AOLP supports professional lighting designers and installers by establishing professional standards regarding ethics and certifications, as well as providing valuable networking opportunities that benefit the entire industry and, ultimately, the consumer.

The association’s mission is a reflection of the industry’s supportive culture. “The lighting industry is, from what I understand, fairly unique in the fact that we’re all very willing to share our trade secrets,” says Andy Thomas, CLVLT, COLD, AOLP President and the owner of Viewpoint Lighting. “We want more people to be doing it right, versus figuring out the right way and then not letting anybody know how you’re doing it. I think our lighting association is very open to new ideas and to sharing, disseminating those ideas to our membership to make sure that everybody’s getting all the up to date, trending information.”

AOLP is also eager to share news and information with the construction community at large. The association recently released its State of the Industry Report, so Construction in Focus sat down with Mr. Thomas for more details on the latest trends, challenges, and the future of the industry as outlined in the document.

Ongoing growth
The outdoor lighting industry had enjoyed increased growth worldwide over the last 12 to 24 months. The pandemic drove this expansion as people sought to improve their outdoor spaces. Property owners turned their attention outside in order to create a pleasant refuge for themselves during stressful times and for socially distanced entertaining. Outdoor lighting professionals were booked months in advance to keep up with demand, Thomas says, pointing out that, “People weren’t traveling. They were putting money into their houses.”

The dramatic boom has leveled out now that people have more choices on how to spend their money. “I think it has peaked,” says Thomas. “[There is] that pent up demand for people to get out of their house and go back on vacation.”

Even so, the sector remains remarkably strong and the overall growth is expected to continue, even if it might be at a somewhat slower pace. There are still backlogs in backyard construction projects and, after enjoying outdoor spaces during the pandemic, consumers are eager to continue to make the most of those spaces.

Industry trends
Multiple trends are gaining popularity within the industry. One of the top new trends is the automation of lighting controls and home system integration. Consumers want convenient solutions, from dimmable lighting to digital control of lighting systems. They want to easily manage their lighting systems themselves, rather than relying on timers.

Architectural lighting is also on the rise. In addition to lighting their outdoor spaces, homeowners want to direct attention to their houses. Colored LED lighting has become a particularly popular way to put focus on the home as well as the outdoor space. “A lot more people are jumping into color changing LED,” Thomas says. “There is certainly a lot of buzz in the last year or so.” Some of this may be due to recent improvements in colored LED lighting. “The capabilities, and the technology, and the fixtures, and the quality—everything is getting better,” he shares.

Color changing lighting has also become popular for pool lighting, as property owners look for a fun, trendy option to light their pool areas. This demand comes alongside an increased demand for pool lighting overall.

Property owners want a more subtle look for their light fixtures, a demand that is made possible by advancing technology. “[There is] continued modularization and shrinking of fixtures because of the LED technology that is coming out and how the actual light source and components that need to go into the fixtures are becoming smaller and smaller,” Thomas explains. “So now we can get the same amount of light out of a smaller fixture, and the big advantage of smaller fixtures is hiding those light sources.”

Another key trend is a push for catenary lighting systems over the popular café-style lighting. There is still consumer demand for café-style lighting, but there is pressure to find alternatives because of light trespass onto neighboring properties. Designers and installers are working hard to introduce property owners to the advantages of catenary lighting systems, which still provide the hanging wire design element of café-style lighting, but use fewer lights and incorporate shrouds and louvers into the design to direct light away from the sky—and the neighbors.

Emerging technology
Outdoor lighting professionals are enjoying the benefits of new and improved software, which assists in everything from designing to scheduling, offering a solution for nearly everyone. Thomas can attest to the advantages himself; since his company switched to a more advanced software option, “it certainly changed how we manage our workflow.”

Solutions range from turnkey to customizable, which may be particularly advantageous to smaller enterprises. “They’ll custom tailor to your business needs and your business structure based on how many employees you have, and office staff, and who’s doing what role,” Thomas says. “I think, for the small business—sole proprietors or small LLCs—having that sort of software at our fingertips certainly helps professionalize what we do. It’s kind of like having office staff part time, doing some of the stuff that we had to do on pencil and paper, or on spreadsheets, or writing notes on napkins.” With these software solutions, small businesses can “really take the organization part of the business to the next level so that we’re not just scrambling around.”

On the design side, “there are a lot of graphics programs that have come out in the last couple of years that help to capture what we want to do in a conceptual design and convey that information to the client in the proposal process,” Thomas explains. The software makes it possible “to take pictures and graphically represent what we want to do in their yard to show them where the fixtures are going, what we’re going to be doing, get our design intent across without setting up a physical demonstration of the lighting.”

This is a vast improvement over the traditional way of demonstrating a conceptual design, which required that the lighting professional “set up a bunch of temporary lights to show the homeowner what it’s going look like in their yard. If we can do that with pictures and not have to drive out and work at night and set up demos and take down demos, [it] makes selling the projects a lot more efficient.”

The future
Some challenges, of course, remain on the horizon as the industry moves forward. Workforce shortages are predicted to continue, so leading companies are investing in existing talent as well as offering extra perks to entice new employees. Supply chain issues continue to pose difficulties for the industry so, when possible, manufacturers, designers, and installers are predicting their needs and purchasing far in advance to prevent delays.

AOLP continues to welcome new members at an increasing rate. “We’ve grown quite a bit in the last few years,” Thomas shares. As numbers expand, so does the association’s reach and positive impact. “As an association, we’ve been pushing certification both on the technical install side and the design side. And we’re really starting to get more and more people interested in the certifications and getting more people through that certification process. It’s sort of a snowball effect; the more people we get certified, the more people want to get certified.” AOLP offers two professional certifications: Certified Low Voltage Lighting Technician (CLVLT) and Certified Outdoor Lighting Designer (COLD).

To be sure, AOLP is well positioned to continue to make a positive impact as the industry navigates future challenges, ensuring that outdoor lighting professionals are fully supported for many years to come.

The post Supporting the Outdoor Lighting Industry<p class="company">Association of Outdoor Lighting Professionals</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Serving Pennsylvania, Delaware, Northern Maryland, and Northern New York, Keystone Custom Decks works closely with each of its clients, completing a 3D rendering of their proposed project to ensure total satisfaction. Founded in 1983 by Amos Esh, this family-owned and operated company features bespoke design for customized outdoor living spaces that meet the needs of each customer.

Now run by sons Michael, Marv, and Tim, Keystone continues to work with talented and experienced craftsmen to ensure the same quality service and exceptional product that has led to an impressive 40 years in business.

“When my father started this business, he built it on the premise of making sure his customers were taken care of,” says Partner Michael Esh. “When we were growing up, even if at times my father would have to take a loss on a job to make sure the customers were happy, he would do that. He was very concerned and very intent on making sure customers were taken care of, and that’s been the backbone of our company for 40 years now—making sure our clients are satisfied and happy with the work done.”

Keystone stands behind its work, providing a lifetime warranty on workmanship. The consistent dedication to ensuring customer satisfaction is also one of the main reasons for its ongoing success, Esh adds.

“Besides that, we’ve always stayed on the cutting edge of the industry, and we’ve always been proactive about recognizing and being ahead of new trends,” he says. Indeed, Keystone is known in the industry, particularly regionally, to be a forward-thinking company that not only recognizes industry advances but introduces new products and styles to the market.

