Several years ago, Conewago Manufacturing, LLC provided custom precast panels and steel for Ag-Com’s new 3-story, state-of-the-art milling operation in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. On completion of the project the client was able to see their vision come to life in the form of a real, tangible building that had previously only lived in their minds. When the client shared their satisfaction with Conewago Manufacturing in an email, they captured the essence of what the company has been doing all along and what it continues to do today – help their clients turn visions into reality.

Conewago is a manufacturing company based out of Hanover, PA, specializing in precast concrete, steel fabrication and erection along with ready mix concrete. The company approaches its work with clients with commitment, creativity, and a can-do attitude that has placed it at the forefront of the precast concrete industry in Pennsylvania, Maryland and throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Representing Conewago today in a conversation that takes me through over six decades of service is President Jason Blasé and VP of Operations Eric Smith.

“There was a small stretch of time in the seventies where our sister company, Conewago Enterprises, started in precast concrete, making septic tanks and stormwater culverts,” says Smith of Conewago Manufacturing’s beginnings into the world of precast. “We ventured out from our general contractor side into our own company, Conewago Manufacturing, LLC to offer ready-mix, steel fabrication and erection, and then finally precast concrete.”

Interestingly, many of Conewago Manufacturing’s clients are general contractors who are competitors of its sister company. Those GC clients have come to value Conewago Manufacturing for not only the quality of their work, but also the fact they can purchase precast and steel from a single vendor, which offers numerous efficiencies.

“Our clients know that managing two different subs in the steel and precast trades can present numerous challenges and cause administrative and production delays,” says Smith. “Our model offers them a one-stop-shop and helps control the critical path of the project, and helps our GC clients keep projects on time and on budget.”

“We are AISC-certified fabricators and erectors,” Blase says with regard to the steel side of Conewago’s offering. “We make our own columns and beams, and we also do some miscellaneous metals like stairs, dock angles, items like that. We also have a small group that makes retaining walls.”

When it comes to precast concrete, insulated wall panels are, as Blase explains, “our bread and butter.” He continues: “One of our specialties is cold storage facilities. Instead of traditional cold storage buildings that are fragile and easily damaged, we can provide a concrete alternative where wear and tear on the structure is a lot less. If a worker accidentally backs into the wall with a forklift, they are going to hit concrete, it’s not going to be a metal panel that they’re gonna blow out.”

It goes without saying that the company has accrued a vast amount of experience in the sector. With a rich general contracting history from its sister company, Conewago Enterprises, behind it and with a keen eye on industry developments, it is no surprise that Conewago Manufacturing has experienced significant growth in the precast side of its business. “We produced 3 million square feet of wall panel last year. It was one of our shining moments where we produced in some months more than what we produced in previous years,” adds Smith. “That was exciting for us, and we’re very fortunate for that tremendous growth.”

While the company clearly maintains a forward-thinking approach to growth, it is perhaps more significant that this translates to a commitment to safeguarding the environment in which it operates. For example, Conewago has adopted innovative technologies that reduce environmental impacts and applied them to its processes. The result is to take a carbon-heavy material like cement and transform it into a sustainable building solution. “For our ready mix and precast operations, we have a system in place called Carbon Cure. We replace 5% of the cement in the concrete with carbon so that we can reduce how much carbon we are putting into the air,” adds Smith. Throughout Conewago Manufacturing’s usage of Carbon Cure to date, which is just over 3 years, the company has saved 16,000 tons of CO2, which equates to the amount of CO2 1,900 acres of forest can absorb in a year. In keeping with its innovative reputation, Conewago was the first company in Pennsylvania to implement Carbon Cure, a move which solidifies the commitment to sustainability that underlies its service. In addition to this, the company uses a technology that allows for 12% limestone replacement in the cement from its producer, and it has recently purchased a new reclamation process system that will enable it to take excess concrete and put it back into new concrete. “If there’s an environmentally friendly technology that makes sense, we are either on board, or we’re on the leading edge of trying to experiment with it and see if we can incorporate it into our process,” says Blasé.

Today, precast concrete is so much more than a grey and carbon-heavy cement fit strictly for big distribution centers and industrial warehouses. As a material it has evolved over time, rapidly in recent years, to become a building solution that is not just cost-effective and durable, but also aesthetically pleasing and easily maintained.

“Conewago was the first company in Pennsylvania to implement Carbon Cure, a move which solidifies the commitment to sustainability that underlies its service.”

“We are able to incorporate more attractive form liners and different patterns into the concrete, so they don’t just look like big plain boxes,” Smith says. “We can do all different colors, finishes and applications.”

The benefits of using precast materials have been proven over time and as such are widely known and accepted throughout the construction industry. There is further benefit, as Smith explains, to buying those materials from Conewago. “We’re AISC certified on the steel side and PCI certified on the precast side. They’re the two gold standards when it comes to certification in those respective industries. Whether we are working with our sister GC company or another GC on a project, we don’t want to just work one time for a customer, we want to make sure that every customer is a repeat customer, and we want to build a relationship with them. What that means is we are going to produce products with the utmost quality, we’re going to stand behind them with integrity, and we are going to do our best to be part of your vision and turn it into reality. When you buy the Conewago brand that’s what you get.”

To back up Smith’s comment on quality, Blase tells me how it has invested substantially into the automation of its process. “We have a plotter that takes our CAD files and lays everything out for precast production workers. There’s very little measuring going on, it’s all automated, and we have CNC machines for our insulation as well.”

Conewago strives more than ever for efficiency of service and the streamlining of processes. This is true of the construction industry in particular, where deadlines are often tight and where the involvement of too many parties can result in delays. Talking about Conewago’s ‘one-stop-shop’ approach, Blase says that it has a unique combination of services that it can offer its clients and contractors.

“All under one roof we can produce the structural steel and fabricate and erect the wall panels, so for large distribution and industrial manufacturing facilities we can truly be a one-stop-shop. When you walk away you basically have a full structure waiting for all your MEP subs and all the finishing trades. Depending on the size of the project we also have mobile concrete plants that we can put out for ready-mix concrete slabs and foundations.”

The unique quality and level of service that comes with the Conewago brand can be better understood through its project portfolio, of which Smith takes me through some of the highlights. “Bell and Evans is one of the flagship projects we have worked on recently. That had over 1,000 wall panels – just about every wall in the facility was precast concrete.” Smith explains how the owner of Bell and Evans, a visionary named Scott Sechler, Sr., toured different agricultural processing facilities around Europe and returned with a vision. “The facility, which is based in Fredericksburg PA, has a very unique, high-quality look and feel to it.
It has a very attractive façade and it’s all precast with different form liners and different color brick. Inside, the walls are poured with white concrete so they never need to be painted again, they can just be washed down. In other food production facilities that’s a big maintenance headache. All of these white concrete panels have reflective properties that increase the lighting in the building, you walk in and its extremely bright and a good working environment for their employees. The project had everything from traditional warehouse storage, freezers and coolers. It is one of three projects we’ve done for them and we have another one in the works.” As such, Bell and Evans are now repeat customers who have come to really value Conewago’s work. “They are quality driven, and they really appreciate the fact that we can be consistent with our quality,” says Smith.

Next in the spotlight is a project for local agricultural company, Ag-Com. Ag-Com is a family-owned mill located about ten minutes north of the Conewago Manufacturing facilities. “We toured their existing facility, and they had this historic traditional mill off the creek that used to be water driven. We built a 3-story tall precast structure with concrete floors, roofs, and wall panels. It stands seventy-foot tall, so we actually had to stack wall panels on top of each other. At the time, we went in and did this project with them they were working towards the future of a top-of-the line world-class milling operation. In an agriculture setting it really stands out and pushes Ag-Com into the future.

In fact, it was Matt Sharrer, General Manager of Ag-Com who famously inspired Conewago’s core purpose when explaining that the company had turned his team’s vision into reality. “Matt initially wanted to try and match the old historic look of the original mill, so we were going down a path of trying to make it look more historical. Then he came to see our office and decided he wanted to make it look more modern instead, so that’s what we strived to achieve.”

Like Scott Sechler, Sr. of Bell and Evans, Matt Sharrer of Ag-Com had also toured and explored facilities of similar companies throughout the U.S. and Europe to fine tune their vision for their new buildings. As Smith explains, these projects, while different on the face of it, share one common theme. “There you’ve got two totally different companies who travelled the globe to find the best international practices from a design and aesthetics perspective, and Conewago Manufacturing was able to provide the materials and services needed to translate those top-level standards and design requirements into a final finished building that meets their needs.”

The wide range of products and services Conewago offers and their diverse applications exemplifies the far-reaching potential of precast concrete. While already offering much to the industry, those working with the material feel that this is only the beginning. There is agreement industry-wide that precast concrete can reach much further than the large distribution centers and industrial facilities it typically serves. Along with PCI and based on its first-hand experience in the industry, Conewago is pushing for the use of precast concrete in smaller buildings too. “We’ve done schools in the past and a lot of churches, data centers, and healthcare facilities,” says Smith. We do everything from 1.2 million square foot warehouses to something that’s 20,000 square feet. It’s a really scalable product. And sometimes precast is incorporated into certain sections only. We’ve built lots of garages for car dealerships, for example, where the showroom is built using a different type of construction. We understand that people utilize our products differently.”

Looking to the future, Conewago remains focused on growth, albeit in the different business landscape that comes with new challenges and market segments. “As the needs of our clients and the industry in general shift and change,” says Smith, “we need to remain nimble company to take on smaller projects or look to different market segments to serve. We’re very cost-effective at large distribution and online retail facilities, those big boxes have dominated the industry for decades.” Blase adds, “We want to continually diversify our portfolio and what we offer. Customers are changing as we are, but we feel we are pretty agile when it comes to meeting their requirements and exceeding them. The one thing that we know won’t change is that we’re not going to sacrifice our quality, our integrity, and the name that we built in the industry. We will continue, no matter where the market takes us, to turn visions into reality.”

Wolverine Building Group is a general contractor and construction management company headquartered in Grand Rapids, West Michigan. A nationally recognised construction leader backed by an impressive eighty years of service, Wolverine Building Group prides itself on being one of West Michigan’s most trusted construction companies. It’s not unusual for a construction company to claim involvement in all facets of construction, but in the case of Wolverine Building Group the claim is meant quite literally. One day you might see the company building natural habitats for the animals at John Ball Zoo or a state-of the art healthcare facility, while the next it’s busy raising the roof on a multi-storey hotel building or bringing a new Wendy’s restaurant to a North American town. Whatever it does comes with an excellence that stems from eight decades of experience.

Wolverine Building Group works primarily in four market segments, all of whiach brings it varied levels of demand depending on socioeconomic trends. The first is the multi-family market, followed by industrial, commercial, and finally the National Accounts division. Within these market segments Wolverine Building Group provides a long list of construction services, from General Contracting and Construction Management to Design/Build and Historic Preservation.

The multi-family market is wide ranging and includes affordable housing, market-rate units, historical renovation, student housing, senior living, and in-place rehab. “That’s been my main focus for the last couple of years,” says Kurtis Fritz, Senior Project Manager at Wolverine Building Group. “I’m currently working on a 233-unit apartment building in Brighton, Michigan called Vista. That’s going to be one of largest single construction projects in the city. It’s a very cool apartment building, very modern. It has a large central courtyard, the middle of the building is carved out and open to the sky, so the residents have a nice secure outdoor area to hang out.” Another project that falls under the umbrella of the multi-family market is Home2Suites by Hilton, a 4-story residential building in Byron Center, Michigan. The building also hosts a saltwater pool, outdoor patio seating, a fire pit, and electrical vehicle charging facilities. The project’s complex design was achieved through Wolverine Building Group’s extensive pre-planning process and its unique ability to understand the project’s intricate needs.

The commercial construction market is a catch-all for everything else and can include projects such as healthcare facilities, offices, and business complexes. On the Commercial side Fritz is quick to highlight the Helen Devos Children’s Hospital, a state-of-the-art healthcare facility dedicated to paediatric care. “That was probably one of the most-high profile projects we’ve done,” he says. The construction of the facility included the use of Building Information Modelling, or BIM, which provides a digital representation of a built asset based on collaboratively assembled information and acts as a shared source of knowledge which can be accessed during the building’s life cycle, from conception to demolition. Fritz also mentions John Ball Zoo which represents some of the more speciality work that Wolverine Building Group has grown accustomed to. “We do a lot of work with John Ball Zoo on various animal habitats and other improvements around the zoo facility,” he says. Since 2017 Wolverine Building Group and John Ball Zoo have completed 14 projects together in what continues to be a successful partnership.

The National Accounts division focuses on big-brand retailers and fast-food restaurants across the country. Joining me to provide insight on that is General Superintendent, Jeff Hennip. “Taco Bells, McDonalds, Wendy’s, basically any of the big fast-food joints that you see all around America,” says Hennip.

The fast-food and retail market in America is one that shows no sign of slowing down, and so this is an ever-expanding market segment for Wolverine Building Group and one that acts as a safety net when times are tough. “That division really carried us through the covid years” says Hennip, reflecting on a time when restaurants and drive-throughs remained quite profitable. “Those four divisions and our adaptability to move to whatever is the best is really what makes us special,” he continues. “We have a great team here who can roll with punches. If industrial is slow, we focus on multi-family, and if multi-family is slow, we focus on commercial.”

In talking about Wolverine Building Groups standout projects, both Hennip and Fritz are in agreement that the 10 Ionia Residence Inn by Marriott is not to go unmentioned. “That was a 13-story building that helped further shape the skyline here in Downtown Grand Rapids,” says Fritz. “10 Ionia was full of challenges and full of attributes from the team,” Hennip adds. “The building alone was challenging on every aspect. It was shaped like a pie with curved corners, all precast.” Aside from the physical challenges, the project was also built during covid and right through all the riots that were going on at the time. “Without a great team that project could have fallen apart,” says Hennip. “Not only our internal team but all of our trade partners, we all went through the very same stuff and everyone really stepped it up there.”

“Its ongoing goal is to be the Master of Construction Delivery in Michigan and beyond.”

Hennip is perhaps most proud when he goes on to talk about Wolverine Building Group’s non-profit work, namely the 3-story building for Covenant House located on the East Side of the state. This involved the construction of a temporary housing shelter for youths who are experiencing, or at risk of homelessness. The facility allows Covenant House to take in kids, give them housing, help them find work and get them placed into programs for GEDs. “That project was near and dear to my heart, and the heart of Wolverine Building Group because we love our community. Here at Wolverine if you give to an organization, ownership will always match your funds. That makes us pretty special.”

Hennip touches on Wolverine Building Group’s superior level of service which is evident in the partnerships it continues to build. “One of the most exciting things we’ve got going on is our partnership with QT Travel stations, starting down south and working their way up to the mid-west,” he says. “We started that partnership a couple of years ago in the south and they’ve leaned on us to bring them to the north. We’ve got three going on currently in Illinois and hoping to have another three in Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. It’s a great partnership and that’s really what it comes down to – having someone that really understands you and you understanding them. It makes a big difference.”

Wolverine Building Group is busy at work across the state of Michigan, navigating its four market segments and adding new projects to an already-impressive portfolio. Its ongoing goal is to be the Master of Construction Delivery in Michigan and beyond, a goal it is on the right path towards achieving.

BDA Inc. is a Toronto based general contracting company specializing in renovations and additions in the commercial and institutional space. The company was originally founded in 1997 by Brad Daniels and Toccar Brown. Daniels and Brown built the company on their three core values which are to “work ethically, respect our business partners, and build long-term relationships with our trades, consultants, and clients.” It is these core values that form the foundation of BDA Inc. and remain strongly in place today, only now with a brand-new management team to uphold them.

Today, BDA’s management team is led by President Lewis Cowan, alongside Vice Presidents Hallex Kong and Domenic Peragine. As well as President of BDA, Cowan is also Chair of the Ontario General Contracting Association, a position he gained last year having sat on the Board of Directors for six years. The construction industry in Canada has picked up significant pace in recent years and someone in Cowan’s position is far from short of things to do. I am grateful to him for taking some time out of his busy schedule to tell me all about BDA and its many successful endeavors.

“We do a lot of post-secondary work, and work for the Provincial Government and municipalities,” Cowan says. “We also work in hospitals, community centers, libraries, and many different institutional facilities. One way of putting it, is that if there’s a public dollar attached to the funding of the project, we are likely to work with that client. The commercial work we do tends to be for commercial institutions that act like public sector institutions, like large banks, insurance companies, sophisticated clients.” BDA procures most of its work through the competitive bid process and the Stipulated Lump Sum form of contract, and the values of its projects range between three and fifty million. “The sweet spot for us is somewhere between seven and fifteen million,” Cowan says. “Typically, our projects are designed by an Architect, put out to tender, and then we submit a bid. It’s not all based on price – there is often a technical component as well where we have to submit a technical proposal, and if we are successful we get the project.” BDA also provides some projects under the Design Build method which Cowan says, “is a bit of a growth sector for us in the coming years.”

