Today, Greg Padalecki, who began here in 1999 as an apprentice electrician and became President and Chief Executive Officer in 2019-2020 after a 20-year career with the company, purports that the company has seen even more growth in just the past few years, with about 1,200 workers active in the field and around 260 in its office.

A notable part of Alterman’s history is that it established itself as an employee stock ownership program (ESOP) business in 1985, eventually becoming a completely employee-owned company. Today, as a union contractor, Alterman’s field employees are part of a collective bargaining agreement and participate in an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ pension, whereas its office employees continue with ESOP participation.

Padalecki stresses that the company values all its workers and observes that the ESOP has given employees a greater sense of focus and a vested interest in a company that they own as much of as he does. The ESOP model has proven very successful since its initiation, as it has provided a growth business model internally. Whereas competition-based models often funnel profit to a single owner, Alterman is constantly reinvesting its profits into itself and looking ahead to future growth.

Most recently, the company has focused more on mission-critical product sectors like water, wastewater, data centers, and health care. This approach is a big part of the business’ ongoing success; in fact, the company’s growth is such that it has outgrown its current facilities in a multitude of offices spread across San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and New Mexico, so it has purchased a 20-acre tract of land on the northeast side of San Antonio to consolidate its corporate and San Antonio operations to a single location.

Alterman’s new home began its design phase in 2022. The plot will contain a 90,000-square-foot office building and a 110,000-square-foot fabrication facility to be completed in January 2024.

Padalecki says that the new home is a huge undertaking with lots of responsibility, but will assist greatly in the company’s goal of recruiting, retaining, and training for the future, making a place where people want to work. This even includes its visual design, with an emphasis on natural light and a campus feeling. He credits Studio8 Architects as leading the charge on the new headquarters, touting its similar internal culture and how willing it has been to understand the vision Alterman sees for itself.

He observes that the construction industry is based on relationships, whether with vendors, partners, or joint ventures. “You have to trust and be trusted,” he says, and every large joint venture Alterman has participated in has taken the company to the next level because of this approach.

While everyone is anticipating the move to come, Alterman’s offices in San Antonio and Austin are keeping quite busy. Padalecki notes that this level of work mirrors the state of the construction industry currently, with lots of projects on the go. The company must strategically say no, as it only has so many resources and must identify the places where it can be the most successful. Thankfully, much opportunity is out there. “We want to stretch ourselves in a healthy way, while under-promising and over-delivering,” Padalecki says.

He has noticed the lack of personnel available within the construction sector, as more work exists than people. This is why the business is focusing on recruiting and retention, which is where its partnership with The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers can provide qualified craftsmen and labor. One thing that Padalecki has learned is that great careers still exist in the construction space for young people.

“If you have a child interested in building things,” he underlines, “there is a rewarding role for them in construction,” with many internships and apprenticeships to help anyone who is interested. The industry needs more talent to improve, and there has never been a better time for young people to enter a new trade.

Padalecki mentions the internal innovation that is aimed at helping the company get more work done with fewer people. The future of both the business and the broader industry, he feels, depends on making construction a more efficient process.

There are some headwinds with the current construction supply chain, making it challenging to secure certain important parts like transformers, switch gears, panel boards, or distribution boards without waiting for a year. However, Padalecki feels this delay is no longer a surprise, and there is value in knowing what the customer needs before they themselves know they need it, allowing the company to become a resource for customers in navigating supply chain issues. “We are part of the solution, and we have to help our customers with issues like this,” he says.

He sees a very clear road map ahead for the remainder of 2023 and into next year, with 2025 to 2026 being more open to adaptation. Alterman will continue to hire, likely through the middle of next year thanks to the work it has under contract and a healthy pipeline of new projects. There is great excitement building for the move into the new headquarters, as the current disconnection between the staggered sites is an underlying bottleneck that the new building will look to eliminate.

Above all, the company will be focusing on providing a great place to work for all, from field to office, and on growth across even more aspects. As Padalecki summarizes, “Alterman without growth wouldn’t be Alterman.”

2023 marks Alterman’s 100-year anniversary, marked by an August 2023 gala event that is purported to be the biggest party the company has ever thrown. Padalecki is aware that not many companies have this sort of tenure and remembers the cycles of feast and famine throughout its considerable history.

Through it all, Alterman has been defined by how it responded to bad times and rebounded. “There will be rough times to come,” he continues, “so how do we prepare ourselves for down markets [and] challenging projects?”

Padalecki takes seriously his role to set up Alterman for the century to come, through a foundation of innovation and a focus on technology that will place construction firmly in the future instead of the past. Alterman wants to continue to innovate and be as productive as possible, which harkens back to the roots of its success that began a century ago.

The post 100 Years of Trust<p class="company">Alterman</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

This synergy, fueled by unwavering commitment to excellence, offers clients a single source for all their contracting needs, whether it’s remediation, repair or new industrial development solutions. The Patrick Group of Companies stands as a testament to the transformative potential of collective expertise and shared dedication, setting a new standard for industry collaboration.

Comprising PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd., Patrick Mechanical Ltd. (PML), Greater City Concrete Works (GCCW), Bisschops Industries, Legend Mining Contracting, BadRiverBoats, One Source Home Services, and S2 Metal Fabricators, the group’s success lies in its commitment to quality service, workmanship, and dedication to employee engagement.

“Our strength lies in our diversity, and we celebrate the uniqueness of each member company, upholding their individual identities and areas of specialization,” says Emilia Pauze, Manager of Continuous Improvement.

From mechanical, oil and gas, concrete, buildings, and rehabilitation of dams and critical infrastructure, to fabrication, HVAC-R, metal works, mill expansion, new mine development, and more, the group’s services cover the industrial, institutional, and commercial markets. “We deliver a seamless, single-source approach to projects of any scale, tailored to your exact needs,” Pauze says. “Our arsenal of distinctive skills, strategic partnerships, vast experience, and unwavering dedication places us miles ahead of the competition.”

Patrick Mechanical Limited (PML)
Patrick Mechanical Limited (PML), established in 1989, is a pioneer in addressing the industrial, commercial, and institutional contracting requirements of diverse authorities, businesses, and sectors across the province of Ontario.

Based in Sudbury, Ontario, PML is staffed with more than 125 highly skilled workers, including engineers, craftspeople, and professionals working together to guarantee that every project is tackled and completed utilizing the highest calibre of knowledge and craftsmanship.

“For more than 30 years, Patrick Mechanical has been the leading company in Northern Ontario for large-scale construction, contracting, mining, and industrial projects,” says President Doug Patrick. “PML is a leader in meeting the industrial, commercial, and institutional contracting needs of governments, corporations, and mining industries across the province.”

In specialist disciplines and trades such as mechanical contracting, bespoke steel fabrication, plumbing, heating, and process piping, as well as millwrighting and allied services (with a completely equipped fabrication shop and fully qualified employees committed to offering the highest quality of workmanship available), PML is acknowledged as a leader.

Utilizing more than three decades of experience, the company has worked with clients from all over the province and nation to develop and effectively complete large-scale, exceedingly complex projects. In completing construction designs and strategies for its government, corporate, and industry partners, Patrick Mechanical is renowned for its in-house ability to grasp the complexity of a project, regardless of size or scale, and overcome any challenges, issues, or technical barriers.

PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd.
PSL Patrick Sprack Ltd. is one of the fastest-growing mechanical service providers in Northern Ontario, providing exemplary work and a superb reputation coupled with extensive experience in the mining, commercial, industrial, and institutional markets. Established in 2006, PSL has grown into one of the most highly regarded contractors in Ontario, offering its services both regional and globally.

“We are an ever-expanding and diversifying HVAC company with a record and reputation for steady customer growth and satisfaction,” says Scott Sprack, Owner and General Manager. “We focus on the use of the latest technologies and mechanical diversity,” providing innovative industrial energy solutions in mine ventilation, oil and gas, overhead garage doors, electrical, petroleum, indoor air quality, rental equipment, and its new division, generators.

