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.

While there are countless contributors to the construction of any project, subcontractors are responsible for the actual construction activity. They provide the labor, the materials and take on much of the risk to bring projects to completion on time and on budget.

Richard Bright, Chief Operating Officer of the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) notes, “Everyone thinks the owner funds the job when in reality, they’re certainly providing the initial investment but the subcontractors are the ones that go on and build the building and pay their employees for their labor and buy the materials ahead of time, so essentially our members are funding the job.”

Bright explains that, “Subcontractors are providing the labor to build the project and get paid after the fact, so we’re bidding on the future and waiting to get paid on the work we’ve done,” which can equate to a major strain on cash flow and can threaten the economic wellbeing of the company.

Strength through representation
Representing 34 chapters nationwide, including nearly 3,000 members and 6,500 contracts within those member companies, the ASA provides representation, advocacy and education for its members to ensure its vision of “better construction through fair construction” is realized. This means addressing the issues of the day and preparing for what is to come in the future.

ASA National President, Rusty Plowman, serves as Vice President of Delta Drywall, Inc. Plowman explains that currently, “Issues include ‘paid if paid’ clauses in contracts; slow pay as the economy is moving toward a recession; getting paid for change order work on projects; and the slow process of receiving written change orders from general contractors on projects.”

He adds that, “Some states need reform on retainage from ten percent of the total contract amount and the lengthy amount of time to collect it (sometimes over a year),” which impacts cash flow.

If that wasn’t enough, subcontractors are battling what previous ASA President Brian K. Carroll, a Board Certified® Construction Lawyer with Sanderford & Carroll, referred to as “The Big Three”: supply chain delays, labor shortages and price escalation of both labor and materials, matters that were exacerbated by the pandemic and rising gas prices.

As Carroll says, “There is zero certainty that when an order is placed that the delivery date has any chance of actually occurring. Suppliers are refusing to lock in prices and owners are refusing to agree to escalation clauses, which forces the subcontractors to carry the risk of escalation beyond what is included in their bid pricing.”

He adds, “As to labor, the market continues to be very tight with a premium for skilled and even unskilled labor in certain markets. This makes it challenging to take advantage of the amount of work available.”

Currently, members have a sufficient backlog, but as Bright notes, “The question becomes, as costs increase and delays happen because of supply chain issues or [labor challenges], do contracts get put on hold? Do they start to get cancelled because the cost of doing them is exorbitant? So, in other words, we’re busy now, but the worry is in the future.”

This is particularly challenging as some projects are bid on years in advance without price escalation clauses or force majeure language included in the contracts that account for increases in price that are beyond a subcontractor’s control. Through the provision of contract language, negotiating tips, and education, ASA works to ensure that its members are able to self-advocate and negotiate contracts to include things like price escalation clauses for themselves.

From Plowman’s perspective, “The ASA is instrumental in providing the advocacy and legislation to address all issues pertaining to poor contract terms and practices in the industry. Members have access to pre-written contract language to help them negotiate fair contracts and protect their best interests when undertaking projects.”

A voice at the government level
One of the most valuable resources ASA offers is the protection of its members’ interests through government advocacy. As Carroll explains, “ASA has had a number of victories this year in the advocacy realm whereby ASA is shaping the statutory and regulatory framework to allow for a more level playing field for subcontractors in the construction realm.”

The government advocacy work of the ASA is especially important given the passage of the historic $52 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS), which will have significant implications on its members and the industry.

“The IIJA includes substantial funding for federal highway, transit, highway safety, and rail programs, along with investing in new infrastructure projects across the nation,” notes Michael T. Oscar, the ASA’s Director of Government Relations. Additionally, the IIJA included an ASA-supported provision directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to ensure public-private partnership (P3) projects using Transportation Infrastructure Finance Innovation Act (TIFIA) financing have appropriate payment and performance security bonds.

The same can be said about the CHIPS Act, though it is less substantive in scope and reach. It will lead to the construction of facilities that will mitigate the shortage of semiconductors and the impact it is having on supply chains globally, and again, will put ASA members to work.

