The first step in designing a food processing or distribution facility is gaining a deep understanding of the client’s business operations. This involves more than just knowing what products the client handles; it requires an in-depth review of their workflow, production processes, and long-term business goals.

“Every project begins with a conversation,” Mark Moore, President of CMC, explains. “We have to understand not only what the client is producing or distributing but also how they do it now and how they might be able to do it better in the future. That knowledge shapes the entire design process.”

This understanding is especially critical because food facilities vary widely depending on the nature of the client’s products. For example, a facility focused on processing ready-to-eat (RTE) foods requires especially stringent sanitation measures and separation between raw and finished products and processes. In contrast, a distribution center needs to be designed for optimal storage, efficient product retrieval, and smooth shipping operations. Both types of facilities have unique requirements that must be factored into the design process to maximize efficiency and safety.

Once the design team has a firm grasp of the client’s operations, the next step is conducting a feasibility study. This phase involves evaluating the practicality of different design options, from determining the appropriate site to ensuring that the facility’s size and layout meet the client’s needs.

“In some cases, clients come to us with a specific vision of what they want,” says Kent Johnson, Executive Manager of Business Development. “It’s our job to look beyond the immediate request and evaluate whether that vision is the best solution for their business in the long run.”

Feasibility studies often uncover opportunities for cost savings and/or identify potential challenges that may not have been immediately apparent. For example, a client may think they need a 200,000-square-foot facility, but a thorough evaluation of their production processes might reveal that a smaller, more efficient layout could achieve the same results at a lower cost.

During the feasibility study, several factors are considered, including, among many others, the location of the facility, transportation logistics, utility costs, and labor availability. The design team also assesses local regulations, such as zoning laws and tax incentives, to ensure that the project is not only feasible but also aligned with the client’s long-term business strategy.

Designing a food processing or distribution facility requires precision at every step. From the layout of production lines in processing plants to the configuration of storage systems in distribution centers, each aspect of the design must enhance efficiency while ensuring safety.

“Food safety is one of the biggest challenges in facility design,” Moore emphasizes. “Particularly in food processing plants, we need to make sure that raw and finished products are kept separate to prevent contamination. We also need to make sure that people and equipment do not cross between areas of raw and finished, open products without a proper sanitation step.”

In food processing plants, this often involves physically separating different areas, installing specialized HVAC systems to control air circulation, and implementing strict cleaning protocols. These measures ensure that high-risk areas, such as those handling raw materials, are kept distinct from areas where finished products are prepared and packaged.

In distribution facilities, the focus shifts to maximizing the flow of goods. The layout must allow for efficient movement of products from storage to shipping areas. Advanced product retrieval systems, such as automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), can help streamline operations, reducing labor costs and improving overall productivity.

One of the unique aspects of food facility construction is the early and ongoing involvement of subcontractors, especially in areas such as refrigeration, HVAC, and sanitation systems. These systems are critical to the functionality and compliance of the facility, so getting the details right is essential.

Johnson explains the importance of this collaboration: “We bring in subcontractors early in the process to make sure the design is feasible from a technical, constructability standpoint. Their input helps us avoid costly changes later in the project.” By involving subcontractors from the start, the design team ensures that all aspects of the facility, from plumbing to refrigeration, are integrated smoothly into the overall design. This proactive approach helps reduce potential delays and ensures that the project stays on budget.

A successful food facility project doesn’t end when construction is complete. Contractors who specialize in food processing and distribution facilities often maintain long-term relationships with their clients, providing ongoing support, maintenance, and potential expansions.

“Many of our clients come back to us for additional projects or upgrades,” says Moore. “It’s about building trust. If you deliver on what you promise, clients are more likely to turn to you again when they need to grow or adapt their facilities.”

This commitment to long-term client relationships is essential in an industry where operational efficiency and food safety standards are constantly evolving. By maintaining open lines of communication, contractors can help clients adapt their facilities to new technologies and best practices, ensuring that their operations remain competitive. Food facilities are continuously evolving, driven by technological advancements such as the increased use of automation and the shift toward more sustainable practices.

Automation plays a crucial role in addressing labor shortages and improving operational efficiency. From automated production lines to robotics in distribution centers, technology is helping food companies reduce their reliance on manual labor while increasing throughput. This shift requires facility designs that can accommodate advanced automation systems as well as the infrastructure needed to support them.

“We’re seeing more clients prioritize automation,” Johnson says. “It’s no longer just about cost savings, it’s about staying competitive in a fast-moving industry. In some cases, it is not about reducing labor; it is about filling the jobs left by holes in the labor market.”

Sustainability is another key focus, with many food companies looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, whether through energy-efficient HVAC systems, water-saving technologies, or the use of renewable energy sources. Some companies are pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, which requires facilities to meet strict environmental standards. “We have to think about the long-term environmental impact of these projects,” Moore adds. “More and more clients want to build facilities that are both efficient and sustainable.”

By incorporating automation and sustainable practices into the design of food facilities, contractors are helping clients prepare for the future while reducing costs and improving operational efficiency.

As the demand for food processing and distribution facilities continues to grow, contractors must balance expansion with a commitment to quality. Moore and Johnson emphasize the importance of controlled growth, focusing on delivering high-quality projects that meet the unique needs of each client. “Growth is important, but we never want to sacrifice quality,” says Moore. “Our reputation is built on delivering results, and that’s something we take very seriously.”

Ultimately, the design and construction of food processing and distribution facilities involves far more than just building structures; it calls for a deep understanding of the client’s business, precision in design, collaboration with subcontractors, and a focus on long-term relationships. As the industry moves forward, trends such as automation and sustainability will continue to shape how these facilities are built, ensuring that they remain efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly.

CMC Design-Build’s approach exemplifies the best practices in this field, emphasizing the importance of client-centered designs, forward-thinking solutions, and strong partnerships. As food production and distribution become even more integral to the global economy, the companies behind these facilities will play an increasingly vital role in driving efficiency, safety, and profitability in the industry.

The post The Art of Designing for Efficiency<p class="company">CMC Design-Build</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The firm, which is nearing its 30^th anniversary, promotes itself to clients as a one-stop shop. “Right now, we are the only company that is able to build a telecom network from greenfield to service-ready and provide repair and maintenance,” says Vice President of Business Development François Houde proudly.

The company’s core proficiencies include the installation, replacement, and maintenance of telecom towers, antennas, connectors, and transmission lines. The team can build access roads to remote cell tower locations and install, service, and test underground co-axial, copper, and fibre optic lines. Madysta Group operates companies that make steel components, perform HVAC work, and conduct aerial drone inspections.

In addition to its headquarters, the company has offices in Longueuil, Terrebonne, and Sherbrooke, Quebec; Burlington, Vermont; plus “a little office in Ottawa,” says Health and Safety Director Martin Baril-Douville, who also handles regulatory, site, and business development matters.

Thanks to a trio of corporate acquisitions, Madysta Group is poised to open new offices in Woodbridge, Ontario; Edmonton, Alberta; and Burnaby, British Columbia, as well as Quebec. This November, the company finalized the purchases of Captel Inc., which performs design, steel fabrication, and installation work on telecommunication infrastructure; Medesa, an engineering company; and Azimuth Telecom Services, which does specialized telecom work.

“This transaction allows us to strengthen our skills and solidify our position as the national leader in telecom network building,” say President and Chief Executive Officer Yvan St-Arnaud and Co-Owner Manon Brodeur. “This transaction also allows [the company] to strengthen its expertise by integrating complementary strengths into its current portfolio and to consolidate leadership positions in these sectors,” he says.

The company also launched Madysta Telecom USA. It offers construction, in-house turnkey management, emergency support, and maintenance among other services for telecom towers, small cells, and fibre optic lines. Starting with this foothold, the business has big plans. “We want to reproduce the same model we have here in Canada: to be able to provide full turnkey project management,” explains Madysta Telecom USA General manager Samuel St-Arnaud.

“Over the past few months, we have worked on job sites spanning from the Northeast to the Southeast, as well as in Texas. Maintaining consistent standards and processes for completing each job is crucial for us. We actively support the crew at every job site to ensure they deliver high-quality work, adhere to safety protocols, and meet project deadlines. This hands-on approach reflects our commitment to excellence and ensures that every project aligns with Group Madysta’s reputation for reliability and professionalism,” says Carl St-Arnaud, Project Manager at Group Madysta.