PSL’s HVAC-R division has been exceeding the needs of Northern Ontario customers with a variety of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and rental HVAC equipment on a 24/7 schedule, offering services that range from planned maintenance—both preventative and full-coverageؙ—to inspections, diagnostic services, repairs, retrofits, and new installations for commercial and industrial mechanical systems.

Greater City Concrete Works (GCCW)
GCCW was founded in 2007 in Lively, Ontario, to deliver concrete forming and placing services to the local industrial, commercial, and institutional construction markets.

“Under a gradual growth plan, the group has expanded its capabilities into small scale earthworks and the company also offers general contracting and design-build services while retaining a focus and expertise in complex concrete sections’ forming and placement,” explains General Manager, Andre Auge.

“As we expand our service offer, we are better able to safely manage deliverables, control costs and consistency, and manage risks that are discovered through the life of projects for our clients. This is a critically important value proposition especially with supply chain and resource constraints on complex remote projects. As an example, dam rehabilitation projects we’re undertaking in remote areas in Northern Ontario require: fine-tuned plans; timely collaboration with our vendor partners, engineering consultants, and client representatives; and the assignment of a well-equipped, versatile, and creative workforce that can propose and safely execute solutions often resulting from the discovery of unexpected circumstances,” Auge explains.

Bisschops Industries
Bisschops Industries—founded in 2007 in Sudbury, Ontario as a sheet metal and HVAC contractor—has shown steady growth ever since and now provides refrigeration and air conditioning as well as electrical service and maintenance.

“Bisschops continually works to improve and upgrade existing mine ventilation systems,” says Jason Bisschops, Operations Manager. “We provide construction and maintenance service to all sectors of the mining industry, including surface buildings, process areas, and underground environments.”

Currently, “being a part of the single largest mine development site in Northern Ontario has allowed us to prove that we are capable of handling such projects of this capacity,” he says. “We’ve achieved a unique status in Northern Ontario serving the commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors and we proudly remain committed to our customers locally and across the North.”

S2 Metal Fabricators
Focusing on the industrial, institutional, and commercial structural steel segment has allowed the S2 Metal Fabricators staff to achieve expert status in those fields. With a total capacity per shift of 200,000 tons per year, this company participates in steel fabrication for mining, mineral refining, petrochemical, hydroelectric, private, and governmental environments.

“S2 Metal Fabricators can accommodate customized, heavy load structural steel for any application,” says General Manager Jeff Crump. “When it comes to industrial painting, we don’t just deliver paint; we deliver perfection,” he says. “With our specialized expertise in prepping industrial coatings, we’re not simply a service provider—we’re your strategic partner in achieving impeccable quality steel fabrication and finishes.”

BadRiverBoats
Founded in 2020 by the Patrick Group of Companies, BadRiverBoats was formed in response to a need for its workers to access remote worksites in Northern Ontario, Canada.

“We build custom, high-quality aluminum workboats for construction, Ministry, and commercial applications,” explains Guy Gallipeau, General Manager. “We specialize in aluminum boats, but we can take any customized orders, like carbon steel and more,” he explains.

“Our handcrafted aluminum boats embody the perfect blend of form and function, resulting in a stunning visual appeal that’s matched only by their practicality. Crafted for performance, their superior handling capabilities make them the ultimate solution, setting a new standard in versatility and reliability that no other option can rival.”

Eye on The Patrick Group
Of course, this dynamic and ever-evolving group of companies also focuses on promoting the many opportunities it offers, via recruiting efforts to maintain its growth, which includes hiring more welders.

“Our search for exceptional talent never stops,” says Pauze. “Whether it’s an experienced professional or a fresh face in the industry, we go beyond the ordinary to match a profile with the right role… we accommodate and support them based on their strengths.”

“Our focus is to seek out experienced individuals from different backgrounds and ethnicities who want to learn the trades while we provide opportunity, education, and training through government apprenticeships and programs,” agrees Bisschops.

The group of companies proudly embraces diversity, which is reflected in its multicultural workforce comprising individuals from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond, bringing a rich tapestry of perspectives and experiences, adds Pauze. “Our recruitment philosophy is about the long term,” she says. “We’re not just filling positions; we’re inviting them on a journey of growth within our group of companies.”

To that end, the group actively participates in a variety of events, not sitting and waiting for talent to come to them but seeking them out via job fairs and networking events, providing a platform for prospective candidates to engage with the team directly.

The hardest place to mine
“Our journey continues to be one of growth, innovation, and collaboration,” Pauze adds. “We are tremendously lucky as a group to cut our teeth in the eminent mining centre of the world. Since we have growth as a big team, we can go out of the Sudbury basin and bring value to mines. It’s a world-class mining centre, not only the best in the world but the hardest place to do mining.”

By taking on and succeeding in these challenges, the group of companies has forged a solid reputation in the industry, with an unyielding commitment to quality at the core of its operations.

“By aligning with the client’s standards, we earn the privilege of collaborating with anyone, regardless of the complexity of the task,” Pauze says. “Our reach extends to building a robust supply chain, capable of custom manufacturing that fuels innovation.”

Pushing the envelope
The client base the company services features major market shareholders including companies from Brazil, Switzerland, Africa, and the U.S. “As they continually push the envelope in health, safety, and quality, we’re entrusted with the task of meeting and exceeding their expectations,” says Patrick. “Working alongside industry trailblazers, we’re not just service providers; we’re collaborators in their pursuit of being the best in class.”

As with all companies in all industries over the past few years, this group experienced challenges during the pandemic but emerged successfully by joining forces, aligning its efforts, and growing its workforce.

“Over the years we’ve been part of many exciting and reputable projects in the industrial, commercial, and institutional sectors,” says Pauze, “including a single largest mine development site in Northern Ontario that’s proof that we’re capable of handling large-scale projects.”

Other challenges include, as always, securing talent, particularly among the young workforce, and the industrial capacity of real property, going outside the regional marketplace. Moving forward, the companies look to continue to add employees, maintaining stability while growing sustainably, says Patrick.

Inspiring people
“We’ve shifted from an owner-operated to an employee-operated company,” he adds. “We have KPIs to support that movement, self-monitoring for the stakeholders, the most important ones being the employees.”

The companies are also focusing on improving and building efficiency within the organization to help them better market their strategic partnership while also growing their team and continuing to be the best companies to work for, says Pauze. “We want to inspire our people, and we’re always looking to secure more talent.”

“In the mining industry, success is a result of seamless coordination and strategic partnerships,” adds Crump. “We can coordinate and integrate strategic design and engineering partners.”

Patrick agrees: “A group movement is better than an individual movement.”

Maintaining its solid reputation in the industry is also vital, and will continue to help set the group apart from its competitors. “We have synergy within our internal strategic partners and the ability to work together to execute any project scale,” Patrick says. “Our reputation with our client base is one of delivering our promises, honouring and managing our own risk, bringing a problem-solving approach, and learning from our challenges.”

It is the result of that internal synergy, commitment to precision, an unshakable reputation, and a penchant for problem-solving that will keep the group of companies successful moving forward.

“We have a thirst for knowledge,” Patrick says. “We’re not just setting the standard; we’re raising it, and creating a legacy of excellence that’s truly unparalleled.”

The post Celebrating the Uniqueness of Each Member Company<p class="company">Patrick Mechanical Limited</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Built on old-fashioned grit and a can-do attitude, this company has gone from strength to strength. Founder and President Veronica Rose is positive about the future of construction and the role of women in the industry because for her and her team, making the world a better place is the ultimate driver.

As a supplier of intelligent electrical systems, Aurora Electric, Inc. supplies all the electricity-related services needed on construction projects like pipe and wire installation, integration, maintenance, and software. It expertly manages each team to ensure a successful outcome.

The plus of concluding electrical installations in this way is that subcontractors cannot blame one another afterward for any errors. The company’s services are so well respected in the local construction industry that the team has worked on some of the city’s most prestigious projects over the years. It is also favored for its work on prototype systems for the aviation industry.