When talking about the General Contracting service that BDA provides, Cowan gives the example of the Michener Institute Health Care Education Lab. “We started that project in January 2019 and finished that December. It was a 4.5 million dollar and 15,000 square foot new medical training facility on the 12th floor of the Michener Institute. The project included the creation of an operating room simulation laboratory, capable of broadcasting live, domestically and internationally. There was a lot of Audio Visual and IT integration required. Now we are doing a second project with the same BDA team; the same Project Manager and Site Superintendent.”

An interesting aspect of BDA’s offering, and one we hear less about in the General Contracting sphere, is Construction Management, which Cowan says is “becoming an increasingly large part of what we do.” This type of project sees the BDA team involved very early on in the design with significant influence over making the project more successful before it goes out to tender. “We are often dealing with very specific challenges or design issues that allow the architect to better refine the design and provide value to the client,” Cowan says of this service before following up with some examples. “We’re currently working on a new build 5-storey, Salvation Army project in Downtown Toronto which is meant to start in the summer. We have been involved in that project for about a year, working on cost-savings with the owner and efficiency of design to make it a more successful project because they have some budgetary constraints. Another example is a project for Harbourfront Toronto, where we have provided Design Build for the Mechanical and Electrical components, and Construction Management for the rest of the project. We have also been appointed as Construction Managers for a Ground Water Research Centre at the University of Guelph. We will be giving them feedback on the design and final pricing so they can ensure the project goes ahead within budget.”

A standout project of BDA’s, and another one on which it provided Construction Management, was Université de l’Ontario français. This was a fast-track project on account of funding being secured quite suddenly after it had previously been revoked during a change of government. “They weren’t expecting it,” Cowan says of the funding, “so they procured the management consulting and the architect quite quickly. Then they put out an RFP for Construction Management at the same time and we were brought on board within four to six weeks of the architect being involved.” As the appointed Construction Managers on the project, BDA gave lots of time-efficient budgetary feedback and worked on cost savings with the whole team. “Then we tendered all the scopes of work and started on-site,” says Cowan. “It was a really fast paced and challenging undertaking with supply chain issues, and a very aggressive timeline to complete the large volume of space. The client had tight budget constraints which put pressure on some of the decision making before awarding some of the subcontractors.” BDA is a company that is deeply involved in the public sector where funding and timelines are often volatile, and this particular project paints a picture of how these jobs can sometimes play out. Nonetheless, Université de l’Ontario français was nothing short of a huge success.

“Our team worked very closely with the management consultants and the architect to make it a success.”

“Our team worked very closely with the management consultants and the architect to make it a success,” Cowan reflects. “Once we procured all the subcontractors the actual build on site went very smoothly. There was a really collaborative approach with the entire team; probably one of the finest examples that I’ve seen of a Construction Management project working well with everyone working towards the same goal.” As President of the company, Cowan is often only involved in projects from an oversight perspective, and it is always a good sign if, as is the case here, “there were not a lot of issues I had to be involved in.” Given that it came about amidst a pandemic, the fact that Université de l’Ontario français was completed remotely speaks to the success of the project and the team behind it. “The RFP came out two months into the pandemic and construction began in the middle of it,” he says. “I don’t believe there was a single construction meeting completed on site with the full team there. To deal with the timeline constraints we had in the environment we were in – it was really successful.”

While they’ve proven that successful projects can be completed remotely, when it comes to the construction industry there is simply no substitute for face-to-face interaction, and this is what BDA looks forward to into the future. “One thing I’ve really seen come back to life is the importance of relationships,” Cowan says. “Getting back to in-person events and site meetings, being able to actually meet together on-site and look at the project that we’re building and that the clients will be occupying, really gives us the opportunity to collaborate and complete really successful projects. I think through the pandemic that was missing a little bit.”

When it comes to the pandemic, a shared gratitude can be felt throughout the construction industry for the fact that it was one of the few sectors that was able to not only continue to work, but be successful in such a challenging environment. This gratitude comes to light in conversation with people like Cowan who is equipped now with the experience of guiding a construction company through the unprecedented global event that was COVID-19. “Even though we were impacted, the industry has been very good throughout the past few years,” he says. “As a company that’s strong in the public sector we are confident that the pipeline of projects is going to continue, and we are really well positioned to take advantage of that. We are busy at the moment with lots of exciting opportunities coming up, and there is no reason why BDA can’t continue to grow. In construction we are moving forward and becoming more embracing of technologies and efficiencies, and I think through strong relationships with existing clients we will be able to go on to bigger and better things.”

When Herman Russell founded H. J. Russell & Company back in 1952, he quickly contributed to the birth and subsequent development of the Atlanta skyline. He was involved in joint venture partnerships including the Coca-Cola Company Headquarters, Georgia-Pacific Tower, 191 Peachtree Tower, and the former Georgia Dome, which was replaced with the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, all of which remain part of the skyline today. Culturally, 1960’s America was worlds apart from the one we know today, and so, as an African-American, Russell’s involvement in such ventures was a unique thing of the time. H. J. Russell also lays claim to projects such as the Smithsonian African-American Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, AL., both of which house a significant piece of the city’s history. Russell was part of history through the projects he built and the unlikely era in which he built them, and when he passed in 2014, he left behind him not just a company, but a legacy.

H. J. Russell is a 70-year-old company headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Savannah, Dallas, and Boston. To these areas, the company provides construction management, program management, and real estate development. “The construction management side is centered around multifamily projects as well as commercial office spaces, healthcare, infrastructure, and industrial work,” says Paul Bryant, Vice President of External Affairs. Joining me alongside Bryant is Project Executive Jhocques Jordan, and the two are a wealth of knowledge on both the company and the legacy.

“On the program management side, we have lots of activity out in Dallas including transportation work, airports, and the Dallas metro transit system, all of which are huge growth areas,” said Jordan. Construction management and program management are considered the company’s primary services, while real estate development remains a significant part of H. J. Russell’s business lines.

Jordan takes the lead on talking me through some of the standout projects that have marked the company’s more recent success. “The Terminal Renewal and Improvement Program at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was a joint venture project with a value of about $850 million dollars, which we wrapped up around 2017,” says Jordan. “We had a team working out there, and that’s what spun us to increase our presence even more in the Dallas area. We started to pick up some standalone work there as well as some other extensions out at DFW.”

Next, in the spotlight is Grayson Ridge, a senior living multifamily project in Lawrenceville, GA that was completed last year. “It was about $36 million dollars and 240 units, a four-story apartment building,” Jordan continues. “It’s a really nice building as far as finishes go as well as amenities such as a courtyard, library, crafts room, fitness center, salon and movie theatre. The courtyard has a bocce ball court, pavilions, barbeque grills and walking area. A really nice facility.”

Enthusiasm is in high supply from the conversation’s outset, but it reaches its peak when I ask about Russell CARES and the philanthropic work H. J. Russell does for its community. “That’s my area of expertise,” Bryant says. “I’m ready, willing, and able to jump in here.” Russell CARES, I quickly learn, is not a mere afterthought that was born out of a society that demands more philanthropy from profit-yielding businesses. Quite the opposite, Russell CARES is, and always was, at the very heart of what H. J. Russell stands for.

“Russell CARES is, and always was, at the very heart of what H. J. Russell stands for.”

Russell CARES, which is the company’s corporate social responsibility program, spurred from founder Herman Russell’s philanthropic efforts, including those of his family. Today, it stands proudly as a tangible representation of his legacy. “He was a generous man and quite involved in the community,” says Bryant, “and that is part of the DNA of H. J. Russell. Our CEO, Michael Russell, often tells me that I’m part of the ground game for the company. He wants me to be out and about, to really see the pulse of what’s going on. The Russell CARES philosophy is to support those grassroots agencies that really need some gas in their tanks. We’re not making a $50,000-dollar contribution to United Way Worldwide, we’re making a $2,500-dollar donation to organizations like Facts to Thrive, a unique organization that we supported a couple of months ago. It’s just one person. She goes to senior communities and teaches elderly people how to navigate their cell phones. Think about the Apple store experience where there are millennials who really know their way around phones. That can be somewhat intimidating. These places aren’t built for seniors, so she goes to these communities and puts on training sessions for them. And we just bumped into her because we’re out there on the ground floor. We like that human touch, getting to know the people we support and something about their business rather than just giving a check, taking pictures, and moving on.”

Bryant gives another example that captures the human touch he speaks of. “There’s an elderly tower we built called Maggie Russell Towers. During the COVID pandemic, we gave them a check to buy food for their food pantry.

Because of the restrictions at the time, we did this cool thing where we airdropped the check in with a drone. We filmed the whole process which was really cool. It captured the skyline of the building, the drone flying in, and the people waving. It was something fun to do as we supported and celebrated those seasoned citizens.” Not only does H. J. Russell build these state-of-the-art buildings for seniors, it also donates to companies who go on to directly enhance their experience. “It’s in the tagline,” says Bryant. “‘We don’t just build structures. We build communities.’”

Perhaps one of the most unique parts of Herman Russell’s legacy is the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs, the 54,000-square-foot former H. J. Russell headquarters that is dedicated now to developing black entrepreneurs. “When Mr. Russell passed in 2014, the building was worth around $8 million dollars.” Lending from the altruism passed down by their father, Russell’s three children decided to donate the building to the community instead of cashing in their share. “What we have now is really a national model—the programming and what they’ve done with this building is really amazing.” The center is visited year-round by CEOs and government officials, and most recently by Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and their network of employees as part of their Black History Month program. “Many were blown away by what we’re doing here,” says Bryant. “They left asking—how can we do something like this in our communities?”

Before his time at Russell, Bryant was involved in a global study that put forward the question—what’s the thought process of the employees in the best companies in the world? The study found that the employees of the world’s best companies shared six common beliefs. The first is the belief that somebody in your organization in a higher position than you sincerely cared about your growth and development. The second is the belief that every day you had the necessary tools to perform your job. The third is the belief that your work environment was one in which you could learn and grow. The fourth was that you had friends at work. “And, it’s the last two that really permeate throughout the colony,” he says. “Number five is the belief that what your company does, whether that be building structures or writing articles, is significant. And the sixth is the belief that every day, by doing your job, you are contributing to that something significant. We are extremely proud of Herman Russell’s legacy, and we know that we are blessed to be given the opportunity to carry that legacy on our shoulders and to be able to do all these good things in the community. It’s a wonderful thing!”

The true significance of Herman Russell’s legacy and the positive impact that his 70-year strong company continues to have on the community can be wrapped up in Bryant’s reflections on the company’s anniversary celebration last year. “Our primary corporate color is green,” he says, “and there are several buildings within the city that turned their lights green in honor of H. J. Russell. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta was green, 191 Peachtree Tower was green, Mercedes-Benz Stadium was green. I think it’s just beautiful to see these businesses in the area show their appreciation for Herman and what he’s done.”

Jordan adds, “When you think about how many companies start up, and they don’t make it five, 10, 20 years, 70 seems like forever. I started in 2006, and then, the recession hit. It was really tough. Projects weren’t coming in like they had been. People were bailing out and moving on. Michael Russell could have easily said, ‘Guys, I’m done,’ and quit while he was ahead, but his commitment to what his dad built and his decision to stick with it and ride it out—I give him a ton of credit for that. I’ve seen the company’s construction department drop to less than 20 people. Now though, it is back up to maybe three times that, and we continue to grow.”

In the same way that it practiced philanthropy from the outset, H. J. Russell was also a diverse company long before diversity was demanded in the modern working environment. “Herman Russell said he looked around his company back in the sixties, and it looked like the United Nations,” says Bryant. “That’s what he wanted. He liked it that way. We still look around today, and there’s diversity everywhere.” Perhaps, this is the very secret to H. J. Russell’s longevity—a longstanding commitment to values that truly matter.

“I’ve only been in the company five years,” Bryant continues, reflecting on his first day with H. J. Russell. “I remember as I was meeting people, it wasn’t, ‘Welcome to the team,’ or ‘Welcome to the company.’ It was, ‘Welcome to the family.’ Now I make sure that anytime I meet a new employee, I say the same. It’s important to carry that on. This is what a working environment, what a business, and what a community is all about.”

Healthcare, Senior Living, Communities of Faith. Pennsylvania is rich in caring communities, communities that are growing and also require the resources and buildings to meet the demand. Arthur Funk & Sons, Inc. Construction Services, is a third generation, family owned and operated company, positioned geographically and with more resources to meet that demand. According to Ken Funk, president of the company that is headquartered in Lebanon, PA, a location that is central to major access routes and cities, the firm specializes in building facilities to meet the demand of these industries. “We are committed to the community where our family and families of our employees live, work, worship and learn,” said Funk. “In fact, a walk around town or the central Pennsylvania area, and you will see our footprint and the impact it has made.”

Ken Funk, a third-generation owner of the company, is a rich source for construction history when it comes to the Arthur Funk & Sons story. “My Grandfather, Arthur, started the company in 1939,” Ken tells me. “We were in the middle of a deep depression at the time. He began with a small crew of carpenters garnered when he purchased the company from his uncle; and they built mostly agricultural buildings . . .barns, corn sheds, anything to do with agriculture.”

Henry Funk, Ken’s father, joined the company after WW2 and that’s when Arthur Funk & Sons started doing more commercial work, paving the path to where it is today. The company, now in its third generation, remains family-owned by Ken and his two brothers, Bob and Dave.

The true character of Arthur Funk & Sons is realized through its core values, which have been defined and built upon for three generations in business. “We listen to our customers to understand their needs, accommodate each customer’s unique goals, collaborate by building a quality team of professionals and subcontractors, and create thoughtful solutions to deliver projects where all involved succeed and thrive,” he said.

To all who work with Arthur Funk & Sons, these values are not merely a whish-wash narrative for reputation or marketing purposes, but rather the true essence of the company, backed by the everyday experience of its clients and employees.

“The feedback from our clients and employees says we’re flexible and we listen well. Our team are problem solvers, who solve problems with little to no conflict, as we try to minimize drama because in construction, there can be lots of it!”

Within its specialty sectors, Arthur Funk & Sons is known to take old buildings and give them a new lease of life. Called Adaptive Reuse, the Encounter Church of Palmyra, PA is a prime example. The Funk team took an old grocery store and converted it to a 38,300 sq ft church that included Fellowship area, welcome Center, Kitchen, Day Care and Worship Space.

“This was a Phased Project, that allowed the church to operate and grow, and at the same time raise the needed funds for the project,” said Funk. “Plus as it was a grocery store, there was plenty of parking and added land available for future growth. We have returned to do more work in part due to the relationship we have built.”

“To Arthur Funk & Sons, building solid relationships is as important as building solid structures.”

The word relationship is one that comes up time and time again throughout the conversation with Ken. It’s evident that to Arthur Funk & Sons, building solid relationships is as important as building solid structures. “We exist because we like to build lasting, long-term, and enduring relationships,” is how Ken puts it. Relationships in every sense are a two-way-street, and so it’s become the case that Arthur Funk & Sons has had prestigious jobs simply handed over to it by clients who place the same high value on relationships that it does. “Some of our competitors are twice our size,” Ken says, “and they can build effectively, but they can’t build relationships.”

A recent experience Ken shared captured the true significance of the relationships that are built between the Funk frontline and clients. “We had a client say to us about a project we’re working on right now, ‘you need to promise us that we get so-and-so on the job’. Then, last night at a church meeting for another project, the building committee chair said, ‘hey, you need to promise I get so-and-so on this…’. And again, another church in Lancaster requested, ‘we will wait as long as it takes to get so and so on the job.’ Three different occasions, three similar situations, demonstrated how we and our clients thrive on and values relationships.”

Of the sectors that Arthur Funk & Sons specialize in, it is the churches that make up the bulk of its portfolio. Ken is passionate about this kind of work, and for good reason. “If you’re doing a project for single owner of business, that one person makes all the decisions,” Ken explains. “But when you’re working with churches, where they have a big attendance at Sunday service, now you have 300 people making decisions, 300 people who have to buy-into the project, and it’s a very different process. The beauty is in witnessing not one but 300 people share enjoyment once the project is complete. That’s where our team stands out.”

In keeping with the recurring theme of relationships, many of the company’s church jobs are the product of previous relationships they have built within these communities of faith. Take Carlisle United Methodist Church in Carlisle, PA. “Carlisle UMC was a brand-new church on a new site – you don’t get that too often nowadays. That church came to us because we did some previous work in the town, so we knew the code inspector, the retirement home executive, and an engineer, all of whom sat on the committee. They asked us to come along and help develop plans, create budgets, and eventually build the project.”

Such is the typical series of events that have led to the significant footprint Arthur Funk & Sons now has on the Pennsylvanian church community. This modern business landscape often calls for a huge reliance on and investment in advertising and marketing in order for a company to succeed. It is a credit, then, that 90% of Arthur Funk & Son’s business still comes from word of mouth.