“The third part of our success is our team, which is phenomenal,” says Esh. “They have been a huge part of everything.”

Keystone is also a full-service company, able to handle all aspects of every project it undertakes, from start to finish, in-house. When a client contacts them, Keystone first ensures the project is a good fit for what the company does. From there a salesperson goes to the home for an initial meeting to talk about design, make suggestions, and even help clients who have no idea what they want. The salesperson brings all the information back to the team of in-house designers, who create a 3D rendering with a video walkthrough of the entire project, all of which is done before the customer ever signs a contract.

“The second step is coming into our facility to our showroom where we present them with the 3D design, which is the first time they’re actually seeing the design,” Esh explains. “This gives them a very good visual of what their project will look like, and because their house is put into the rendering as well, they can see in good detail exactly what this project would look like on their house.”

From there, when the client is ready to go ahead, the project moves onto the production site where a team takes care of all permits. There is also a team purchasing necessary products, and when it’s time to start, clients are assigned a project manager.

“Then our crews go out and build the project,” says Esh. “We have our own mason crews, our own excavating crews, and our own pool crew if the project involves a pool. Someone can come to us and say, ‘we want a deck with a covered portion,’ or ‘we want a patio, swimming pool, or outdoor kitchen with electrical and plumbing work’—we handle all of that so they don’t have to work with external contractors or hire their own electrician and plumber to make it happen. We handle the entire project.”

This exceptional level of service is unusual in the industry, he adds, and has led to a lot of positive feedback from customers over the years. “To find a company that does everything for the backyard all under one umbrella is pretty unique.”

Being able to streamline a potentially timely and challenging project is clearly attractive to clients who aren’t interested in being their own general contractor; they just want the project done, and they want someone to handle it all, including coordinating all the scheduling.

This commitment to customer service has also led to impressive growth over the past few years, particularly at the height of COVID lockdowns when so many homeowners and families were forced to not only work from home but live, play, and also make the best of their backyards. Although shutdowns negatively affected many industries, others were able to thrive.

“Anybody who was doing anything with home improvement just had stellar years in 2020, 2021, and into 2022,” says Esh. “People figured out they were going to be home for a while, and they decided to spend money improving their homes. They also figured they probably wouldn’t be doing much traveling and vacations for a couple of years, so people used a good bit of the money typically spent on that to improve their homes.”

Homeowners investing in their living spaces—both indoors and out—created phenomenal growth for Keystone during those couple of years, with demand that was unlike anything the company had seen previously, Esh adds. Fortunately, Keystone was well-positioned to handle it, having moved into a brand-new facility several years prior.

“We had room to expand, we had our showroom set up and built, and we were positioned very well to respond to that increased demand,” Esh shares.

COVID, of course, did impact the supply chain globally, leading to issues obtaining certain materials, colors, and appliances, but Keystone managed to weather the storm.

“It’s leveled out a lot. It’s a lot better than it was,” Esh says. “Suppliers were trying to figure it out, and pricing was all over the map, so there were challenges to work through for a couple of years.”

COVID also changed the employment landscape—perhaps permanently—with more people working both hybrid and completely off-site, so while the demand for home improvement isn’t quite as high these days, it’s still impressive, he adds. And it’s a demand that Keystone will continue to embrace in the upcoming years. As a well-established company with 40 years of experience and a phenomenal team of people, Keystone is able to provide an entire dedicated team on every project from beginning to end.

“It’s not just one guy out of the back of his truck that you might not be able to get hold of,” Esh says. “When you call into our office during business hours, you’ll get an answer from a live person, which is rare. With Keystone, you’re well taken care of.”

This includes a team that works solely on building permits, he emphasizes, something many contractors can’t readily provide as they’re either working on the side, or they’re letting the homeowner take responsibility for it—a stress that isn’t needed. “We have that infrastructure built to take care of our clients from start to finish throughout the process, and I think that’s one of the things that really sets us apart.”

While economic conditions are always a challenge and can certainly affect consumer confidence, Keystone is always looking ahead and staying aware to keep producing its best work no matter the economic climate.

“We’re not trying to sell clients something they can’t afford or that isn’t the right fit for them at the time,” says Esh. “Part of our process is finding the best type of project for them. Is a bigger project or smaller project going to serve their needs better? Those are some of the challenges we address, especially with the uncertain markets right now, where nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Along with the accomplishment of getting to 40 years in a notoriously challenging industry and growing a knowledgeable and reliable team into the formidable operation it is now, Keystone also has its eyes on some key milestones.

“Doing what we do with excellence has always been our objective, and sometimes that opens up opportunities that we can take advantage of and integrate into our company as far as expansion goes,” says Esh. “So, moving forward, we’ll just keep doing what we do and doing it well. That’s what our goal is.”

The post Backyard Bliss – Building Beauty Close to Home<p class="company">Keystone Custom Decks</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“Outdoor kitchen designs often mirror their indoor counterparts, successfully transitioning the indoors to the outdoors and making use of previously unused outdoor space or repurposing it,” Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens describes.

The idea of an outdoor cooking area for one’s living space is hardly new but its identity as an ‘outdoor kitchen’ began a bit more recently. In a piece for The Spruce, Maria Sabella writes about how summer kitchens became popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in more wealthy households.

“Historically, a summer kitchen was a small building, often made from brick or wood, that was located adjacent to the main house,” with cooking usually done in an open fireplace or on a stove, she writes. These versatile spaces kept the cooking heat and smell from affecting the rest of the home. Summer kitchens have also been used to prepare mass quantities of food to be stored for the winter months. Today, the outdoor kitchen and its like are modern interpretations of this idea and are typically geared toward both function and entertainment.

The outdoor kitchen has especially begun to gain steam recently. A trend statement for the year 2021 reported that 90 percent of Americans with outdoor living space now considered that area more valuable than they did before COVID. Another survey revealed that 58 percent of Americans plan to buy at least one new piece of furniture or accessories for outdoor living spaces annually. The report attributes this increase to the after-effect of the pandemic when people worldwide had to deal with quarantine and social distancing regulations and outright lockdowns. This led many people to increase the time they spent outside or in open-air spaces.

It also names millennials, the demographic born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, as entering the general age range where entertaining guests at home is increasingly important. “Over half of millennials (53 percent) will be buying multiple pieces of outdoor furniture [in 2022].” People will be using these outdoor spaces for cooking, relaxation, and socialization, and want their outdoor spaces to be enjoyable and functional, and add value to their homes.

The 2022 Kitchen Trends Index published by Atlas Ceramics, notes that searches for the term ‘outdoor kitchen’ have yielded more than two million annual searches on Google, while videos and posts related to that hashtag saw over 71 million views on TikTok and nearly 500,000 posts on Instagram. The Index adds that outdoor kitchen developments are at the top of the project trends list for the American Institute of Architects.

The increased prevalence of outdoor smart appliances and enhancements, in turn, make the possibility of outdoor kitchens more accessible than ever before. Such enhancements include ambient LED lighting, outdoor televisions, and various grilling and barbeque equipment that can be hooked up to local internet connections, making for as entertaining an experience as most indoor setups.