The firm has also teamed up with a company that provides electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Canada. Some of these EV stations are linked to telecom networks, an example of the growing integration of the telecommunications industry, he notes.

The introduction of the neutral infrastructure host model in Canada is another big development within the telecom industry. In the neutral host model, telecommunications infrastructure companies lease their assets to communication service providers (CSPs). This allows CSPs to serve their customers without needing to invest in infrastructure, freeing them to focus on service.

Maintaining high levels of quality and workmanship has also been central to success, adds Baril-Douville. As proof of the company’s commitment to quality, it established a training facility in Trois-Rivières, complete with a telecom tower for crews to hone their skills on. Outside experts sometimes come in to offer additional insights. Acquiring this firsthand knowledge about tower-related work also makes a potentially hazardous job less dangerous. “We are giving a lot of training to our people to ensure they work safely. When you are working 300 feet in the air, you want to be safe,” notes Bari-Douville.

Beyond having the necessary skills for the job in question, anyone looking to be hired needs to have a positive attitude. They also have to fit in with their work team and the company in general. While these prerequisites could apply to many companies, they are particularly important for Madysta Group’s field staff, who sometimes have to work and live together for several days at a time in isolated locales as telecom towers are often found in rural settings, explains Baril-Douville.

That philosophy is based around the values of health and safety, quality with an emphasis on continuous improvement, and family spirit. As Madysta Group moves forward, the plan is to retain these values while enhancing its services and dramatically broadening its market reach. Over the next few years, “we want to consolidate our presence coast-to-coast in Canada and our presence in the United States,” says Baril-Douville.

The post This Vertically Integrated Construction and Engineering Firm Is on the Grow<p class="company">Madysta Group</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Working primarily in the oil and gas sector, employee-owned GN2 Engineering (GN2) has proven over time that it has the tenacity and foresight to endure even the toughest economic downturns by giving its customers what they need when they need it, pivoting at lightning speed.

Being a medium-sized company helps in staying nimble. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, GN2 is agile and responsive when clients need it most. That has allowed the company to grow alongside its customers’ expanding needs. “It is important to us to be responsive,” says Noel Belland, GN2 Principal.

The company is also mindful of its customers’ bottom lines. “We are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs for our client,” says Belland. “We actively try to resolve issues to be efficient on cost and schedule.” To this end, the company has been known to save clients as much as half their projected capital expenditure on projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. To achieve this, GN2 focuses on defining the problem at the onset of a project. This provides customers with all the information they need to realistically assess and calculate the potential risks and mitigation thereof.

Focused on providing its customers with responsive, efficient service, GN2 is an engineering partner focused on providing customers with what they need. In the process, it creates a work environment where the team of more than 60—including designers, project specialists, engineers, supply chain professionals, document controllers, and others—is challenged as much as rewarded. Company leadership considers this approach paramount to its evolution as a leader in its field.

“We want people to grow. We want people to gain as wide a skillset as possible,” Belland says of the importance of developing well-rounded professionals who are not forced into siloed positions. Naturally, as an employee-owned company, ensuring that staff are as diversely skilled as possible is always an asset.

By deepening their skill sets, people cultivate a deep understanding of what decisions can be made on job sites—an unavoidable part of every project. “All the decisions made on a project are a compromise between what’s better [between] one perspective and another,” Belland says. “When people have a broad understanding, they can help narrow down what the overall best solution is.” By providing staff with the tools to succeed, the company helps develop confident professionals adept at making sound decisions under pressure.

As part of its service profile, GN2 invests in a host of advanced technologies that give it the edge it needs in the field and at the office. From 3D drone scans on pipelines and video flyovers to next-generation analysis software, the company’s use of technology is impressive. Yet this team also likes doing things the old-fashioned way whenever it makes more sense. Technology alone will never beat having skilled and experienced professionals in the field.

In the same way, having in-person conversations takes priority. “[Microsoft] Teams has been an amazing lifesaver since COVID, but it’s not the same as speaking face-to-face,” says Belland.

This level of personalized service has always been part of GN2’s culture. The company was founded on genuinely listening to clients’ pain points and addressing them with unwavering dedication to engineering ideal outcomes. For the company’s three founders, the slow road before them has always made for solid long-term outcomes and sustainability.

Established on humble beginnings in 2013, GN2 has always focused on engineering a range of complex tailings systems. These systems comprise handling and treatment of industrial volumes of various types of slurry fluids that are a byproduct of mining and oil sands processing. These fluids with solids are transported long distances between production facilities, tailings ponds, and treatment facilities. The interface of pipelines and facilities on the tailings ponds is an area of GN2 expertise.

Contrary to popular belief, oil does not bubble or shoot out of the Earth like when hitting a high-pressure water vein through drilling. Instead, bitumen is contained in silica sand at ratios typically around 10 percent. Therefore, the residue following oil extraction constitutes sand, other particles, water, and extraction liquids mixed into a slurry. To recover the water component of such slurries for reuse, large tailing ponds are constructed. Here, micro-fine mineral powders that form complex matrices holding large amounts of water are separated to reclaim the water component for reuse. As part of this process, the company typically supports its customers in reconfiguring existing—or designing new—tailings systems. It also advises on reclaiming equipment to reduce capital expenditure while supplying guidance on relocating piping systems to new ponds efficiently.

Beyond its engineering expertise, GN2 has a heart as big as an oil field. GN2 supports several charities, including the Alberta Diabetes Foundation, Salvation Army, Edmonton and Fort McMurray Food Bank, and several others. Belland believes he owes the Alberta Diabetes Foundation especially a great debt. “The Alberta Diabetes Foundation saved my sister’s life. There’s no doubt about it,” he says. The company also partners with the Canadian Blood Services Partners for Life program, leading popular blood donation drives alongside its volunteering committee.

The company’s investments also extend to its workforce, with an onsite engineering curriculum affectionately known as the EIT Shakedown. This technical program provides engineers with a chance to maintain and improve their knowledge and skills while the company can assess and encourage professional growth and development.

As part of its drive to safeguard the future of local youngsters and the company, GN2 participates in student mentorship at the University of Alberta. This has resulted in a healthy stable of top-notch students joining its ranks following graduation. As the company has matured and become better established, it has made itself especially attractive as a reliable employer that offers staff job security alongside opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Beyond being of service to its communities, these initiatives also serve to welcome and integrate new team members into its ranks, giving them the sense of belonging they deserve and providing people with an opportunity to get to know each other better outside of work while still working as a team. “We spend a lot of time at work. It’s our second family. Building strong relationships is important to us,” Belland says.

The team also plays together, with the company arranging creative group activities like barista training and a latte art contest to teach everyone how to use its new coffee machine. There are also popsicle stick bridge-building competitions and the like, and the same level of warmth is extended to GN2’s suppliers, manufacturers, partner contractors, and other collaborators. Its owners know that without these quality relationships, the company could never function as well as it does.

Looking ahead, Belland is philosophical yet pragmatic. “If we continue to focus on outcomes for our clients… ensuring that every member of the team has success, everybody wins,” he says. By cultivating future growth and developing future-proof strategies through building solid relationships, this tight-knit group of trailblazers remains on a winning streak.

The post People, Technology, and Purpose<p class="company">GN2 Engineering</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

From decontaminating military properties affected by chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attacks to cleaning industrial facilities, stadiums, and high-rise buildings, to measuring the thickness of paint and steel tanks on oil and gas plants to clearing roadsides from New York to the United Arab Emirates of pollutant gases, Apellix is expanding and refining the amazing potential of drones.

Apellix is leading North America and the world to a new era of technology-driven property maintenance and cleaning. With the leading cause of labor-related fatalities in the United States being “falls from a height,” this visionary company has utterly changed how the exteriors of buildings are cleaned: safely, for a start.

“At Apellix, we create elegant, transformative solutions to keep workers safe,” says Robert Dahlstrom, CEO, who reiterates the need for these products. “This is 2024. Why are people still hanging off buildings doing work?”

In a world where worker safety is an ever-growing concern, the company’s approach to employing drones makes sense. “Using drones as a platform to maintain facilities and clean structures is a safer, faster, and more economical way of maintaining structures,” Dahlstrom continues.

Besides cleaning, proper maintenance is also of the utmost importance to raising safety standards. The company’s applications focus mainly on standard procedures in the oil and gas industry where measuring the thickness of steel and other functions is imperative to human safety. And these capabilities are proving invaluable.