Another example of a project that involved Arthur Funk & Sons reimagining an existing space to make it more cost-efficient and mutually beneficial to all is Lebanon City Hall, which relocated to downtown after 50 years on the outskirts. “The city came to us wanting to move downtown,” Ken tells me of the project. “We worked with the city, a local non-profit foundation, and a local community college that wanted to get rid of their existing space due to costs. We brought all these different entities together—a team– to figure out how to get the townhall back into downtown. The result: the community college sold the building to the city, we came in and renovated, and now the community college occupies the fourth floor through a lease back agreement with the city at a much more economical position than through ownership.” The project, as Ken describes it, was a huge success. “Again, it boils down to our relationship with the city, the non-profit, and the community college combined with our ability build teams to get all these different groups together and heading in the same direction.”

The impact that Arthur Funk & Sons has on its community is plain to see through the projects and relationships that it builds. A little less evident is all the work that happens behind the scenes with local high schools and technical schools in the drive to inspire the future generation of construction workers. One of the many takeaways from my conversation with Ken is that Arthur Funk & Sons impact is one that extends far beyond the reach of healthcare, retirement, and church communities.

“We brought one of our awesome employees in as a general superintendent and asked him to do two things – one was to mentor up and coming employees, and two was to make connections with local high schools so we can hire young, energetic, quality people. This employee now sits on an advisory committee alongside these academic schools and has developed a really great relationship with them. We currently have two co-op students that go to school for half a day and work for us for the other half. About 75% of the time these students become full-time employees. We also get called into these academic schools for career days. This has made a difference to our workforce.”

Moving on from that point, I ask Ken about his goals for Arthur Funk & Sons as it goes forward. His answer is evident of the active investment he and his brothers have in the future and continuity of the company. “Bob, Dave and I believe without question how important it is to keep this thing going,” he says. “Two years ago, we hired the North Group to help us put together a plan to do just that. One of the first things they did was help us form a leadership team which consists of four employees who are totally dedicated to the cause. That’s going to help us distribute some of the decision making, get us through the next transition, and carry us down the road. Our future–It’s going to be fantastic!”

One of the first adopters to precast concrete was the agricultural industry, who in the early seventies had high demand for structures such as slats, feed bunks, troughs, and insulated walls. It was in this era that Fritz Construction Services Inc. came to life under the leadership of Tom Fritz and thrived in the business of agricultural precast. In the four decades that followed, under the banner of Fritzall, the company expanded their offerings to the industry to include complete barn structures, wall panels, and concrete bases for wind turbines. In 2014, through a fortunate stroke of serendipity, Fritzall crossed paths with Alder Concrete Group who had been building cast-in-place and ICF structures since 2006. For some time, the two worked in tandem, offering structural and architectural panels to the high-rise residential market. Fritzall produced wall panels for complete precast buildings while Alder installed them, each side benefiting from the others well-established craft. It soon became clear to both parties that if they were to combine forces, they’d be able to make a dramatic contribution to the Ontario superstructure market. So, in 2018, that’s exactly what they did.

I am joined by Colin Robinson, VP of Sales at Fritz-Alder Precast, who has been fortunate enough to experience first-hand some of the successes that came with the Fritz-Alder union. “The companies aligned and opened up their biggest plant addition yet with the most-high-tech hollowcore production line in Ontario,” Robinson says. “And that got us to where we are today.” From humble beginnings as two separate entities with similar values, Fritz-Alder was formed to provide its clients with the best quality products and services. Fritz-Alder is widely known today as an industry leader in concrete manufacturing and installation, offering advanced precast technology to the Ontario market and committing always to superior customer experience and cost-effective solutions.

I ask Robinson to delve a little deeper into the services Fritz-Alder offer and the answer is not short nor finite because in essence, they can build anything their customer desires. “We produce Precast hollowcore floor slabs, which are the most efficient flooring system in terms of span to depth ratio and materials,” he says. “Along with this we produce solid slabs for areas with higher loading or odd shaped pieces. We produce balconies that come sloped with broom finishes, basically standalone balconies that require no maintenance, as well as landings for stairwells. We make beams and columns, prestressing them where possible to eliminate the amount of reinforcing while increasing the strength of the product. And of course, wall panels – everything from structural concrete panels that are covered on site, to architectural panels with form liners, and stain or pigment. We can print the concrete with any pattern imaginable.” It was the introduction of wall panels to Fritzall’s line of products back in the early days that first led them into the commercial market, where they got their architectural certificate for wall panels on commercial and residential buildings. This particular product offering accounts for a significant proportion of Fritz-Alder’s business today.

“Within these walls we have the option to include insulation which creates a sandwich panel, allowing designers and owners to get the R value they desire and achieve what they are looking for – a slimmer wall system or a simpler wall system, it’s really up to the customer.” This customer-focused approach is paramount to the Fritz-Alder business model. Colin gives the example of energy and power companies, for which Fritz-Alder provide very specific precast products that come with very high-quality standards that they meet and exceed. It seems that if it can be built with precast concrete, it can be built by Fritz-Alder.

Fritz-Alder is a company championing and benefiting from a service model that allows them to provide almost everything in-house, a model that is growing in popularity due to the efficiency and quality that can be achieved off the back of it. “We provide and install the precast, and we provide any necessary finishing touches once installed to ensure our customers have a complete system,” says Robinson. “We have our own sales team that works with customers. Once the job is awarded it continues over to engineering and drafting, and they work in house with our Project Managers to ensure goals are met and that drawings are completed on time. Then the job goes into production, and once produced, we have our own installation team that not only installs it but goes in afterwards and does core-drilling. The cutting of mechanical openings is completed in the production faciality to reduce on site waste. We also put down underlayment on top of the precast for flooring needs.” This one-stop-shop system that Fritz-Alder has established over the years makes for a highly efficient service model that really works.

To demonstrate the proven, practical success of this service model Robinson tells me about some standout projects from over the years. He includes some projects from before the Fritz-Alder merger, worthy of a mention due to their significance in the company’s journey to 2022, its 50th year in business.

“Prior to Fritz-Alder, Fritzall completed a number of large projects, and one that stands out is 100 Victoria which is the first of the Garment Street Towers. Fritzall was producing the architectural cladding with Alder on installation. These panels were highly detailed, with brick form liner, integrated windowsills and headers, and large U shape and L shape pieces. That was a great achievement for both companies. And later in 2019, now as Fritz-Alder, we were tasked with doing the next building, which was a 28-storey tower.” In what has become known as the Fritz-Alder Advantage, Fritz-Alder makes a promise to its customers to be relentless in its pursuit of quality and precision, from design to manufacturing to installation. The 100 Victoria project is an example of the Fritz-Alder Advantage in action, long before the official joining of the two companies.

“Another standout project was 460 Columbia, our first complete precast project where we built the entire structure from parking deck up. We utilized a structural precast system with hollowcore walls, beams, columns, solids, balcony pieces, and also had some architectural pieces as well. 460 Columbia was two 12-storey towers with a floor plate of about 25,000 square feet. For this project we had two tower cranes on site which is rare. This meant we had to have two installation crews and with that we were able to install a new level of 25,000 square feet every 12 days.”

“Another standout project was 460 Columbia, our first complete precast project where we built the entire structure from parking deck up.”

Robinson tells me next about the Bloomingdale project, a recently completed complete precast building. With architectural cladding and lots of beams and columns, Bloomingdale was a similar concept to the projects previously mentioned, but this time Fritz-Alder’s service included the exterior of the building. “When we were finished on site not only was the structure done but the exterior too,” he says. “One of the prominent features of that building were the column-less balconies, something that isn’t done very often. We did two levels of underground parking on that as well.”

These are just a few of the large-scale projects from an impressive Fritz-Alder portfolio, which has a collective span of 50 years. “Aside from those we do quite a few smaller jobs as well,” Robinson tells me. “We do everything from garage floors to water treatment plants, schools, long term care facilities, industrial buildings, everything. The efficiency and durability of the product lends itself well to all sectors of the construction industry, and so we don’t just do residential or commercial or civil jobs, were in all the sectors.”

Reflecting on the company’s 50th anniversary which they’ve been quietly celebrating in the background of a busy year, Robinson takes it right back to 1972 and Fritzall’s founder, Tom Fritz. “Tom was a very innovative person, always finding new ways of pushing the envelope of product efficiency, trying new things, searching for new products to manufacture.” This innovation mindset that brought the company to life back in the early seventies is evident still today, championed now by a new generation of owners with big plans for the future. “We’ve achieved a lot in the last 50 years and especially in the last four,” says Robinson. “We’re seeing steady growth year to year, both in the number of jobs we do and in the products we offer. The market is heading more and more in the direction of precast simply because builders are looking at more efficient ways to do things, especially with rising interest rates and cost increases. The opportunity for us is exceptional, and we want to seize every opportunity we can. We are going to keep marching forward with growth and manufacturing improvements to ensure the quality and services our customers demand and expect from us are not only met, but exceeded.”

There is no substitute for experience. Communication is key. Excellence comes with innovation. Cost, quality, and time efficiency must be achieved in tandem.

It is the ability to learn and embrace these truths that is often the driving force behind a successful construction company, and such is the case for CCS Building Group. A commercial construction company based in Pennsylvania, CCS Building Group has established itself as a leader in its field when it comes to delivering innovative projects and forming honest partnerships. It started in 2007 with a wealth of knowledge already behind it through the collective experience of working with large construction companies in the region. Today, it stands strong with over sixty employees and is set to celebrate its 15th year in business.

CCS Building Group specializes in the design-build delivery method and is therefore highly engaged in the development of the design as well as the construction of the project. It is a method that is growing in popularity, simply because it makes for more efficient finished products. “Our preference is performing work via design-build, where we lead the project from the inception,” says Bill Koch Senior, Founder and President of CCS Building Group. Throughout his career Bill has been involved in the design and construction of projects that represent more than $1.5 billion and 10 million square feet of building construction. He joins me, alongside Preconstruction and Estimating Manager, Bill Koch Junior, and Business Manager, Todd Shertzer, to share some insights into the company. “A fair amount of our business is performed in that particular capacity whereby we don’t solely rely on architects and engineers to develop the project. We input a lot of our experience particularly into costs associated with different building systems as well as the long-term benefits and efficiencies that certain systems bring to the table.” The design-build philosophy is embraced by CCS Building Group, and this allows the company to deliver a high-quality service that is efficient in both cost and time, while fulfilling the vision of its clients.

CCS Building Group works within a two-hour driving time radius of its office in Lancaster Pennsylvania, which includes Central, Southeastern, Northern Maryland, and Delaware. CCS Building Group has contributed significantly to the Senior Living industry within this zone. The team at CCS Building Group has a depth of experience with designing and constructing Life Plan Communities, Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Personal Care facilities. It specializes in renovating and preparing existing living spaces for new residents, and it is this type of work that makes up for a significant bulk of its portfolio. As well as delivering projects through the design-build method, CCS Building Group also offers preconstruction management, operational consulting, general contracting, residence turnover management, residential renovations, and in-house skilled trades.

To provide an insight into the standard example of the work CCS Building Group does as part of the retirement community expansion, Bill talks about Southpointe Villas. “It’s a 45-acre property and so far, we’ve built 88 villas,” he says. “We’re also constructing five 24-unit apartment buildings, of which one is complete, one is in process and three will be in the future.” The first step in a multi-phase development, the Southpointe Villas project also includes a Memory Care Facility with programming and residential units directed purely towards memory support. “The Memory Support Campus is state-of-the-art,” says Bill, “and one of the more interesting components of the Southpointe Villas project.”

Bill talks about how it is often the amenity buildings within these retirement communities that make for the most interesting projects. Chautauqua Hall, for example, is a 20,000 square feet events pavilion and performance stage that was developed and constructed by CCS Building Group in partnership with Willow Valley Communities. “Chautauqua Hall is a timber-framed music entertainment venue that seats three hundred people,” says Bill. The venue was developed to enable Willow Valley Communities to provide its residents with rich cultural experiences, as is its longstanding tradition.

CCS Building Group is heavily involved in the renovation sector and as such the overall revitalization of the zone in which it operates. Bill talks about Southern Market, a recent standout renovation project in Lancaster City. “Southern Market is one of our more unique projects. We renovated the interior and facade of a building that was built in 1888. Originally it was a farmers’ market and then over the years it transitioned into office space. It sat vacant for several years until our client got hold of it with a vision to change it into a food hall along with co-working offices. This was a completely different from the building’s prior uses, so it changed a lot structurally from a fit-and-finish standpoint. It looks very different inside. We couldn’t do a lot of changes on the exterior, only some upgrades and improvements, because the building is listed in the National Historic Register.”

“CCS Building Group specializes in the design-build delivery method.”

Another interesting project in the works is Mosaic, a design-build contract for a senior living provider. “We’ve been working on that one for a few years now,” says Bill. “It’s a 20- story independent living building with 146 apartments and lots of amenity space, all within what is part of a city block here in Lancaster City. It’s kind of an urban and more modern design, while still offering all the same services that the client would enjoy on their suburban campuses. It’s been an interesting and exciting process, going through the approvals, and planning to get closer to a construction start date.” Bill goes on to talk about CCS Building Group’s role on the project. “As a design-build firm, all of the design is handled through us,” he says. “We’ve been involved day to day with the whole sales team, the development team, and the design team. Another unique aspect of it is that we’re also creating a model apartment and a sales center offsite. The model depicts an apartment on the sixteenth floor, so we’re using some tricks in the windows to give the sense that you’re looking out your window on the sixteenth floor and not the ground floor. We’re involved in a lot of the technology, as well as the marketing components associated with creating that project.” What Bill describes here is that CCS Building Group is not just constructors, they’re innovators, and that is another driving force behind its success.

Reflecting on the company’s upcoming 15th year anniversary, Bill talks about how quickly time has gone by. “It seems like just a couple of years ago that we were planning a party for our 10th anniversary,” he says. “That came and went, and then covid came into play. I didn’t even realize it was our 15th year in business! But it’s been a great tour. In that time, we’ve done what I feel is a significant amount of impactful projects with our own people.” It is the ethos of CCS Building Group that the art of building starts with a great team, and as such, they are just as committed to building a solid foundation of workers as they are to time and cost efficiency. The built environment is expanding at a rapid pace and there is an expectation for construction companies to fulfill the demand without sacrificing quality. This commitment is what sets CCS Building Group apart.

“We have growth opportunities,” Bill says when I ask him about his vision for the future, “but the biggest challenge is accumulating staff and keeping them, whether that be management or tradespeople. It’s a challenge for us and for the industry, but we’re managing it by trying to work smarter instead of harder.” With a nice backlog of work in the pipeline and a clear vision for growth, it seems that despite the challenges, CCS Building Group can look forward to another fifteen years of success in the Pennsylvanian construction market.

Some time ago, the team at SG Constructors attended a world-renowned Customer Service Training Course at The Disney Institute. The course teaches management teams how to adapt Disney’s service model into their own trade, regardless of industry type or customer size. SG Constructors were surrounded by people from industries such as hospitality, banking, and healthcare, many of whom were surprised to see members of the construction industry taking such an invested interest in customer service. But for SG Constructors, a construction management company based in Ontario, an invested interest in customer service is the very backbone of their existence. “Our company was formed out of a desire to perform a higher level of customer service,” says President of SG Constructors, Matt Stainton. “To look at the construction industry in a different light and try and provide a better understanding of what our clients’ needs are, and to assist with that. We really want to blur lines between contractor and client to the point where if the client has a responsibility and are about to drop the ball that we pick it up for them, and vice versa. If we can have a better understanding of their business and try and think like the owners, we can provide greater value through the services we provide and looking at design optimization.”

The SG team have over a century of collective experience working with some of the industry’s most noteworthy companies. This has taught them how to be proactive and future-focused in an industry that has, and continues to change. Stainton says, “I spent about twenty-five years with one of Canada’s largest contractors. I took some of the great learnings from there and brought them to SG along with the nimble, lean ability to act and behave differently.” What Stainton describes here is SG Constructors owner-centric approach to what they call ‘curated construction’, a key factor in their ongoing success.

Also key to SG Constructors success is their ability as a company to look inward and take care of their people. That is, their top-tier company culture. Speaking again on the importance of customer service and unpacking some wisdom from The Disney Institute, Stainton says, “If you don’t have the ability to provide internal customer service, you can’t provide that external customer service to the clients you’re working for. Our frontline people are our customers. We need to make their jobs as easy and efficient as possible so they can focus more on the client or on going home early; if they can get home half an hour early each day and spend an extra two and a half hours per week with their families, life’s a little better, and they’re better at work.” Stainton describes a home-life balance that many companies struggle, if not refuse to provide, and he proves that it can be achieved without sacrificing quality of service or customer satisfaction. “It gets us thinking about the small details and looking at little things,” he says, “because when you look at the little things the big things become very, very easy.”

“The Four Keys – safety, courtesy, show and efficiency – are the hierarchal backbone of SG Constructors Service Model.”

Stainton says that surprisingly, when it comes to customer service, “there’s not a whole lot of difference between what Disney do and what we do.” SG Constructors work to a Disney-inspired Service Model which they modify and tailor to construction. The Four Keys – safety, courtesy, show and efficiency – are the hierarchal backbone of SG Constructors Service Model. Stainton talks me through each of these Four Keys and the intentionally ranked order of them, which many are surprised at first glance.