The outdoor kitchen can take on different forms, depending on what an owner wants. Amanda Lecky for This Old House outlines the three types of outdoor kitchen: movable, usually outfitted with a portable, easy-to-clean grill and rolling storage; prefabricated, “an all-in-one option for folks with more square footage and cash to spend,” with a cooking island, situated grill, and counters, lighting, and accessories; and custom, which is the most flexible of the three options and generally has its own appliances, storage and counter space, and runs larger in terms of square footage.

In a piece for amateur gardening magazine Gardeningetc, Sarah Warwick emphasizes that the best ideas for outdoor kitchens look beyond the cooking of food to allow room for preparation and storage, along with extra appliances like an outdoor oven, sink, or fridge. She suggests that many storage units can often be found at DIY stores or through specialist suppliers. Working with specialist designers, such as garden designers or landscape architects, can help to “create an outdoor kitchen as part of a redesign of the entire garden for a total transformation.”

There are further benefits for homeowners who are looking to take the plunge into a bigger world of outdoor entertainment. Jayme Muller for outdoor kitchen company RTA Outdoor Living affirms that, while individual pieces of an outdoor kitchen will vary in terms of value added to one’s property, “You can expect to receive anywhere from 50 to 200 percent as a return on your investment.”

In a piece outlining the benefits of building an outdoor kitchen, the staff of Brown Jordan Outdoor Kitchens state that homes with these attached can sell for nearly thirty percent more than expected. “Of the nearly four million homes nationwide that sold between January 2016 and December 2017, these outdoor features, amenities and design styles made the largest impact on sale price.” Outdoor kitchens can return 100 to 200 percent of home improvement costs, but the return on investment does depend on other factors such as the value of the home itself and the location.

Although the outdoor kitchen is an increasingly attractive idea to younger homeowners, it is not altogether free from the concerns that the market is seeing right now. RTA Outdoor Living designer Daniel Cdebaca reports that the desire for homeowners to create their own outdoor kitchen or cooking space will likely be stymied by ongoing changes to the global supply chain, shipping delays, inflation, and contractor availability, among other factors.

Although he anticipates that the inflation rate will even out in 2023, this will not provide an instant effect on the economy or overall higher prices of goods. “It’s tough to gauge how elevated pricing will affect the cost of outdoor home improvement and DIY [do-it-yourself] outdoor kitchen projects,” he writes. These factors are always important to consider but should not preclude someone from pursuing this as a new project.

Whether to add value to a home or to take advantage of a renewed interest in being outdoors, whatever your reason for investing in an outdoor kitchen, here’s to another National Grilling Month. May your temperatures be just right and your summertime be relaxing and filled with good food!

The post Bringing The Indoors Out<p class="company">Adding Value With Outdoor Kitchens</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

They worked hard burying telephone drops for major telecommunications players in the state of Texas, building a portfolio and a reputation for quality. As technology advanced, so too did Housley Communications, which expanded beyond telecommunications into gas, power, and wet utilities to become Housley Group.

Since then, projects have taken the company across Texas and further afield, a footprint that’s now supported by nine offices, including Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas. Housley has previously completed work internationally in Mexico and Africa.

Despite this growth and expansion, Housley Group is still a family business that maintains the work ethic and the underlying virtues with which Mr. Housley founded the company, but has greatly diversified the services it offers, the equipment used, and the skills and expertise within its growing ranks.

This has been possible because of the relationships and deeply rooted culture that originated with Mr. Housley and continued to be replicated by his late son, Robert Kevin Housley, his grandson Chris Housley, who recently assumed the role of Executive Vice President, his wife Mona, who serves as Chairperson for the Housley Board, and current President/CEO Dave Meek who has been instrumental in maintaining excellence for the 37 years he has worked at Housley.

The company culture was founded on four basic principles: honesty, integrity, quality, and professionalism, virtues that still guide the growing company and are maintained by long-tenured employees like Vice President of Risk Management Stacy Elms, who has been there for thirty years.

Discussing the legacy left by Mr. Housley, Elms says, “Mr. Housley always wanted us to do the right thing… He always wanted us to keep that in mind and that’s been the secret of our success: quality work done in a timely manner, and having the moral compass to do things right every time.”

When a company grows, change is inevitable, but in 43 years at the Housley Group one thing has remained unchanged: the proud Housley name and what it stands for. Now, with $50 million worth of equipment, 250 employees, and a strong subcontractor base upwards of 900 people, Housley Group is massively in demand.

Last year, during a telecommunications peak, the company was busy indeed, seeing revenue in excess of $110 million. The team buried more than a million linear feet of fiber per month for a single customer on a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project, and completed 94,000 different orders across three different telecommunications players on the buried-service-wire side.

“Telecom is our bread and butter, but if it goes underground and it’s a linear trench or directional bore—it doesn’t matter if it’s gas, power, or water, it doesn’t matter what conduit or pipe you put into the ground—we can do that,” says Chris Housley.

Part of the reason Housley Group can offer this guarantee of quality is the skill and experience its long-tenured employees bring to the table, and the leadership style that has been instilled in those employees over the past several decades.

It’s unusual in the construction world to find companies with employees who have been with them for twenty to thirty years, but retention is an advantage that Housley Group enjoys, particularly amongst its crew leaders and management. These employees exemplify quality, safety, service, and professionalism, and share their skills and experience with new team members.

According to Elms, “The new people that we hire, that we bring in to stand on the business end of the shovel, they learn from those long-term crew leaders, employees, and managers the standards that we want them to adhere to. So when you start day one, you go through safety initiation, certainly—but really, that’s not the secret.”

He continues, “Anybody can go through safety orientation; it’s when you arrive on a worksite from day one and you see that your fellow employees are working safely and efficiently and that they’re teaching you the right and safe way to do things, that reinforces the safety briefing that you got. On-the-job training from those crew leaders, supervisors, and managers reinforces that story from day one.”

Acknowledging that to err is only human, Housley says that safety truly is top-down at Housley Group. When incidents occur, they’re well-documented and communicated across the entire company to ensure that there’s accountability at every level to create a teaching moment and mitigate risks in the future. “We hear that accountability from the guy who’s working the shovel all the way up to Stacy’s and my position,” he says.

For Chris Housley, there is a lot more on the line than just the success of the family business; it’s a family legacy that he intends to preserve while also modernizing to remain competitive long into the future. “There’s a legacy here that I get to step into and I’m looking forward to the future of the company,” he says.

To ensure that Housley Group thrives for generations to come, the plan is to continue to offer quality work delivered on time with the foremost commitment to safety. The company is also streamlining its operations, identifying efficiencies that can support further diversification of the business.

Housley notes that, “We’re going to continue to succeed in telecom; we’ve done that for forty years and we’re poised to do business as usual, which means anything from repairs to installation of brand-new utilities.” But growth is also anticipated in the gas, power, and wet utilities sectors, which will require further investment in the company’s capacities.

Elms goes into detail: “Doing work in the regulated space, in the case of gas-related work, investing in our employees for the type of training that they need, keeping that training up to date, making sure that they’re trained not only for the work to be done but doing it safely so that those customers like gas companies trust us to do that kind of work. As we move into more of the power industry, we aren’t currently completing energized work, but because of the quality of work that we’ve done for those power customers before, they’re looking to us to expand.”