As steel corrodes, setting finite performance limits for components, Apellix’s drones measure the changing state of tanks, pipes, and other steel infrastructure as a safety mainstay for large oil and gas plants—especially where dangerous gases, high-pressure zones, and other threats can endanger human life.

“To our knowledge, we have the only drone in the world that can autonomously go into class I, division II hazardous locations and make physical contact with structures to take measurements,” Dahlstrom says.

Taking these capabilities a step further, about three years ago the company started developing a model to powerwash buildings, which it introduced to the global market just over a year ago. The product has proven wildly popular, with more than 19 companies from more than 13 countries visiting the Apellix facility to see this powerful new tool perform its magic. As a result, Apellix has seen impressive growth during this time as its new powerwash drone has shot to fame.

Rather than physically contacting structures, the new drone hovers a short, set distance from its target, washing it with a controlled stream of high-pressure cleaning agents. Tethered to terra firma, these drones manage hoses handling pressures of around 3500 psi, pumping eight gallons per minute. There is also a soft-wash, 300 psi option for less intense cleaning demands. “Our drone does both pressure- and soft-washing,” Dahlstrom explains.

The high adoption rate for these straightforward cleaning devices is due at least in part to the fact that they are so easy to implement and operate compared to more complex models performing more sophisticated tasks and needing a lot more technological savvy.

Apellix, Dahlstrom’s second company, followed in the footsteps of his first, a highly successful firm that specialized in software security applications. Within this context, Dahlstrom sees drones as flying computers, redefining the realms of software development and airborne devices simultaneously.

These innovative ideas have been a long time in the making. Painting houses while getting his education—even then a visionary entrepreneur— Dahlstrom happened upon the idea of employing drones to do the grunt work while wielding a paint roller one fateful day. “I had the idea for a spray-painting drone—keeping everything on the ground, tethered. I built a prototype and it worked better than I expected,” he says with a smile. The rest, as they say, is history.

Establishing Apellix on the back of this innovation and its patent, Dahlstrom never looked back. “This unlocks such a huge amount of economic value. It is, quite often, so much cheaper and so much faster.”

Apellix has sold over a million dollars’ worth of wash drones in the first six months of the product’s introduction. Since its inception in 2014, the company has spent a decade developing, designing, and fabricating top-quality drones. In parallel, the team has streamlined its research and development process to encourage sleek and easy pivoting to new applications of its ever-evolving drone technology.

As an intensely committed CEO, some of Dahlstrom’s greatest rewards come in the form of customer feedback. And for him, “every hour a drone is flying is an hour that somebody is not at risk of falling.” After all, optimally functioning drones bearing the Apellix brand indicate happy, safe, and successful customers.

Although the company’s drones are widely copied by opportunists abroad, right down to the company colors, Apellix customers know that by investing in its original equipment they are guaranteed premium customer support, top quality, and outstanding longevity on every drone. In this way, the company genuinely becomes its clients’ safety partner. One of its proudest moments was when Dahlstrom woke up to an almost miraculous social media feed one morning, following the cleaning of the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters by a customer using Apellix equipment.

Similarly, another customer recently cleaned Disney’s headquarters in Anaheim, California, landing a handsome contract with the global giant on the back of the company’s recommendation.

This brings us to the incredible range Apellix is developing for the United States military. “The army saw our washing drone and they saw the development of our spray-painting drone,” says Dahlstrom. When the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Defense Division of the Department of Defense (DoD) came across the company’s work, it wasted no time getting the team to start working on technology that could protect, recover, and return state assets and surrounding air to a safe state following exposure to an episode of CBRN warfare.

The DoD project is seeing the birth of a new type of drone operation, capable of scanning, washing, and spraying affected areas of army assets with an existing light-activated decontaminant, similar to a latex-based paint, to decontaminate the air surrounding it as part of operation Apellix Breathe™. With a launch version of the product on its way soon, this dual-application technology will be employed in both industry and military operations while more sophisticated iterations continue to be developed.

To Dahlstrom, these drones could potentially prevent acts of aggression when enemies realize that nitrogen oxide attacks would be futile in the presence of technology that can thwart the efficacy of such attacks, reducing a 10-hour asset recovery process to 10 minutes. “Unlike a lot of drones that are weapons of war, we have just removed the incentive to drop a chemical weapon in the first place,” he says.

According to Dahlstrom, this is only the beginning. Predicting the momentum of the current wave of rapid technological evolution and its adoption in the market, the proof is evident in the company’s 300 percent growth rate for the year to date.

In the process, the company ensures that it benefits the greater good through charitable acts, as well. As a proud supporter of organizations like Pledge 1% and Founders Pledge, Apellix is dedicated to making corporate philanthropy commonplace around the world.

In his own capacity, Dahlstrom also supports the SYDA Foundation, which endeavors to maintain and cultivate the Siddha Yoga tradition. Another organization that benefits from his backing, PRASAD.org, works hard to provide various levels of healthcare and economic support to vulnerable individuals in the United States, Mexico, and India.

Dahlstrom speaks with equal generosity about the people who are the heartbeat of the firm. “I’m so blessed. We have so many amazing people that work for us at Apellix,” he says. “It’s one of these technologies that people see, they love, and then they want to come and work for us.”

Employing scientists from some of the most highly acclaimed global institutions, with more résumés arriving than the firm has vacant positions, the team is genuinely grateful for its good fortune.

As the company’s products are essentially flying computers, Dahlstrom sees the company’s mission as even bigger than that of developing self-driving cars. “We’re in a sexy area. What we’re trying to do with our future development is actually more complicated than self-driving cars,” he says. “Because a self-driving car, you tell it to stop, it just stops. If you tell a drone to stop, it falls out of the sky.”

The challenge is real. With drones making as many as 200 adjustments in a single second to simply enable hovering, the volume of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision that goes into creating these machines is significant. Add to that continuous research and development to improve existing technology, and it quickly becomes clear just how big the task is.

“It’s light years ahead of whatever you would do with a ground-based system like a self-driving car,” says Dahlstrom. The fact that Apellix vastly increases the safety factor on projects where its aircraft are employed makes the tremendous success of service companies using the machines even sweeter. Because seeing more people thrive—safely—remains one of Apellix’s greatest ambitions.

The post Smarter, Safer Cleaning<p class="company">Apellix</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With studio locations in Indianapolis, Indiana; Seattle, Washington; and Boston, Massachusetts, MD Architects is always ready to assist and adapt to changing market demands. There’s no room here for stagnation or complacency because, as technology and human medicine evolve, the level of professional pet care follows suit.

Animal and human healthcare
As a full-service architecture and design firm with an extraordinary track record in advanced facilities for animal and human medicine, this team has no shortage of new opportunities. Clients looking to establish truly next-generation facilities trust MD Architects to guide them through the design and construction process by asking future-focused questions and anticipating every possible pitfall. With a sterling track record supporting such premium clients as Middle Eastern royalty, the company is accustomed to working with large international teams, delivering custom animal-care facility designs that are among the best in the world.

From cardiology and ophthalmology to dental care and more, MD Architects brings all its knowledge gleaned from working in the design of human healthcare to those of our furry friends.

“There’s a level of knowledge that transitions between human and animal healthcare. There are a lot of the same procedures,” explains Johanna McManus, Studio Director and Lead Designer. As a result, all facilities typically require particular finishes, specialized layouts, and expert installation of sophisticated equipment.

Hitting the ground running
In the process, the team has developed a unique skill set and design repertoire. They also know the industry demands and language required to communicate with suppliers and educate clients. As a result, MD Architects can often introduce clients to options and possibilities they had not thought of or did not know existed. “We hit the ground running,” McManus says.

By working with an expert team that knows just about all there is to know about design and building requirements for human and animal medical facilities alike, MD Architects’ clients know they are getting the best on every project. Having completed a vast range of related projects, the company brings all that knowledge and expertise to every new job. It is familiar with all the required certifications and with Department of Health licensing standards, plus the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering (MEP) requirements involved in design and construction for each different area of medicine.

And, while animal healthcare is not as stringent as human medicine in terms of facility standards, many veterinary operations turn to human medicine standards for guidance on best practices and to help improve the overall experience for pets and their owners.

To assist clients in achieving these goals, the company’s architects help project owners work through the tough details that make for good decisions—like why dogs and cats need separate waiting rooms; the importance of odor and sound control; what type of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems work best in operating theatres; optimal design for drug dispensaries where hazardous and controlled substances are involved; meeting future licensing requirements; and such down-to-earth matters such as material durability.