“Safety comes first,” he says, “because we can never place safety secondary. Sure, we could build something faster and cheaper, but safety is going to be sacrificed and we can’t do that.”

The next, Stainton tells me, is courtesy, and it’s the high-ranking of this particular key that often catches people off guard. “The stereotype around construction is cold, callous, catcalling, that kind of thing,

and so, we’re trying to change all that around courtesy. If we’re doing a renovation in a major mall for example, we could do it faster but might disrupt a whole bunch of tenants in the process. We could just run roughshod and block all the parking and then the customers won’t come; its more efficient, but it’s not courteous.”

After courtesy comes show, which refers to what the site looks like. “Because ultimately, an efficient site is the by-product of an organized, clean site.” To explain this key Stainton applies the metaphor of painting a bedroom. “If you’ve got whole bunch of furniture in it it’s going to be very slow, you’ll get some paint on things, whereas if you move all that furniture to the center, it’s a whole lot more efficient, and that’s the show standpoint.”

Fourth on the list is efficiency, which is another ranking that people are often surprised by at first. “When you think about it, it’s never going to come ahead of safety, nor is it going to come before courtesy or show when you’re working in an occupied environment.” While efficiency is no doubt important in construction, it’s as refreshing as it is rare to see a company prioritize and care for the live environment within which they are operating.

These Four Keys can be applied by SG Constructors stakeholders and employees to empower them to think and act like owners, which makes for consistent service delivery and efficient decision- making across the board. “We have so many different variables and scenarios where people will have to make decisions,” Stainton says. “We can’t write a hundred different rules on how people should act and think, so if they look in those terms it’s easier for them to make a decision. That’s how the Four Keys work within our model of construction.”

Stainton goes on to discuss some of the standout projects SG Constructors have worked on over the years. They were recently awarded the ‘Best of the Best’ Award for LiUNA Gardens Shore Wall, a seven-hundred Linear Foot environmentally sensitive development in Stoney Creek, Ontario. “It was a challenging project for us because we had to work around fishery schedules, conservation requirements, and safety relative to working on and beside water. We had a track record of zero incidents on that job.” The 8-acre site development kicked off the first phase of a multi-phase project that will consist of over one million square feet of housing.

Another noteworthy project from SG Constructors portfolio is King William Residence, a two-tower development with 581 residential units and 20,000 square feet of retail space. “The developer had started early works on their own and had encountered a few challenges along the way,” says Stainton. “They reached out to us to step in earlier than anticipated to resolve the issues and get the project back on track. The project is now ahead of schedule despite COVID challenges. We put a lot of extra work on ourselves by thinking outside the box but in turn saved the client a lot of money – millions of dollars.”

Circling back to earlier in our conversation, Stainton reinforces his point about SG Constructors desire to better understand their client’s businesses in order to form better partnerships. He talks about a smaller but significant project – Spark Tower Interior Fit out – that shows how this desire is put into practice. “The Project Management team was encountering some challenges, so ultimately the client turned the entire construction management of the project over to us. We have significant leeway in making design and financial decisions about the project because we understand what they need, and we understand their budget.”

SG Constructors demonstrate a proactive and future-focused mindset in all that they do, and their approach to the ongoing labor shortage follows suite. Stainton describes how SG Constructors are managing the labor shortage in both the short-term and the long-term. “In the short-term, we are focusing on our employees and treating them like customers. We really try and make it a family feel here. We’re quite flat in terms of an organization chart, and if there’s ever a reason to have a little fun – birthdays, weddings, new babies – we do it.” Also, on the short-term Stainton highlights the importance of opening the doors to women, indigenous people, immigrants, and those who may not think about construction as an obvious opportunity. “That’s going to be our short-term stop gap,” he says.

On the long-term, and the thing that has the potential to transform the next generation of construction, is SG Constructors commitment to ending the negative stigma around the industry and to promote it for the rewarding career that it is. “Many years ago, American General Constructors did a study which found that by Grade 3 kids don’t know what they want to do but they know what they don’t want to do, and that’s construction.” This finding came as a great disappointment to Stainton who knows first-hand what a truly great industry construction is, and he is determined now to share this knowledge far and wide. “We are working with many partners on trying to promote the industry at a government level; trying to get shop back into schools and having an accelerated immigration program to attract people with skilled trades, not just architects and engineers.” Among other campaigns SG Constructors also run digital outdoor ads that read ‘Talk to your kids about a Career in Construction’ in an attempt to make parents aware that this shift towards a brighter future for construction begins in the home. Stainton is passionate when he says that “we need parents and guidance counselors to stop thinking everybody needs to go to a university or college. Not everyone can be a lawyer or a doctor. There’s a lot of great programs and trades out there that allow people get into the workforce very young and get a jump on things.”

When I ask Stainton about his vision for the future of SG Constructors he returns once again to the importance of customer service. It’s clear that for SG Constructors customer service is not merely a box-tick exercise that is demanded in today’s business landscape, but rather the driving force behind all that they do. “Ultimately, we want to work with great clients and great people who we call friends. When they trust us, they share more about their business, and then we can be of greater value to them because we understand more. When the ball is about to drop, we can see it and we know exactly where it needs to be. That’s where we want to be.”

When precast concrete first gathered significant momentum in the 1950s there were few companies that could see it for the leading building material it would later become. One company that was quick off the mark was Central Precast Inc, a concrete manufacturing company that remains at the forefront of Canada’s precast industry today. Central Precast Inc was established in 1956 as a manufacturer of precast concrete products for the general construction industry. The company’s product line and manufacturing quickly grew to include landscape utility products, manholes, concrete poles, steps, barriers, and architectural panels. “Anything to do with concrete was made under that one roof,” says current Vice-President, Claudio Mion. “With an excess of over one hundred product lines, focus on customer service was beginning to lack.” To address this, and in recognition of the potential of precast concrete and the many different market segments it could serve, new industry-specific companies were formed under the umbrella of The Precast Group.

First to join Central Precast Inc was M CON Products, a one-stop-shop for sewer infrastructure needs. “M CON was formed to focus on the sewer and water main industry,” says Claudio. “Concrete pipe, manholes, anything that was underground to do with water.” Next to form was Utility Structures who offer specialized precast concrete services to the electrical industry. “When my uncle and former President Luigi Mion saw the immediate success of M CON he started the company’s series of expansion and growth. Utility Structures was formed to focus on the electrical market including electrical manholes, hydro manholes, transformer bases, utility poles. Anything to do with concrete poles for street lighting, sports lighting, hydro-distribution, was going to be made at Utility Structures, and that’s when I came into the picture.”

As nephew of Luigi Mion and cousin of John, Claudio is part of The Precast Groups second-generation. He began his career working counter sales at Central Precast until 1991 when he became head of Utility Structures, where he bounced between dispatching, sales, purchasing, and whatever else the company demanded at the time. “It was only a two-man operation in office and nine in plant,” Claudio says. “We started in the midst of the recession but while we were slow at the beginning we soon grew exponentially.”

“The three companies make up The Precast Group, which stands today as the leading manufacturer of precast concrete products in Eastern Ontario.”

With M CON and Utility Structures in the picture, original company Central Precast continued to house the groups head office and accounting department while also specializing in architectural panels and interlocking stone. The three companies make up The Precast Group, which stands today as the leading manufacturer of precast concrete products in Eastern Ontario.

“In the same way that M CON grew exponentially,” says Claudio, “so did Utility Structures and so did Central Precast. Each had their own market segment, their own focus, and their own customer base. After a few years, instead of taking from the profits each company reinvested into growth and expansion, hence here we are sixty-five years later. We’re based in Ottawa with control over the Eastern Ontario market. We ship products to Toronto on a daily basis, and some that are quite unique and specialized go across the border and down South to Florida.”

Claudio describes how each of the companies were working independently for some time until they realized the synergies between them, for example when it comes to buying power. While they were strong as independent entities, they could be a powerhouse in unison. “We had a company reorganization in 2018 and by 2020 my role became about bringing the three companies together. I deal on a bigger scale when it comes to buying cement and aggregates, some of our key components, as opposed to everybody working independently. We’re also reorganizing our accounting department and bringing in an ERP system to make things a lot more efficient and better from an inventory control point of view. We’re in the midst of this transition and it’s going really well.”

From the early 1990s economic slump to the more recent worldwide pandemic, The Precast Group has navigated several industry ups and downs. As such, many of the projects from their sixty-five-year portfolio capture a significant moment in time and tell a unique story about the ever-changing construction industry. After the 9/11 attacks, for example, Utility Structures provided both the US Embassy and British High Commission buildings with special custom design security barriers. “Not only were the barriers extremely large,” says Claudio, “but given the circumstances we also had to work to very tight timelines.” Further back, in 1999 and 2000, there was a big boom on fiber optics and two large companies came to Canada to put a route across the nation. “Central Precast and Utility Structures reaped the benefit of that boom,” says Claudio. “That goes down as one of our biggest jobs of all time. One of the companies represented multimedia and they were buying manholes from us to run their fiber optics. At the same time Central Precast was providing them with concrete storage buildings, because at every certain distance they had to have a distribution or a booster station. The reason they liked our buildings was because they were vandal-proof, fire-proof, and maintenance free. They were complete concrete enclosed structures with concrete walls, floors, and roofs. We must have sold about five hundred of those sheds, and as far as manholes go, we must have sold about three thousand across the two-year project.”

In the mid to late nineties, when Toronto was going through a period of unprecedented growth, they were building a small subdivision in Brampton called Springdale which they planned to develop into 100,000 homes with 500,000 occupants in ten to fifteen years. “They approached us to make them concrete street lighting poles” says Claudio of the project. “At first it was five-hundred poles, then another five hundred, then every year after that another five hundred. It was hard to keep up at first, we were smaller then and didn’t have the infrastructure or the people. I said to my uncle Luigi at the time, how are we going to do this? and he said, don’t worry about it, just get the job and we will figure it out. That was one of his mottos – never dwell on how you’re going to pull this off, he always said we’ll figure this out. And we did.”

Luigi Mion’s motto has stood the test of time and is one that can be applied to many of the issues by which the construction industry is faced today. The labor shortage, for example, is causing a huge strain on the industry, however it remains an overwhelming positive that the work is as abundant as it is. Everything else can be figured out along the way.

Along with the ongoing labor shortage the construction industry is also up against high interest rates and inflation, but while a lot of employers are all doom and gloom Claudio remains optimistic. “We’re bullish in our industry and our market segment,” says Claudio. “The housing market is very strong in Ottawa, and we’re closely related to that. M CON provide the pipes and manholes, Utility Structures provide the transformer bases and utility poles, and Central Precast provide the interlocking stone. Also, our government tends to put money into infrastructure to keep the economy moving and a good portion of our products go towards the infrastructure we build. So, I would say the future is bright for The Precast Group.”

Claudio wraps things up with a nod to the driving force behind the company, and that is its people. “I like what I see,” says Claudio. “The third generation are young and ambitious and have a different mindset to my uncle and dad. We love their energy, and we love their ideas. They shed new light on things and when you blend that with us the result is quite optimistic.” The Precast Group have experienced sixty-five years of success and longevity and this, Claudio says, has a great deal to do with the dedicated employees they have. “We recently celebrated a fifty-year anniversary for an employee, and he’s still working. We also have many who have been with us for thirty, thirty-five, and forty years. When employees spend their entire career at The Precast Group it gives myself and John (President) a lot of pride.”

Between the longstanding employees who have been with the company for up to fifty years, and the third generation of fresh new minds coming up the ranks, The Precast Group is in good hands.

It is no secret among construction industry professionals that prefabricated and modular structures are the way of the future. What was always a popular approach from its introduction into the market decades ago has become even more so, with the industry moving rapidly towards a culture of speed, cost-efficiency, resiliency and sustainability. In the last ten years, precast concrete has become the fastest growing concrete in the world, a statistic that comes off the back of this heightened demand for prefabricated and modular buildings. In Canada, the precast concrete industry is represented by the Canadian Precast Prestressed Concrete Institute (CPCI).

CPCI is a research institute, trade association, and the leading technical resource for the precast concrete industry in Canada. It is described by Managing Director Brian Hall as “a joint industry initiative that develops, maintains, and disseminates the Body of Knowledge (BOK) necessary for designing, fabricating, and constructing sustainable and resilient precast concrete structures.” BOK refers to the collective knowledge of an industry that is relied upon to design and build with a specific material or system, and it is from this BOK that building codes, design guides, education programs and certifications are derived.

As an organization CPCI is, like the precast concrete it represents, structurally sound. It stands strong at 45 members and 56 manufacturing plants across Canada with over 500,000 square feet of plant space available for producing precast concrete. In fact, CPCI members produce 80% of all the precast concrete manufactured in Canada. This presence alone is representative of the industry’s scale, but what exactly is it about precast concrete that yields such growth and demand? “Fast production, life cycle cost effectiveness, low maintenance, and structural strength,” says Brian. “The inherent benefits of precast prestressed concrete make it the best choice for many projects.” To provide further insight into the durability of precast concrete Brian talks about the materials megapascal (MPa) which is a measure of the compressive strength of concrete. “Ordinary concrete is about 15-25 MPa while precast concrete is usually 35 – 55 MPa he says. “Right now, we can produce high-performance precast that’s 70 -100 MPa, so to manufacture a building that will last for a hundred years is not a problem.” Brian also says that on the aesthetic side of precast concrete “the creative dimensions of shape, texture, colour and pattern make for attractive buildings.” He adds that when it comes to sustainability “the onsite waste is almost nothing as the precast components are finished in the factory then delivered to the project”. Another sustainable benefit of precast concrete is how easily it can be power washed to look like new again, which is not the case for other building materials in the market. 

Precast concrete is far from a hard sell, and therefore the rapid growth of it as a building material of choice is very easily justified.

CPCI and its members play a huge part in the growth of the precast concrete industry in Canada through their advocacy work, which is in constant evolution and follows construction industry trends. A huge part of this advocacy work is their commitment to attracting skilled labour and promoting the benefits of a career in the precast concrete industry. “The manufacturing workforce shortage is real,” says Brian, “which means the precast industry has to rethink and enhance our interviewing, hiring, and retention practices. Since the largest labour pools are millennials, Gen Z, and new Canadians, we need a new focus on how to effectively hire and integrate these sectors into our workforce.” CPCI’s Guide to Skilled Labor Pool Developmentis being produced to help every member plant attract, train, and retain the best manufacturing talent in the precast concrete industry.

In the same way that skilled workers are beneficial to the industry, the industry offers benefits to the skilled worker. With the growth of precast concrete, there is no shortage of work out there and so CPCI is on a mission to promote the industry for what it is – an opportunity to be part of something forward-looking. As part of their advocacy work as far as building the workforce is concerned, CPCI makes sure to extend the precast opportunity to those who may need it most.

CPCI works closely with the Canadian Government as well as the Canadian architectural, engineering, transport, and parking associations, all of whom have an invested interest in the growth of precast concrete and the potential benefits of embracing it. This includes the Cement Association of Canada, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada & Regional Chapters (RAIC), Construction Specifications Canada (CSC), Transportation Association of Canada (TAC), Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE), Canadian Parking Association (CPA), Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and the Canadian Building Envelope Council, among others. As precast concrete is a more sustainable approach than traditional building methods, much of CPCI’s advocacy work is naturally focused on the drive towards a more sustainable built environment. CPCI along with Kearns Mancini Architects and Coreslab Structures presented at the Canadian Green Building Council National Convention in Toronto in June on the Putman Family YWCA the first Total Precast Concrete Passive House (PH) structure. A case study on the project is available on the CPCI website under resources/publications.

“The maturing of digital tools has radically changed the modular-construction proposition,” Brian says.

Brian attributes much of the industry’s growth in recent years to the rise in digital tools and 3D modelling that are available today. CPCI got into 3D modelling about fifteen years ago and Brian says that it’s been a godsend for the industry and members, in particular architects and engineers who love to be on the cutting edge of new technology. “The maturing of digital tools has radically changed the modular-construction proposition,” Brian says. “For instance, by facilitating the design of modular components and full modules and optimizing delivery logistics. Designer and client perceptions of prefabricated structures are beginning to change, particularly as 3D modelling design tools help improve the visual appeal of them.”

Precast concrete came about in the 1950s, embraced first by Nordic countries such as Norway and Sweden which needed to build quickly in the post-war era. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Canada’s one of the first prefabricated buildings was erected – a condominium building that stands strong today as a World Heritage site. Though it has been around since then, it is in the last 20 years that precast concrete started ramping up to its full potential. Because it remains a new phenomenon for many, there is a knowledge gap to be filled. Behind everything, CPCI’s drive is to fill that knowledge gap through education. Their Learn on Demand program, for example, is a continual series of educational courses for architects, engineers, real estate developers, academics, students, government officials and construction professionals who want to learn more about precast concrete products and services. Learn on Demand is available 24/7/365. Participants listen to a 45 50-minute presentation and then answer questions relating to the course content. Upon completion, you’re sent a certificate of participation to qualify for Professional Development Hours and/or Continuing Education Credits.”