Concerning market diversification, Housley Group is focused on further diversifying the tools and equipment at its disposal, as well as adopting automation and new technology to streamline its operations for greater efficiency as it grows. As Housley says, “We’re a forty-year-old company, but still, why are we doing it that way? We’ve done things well, but let’s do them better by streamlining processes and challenging ourselves to be more efficient with what we have.”

It bodes well for Housley Group that the Texas market is ripe for growth. As the population grows, not only is there a greater labor pool from which to draw, but the growth also increases demand for infrastructure and thus for the services Housley Group offers.

“We’re in the right place at the right time and I don’t see anything but growth coming,” says Elms. The company is well-poised to capitalize on that opportunity, all the while remaining true to its core values, building steadfast relationships through exceptional project delivery, and evolving to stay diversified and competitive for the long term.

The post A Legacy in Action<p class="company">Housley Group</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Founded in 1946 by Frank Brink, Brink Constructors’ supportive company culture has remained strong throughout the decades. “I would say that the thing that sets us apart from everybody else is our family atmosphere here,” says President John Keeler. “We operate as a family.”

Despite Brink Constructors Inc. becoming a subsidiary of Quanta Services in 2015, the company’s foundational culture persists. “There’s actually been Brink family [working for the company] all 76 years that the company has existed,” Keeler says. “Even today, after being bought out and owned by Quanta, there’s still Brink family here. We actually have fourth-generation Brinks in the organization today.”

This supportive, family atmosphere is also evident in the way that the company does business every day. “We never leave a job without knowing that we’re going to be invited back,” says Keeler. “We take that to heart, actually. That’s a pride thing; making sure that you do not only quality work, but that you take care of the customer. You do the job that you were hired to do.”

This attitude extends beyond the customers to the landowners and stakeholders who are affected by the company’s work. The team makes it a point to leave the land as close to how they found it as possible. It all goes back to that “pride piece of it, the family piece of it,” Keeler explains. “That’s the point of difference for us.”

Partnering for success
Parent company Quanta Services performs specialty contracting for the pipeline, industrial, communication, and electric power industries. The holding company approached the Brink family with a mutually beneficial offer that led to the 2015 acquisition.

“They buy companies that just need a little boost to take them to the next level,” Keeler explains.

Quanta’s company culture has proven a natural fit for Brink Constructors. “Quanta is a family too,” he says. And, as one big, extended family, Quanta’s resources are freely shared. “For anything that comes up that we have questions on, we have a one-way link right back to Quanta. If we need resources, we’re all family. You pick up the phone and they guide and help you through whatever you may have on your plate in front of you,” he shares.

“They support us in operations; they support us in safety; they support us on the financial side [and with their] fleet. We all have the same common goal.”

All eyes on safety
It should come as no surprise that, as a family-oriented company, a big part of this goal is prioritizing the safety and well-being of employees. “All our employees are family,” says Director of Safety Jon Gunderman, “and our number one concern is for folks to go home at the end of the day.”

This mindset is deeply entrenched throughout the entire company. “Safety isn’t just something that happens at work,” he explains. “It’s a culture for us.”

Since joining the company a little over two years ago, Gunderman has ramped up the focus on safety even further. These efforts have included an increase in training opportunities and the creation of specific safety positions such as a dedicated safety training manager and a dedicated department of transportation compliance manager, increasing the safety department staff to a total of fourteen people.

Gunderman is a huge proponent of communication and encourages “open conversations” with employees regarding the importance of safety and how best to achieve safe outcomes. He says that addressing safety from the perspective of how it benefits the employee personally—rather than just as a box to check for liability purposes—is key.

Building community
After doing business in South Dakota for three-quarters of a century, Brink Constructors has become an integral part of the community. In 2021, in celebration of the company’s 75^th anniversary, the team launched the Frank Brink Memorial Scholarship to provide opportunities for local students.

Two graduating seniors from any West River high school are selected each year to receive scholarships to attend Northwest Lineman College’s electrical line worker program. The scholarship covers the full tuition as well as any application fees, laboratory fees, commercial driver’s license costs, National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) crane certification, and all required tools. The goal is to foster the next generation of professional line workers and to give back to the community while simultaneously honoring Brink Constructors’ legacy.

In another effort to support education within the industry, the company works closely with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. “We volunteer time, equipment, and money and manpower to help them out,” says Keeler. Several of the company’s employees sit on various boards affiliated with the school, offering their insight and expertise in areas ranging from civil engineering to industrial and mechanical skills.

The company is also actively involved with diverse local community projects and events. This includes spearheading local lighting projects, volunteering at the local youth fair, sponsoring local high school rodeos as well as Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeos, sponsoring a local softball team, volunteering at the Rapid City Summer Nights concerts, donating to the upkeep of local veterans memorials, and participating in local parades.

“We’re always looking for ways to get involved in the community, no matter what it is,” Keeler shares.

Adding to the family
Today, the team is looking ahead to the future, starting with making sure that future leaders are lined up to continue the company’s success. “We’re big on our development of leadership,” Keeler says. After experiencing rapid organic growth in recent years, these leaders will help guide the company through its ongoing expansion.

In addition to the Frank Brink Memorial Scholarship, the company is actively recruiting employees to support its growth and puts a concerted effort into visiting various colleges, including the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Brink Constructors developed its first internship program with the school this year to support and develop professional talent, focusing on skills such as estimating, project management, safety, and quality control.

“We started that in 2023 to hopefully bring some of those engineering graduates that aren’t sure that they want to sit at the desk and design things all day long, but still have that construction mindset and mechanical abilities,” Keeler explains. “Those are our future leaders.”

Another recruitment focus is on linemen graduating from colleges all around the country, from Idaho and Texas to Florida, as well as locally in South Dakota. “With each graduating class, we go attend their career day the last week of their schooling, introduce them to Brink and who we are and where we’re working and what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Keeler says. “So that’s been a great way to pick up young linemen. But the seasoned and veteran linemen that are out there, a lot of [recruiting them] happens just by word of mouth. Employees recommend people to the company; we just do it old school.”

With an industry giant backing the company, in addition to a strong company culture and recruitment efforts to ensure a staff of highly skilled employees and future leaders, Brink Constructors is well-placed for ongoing success.

The post An Asset to the Industry and the Community<p class="company">Brink Constructors</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“In the United States, the majority of these projects are chronically under-hoisted, with too few elevators for what the general contractors are trying to accomplish,” says Joe Galatas, President of McDonough Construction Rentals Inc. Fortunately, he says, McDonough is a company that has the tools, people, training, and decades of experience necessary to help customers get it right, finishing jobs safely, on time, and on budget.

“We’re supporting the idea of contractors understanding the value proposition, so that on the front end—when they are bidding projects—they can provide adequate hoisting resources to get their projects done the way they planned to get them done from the outset.”

Construction elevators on building sites are the lifeline to moving people and materials, helping make the construction process as safe and efficient as possible. Even so, Galatas says, construction elevators are often an afterthought. This is one of the reasons why McDonough created the Hoist Efficiency Calculator, available online at onemcdonough.com/hoist-calculator.