As seasoned professionals in the field, collaborating with contractors who are fellow experts in this specialized area of construction is a given—which means that there’s little this team has not thought of on their clients’ behalf.

Grounding principles
Rick Renschen, Founder and President, notes that this shift toward improving the level of animal care has been trending since 2005 when the company signed its first specialty animal hospital project. Human healthcare was the grounding principle on which the company was founded in 2000, allowing it to shape this continuing trend. Today, this is becoming the norm industry-wide as veterinarians increasingly invest in ever-improving technology to provide pet care that is more humane and efficient than ever.

The original 2005 project led to more national business as a merger of the original company brought an expansion in its footprint. The new owners were so impressed with MD Architects’ level of knowledge and outstanding quality, that putting the team in charge of its other animal hospital projects was the obvious next step, and a defining factor in the future of the design company.

“Now people are seeking us out. We work in roughly 40 states and internationally across Asia in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand,” Renschen says. The company is also completing projects in Spain, Belgium, and Germany.

Some of the more interesting developments thus far involve designing exotic pet hospitals in places like Thailand where people’s relationship with space may be different from the typical North American approach. In locations where space is at a premium, alternative solutions are sought as a matter of course. Always adaptable, the MD Architects team took that learning curve in stride. “It is super interesting doing new and different work,” Renschen says.

Closer to home, the company is currently working on a number of new projects, one of which is a large adaptive reuse project for an emergency animal hospital in California. Handling several interesting design challenges on this project means exploring fun and unexpected solutions which will, no doubt, render this a fantastic building to work in when complete.

Saving headaches
Certainly, there are many benefits to hiring a team with the level of knowledge and experience that this company has accumulated. The company delivers custom, well-informed ergonomics that render more effective workflow; identifies critical elements, like ensuring that staff breakrooms offer respite from the high noise levels typical in pet holding areas; and brings other insights, meaningfully improving operations in myriad ways. Known for demanding a high level of coordination amongst utility installations like medical gas, water, and electricity, for instance, having this team on board means clients enjoy consistent, seamless service delivery.

“We save people a lot of headaches. You can have a beautiful facility, but if you’ve skimped on critical elements, it’s not going to be good,” McManus notes.

Now and again, an unrelated but interesting project—like designing an unusual restaurant—might cross this team’s path. It also has a growing market in designing dental facilities, to the point where it has established a specialist design team that focuses solely on this industry, which is increasingly expanding into dental care for animals as well.

A large part of the company’s design services also focuses on laboratories and compounding pharmacy design for animals and humans alike. Here, the addition of cleanrooms and security become important considerations. With several of its architects holding Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, MD Architects is also equipped to deliver environmentally responsible, sustainable design. Beyond this, its teams are committed to choosing products that are kind to the environment over hazardous ones.

Future-proof
For many of its corporate clients, projects are one-offs, which means designing as much for future needs as for current demands. “Most doctors may have been exposed to three, four, or five clinics or hospitals in their days, where we have designed thousands of them,” Renschen says. While many clients initially arrive with set ideas and wishes, the team’s thorough questioning process often reveals weak areas in such plans that can then be remedied and adjusted before the real work begins, saving time, money, and much frustration later on.

As a leader amongst only a handful of professionals specializing in animal healthcare design in the United States, it is safe to say that MD Architects is an active contributor to the evolution of its facility design locally and abroad—an achievement that’s not going unnoticed.

Recently, two of the company’s projects were named winners of dvm360’s 2024 Hospital Design 360 Competition. MD’s design for Habitat Veterinary Hospital in Boise, Idaho won 2024 Hospital of the Year in the 3500 to 8000 square foot category, while its design for Pure Paws Veterinary Clinic in New York City was recognized with a Merit Award in the smaller than 3500 square foot category.

With the veterinary profession noted for high depression rates due to high stress and taxing schedules, taking all precautions to ensure that staff are comfortable and well cared for goes a long way to turning around the mental health situation for the valued people working in this field. By considering the needs of the staff who work in these facilities alongside those of the animals and their owners, project owners have a lot to consider in the design of their facilities, over and above building codes and licensing. With a growing number of its interior designers now certified—holding the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ)—the company adds significantly more value to its architectural services.

Keeping up
All these efforts have earned the company a tremendous reputation. At one point, so much work came in that there was no option but to divert clients to other firms. Then, recently, MD Architects acquired Architectural Werks, Inc., a Seattle company that prides itself on creating compassionate, healing designs. The acquisition has significantly grown the company’s capabilities to where it now envisions entering the higher education market for veterinary studies.

MD Architects’ diverse team from around the globe truly reflects its values of care and excellence. In creating a relaxed yet focused work environment where staff are allowed to bring their own pets to work, creativity soars and clients reap the benefits.

Clients also benefit from the firm’s commitment to developing strategies to speed up project processes. Renschen is especially proud of his team. “Working here is super fun,” he says. “I love our people because they love what they do. They love pets. They love coming to work.”

As its adaptive reuse market also expands, the company’s options are nearly endless. “Typically, clients come to us after they’ve made the purchase, which is unfortunate because we add a lot of value to the process of showing them the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Renschen says about guiding clients to buying with their eyes wide open, as he puts it.

Whatever the requirement, MD Architects has its heart in the right place—a good and noble characteristic for a designer in human and animal medicine to have.

The post A Revolution in Animal Healthcare<p class="company">MD Architects</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

With its design-build capabilities, RCI accelerates construction schedules and optimizes the design process. Academic institutions, developers, and property managers alike seek out the firm’s expertise with landscape, irrigation, specialty concrete, pavers, water features, fences, retaining walls, masonry work, signage, arbors, and more. Once the construction is complete, the same groups again turn to RCI to maintain their properties.
 
On the grow
Today, RCI is “on the grow,” recently expanding both geographically and in the services it offers. In 2018, RCI purchased GPL out of Destin, Florida before going on to acquire Bay Landscaping in Panama City Beach, Florida the following the year. In 2020, RCI acquired Visions Landscape in Birmingham, Alabama. These acquisitions brought RCI’s full scope of services to the panhandle and Alabama communities.

Along with increasing its footprint in Pensacola, Destin, Panama City Beach, Birmingham, Auburn, Montgomery, Huntsville, and Alexander City, RCI grew organically into the Orlando market in 2022 via the installation of a $40 million-plus construction project with Universal Studios (more on this later) as well as the successful grounds maintenance award of two school systems in Orlando.

“These clients are enabling RCI to bring the full scope of our services to the Orlando market,” says President and COO Michael Rotolo. “We’re now permanently in Orlando, which we’re extremely excited about. That market seems to be consistently growing and appreciative of our service.”
 
Additionally, RCI grew organically into Nashville, Tennessee in 2021 and then Houston, Texas in 2023. “We’re excited about the potential in Houston and we’re increasing our team in this market in preparation for the growth,” Rotolo says. 

This year alone, the company grew into the Shreveport/Monroe, Louisiana market, secured a large project in Austin, Texas, and anticipates being in Atlanta, Georgia by the end of 2024 and in Dallas, Texas in early 2025. 
 
Unique projects 
This success led to numerous new and exciting projects, including work for Universal Studios. RCI is currently providing more than three acres of aquatic work in addition to landscape and irrigation services on the project, with an opening anticipated in 2025. 
 
“We set a new bar for ourselves with the Universal Studios project,” Rotolo says. “We’re particularly proud of it and it’s a step up from anything we’ve ever done. We’ve built some very large aquatic structures before, mostly competition pools, but this is three acres of aquatic lagoons—on a different scale than what we’ve been exposed to in the past. We’re really enjoying working with the Universal team as we build out this unique feature.” 
 
Another impressive development—The Tom Lee Park, recently installed in Memphis, Tennessee—is an $11-million project beautifying an almost mile-long stretch along the Mississippi River. RCI is still involved in the project today as it provides the park with landscape and grounds maintenance services.
 
“RCI was responsible for the landscape, irrigation, some hardscape elements, aquatics, and playground areas for a specific portion of the riverfront known for hosting large festivals like Memphis in May, among others,” says Rotolo. 
 
Finally, the Conway Aquatic Center is currently in the works in Conway, Arkansas consisting of four bodies of water: an indoor competition lap pool, an outdoor lazy river and slide complex, an outdoor activity pool, and an indoor leisure pool, to be completed in 2025. 
 