Another successful educational service delivered by CPCI is their Lunch & Learn Presentation and Plant Tour Program, which involves educational presentations at client offices during lunch and plant tours throughout the year to share how precast concrete is manufactured. Twenty-two years ago, CPCI started a program called National Precast Day. Another channel through which CPCI provides the construction industry with quality education, National Precast Day sees members across Canada open their precast plants to demonstrate how precast components are manufactured and the many benefits of building with precast concrete. “In the last 22 years National Precast Day has hosted over 50,000 students and AEC professionals,” says Brian.

In Brian’s words, these educational programs “help those in the construction industry to keep current, master new knowledge and skills and plan for the future. In doing so they have the potential to be one of the primary forces in the improvement and revitalization of the construction industry.” With the prefabricated and modular building industry on the rise and organizations like CPCI working tirelessly to advocate and educate within it, the future looks bright for precast concrete. The industry as a whole is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% over the analysis period until 2026, and in Canada, it is CPCI and its members who are set to lead the way in making this a reality.

CPCI is pleased to announce, in 2022, the launch of a 2030/2050 Net-Zero Roadmap Initiative, an important step to decarbonizing our industry by 2050. The roadmap will align with the broader Canadian and international cement and concrete industry efforts by the Cement Association of Canada and the GCCA – Global Cement and Concrete Association and will also support international climate action industry efforts like the Paris agreement and #COP27 to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5C. The industry has established several working groups on benchmarking, production, design and construction, carbonation, and communications. The Canadian precast concrete net-zero roadmap and action plan is expected to be published by late 2022 and initiated in Winter 2023.

For more information contact CPCI at Toll-free: 877 937 2724 |Email: [email protected] | Web: www.cpci.ca

Brian J Hall, B. B. A., MBA
Managing Director
Canadian Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
Vice-Chair – Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Foundation

“KIRCO is a national commercial real estate development, investment, construction and facilities management firm,” says Quinn Kiriluk, offering a worthy attempt at describing all that KIRCO is in just one short sentence. “We are primarily focused on two industry verticals,” says Quinn. “One being senior living and healthcare and the second being corporate real estate, which covers any type of facility from industrial, manufacturing, R&D, laboratories, offices and headquarters.”

Quinn is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the family owned and family operated company, and he joins me today alongside Adam and A.J. to tell me all about its four- decade long journey towards nationwide success. “ KIRCO was born and raised in Michigan,” he tells me. “An overweight portion of our business has been in Michigan State and the Midwest.” KIRCO was founded in 1974 and is a partner company of KIRCO MANIX, the construction side of the organization providing the highest quality pre-construction, design build, and construction management expertise. With over 100 years of experience and $4 billion of successfully delivered projects across the country, KIRCO MANIX have truly played their part in the resurgence of the Midwest.

“Obviously, being in the Detroit area, a lot of our work and our history is with the automotive industry.” This insight comes from AJ Washeleski, head of Business Development at KIRCO MANIX. “We’ve ridden the waves of a lot of the Japanese companies coming in the eighties and the European companies coming in the nineties and early noughties.” This leads us nicely on to a recent project of KIRCO’s: Webasto’s North American Automotive HQ. Adam Manix, Director of Corporate Real Estate, delves deep into the project which all three agree, KIRCO are extremely proud of. “The project itself was a renovation and expansion of a building that was originally built by our company thirty years ago,” he says. “It was originally designed by an Architect based down in Mexico, so it’s got some unique features and design elements compared to other buildings you see today.” The Webasto HQ building represents KIRCO’s forty-sixth building in Auburn Hills, a suburb of Detroit where a lot of the automotive companies are based and in Adam’s words “a prime location for them.”

Working out of North America’s automotive hub, KIRCO and KIRCO MANIX have come to specialize in projects of this nature. They recently completed the Mercedes-Benz North American Headquarters, a two-thousand square foot facility in Farmington Hills. The project, on which they worked alongside renowned architectural and design firm Gensler, started just six weeks before the COVID-fueled shut down of Michigan. “Imagine it,” says Quinn, “everyone is excited to get going and to hit schedules, and then all of a sudden the site is shut down.” During that time the team at KIRCO didn’t take their foot off the pedal and instead put their heads together – virtually – to figure out how to navigate the unknown territory that was a global pandemic. Six weeks later, when the State of Michigan finally recognized construction as the essential industry that it is, they hit the ground running. “We had a great team who all worked together to make sure lead times of materials were being handled in an appropriate manner,” Quinn says. “It took an extra level of discipline and focus by everyone to get it done.” To alleviate some of the supply chain issues that continue to haunt the industry today, KIRCO purchased materials up front and stored them in containers on site. “With all that,” Quinn says, “we were able to maintain the schedule.”

Much of KIRCO’s portfolio falls within the well-known automotive sector, but an industry vertical of theirs that we may be less familiar with is laboratories. Ann Arbor, a suburb of Detroit in the University of Michigan area, is home to Wacker Chemicals North American Headquarters. The 140,000 square feet of lab and R&D space handles the most volatile and abrasive chemicals on the planet and was expertly developed by KIRCO to that effect. Wacker Chemicals are originally headquartered in Germany and so the new development required a lot of lab and custom equipment, including an onsite nitrogen generator, to be imported. “A lot of that equipment fell victim to the supply chain issues,” Quinn says, “so we had to work around them. We used a helicopter to hoist the Nitrogen Generator into the penthouse because we had to enclose the building so we could finish the interiors.” AJ picks up where Quinn leaves off and tells me that “when we couldn’t get roofing materials in the proper sequence, we worked with a roof manufacturer and designed an alternative insulation method, and we still got them to honor the warranty.” Quinn, Adam, and AJ all agree that this particular project is a great example of KIRCO’s ability to, as AJ puts it, “improvise and think things out on the fly with our subcontractors, designers, and clients.”

Another project that started deep in the throes of lockdown, Wacker Chemicals HQ was completed without a face-to-face meeting ever taking place. “We got through the design development phase and got site plan approvals and construction contracts, all virtually,” says Quinn. “We broke ground on the project in October of 2020 and, believe it or not, we just completed it last week within one week of our original schedule.” It is clear from such success stories that the team at KIRCO place a great deal of importance on getting the job done on time, and this speaks to their collaborative approach to doing business. Quinn says: “One overreaching theme that’s emerged in this post-COVID era is that clients should no longer look at construction and development teams as commodities, but as partnerships. All of us working together instead of saying force majeure or not my problem – that is what’s required now.”

Speaking more on the pandemic, Quinn tells me about how KIRCO managed through the past two years that were unlike any they had ever seen before. “It was a struggle trying to run a real estate and construction company remotely without being able to collaborate in a room together,” he says, “but we managed through it well and didn’t lose a single employee.” While all of their job sites lay idle during those uncertain weeks in early 2020, the KIRCO team themselves did not. “We put all of our focus into the community. We had Project Managers helping the healthcare system by getting kiosks and booths together for COVID testing. Our local healthcare system was part of a clinical trial for early COVID treatment, and they were desperately in need of funds, so we stepped up and contributed towards those.” As well as that, KIRCO took part in the development of COVID treatment centers for homeless people in the city of Detroit. “It was unchartered waters for everybody,” says Quinn, and we certainly didn’t just look inwards.”

“Another project that started deep in the throes of lockdown, Wacker Chemicals HQ was completed without a face-to-face meeting ever taking place.”

Adam goes on to talk about how KIRCO’s handling of the pandemic ultimately speaks to the positive culture embedded deep within the company. He says that “when your back is against the wall with something so unexpected and everyone steps up, comes together, puts their heads down and gets the job done – I couldn’t be prouder.

Because development, construction, and facilities management all fall under the KIRCO umbrella, it makes sense for them to gear their focus towards long-term ownership. “Whether it’s an asset we’re going to own and lease or one we’re just building for a client like Webasto and Mercedes, we’re doing everything through the eyes of an owner. We have the rallied, brainstorming and coming up with solutions and thinking outside the box.” This approach will lead KIRCO into the future and the next stage of their journey, in which they plan to focus on their main disciple for which they are confident there will always be a demand. “Despite all the challenges we’re seeing globally and economically,” says Quinn, “there’s always going to be that demand for corporate real estate and senior housing. The product types we focus on may differ, for example we may look into more mission critical type facilities, but we will remain focused on those demands.” In terms of growth projection, Quinn says that KIRCO are committed to the national growth they are already experiencing. “We’ve got a project in a new state almost monthly,” he says. “We’re active in seventeen states today, and we only hope that we continue to see that number grow.”

To close out our conversation which was insightful and informative in equal measure, Quinn says: “We’re not perfect, there’s still challenges ahead, and we haven’t got it all figured out yet, but we feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

Occhino Corp is a Buffalo-based asphalt paving and road construction company with deep roots in Western New York. To their community in Buffalo and beyond they are a go-to contractor for road construction, parking lot construction, concrete construction, new site development, sewer installation, and various types of utility work. “An extremely versatile company,” as current CEO Lee Occhino puts it. Occhino Corp also serve Buffalo as an emergency road and utility contractor in times of need, reinforcing their reputation as a reliable asset to the community.

First established in 1955 with a fleet of just four trucks that hauled gravel products, Occhino Corp in its original form was a far cry from the multi-faceted utility and construction company that it is today. What it still is, though, is a truly authentic family business that remains under Occhino ownership. When Lee joined Occhino Corp he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and original founder Anthony A. Occhino and his own father Anthony John, becoming the third generation of Occhino to lead the company. But Lee’s involvement in Occhino Corp started unofficially back when he was just a kid, as is often the case with family businesses. He and his brother Tony were raised on Occhino Corp soil where they would help their father and grandfather with odd jobs, two future Occhino leaders in the making. All things considered, the sense of continuity that permeates through Occhino Corp is tangible. This stability is currently evidenced by the involvement of Lee’s and Tony’s children who, unsurprisingly, also demonstrate considerable skill and dedication. The family atmosphere; underpinned by a combination of diligence, trust and skill, is evident throughout my conversation with Lee and Tony and is clearly weaved into the very fabric of the company.

Before Lee came on board Occhino Corp was focused primarily on trucking, snow removal and small demolition jobs. In the early 1980s Lee got to work on expanding into residential and commercial paving, site development work and general contracting. This opened Occhino’s doors to a wider customer base and scope of service. “Back then I worked for the company doing driveway paving and smaller construction, “Lee says. “Then in the 1990s when my grandfather passed away and my father retired, my brother Tony joined me as a partner.” It was in 1999 when Tony came on board full time and together the pair grew Occhino into the versatile construction company it is today.

“In 2000 we did our first project for the NY State Department of Transportation and from there it really blossomed,” says Tony. ”Today we do everything from heavy highway road reconstruction to milling and paving of roadways. We also do a lot of school capital projects which consists of sports and athletic fields, specialty fields, rebuilding of infrastructure, and site work like sewers and water lines.”

“Anything from grass to road, you name it,” Lee adds. “We take a field and a bunch of trees and turn it into a site where somebody can put up a building, and we do all the site work for them.” Occhino Corp serves the Buffalo and Western New York region not as a client, but more like an extension of family. “We service both roadways and commercial businesses. To us, that’s our larger family and we want to make sure that our work always shines through.”

“Occhino Corp takes huge pride in every project it works on.”

As part of this commitment to quality, Occhino Corp ensures that the highest standards of safety are at the helm of all they do. Many of their employees are enrolled in programs such as civil engineering, surveying, and additional safety courses. All field employees have completed OSHA Safety requirements. “Because we started out as a trucking company,” Lee says, “we try to take care of our truckers and other employees and to get everyone home safe, while also updating our equipment regularly and keeping a nice clean site.” Occhino Corp has between forty and sixty employees depending on the time of year, and in the wintertime when business is slower they provide those employees with the opportunity to upskill. “If an employee wants to better themselves or do something that’ll move them up in the world we help them find classes and pay for a lot of it,” says Lee. “Because better employees make a better company.”

Because Occhino Corp is people-orientated they are by default safety-orientated too, and this extends to their clients as well as their employees. “We do work in places like chemical industrial manufacturing plants who are big on safety,” says Lee. He goes on to talk about some standout projects from Occhino Corp’s extensive portfolio, all of which are delivered to the highest safety and quality standards. In the spotlight is a project for Conway Beam, a family-owned truck dealership based in New York. “Two years ago we helped Conway Beam through a little bit of a rough patch getting a project off the ground,” says Lee. “We took twenty-six acres of wooded lowland, filled the property, and turned this site from wooded lowland into one of the biggest Mack Mobile dealerships in North America.”

Occhino Corp went on to win an AGC Award for this particular project along with Gernatt Asphalt Products who supplied product. The Association of General Contractors (AGC) Awards recognize the most pioneering of projects in the American construction industry. Coming out on top of their category among some of the most innovative paving projects in the region was a true reflection of Occhino Corp’s dedication to their craft.

Having experienced so much growth in earlier years, Occhino Corp is fortunate to be in a place now where they don’t want to get much bigger. Instead, they want to maintain what they’ve built over the years while bringing in fresh new talent to help the company evolve along with market trends. “We buy lots of new trucks and equipment and we try to keep up to date and running smoothly. And not only equipment – it’s the same with personnel too. We try to keep our personnel up to date through education and introducing fresh new minds to lead us through the changes the world is going through.” Occhino Corp has been around the block enough times to know first-hand that the construction industry is ever-changing. It’s clear that they are committed to keeping up with the changing demands of the industry and whatever challenges it may present, with a flexible, innovative and open-minded approach that is paramount in construction today.

“The truth is that the construction industry is getting a lot tougher these days, with a lot more white-collar and younger people coming out of college who just don’t have the experience,” says Lee. It’s no secret that the construction industry today is often plagued by inexperience and staff shortages, which ultimately has a negative impact on a company’s bottom line. “We recently brought in a new partner named Tony Milone who is a licensed Professional Engineer, and we’d like to keep the company growing with new younger partners,” says Lee. It is this investment in the future of the company and the people within it that allows for the expansion of knowledge and expertise, which is exactly what is needed to stay competitive in the ever-evolving game.

The ‘personal touch’ that underpins all that Occhino Corp does is evident in the relationships they share with both employees and clients alike. When it comes to the company’s clients Lee and Tony take inspiration from the handshake business on which they were raised. Like their father and grandfather before them, they know the importance of client relationships and they do all that they can to maintain them. “Occhino Corp takes huge pride in every project it works on. This is a company that does not merely complete projects to the required specifications. Our attitude is always to do the best job we possibly can for our customers by going the extra mile. In doing this, we have created and maintained many relationships over the years. This has all been based on a trust that is built on the handshake deal mentality.” It is this unyielding commitment to employee and client satisfaction that sets Occhino Corp apart from the crowd and keeps them on the path of success that’s been paved for generations.

Any company that’s been around for the past three decades knows a thing or two about major industry shifts, from the economic crash of 2008 to the more recent global pandemic. Champion Site Prep is a Texas-based earthwork, site preparation and excavation company who have been navigating the construction industry since 1985 with a proactive approach to its ever-changing demands. “We started out as a small shoestring company working on projects as small as gas stations and fast-food restaurants,” says President and CEO Trey Taparauskas. “We perform earthwork and paving now for projects large and small, specifically focused on the private commercial industry including offices, high rise, restaurants, banks, retail, industrial, and municipal.” In a catch-all phrase that cleverly captures both their scope of work and their commitment to quality service, Champion uses the slogan ‘We’ll move the earth for you.’

During their first twenty year period in business Champion grew slowly to approximately 100 employees and expanded their customer base but they stayed relatively small into the 90’s and early 00’s. Then, in 2003, Trey was hired with the task of taking the company to the next level in terms of growth. Champion experienced marginal growth during that time despite the industry struggles that came with 2008 but it wasn’t until some years later that the company rose to the height it stands at today. That growth, as Trey explains, was largely down to Champion’s ESOP buyout of the original owner in 2014. “That’s when we lit the fuse and the rocket really started heading up,” Trey says. “That, along with the exceptional Texas market and Champion’s renewed commitment to our customers and employees, has allowed us to over double in number of employees and triple in annual revenue. We were successful before the buyout but now we are a top tier company.”

ESOP is an Employee Stock Ownership Plan that offers workers interest in the company in the form of stock shares. It’s a ‘grow together’ approach that goes further than making employees simply feel like they are part of the company’s overall success by offering them tangible proof that they truly are. “It was definitely unique to me, the management team, and our employees, but over time it’s become the fabric of who we are,” says Trey of the business model. “We were the little guy for many years at the beginning which kept us out of the market for bigger work, but the ESOP helped us establish a more personal atmosphere which has had a positive impact on our bottom line. Our margins and company culture have both benefited from the involvement of a full team and areas of safety, work engagement, teams, and productivity have all seen the positive effect of the program.” Champion believes that each individuals success leads to positive results for the company as a whole, and the ESOP is what helps them set up their employees for that success. “Each employee can become a stock owner within one year of employment. It allows employees to feel like they’ve got skin in the game because they actually do – they get a stock report of their shares every year. We’ve grown the value of our stock by 500% since the buyout and every individual has a little piece of that. Some of those stock accounts have grown rapidly.” The program blurs the lines of hierarchy between owner and employee to make for a more fair, balanced, and opportunistic environment. Trey also says that being able to add some long-term benefits to compensation packages for each individual employee has helped Champion retain the best people, which is more than half the battle in the construction industry today.