“Beyond our legislative efforts at the federal level, ASA supports its chapters at the state and local levels of government.” For Oscar, “We believe if we can effect change at the 30,000-foot level—that is working with the federal government—then that precedent will eventually trickle down to the state and local level impacting our chapters and membership.”

Whether it is a retainage issue in Colorado, prompt payment matters in Pennsylvania, or concerns about public-private partnerships in the D.C. Metro Area, ASA stands up for its members wherever they are.

Looking forward
For Bright, “Looking forward and having the ability to look forward is important,” and this is especially true as the economy enters a technical recession. As such, ASA is already getting ahead of the curve to prepare its members to navigate potentially challenging times.

Beyond economic challenges, Carroll notes that, “Going forward, it will take some of the best and brightest to take the industry into the future as we continue to evolve with environmental concerns, population growth, and innovative new construction technologies,” and luckily, ASA will steadfastly be there to represent its members regardless of the challenges they may face.

“We’ve overcome many legislative, regulatory, and political hurdles in the past and we’ll continue to overcome them in the future,” says Oscar, with optimism backed by confidence that the Association’s members are poised to ride out the challenges and make the most of the opportunity before them, with the resources and support of the ASA.

The post Bidding on the Future<p class="company">American Subcontractors Association (ASA)</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Canam Steel Corporation (CSC) fabricates the largest selection of steel joists and decks of their kind in the industry for clients like steel fabricators, general contractors, developers, and project owners, completing around 4,500 projects annually. Steel joists are used to span long distances and create wide open spaces for both roof and floor structures. Steel deck is used on top of joists, beams or other structural members to support the roof system or floor slabs. Both the joist and deck components are custom designed for each customer as loading and geometric requirements are unique to each project.

The company’s premium steel fabrication work graces the roof structures of many of America’s largest retail spaces, warehouses, and distribution centers, making it an integral part of nearly every American’s shopping experience.

Headquartered in Point of Rocks, Maryland, CSC’s six fabrication locations include facilities at that site and in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, and New Jersey from which it serves every U.S. state. “CSC is a U.S.-based company with 100 percent of our fabrication at six U.S.-based manufacturing facilities. We are 100 percent focused on the U.S. market and are creating American jobs as we continue to grow to support continued development throughout the U.S.,” says Michael Martignetti, Vice President of Sales. He has been with the company for twelve years, working his way up after starting in the engineering department.

The original company was founded in Quebec, Canada, in 1961. Back then, its joists were shipped to New England while the company grew quickly thanks to the dedication and hard work of its owner-family. In 1984, Canam was listed as a public company on the Canadian stock exchange. Robust growth through acquisitions and expansions followed. Until it returned to being a private company through American Industrial Partners (AIP), a private equity firm headquartered in New York City.

In 2020, the company’s founding family and some Quebec investors opted to buy the Canadian operation from the now-parent company, leaving AIP with full ownership of the United States business. That is how there came to be two Canams, causing misunderstandings for some. This split resulted in a name change, making CSC (Canam Steel Corporation) the recognizable American company operating entirely independently from Canam Group in Canada as a fully-fledged competitor in its own right.

Today, says President and CEO Taylor Cole, “CSC drives the development of the commercial building landscape across the United States though custom engineered and manufactured open web steel joists and deck products. We do this through the adherence to our key values of industry safety leadership, quality in all that we do, respect for all stakeholders, integrity in our actions and a relentless pursuit of continuous improvement.”

Since supply chain shortages mushroomed across the globe in the wake of COVID-19, Martignetti confirms that “the construction of warehouses has just absolutely boomed.” Some of the reasons he notes for this phenomenon is the rapid growth of e-commerce which he believes to be set for another ten to twelve percent growth moving toward 2030. This comes as retailers now strive to meet the consumer’s demand for quick home delivery despite fragile supply chains.

“For every billion dollars of e-commerce sales, you need about one million square feet of warehouse space, so that sector is growing significantly. Our industry, in terms of demand… doubled overnight shortly after the COVID lockdown started,” he adds. This sudden turn of events brought tremendous growth along with it for CSC.