Disaster relief 
Aside from its impressive construction projects, RCI is heavily involved in disaster relief services, striving to aid clients within the communities it services with emergency response efforts in the wake of natural disasters. As a contractor with a proven history of disaster response, it can typically mobilize teams at the same time emergency service vehicles are on the road. RCI is ready to provide immediate assistance and solutions in incredibly overwhelming situations for the clients and the communities it serves.
 
“We view this as our responsibility,” says Rotolo. “We are happy to help when needed. When we start working with any client, we very much take the approach that they’re our partners, so when storms and disasters come through, we approach them from a partnership perspective of, ‘how can we help you get back on your feet?’” 
 
RCI prides itself on pulling resources together, mobilizing its teams, being nimble, and reacting to clients’ needs, he adds. “We truly view it as a partnership with our clients that goes both ways. If they’re successful, then we’re successful.” 
 
Ins and outs of private equity 
Although the company has experienced some challenges over the past few years, its accomplishments have been impressive, particularly a move away from private equity in 2021 after bringing on PE in 2015 to provide RCI with the capital needed for continued growth. 
 
“We had great PE partners and enjoyed expanding the business from 2015 until 2021, but in 2021, RCI bought out our PE partners to again become a privately owned company,” Rotolo explains. “We’re excited about owning the company again and continuing to grow the business.” 
 
Since repurchasing the company in 2021, RCI has increased its top-line revenue by more than 60 percent without any additional acquisitions. 
 
“The entire ownership team here is excited about the path we’re on and the opportunities we can offer our employees and our clients,” says Rotolo. “This allows us the flexibility to grow the business and grow some of our managers and partners.” 
 
The company is also excited to continue its expansion into the Carolinas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a more complete expansion into Florida, Georgia, and Texas. The team is committed to bringing its brand to as many locations in the South as possible. “Our expansion brings growth opportunities for our employees, allows us to serve our national customers better, and allows our local business partners another high-quality, competitive option in the landscape maintenance and aquatic spaces,” Rotolo says. 
 
25^th and climbing 
Noted as the 25^th largest landscape company in the nation in 2023, RCI intends to continue its climb up that list as it expands both operations and capabilities. 
 
“While RCI has much to be proud of in terms of accomplishments, it is the company’s culture that truly stands out,” says Rotolo. “We work hard and take care of each other. RCI prides itself on doing good work, servicing our clients well, and taking care of our team. We have a tremendous group of managers here that have grown up in the business and been directly responsible for the growth of the business.” 
 
Having the opportunity as a privately held company to recognize everyone’s individual and combined efforts has been “very rewarding,” he adds. “We still very much operate with a family company mentality despite being the 25^th largest landscape company in the country.” 
 
Strength in partners 
Embracing a culture and company direction that starts at the top, RCI has a “tremendous” group of partners who each operate specific areas of the business at very high levels. “All of us are extremely engaged in the day-to-day operations within our respective areas of influence and have strong relationships with our managers and staff,” Rotolo says. 
 
CFO Brian Rotolo—who has worked at the company since 2011—was integral in navigating the repurchase of RCI from its PE partners and consistently delivers impactful out-of-the-box solutions that move the business forward in meaningful ways. As head of the accounting, HR, and contract administration groups of the business, Brian’s handling of these teams’ abilities has resulted in the growth of the business at scale and is one of the biggest strengths of RCI. 
 
COO of Maintenance Brandt Martin oversees all maintenance operations, alongside a talented group of regional vice presidents and division managers. “Brandt and his team’s commitment to their craft, ability to train and deploy high-level managers, and focus on efficient operations has been a huge driver in RCI’s growth, both geographically and financially,” says Rotolo. The maturing of Brandt’s team is a large reason RCI was comfortable taking the company private in 2021 and it continues to demonstrate strength and be a cause for optimism. 
 
CMO Kasey Dorr—who came to the company in 2004 and works with the estimating, business development, and marketing teams—has been instrumental in the top-line growth of the company, while Senior Vice President of Construction Jodi Corey has been with RCI for more than 25 years overseeing all construction operations. Under their leadership, construction operations are expected to enjoy the biggest year in RCI’s history. 
 
While CEO Keith Rotolo approaches retirement, he still leads the company as Chairman of the Board and plays an integral role in M&A and maintenance bidding strategies. Keith led the company through the transition into the private equity world in 2015 and back out of it in 2021, guiding the company through unique and challenging times. 
 
“I feel very blessed to have the group of partners I do,” says Michael Rotolo. “Each of us brings a specific skill set to the team that makes RCI stronger. We rely heavily on the managers we’ve worked with over the past 10 to 25 years and it’s incredibly rewarding to see those managers’ maturation,” he says. 
 
“As I plan for the future, I’m very excited about this next generation of managers. Most of them have grown up in the business and have become experts in their respective areas. Our milestones and achievements are going to be achieved because of this next generation, and I am personally very excited to see what they can do when called upon to take an even larger role in the company.” 

The post Path to Success – Organic Growth Through Client Partnerships<p class="company">Rotolo Consultants, Inc. (RCI)</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Turning its service offering into a sophisticated portfolio solid enough to take on even the most demanding public, private, institutional, and governmental projects, Nelson + Pope’s clients benefit from having a single point of contact throughout their projects. Such a breadth of service contained within a single firm is rare but is also the company’s secret to success—a holistic approach that addresses overall property performance, as opposed to a single aspect.

Indeed, the company has a long history of keeping in stride with the times. Serving clients since 1954, it evolved from land surveying and development to sanitation and roadway design into an architectural leader, soon incorporating mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection as well in response to client demand. Having earned their collective knowledge through a high level of interdepartmental collaboration and getting their hands dirty in the field, the team’s commitment to excellence is nothing short of impressive.

A bird’s eye view
At Nelson + Pope, all stakeholders benefit from a well-balanced overall project scope that looks at the big picture and then funnels into a laser focus on the finest details over several stages. All project aspects are carefully considered, including well-designed, sustainable energy consumption and the design elements used at the point of delivery; even soft furnishings are brought under the spotlight and incorporated into the overall planning scheme.

While this level of attention given to such a wide array of functions may appear counterintuitive, Nelson + Pope incorporated its many services early on as clients requested them and, in this way, honed its capabilities in each field over time, ensuring it always employed the best people for each function.

As part of its broad scope of services, the company can draw on the expertise of Nelson, Pope & Voorhis, LLC (NPV), its environmental planning affiliate established in 1997. Based in Melville, Long Island, and Suffern, New York, NPV specializes in environmental, land use planning, economic analysis, SEQRA, stormwater management, and various other aspects of development (ranging from industrial to municipal, institutional, recreational, commercial, residential, and more), habitat restoration and preservation, site remediation/clean-up, shoreline stabilization and protection, invasive species management, and a host of other functions concerning fauna and flora. NPV solves complex environmental and planning puzzles for public and private clients through all levels (federal, state, county, and municipal) of governmental review.

“NPV is constantly evolving with the federal, state, and local regulatory agencies with regard to endangered, threatened, and species of special concern. Therefore, we offer the management of invasives and the preservation and protection of recognized species like the northern long-eared bat, southern pine beetles, lantern flies, Japanese knotweed… that could be [spread or] impacted by development,” explains Brant Reiner, Partner, Nelson Pope Voorhis.

Other environmental services include landscape design, project sustainability analysis, environmental testing, and permitting. “Our focus is on continuing to be evolutionary—being able to adapt to situations that are presented to us from regulatory, longevity, and functionality perspectives,” says Reiner of this inherently challenging industry. By approaching each project as a unique opportunity to improve on the previous one, NPV has made a name for itself as an industry trailblazer.

To this end, green infrastructure supported by its progressive management approach shapes the company’s perspective on most projects within the context of sustainable initiatives as it relates to changing weather patterns and every site’s function within its surrounding landscape, now and in the future. Presently, the company is focused on educating clients on living shoreline recovery around New York State and beyond. Driven by the realities of climate projections over the next three to five decades, the team is working hard to incorporate its expertise on the subject into its coastal projects to meet regulations and help save shorelines, marinas, and shorefront properties from further damage by establishing and maintaining shoreline stability and resiliency with regard to wave energies, rising water levels, advancing regulations, and more by coming up with unexpected solutions that combine novelty with future-proof and environmentally responsible concepts.