By using the calculator, clients can easily weigh the cost of adding an extra construction elevator against the value of not having workers and materials standing idly by. Factors to consider include the average cost and number of tradespeople on the job, project duration, and the average number of trips up/down the building per worker in a day. Customers can see for themselves the daily wait-time cost, which can amount to thousands of wasted dollars and precious schedule. Depending on the scope and scale of the job, just a few minutes wasted per labor hour can add up to well over a million dollars of unnecessary cost.

“It’s based on data that we’ve derived from several different projects we’ve worked on in an attempt to show contractors the value of having adequate hoisting. Our mission is to give them a tangible metric with which they can measure how much hoisting they need,” says Galatas.

Meeting needs
In the construction rentals business, experience counts, and McDonough has plenty. Founded in 1976 and purchased from the previous owner 20 years ago, McDonough Construction Rentals, Inc. is owned by parent company McDonough Corporation, a respected 80-year-old family-owned business engaged in construction elevators, barge rental, marine logistics, wood molding, and stair systems.

Providing best-in-class services, McDonough Construction Rentals, Inc. has grown to five locations to serve its many clients. The company’s service area focuses on the lower portion of the United States. Starting at the mid-Atlantic states on the eastern seaboard from about Philadelphia south, it extends down the east coast into Central Florida and across the Gulf Coast. “We have a big presence in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana, extending west to our sales/service location in Southern California,” Galatas says.

Solidly grounded in almost 50 years of accumulated knowledge, McDonough offers rental of construction elevators, self-erect tower cranes, transport platforms, and mast climbers. As a licensed contractor, McDonough also offers rack and pinion elevator sales for permanent installations in the industrial markets, service, spare and replacement parts, and refurbishment of existing permanent elevators. McDonough truly is the “one-stop shop” for both new commercial construction and industrial elevator needs.

The newest and best solutions
Committed to innovation and advancing the industry, and to offering clients the best and most advanced vertical access equipment, McDonough Construction Rentals, Inc. has a long-term research and development budget to ensure it stays abreast of the newest technology and industry practices.

Providing solutions for virtually any project, the company takes a hands-on approach, with sales managers visiting client job sites to determine the best possible options. This includes options for customers working on bridges and tunnels; on manufacturing sites; in power generation facilities, metals or mining; in seaports and shipyards; in offshore operations; or in the petrochemicals, oil and gas, and refining sectors, among others.

“We really like rental businesses,” says Galatas. “We like businesses that are asset-heavy and require major capital investment, which is where our skill set is. Between that and financial management and sales—I’m talking about selling into our customer base—that’s where our strengths are,” he explains.

For the benefit of its clients, McDonough Construction Rentals, Inc. has purchased ten new self-erecting tower cranes for its fleet from well-known manufacturers Liebherr and Potain. After almost 50 years in the rental elevator business, the company is applying the expertise it has amassed as a subcontractor, and its understanding of construction markets, to these new vertical access solutions.

“It’s a substantial commitment to the future from our owners, and it’s one—specifically tower cranes—that we’ll continue investing in,” says Galatas. “We believe in that market because they’re used actively in Europe by the thousands, and this is a relatively new tool for construction in the United States that will enable labor efficiency and safer vertical access for job sites.”

Transported to construction sites as ready-to-erect units, fast-erecting tower cranes like the Liebherr 125 K and the Potain IGO T 85 are versatile, have intelligent control systems, offer millimeter precision, feature multiple working hook heights, and more. Additional resources are available at onemcdonough.com/construction-equipment-rentals/self-erecting-tower-crane-rentals.

Safety and values
Along with decades of know-how, outstanding service, and the finest equipment available, McDonough’s values—caring about client success, teamwork, and focusing on success and safety—make all the difference.

For decades, safety has been a priority for the company and its customers. All equipment is painstakingly maintained, with proven preventative maintenance protocols in place. In fact, the company recently received a Platinum Safety Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors STEP Program.

“We view safety as a critical thing,” says Galatas. “Everybody can have a safety program and train on a safety program, but in the end, it comes down to individuals to make good decisions for themselves and their teammates. And in our view, that comes down to leadership,” he says. “So where we focus hard is on providing leadership training across our organization at every level, because we believe that everybody can be a leader. And I think that fundamentally, that’s what we attempt to do that sets us apart.”

One of the company’s many strengths is its ability to communicate its values to existing and new employees alike and encourage staff to constantly strive to improve.

“If you’re attempting to create a positive learning environment where people, when they make mistakes, can learn from their mistake and improve their behavior so they don’t make the same mistake in the future, it’s positive—but if you reinforce why that mistake was made as a punishment, you’re sending a negative message rather than a positive one,” Galatas says. “It’s about creating a positive learning loop.”

Fostering a positive work environment has earned McDonough Construction Rentals, Inc. the respect of its many long-term staff, and also growth opportunities. Company President Galatas believes that even someone engaged in a simple task like turning a wrench can practice positive leadership by setting an example to those they work with.

“I would say it’s relatively easy in our context because we come at it from an authentic place,” he says. “We’re not saying ‘we have culture’ just to bamboozle new employees into believing we’re a great place to work; we are a great place to work. We’re authentic about that, and that’s what comes through to new employees. From there, we can teach them just about anything.”

The post What Happens When Buildings Go Up but Construction Elevators Don’t?<p class="company">McDonough Construction Rentals</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Founded in 2011 by Mike Uremovich, Manhattan Mechanical Services, a leader in heavy industrial mechanical maintenance and fabrication, operates from two facilities—one in East Chicago, Indiana, and another in Manhattan, Illinois, investing significantly in a new fabrication facility in 2020.

While each facility has its own training division, the Manhattan office recently gained a significantly updated training facility that is better equipped than ever before and dedicated to its new craftsmen.

Spotlight on safety
The company is no stranger to the limelight—for all the best reasons. The team’s most recent award was achieved by scoring superbly high safety merits and displaying proof of a three-year or longer OSHA recorded incident rate of 0.6 or less with zero fatalities during that time; a Lost Workday rate of 0.2 or lower over three years; and meeting a number of other stringent operational markers, setting the bar for winning this award impressively high.

According to company President Joe Harkness, the company has been injury-free for over four years, equating to a staggering 2.5 million unblemished labor hours. Working hard to reach this current level of safety excellence over a few years, the company has also received gold and meritorious awards from the organization in years past.

In addition, Manhattan Mechanical received the Associated Builders and Contractors National and State Excellence in Construction Eagle Award not long ago.

“We focus a tremendous amount of energy on safety. We also take a great deal of pride in keeping people safe, to ensure that they go home the way they came in,” says Harkness. Every shift starts after a thorough safety meeting, and everyone is on the same page. Here, goals and themes are laid out ahead of time for the week and the month to navigate and mitigate any challenges.

A dedicated safety department executes near-daily inspections, assisting teams in staying on top of whatever potential risks exist on their work sites. By maintaining loss prevention observation cards, management ensures that it stays in touch with what is happening on the ground around safety. These cards are completed by its craftsmen weekly before being swept for crucial clues toward safety improvement.

The company also has a ‘good-catch’ program, which recognizes staff across the company for reporting potential risks before they can develop into calamities. All safety risks are carefully studied to ensure future prevention.

