance its performance, not jumpstart a rapid expansion, he is quick to add. “We’re a $25 to $3 million company. When FMI started with us, they’re like, ‘Bob, where do you want to grow the topline?’ I was like, ‘Whoa! I’m not worried about topline right now; I want to improve all our processes. Let’s do it right, then grow the topline,” he says.

He is confident that the company will expand, given its impressive track record, stellar staff, and excellent reputation. Making internal improvements is the priority for the time being, however.

“So, do we grow the topline between now and five years? Probably. But I’m more invested in being more efficient than just growing the business to say we grew the business,” states Quarture.

The post Taking on the Toughest Projects<p class="company">Mohawk Construction and Supply, Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“Our culture is the family style of business,” says President Jeff Baxley of the Anaheim, California-based business. “No one is a number. Everyone is a name. Everyone has a piece of the responsibility. Everyone has a voice. Everyone’s opinion matters. That goes all the way from anyone working in the warehouse, to office staff, sales staff, project management—everyone’s voice really does matter, and we continually meet together and go over things to see what people’s thoughts are.”

Listening to everyone involved is mutually beneficial for employees and the company leadership. “It’s amazing to see what someone standing back sees, versus us being in the nitty-gritty of it,” he says. “You get really nice, honest feedback. That’s one thing we’ve always encouraged here—honest feedback. It may not be what we want to hear but I will take honesty over the wrong answer just to keep us all happy.”

Baxley first became involved in the trades in 2006—experience was limited but he recognized that his love for numbers and competitive spirit naturally made construction a great fit. “Once I finished college, I was looking for something new,” he remembers. He had been involved in the mortgage and finance industries and saw the need to change careers. “We were going right into the recession, and I thought I’d try something new, out of the norm, because you never know what’s out there.”

The Baxley family has a long history of owning and operating a variety of companies. After growing up in this entrepreneurial environment, Baxley knew he wanted to own his own business from an early age. The opportunity came while working for his family’s carpet cleaning company when he took on a job for Dittemore Insulation’s previous owner who just happened to be looking to sell his business. The encounter opened a door that he did not even realize he had been looking for and set him on a novel career path.

When he first encountered Dittemore Insulation, he had no previous experience in the insulation field, but was ready to make his mark in the construction industry and recognized a great opportunity. He and his wife Sara decided to buy Dittemore Insulation in 2018, keeping the original name since it was already known in the region. It was a bold move considering the couple’s lack of experience at the time.

“I started in this business randomly,” Baxley remembers. “I never even knew it existed out there. I didn’t even know this was a trade. I didn’t know there was a market for this. I literally just gave it a shot in the dark, and it grew.”

To learn the ropes, Baxley immediately began attending the Insulation Contractors Association of America (ICAA) trade show, which opened his eyes to the breadth and depth of the industry and all the opportunities within it. Today, he is a member of the ICAA as well as a member of Insulate America, the American Subcontractors Association, the Firestop Contractors International Association, and the Air Barrier Association of America.

Now, after just a few years, he has earned his place as a successful industry insider. But he has not forgotten the lesson learned by his leap of faith. “It’s a great example [that] if you focus on what you’re doing, put your heart into it, you can build something that you didn’t even know existed before,” he says.

Baxley credits much of his success to a strong focus on partnerships. “Finding a common ground of good people working with other good people—we built off of that,” he says. “We’ve had exponential growth over the last five years, about 450 percent growth over that time frame. We took the lessons learned from other recessions and dips and found out what worked and what didn’t work, and we really saw the partnerships [were] what supported us through those times.”

These partnerships are particularly crucial in competitive situations. “We always have the competitive bid side, the public work stuff that gets very aggressive,” he says. “In those times, we find that relying on good people is what really carried us through.”

The pandemic was a challenge for Dittemore Insulation, but the team managed to pull through successfully. Baxley cites the abrupt closures in California as being particularly difficult because it was impossible to prepare for such an unexpected and sudden event. Management had to step into overdrive to navigate the challenge.

The second major problem was the shortage of necessary supplies. Fortunately, the company had recently moved into a larger facility that allowed the team to order ahead and stock greater quantities of inventory. He adds that the company’s main supplier, Johns Manville, was instrumental in making sure Dittemore Insulation had enough materials during the tough times.