Rose believes that everyone can learn from each other’s differences and understand one another better in positive ways. Thanks to technology, the electrical trades are now more accessible and easier for women to work in as they require less physical strength than just a few years ago.

Describing herself as an explorer rather than a pioneer, Rose is philosophical about the uphill battle of the early days. “I was repeatedly told, ‘We will give you the responsibility, we will give you the money, but we cannot give you the title or the authority because of your gender.’ I [concluded] that if I do my work well nobody will care about my gender, and because I was an explorer, I could go where I wanted,” she says. Once she realized there was no way of changing the entire world in one go, Rose set off to change her own. After all, she needed no permission to ascend through the ranks of her own business.

She equates the arrival of women in the construction industry as similar to early colonists arriving in the North American Wild West. “The first people who went out there were just men. There were no schools, no churches, and no post offices. That is what the construction industry was like when I came into it. It needed to be civilized,” she says with a smile.

While working on a job site in her early days, Rose was instructed by a colleague to go down a manhole and complete a list of tasks. To which she responded that she will get into the ‘woman-hole’ and then complete the work. That upset her colleague terribly, and he let her know that in no uncertain terms. By the next day, he had cooled down and provided her with the response she had wanted. With his hands on his hips, her colleague informed her that from now on, nobody would work in a man or a woman-hole anymore. Instead, they would all be working in conduit splice chambers. “It worked perfectly. I was proud of him,” she says, describing her forty-four years in the industry as a mission to inform, educate, and set an example.

The result of that tenacity is a trusted firm with an impressive list of completed projects and an expert team of professionals committed to doing whatever it takes to complete every project with excellence and integrity.

Rose ascribes the secret of her patience to decades of self-reflection. “My mother always said that if it is to be it is up to me; do not make excuses, and that is what got me on the path of self-awareness,” she says. In this way, she also developed the wisdom to allow herself and others to make errors on the premise that you self-correct and then leverage it to transform and improve efficiency.

She is a pragmatic and no-nonsense leader yet she has a warmth and depth of spirit that lets one know that this is a woman who has lived through and seen a lot in her time. With her generous smile and easy elegance, Rose is no stranger to hard physical labor. She knows the inside of a conduit splice chamber as well as any of her staff. As a result of her success in the industry, she made it her mission to market the trade to other women.

Her argument is simple. If women are capable of raising the next generation, they are capable of a job in construction. “It is less physically challenging to build a building than it is to raise children. Think about it. When you are a mother, between the laundry, the groceries, the housekeeping, and [a thousand] other things you have to do, it is all physically, emotionally, and spiritually more demanding than being a construction electrician,” she says.

For younger people who are new to business or thinking of setting up on their own, Rose offers some solid advice. “If you choose to be a business owner, you will need more faith than if you were a priest or a nun, and that is the truth. If you give your whole heart with that gift, you have to also surrender and have faith,” she says, pointing out that leadership has more to do with being “just another cog in the wheel,” than with power.

“A business is the sum of the people there: everyone who shows up every day. No one person makes up a business. It is when a group of individuals come together and decide to all get on a bus and go in the same direction,” she says. While this is important to remember, Rose also reminds novices of the importance of keeping family and other significant relationships in mind.

The company’s name does its culture proud. In the myths of ancient Rome, Aurora heralds sunrise as she crosses the sky every morning as dawn. While completing her degree and writing her master’s thesis in feminist religion, Rose discovered that preceding her arrival in the Greco-Roman world, Aurora was seen as the one who brought light to the world in pre-historical times. Today, the name remains a calling card for excellence.

The early days in this career were a bit of a surprise to Rose. Arriving in an industry as a business owner where some customers’ underhanded dealings and other, similar behaviors, she had to set up a watertight set of values including being able to fire customers for untoward treatment. As a result, the company’s staff turnover rate is quite low. The team members value the fact that they are respected and valued enough not to have to tolerate abuse and unfair treatment in this traditionally harsh industry.

Since then, Rose has left deep footprints in her local industry by becoming a trustee on the union’s apprenticeship board and by establishing a women’s club in which she could encourage more women to join the trade. In addition, she joined the pension board to help ensure that those women she recruited would know that they would, in the end, get what they had signed up for at the beginning of their careers.

Rose is also a board member of the Queens Economic Development Corporation and the chairwoman of Queens Women’s Business Centre. Another group that is very close to the leader’s heart is the Amber Light Society, which comprises women electricians from New York’s Local Union No. 3. “They have honored me twice in my thirty years. I feel blessed to be associated with these women,” Rose says.

The company is also a proud supporter of the police activity league. Once a year, for seven weeks in the summer, Aurora Electric, Inc. welcomes anywhere from one to three interns from a local New York community who join its team to gain work experience and mentorship.

As the industry is increasingly moving toward more sophisticated technology, staying up to date with developments is imperative. Where tools were straightforward to use in the past, it is not uncommon for people to now complete courses in using digital and electronic equipment safely and correctly in the field. This, in one sense, is the perfect metaphor for how the Aurora team intends on moving forward: by staying ahead of the trends and by committing to continuous improvement and service excellence.

The post 30 Years of Making the World a Better Place<p class="company">Aurora Electric</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Coming to Canada from his home in Yugoslavia as a teen, the young Arpi worked in Alberta’s oil patch, later earning his sheet metal ticket. With an entrepreneurial spirit, he started Arpi’s Heating, servicing Calgary-area homes and businesses. Word spread quickly about Arpi’s professionalism, earning him more and more satisfied customers.

Today, the modest company he started back in 1963 has grown into one of Canada’s biggest and most respected full-service mechanical contractors, with hundreds of employees. The company serves customers predominantly in Calgary and surrounding areas.

Under the experienced leadership of Arpi’s daughter Julie, who serves as President, family-owned Arpi’s Industries provides heating and air conditioning services, along with plumbing and ventilation solutions on projects.

Ahead of its time
Arpi’s keeps up with the latest technologies in the market for the benefit of all its clients and projects. The company is active at trade shows and works directly with many manufacturers and suppliers.

Arpi’s residential business includes HVAC and plumbing installations for the homebuilder market as well as maintenance / repair / replacement of equipment for homeowners. This breadth across the residential market supports Arpi’s training program for the most experienced and multi-faceted technicians in the industry.

“On the commercial plumbing side, I, together with our Construction Manager for the department, and all of our Project Managers, have Gold Seal Certification, which is accredited throughout Canada,” he says.

Administered by the Canadian Construction Association, the Certification assures construction management that these professionals have undertaken training and continual skills development to achieve the highest standards of industry excellence. “We encourage that our staff become Gold Seal Certified, because it shows we invest in extracurricular training and our people have as much technical education as possible.”

Investing in solutions
At Arpi’s Industries, one of the company’s biggest advantages is its range of capabilities. Situated on nine acres in South East Calgary since 1980, Arpi’s brings three major commercial components to the company: a commercial sheet-metal fabrication shop, a fabrication shop for piping, and a material handling shop.

Taking on large jobs for years, Arpi’s has grown even more since Julie became President in 2000, increasing the company’s volume and size of projects.

“Her vision of putting the right people in the right place has moved the company to the next level,” says Morrison, who started with the company 19 years ago as an apprentice and worked his way up to building information modelling and senior estimator before becoming business development manager. “From the shoulders of her dad, she’s lifted the company to the next level.”

One of Arpi’s greatest assets is its 20,000-square-foot commercial sheet metal shop. Complete with over $5 million of shop machinery and tools including a full coil duct machine, spiral machine and plasma table, Arpi’s makes all its own ventilation and sheet metal items and can process over two and a half million pounds of sheet metal annually.

The company’s well-stocked material handling shop carries a large supply of pipe, fittings, valves, and hangers, ensuring the company is not dependent on suppliers when products are needed, which has proved invaluable during the COVID era. Additionally, Arpi’s 7,000-square-foot fabrication shop includes two 5-ton overhead cranes, three welding stations, and two grooving stations able to produce 700 weld / groove inches of fabrication per day.