The company’s teams also complete annual day-long refresher safety courses through its local safety council, the Three Rivers Manufacturing Association (TRMA). Additional close affiliations with other councils include the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER).

A niche focus
Serving the greater Chicago region’s heavy industrial construction industry, the company performs a lot of work for oil refineries, chemical plants, ethanol plants, and similar. Especially favored for its heavy industrial mechanical maintenance and fabrication offering, one quickly realizes that “niche” is where this company’s core business lies. That includes everything from insulation and scaffolding installation to welding, process piping, boiler making, equipment installation, and expert structural steel fabrication. All of the team’s contributions to projects are suited to meet the customer’s exact needs in such a thorough and complete way that they do not need any other contractor to execute any part of the execution process.

Many of the industrial plants Manhattan Mechanical serves are part of a greater network of service providers creating everyday utility products that consumers have come to know and trust. It’s not only the company’s superb workmanship that has garnered its clients’ respect; it is also its deep understanding of the safety regulations and requirements within clients’ plants that makes the company a service provider of choice for leaders in heavy industry fields.

Harkness believes that the secret lies in leading with patience and thoroughness. “If work can’t be done safely, it can’t be done. It can be very dangerous if you’re not diligent and take your time to pay attention and focus on reviewing everything you are about to do with your team, the operators, and the clients,” he says, pointing out that work cannot start until everyone is certain that all potential dangers have been ruled out.

The actual process of getting the work done is simple. Once a client has lodged their request for a proposal, the team gets its experts together to brainstorm the challenge at hand to develop a few possible strategies to achieve the desired outcome. Resources and timeframes are explored alongside available skills and labor force before the goals are outlined in detail and work commences.

“We work safely toward high quality, safety, and productivity,” explains Harkness. “We pride ourselves on working with clients to solve problems and provide them with what they expect or even exceed their expectations.”

Training for excellence
As mentioned, training is a big deal here. All training and apprenticeship programs are run in collaboration with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and are recognized nationally by the Department of Labor. In addition, all craftsmen joining its ranks must qualify to do so. With 130 craftsmen working across several job sites, that is a notable commitment to excellence and safety.

With around twenty office staff on board, the company is looking to expand its team to just over 170 soon. “We build loyalty by developing our people as craftsmen and paying them well accordingly,” says Harkness.

Looking for ways to enlarge the pool of potential talent for its community, Manhattan Mechanical Services hosts an annual Laborers’ Weekend in early June, which marks the beginning of a two- to three-week paid industry introduction offered to eight or so young, prospective craftsmen who are led through an orientation process. The group gets a chance to work in the field on job sites and get a feel for what that entails. It is but one way the firm gives back to its communities.

Philanthropy is another important way in which the company contributes to the well-being of others. One particular organization that’s close to its heart is Project HOOD, a movement committed to matching inner-city Chicago kids with opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise have come their way. In addition, there are the generous donations the company makes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association in collaboration with a client.

Opportunity abounds
Reflecting on how the industry is shifting in response to the significant move away from foreign fabrication and toward local manufacturing, Harkness highlights the threat posed by dwindling numbers of top-tier craftsmen as demand continues to grow while fewer youngsters enter the trades. In light of this, finding the right people remains a top priority and the company’s doors are always open to new talent in search of opportunity.

“You can make a very good career here,” he says. “You can make over $100,000 a year as a welder or pipe fitter for our company with a little bit of overtime and things like that.” The work is rewarding and challenging in all the right ways. “To do what we do requires a great deal of intelligence.”

The company’s plans for the future are pragmatic, as Harkness insists on leveraging the wisdom of driving incremental rather than exponential growth. That will no doubt lead to continued expansion, and we look forward to checking back in with Manhattan Mechanical Services in the years to come.

The post A Safety Record Like This Says It All<p class="company">Manhattan Mechanical Services</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“Initially he did everything and anything—residential, light commercial, just whatever came his way through opportunities and partnerships with some of his customers. He incorporated his business in 1983, developed relationships with some of the longtime Alaskan and Washington State general contractors, and they brought him in on other projects,” Raby shares. “Eventually, his company started doing mechanical contracting work for the U.S. Department of Defense, with army base housing projects, and so it grew from year to year.”

Complex projects
To better serve its customers, SPHI developed an in-house engineering team, capable of full in-house design build and 3D modeling, which produces arctic grade plumbing, mechanical, and seismic restraint design deliverables for a wide range of projects and customers.

Among the Owners for whom SPHI has completed major projects are the U.S. Army., U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Space Force, and the Missile Defense Agency, all of which it continues to provide with mechanical and HVAC systems for new and renovated housing, barracks, hangars, warehouses, and office buildings at Eielson Air Force Base, Fort Wainwright, Fort Greely, Clear Space Force Station, and Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson.

All projects in the arctic are complex, such as the construction of the Warrior in Transition Complex at Fort Richardson. This work consisted of an 80-person barracks, a Soldier and Family Assistance Center, Company Operations Facility, and Battalion Headquarters. The mechanical and HVAC specifications, which met LEED standards, included sanitary waste and vents, heating and cooling, snowmelt, ventilation, and humidification systems.

Another major project was the Denali Village at Fort Wainwright. This included 200 new units, installation of storm and sanitary sewer systems, 1,200 feet of steam and condensate piping, and two miles of direct buried glycol heating services.

Other projects under the company’s belt include multi-family housing complexes, elderly housing, HUD housing for Native Americans, shopping malls, restaurants, water treatment plants, hotels, hospital renovations, medical and dental clinics, churches, warehouses, and office buildings. The company has also done extensive work in additions and renovations for schools in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Lower Kuskokwim, and Hooper Bay, which had the added challenge of working in a tight, three-month turnaround while the schools were closed for the summer.

Integrity first
Raby joined the company in 2004 as an apprentice and over the past 19 years, as he rose through the ranks as journeyman, foreman, superintendent, operations manager, vice president, and now president, he watched the company grow. Bill Slayden, who retains ownership, is now semi-retired and doesn’t engage in day-to-day operations but is still very much a part of the company he built.

“I think one of the most important things Bill instilled into the company from the beginning, and subsequently in me as his steward, is the importance of transparency and integrity in business relationships and with our employees,” says Raby.

“This is a small community—we’re the ‘biggest smallest’ state in the U.S.—so relationships are so important because we’re working with the same people and the same customers. There’s no room for unethical or unscrupulous practices internally or with our customers, which include most of the general contractors in the state. That’s one of the foundations of this company; we do what we say we’re going to do,” he says.

“I can also say that Bill is particularly generous with his employees,” Raby adds. “He sponsors many different activities, clubs, and events in support of them. He’s built a community which he understands, appreciates, and values.”

The market for mechanical contractors in the Arctic can be tumultuous, he tells us, and for that reason, it’s important not to hire people only to lay them off at some future point. Every endeavor is made to avoid seasonal fluctuations because an important part of the company’s philosophy is maintaining a work schedule that permits the continuity of work teams. “We don’t want to have two hundred people on board this summer and then have to lay them off to trim down to a hundred.”

Since the early days, SPHI has used the most modern equipment, tools, and techniques available to attract and retain the highest level of workers in the industry. It also provides workforce training through its certified apprenticeship programs, recognized as one of the founding members of the Alaska Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.