As obstacles increase, partnerships will be more important than ever. “I think the biggest challenge we can see coming up is how interest rates are going to affect the economy as a whole,” Baxley says. “Things are starting to tighten up. Interest rates really haven’t been conducive to construction growth, so it’s best to [recognize] what worked in [the past], and that’s where the partnerships really come through.”

The team has put significant effort into “building those relationships with the right people,” he adds. The emphasis is on partner-building with “the tried-and-true companies out there, and if we utilize the same approach, same level of service, same level of relationship that they use with their clients, we become one big family with these other companies.”

Baxley is optimistic about the future, regardless of current challenges, and is planning for continued growth. He has already been steadily—and successfully—adding services to the company, expanding it from an insulation-only business to include fire-proofing, fire-stopping, weather barriers, and spray foam applications. The company boasts multiple divisions covering state and federal public works, K-12 and higher education, healthcare/hospital, tenant improvement, and high-rises.

“We’ve been able to put a solution together that is more useful to our good trade partners,” Baxley says of the expanding services. “We’re piecing together what they need, and our business is following them. A lot of that is going to be listening to our clients and customers, to what they want, what they need from us. Our team’s been great—rolling with the punches and adding these extra responsibilities. They’ve been doing the training and working with the manufacturers.”

These manufacturers have been just as pivotal in the company’s success. “The manufacturers have been hugely helpful to our growth and to our business model,” he says. “They’re the ones supporting us with the training. They’ll meet at job sites with us, walk through certain applications, make sure we’re going down the right path. So not only do we have partnerships with contractors, we also do with the manufacturers. We rely on them as much as they rely on us to sell their products.”

With strong partnerships built over the past several years, and strengthened during the pandemic, Dittemore Insulation is more than ready to take on the next challenge. In the meantime, Baxley will be passing the family’s entrepreneurial mindset down to his own children, Austin and Kayla, as he prepares for a successful future that will continue into yet another generation.

The post Built on Partnerships<p class="company">Dittemore Insulation Contractors, Inc. </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Based in Waterford, Ohio, the company has steadily grown its roster of people as well as its services. Established by Lang, founder and CEO, in 1984, the business changed its name in 2015 from the original Lang Masonry Contractors, Inc. to Lang Masonry & Restoration Contractors to emphasize its capabilities in first-class restoration work.

In April of 2022, Luke Keiderling became President of Lang Masonry Contractors, while James ‘Hoss’ Hoskinson became the President of Lang Masonry Group, which was created in April. Lang Masonry has ownership in three other companies, with Hoss helping direct the vison and mission of the leaders of each company. These are 3 Promise Labor Service, led by Operations Manager Alex Hogan; JVS Masonry in Denver, Colorado, under President Jerry Thoma; and Buckeye Construction & Restoration, headed by President Bob Brown. All are under Lang Masonry Group, and all are thriving, as the company actively seeks out future growth opportunities.

“In 2019, LMC did $16 million in revenue; in 2020, we did $33 in revenue, and doubled in size,” shares Luke, stating the Team plans to go from $33 million to $44 million in 2023. Another indicator of the Team’s collective strength is its growing staff. Three years ago, Luke was in charge of manpower. The business was deemed essential during the pandemic, “and we hired all the way through the pandemic, while other people were laying off,” he says.

Like many others, Hoss is an example of just how loyal staff are to Lang Masonry and its goals and vision. Starting his career with the company straight out of high school, he worked his way up from laborer through operator, foreman, and project manager to president and part owner.

Safety-Quality-Production
The company prioritizes safety above all else. “We live and work by our motto ‘Safety-Quality-Production,’ not sacrificing one for the other, keeping Safety first, Quality second, and Production third,” says Hoss. “We reward our employees with quarterly bonuses if they don’t receive any Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines throughout the year.”

Initiatives like these have made Lang Masonry a leader in safety, and the company refuses to cut corners when it comes to its workers and customers. Greg Adams is the Safety Director for all of the companies. Greg and the safety directors under his leadership make sure the company in maintaining its Experience Modifier Rate (EMR), a way the insurance industry calculates the price of workers’ compensation premiums. “Our safety rating is one of the lowest among the masonry industry at EMR .56,” says Hoss.