Range of services
At Arpi’s Industries, size and experience count. Along with residential and commercial services and mechanical contracting, the company takes on large-scale projects with homebuilders and contractors. “People that are familiar with one part of our business are often very surprised to learn about the other areas we operate in,” says Morrison. Across the entire, diverse business, projects may be as small as a hot water tank replacement for a residential customer, or as massive as Calgary’s BMO Centre Expansion.

Serving as the city’s go-to venue for trade shows, conferences, and meetings for 40 years, the BMO Centre is undergoing a $500 million expansion, and Arpi’s is playing a key role in the upgrades as the prime mechanical contractor. The massive project will see the centre’s total floor space increased by more than one million square feet, including 250,000 square feet of contiguous floor space.

The BMO Centre Expansion is a vast, well-publicized project for the business (although not the largest in its 60-year history). “It’s a significant expansion,” says Morrison.

Arpi’s teams are handling plumbing, Hydronics, HVAC, and all ducting. They are also responsible for the BMS (building management systems) contractor, sprinkler contractor, and mechanical installation contractor, with all mechanical elements falling under their umbrella.

The right stuff
From residential home installs to massive convention centres, Arpi’s requires not only an experienced team but dedication and the right mindset.

“We look for people who want to be here and are willing to learn and be engaged,” says Morrison, “and it will only be a matter of time before they overtake someone who has the initial technical expertise but doesn’t really care or want to be here.” The right attitude goes a long way in fulfilling career and personal goals at Arpi’s.

Arpi’s staff includes ticketed Red Seal plumbers, pipefitters, refrigeration technicians, and sheet-metal workers. For the company, that ticket is an endorsement and shows that workers have the knowledge and skill set to practice their trades. Working only with indentured apprentices, Arpi’s stands behind employees entering the trades, encouraging them to get their apprenticeship and ticket, go to school, and finish their certification. Arpi’s staff are actively engaged with SAIT apprenticeship programs, with some participating as curriculum advisors, Board Members, and assisting instructors.

Internally, Arpi’s is known as a great place to work, with many employees recognizing 20, 30 and 40+ years of service to the company. Externally, the company receives both praise from customers and industry awards. Just a few include the 2021 Platinum Club Winner of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, the HomeStars ‘Best of’ Award for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, and a 15-time winner of the Dave Lennox Award.

As a residential leader in the industry, the company continues to provide clients with the best warranties, competitive prices, 24/7 emergency services, and a labour guarantee.

As for the 60^th anniversary of the company, plans are still in the works, says Morrison, adding that there will likely be a modest grassroots celebration in late spring or early summer. “We are the same company, just with more people than we had 60 years ago, doing the best we can and getting through COVID and all the ups and downs of the last two years,” he shares.

“There won’t be fireworks or anything like that; we will be recognizing long-term staff and showing appreciation to our staff.”

Arpi’s may have grown a lot since it was founded in 1963, but its family values remain, which is more important today than ever before. “In the world of globalization, outsourcing, and overseas everything, we believe in doing things in-house,” says Morrison, “and that translates into those we hire.”

Arpi’s retains a lot of local people. “We genuinely give people careers and, in turn, we hope we do a great job for them. People here aren’t treated like numbers, and that is becoming more and more important as we come out of COVID,” says Morrison. “We want to maintain—and we do maintain—that grassroots, local contractor feel that there is an actual person at the other end of the phone. It’s all about relationships.”

The post Finding Success With Family Values<p class="company">Arpi’s Industries Ltd.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The Accu-Temp team did not stay in the basement for long. “Chris had this vision to offer clients automated building solutions, to control systems to make things easier, save money,” Ward says. “He loved the technology.” The company grew steadily as Dave handled the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) side of the business and Chris, an “extremely innovative man,” explored building automation.

Soon, Chris partnered with multinational conglomerate Honeywell, a lucrative relationship that continues to this day. Over time, Accu-Temp evolved to focus exclusively on building automation, earning a leading position within the industry. Now with Chris’s son Alex as President, he follows in his father footsteps.

“We have continued to invest in the technology,” says Ward. “We always tried to lead the way, be ahead of the curve. There’s always new stuff coming out [and] we’ve always tried to be a leader in that. We’ve always tried to invest in our people, to make sure they are properly trained and certified and they have the best tools and knowledge base to grow.”

This support is mutually beneficial. “We truly feel that if our employees are happy and they’re trained and they are looked after properly that will come back to the company, so we just continue to invest in people and take chances on new technologies that we see can work to future-proof our clients.”

The idea of ‘future-proofing’ is a core part of the company’s philosophy. “The goal for the last five to seven years is to make sure that whatever we install, recommend, program, commission to help our clients with an intelligent building or an integrated building with their HVAC, lighting, and other systems is to try and future proof them, [to] not be something that will time out in six or seven years and they have to upgrade or replace.”

A part of future-proofing is to ensure that clients can operate the system independently. “Our approach to customer service is a little bit unique to what some other people do,” Ward says. “We design, install, and commission a system, and then we train our customers to operate that building. If we’ve done our job right, they do not need a lot of continuing support because we’ve trained them how to operate their building.”

Of course, if a client does run into trouble, Accu-Temp is there to help. The company’s Director of Service, Danielle Allen, “has vast knowledge,” Ward says. “She runs a good group, keeps our clients happy.” When service is necessary, the team uses technology for a more efficient outcome.

“The way we are different from many of our competitors is we don’t believe in rolling a truck on a service call,” Ward says. “We try to do everything with remote access and support and work with their current and existing HVAC service providers to troubleshoot and come up with solutions, and by doing, so we can keep their operational maintenance costs down.”

Accu-Temp values employees in addition to customers, and this shows in the retention and growth rates, even during COVID. “Since about 2014, we’ve grown from eleven people to thirty people,” Ward says. “In doing so, we tried to stay ahead of the curve. We invested in people as well as technology to make sure they had everything they needed… to try and create this culture and retain employees and we have through COVID, which is amazing.”

Ward credits management for providing this supportive work environment, calling each department lead solid. Management encourages employees to maintain a healthy work/life balance for the good of all. “We encourage them to take time off. They need time; they need family time [to] take vacations. It’s very important. You have to be able to work hard and play hard, and family has to come first.”

Accu-Temp launched a brand new, improved benefit plan in May to better support the workforce. This includes a program where the company will match employee registered savings plan (RSP) contributions dollar for dollar, up to a limit. And at the beginning of the year, the team implemented a company-wide pay raise.

“With the cost of living across Canada and North America, it was challenging for people,” Ward explains. “And look at the price of fuel today. So we did an across-the-board, five percent cost of living bump for everybody, whether you’ve been with us for two months or twelve years.”

To ensure employees are getting everything they can out of their job and fulfilling their career goals, management sits down with each person twice a year. The aim is to “get the feedback and make sure they’re on their personal plan, make sure that they’re doing what we need and we’re doing what they need.”

The company’s relationship with Honeywell remains mutually beneficial and has been an important component of Accu-Temp’s continued success. “Honeywell has a contracting network throughout North America with over sixteen hundred contractors, and we’re very fortunately part of their ACI direct channel—there’s only twelve of us in North America,” Ward explains. “So we represent the top tier of contractors throughout North America and continue to participate in that shared technology, do testing on new products for them, and work with them.”

Accu-Temp recently completed a major, benchmark project in Guelph, Ontario, on a six-storey government building with a large atrium. “What was unique about it is the value of this project was probably fifty percent larger than our best year seven or eight years ago.” In addition, the project was “the first of its kind in North America,” Ward says. “It has over five hundred BAS controllers and they’re all installed over an IP network using fibre cable and managed IP switches.”

The project also stands out because all work had to be done outside of normal business hours, while the building was unoccupied. “All this work has to take place at night-time. We have a team of six people on site every night for twelve months to install all these new controls, program them, commission them, and get it up and running.” The workforce adapted to the nightshift and the challenges of the oversized, high-tech job without a problem.