As the reshoring of manufacturing feeds overall growth of local manufacturers in many places across the United States, the demand for large manufacturing facilities with wide open spaces continues to increase. Despite the supply shortages of 2021, CSC is still thriving thanks to the fact that it has strategic relationships with most of the U.S. steel mills. This turned out to be a tremendously powerful strategic advantage that has stood the firm in good stead, giving CSC the flexibility to choose where to procure the optimum steel for their production. Today, material supply issues are, for the most part, a thing of the past, with extensive backlog being the only current challenge.

As fortune would have it, however, construction schedules are somewhat transient, often freeing up stock and time at unexpected intervals, allowing the team to increase their flexibility to meet customers’ shifting demands. The company’s operations and employee count have also expanded rapidly over the past two years.

“Like in most industries, people have been the hottest commodity,” says Martignetti, noting that a great deal of effort goes into “recruitment and compensation. We put a lot of focus on how we can attract people, improve the work environment, and provide opportunities for career growth.” The effort is yielding results as the company has grown its staff count from 800 to 1,200 in only twenty-four months.

“Over the past 18 months we have made substantial investments in our people and facilities,” agrees Cole. “The competition for people is unyielding and these investments have been crucial to us being able to attract talent in a very tight labor market. Without this focused effort to be the employer of choice in the markets where we operate, we would not have been able to meet our customers’ expectations over the past two years.”

Martignetti describes the company’s team as one big happy family, and the significant length of most people’s tenures stands testimony to the fact. That, of course, contributes to its expertise pool that benefits clients in the best of ways. “They have a wealth of knowledge and have a lot to offer our clients and the design community. [Our team] has also been very adaptable during COVID. We did not miss a beat. They were very flexible, working remotely,” he says.

To continue yielding the same quality results that made it an industry leader in the first place, the firm is finding its sweet spot between having experts on site when needed versus being off-site when not necessary.

CSC designs, engineers, and constructs significantly more than just retail spaces and warehouses. It also does complex roofs and ceilings for churches, schools, and other buildings that sometimes require steel joists with unique geometric shapes or oversized depths and/or lengths, with some being over 10 feet deep and up to 200 feet long. It quickly becomes evident that challenges in engineering, design, and fabrication do not deter this team of industry experts.

Martignetti highlights another plus for CSC as, unlike a steel mill subsidiary, there is no urgency for it to sell as much steel as possible. Instead, its mission is to add as much value as possible to the steel it buys from steel mills while maintaining the high standards set by industry organizations such as Steel Joist Institute (SJI) and Steel Deck Institute (SDI). The company is a certified member of both. CSC is known for doing business with environmentally responsible steel mills. It also ensures that its cutoffs and steel scraps get recycled.

The team is as adept at collaborating with designers from a conception phase as it is with getting involved in ready-to-build designs. It is as much “an engineering services company as a steel products manufacturer. Each project requires products that are custom designed for the specific loads and geometric restraints of the project. We have a team of over one hundred engineers and drafters. [Several] of whom have been in the industry for many years. CSC is not afraid of complex projects,” says Martignetti. The team is well-versed in assisting customers with achieving their desired outcomes within their budgets.

This unwavering commitment to customer service has led to some impressive projects. These include high-rise towers, of which One Vanderbilt and Manhattan West in New York City and 110 North Wacker, and 320 Canal in Chicago are prime examples. It has also contributed to stadiums and event centers like the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta and American Dream in New Jersey. Then there are the structures CSC has completed for well-known automakers, electric vehicle fabricators, and other goods manufacturers.

Considering the next few years and how it will take on the future, the company’s leadership agrees that growth will remain strategic with a focus on its American customers and their needs. “First and foremost,” says Cole, “is helping fuel the expansion of the nation’s infrastructure that started in 2019. Reshoring of manufacturing, increased needs for more logistics hubs / warehouses due to the growth in e-commerce and new construction of public and private commercial buildings are all exhibiting a trajectory that extends well into the future. That projected growth drives us to be better every day through the continued development of our teams, improvements in operating equipment and efficiency gains to streamline our operations.” CSC will continue to take on complex design challenges to offer steel solutions to building America’s future.