Diverse projects
With a size range of projects from smaller works of about $50,000 all the way up to large, multi-million-dollar jobs, Lang Masonry’s average project is valued in the $2 million range. Focusing on elementary, middle, and high schools as well as colleges and universities, the company creates buildings meant to last for a long time, not structures that will be demolished in a few decades.

In just the past 18 months, the company has completed five projects for Ohio State University alone, and one reason for this success is access to workers. Lang Masonry has a staff of 125; with the availability to add more from the 170 employees that 3PLS currently has, the number skyrockets. This puts the company in the unique position of being able to get skilled workers on site quickly and efficiently. “At the same time, we are friends with everybody in the masonry industry—we don’t have any enemies,” Luke laughs. “So we subcontract out work to other mason contractors that have a need, a gap in their schedule, or maybe they’re a small contractor that doesn’t have the financial backing to bond a job or carry the line of credit that it takes. We will take on that burden and give them a portion of that school or that project so they can do it under the supervision and guidance of LMC.”

“One of the goals is to make sure we keep masonry alive. So whatever we can do to help keep masonry in the architect’s designs, that’s what we are willing to do,” says Hoss.

All of Lang Masonry’s work is commercial, and about 95 percent is negotiated with construction managers. “We try to stay away from projects where the low bid gets the job,” says Hoss. “It’s all about working together with the CM, coming in within their budget, and maximizing what they want with adding value.”

Just a few of the team’s recent big masonry projects they have done include the FC Cincinnati soccer stadium in Cincinnati and numerous schools in the Cincinnati, Dayton, Lancaster, and Columbus areas.

On the restoration side, Lang’s works include the Union Terminal in Cincinnati, the Hampton Inn in Columbus, and Levesque Tower and the OSU Thompson Library, also in Columbus. In the past few years, the company has seen growth in certain types of projects, namely schools and colleges, and an increase in materials including block, brick, and precast / limestone.

With a reputation for quality and professionalism, the company often wins repeat work from satisfied clients. Recognized in the industry for its outstanding work, Lang Masonry’s recent awards include the 2021 People’s Choice Award for the Cincinnati Union Terminal (CUT) Restoration, and for Fenwick Hall at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, also the same year. Most recently, Lang was presented with the Masonry and Excellence Award for the Cincinnati Soccer Stadium, given by the Tri State Masonry Institute (Kentucky, Indiana and Southern Ohio).

Growing the team
Skill is important at Lang Masonry, and so is hiring people who are the right fit and who align with the company’s core values. For Lang, the word “VALUES” itself carries a lot of meaning, standing for Value Honesty, Amazing Judgment, Leading by Taking Action, Unified Team, Exceeding Customer Expectations, and Swift Change. Producing good results, working well with others, focusing on adding value, and having people who genuinely enjoy what they do for a living are all vital elements to Lang’s ongoing success.

During the pandemic, Lang was considered essential and remained open. Adhering to all COVID-related protocols, the company kept moving while keeping all of its employees and job sites safe. “With our pipeline [of work], we were already set up to grow before the pandemic happened,” explains Hoss.

Of course, like most other companies of late, Lang has experienced some challenges finding young skilled masons to take over for the aging workforce. As a result, the company has introduced several recruitment initiatives, including apprenticeships, its Pathwork program, and free classes with the Buckeye Hills Career Center in Rio Grande, Ohio, which offers a variety of career training options and technical programs.

Pathwork is essentially Lang Masonry University, and offers classes on blueprints, safety, computer skills and more. “We train our employees well—we train to retain,” states Luke. “We train them to become skilled mason craftsmen.”

Launching in October, the plans for Pathwork were in the works for years. This included building the curriculum and investing in building a 7,000-square-foot office building in Columbus. Proving to be immediately popular, the first round saw 17 students sign up, with room only for 12. “We will go year-round,” says Luke. “Any time anyone wants to learn, we will give them that. The better they are, the better we are.”

Additional recruitment methods in the works include Masonry Day, which will see staff visit middle and high schools, bring along some brick and training mortar, and have kids lay some brick while sharing the benefits of a career in masonry. Additionally, the company has a referral program where individuals can earn up to $3,500 for bringing on a new employee.

Some positions recently posted at the Lang Masonry website (www.langmasonry.com/employment.php) include Masons, Laborers and Forklift Operators.