“We’ve had nothing but rave reviews about how our team worked with the other contractors on it, and it’s enabled us to continue to grow in that sector with not just the consultants, but with the government agencies that tender these projects, and we’re doing more throughout the province as we speak.”

Accu-Temp is eager to continue pressing forward. This includes striving for the best internal systems within the company. “We’ve just activated a brand new database, going from an old, antiquated database to a new database and accounting system,” Ward says. “It went live May first, and we’re just getting up and running. That’s something new we’re doing to help create systems internally to make us more efficient, to help people do their jobs better. We wanted to continue to do that. We want to continue to empower people to make decisions to grow for themselves and their families, and we are continually trying to stay ahead of technology.”

After four decades in business, the team is looking forward to celebrating the company’s fortieth anniversary this year. On September 22^nd, the team will throw a big bash for over three hundred friends, family members, and business partners to mark the occasion.

The half-day party will feature live music, food, and gifts and, fittingly, will be held in a building in which the company has installed systems. “We are having a major event at a local hall,” Ward reports. “We’ve actually done a lot of work in the whole complex.”

As the team looks to provide their top-of-the-line building automation solutions for the next forty years, they know they must maintain the standards the company has set from its inception. “Our next project is only as good as our last project’s success,” Ward says. “So we continue to [address] issues head-on, keep our clients happy, and future-proof them. I truly believe the rest will take care of itself. We are creating relationships, not just contacts.

The post Leading the Way in Building Automation<p class="company">Accu-Temp</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Metropolitan New York is coming back to life as the pandemic eases, with a 0.23 percent increase in population in the first quarter of 2022, after a decrease in the past few years. All those residents can be assured of the continuation of essential services, including what is perhaps the most essential of all, a ready supply of clean drinking water and environmentally safe disposal of sewage throughout the five boroughs, made possible by the Department of Environmental Protection, and the industrial contractors like Delphi Plumbing & Heating who work with them.

Two years ago, when we spoke with Delphi’s founder, CEO and President Jim Sidiropoulos and Vice President in charge of field operations Dimitri Sidiropoulos, New York had just experienced a disastrous three months at the epicentre of the pandemic, and we wanted to catch up with them and learn what was happening in NYC and at Delphi’s offices in Brooklyn.

“In general, the recovery of our industry was not easy,” Jim tells us, noting that unfortunately, some businesses, including some Delphi had engaged as subcontractors, had not been able to withstand the burden COVID placed on them and had to close. Even though Delphi is considered an essential business, work was at its lowest level ever, and because clients as well as Delphi’s supervisory and office personnel were all working remotely, there were communication challenges.

However, the good news is that Delphi did not have to let go of any of its personnel. Some employees did contract COVID but, “We supported them, and we are happy to say they all came through. After two years, we are beginning to see the light as the city awakens,” says Jim.

So why did Delphi survive when some smaller companies didn’t? The more obvious reasons are the company’s 150 years of combined experience, its financial stability, and the fact it is licensed in three states to handle any job of any kind and any size.

But there’s more to it, as Jim reflects, summing up crucial contributing factors in a few words. “Reputation. Being true to our word. Our employees,” he shares.

“We’ve been in business for over 40 years,” he continues. “We survived the 80s, 9/11, the 2008 depression, the pandemic, and everything in between, and we have survived. It has to do with our reputation. No business can survive the ups and downs of our industry without a stellar reputation, and the basis of that is being true to your word. No matter how cynical the world has become, I have always been, and will continue to be, true to my word,” he says.

“But it’s also our employees who make Delphi what it is. They are second to none. Delphi is family-owned and family-oriented; some of our employees have been with us for 20, 30, and even 40 years, as is the case of Senior Project Manager Joe Faiello. We treat them all as family, we hurt when they hurt, we rejoice when they have happy occasions, and our success is all owed to them.”

The biggest challenge Delphi is facing now, he says, is the same one facing every company in the industry, which is delays in receiving critical equipment on time due to supply chain problems. “Our contracts are fixed price contracts, so changes in core materials and parts can hurt our bottom line,” he explains. “On top of that there is the rising cost of fuel and inflation that is reaching a breaking point.”

A brief history
Jim, who was born in Greece, emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager and joined the plumber’s union as an apprentice in 1972, became a journeyman and, in 1985, received a New York Master Plumber’s Licence, followed up by a NYC Fire Protection Licence and a New Jersey Master Plumber’s Licence.

But five years earlier, while still a journeyman, he decided he would do better opening his own business, which he did in 1980, incorporating it in1983.

“The freedom of being my own boss was exhilarating,” he told us when we spoke in 2020, “but it wasn’t easy. It was a struggle in the beginning, as it is with any startup. It was just me, one helper, and a beat-up truck that had 200,000 miles on it.”

How Delphi helps to build New York City
Over the next 42 years, Delphi grew into the company it is today, one of the leading mechanical contractors in the area, working with the most distinguished large general contractors as well as directly with city, state, and federal agencies, and as such, continuing to help build NYC.

Through spec-to-bid and negotiated projects, Delphi has been instrumental in the successful completion of commercial/industrial plumbing and mechanical installations that include multistory ground-up construction along with major renovations for health, educational and correctional facilities; multi-story office and residential buildings; military bases; sewage pumping stations; and water treatment plants.

Indeed, the company’s industrial division has performed new installations and major renovation work throughout the five boroughs, including in Wards Island, North River, Newtown Creek, Red Hook, Owls Head, 26th Ward, Tallman Island, Rockaway Jamaica, Bowery Bay, Hunts Point, Port Richmond, Oakwood Beach, and other pumping stations, ensuring that New Yorkers have a clean supply of drinking water and safe sewage disposal.

In addition, Delphi’s expertise extends to fire protection design, installation, and maintenance. Monthly, yearly, and five-year systems testing, as mandated by the National Fire Protection Association, of which Delphi is a member, ensures the safety of building occupants and minimizes the damage from fire.

In 2016, Delphi was listed as one of “America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” by INC 5000. It subsequently received recognition from The American Registry LLC which added the company’s name to its Registry of Business Excellence.

What’s happening in 2022
Delphi, Jim told us, was fortunate to have been awarded three major ongoing contracts with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) three years ago, which is responsible for providing pure drinking water to the city and collecting and safely disposing of sewage. Recently Delphi was awarded three more projects, all involving large-scale renovations in water pollution plants and pumping stations. “But the work is not just handed to us,” Jim says. “DEP is a public agency and must publish all projects for bids, with all bid results publicly opened. Each project must be looked at carefully by us, analyzed, and estimated accurately. It is a challenge, and the competition is always fierce,” he shares.

“The contracts we are working on now require a high level of engineering to collect sewage and move it miles by force-mains from pumping stations to the sewage treatment plants. The systems are always on and as such, they are subject to constant attendance, maintenance, and upgrade,” Jim explains.

“Ten years ago, Hurricane Sandy made a mess out of the city’s infrastructure, hitting the water treatment plants the hardest, flooding some of them and making them inoperable. Now the task at hand, which started three years ago, is to protect those plants and pumping stations from another disaster by erecting concrete barriers to channel rising sea or river waters away from them and raising critical equipment to above potential flood levels.

In addition to the contacts with DEP, Delphi also has contracts with NYC Department of Sanitation, NYC Health and Hospitals, NYC Design and Construction, NYC School Construction Authority, and other agencies.

“The demand for schools is growing with the influx of new citizens,” Dimitri, who is leading these projects, says, “and it’s keeping us busy.” SCA is Delphi’s second largest customer and there are currently nine school projects underway, ranging from pre-schools to high schools, with either ground-up construction or major renovations, for which Delphi will supply plumbing and HVAC installations.

Keeping all the trades on track is a sophisticated Auto CAD 3D program, which Dimitri says is essential for ground-up construction if conflicts are to be avoided. “We receive the architectural layout, and the steel structure drawings, which have been entered in the 3D model, and then the mechanical trades, one by one, beginning with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and sprinkler, start adding their duct and piping runs, called layers. As we add the layers, we run a critical detection program that can tell us if this pipe is blocking that duct, or if the electrical conduit isn’t in the right place, and the trades coordinate and correct any ‘hits’ before signing off the final to-build drawings.”