Speaking of the success Champion has experienced since 2014, Trey mentions some of the standout projects that have kept them busy over the years. Texas is one of Northern America’s fastest growing educational hubs, and often it is Champion who are first on the ground to make that happen. “We’re very proud of our association with the largest universities in the region,” he says. “We’re a huge part of the school and university building that’s going on here. We’ve performed work for the University of Texas for over twenty years including stadium projects, new buildings, roadways, arenas, and sports fields. We’ve also got three projects at Baylor University in Waco including their new premier basketball arena, dormitory, and football practice facility. Additionally, we’ve got many projects at Texas State University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Saint Edward’s University and Southwestern University. Having performed well for these organizations in the past does get us in the driver’s seat for their big projects when we are competitively bidding for them.”

“Big enough to undertake the largest projects, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, quality, and teamwork that has made us successful.”

Trey goes on to talk about Champion’s work for H-E-B, the premier grocery company who are rapidly expanding throughout the Texas region. “We work as a large subcontractor on many of their new grocery projects which are a big deal in the Austin, San Antonio, and Waco areas. We’ve done over $25 million on H-E-B projects alone. We’re currently working in Temple, Texas on a $90 million plus freezer and processing center, the largest industrial investment H-E-B has ever made. It’s a 350,000 sq ft facility, like what you’d have in your kitchen or garage except with fully automated robotics and packaging. It’s a really exciting project and we won it on a competitive bid proposal along with the previous relationships we’ve built.”

It is these kinds of projects that represent the scale Champion has grown to since their humble beginnings in the mid-eighties. They plan, humbly, to continue in that direction. “We are very fortunate to be in this region that is experiencing growth,” Trey says speaking of the Austin construction market and the wider Central Texas area, “but we’re also in a particular space and market that is affected by regional, economic and world events. We try to balance growth with a conservative outlook so that we don’t get out over our skis, as we say. We take all the good we can get when the market is growing without putting ourselves in a position to go under if things slow down.”

Champion’s successful ESOP buyout in 2014 and the steady growth that’s come with it has placed the company in a position that is fully aligned with their very philosophy: to be big enough to undertake the largest projects, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, quality, and teamwork that has made us successful. “We don’t want to be the biggest contractor performing earthwork and excavation in our region, but we do want to be the best,” says Trey. “We try to just take it as it comes and expand along with the market without having to branch out into other regions or lower prices to gain market share. We’re just riding the wave at the moment. Currently were in the top tier of premier earthwork contractors in our region and we plan to grow while also working hard to maintain our service level and our employee work environment, which we believe is what sets us apart.” The future of Champion Site Prep is all about steady growth, cautious optimism, and a lifelong commitment to always putting the employees first. The unique business model they have built over time has put them on the path to achieving all of their goals, together.

Growth, diversification, collaboration. This is the order of business for Villager Construction, the New York based and multi-faceted construction company working up and down the East coast. Villager Construction was started in 1980 by Richard K. Clark who, prior to that, had been doing commercial work under the name Clark Excavation. Clark branched out into municipal and public bid work, and along with General Manager Skip Pike, they hired Timothy Lawless to help the company grow. Timothy is now the CEO of Villager Construction having bought the company from Clark in 2019, and today he takes time out of his busy schedule to talk me through the company’s journey from past to present. “When I came on board in 1992, we were doing mostly road reconstruction and utility water and sewer work in the Upstate New York area,” Timothy says. “There were about thirty to forty employees, and we were doing a couple million dollars a year. Shortly thereafter, with the help of General Manager Skip Pike and myself, we transformed the company into a larger firm and continued to grow almost exponentially in the public arena for the next ten years.”

The growth Tim speaks of came largely as a result of Villager Construction’s open-minded approach to changing industry demands. In 1997, when they recognized that road milling and profiling was set to become a bigger part of road construction, they got to work right away on making it a part of their portfolio. “We had a job that required road milling, so we rented a Caterpillar machine,” Tim says. “We started buying road milling machines soon after the success of that job, and that became our second line of work.” Villager Construction’s road milling department had been in existence for less than three years when they expanded it outside of New York and into the Carolina’s, building and rebuilding highways with some of the larger firms out there. “Today, twenty-five years later, we have a fleet of twenty-eight million machines that work up and down the East Coast.”

To capture the true extent of Villager Construction’s diversified portfolio Tim tells me that while one of his teams might be assisting in the reconstructing sixteen miles of road down the East Coast, another might be tending to an emergency call in the middle of the night for a water main or sewer line break. “This is because we’re on call 24/7 for the local municipals,” he says. Villager Construction continued to diversify into the early 2000s with the addition of their treatment plant work and paving departments, and such has been the Villager way ever since.

Around that same time Villager Construction picked up a job for the New York State DOT that required them to take out concrete sub-base, process it by way of crushing, and reuse that product back in the road. This was an era during which the talk of sustainability in the construction industry was a mere background noise compared to the roar that it is today, but even so Villager Construction had the foresight to recognize its potential. “We realized that like road milling, recycling and reusing materials coming out of the ground was going to become a larger part of the industry,” Tim says. “We purchased our first transportable crushing machine, then in 2009 our second and third. We continue to grow that line of business and follow the construction industry along the path of green.” To reuse rather than waste remains one of the most important principles of sustainability today, and one that Villager Construction are quite literally building into our infrastructure through their ever-evolving road construction department. Tim says that “it’s really exciting how we’ve taken straight up road construction and found different avenues to help us diversify and become what we are today.”

“We realized that like road milling, recycling and reusing materials coming out of the ground was going to become a larger part of the industry.”

Today Villager Construction continue to play an integral role in building the infrastructure of New York and beyond. They recently completed a section of the 490 interstate and it is this kind of project that brings about the sense of pride Tim and his employees find in their craft. “We milled and resurfaced six and a half miles of a major highway here in Rochester and will be doing an extension of that soon, the 590 project, heading North for another six miles of milling and paving.” Those who just use a city’s infrastructure allow things like smooth highways and clean running water to improve their daily lives without a second thought, while those who build it experience its benefits with a sense of pride and satisfaction that only they understand. “Helping to improve our roads and utilities is very satisfying and an accomplishment that everyone in our company is very proud of,” Tim says. “It’s exciting to drive down a road, feel the ride in your car, and know that your company had a part in making that happen. Or when you flush the toilet or take a shower and you have clean running water, you realize that that too is how our work comes together. To know that you’ve had a part in the infrastructure that keeps us healthy and safe – it’s a really neat feeling.” In this reflection Tim captures the true essence of what construction is all about – building something greater than what meets the eye and improving the lives of those who use it.

In today’s construction climate, with the shortage of qualified workers becoming a major headline, industry professionals are working against the clock to find innovate new ways to do business. Tim and his team recognize these workers shortages as an industry-wide rather than a company-wide problem, and as such have taken a collaborative approach in trying to solve them. Their paving department for example, which has expanded in typical Villager fashion over the years into North Carolina, is set up to support and build partnerships with the larger contractors down there. “The paving department continues to grow and be part of our footprint up and down the East Coast,” says Tim. “And when we can support some of the larger firms through the worker shortage and do some of the prep work, that’s pretty cool as well.”

This collaborative approach is also true of Villager Construction’s Logistics team, who have become a department of their own as a result of growing industry demands. “If we’re delivering something to one of our job sites and we can help one of our partners out by moving their equipment too – that’s what that department is all about.” It is this kind of attitude that transcends the competitiveness that often comes with doing business and replaces it with a sense of community that may be the very thing the construction industry needs to heal.

Villager Construction, as Tim describes it, is made up of a million different machines that work across all departments to get the job done, but the true brain behind the operation is, of course, its people. “All departments continue to find ways to grow, and the operations managers are key in making each one successful,” Tim says. “All of our employees contribute to the overall success of Villager Construction and I’m very proud of everyone who works here. We talk to our employees and let them know we’re proud, and we hope the travelling public can recognize their good work too.”

As they move forward into the future Villager Construction plan to continue along the tried and tested path that has led them to where they are today. That is, one that is rich in growth, diversification, and collaboration. They hope to continue to support the bigger firms with whom they’ve formed successful partnerships with, learning from them as they too continue to expand. “With the diminishing infrastructure that needs to be brought up to date there’s a lot of work to be done and we’re looking forward to doing it,” Tim says. “There are challenges along the way, but it’s about navigating those challenges and building a better future.”

Collaboration, creativity, and integrity. These are the three core values of LoDuca Associates, an award-winning construction company operating out of Blue Point NY. LoDuca’s CEO Renee Guerrieri mentions these values very early on in our conversation, and it strikes me throughout that they are not merely used as buzz words to establish a particular reputation but rather that they are deeply woven into the fabric of the company and all that they do. “All of our core values stem from my father,” Renee says, “and the employees we hire have to embody and uphold them.”

When CEO Renee joined LoDuca Associates back in 2007 she did so on what was meant to be a temporary basis. “I came in at first to help out during a period of transition,” she says. “I’ve been here almost fifteen years now, and I plan to be here forever.” The reflection is a testament to the company which was started by Renee’s father thirty-nine years ago, and the positive workplace culture that has driven LoDuca’s success ever since.

Richard LoDuca is Renee’s father and current President of LoDuca Associates. Richard started the company in 1983 as a home developer, and by 1987 had broken out into the public works and commercial contracting sector. Today, LoDuca Associates has a four-decade long portfolio under their belt with a diverse range of projects including high-end residential, ground-up construction, renovations, alterations, and additions. Though their journey thus far has led them down different paths in terms of the work they do, LoDuca’s “people first” approach has remained in place through every twist and turn. The name of the company itself was well thought out by Richard, who knew from day one that behind every successful business is a solid team.

“He was very set on choosing ‘associates’ because he knew from the start that the company was not just him, it was him and his team,” Renee says. LoDuca Associates is a company that was quite literally born of a team mindset, and so it’s no wonder that today they’ve got a great team of people behind them with a staff retention record that we don’t see too much of anymore. “A lot of our employees have been here for ten years or more,” Renee says, “a lot for twenty years or more, and some for as long as thirty-six years.”

A happy and hardworking workforce directly reflects the success of a project, and this is certainly the case for LoDuca Associates. LoDuca Associates are, as any great construction company should be, hyper-focused on the work that they produce. To get a true understanding of what LoDuca Associates are all about, I asked Renee to talk me through some of the projects they have completed in New York and beyond. “Long Island Railroad has been one of our biggest clients for almost forty years,” Renee says. “We’re very proud of that work and have built great relationships with project managers and clients, but we’re not just a railroad contractor.” Renee goes on to talk about some of the standout projects that really capture the company’s build with precision ethos.

First up is the Ocean Beach Ferry Terminal, a 6,000 square foot ground-up construction development which recently won an award for excellence through ABC. “It was built next to the water which presents a lot of challenges,” Renee says. “We have a staff of in-house carpenters, and so we did almost the entire project with just our staff. The truss work inside is absolutely beautiful. It’s a project we get so many compliments on, and we’re very proud of it.

“We have a staff of in-house carpenters, and so we did almost the entire project with just our staff.”

Renee tells me next about a glamping site they recently built for Collective Retreats. This is not the typical kind of project that springs to mind when we think about a construction company, and it is one that really showcases the diversity in LoDuca’s work. “We built a glamping site out at Governors Island for Collective Retreats, whom we have a great relationship with. They recently asked for one of our employees to be flown out to their Texas site for a project. It’s amazing – they have sites all over but wanted to use our guy.”

Next up is the construction of a museum paying tribute to true American hero Lt. Michael P. Murphy, a US Navy SEAL Officer who was awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions during the war in Afghanistan. “The Michael P. Murphy Museum was built due to the donations of people like us,” Renee says. “We were able to donate a large portion of framing work to the project, and we were very excited to be a part of that. We’ve done a lot of fundraising with those guys too, supporting their mission over there.”

Another standout project for LoDuca Associates is their Gotham Greens development, a 65,000 square foot greenhouse built on top of a 4-storey building in Jamaica, Queens. “Gotham Greens are a very successful greenhouse and produce growing company,” Renee tells me. “Building on top of the roof presented tremendous challenges, but we worked really well through it.” This is another example of LoDuca’s wide range of skills in the built environment, and one that ring true to their company motto – if you dream it, we’ll build it.

It’s evident that for a company like LoDuca Associates to select just a handful of standout projects is no easy feat. Renee also talks with pride about the Jamaica Theatre Control Centre, MTA Headquarters and Saltaire Yacht Club, each of which offers an exciting new insight into the true potential of modern-day construction.

Though the level of quality produced by LoDuca Associates is clearly evident in the projects themselves, LoDuca have put in place certain certifications and benchmarks to ensure that that quality is never in question. As Accredited Quality Certifiers, LoDuca Associates pledge that the company is committed to providing their clients with the highest quality construction services, and that they deeply care their employees and the communities in which they build. “We felt like the AQC pledge strongly aligned with who we are as a company,” Renee says. “We’re extremely transparent with clients, subcontractors and employees and we take safety on site very seriously, so this just puts a stamp on what we’ve been doing for the company’s entire existence.” The AQC pledge lets LoDuca’s clients know that their carpenters are receiving continued education through the program, while from a marketing perspective it allows LoDuca Associates to highlight potential new clients.

LoDuca Associates have also introduced benchmarking tool STEP to their practice to further ensure quality and improvement across the board. They achieved Platinum status through the program when they first implemented it last year. The only status above that is Diamond and that’s something they continue to strive towards. “Achieving Platinum status confirmed that our safety standards are really in line with industry standards. STEP helps us analyze and measure where we are, and where we need to improve.”

Renee talks with gratitude about how LoDuca Associates were blessed with a steady flow of essential work during the pandemic, and it’s evident that that blessing has not gone unnoticed by the LoDuca team.

Another word that drives our conversation along with LoDuca’s three core values is the word ‘gratitude’, which many of us have come to use to reflect on and appreciate all that we’ve got. Renee talks with gratitude about how LoDuca Associates were blessed with a steady flow of essential work during the pandemic, and it’s evident that that blessing has not gone unnoticed by the LoDuca team. “We had a responsibility to really appreciate the fact we weren’t affected like others were.” Renee says. “We’ve worked harder than ever to appreciate and protect what we have.”

For LoDuca Associates the pandemic set in stone what they’ve been preaching all along: it pays to have a solid foundation underneath you. That is, a team of people who love their work, take pride in what they do as if it’s their own, and trust their leaders to carry them through times of uncertainty. A well-established foundation that existed pre-pandemic is what allowed LoDuca Associates to fall into step with the new normal that stopped some construction companies in their tracks, and march forward into an unknown future without fear nor falter. “It threw us for a loop for a second, but we found our footing really well,” Renee says. “It was amazing to see the company come together as a team and not skip a beat.”

LoDuca Associates moved forward into 2022 with that same solid team along with some new hires they gained over the course of the pandemic and are now projecting their biggest year yet. “2022 will be a year of more strategy and honing in on future plans,” Renee says. “I’m excited for the year ahead. The fruits of our labor will be seen and we’ve got a lot of work on the table. I’m super confident in the team we have in place, and I am so grateful.”

It takes a village to raise a child is a phrase that has taken on many different meanings over the years. Used in the context of construction, the phrase refers to the collaborative effort involved in taking a project from design to completion. Easling Construction recognizes the many different skills and expertise it takes to build a home, and as such have built a business model that allows them to do most of their work in-house. A whole village under one roof, in a sense. From concrete work and carpentry to painting and insulation, Easling Construction offer a ‘full package’ service that achieves efficiency and consistency across the board. “It’s pretty seamless,” says Marty Easling, President and Director of the Northern Michigan based company. “There’s higher quality, better scheduling, efficient problem solving, and we’re not relying on subcontractors.” That’s the Easling difference.

Marty Easling started Easling Construction in 1976 as a one-man team specializing in commercial building. About two years later and in search of a more challenging line of work, Easling Construction made the move to custom residential and have been specializing in that ever since. Today, Easling Construction is 100% employee owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) and is one of Leelanau County’s largest private employers. With a team of almost one hundred people, Easling Construction are responsible for many of the custom builds on the Northern Michigan Peninsula.

Northern Michigan is an area in which vacation homes have always been a hot topic. “It’s a different market,” Marty says. “90% of the homes we build are second homes, not year-round.” It is this type of housing market that has Easling Construction’s employees at their busiest during the winter months, when they’re on the ground working hard to get remodels and new-builds completed by Spring. As Marty says, “They don’t want to see us in the summertime.”