Modern masonry
Refusing to do anything less than the best for its customers, Lang Masonry remains focused on its core values and vision—and on becoming the largest mason contractor in the United States.

“We must keep masonry alive in the industry,” says Hoss. “Masonry is a hard trade, and is declining every year.” As for the possibility of growing through acquisitions, the company says it is open to taking what it has as a foundation and partnering with other companies to make them more successful, while the owners of Lang Masonry help achieve its goal of being the best and biggest company of its kind in America.

“Masonry is the safest product to use in your buildings,” remarks Hoss. “You never hear of a block building burning up and collapsing. There’s a reason why people use masonry as their main structural unit for elevator shafts, stair towers, and safety access for buildings. People say masonry is dying, but there’s a lot of money and good successful careers in masonry, and a lot of people living well because of masonry. It’s a rewarding trade to be in. It is safe and well-paying… We’re going to pay you to learn, versus you having to pay to learn. You earn as you learn.”

The post Building America Beautifully<p class="company">Lang Masonry & Restoration Contractors</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“When I went to plumbing school, I already knew everything they were teaching,” he remembers. “Because I’d already done that work at twelve years old, starting to work with my Dad.”

In 1982, at the age of twenty-one—and with only $300 in his checking account—Rick launched his own company out of his parents’ garage, slowly and painstakingly growing his enterprise over the next several decades. He chose the name Mongiovi & Son to give credibility to the venture since he was so young.

“I wanted to make it look like we were a bigger company,” he remembers. The business eventually caught up to the name when his sons, Ricky and Randy, grew up and joined the family business. Ricky runs the majority of the large commercial construction projects in the company’s plumbing division, while Randy runs the fire protection division. Both have been with the company for more than 15 years. Rick’s daughter Rachele has a key role in the business as well as its public relations and marketing manager.

The company culture is an important part of this family-owned-and-operated business. “The reason why we feel that our employees stay with us and enjoy working for us is we keep everything as a family type of atmosphere,” Rick says. Treating employees as one of the family sets it apart from bigger businesses, and the personal connection provides advantages that go beyond the standard benefits that well-funded corporations can give their employees.

“We may not be able to offer some of the benefit packages you would find at a large corporation, but throughout the years my father has offered benefits that only a family business can offer,” says Rachele Mongiovi. “He’s very generous and is always willing to step in and help employees who are in need. Some people don’t get that kind of compassion from bigger corporations. We hope our family atmosphere makes everyone feel like they’re family.”

Over the decades of ongoing growth, Rick added multiple divisions to the company, all of which fit within the umbrella of Mongiovi & Son Enterprises Inc. “Forty years ago, we were just doing plumbing,” he remembers, “and then, thirty-seven years ago, we started our excavation division. The reason for that is, when we were doing plumbing, we needed to have equipment on our jobs to perform the plumbing that we were doing. We had a hard time always getting subs to come in and work. So I decided to go out and buy my own equipment. We kept that separately, so we could track profit and losses, and if it didn’t work we would get rid of it. But that company was successful, and it kept growing and growing.”

Today, Mongiovi & Son Excavating Inc. takes on many large commercial projects. The team performs a variety of work including the clearing of land, topsoil removal, storm sewer and manhole installation, and more. This division is well equipped to manage the most challenging jobs from mall construction to subdivision development, and, the crew answers emergency calls to take care of urgent matters such as gas leaks, broken water and sewer lines, and landslides.

The company’s plumbing division, Mongiovi & Son Plumbing Contractor, L.P., under Ricky’s direction, has grown to design and install all of the plumbing for a wide range of commercial construction projects including medical buildings, industrial structures, office buildings, hotels, and apartments.

The service division services and repairs any plumbing fixture from faucets, toilets, urinals, and waste lines to water heaters, grease traps, water lines, gas lines, tempering valves, and more. Emergency repairs are available anytime day or night. The team does serve residential customers, but the majority of the work is for commercial clients including Taco Bell, Starbucks, and a variety of other major corporations.

Mongiovi & Son Fire Protection Services, L.P., run solely by Randy, is a commercial division that primarily deals with large-scale projects from distribution warehouses, retail centers, and hotels to office buildings and multi-unit housing. The team specializes in installing new sprinkler systems in these structures and offers their services throughout the construction process, from design-build to project completion.