Looking to the future
“We are always looking for ways to grow the company and fill jobs that are available,” Jim responds when asked about the future. He notes that New York has come a long way from the days of the complete shutdown, but pandemic restrictions continue to linger as well as supply chain issues. “The best way for us to remain in business and continue our success is to take care of our greatest asset, which is our employees and their families. We are comfortable with the pace we have, but we do look for opportunities to increase our work backlog and keep everyone busy.”

In a few years, he’s looking at stepping aside so that his son Dimitri can be the steady hand that will guide the company forward. “Having Dimitri at my side has been a blessing,” he says, reflecting on the quandary privately owned businesses face when there is no family member to succeed.

But he’s not quite ready to step aside yet. “It’s not easy to retire when you build a company from the ground up because it becomes a part of you, and you want that company to be successful whether you’re at the helm or not.”

For Jim, and other private owners, it’s not just about the money they’ve invested; it’s about the heart and soul they put into it.

The post Proudly Serving the New York Metropolitan Area Since 1980<p class="company">Delphi Plumbing & Heating</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

For Aaron McEwin, Director of Sustainability at Jordan & Skala Engineers, this kind of thinking is in his DNA – and part of his approach to every project from multi-family dwellings to hospitals, universities and commercial city blocks.

“We don’t want to deplete the resources on this earth and that’s the challenge with buildings,” says McEwin. “Concrete and steel take a lot of energy to produce and move around. There’s been a big push on reducing carbon footprint. To me, that impacts a lot of different areas, the transportation area, the construction of buildings, even the operational side of it after we designed it.”

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Jordan & Skala is a mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering firm that is licensed in all 50 states. The firm is at the forefront of green building with a focus on energy modeling and energy compliance programming.

“As engineers, we’re stewards of our resources and want to do the best we can to maximize the potential for those resources,” he says.

Environment, society, responsibility
In fact, the company’s leadership in environmentally friendly projects is a cornerstone of its philosophy. Jordan & Skala is part of the U.S. Green Building Council, committed to developing buildings that are designed and built using both environmentally and socially responsible practices.

How do they do this, exactly?

As an engineer, McEwin focuses on the lifespan of a building and its impact on the environment. He admits that this approach is a challenge as many of the practices he wants to implement have significant upfront costs. So, the firm must plan for the longer term.

As the cost of energy systems designed to reduce carbon emissions becomes more affordable, consideration must be given to planning the area within a building that will house these systems, making sure that electricity and other infrastructure is already in place to simply plug and play.

McEwin knows firsthand about climate adaptation and evolving energy systems. “There is a lot of heat in Texas,” he says, recalling his early days growing up in the Lone Star State.

It was this heat and his father’s work in HVAC that inspired his own interest in climate management and green building. McEwin remembers his father installing some of the first wooden cooling towers next to people’s homes to provide air conditioning through a process known as adaptive cooling.

The adaptive cooling system is a device that cools the air of a building through the evaporation of water. These systems operate on the principle that water will absorb a lot of heat before evaporation occurs. This can cool air much more efficiently than refrigeration systems.

From finance to low-temp apps
“My dad had a degree in finance,” McEwin says. “He was planning to go into the banking industry and was offered a job at a wholesale group in Dallas as a salesperson for refrigeration and low-temperature applications for grocery stores, restaurants, and schools and so forth. He began selling the equipment.”

McEwin adds that his grandfather worked in HVAC as well as being an early contractor in northeast Texas. “I think, with the knowledge my father had working with his own dad and being around those systems, he became very good at what he did.” Truly a multi-generational desire to help people stay comfortable!

With the resources of Jordan & Skala, McEwin works not only in the hot, humid conditions of Texas, Florida, and Georgia, but also in the dry heat of Arizona and California. This depth of experience in keeping people comfortable extends to the northern climates of Minnesota as well. “We’re able to provide specialized solutions to people in many different areas of the country,” he says.

A big part of his job is really to help Jordan & Skala, including project partners, clients, and industry colleagues, learn about sustainability and how to design and implement both energy efficiency and green building practices. He admits there is still a lot of confusion and mixed nomenclature around sustainable building.

Getting the names right
“What’s called net zero could be net energy-net zero or net carbon-net zero or zero water,” says McEwin. The term is thrown around a lot and its meaning changes based on what the owner of the building is looking for when they’re developing a property.

To McEwin, net zero energy means offsetting whatever energy you are using with energy you are producing. “That’s the ideal scenario that our future depends on, so we’re not relying on carbon-based Victorian-era electricity grids. And it takes important design considerations.”

The infrastructure of the mechanical and electrical systems of the building must be able to handle the input of additional energy and protect the building from over-producing energy.

“There have to be methods to regulate the amount of production or push it out of the building so that it can maximize the production of the renewable systems in the buildings in order to achieve that truly net-zero-bill at the end of the year,” says McEwin.

The realities of what is designed, built and ultimately operational can also affect the efficiency of the finished product. As McEwin explains, there are many different moving pieces to any green energy system. Simple things like dampers getting stuck or actuators malfunctioning can affect input and output in a system.

The firm’s primary work is electrical infrastructure that allows electrical systems to deliver the required capability and capacity. While specialized contractors design and test solar and wind production systems, it’s Jordan & Skala that connects the systems to the electrical components of the building.

His team also uses energy-code testing to make doubly-sure the systems are fully compliant and operational once they’re in place.

Expanding demands
This work is becoming more and more challenging, he notes, as building owners and developers are requesting more and more green energy components such as zero-emission vehicle-charging stations.

For example, one project underway is an industrial facility that requires truck charging stations. His firm is overseeing the electrical infrastructure required to enable this significant increase in energy demand.

Another big project is Trinsic Residential’s Aura Thirty2, a five-story wood frame luxury residential development in University Park in Austin, Texas, one of the designated areas of Austin’s green energy building program. The property includes a resort-style pool, rooftop deck, clubroom and private work suites. Jordan & Skala has been able to guide the developer and construction team right from conceptual design to completion.

“With the green building administrative services we provide, we look at everything from the building envelope, and the windows and walls, to everything in it,” McEwin says.

He takes special pride in this particular development as it has allowed his team to oversee everything and to be certain that what was designed is what is finally implemented. “We are not just designing these systems and practices, we are implementing them as well. And when the instrumentation is in place, that is the best way of providing quality assurance.”

The post A Climate of Change Heats Up Building Design and Construction<p class="company">Jordan & Skala Engineers</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Over forty years later, Barnum is now a full-service design-build firm operating throughout the United States. Business Development Engineer Jared McClintock explains that the company concerns itself with self-performed installations, allowing a turnkey system to be delivered to customers so they can minimize time spent with additional vendors.

Barnum’s placement in the industry, according to McClintock, begins with the philosophy that it can provide more value to its customers. “Food and beverage processors are always under huge pressure to produce more at faster speeds and lower cost,” he says. “Our solutions last a long time and allow the customer to make product changes easily.”

McClintock says that the Barnum installation crews are incredibly skilled, engineering and installing state-of-the-art automated control systems thanks to the partnership of automation and process engineers who who design robust systems that produce consistent products. The company also sports its own custom fabrication shop, allowing it to produce necessary changes for customers with a turnaround of hours as opposed to days. Its systems are designed with total cost of ownership in mind and are built to last and grow and evolve as the user does.

McClintock cites Tom Barnum’s history in welding as a reason why the company’s welding skills are a point of pride. “Tom has high standards for everything in the company but especially with welding, [as it relates to] techniques, inclusions, stress cracks.”

A commitment to innovation is seen in the company’s interest in evolving technology and staying ahead in the market. It works frequently with universities like UC Davis and vendors like Alfa Laval to create solutions that help both parties innovate and eventually lead to the best equipment possible for customers’ distinctive needs.