The post Raising the Roof – Proudly American and Growing<p class="company">Canam Steel Corporation (CSC)</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alabama-based company, Claborn and his trusted team, including wife Monya, brothers Shannon and Stephen, and children Heath and Heather Lang, have taken Cornerstone from what was essentially a broker in the early days to an industry leader with a staff of over 40 within just five years. Key hires have included COO Joseph Hargrove and CFO David Watts. “They have been a driving force in our growth,” says Claborn. “Their leadership and our vision have allowed us to grow and maintain our focus.”

Key acquisitions
Of the early days, Claborn says that, “We didn’t make anything; we would purchase various parts, then engineer and install those items.” Soon, it made sense to Claborn that the company should grow through a series of strategic acquisitions of businesses that aligned with Cornerstone’s goals and vision, including lock companies, electronics integration providers, metal fabricators, and more. These acquisitions include electronics security company E.O. Integrated Systems, Inc. (EOISI); precast concrete products manufacturer RW Modular; security electronic company Com-Tec; and CM Security Windows. In some instances, acquisitions have included companies under the same umbrella, such as Norment Security Group, Inc., based in Montgomery, Alabama. The acquisition of Norment—which specializes in security electronics integration and detention equipment—also included lock manufacturer Airteq and security electronics division Trentech.

Through its sister company, Claborn Manufacturing, the company provides comprehensive products and solutions, such as custom-designed and manufactured hollow metal doors, ceilings, frames, windows, security furniture, and more for detention centers. And just last year, privately held Cornerstone gained RW Modular, LLC, a well-established and respected contractor and manufacturer specializing in precast concrete products. Often, Cornerstone’s acquisitions also include staff, and Steve Weirich, previous owner and President at RW Modular, joined Cornerstone as Executive Vice President of its new modular division.

For Cornerstone, the purchase of RW Modular made good business sense, as the two worked together for years on detention construction and installation projects. Cornerstone’s “most impactful acquisition,” RW uses molds and fabricates concrete cells on site, up to large quad cell modules, which include four cells in one pour. “They are precast on site, and we set them with a crane,” explains Claborn. “They are not cast-in-place; these are molds we ship from job to job.”

A breadth of expertise
Steadily growing organically and through acquisitions, Cornerstone recently expanded into its new headquarters complex in Tanner, Alabama. Featuring modern offices and new technology including robotic production lines, the facility is where state-of-the-art equipment works alongside the company’s staff of about 280, which includes electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, project managers, construction managers, project coordinators, schedulers, programmers, and welders. Where dozens or even hundreds of the same metal door are being manufactured, robotic welders are used, which speeds up the process.

Working on federal and private prisons across America including state and county men’s facilities as well as facilities for juveniles and women, the company’s portfolio encompasses all manner of correctional and mental health facility projects. For clients, the fact that Cornerstone Detention is responsible for all aspects of construction helps streamline overall operations. “We’re not asking questions of the guy that’s providing the doors and frames—we are already providing them—so we know what we need to do and how to coordinate it,” states Claborn. “It saves the client money, and hopefully puts us in a better position to win more work.”

Indeed, the entire process of building today is different than it was 20 years ago, says Claborn. In the past, owners would hire architects, tell them what they want, and the project would be put out for hard bid. The United States government shifted toward design-build work, which has progressed even further to design-assist. “The reason for that is, the traditional way takes years to bring a job to fruition,” shares Claborn. “With the design-assist method, they can bring a job to fruition and be bidding it or construction getting underway within a year. When interest rates were dropping for years until recently, owners were trying to take advantage of this and get their jobs built while conditions favored them financially. I would say more than 50 percent of the jobs today are design-build-assist or design-build.”

Projects large and small
Taking on large-scale projects including the San Quentin Prison in California’s Marin County, work for the Dallas County Jail, and the 525,000-square-foot Toronto South Detention Centre, Cornerstone is a one-stop shop. Also handing small renovations and ongoing maintenance, Cornerstone has regional offices across the United States, including in Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

“Cornerstone is focused on new construction, but we have regional service and supply groups doing the follow-up calls, replacement parts, and small renovations,” Claborn explains. “We do a lot of local renovations. We may come in and replace three doors for them with that service group and have a national service and supply organization taking care of the customers after we build the job initially.” For example, the company has been handling the maintenance contract for the Arizona Department of Corrections for the past 25 years and has embedded technicians going to some facilities every day.