The division was added in response to demand. “We were always asked, ‘How come you don’t do fire sprinklers? You guys should do it. You do plumbing, and you should tie everything together,’” Rick remembers. “So we started a fire sprinkler company, and then built that up to the point where we started doing fire extinguisher inspections, because that would complement everything else.”

Primarily focused on serving commercial customers, the company’s extinguisher division sells and services fire extinguishers, industrial systems, kitchen suppression systems, and emergency lighting. Crews are fully trained and equipped to inspect, service, install, maintain, repair and recharge, around the clock. The division also does group training to instruct individuals and businesses how and when to properly use a fire extinguisher.

The company’s full-service division deals with NFPA 25 inspections and fire sprinkler system maintenance, primarily for commercial customers. NFPA 25 is the standard for testing and maintaining water-based fire protection systems. The team tests, inspects and maintains fire pumps, wet and dry sprinkler systems, standpipes, backflow testing, pre-action systems, and more.

Mongiovi & Son’s alarm services division provides security for residential and commercial locations, large or small. The team installs security systems, key fob systems, facial recognition systems, fire alarms, and surveillance cameras. The division complements the other safety-related divisions.

“Four years ago, we started a fire alarm company that joins together with our fire sprinkler company to perform the testing of the equipment we put in,” Rick explains. “So we’re almost like a one-stop shop, in that whole area of construction [of] life safety services.”

Covering so many bases at once sets Mongiovi & Son apart. “You’re either a plumber in our area or you’re a separate fire company,” he says. “But we’re all under one roof, and a lot of people want to make one call and deal with all our divisions.”

Having this range helps to ensure a steady stream of business. Typically, all the divisions in the company will bid on a project, and ideally, the team will handle all the aspects of a job. Even though some bids may be rejected, one or two divisions will often win their bid, giving the company at least some work. “I think that’s why we’re busy,” Rick says.

The company has had to rely on its strengths during recent, challenging times. “The last nineteen months have been probably the biggest challenge that I’ve had,” he says. “I thought COVID was a big challenge a few years back, but this is even worse than COVID…. Three years ago, I worked less and made more. I am working more now and making less just to deal with everything.”

The worker shortage has been a serious problem. “Projects that we are bidding on are taking longer to do because there’s not enough manpower,” Rick says. The problem is exacerbated by a general lack of emphasis on trade schools.

“People are not going to trade schools like they used to, and so we’re having a hard time recruiting people and finding talent,” Rachele says. “They keep pushing colleges and school, but no one is pushing trades and how valuable those skills are and how much money they can make.”

The rising cost of materials is another major issue. The company is sticking to its original contracts, even when the cost of these jobs has risen dramatically since making the bid—but it has not been easy. “I’m eating all those costs, the material increases,” Rick says.

Despite the current business climate, the outlook is bright for Mongiovi & Son. After four decades in business, the team has the experience and foundation to weather the storm—and eventually get back to expanding, once the business climate improves.

“We’re looking to continue to grow,” Rick says, and his children look forward to continuing his legacy and plan to keep the business in the family after he retires someday.

“Me and my brothers would like to see another forty years after my dad,” Rachele says.

The post A Full-Service Family Business<p class="company">Mongiovi & Son </p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Burgess Concrete primarily serves general contractors and construction managers within an hour and a half’s drive of Grand Rapids, while sometimes traveling further afield. The company’s commitment to quality, dependability, and partnership have led to a portfolio of consistently well-built K-12 schools, healthcare facilities, industrial buildings, and much more over its nearly forty years in business. This is a small, family-owned company with a big heart and an even bigger commitment to delivering services and products in a way that builds longstanding, meaningful relationships with staff and customers alike.

Building a team
Carroll Burgess worked his way up from the bottom, starting over weekends and during school holidays by sweeping floors and stacking lumber shoulder to shoulder with his siblings. As the brothers matured, they began working on job sites learning firsthand what it means to run crews and get their hands dirty. That built a healthy respect for their staff, as these are not leaders who force others to do work they would not do themselves.

“My brother Steve and I will always ensure that things are right before we enter into any situation,” Burgess says. “The same goes for our people. We love a challenge, the opportunity to prove people wrong.” One thing is clear. This is a family with a can-do attitude that also loves finding solutions where others see none.