Now that they’ve been in business for over forty-five years, Easling Construction strive to keep things interesting by finding challenging projects to add to their portfolio. They recently completed a cottage-style home on Lake Michigan that is unlike any of the other lake-front homes by which it is surrounded. “Typically, the homes there are more Lake Michigan style with white painted trim and shingle siding. This was all timbers. Every wall was log siding or barnwood panelling, all wood. The beams were reclaimed from the salvaged material from barns we tore down. There was a lot of stone too – not native stone but stone from Idaho and Montana.” The build was a refreshing change for the Easling Construction team as well as the architects, all of whom specialize in lake-front homes with painted trim. “It was a different avenue for us all,” says Marty. “And challenge that turned out very well.”

“Now that they’ve been in business for over forty-five years, Easling Construction strive to keep things interesting by finding challenging projects to add to their portfolio.”

Working with wood is something that Easling Construction have mastered throughout the years, and that mastery was the catalyst in the opening of their own in-house cabinet shop. The Easling Wood Shop, which is operated by highly experienced craftsmen, is capable of making virtually anything you can imagine. If your dream home calls for a hand-crafted staircase or a unique coffee-table, the same company that are doing your concrete work and insulation or fitting your hardwood floors, have got you covered. It’s a service that’s rarely offered by your run-of-the-mill construction company, and another element of Easling Construction’s make-up that drives their success in Northern Michigan.

In the construction industry there are some challenges that are embraced, like taking part in offbeat projects and operating an in-house cabinet shop, and some that are a little harder to swallow, like the challenges that come with a global pandemic. This has been especially true for companies operating in Michigan, where construction work was not awarded the ‘essential’ status it was in most other North American regions. “At first we thought we were essential and then the Governor shut us down for seven weeks, and that hurt,” says Marty. Seven weeks may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of a two-year pandemic, but in the construction industry where projects are made up of so many moving parts, it’s enough to stir operational chaos.

Easling Construction have experienced first-hand the difficulty in completing projects as seamlessly as they once could. Not least of the challenges inflicted on the construction industry by the pandemic is the supply chain, which Marty says is “completely crippled.” He gives the example of windows and how their delivery time has moved from four weeks to eighteen, “And even that gets extended,” he says. “We’re just trying to order as soon as we get a decision, and we’re pushing for decisions more so than ever before so we don’t have these hold ups.” Where before the pandemic fixed-price contracts were commonplace, Marty says that now “it’s impossible to enter into a fixed- price contract if you don’t know what materials are going to cost or when you’re going to get them.”

Aside from the supply chain, the pandemic has also presented major staffing issues to overcome. Marty speaks of a new normal in which during the waves of covid infections it became common that “every time we go into the office there’s at least five or six employees calling in to say they’ve been exposed.” With an employee count of around one hundred employees this equates to five or six percent of the Easling Construction workforce, a significant number when it comes to delivering projects efficiently.

While it’s business as usual for some industries after a period of closure, in construction it takes a great deal of time, effort, and resources to get all of those moving parts that make a successful project to once again align. “It’s something we’re still trying to catch up with,” says Marty, echoing the shared struggle of an industry that appears from the outside to be booming.

And it is booming, in a sense. While Easling Construction are doing all they can to pick up the pieces post-pandemic, they are simultaneously reaping the rewards of new lifestyle trends in North West Lower Michigan. “People are moving away from urban areas into rural areas where we are,” says Marty says. “They’re either operating from home or have changed their whole occupation. A lot of the people we build for have offspring who are moving to these areas with their parents, so we’re putting up second cottages to main cottages or additions to homes to accommodate extended families.” Marty speaks of how Michigan is an area that has always treated Easling Construction well while also recognizing these new trends as a definite boom – one that’s keeping them busier than ever. “It’s a trend that’s not going away,” he says, “and one that could change the whole environment.”

It is these trends that give Marty an overall positive outlook for the future of Easling Construction, despite the challenges they’ve faced over the past two years. “It’s possible that the homes surrounding us, which are mostly seasonal villages, will become more year-round when people start to spend longer in them.” The positive impact that this may have, not just on the construction industry but also on the tourist industry and the wider economy, is unheard of in our time. As one of the finest custom construction companies in the area, Easling Construction have no small part to play in accommodating these ever-changing demands and redefining the infrastructure of the Northern Michigan landscape.

Sometimes, like in the case of Illinois’s Federal Steel & Erection Co., the meaning of a family business goes much deeper than just a handful of family members taking part in an organizations key decision making and overall vision. Federal Steel & Erection Co. is a collective of many different families, spanning over four generations with roots in the company as far back as World War 2. Christopher Darr, a fourth-generation Federal Steel employee and current company President, talks with pride about the history that underlies the most efficient fabrication company in the St. Louis area.

“Arthur Isringhausen founded the company in 1948 when he came back from the war,” Christopher says. “My great-grandfather was with him at the time, he was the acting secretary and general manager. My family have been in the company ever since. There are more families too who’ve been with us for three generations. It’s still a family business today across the board and in every department, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Federal Steel & Erection Co. is a full-service steel contractor specializing in design, detailing, CNC, fabrications, coding and erection. The company found their home in East Alton-Wood River back in 1953 and have been expanding and modernizing from there ever since. They specialize in industrial and commercial structural steel as well as pre-engineered metal buildings and petro-chemical work. “Pretty much anything steel,” Christopher says of their scope of work. “Whether we’re erecting a project or not we’re always looking at how it goes together and offering the best solutions for the client.” Federal Steel & Erection Co. are fully outfitted with a conveyor-driven CNC band saw and a modern drill line, as well as a robotic thermal processor, a blaster for paint preparation, an angle line and plate processor. They’ve also got an in-house Certified Weld Inspector who Christopher says “keeps all our welders and fitters qualified to complete the task right the first time.”

Of his own role as company president, Christopher says his job is to make sure everyone has all the tools they need to do their part safely and efficiently. “There is a lot of passion and satisfaction in what we do,” Christopher says, “and the fun part is coming up with solutions for our clients that they might not have thought about.”

In recent years Federal Steel’s workforce has become younger with much of the older generation reaching retirement age. The result is a varied workforce that achieves a perfect blend of valuable experience and a fresh new outlook on the industry. It is this fresh outlook that has made Federal Steel the technology-forward company they are today, embracing things like robotics and staying on top of the latest industry advancements. “We used to drill the holes ourselves,” says Christopher, “and now a robot does it.”

Introducing modern technology into their practice has allowed Federal Steel to perform their work efficiently and always to the highest standard. “We draw everything in three dimensions now,” says Christopher, reminding us of how far the industry has come since the days of sketching plans with pen and paper. “We program those drawings into the CNC where they can be transferred directly to the machines out on the shop floor. Everything’s built right and efficiently the first time, and there’s very little opportunity for human error.”

“Everything’s built right and efficiently the first time, and there’s very little opportunity for human error.”

Efficiency is a key word that comes up time and time again when it comes to Federal Steel’s scope of work, along with another word that’s high on their priority list – safety. “Our safety compliance programme makes us qualified to work in some of the most stringent environments,” Christopher says. “We have a great safety record. We limit exposure to elements and working at heights by designing, fabricating, and assembling as much off site as possible.” Federal Steel & Erection Co. are also AISC-certified for bridges, allowing them to do state work on both pedestrian and vehicle bridges. “As an AISC certified building and bridge fabricator we adhere to the latest and most stringent standards of quality and professionalism in the service we provide.”

From their home in Illinois they recently completed the Pipeline Bridge, a 22,000-foot modular bridge project for a Midwest refinery client. The largest single span of the bridge was 315 feet spanning both road and levy. Federal Steel & Erection Co. have become leading experts in this scale of project during their 45+ years of experience in the field, and when asked about the Pipeline Bridge Christopher says “the picture really speaks for itself.”

When it comes to service, Federal Steel & Erection Co. offer a one-stop-shop with a full-service philosophy. Whether it’s a pre-engineered metal building or structural platform, Federal Steel consider the owner’s end goal and find the most economical and efficient process to get them there. “We really want to take the stress off owners and general contractors. When it comes to steel, we want to be able to take the lead and minimize the impact on RFIs. Our full-service philosophy gives us the full gambit to coordinate the fabricating and erecting so that there’s no holes in the scope, no surprises, and nothing shows up late. Having that control helps with cost, scheduling, coordination, connection designs and modulation. We can really get ahead of things and get the job done right.”

Federal Steel & Erection Co. handle a wide gambit of projects “from as little as one piece of plate to thousands of tons.” To accommodate such projects they’ve got a state-of-the-art fabrication facility that is 400,000 Square feet under roof and 7 acres, with an assembly yard where they modularize projects before they ship or store them if they’re ready ahead of time. The facility is conveniently located in the Midwest with close proximity to major highways, rail terminals, and Mississippi Barge docks, which allows them to ship large structural modules all over the world. They’ve recently shipped projects to Ireland and the US Virgin Islands, to name a few. Of the facility Christopher says, “We’re not the biggest shop in the world but we can run with the biggest shops in the world.”

The scale of Federal Steel & Erection Co.’s fabrication facility is a reflection of the wider growth of the steel industry in North America, where the average warehouse size today is almost double what it was ten years ago. “These warehouses you see popping up everywhere are a big indication of where the industry is going,” Christopher says. “Everything is getting bigger, schedules are getting tighter, and there’s a lot more delegated design which we’re perfectly outfitted for.” When reflecting on what the future looks like for Federal Steel, Christopher recognizes the key role that this growth will play. He says that as a company they are very competitive and very eager to do all they can with their resources in an industry that shows no sign of slowing down.

Touching on the pandemic, which no construction company has been fortunate enough to sail through unscathed, Christopher says, “the current supply chain challenges have presented plenty of opportunities to think outside the box. Some schedule sensitive projects now need to be designed around long lead items, and price hikes have us looking at alternatives to keep clients’ projects within budget and often saving money.”

Christopher also talks about North America’s aging infrastructure, and how Federal Steel’s maintenance experience in this area is invaluable. These maintenance services allow Federal Steel to refurbish existing structures, extending their life cycle and saving the owner huge costs. “We can come in where there’s a corroded beam or where there’s fire or storm damage and replace what’s needed. We have the resources to detail out, fabricate and erect a fix for this type of job, often making an old building or platform look like new.”

“We’re diversifying the types of projects we pursue as the landscape of construction changes,” Christopher says. “Fabrication and erection equipment never stops evolving. We’ll continue to grow and develop as demands are always evolving from shop fireproofing, painting galvanized steel, delegated designs, and the ever-changing module.” The future of Federal Steel & Erection Co., wrapped up in a single word by Christopher, is “bright.”

The roofs we live under today are a far cry from the straw-thatched roofs of the mid eighteenth century. Often equipped now with durable material and smart technology, the modern-day roof is fit more than ever for its intended purpose. That is, safety and protection for us, our families, our belongings, and everything else that builds a home. “Everyone needs one,” says Jake Ackerman, Founder and CEO of RoofTek. “With ninety-nine percent of the population living with a roof over their heads, we see roofing as one of those basic human needs.”

RoofTek is a Utah-based roofing contractor and franchisor selling franchises across the United States. One of the highest rated roofers in the nation, RoofTek’s success stems from their total commitment to quality and a dedication to always deliver the best value in the industry. Over the years the RoofTek team has completed thousands of rooftop installations, from affordable re-roofs to complex solar installations. It is RoofTek, therefore, who have quite literally put a roof over much of the country’s heads.

It was Jake’s love of nature that led him into the roofing business and ultimately to the founding of RoofTek. “I love the amazing wonder that our planet is,” says Jake, “and we as inhabitants are burning fossil fuels and consuming a lot.” Intrigued by the great potential in harnessing energy from the sun, Jake joined a solar company as a sales advisor in an attempt to further understand that potential. A few months later and equipped with the skills he needed to effect real change, Jake founded RoofTek. From then on it was full speed ahead into roofing, with solar naturally remaining a big part of the business. RoofTek have established themselves as trusted solar experts, leading the way in planning, engineering and installing utility grade solar systems.

“If there’s tech on your roof, it’s RoofTek,” is how Jake puts it. This idea of tech on your roof is embedded into the RoofTek name, and it doesn;t stop with solar. As well as commercial and residential roofing and solar paneling, RoofTek are now in the business of Permanent Holiday Light installations. Invisible by day, these lights tie right into the metal on the soffit and fascia of the roof where they stay all year round. These lights can then be controlled through an app on your smartphone that allows you to choose colors, pattern and animation, all using LED light technology. It is this kind of innovative technology that is elevating the industry to new heights, and it’s RoofTek who are leading the way in installing it.

When you peel back the curtains of the industry it is the expert quality roofers who are out there getting the work done, and Jake gives us an insight into how those relationships are managed within the company. “While we see ourselves being in the roofing business,” Jake says, “we also know that we are in the people business, the onboarding business, the business of creating a track where people can be successful. I wake up everyday and think: how do I build on and further improve that success track?” RoofTek have yielded tremendous success from investing in employees and subcontractor relationships, enlisting good people in the cause and providing them with mentorship at every turn. They provide fair pay and health benefits that workers may not have found elsewhere, providing them with the tools they need to “level up and change their lives.” RoofTek ensure that every estimator, project manager and lead installer that arrives at your door is a Field Certified roofer, with a fully-trained team who adhere strictly to RoofTek installation guidelines. “All of the crew leads have access to our computer management software where they can read notes, take pictures, make notes and follow directions.” This high level of communication and consistency across the board is what sets RoofTek apart as roofing contractors, ensuring always that customer experience, accountability and quality is at the core of what they do.

“RoofTek have yielded tremendous success from investing in employees and subcontractor relationships, enlisting good people in the cause and providing them with mentorship at every turn.”

Jake believes that “if there are strengths there are strengths of leadership, if there are weaknesses there are weaknesses of leadership.” As RoofTek continues to grow and develop their team, they do so with a heavy focus on leadership. It is this leadership that has seen the company yield huge results when it comes to growth. “If you want to grow as a business,” Jake says, “you’ve got to grow as a leader.” Jake, who has always been an entrepreneur, has grown as a leader within RoofTek to land at a place where he truly sees himself as a CEO. “As I grow and the leadership team grows and we learn how to deliver that success track – that’s really what I think has made the biggest difference in our growth.”

The growth that Jake speaks of is in both scale and revenue, and it has been a significant uptick since RoofTek first came to life. The first year in business saw a turnover of $4.5 million, a figure that doubled in the following year to $9 million, thus setting a trend that was indicative of how the next few years would play out. During this period of growth RoofTek added reroofing and repair services to the business, as well as spray-on products that help extend the life of a roof and most recently, franchising. “In our first year of franchising we’ve sold ten units and we’re in the process of getting them up and operational.” Just last year, as a result of such growth and new opportunities, RoofTek finished up on $31 million in revenue. “It’s gratifying when a plan comes together,” Jake says when speaking about some of RoofTek’s growth milestones. “You decide where you want to be, you task your team, create clarity and roles, and then later you get to sit in a quarterly meeting and say hey, we did it!”

While RoofTek has experienced exceptional growth in recent years, they are only scratching the surface of what can be achieved, and certainly what they plan to achieve within the industry. In talking about the company’s vision Jake refers to RoofTek’s North Star. “What gets us out of bed besides the paycheck?” he asks. The roofing industry in North America does not yet have a unified, go-to brand when it comes to all things roofing. In this, Jake sees an opportunity to become to roofing what Kleenex is to tissue or what Levi’s is to jeans: a household name. “So if someone’s got something going on with their roof, we want them to say without hesitation, I’m gonna call RoofTek.” Sometimes it just makes sense to, pardon the pun, put everything under the one roof. This streamlining of services is happening in so many other industries, and so when it comes to roofing an ambitious and forward-thinking Jake asks the question, why not us?

Jake’s high hopes for the future of RoofTek is reflective of his positive outlook on the roofing industry as a whole. In speaking on this he calls to mind a saying: there’s only so much land out there and god’s not making any more of it. With the population growing in density and land becoming scarcer, we need to start thinking of roofs as assets and figure out how to maximize them to our advantage. “The industry is going in an exciting direction and I’m excited to be one of the people that’s trying to figure out how best to utilize that asset up there,” Jake says. The thing that was once a straw-thatched layer of weak protection is now a powerful force for change, and in order to put that change into practice we need companies like RoofTek in the driver’s seat. “A roof is not a liability you have to deal with every twenty-five years,” Jake offers in his closing thoughts. “If we can find a better way to use them by making them last longer, harnessing the power of the sun, or spending some time in sanctuary up there, we can use them to improve our quality of life. The world is our acorn. It’s just about finding the right people to help make it all happen.”

It is often said that once we’ve got a roof over our heads and food on the table, everything else will fall into place. While Airfoam, in British Columbia, doesn’t directly manufacture these essential goods, quite often it is their innovative insulation solutions that place safe buildings and fresh food within our reach. Add life-saving medicines and vaccines to the list of products that they insulate, and Airfoam lands high up on the list of what we’ve come to know as essential.  