The company’s use of the design-build model of project delivery is appreciated because it allows clients to partner with the company early in the process and for Barnum to act as an in-house engineering department, while working with them to narrow in on the best solution and innovate in real time. Using the progressive design-build model means that “We get things built in half the time because we focus on what is needed and are working in parallel with the client,” says McClintock.

Barnum can design standard food processing systems but it also works with customers to build never-before-seen systems. For example, McClintock relates that the company recently designed and installed a new brewery that uses less than half the normal amount of water to produce its beer and, in turn, removes 99 percent of contaminants from wastewater. This is especially helpful because of how water-intensive craft breweries are.

Barnum also worked with another international company to design a system to turn bio-solids and food waste into green energy. He sees these as very exciting opportunities and admits how lucky it is to have customers who want to innovate and bring these ideas to the market.

Customers today are concerned about health, animal welfare, and sustaining the planet, so new solutions must be adaptable and flexible. Within the last few years, Barnum has relished the opportunity to work with forward-thinking processors like Better Meat Company, Kite Hill, and Impossible Foods among others, allowing it to focus on an emerging market that it believes in and working with passionate people. There is now a global drive in the industry toward more sustainable solutions like plant-based foods, alternative proteins, and cultivated meats. The company is constantly researching and implementing new technologies to promote and implement sustainability.

“Companies don’t just want products made to a certain specification but to have it done in a sustainable way,” McClintock explains. “This is very fun for us, and we are able to move in the market well because we are nimble.”

Generally, most processors are not concerned with aesthetics or the involvement of outside parties, but today’s wineries, breweries, distilleries, and cultured meat plants have begun to invite outside eyes into production facilities and even livestream production lines, meaning the demand for showcase installations and a greater aesthetic appeal is necessary. Barnum helps its customers select the right equipment for their needs and fabricates custom parts in-house.

The company has a commitment to sustainability in its processes and outlooks, and McClintock verifies that every system designed by Barnum is built with this in mind, existing as a basic design imperative. Engineers look for ways to recapture both energy and water at any point and design systems to reduce solid waste, biological oxygen demand, and wastewater.

The company takes an end-to-end approach when designing solutions and components, which allows it to reduce the environmental impact in the long run by viewing a project holistically. Its focus on process engineering also allows it to tie one piece of equipment into a facility to minimize negative environmental consequences and to better understand how to save resources.

In 2020, its fortieth year of business, Barnum Mechanical faced the challenge of operating within the global COVID-19 quarantine. The consequences of the pandemic through its supply chains hit it hard as the inherent need for sanitation in the food and beverage industry caused necessary but serious interruptions, a problem that is still ongoing. McClintock remembers that some customers cancelled big capital projects. Conversely, others, such as clients introducing innovative ready-to-eat food products, were made even busier to keep up with increased demands. Barnum’s robust safety measures were increased and adapted to keep workers busy and perform the work clients needed, and this achievement is something of which the company is very proud.

McClintock’s view of the industry in 2021 is that change is the only constant. “We are not quite back to pre-COVID and won’t be until our supply chain problems are solved, but we have had unique opportunities to work with long-term clients on fun and innovative projects.” Much growth still lies in emerging markets, and with the industry remaining an essential one, Barnum will look to roll with any punches that come its way and stay abreast of new technology to provide the best customer solutions.

The company is also currently in a growth mode and is looking to hire more engineers. McClintock notes that the company has retained many highly-skilled employees through the past forty years which allows it to confidently innovate.

He defines Barnum as an exceptional company that taps into its forty years of experience to do new things. “Innovative is only relevant to now. We learned what worked and what didn’t work,” he says. “Having a gut feeling for innovation is unique to Barnum.”

The post Raising the Bar for the Sanitary Processing Industry<p class="company">Barnum Mechanical</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Asked about Dual Temp’s sure-footed evolution over a half-century, Bradley Noel, President of this Lehigh Valley company says, “One of my thoughts on that is that Dual Temp keeps evolving. We look beyond the day-to-day challenges to where tomorrow is going to have opportunities. We also take care of our employees. We offer them a great place to work with excellent health benefits and opportunities to grow their career to the next level.”

Promotion from within is a strategy that has long served Dual Temp well. The company ensures that there are comprehensive digital and traditional training resources available to ensure its employee-partners have opportunities to advance their careers. All of the project managers, service managers, and CAD professionals at Dual Temp got their start in the field.

“It’s important to show a career path for our field staff. This could be exceling in technical trade expertise, or moving into an office role. I can feel our team improving each time we fill an office leadership role with someone who has come from the field,” said Noel.

“We have a full catalog of digital training we can leverage. We can assign it to people and help them meet their goals for their career, or help set goals for them in their career, and increase the use of technology – to our advantage – to get them there,” said Noel.

Dakota Brown is an employee partner who has grown his career with Dual Temp, moving up through the ranks to assume the role of service manager. Reflecting on his success, Brown says, “If you want long term success, you have to have employees that are happy. You have to show your employees that there’s the ability for them to grow into other roles as part of their career.

“It’s that kind of place that’s going to keep pushing us forward as we look to tomorrow and the next challenge.”

The next challenge
In this case, the next challenge is addressing the increase in demand for services while also overcoming a persistent skilled labor shortage. Part of the reason for the increase in demand is the legislative changes aimed at optimizing indoor air quality (IAQ) to minimize airborne COVID transmission.

“There’s money available to companies who take advantage and apply for funding to make investments in their indoor air quality so that their employees are safer, and they can [safely] bring people back to their buildings,” says Brown.

He notes that Dual Temp is more than happy to help clients devise a strategy to take advantage of that funding so as to have optimum impact on buildings and employees.

Brown acknowledges that every building is different, but that, nevertheless, Dual Temp always offers a true full-service experience for its customers. “We sit down on a case-by-case basis and make our recommendations based on their indoor air quality and the design of their system, and we make adjustments to their building automation systems.

“We have competitors who say they’re a full-service mechanical contractor, except they don’t do this or that. We really do all of it. We really can provide that one-stop destination for our customers to get the services that they need, in a timely fashion and with absolute transparency,” says Noel.

Transparency through technology
Transparency, in the case of Dual Temp, is a competitive advantage and a point of differentiation, and technology has a role to play in this regard. For twelve years, Dual Temp has invested in ensuring that the latest technologies and innovations are integrated into their operations. This includes ‘video-reporting’ for their customers’ peace of mind and a guarantee of a job well done.

According to Brown, “A lot of the time in our industry, the only things a customer sees from us are check-in, check-out, and billing. They don’t see what’s going on up on their roof – it’s a mystery to them. But with the video reporting that we provide to our customers we can be absolutely transparent with them, so they not only know that we were on the site, but they see exactly what we’re seeing, and they see exactly what we did.”

Optimizing with SightCall
Dual Temp’s technology-enabled team-based approach is facilitated by a platform called SightCall, which is an enterprise-grade video cloud program that gives the Dual Temp team scalability and capacity across its footprint, and a process by which its day-to-day operations can be optimized.

“It was already part of our culture to leverage technology, but we had to start looking at other ways to use technology through things like SightCall so that we can support that greener technician while they’re on the job,” says Brown.

SightCall provides connectivity amongst the various divisions and allows technicians on site to video conference product- or service-specific experts to troubleshoot any problems and deliver the optimum solution and the greatest possible value to the customer.

Each employee-partner at Dual Tech is valued because the company’s leadership team knows that success comes from the strength of the sum of its parts, which is why connectivity tools like SightCall are elevating the level of service it provides.

“We use technology, we have good people, we value them. We work together as one big company, one big team with our diverse backgrounds, fusing all that stuff together with the resources, the logistics – just making sure that people can stay on the job and support the territory we have,” says Brown, and he emphasizes that the company’s goal is to do so safely, above all else.

Efficiency with skilled labor
Efficiency is key to maximize the value of the company’s skilled labor more effectively. The company instituted material support and logistics to ensure that technicians have the materials on-site when they need them, instead of having to source them on their own, which caused delays and wasted valuable time.