Moreover, NPV serves as a soundboard and ideation partner for organizations in need of the knowledge and insight of professionals like landscape ecologists, AICP certified planners, Stormwater Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) specialists, and informed designers trained in future-proofing infrastructure within, surrounding, and influenced by coastal and freshwater resources, wetlands, natural landscapes, et cetera. To this end, the company often consults municipalities, who benefit greatly from its expertise. That includes assistance in securing financial support through grants.

Cleaner and greener
Beyond all these sustainability efforts, John Perrotta, P.E., Senior Partner and head of the mechanical, engineering, plumbing department, also notes a distinct move toward further future-proofing infrastructure by reducing carbon-related energy sources. This is achieved by retrofitting buildings and replacing old fuel infrastructure with electricity, electric vehicle charging stations, et cetera. This is, in many cases, directly related to regulatory ratings of building performance. “It’s not just us driving the narrative; it’s our clients asking for these more sustainable resources and systems,” Perrotta says, Senior Partner, Nelson + Pope.

This commitment to protecting clients from penalties for low-ranking building performance is evident across all its departments. With public and private clients increasingly looking to discuss their design options within the context of sustainability grants, everyone from the design to the engineering department is approaching their mandates with greater awareness regarding green practices and their possibilities.

As a result, the company has the attention of a few large names in the energy industry. By collaborating with one of these clients on complex fuel cell power plants on Long Island, Nelson + Pope has proven itself a leader amongst giants. It is currently supplying several services, including arranging city approval and site planning, electrical and mechanical engineering involved in the installation and integration of electricity into the main grid, and more.

“Once the project is completed, it is going to be a community power asset so that [community members] can buy their power from this clean source of energy as opposed to it coming from a less green source like gas or oil,” says Perrotta.

Projects with impact
Another proud project includes the wide scope of work the team completed on the ground-up construction of the high-performance municipal building in the Town of Babylon in North Amityville, New York, which was built on a wooded site surrounded by a high-density urban area. Home to the Asian long-horned beetle, a known invasive species, the company had its work cut out to ensure that all environmental protection regulations were followed and approvals obtained to ensure the successful conclusion of the project within this context.

Previously known as a problem site with regard to crime that riddled the area for over a decade, the final product made for a welcomed improvement. “The site was turned into a community courthouse, going from a place where crimes were committed to a place where justice is being served,” says Michael Sciara, R.A., LEED AP, Senior Partner and head of the architectural department, underlining how this building reflects the company’s motto of being thoughtful from the ground up while making a conscious environmental and social contribution to the region.

While the company’s work in civil and health care, senior living, and custom aging-in-place multi-family projects remains strong, it notes a marked expansion of construction in the industrial sphere with the rise of e-commerce. Contrary to what the world may have imagined at the outset, this world-changing phenomenon is actually driving retail construction. As the demand for service stations and trucking depots rolls in, it is clear that truckers moving merchandise cross-country need services.

The company also takes care of locals living in the area by securing affordable housing. At the moment, Nelson + Pope is collaborating with the relevant powers to free up areas for affordable housing. The team has also created units in mixed-use developments for the protection of victims of domestic violence—all driven by the reality that housing on Long Island has, for many, become prohibitively expensive.

The place to be
Significantly expanding its market presence across all five New York City boroughs and the broader state, plus New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even Florida, Nelson + Pope is a progressive firm acutely in touch with the zeitgeist. As such, it has a particular soft spot for welcoming young enquiring minds with diverse skill sets in search of competitive salaries.

With ample opportunities to develop professionally, the company offers an especially good home for those looking for direct access to the guidance and mentorship of senior colleagues and partners. As its people can and do attest, Nelson + Pope is a fantastic place to work. Full of creative minds brimming with enthusiasm, it is a positive and fun environment where generous mentorship is considered part and parcel of starting a career from scratch.

“Our office has some great opportunities. From our junior staff all the way up to our partnership level, we’re very integrated. From engineering to surveying, architectural, and environmental sectors, we’re all hands-on together,” says Reiner of a company culture where employees are acknowledged as individuals, their strengths identified and channeled toward the areas where they shine best.

With such a vast range of services on offer, the company’s 120 staff members also benefit from having access to a selection of continuous education options to help them build their careers and stay ahead of industry changes. They also have the chance to gain firsthand experience in ways that are difficult to come by in larger and less diverse firms. The management team is also keen on younger staff members pursuing further education through training seminars and certification. “We make accommodations for staff on an evolving level. We also are very understanding of our staff having personal lives; we appreciate scheduling conflicts. We do everything we can to provide flexibility where [possible],” Reiner adds. By nurturing talent, the company continues cultivating a culture of knowledge, expertise, and diversity.

“As a company, we have adopted parameters into our employee handbook which really are beneficial to the employee to promote longevity with the company. For example, we have an educational assistance policy, where the company reimburses the employee for the cost of an advanced degree,” says Sciara. The company also assists its personnel in obtaining their professional licenses through an assistance program, alongside other training and continuous accreditation programs.

Furthermore, Nelson + Pope provides a clear road map of pathways for advancement within the company that displays the exact routes via which new hires can look forward to reaching the next level in their careers when joining the firm. That not only takes the guesswork out of progression for recruits but also instills trust and a sense of working toward something valuable in their futures. The success of this approach is evident in the number of senior partners who have been with the company for decades after joining as juniors and still enjoy coming to work every day.

In addition, the company goes to great lengths to ensure that its people remain current regarding new methods and materials. To this end, it regularly invites professionals and fabricators from various fields to introduce whatever new products and technology exist in a bid to incorporate what it can where it can into its projects. “We have the staff sit in on new product introductions; it’s important that everyone down to junior staff understand what is available to us to work with,” says Perrotta, underlining the importance of encouraging younger staff to explore the possibility of different approaches and materials.

Building the future
As the firm continues to consciously grow and develop its next generation of new professionals as its young progressive thought leaders consistently move up the ranks, the future remains promising. “[Professional progression] is not a vertical path… It has to widen out. We need younger engineers to see that that opportunity exists,” says Perrotta. “Progression can be scary in more corporate, regimented companies; but if we can grow bottom-out, I think that is good for everybody.”

The company will, of course, keep its finger on the pulse of building performance innovations in its existing markets while exploring new opportunities. And it looks like turning its sights toward the education sector is the next logical step for the Nelson + Pope team. Creating spaces where the values of environmental sustainability are reflected within the educational environment is a concept that is dear to the team’s collective heart, and the management team is confident that it has all the capabilities necessary to contribute positively to this field—and perhaps even to transform how educational institutions are built.

Such a focus on educational spaces seems all too fitting for Nelson + Pope, a visionary firm that is shaping the landscape not only for today, but for the future.

The post Driven by Energy Efficiency and Creature Comfort<p class="company">Nelson + Pope</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Serving the Indianapolis area, Nicholas Design Build (or NDB) has in-house architectural and interior designers alongside a complete production team who knows their business inside and out. The company’s homeowners and commercial clients alike know how tough it is to find a trustworthy contractor who hits the sweet spot between providing professional construction services and supporting clients through the experience of having a home, office, or retail space ripped up and redone. As such, the team is known for the clarity with which it presents its ideas to customers. While that may at first sound straightforward, this team of nearly 50 industry professionals understands how important it is to develop a thorough understanding of the client’s hopes for the outcome of a project before establishing specifications.

Owner Kyle Nicholas says that the team takes details seriously. “We’ve become known for being tenacious. My dad always said to do the complicated stuff no one wants to do. Through most of [our history], that’s what we get involved in.” Indeed, when a customer whose living room floor had to make way to lower a 15-foot countertop into the basement returns to have a floating staircase installed, the trust in the work is obvious.

Nicholas Design Build’s attention to detail and commitment to investing in technology has secured tremendous growth for the company in recent years, driving new hires and spreading its name across an increasingly expanding area. Regarding the technology it employs, the company is adamant that any suite it purchases must work to its full potential. That is why, after testing available products, the team recently invested in custom software developed to address its exact needs. That means no surprise overnight upgrades to confuse and ruin everybody’s schedule or delay a project; instead, the new tool supports the efficiency and professionalism on which the company built its reputation. In addition, it uses Chief Architect as design software, while Matterport renders architectural evaluations and field measures.