Since 1998, Cornerstone has nurtured relationships with many of the world’s top construction companies abroad and at home, including Balfour Beatty, J.E. Dunn, Caddell, EllisDon and Bird Construction, Inc. One of the most recent projects between Cornerstone and Bird Construction was the accelerated build at the Kenora Jail and Thunder Bay Correctional Centre in Ontario. Recently completed, the project took about 18 months from start to finish.

Cornerstone is also involved with the construction of the New Toronto Courthouse project, just north of City Hall. Amalgamating six Ontario Court of Justice criminal courthouses into a single location, the 17-storey structure will feature state-of-the-art audio and video conferencing systems in a barrier-free environment. Working with EllisDon once again—the two teamed up for the Toronto South Detention Centre—the project reflects the respect both companies have earned in the construction industry. “There are a few companies in Canada that do what we do but they are smaller, so when there are large projects in Canada, we get called in,” says Claborn. The company is so specialized, it was recently called upon for a lock project in Egypt for two prison facilities.

Closer to home, Cornerstone is busy with other works, including modular jobs in Alabama, and another in Missouri’s Jackson County, which the company feels will accelerate its growth trajectory and enable it to make additional acquisitions.

Looking ahead
Continuing to earn new and repeat business, Cornerstone’s reputation speaks for itself. Listed on the Inc. 5000 for the past several years and recognized as one of the top subcontractors in the state of Alabama, the company keeps growing. A fully active member of the American Subcontractors Association, the company also benefits from the support the ASA provides.

As for the future of Cornerstone, its founder says the sky is the limit. Like many types of construction, corrections is a sector that is evolving to meet the needs of tomorrow. “We are seeing a meaningful transformation from our correctional facilities into mental health facilities,” states Claborn. “I think it’s long overdue.” The transformation, he says, is taking place in new design-build projects, specifically in Canada. “They are trying to normalize buildings, take away the institutional look, and give it more of a normal look—even though it’s secure—to kind of change the mindset of the inmate or patient. There’s something wrong if you want to commit a crime, so it starts with mental health, so there’s a big transformation into that field. But at the end of the day, my job is to protect the people who work there along with the patient. We want it to be a safe working environment where they get their treatment.”

Looking forward to 2023 and the 25^th anniversary of Cornerstone Detention, Claborn says plans are in the works. He still vividly recalls the company’s 10^th anniversary, held at the NASA museum in Huntsville, Alabama. The space boasts a large mural of the moon on the floor. “So we danced on the moon that night.”

The post Industry Pioneers<p class="company">Cornerstone</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

ERW specializes in value-engineering site development and is quite literally a one-stop shop for just about everything that needs to be done to prepare and maintain a site: retaining walls, screen walls, hardscape, fine grading, slope control, erosion control, job site cleanup, landscape irrigation, and landscape maintenance.

This multiplicity of abilities is the result of a series of thoughtful acquisitions in which ERW sought out the best of the best companies in Texas.

To learn how the original ERW company grew from one which specialized in the construction of retaining walls—valued at a respectable $20 million seven years ago—into a company with projected revenue of $250 million in 2022, and which today offers a clean sweep of construction-site solutions, we spoke with Joe Stewart, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

An opportunity
Larry Barnett established the original ERW company 30 years ago to deal with issues building owners were facing when the original retaining walls, which had been constructed with railroad ties, began to fail.

He spotted this as a promising business opportunity and began ripping out these disintegrating wooden walls and replacing them with stone ones, along the way building vast expertise in the construction of retaining walls that were fail-proof.

According to Stewart, it’s what is behind an attractive fieldstone exterior facing that’s key to a retaining wall’s success. What is essential is engineering which provides the design for a ‘junk rock’ wall that is half as thick as the height of the wall, and an efficient drainage system that will guarantee structural security for the building.