Today, Burgess Concrete Construction is an employer dedicated to team safety, health, and job satisfaction. As such, the company also prioritizes offering its people career stability, and it is as family-positive as it can be. “We are a dependable company that brings value back to our clients—but also back to our employees, and their households and communities as well,” Burgess shares.

To be sure, the close-knit, hometown atmosphere at Burgess Concrete is one of its biggest draws, and Carroll Burgess is doing all he can to retain that. With ninety trusted industry experts by his side, this leader feels they can take on whatever comes. “Our people are dedicated individuals who do their part to create the story of Burgess Concrete,” he says proudly.

To thank this stalwart team for its unfailing loyalty, the company sponsors several staff events every year. Get-togethers like summertime picnics, baseball games with everybody’s families gathered around al fresco cook-outs, and a Christmas party—complete with staff recognition, gifts, bonuses, and all-around fun—are just a few of its regular tokens of appreciation. Burgess Concrete’s generosity of spirit also extends to its local communities, ensuring that people are taken care of and supported across several fields, sharing part of its profits with some schools and organizations in the immediate area.

As this is what Burgess calls a “generational” company, the leadership does all it can to make it an environment that its staff’s children would like to join one day. In search of top-class character and grit, Burgess highlights that this is a firm with open doors to those who are a natural fit for its family values and industry-leading standards.

“Concrete construction is not easy,” he says. “It is probably one of the most labor-intensive industries out there.” To ensure it always has the right amount of expertise out in the field, the company invests in solid on-the-job training.

To this end, the business has joined forces with West Michigan Construction Institute. The collaboration provides its teams with quality, certified training that sets them apart on job sites and propels their careers ever higher as they continuously improve their skills. The courses run over three months, with one paid workday per week dedicated entirely to their studies at the institute.

Building its skills
Indeed, Burgess Concrete is always looking for new ways to improve. “We are always upgrading and improving the processes that we have. We are always upgrading our equipment [and investing in] the latest technology,” Burgess says. The company also employs a full-time mechanic to keep machinery and equipment running like clockwork. Other measures are also in place to minimize breakdowns, allowing the team to get on with business when and where it matters most.

The company’s most recently introduced division also performs concrete polishing and, judging by its rapid expansion, the service is tremendously popular. “This growth [of our concrete polishing division] has allowed us to grow a little bit too,” says Burgess, “and to give opportunities to more people to have a career here at Burgess Concrete.”

Of course, keeping up with technology to answer the demand for such work is critical to the company’s long-term success. One item of technology that supports Burgess’ commitment to quality is a measurement tool that attaches to a geometer gun. The instrument vastly improves the accuracy of building layouts, and is an essential part of Burgess Concrete’s arsenal.

In terms of protecting people’s health and the environment it works in, the company also invests in high-quality vacuuming systems that remove dust from the air when cutting concrete. These protect the environment, site workers’ health, and those who live and work in the immediate areas around such building sites.

Building the future
Speaking about the future and looking at how the industry will change, Burgess remains positive. In his opinion, the stigma that taints the construction industry as dirty or dangerous will soon be a thing of the past, spurred by growing demand and the increasingly sophisticated nature of the work.

Technology will not be able to replace people working in construction, however. That is because physical labor provides intelligent human input of an artistic, organic, and intuitively skilled nature that machine learning simply is not capable of at this stage. And, thanks to this fact, Carroll Burgess is considerably more focused on creating an environment rich in personal growth opportunities for his team than on growing market share.

“I do not need huge growth,” he says. “The growth we need revolves around the question of, ‘how do I make sure and allow staff to grow personally?’ If I cannot allow them [personal growth], then none of the other stuff matters to me.” With a healthy roster of young talent coming up to fill the positions of retiring seasoned professionals, such personal growth is paramount to the future success of the company.

This drive gives substance to the company’s ethos. Following their parents’ legacy, the Burgess siblings are committed to taking care of the future for the next generation. Carroll Burgess puts it best when he says, “We are building West Michigan, constructing careers, and developing a future for the next generation.” And those are noble pursuits indeed.

The post Building West Michigan Since 1984<p class="company">Burgess Concrete Construction, Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.