“In the past we would have our field foremen and our field technicians run for parts, but skilled talent is too valuable to be running logistics for parts pickup. We support them in the field with our logistics team to get them what they need, when they need it, and to let them focus their unique skilled talents on the mechanical project, service call, or construction job that they’re on,” Noel says.

Prioritizing safety
“I always say that safety comes first. Safety comes before profit. Safety comes before project schedule. Safety even comes before keeping the customer happy,” says Noel. “It’s up to us to prioritize our own safety and safety is an expectation.”

Brown echoes this sentiment: “That [attitude] trickles down through all the departments starting from Brad. We all know the expectation that our employee-partners show up here for work whole. They show up a certain way and we make sure they go home a certain way. Everyone needs to make sure they look out for themselves and the people they work with.”

Dual Temp also prioritizes the community. The three areas of emphasis in its philanthropic outreach are education, in particular reading programs for kindergarten through grade three students; food access programs to support the one in ten people in Lehigh Valley who struggle with food access; and seniors who are dependent on others for their basic needs.

“We’re cornerstone partners with the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. These guys are experts at delivering these services where they are needed most and we participate with our time and our dollars,” says Noel.

Dual Temp hosts what it calls an annual Day of Caring, which is a day dedicated to getting its employees out in the community to volunteer in some way, be it Meals on Wheels, or performing maintenance and upkeep on a local youth home. Employees are paid for their workday but spend it in the community making it a better place for them all to call home.

The people of Dual Temp believe in leaving spaces better than when they found them, and in an industry that’s typically slow to evolve, it blazes a trail using technology and innovation to foster its own culture of success. And of course, seek out opportunity for the future.

A future with Dual Temp
Noel and Brown close by promoting a career with Dual Temp and a job in mechanical contracting in general, given the continued focus on improving indoor air quality generally. And of course, there’s also the consistent demand for mechanical retrofits and building improvements that will undoubtedly power the industry for the conceivable future.

“It’s a great industry to get into if you’re looking for employment. Or if you’re in a building trade right now and looking for a change, mechanical contracting – HVAC – is a really good move because you’ll always have work, you’re always busy, and it will only become more so.

“We have the technology available to us,” Brown adds, “the training, the resources, the support. If you want to make a move, we’ll support that change and we’re able to help build that new career path at our company.”

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The business was founded in 1914 by Herbert Bassett McClure and Curtis Fisher, and over the ensuing century, it has grown into a full service commercial/industrial mechanical contractor.

Shelly Matter, the firm’s Director of Business Development, refers to the transition of the company being purchased by Bob Whalen, CEO of HB Global LLC, in 2008, then becoming an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) business in 2010, which means that HB McClure is 100 percent employee-owned.

Matter says the ownership change has led to a culture that is second to none in the industry because everyone who works for the company is an owner of it and, now employees across the board take great pride in the company. “HB is made up of hard working great people – we consider one another family.”

Carl Feaser, Vice President of Commercial Construction at HB McClure, emphasizes that its goal is world-class customer service. The focus is on delivering quality work and overall customer satisfaction, a solid focus for the company ever since the 1980s when the company moved to including pre-construction in its philosophy.

Smart acquisition
Thus far into the company’s formidable progress, Matter feels its biggest accomplishments, aside from becoming an ESOP, are its many acquisitions of strong companies whose core values align with its own.

The team’s first sizable acquisition was in 2014 when they purchased IT Landes located in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, which enabled HB McClure to extend its reach closer to the Philadelphia market.

IT Landes operates as a separate division of HB Global LLC, which has allowed for a great deal of growth on the commercial side of the business, including a count of over 500 employee owners on the roster (compared to a decade ago when there were a little over 200 employees altogether, Matter recalls).

Further acquisitions include design-build mechanical contractor Worden & Shewell of York, Pennsylvania in 2015, and purchase of commercial HVAC contractor Accu-Aire Mechanical Services, Inc. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2018. The company has seen marked growth over the past decade.

These acquisitions obviously dovetail with Feaser’s statement that HB McClure sees itself as a one-stop mechanical and plumbing business that can design, build, maintain, and replace anything that a customer may desire, and its resources and the wide-ranging skills of its sizable body of employees make this possible time and again.

Celebrating milestones
HB McClure has recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of becoming completely employee-owned, a huge milestone.

Matter sees this placing of the company in the hands of employees as a phenomenal opportunity for employees to become personally vested business owners. “The employees earn shares in the company and as the company grows, their stock value increases,” she says.

The business also offers its employees many opportunities for individual growth thanks to initiatives like HB University, a department within the company that establishes training modules for workers to acquire new skills in several different areas, should they desire to grow in such a way (for instance leadership, soft skills, and even public speaking).

Feaser has himself witnessed the impressive growth this extensive training has allowed and feels that it is within the company’s four major values of team, trust, growth, and grit. These values continue to lead the way for the HB workforce.

Employees at HB McClure seek to cultivate relationships with clients in the same manner that the familial relationships within the business are made and nurtured. With their commitment as owners, workers look to always provide superior service.

Company employees are highly proactive in client relationships, often participating in training on better ways to service clients as providers.

This client-first attitude extends to the company’s approach to community outreach. According to Matter, the company is highly involved with many non-profit organizations. Employees volunteer time and efforts to causes like Junior Achievement, The Salvation Army, Bethesda Mission, Girls on the Run, American Heart Association and even local sports teams and charitable initiatives like the Heart Walk and the United Way Day of Caring.

The company is actively involved in charitable efforts throughout the region and is always looking beyond its considerable success to give back in some form or fashion, another way in which its core values of trust, team, grit and growth are lived out every day.

Constructing a future
Regarding the construction industry, Feaser sees challenges ahead in 2021.

The rise in material costs and a degree of uncertainty in the country has reduced the inclination of both individuals and companies to spend as freely as before. There has also been increased pricing pressure, with a greater number of bidders on each project, as well as individuals fleeing the cities for the suburbs (although Feaser sees this as an opportunity as much as a challenge).

“During tough times,” Feaser says, “the true identity of a company comes out and we have had to work a lot harder.” During the initial advance of COVID-19 in 2020, construction in Pennsylvania was largely shut down, which led to HB McClure having to “slam on the brakes” on its projects. The company was forced to lay off 95 individuals and its operations were effectively stopped for around a month and a half.

Although HB is back on its feet, quarantine measures continue to make things a bit harder as projects can be shut down at a moment’s notice if even one worker develops a COVID symptom. The delays inherent in these quarantines have led to the speeding up of the end date on many projects so a lot of work has had to be sandwiched to be completed.

Aside from the timing complications of the past year, Feaser says that the process of finding skilled workers is a constant challenge to HB. So far, the best way to handle this challenge has been to make HB McClure simply the most rewarding choice of employment, in every way, to those rare and sought-after people.

The company’s status as an ESOP has been a huge help in this, as has offering in-house opportunities for growth, such as with HB University. Matter also notes that the company is currently dealing with a global trades shortage due to the mass retirement of baby boomers, which is a problem, Matter notes, that has been haunting the industry for some 20 years.

Matter observes that, because the generations that came after the boomers were so strongly oriented toward college and universities, the trades were neglected as a long-term profession. Consequently, companies like HB are becoming much more actively involved with trade fairs, job shadows, internships, and any other available ways to raise awareness of the employment opportunities in the trades, and also awareness of the support available to those on that career path.

A good start
As 2021 rolls on, it looks as though the HB McClure people will continue to pursue growth both as individuals and as a company and to succeed regardless of the economic conditions in the market.

As for the company, it has new plans to grow beyond its current geographic area and to continue to strengthen its bench while it does so. Matter also happily regards the company’s winning of the ACCA 2021 Contractor of the Year award as an omen that a good year stretches ahead.

This prestigious award is an industry recognition that the company has had its eye on for some time and plans are in motion for a proper celebration.

The HB McClure company has seen setbacks successfully faced and victories enjoyed in seemingly equal measure for the last year, and both have added to its momentum.

There’s no doubt that the employee-owned company has begun 2021 with its spirits up, with a motivated workforce, and with clear goals in mind.

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