“If a wall starts to buckle,” he says, “it’s considered a global failure and is likely the result of water building up behind that wall. But if it’s built properly, there should be a drainage system with weep holes at the bottom to prevent water from building up and pushing the dirt out into the wall. Once that starts, it won’t stop, because it is already compromised.”

Out of sight
Over 30 years ERW has built many, many walls, all of which are silently playing critical roles in maintaining the structural security of the building site, and where visible, making an attractive addition to the landscape.

All retaining walls, however, are not visible. For example, there’s the Toyota Music Factory in Los Colinas, on the west side of Dallas. It’s a high-profile entertainment complex that hosts live concerts, sponsored by Toyota which opened its North American headquarters there in 2017.

“This is one of the largest walls we have ever built, and you don’t even see it, because it is supporting the interior and an interior walkway for maintenance. There are some exterior walls, but the big one is inside.”

Another very large—but visible—wall is one ERW did right in downtown Fort Worth; at over 40 feet tall, 22 feet thick, and more than 100 feet long, it holds up a five-story apartment complex.

Then there’s Globe Life Field, home to MLB’s Texas Rangers in Arlington. The $2.2 million project started in 2019 and carried over into 2020. It was the first time Stewart was involved with the process.

“We worked with Manhattan Construction, and it was impressive to work with their project managers and see how organized they are,” shares Stewart. “I think there are only certain GCs who can take it to that level. They are top-notch professionals. It’s a project we’re proud of, and one which anyone coming to the games can see.”

Currently, ERW is in the middle of a project for the Professional Golf Association, which has relocated from Florida to Frisco, TX, and is building the walls for the OMNI hotel which will become PGA headquarters.

Building for the future
When founder Larry Barnett passed away in 2013, Randy O’Neal, his stepson, took over the reins as president. By 2015, Stewart says, O’Neal realized he needed recapitalization to help the company grow. He took on a partner, Jack Matz, who became the CEO, and together they began building for the future.

Stewart, who grew up in Texas, but spent years living in St. Paul, Minnesota and travelling the country for 3M, was set to retire when the opportunity arose to return to Texas, “where the people are great.” In 2017 he joined the board of directors of ERW, and the following year joined the company “to help with the growth, sales, and marketing side of it, to take the business to the next level.”

In 2019 ERW purchased LandTec, based in Austin, a premier provider of turnkey commercial design, irrigation, and maintenance landscape services throughout Texas and the southeast U.S. In keeping with environmental concerns, LandTec, now marketed as an ERW Site Solutions Company, offers clients the option of using native plants which require less water to maintain.

“It was a $3 million acquisition, and that company is now doing about $15 million worth of business,” Stewart says, “so in three years we’ve had good success and been able to grow it.” In addition, in January 2021, ERW purchased Gourmet Grass, a small landscape and maintenance company in Dallas and rebranded it under LandTec.

Meanwhile, in September 2020, ERW had purchased the professional engineering firm DesignBuild from Scott Miller, with licenses to design retaining walls in 31 states, and this is proving to be a game changer. “We needed that engineering expertise,” Stewart says. He tells us that subcontractors who bid on retaining walls are the only ones that don’t have engineering work done prior to a contract.

“So, after a customer had received our proposal and accepted it, they would give us an LOI (letter of intent) and that’s when we’d go and get engineering design done. But it was very risky because we didn’t know how much the engineering would impact the cost,” he shares.

“Prior to purchasing DesignBuild, we were absorbing a lot of the cost and it became too much of a financial risk to bring in an engineer late in the process. Having our own company engineers means we have been able to close that gap and reduce the cost of the engineering impact significantly.”

Where it all starts
Since everything starts with the foundation, Stewart says it’s important to be at the table when conversations begin. For years, he says, the dirt contractors worked at the front end, telling the owners what they thought about hauling earth away or bringing it in.

“But that may not always be beneficial to the customer as the dirt contractors are not considering what retaining walls can do,” says Stewart. “There’s a significant cost to loading and hauling dirt away, when we could utilize it to provide the backfill. There are lots of things we can do to help stabilize and balance the site if we’re on the front end, but historically we haven’t always been there.”

Now, however, with its growing portfolio of best-of-the-breed companies, ERW has gained traction as a single source for all site solutions, pushing the company to the forefront when GCs begin negotiations with clients.