Recognized as an Indianapolis Business Journal Fast25 company, Nicholas Design Build is one of the area’s most prolific expanders between 2020 and 2022, with $8.29 million in revenue. At nearly 200 percent growth, the company has its work cut out to keep up the trend. Luckily, there is no shortage of new and returning customers to help it grow.

“We always enjoy being challenged… We will nearly double [our revenue] again this year,” Kyle says.

As challenges go, he describes the COVID-19 period as having tempered him as a leader, allowing the firm to deepen its operational capacity in the process. “We chose to grow regardless,” he shares. “Although it was hard and not the most profitable time, we grew through it.”

In support of this growth and in a bid to communicate its high level of industry expertise to customers, the company is amply certified. It holds accreditations with many related groups like the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), One Zone Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Builders Association, and the National Association of Home Builders.

Naturally, the company would not be what it is today without its team. “Truly, we have the best. We are always team players. We’re winners. Regardless of what the problem is, we always coach toward positive conflict and toward being a team,” Kyle says. In a company with about 30 construction projects running at any given time, conflict resolution is the key to keeping schedules, quality, and customer and employee satisfaction on track. “We don’t allow problems to result in poor attitudes or issues.”

To show appreciation for their hard work, NDB ensures its pay and benefits packages are among the best in the area. As a result, it is sought after by some of the state’s best people. Kyle thinks the reason for this appeal is that employees realize how crucial a strong company culture is for success. He actively works to promote this environment, which boosts growth. NDB leadership consciously develops its team to secure a future where healthy company practices and strong staff morale will lead the way.

Kyle is generous in supporting new entrepreneurs and contractors in the field. Through mentoring, he pays it forward to help establish the next generation of service providers. In addition, the company aids charities and community-based organizations. These include local sports teams and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which supports children with cancer.

As a fourth-generation builder Kyle Nicholas comes from a long line of craftsmen. With over a century of family history in construction, building is in his blood. While he initially had different ideas for his future, it appears fate had other plans!

Instead of continuing a career in finance like he had planned, Kyle ended up borrowing a ladder from a neighbor to help a friend with a house repair. Surprisingly, within a week, signs for “Nicholas Construction” popped up all around the neighborhood, marking the beginning of his new venture. Today, the neighbor who set the whole story in motion and was part of the founding team still works for the company as a project manager. Evolving from exterior repairs to a remodeling outfit in comparatively little time, the company adapted to customers’ requests to become the industry leader it is today as a design-build firm.

“I think we were on the forefront of the design-build side. Now, everyone says they’re a design-build firm, and so we discuss with [clients] what a design-build firm provides,” Kyle says. Nicholas Design Build also educates the market that there is a difference between interior and architectural design, and it offers both.

The company stays ahead by exploring sustainable and environmentally responsible practices. As buildings become increasingly more energy-efficient, the firm provides customers with the latest in construction and design, no matter how advanced the method or technology.

Looking ahead, Nicholas Design Build’s expansion plan focuses mainly on acquisition, aiming to purchase companies with technologies and knowledge that can further enhance its services. Kyle looks forward to holding down the fort until his two sons, Kade and Kash, can join the firm to continue the family legacy. The two “are always joking about how they will one day be working in daddy’s office. At this point, they own the company until somebody can provide me with a wildly audacious number,” he says with a smile.

The post Making Difficult Construction Easier<p class="company">Nicholas Design Build</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

While the company has worked on medical clinics, student housing, and both modern and historic homes, it also specializes in equine-related projects. This makes good business sense, as horse culture is huge in Kentucky, reports President, Chief Executive Officer, and Owner Teddy Rodgers.

The state, of course, hosts the world-famous Kentucky Derby and abounds with thoroughbred farms and horse barns. Anderson & Rodgers has constructed equine facilities on farms and rural properties and is currently building an addition to a surgical center for horses in Simpsonville, Kentucky. The addition needs to be elevated roughly seven feet to match the height of the existing facility, a challenge the company is meeting by importing vast amounts of soil.

“Setting up the building pad is quite the process. Every bit [of soil] has to be imported, then compacted, and then compact-tested with geo-tech equipment,” explains Rodgers.

The company is also working on a beef plant in Carlisle, Kentucky, an assignment for which it was brought on board quite rapidly. “We met [the client] on a Thursday and he contracted us the following Monday to be his [general contractor] on the project. We officially broke ground probably March or April of last year,” Rodgers states.

Outside of the commercial realm, projects for residential customers typically begin with a sales call and a conversation. The company gleans details about the proposed project from the client and determines if any design work has already been done. If everyone is amenable to moving forward, one of two things happen: “Either we immediately enter into a design contract agreement where we start to design the project for the client and we proceed from there, or we work through a budget process and then we enter into a design process,” he explains.

Part of the budget process involves aligning client expectations with their proposed budget, while design work involves the use of cutting-edge design software to create three-dimensional digital models that give a comprehensive visual impression of the completed project. “We have the ability to put it on screen so that customers can see it and ‘walk’ through it. It really does bring to life the vision that we’re helping them create,” says Rodgers.

Once budget and design are taken care of, the company enters the pricing stage, which entails a detailed analysis of approximate labor and material costs. At this point, clients sometimes ask for a value engineering review—a process in which elements of the project are scrutinized again with a view to reducing costs. After the financial details and design plans are settled, “We execute the contract and start the project.”

Following completion, company staff members perform a quality walkthrough to ensure all is well. “We try to be the most picky person in the room,” says Rodgers. “If we can do that, it’s really easy to live up to anybody else’s standards. We have really high expectations for finished quality, and we pay a premium for that kind of work. We hold [contractors] to the highest standards.”

From its base in central Kentucky, the company routinely branches across state lines. After building a women’s clothing store in Lexington, for example, the impressed client asked Anderson & Rodgers to build a second store in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company has also taken on office and residential projects in Cincinnati.

Following a hurricane, a Kentucky client hired the firm to perform some condominium rebuilding work in Florida. Roughly half a dozen of the client’s neighbors ended up hiring the company for the same purpose.

The business was founded in 2006 by Rodgers and current Chief Financial Officer and Owner Brent Anderson, whose last names form the company moniker. Anderson is currently CFO and an owner, while Vice President Bruce McGaughey is a minority owner. At first, “we thought we would build new construction, we would buy and flip houses, and we would do renovations,” Rodgers recalls.

The economic recession of 2008 to 2009 forced the company to pivot and explore other opportunities. By 2010 to 2011, its focus had shifted to custom homes, light commercial work, and residential remodeling. Within a few years, commercial construction began picking up steam, and the company landed a lucrative contract building walk-in medical clinics for markets “that had a decent population but didn’t necessarily have a good medical presence—no large hospital. We were building 10-room walk-in clinics,” Rodgers explains. The first clinics were built in Kentucky, followed by four or five additional clinics in southern Indiana.

Revenue was on the rise, but progress was challenged again in March 2020 by the COVID pandemic. Most of Anderson & Rodgers’ building sites were in rural or isolated locales, where “it was easy to continue to work and to effect separation” between laborers. COVID still had a devastating impact on the company’s contractors who were exposed to the virus from other sources. “We had an electrical contractor who had 10 people all go out at one time. Everything kind of got put on pause because sequence is very important in construction,” says Rodgers.

The pandemic also helped to fuel inflation, leading to big price hikes. When it struck, Anderson & Rodgers was working on a project with a $70,000 budget for materials and labor; virus-related inflation caused an “almost $20,000 increase” in certain costs. The company found itself trying to cope with soaring prices and anxious customers at the same time. Things have since straightened out, and company prospects look excellent.

Until a few years ago, much of the firm’s work was self-performed, but as time progressed and the pool of available skilled laborers diminished, this approach became less cost-effective. As Anderson & Rodgers scaled up, it began increasingly contracting work out. Today, most construction tasks are handled by contractors, and “our firm is more management-based,” Rodgers says.

The company has roughly 17 employees and aims to hire self-driven people who do not require constant supervision. A strong work ethic is also expected. Construction on the beef plant, for example, involved concrete pours at three in the morning, a major time commitment for both contractors and supervisors. It’s an approach that goes both ways; the company is flexible with its staff and has no problem if someone needs to take a day off to care for a sick child, for example.

Employees should also be prepared to tackle a broad array of assignments, some of which can involve tricky challenges. The company “has done some really cool projects over the years for so many different kinds of people,” Rodgers notes.