Even so, it’s not easy to find skilled trades or people who want to train, Raby says, pointing to a nationwide education system that for several decades has sidelined trades and “put up the false precept that if you don’t go to university, you won’t be successful and instead be an uneducated ditch digger. But some of the most intelligent, productive people I’ve ever met are in the trades.”

He notes that all the work, especially that involved in mechanical contracting, is technically complex, with equipment and processes informed by advanced technology and a skill set that combines that knowledge with challenging work in the elements.

“I think the public education system has devalued trades and painted a false picture of what it takes to build our nation’s infrastructure, which has culminated in the difficulty we now face across the country,” he says. “Sadly, people have been ingrained with the wrong ideas about construction and it’s just categorically false.”

Safety is paramount
For owner and founder Bill Slayden, valuing his team has always meant keeping them safe, which is extraordinarily complex in an industry that is inherently dangerous. On a busy job site, forklifts and cranes hoist heavy parts and pieces while workers using torches and heavy equipment weld them into place, which is why SPHI maintains a robust safety program. Raby calls it “a risky line of work with a lot of opportunities for burns and [other] injuries.”

He is adamant that, “We must maintain an active effort and revisit safety practices constantly because even the very best of crews can fall victim to complacency. It’s part of the human condition and affects all of us. You can get numb to the idea that what you’re working on is in fact very dangerous and could result in bodily harm if one little thing doesn’t go right, so we have reminders, safeguards, and protocols about everything we do. It’s a real effort to make sure everyone goes home as they came in.”

A critical piece of the safety puzzle at SPHI involves the culture surrounding the consistent use of personal protective equipment, which includes getting feedback from workers as to the kind of safety gear they want to use. “We want them to feel comfortable, and give them options, knowing that the higher the comfort level, the more likely they are to use it and use it properly. We will buy them any safety gear they want, as long as they wear it. We don’t put them into the cheapest stuff and say, ‘If you want something better, you’re on your own.’ We get feedback about individual brands and models and what they want to use and wear, and that’s what we buy.”

As a result, SPHI enjoys an extremely low worker’s compensation rate and that number translates into lower insurance premiums, something customers look at when evaluating proposals.

For the past forty years, Slayden Plumbing & Heating Inc. has enjoyed a reputation for safe working conditions and valuing its community and its workforce. This, coupled with providing employment opportunities at a financially stable company that’s making a huge difference in the economy of Alaska, makes for a winning combination and surely, many years of success yet to come.

The post 40 Years of Integrity, Safety, and Service<p class="company">Slayden Plumbing & Heating Inc.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

After years of working in the field, Optimal’s small founding team decided to make a break and build the kind of company they wanted to work for. With only five full-time employees at its founding in 2013, today Optimal is a multi-state operation with over 200 employees and a network of thousands of elite craftspeople.

Expanding cross-country
Headquartered in Geismar, Louisiana, Optimal Field Services provides comprehensive industrial services to clients across the country, with skilled teams at client sites and offices to provide customers with powerful, productive, and proven results through specialization in turnaround services, specialty welding, capital projects, and maintenance services.

Committed to establishing a business built on teamwork, trust, and the idea that everyone has a role to play in performing their job proficiently and knowledgeably, Optimal positively impacts the market and clients it serves by not only establishing a solid reputation from the ground up but by expanding the business alongside customers.

“Even as Optimal approaches its tenth year of operation, the team has an energetic desire to exceed expectations from its partner clients and ourselves,” says Shane Doss, President of Optimal Field Services. “We want to be the best option for our clients. The team we have is built for excellence and drives that culture in everything we do, even though we still have room to learn, grow, and do better. We stay very humble, appreciate our partners, and never take anything for granted.”

Optimal also takes great pride in driving the industry forward by leveraging its deep knowledge and strong company values. The accountability and common ideals shared by Optimal’s team are deeply embedded across the company, Doss adds.

Built on trust
“We understand that results start with trust,” he says, and he believes it’s trust that underpins the company’s impressive longevity in the industry. In line with those values, Optimal joined the Crest Industries Family of Companies in 2016, opening the door to further growth, support, and success across all areas of the business.

A natural fit with Crest Industries—an organization that has a strong history of serving its clients for over 60 years—Optimal is also dedicated to supporting its clients and being present when most needed.

That outstanding support extends to the company’s employees. Optimal prides itself on treating its team members like family, which means ensuring they are protected, particularly when it comes to issues of safety. “Safety is not just something we practice,” says Doss. “Safety is embedded in our core values and in everything we do.”

The company certainly has an outstanding and impressive safety record—one single OSHA recordable and zero lost time throughout its existence—which Doss attests to holding its people accountable and responsible.

“We give them the training and tools necessary to be safe every minute, every day,” he says, adding it’s culture driven from the top down. “Craftspeople who repeatedly return to work for Optimal know they are all well cared for. This type of team-based and customer-centered focus is at the heart of our safety program.”

Along with safety, Optimal has much to feel proud of when celebrating what sets it apart from other companies in the industry.

“From leadership to those on the frontline, everyone on the Optimal team recognizes that our people are the most powerful tool on every job,” says Doss. “We retain the most sought-after project managers and superintendents who bring their own core teams of skilled craftspeople, allowing us to know their past proven quality and safety record before they arrive on the job site. Our values and the way we treat people like family allow us to retain the best talent in the industry.”

Optimal’s leadership rejects the idea of assembling an “A-Team” within an organization’s workforce as they believe everyone in the company is expected to be A-Team caliber, displaying top-notch performance at all times.

“Being a privately held company gives us the ability to focus on long-term value-added relationships with all of our stakeholders,” Doss says. “All decisions are based on our company values.”

Carbon commitment
Those values extend to the company’s commitment to a carbon-negative future, recognizing the importance of creating robust programs to support environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.

“As the discussion around the climate crisis continues to grow, the quest for carbon neutrality is becoming a predominant influencer in decisions about building new partnerships and policies across the industrial and petrochemical sectors,” explains Doss. Unlike many other organizations its size, Optimal’s company-wide sustainability goals are in line with many energy industry titans such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Dow, with carbon reduction being at the forefront of Optimal’s overall sustainability program.

Additionally, for decades Crest Industries has offset its emissions through its ownership and sustainable management of more than 100,000 acres of timberland in Louisiana and Texas through its subsidiary Crest Natural Resources. Earlier last year, Crest commissioned a third-party evaluation of its operations to identify its company-wide Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in addition to the carbon sequestered by its timberland holdings.

“The results were exciting as the Crest Industries Family of Businesses was declared carbon-negative for all Scope 1 and 2 emissions,” Doss says.

With an eye to that greener future, Optimal’s upcoming projects are based on both renewable fuel and biofuel in the refinery and chemical areas. Considered the wave of the future within the industry, biofuel demand is rising quickly on a global scale as the integrity of the world’s food supply and the requirement for lower emissions from industry and transportation, as well as increased energy security, is an ongoing concern.

Biofuels, which can be produced locally, are a desirable alternative for nations presently dependent on geopolitically unpredictable oil and gas supplies and are also considered to be a practical substitute for fossil fuels in nations with net-zero ambitions. When burned, biofuels produce fewer damaging greenhouse gases (GHGs) than fossil fuels since they are made from organic waste, plants, animals, and crops, all renewable resources. In short, biofuels can help make the world a better place to live.