Not only does ERW provide value engineering, retaining walls, and landscape options, recent acquisitions are allowing it to offer even more services and solutions. In May 2021, ERW purchased Ratliff Hardscape, based in the Louisville area of Dallas.

Ratliff Hardscape is a long-term, established hardscape construction company offering an array of services for all civil and hardscape projects, including single family, multi-family, commercial, municipal, state, and oil and gas projects, which include screen walls, monuments, sidewalks, patios, and other flat works.

“It was a significant acquisition,” Stewart shares. “Ratliff was doing about $40 million in work and this year it’s looking like it will be around $65 million.”

Then this past August, ERW closed the purchase of another company, Kaufman, which specializes in poured concrete for foundations. “Kaufman brings us yet another addition to the portfolio that we’re developing as we expand our footprint—with the goal of providing full services to developers and contractors—all under one contract.”

The power of one
Stewart likes to talk about the power of one—the importance of streamlining the structure of ERW so that developers and contractors deal with only one contact person and one contract.

“The goal within the next year is to bring all those companies under the ERW name,” he says. “It has the longest history, spans both north and south Texas, and it will allow us to mobilize in other states. We’ve retained the principals in each of the companies, except for the original owner of Ratliff, who sold it as he wanted to retire, but we were able to retain his top people and they’re valuable resources. We don’t pretend we know landscape, hardscape, or foundations like they do, so we’re allowing them to run their businesses and we’ll not be disruptive, as sometimes happens when one company acquires others,” he explains.

“I think the biggest challenge anytime there’s an acquisition is adapting to the new culture, so we’re purposely allowing them to continue with the way things were prior to the acquisitions while giving them the resources they need to grow their customer base. They have access to ERW’s customer base, and we have access to theirs, so it’s mutually beneficial. That’s how we’re seeing organic growth,” says Stewart.

“As a result of our acquisitions, we’re positioned to return to our customers and show them what we can do. It simplifies the process as they deal with only one contact person and one contract. They can see for themselves how bundling all this together is financially advantageous and will allow the project to run seamlessly.”

So far ERW’s growth strategy is working. “There’s lots of new construction happening in Texas,” Stewart says, “and we have a backlog that takes us into 2023. Despite all the rumors of the economy slowing down, we’re not seeing it, and I don’t think Texas will be affected even if the economy does slow down.”

The post Getting a Site Just Right<p class="company">ERW Site Solutions</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Founded in 1981 by Mr. James White, JWC has grown from a company with roots in rural and suburban custom-home site work and small commercial projects to include larger, more complex commercial, residential, and industrial, site work, and utility construction, a legacy that will be preserved by the next generation at all costs.

“That legacy gives us another level of care, a legacy that you have to protect. That brand is not something that you earn, it’s something that you live up to and being that his name is on the door and will continue to be on the door, we wear that as a badge of honor,” says owner Dan Hankins, who assumed leadership of JWC in March. “That guides our every decision.”

Highly regarded for its keen leadership, astute attention to detail, and solution-based management, JWC is equipped with a full complement of resources, crews, knowledge, experience, professionalism, and wherewithal to get even the most complex job done on time, on- or under-budget and to a client’s satisfaction. Repeat and referral business is what keeps the firm busy year after year.

“We’re negotiating most of our work from repeat business or referrals from other general contractors and developers who enjoyed working with us and appreciate our work,” says Hankins, which is why the company has enjoyed such a long, rich, and successful history.

Being the first on site, JWC sets the tone for a project in terms of standards of quality, safety and timelines, something that the company’s leadership takes seriously. To ensure the strength of the company and the ability to deliver consistent results, its capabilities grew out of necessity. Resources were added and services were expanded to overcome challenges and ensure optimal project outcomes.

As Hankins notes, “It was a real impediment for us to get our utilities installed. Sewer and water are the first two things to go in on a site, and for a company our size to get subcontractors to get on schedule or even quote was very difficult.” As a result, JWC added a utility division to better control project timelines and reinforce the reputation for quality it has earned over the last four decades.