One particularly noteworthy assignment involved a 177-unit student housing remodel. The remodeling aspect was not that extensive, but the work “was probably one of the most difficult logistical jobs because we had to move the students out and have them back in a short period.” The students were moved, the work was done, and “the pure logistical challenge of it was great.”

He also speaks fondly of a remodeling job on a house dating back to the Revolutionary War. The home had beams of varying sizes and old-fashioned square-head nails embedded in the wood. Work crews discovered that the home had likely been remodeled before, perhaps in the late 19^th century, due to the presence of machined beams in some parts of the structure. The company worked hard and selected appropriate materials to maintain the historic nature of the space.

Company promotion is done online, in person, and through other means. Projects are professionally photographed, and the images are used for promotional campaigns and the company website. However, much business comes the firm’s way due to its reputation.

“I’ve always been a boots-on-the-ground person,” says Rodgers. “We create relationships with architects; we create relationships within the community. We get a lot of opportunities through word-of-mouth. I had a $2 million project where they called us because they saw our yard sign on another project.”

Clearly, the company is doing something right, as Anderson & Rodgers has earned a breadth of industry awards. These include top rankings in the Best of Lexington, Kentucky awards bestowed by the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper and a series of Building Industry Association (BIA) of Central Kentucky honors for bathroom remodeling, home additions, and whole house renovations.

Going into the future, Rodgers aims to maintain the company’s upward trajectory. Over the next five years, he would like to have “another period of growth like we’ve been experiencing in the last 15 years. When COVID hit, we felt that things kind of got derailed a little bit, but in 2023, we had a massive boost. Heading into 2024, we’ve got a real mentality of continued growth.”

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Providing a variety of services for clients, the company currently has projects totaling more than five million square feet and $1.11 billion in anticipated construction costs. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1991 by Ellen Bailey Dixon, Bailey Edward recently celebrated its 30^th anniversary and has proudly grown to a staff of more than 60 people.

“Our industry is male-dominated, so the ability to work and have a woman-owned firm is really fantastic,” says Susan Hickey, Senior Architect. “In regards to our presence, I think it allows us to give a diverse voice in regards to our design.”

The company also maintains a strong presence in diverse community organizations that it supports. “We also have a strong mentorship program where we support younger staff and guide them in regards to both design and construction,” adds Hickey.

Enticing skilled, younger employees—especially women—into the industry can be challenging, so Bailey Edward strives to show women what a great career it can be.

“Ellen is an amazing role model,” says Hickey. “As for our senior leadership, we have several women as part of that, and they’re also amazing role models, right out there rubbing elbows with everyone else.”

Ania Breau, Senior Interior Designer, agrees that having so many inspiring women in leadership roles helps to set the company apart. “And not only are there women, there are a lot of parents,” she says. “Sometimes in the architecture and design community, it’s hard to find really good work-life balance and squeeze in the whole concept of being a parent.”

The firm excels at promoting that work-life balance by encouraging employees to advocate for themselves, talking to their project managers about balancing their workload and life the way they want to, she adds. “We have a flexible work environment where we’ve had staff that have worked from a daycare facility where they were able to work and take care of their kids at the same time, which I think is just fantastic. I’m seeing that trend in the community.”

When it comes to promoting the industry to a younger generation, several Bailey Edward employees have taught at the university level and have gotten involved in the community, inspiring groups, such as the Girl Scouts and the Girls Build program at the Chicago Architectural Center, to pursue architecture in the future. Whether it’s for grade school or high school students, there is a mentoring program that the company supports.

Sharing the many benefits of a career in the industry is something all Bailey Edward employees strive to do—and there are plenty of reasons why it’s a great career to pursue.

“It’s ever-changing,” Hickey says. “We’re always addressing different issues and different concerns, including sustainability and wellness, and that’s just one example of how things are evolving.”

Environmental stewardship is similarly important to Bailey Edward, with the goal of focusing both on individuals and also the planet as a whole.

“We’re looking at making our spaces that we design as healthy as possible, but also being sustainable at the same time,” Breau says. “We have an environmental stewardship group that Susan and I are both a part of, and what we’re trying to do is bring ideas from all the various healthy building environmental stewardship certifications and guidelines to all of our projects. So we look at LEED, Fitwel, and try to bring all those concepts into our projects.”

Even though not every single project aims for certification, the company still wants to ensure it’s incorporating those concepts into its projects. “The interiors group as a whole has gone through our design library and removed everything that’s not healthy,” says Breau. “We’re really trying not to use vinyls and trying to focus on items that are not on the Red List. We’re just trying to be as healthy as possible.”

This commitment to sustainability within projects is even more vital as the movement continues to gain ground across the industry. In the Chicago market specifically it’s almost a standard, says Breau, as a lot of firms are incorporating sustainability as best practice.

“In the past there may have been the desire to have a certain LEED rating or a certain rating, and the client may know about it,” Hickey adds. “I think what’s changed in the past couple of years is it’s being driven by broader thinking either within the corporation or within the institution.”

The client institution or corporation will have a master plan or a series of sustainable goals which are holistic, and that’s how those projects fit within it. They’re not just one-off projects, but part of their broader vision, and the approach taken really depends on the client, says Breau. “I feel like there are a lot of organizations that are really at the forefront of [sustainability]. We work a lot with the GSA (General Services Administration), and they have incorporated so many standards,” she says. “They really lead the charge on Fitwel. The Chicago public schools also have so many healthy materials as their standard, which is always great to see.”

One of the projects both Hickey and Breau are working on, which they describe as an “amazing journey,” is at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, called the Doris Kelley Christopher Illinois Extension Center. Bailey Edward is working with a master plan that has set goals to achieve net zero as soon as possible for the university.

“For this building in particular, we’re focused on having a zero energy building, and then looking at net zero carbon too,” says Hickey. “That has been part of our process from day one on the project. Right now we’re tracking LEED Gold on the project.”

Another notable project is the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, the first freestanding cancer pavilion in the Chicago area, due to be built or completed in 2027. Although still a ways out, groundbreaking took place not long ago.

“We’re responsible for the clinical interiors for the project, and one of the goals for us is to not use any cancer causing materials on the project,” says Breau. “All the materials we’re utilizing in the project are healthy for people going through the cancer journey. We’re really excited about it. It’s going to be a great space.”

While there has been much movement in the industry toward producing materials that are healthy and sustainable, they are still just a small percentage of what’s out there. So by specifying materials that are more sustainable and healthy for building occupants, Bailey Edward hopes to encourage more such products in the marketplace. “There are quite a few manufacturers out there doing a great job at it, producing things like carbon-negative carpets and PVC-free floors, but we would love it if every manufacturer got on board,” Breau says.

All of this impactful work has led to the company being named one of Crain’s Best Places to Work for the second year in a row. With emphasis placed on collaboration, communication, and community, the company is the highest-rated Architecture and Planning company in Chicago.

“I think it’s because of our broader mission as being inclusive and looking for healthy places to work,” Hickey says. “We have different working groups within our firm like environmental stewardship, but we also have others where we have discussions in regards to being inclusive and what does that mean? Or what does it mean to be diverse? So there’s a constant conversation in regards to how we can be better.”

Future goals include focusing further on environmental stewardship, says Breau, along with making sure different voices are heard. “Our firm as a whole is always wavering around 50 percent women to men, so we’re always trying to make sure there’s representation.”

The company also prides itself on being an active listener with the client. “One of the things we talk about when we talk to our clients is we have a broad range of knowledge and expertise,” says Hickey. “As a firm, we touch a lot of different market sectors and practice areas.”

For instance, the company has rich expertise in historic preservation, which supports its goals of sustainability. Such projects provide a new use for what already exists. “It may be landmark, and how do we modernize it without compromising its significance?” Hickey says. “We track metrics regarding that, and how much energy we save, so we understand how well our projects are performing.”

Bailey Edward also sets itself apart from other firms by exposing all employees to work in diverse sectors rather than in specific silos. “We all get to dip our fingers into different sectors, which makes it really fun and exciting for people to gain knowledge in every single sector,” says Breau.

Through putting teamwork and professional growth first, Bailey Edward has created a culture of pride and belonging, where employees are encouraged to explore a diverse range of projects and gain experience in the areas that most interest them. These are all qualities that the company aims to share with those searching for a career in a respected and exciting field.

“It’s the ability to do something that you’re passionate about, the ability to be creative every day,” says Breau. “But for those people that want to be a little bit more technical, there’s obviously a lot of that, too. I think it’s just such a great field to get into.”

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