Pride in people
Optimal has enjoyed other impressive accomplishments over the past few years, including taking “great pride” in developing its team members into strong leaders. Optimal has seen a 94 percent growth rate over 2021, has received an array of safety awards from its clients, and has added an additional long-term maintenance partner to its portfolio.

“During COVID, we focused on the growth of our employees with robust company-wide employee development and training programs,” Doss says. The team leveraged teachings from the talent development and team dynamic experts at Simon Sinek, and has also adopted their philosophy of ‘bigger does not mean better, but better is how we get bigger.’

“The company’s central strategy is built upon the foundational set of four core values: We take care of our people; we are our word; we value our partnerships; and we have something to prove,” says Doss.

Challenges have included dealing with the pandemic and the unique issues it presented. However, the connection with Crest Industries has provided an extra layer of security and accountability for the Optimal team that gives them the flexibility to endure and succeed when challenges arise.

An example of this would be despite the emergence of COVID in 2020 and its massive disruption to the petrochemical industry, Optimal was able to retain its entire workforce. Not a single employee was displaced.

“We take care of our people; it’s what we do and who we are,” says Doss. “How can we help our clients, employees, and their families when they need us if we didn’t retain our people through the tough times?”

Ambitions for the upcoming years include greater client diversification, says Doss, together with a resolute focus on the company’s values which have done so much to shape and grow the success of the business since its inception.

“We’re focusing on safety and quality,” he says, “with a continued level of safety, excellence, and quality of execution with existing clients as Optimal continues to find ways to add growth with each, and understanding clients’ needs to develop a custom solution specific to each.”

The post Trust, Teamwork, and Talent<p class="company">Optimal Field Services</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With seven busy Canadian offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Burlington, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Grande Prairie—where it all started—as well as offices in Makati and Cebu in the Philippines, it comes as no surprise that Design Works Engineering earned the 2022 Hot Firm Award from Zweig Group and made it onto 2020’s Canada’s Top Growing Companies–Startup list.

President and Chief Executive Officer Haydar Al Dahhan started the company in 2014, together with the late John Lehners. The two initially worked from home but soon realized that finding a more suitable space to run the business from was of the essence if they were to establish the company properly. As tough as the early days sometimes were, things went well, the two founders persisted, and today, the couch from the first office they rented above a coffee shop—and on which they drafted their first business plan—still has a place of honour in its offices.

Broad expertise under one roof
Design Works Engineering ascribes its success to offering everything under one roof. The services most widely in demand are its mechanical and electrical engineering, energy modelling and work on multi-family residential units. The team also performs light industrial construction, such as storage facilities, warehouses, retail spaces, offices, and more. And, after recently completing a facility for an international logistics giant, the team is eyeing a similar project for another large company in that sector.

The company’s in-house building science department, meanwhile, keeps its environmental stewardship efforts at the leading edge, and the company leans into creating environmentally friendly designs that sit well in their surroundings.

Much of Design Works Engineering’s appeal for clients revolves around innovation. Earlier this year, the company published a paper outlining the positive aspects of energy modelling—a science that tests energy requirements within a set scenario. The paper is aimed at developers and is full of practical advice on U.S. financing programs for energy-efficient buildings, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and some pointers on sustainable building design—all geared toward encouraging improved environmental sustainability in the industry all across North America.

Considering that some facilities can require up to 350,000 square feet or more, building them takes tremendous expertise. “The price of oil and energy has created this boom. When oil companies are profitable, other service companies are profitable as well, and we do their work too,” says Al Dahhan, who points out that when companies are profitable, they typically build.

Diverse projects
Over the years, many projects have left a lasting impression on both clients and the team. One such project was a 140,000-square-foot warehouse with office facilities for one of Toronto’s big retailers, who approached Design Works Engineering for its expertise in sustainable design and a range of engineering services that included civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

Then there is the 3064 Trafalgar Road Condominium: twin high-rise, thirty-storey buildings in Oakville, Ontario. The 678-unit high-rises are set neatly in a two-storey base building with 739 underground parking spaces across four levels. The apartment buildings boast unrivalled views of the lush surroundings and are within easy reach of many amenities. Apart from delivering renderings and drafts on this project, the company also executed a range of engineering services, including custom sprinkler engineering.

Of all its most memorable successes, the team’s design of the $14,000,000 Norlan Chrysler building, a Chrysler Dodge Fiat dealership in Grande Prairie, Alberta, remains a particular favourite. At 80,000 square feet, this project depended on Design Works Engineering for energy modelling, structural, mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering, renderings and drafts, as well as light design and surveying.

Building partnerships
Al Dahhan’s design ethos is straightforward. While buildings naturally have to make financial sense, their design must address their purpose while ensuring efficiency; however, he postulates, cultivating connections between people over time makes all the difference. By meeting customers with an attitude of partnership, the company ensures that it grows and evolves with its customers’ own businesses.

“We are not in the engineering industry; I believe we are in the service and customer service industries,” he says.

To that end, remembering his roots and the challenges faced to attain the level he has reached keeps things real for this driven leader. “People sometimes forget where they started. They look at what they have right now,” he says, noting that, while that is nice, “At one point you started with nothing; at one point you were nothing. Once you learn and understand that, that is how you [will] get to the next stage in your career.”

Al Dahhan is particularly proud of the people he works with. The company is inclusive, which is reflected in the demographics of its team, and he says the team carries an ideal balance of personality, outlook, knowledge, and expertise. “We have an awesome team; they are at the forefront of what we do. The team creates the output, and it has just been fantastic,” he says, underscoring how grateful he is for everything they do.

Indeed, the camaraderie of its offices helped pull the company through COVID and beyond, with the business able to continue operating thanks to the commitment of its people.

Serving the community
With a big heart for giving, the company’s staff members partake in a number of charitable activities throughout the year. Some of the beneficiaries include the Grande Prairie and District Education Foundation, South Bear Creek Recreation Area, Royal Bank Cup, Swanavon Playground Society, Swan City Rotary Club, Grande Prairie Hockey Legends Program, Alberta Health Services, and Grande Prairie Regional College. In addition to donating engineering services to worthy causes, Al Dahhan serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. The company’s mission is to serve, and it does that well.

When collaborating with Design Works Engineering, project work follows a clearly laid-out plan, starting with project research conducted by its team. Everything from budgets to requirements and location is discussed and considered in great depth. From here, the exact location and any associated challenges are examined in detail. The company has thus amassed a great deal of experience in engineering design for buildings in prairie areas. Designs are brought to life with consideration given to the natural environment in which the building will exist and the demands on its overall performance, and the team typically sees clients through the entire construction process right up to post-construction performance testing.

Looking at the company’s portfolio of projects, its outstanding capabilities and ability to work in different styles to suit its clients’ tastes quickly become clear. This team works in markets that include civic and community construction, hospitality and care, education, mixed-use, and more. Design Works Engineering’s adaptability and willingness to hear people and give them what they want will remain one of its strongest assets and will continue leading its future growth. The company’s diversity once again promises to propel this rising star to new heights.

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