JWC is one of the few firms left in the Charleston area that can deliver stormwater systems that meet the highest standards when they’re put under the microscope, and that’s because of the time, care, and effort JWC takes to succeed, regardless of the challenges of the project.

“We know intense municipality / agency scrutiny is going to impact our schedule and we take a six-sigma approach to doing things safely and correctly the first time. Do it right—sleep at night,” says Hankins of JWC’s commitment to quality and safety.

To ensure projects are completed to the highest standards possible, JWC relies on GPS location technology, machine-control technology, and total station LPS technology. Keeping technology up-to-date is key to the company’s success and competitiveness. Technology, communication, and skilled onsite field personnel minimizes potential punch lists and unnecessary re-work.

“That’s brought us a lot of work where other people just won’t bid it. They’re too big to manage the small things and we’re small enough to listen and big enough to perform,” says Hankins. This has allowed the company to carve out its own niche in the market for its solution-based construction services.

This year, JWC celebrates 40 years in business, an impressive feat. Surviving numerous economic downturns, it has proved itself recession-proof, backed by the integrity and legacy that Mr. White spent decades building. Though Mr. White has taken a step back, retiring in March of this year, he is still present and available—an invaluable resource.

Taking the company into the future, Hankins is committed to paying homage to past success and building on the legacy of his stepfather, preserving the name, the brand, and the reputation JWC has earned throughout the last four decades.

Having grown up around the business, first during summer breaks, weekends, and holidays as a child, and later as an adult, he took time out to tread his own path, but later found his way back to JWC, something that’s very meaningful to him.

“I jumped at the opportunity,” says Hankins of being asked to join forces with Mr. White. “There were a lot of great synergies with what I had grown up doing and it gave me an opportunity, in a legacy business, to help my parents and all the customers that were involved with the business, and perpetuate it.”

Hankins saw it as a perfect opportunity to build a team and grow a company that had provided him so much, and it’s his long-term intention to grow that success and afford that bounty to generations of workers to come.

The company lives out its mission every day: “We build people that build jobs.” The people at JWC do what they say and stand by the work they do, a level of integrity that stems from the foundation Mr. White instilled.

The team at JWC understands that they have a hand in building the place they call home. Everyone is local to the area, generating great pride when a job is completed safely and to the highest standards. This is the drive that fuels the company’s exceptional performance.

“We want to be proud of the work we do and be able to take our kids to it, show them we did it and then go and do twenty more,” says Senior Vice President Jamie Lewis. For the team at JWC, it’s about more than just construction; it’s about doing good work on and off the job site.

JWC does a lot more than just provide construction services. It works to make the world a better place, inspired by Theodore Roosevelt’s “Citizenship in a Republic” speech, which is better known as “The Man in the Arena.” Service above self is an attitude present in all that the company does, and also present is the belief that Mr. White, himself, was the Man in the Arena.

As Roosevelt intoned, “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

The approach to life that Hankins was taught runs deep at the company: “Doing good, planting seeds, tending to our crops, and appreciating the rewards of the harvest that we get. That tenfold blessing that we treat people by, we believe it comes back. We always trust people. We try not to be cynical. We try to understand that family is first, and we lean that way. Obviously, there is a job to be done but God is first, family is second and JWC is third,” he shares.

As a firm with 40 years behind it, JWC is astutely aware that it needs to evolve with the times, from a technology, workforce, and market perspective. The goal is to remain a top employer, stay ahead of the market in terms of skills, wages, and technology, and continue to deliver exceptional results on every project undertaken.

“Obviously, the long-term goal is to perpetuate the legacy of Mr. White,” says Hankins of the man who raised him, the Man in the Arena who set the foundation for the culture, and the brand that has become synonymous with quality, safety, excellence, and a love for humankind. “His essence is the legacy. He has run this with dust on his brow, with busted knuckles and hard work, and all the things that go into making the effort to have something,” Hankins says.

“We’re upholding a culture that he’s created. It’s our turn to carry the torch, but we’re standing on the shoulders of giants and he’s the catalyst to all of that,” concludes Hankins, clearly proud of how far JWC has come and optimistic about where it will go under his leadership.

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