Since their inception, over thirty-five years ago, Airfoam Industries Ltd.  has grown and evolved into a multi-national provider of insulation solutions. They came to life in 1986 as Aqua-Pak Industries, taking on the task of shipping fresh coastal seafood around the world. From those humble beginnings as a packaging company they branched out into the building materials space, introducing Quad-Lock Insulating Concrete Forms in 1994. Later, after expanding the business and acquiring their biggest competitor, they rebranded all construction products under the Airfoam banner to become what they are today. “After our acquisitions and rebrand of our building materials under Airfoam we have a really strong lineup of products that can serve many construction applications,” says CEO Josh Plamondon, who joined the company in 2006. Today, the Airfoam group operates a fifty-fifty split business between insulated packaging and building materials, with the construction vertical growing rapidly in the current climate. “British Columbia is on the cutting edge of changing building codes in North America and that has really created a lot of opportunity for us.” 

Evident in the building market today is an urgent drive towards sustainability and resilience. This comes as no surprise as the construction industry is responsible for 11% of global carbon emissions. To achieve Net Carbon Zero by 2050 as set out by world leaders at COP26, the way buildings are designed and built needs to be revolutionised. This includes how buildings are protected in both a thermal and moisture management sense, and that’s where Airfoam comes in. It doesn’t take long into our conversation for Josh to drive the point home that sustainability and resilience are at the core of what Airfoam does. “It seems the extremes are becoming more common,” says Josh, speaking of climate change and the forest fires that sweep through British Columbia every summer. “Providing high-performance insulation solutions is really all about minimising our impact on the environment. Especially our buildings – those are the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Whether it’s the energy used to heat or cool them, or controlling moisture in the building envelope, better insulation is a simple solution that’ll have a big impact.” 

It is EPS, or expanded polystyrene, that forms the basis of Airfoam’s high-performance insulation solutions. A versatile and lightweight material, EPS is about 98% air and is free from formaldehyde and CFC, HCFC and HFC gases. EPS allows for the safe insulation of food and medical supplies during transit as well as the quality and cost-efficient insulation of buildings. “A great product with a fantastic cost per R-Value,” is how Josh puts it. Airfoam is passionate about the low environmental impact of EPS compared to some other solutions on the market, and strives to put even more recycled content into their products in the future. “You look at what we do and you might think we just make foam, but what Airfoam is trying to accomplish and how we’re trying to impact the world has really resonated with me,” says Josh. “I’m lucky to be in a position now in which I get to help lead the charge with that.”

“A versatile and lightweight material, EPS is about 98% air and is free from formaldehyde and CFC, HCFC and HFC gases.”

Airfoam continues to be an influencer in Canadian and US markets by lending technical expertise to industry and government in the development of codes and standards. Airfoam experts sit on a number advisory committees that review changing needs in both the building and packaging industries and help to develop regulatory codes that protect the consumer in a safe and logical manner. An example of Airfoam’s influence can be found in BC Housing’s latest revision of the Building Envelope Guide for Houses – Part 9, which features a greatly expanded “how-to” section on Insulating Concrete Forms that helps to ensure compliance with BC’s residential building code.  

Climate change is not the only significant global challenge that Airfoam has had to face head on. “Keep people healthy and keep the doors open,” was the Airfoam approach from the second the pandemic kicked off and their services were deemed essential. Airfoam was on the leading edge when it came to implementing protocols and going above and beyond what was required to keep everyone safe. Without any foresight on what the next few months would bring they’d made a pre-pandemic move to cloud-based solutions. This meant that from a technology standpoint they were able to flip a switch and send everybody home without fuss, while many others scrambled to implement online solutions overnight. “It was business as usual,” says Josh. Since March 2020, Airfoam has moved forward with a more flexible working environment, and have even been fortunate to grow in numbers without the limitations of a physical office.  

While Airfoam has come out the other side of the pandemic with a happy and healthy team and a busy workload, it did not come without challenges. The extent of what COVID-19 has done to the global supply chain can only be fully understood if your business exists within that chain. Many of the materials that Airfoam uses come from overseas. When demand for such materials dropped and ships and containers were decommissioned, supplies came at a hefty price or fell out of reach entirely. “Later when the demand spiked there was no capacity to keep up, causing worldwide supply chain issues that we’ve all had to navigate.” Another well-documented supply chain issue that arose in light of COVID-19 is the great lumber shortage which, as Josh puts it, really pushed people to look at other proven methods of building. When you pair such issues with an industry-wide drive towards greener buildings, there is huge potential to be found. “We’ve seen a lot of organic growth over the last two years with people looking to build in a more sustainable way,” says Josh. “We worked really hard to make sure our customers had supply and were able to keep service levels close to 100% from our lead time standards. We even got some more business out of that from people who wouldn’t normally buy from us. We’re hopeful we can continue to grow those new relationships once things start to stabilize.”  

Just like construction companies have had to find different ways to build, companies like Airfoam have had to find different ways to sell. It raises the question – where do traditional trade shows fit into all this? While traditional trade shows are not the sales powerhouses they once were, Vancouver-based trade show BUILDEX remains an important one for Airfoam. “It plants a flag in the soil that this is where we are, this is our birthplace, this is where we call home.” BUILDEX is an annual trade show that provides networking, educational and product demonstration opportunities to building industry professionals. Still an important platform for sales and lead generation, BUILDEX now has a strong focus on education and building science. “When we develop new building and insulation solutions BUILDEX is a great place for us to introduce them into the market.” This year Airfoam will be participating in the show alongside HAVAN, the Home Builders Association in the Lower Mainland. “This is really exciting as it signifies to us that we’re a key partner for them. It says a lot that they’ve invited us and really speaks to the work that we’ve been doing in the building community to promote high performance buildings and sustainability.” 

Among the technical seminars and demonstrations that Airfoam will be running at BUILDEX 2022 is the introduction of their latest focused solution, Foamshield. Building on research from University of Alaska’s Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Foamshield technology can help builders achieve the highest levels of British Columbia’s emerging Energy Step Codes – which is a province-wide standard that incentivizes energy efficiency in new buildings – with off the shelf parts. Foamshield technology is based on what building scientists are calling  “perfect wall” assemblies for healthy, durable, and budget-friendly buildings. Manufacturing the best performing products for the lowest cost is what drives Airfoam, and as Josh says, “it’s a compelling story for the building community to hear.” This kind of innovation and product development is a big part of Airfoam’s vision for the future. “We’re ramping up investment in a product development team which is going to be an exciting initiative over the next while. We strive to be the best in the world at what we do, which means innovating new ways to improve production, reduce costs and create efficiency.”  

Airfoam has ambitious plans on where they want to be as a company and are focused on working together to achieve their vision. “Expanding product lines, expanding offerings, expanding reach – these things are all on the table for us.” With a world-class team of innovators and years of industry experience, Airfoam strives to be thought leaders in their field of expertise. “Internally we know we have a lot of talented people that understand building science, but outside our business we’re not sure it’s as well known. One of our initiatives is to drive these new products and solutions and to increase industry recognition,” says Josh. “We’ve set the bar much higher this year, but the whole team is really keen on continuing to push the rock up the hill.” 

“Nobody represents the construction industry in the Carolinas like Carolinas AGC,” says Dave Simpson, President & CEO of the award-winning trade association. It takes just a small glimpse into the company’s plethora of work to know that Dave is speaking the truth. Carolinas AGC is a full-service trade association that has been in operation for 101 years, representing almost eight-hundred-member companies in the commercial and industrial construction industry. They are a chapter of the wider Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the American Road and Transportation Building Association (ARTBA), both of whom they have a great working relationship with. Recognizing the prodigious work being done by their Carolinas chapter, the AGC of America have awarded CAGC the Chapter of the Year Award in 1999 and again in 2019 – and in 2021, of the 89 Chapters, CAGC won both the AGCA Public Relations and Workforce Development Awards for a $3.75 million COVID safety program and a Build Your Career workforce program.

Carolinas AGC exists to serve the construction industry and strengthen members’ businesses by providing business development opportunities, helping contractors manage their workforce through training and education, and advocating for a legal and regulatory environment that ensures contractors success. They have their feet firmly on the ground with four lobbyists in North and South Carolina who are full-time CAGC employees.

Both North and South Carolina entered the new decade with a bright outlook for the construction industry, with an abundance of building, highway-heavy, and utility work in the pipeline. The survival of the Carolinas construction industry during a time in which COVID posed the question – what industries are essential? – would not have been possible without the support of Carolinas AGC. Their commitment to industry success and the ongoing advocacy work that stems from such commitment allowed Carolinas AGC to convince South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to recognize construction as an essential industry.

Last year Carolinas AGC had to quickly pivot from a live, hands-on organization that hosts over one hundred face-to-face events per year to a pandemic-friendly event model. In approaching the situation, they demonstrated, as is their very essence, an unwavering commitment to industry success. There were 650 attendees at their first virtual Summer Summit in 2020, including the state Governors along with various other politicians and economists. Dave describes the event as a “home run,” an impressive reflection considering the monumental adjustments that had to be put in place to ensure its successful execution.

Over a year later and it’s no longer COVID that dominates the US construction industry’s news headlines, but instead the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. When asked about the bill and the ongoing delays in passing it, Dave is passionate in his response: “I’m hoping that Congress and the President can get their acts together and cut a deal on the highly needed $1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure package. They need to stop bickering and start working together to secure this badly needed funding at a time when our infrastructure system is in deplorable condition, not only in the Carolinas but throughout the US.” Dave is a business leader who is well-versed in the benefits of working together rather than against one another to get the job done. This is the exact mindset that is needed to drive not only the survival of, but the success and growth of an ever-changing and ever-important industry.

“This year CAGC were granted $642,000 dollars from the South Carolina legislature, which they went on to spend on their Be Pro Be Proud Skilled Trades Mobile Workshop.”

Dave’s passion for the industry is also evident when he talks about the work Carolinas AGC is doing to promote the benefits of a career in construction. There continues to be an ongoing workforce shortage in the construction industry throughout the US, making it a struggle to “get people into an industry and a career in which the future is unlimited.” But as the workforce shortage continues to pose a challenge, Carolinas AGC continues to be innovative and committed in their approach to overcoming it. This year CAGC were granted $642,000 dollars from the South Carolina legislature, which they went on to spend on their Be Pro Be Proud Skilled Trades Mobile Workshop. This is a 53-foot mobile truck that comes fully-equipped with simulated construction equipment, offering an interactive way for children, students and parents to learn more about skilled trades. “We’ve got $5 million more that we think is coming from the North Carolina legislature this year which we plan to use for the same thing. We’ll have one truck in South Carolina, two in North Carolina, rolling around and promoting construction as the great industry that it is.” The launch of this workshop is a hands-on approach to tackling the workforce shortage, communicating through tangible and interactive means the exciting prospect of a career in construction.

In 2020 Carolinas AGC’s Foundation was granted $3.5 million from the North Carolina General Assembly for its Public Relations efforts, the only chapter to be named for two awards. $3 million was spent reimbursing the construction industry for COVID-related expenses such as onsite safety efforts, safety equipment and related efforts. “I was writing checks from a few dollars to up to $100,000 to both members and non-members,” says Dave, recognizing the detrimental impact of the pandemic and ensuring that at the very least nobody was out of pocket. Another $750K was used to reach out to minority organizations via a radio network, in particular African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, and make subgrants for multilingual education, training, and community outreach programs.

The inclusion of minority groups is an integral part of Carolina AGC’s stateside efforts in North and South Carolina to improve and support the construction industry. Women in construction, for example, is of growing importance to CAGC and as such is an area that they pour a great deal of time and funding into. It’s a commitment that does not stop at targeted advertising campaigns showcasing the benefits of a career in construction for women. CAGC goes that step further by, to mention one effort, launching an entire CAGC Buildercast podcast series on the issue. We Were Built For This aired during Women In Construction Week in March 2021, and is a four-episode series interviewing women in construction and highlighting the impact they have on their workplace and within the industry. “We are dedicated to getting more women and minority groups involved in construction,” Dave says, before proudly directing me to a particular page of the CAGC website where I could read some reflections from female CAGC members for myself. “I want to be an example of how women can be successful in this industry,” says Lindsay Smith of Palmetto Corporation. “Just like any other industry, if you keep your nose to the grindstone, submerge yourself in the opportunity to learn, and don’t overthink being a woman surrounded by men, you will succeed.” The world is progressing, and to ignore the need for gender and cultural diversity within the workplace is to do your company a great disservice. Dave mentions often throughout our interview that there is no limit to the amount of construction work available in the Carolinas, and he is passionate about making this work both appealing and accessible to women and minority groups.

“We are dedicated to getting more women and minority groups involved in construction.”

It’s evident that while there is no shortage of work available within the construction industry, there are some significant roadblocks in the way of getting the jobs done. Aside from the workforce shortage, the delayed Infrastructure Bill and the ongoing COVID situation, Dave says “one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing is supply chain delays and surging material prices, making it not only hard for people to get materials, but also for them to lock down prices. That’s no way to be able to do business.” But CAGC exists to fight these very issues, and Dave is both dedicated to the cause and up to the task. He says, “Between the material delays, the surging prices that you can’t lock down, and not having enough people to do the great work that’s out there – that’ll keep us busy for many more years.”

It does seem that from the perspective of Dave and Carolinas AGC that the positives of the construction industry far outweigh the current challenges it faces. Dave puts it simply: “The outlook for the construction industry is excellent. What we need to do now is get more young, promising, and enthusiastic people into the industry and build the many things that need to be built, highways, bridges, buildings, utilities, dams, factories, hotels, warehouse, tunnels, airports, schools, churches, you name it. I can’t think of a more exciting thing for people to do.”

The construction industry in the Carolinas, supported in no small way by Carolinas AGC, continues to move with the changing tide and hold its place as one of the most lucrative and optimistic sectors in the state.

In North America, where trees are plentiful and lumber remains the dominant material used in new-builds throughout the nation, the construction industry depends heavily on good quality wood framing services. It’s the wood framing, as Tom English says, that “everything else goes off; the electrical, the plumbing, the hardware, the bricks and the shingles. If it’s not framed and up, nobody else can do their work.” Tom is the owner of US Framing, a Kentucky-born company following a simple ethos: that every great piece of art needs its frame. 

US Framing began in the early nineties with an idea, a family-driven determination and a slab of good quality wood. What started out as a small home-framing operation has grown in both company size and project scale and is now primarily focused on large-scale framing projects such as apartments, student housing, hotels, and urban infill. Backed now by over forty years of industry experience and a portfolio exhibiting almost every kind of wood framing project imaginable, US Framing have become the leading experts in the business. They have a license to work in every state, and with that they frame more square feet annually than anyone else in the country. And by a long shot, according to Tom, who talks about framing “sixteen or seventeen million square feet last year, more than anybody else in the country times two or three.” With steady growth, good people, and leading innovation at their core, US Framing exemplifies in all that they do a ‘better way to frame.’  

As the nation’s largest multi-family wood framing group working border to border and coast to coast, you could say that when it comes to their craft US Framing have seen it all. As such they are no strangers to keeping their heads above water in difficult times. In 2008, when the great recession hit and no industry seemed fit enough to make it through unscathed, they continued to onboard the right people, build the right relationships, secure the right projects, and get the work done. “A lot of framers went out of business at that time,” says Tom. “We hired and hired and continued to grow, so we are a collection of five or six big contractors. We had the opportunity to hire a lot of really good people and ninety percent of those people are still with us today.” By any standards, and particularly when the environment around you is abuzz with talks of pay cuts and layoffs, that kind of staff retention is a clear indicator of a company that’s doing something right.  

Their proven strength and resilience during such a turbulent time was a positive turning point for US Framing and the thing that kicked their steady growth into gear while everyone else seemed to be slowing down. To the wide community of carpenters who found themselves in vulnerable positions, US Framing became a safety net to fall back on. And to their valued clients and suppliers, they became a much-needed source of trust and stability amidst an otherwise challenging and uncertain landscape.  

In the same way that lumber is the foundation of a successful construction project, good people are the foundation of US Framing. When it comes to their clients and suppliers, US Framing work on the basis of “good partnerships with good people.” As a company predominantly focused on labor they work hand in hand with some of the biggest lumber, truss and hardware suppliers in the United States. “They help us sell business, we help them sell business, and we work together to get the job done.” This mutually beneficial relationship carries over to the general contractors they work with too, with trust and high-quality service always at the forefront. “The first job we do for new clients is always the hardest,” says Tom. “We get to know them, they get to know us, and then we grow into a relationship where they rely and depend on us. Because framing is a difficult industry, and if they can count on us to get the buildings up and done – that’s the most important thing for them.” Hiring and partnering with the right people to represent the company is something that US Framing have mastered over the years, and this is what ensures consistency of service across the large-scale wood framing, design and construction projects they lead.  

“When it comes to their clients and suppliers, US Framing work on the basis of ‘good partnerships with good people.'”

Working on such a monumental volume of projects, all of which are completed on time and to the highest of standards, makes it difficult for a company to look back on their portfolio and pinpoint the ones that standout. “We just finished Gardendale Apartments for Capstone Properties, whom we have a great relationship with,” says Tom in relation to an impressive 205,000 square feet apartment block recently framed by US Framing in Alabama. Noteworthy too among the company’s many success stories is a “tremendous number of successful projects completed in Florida recently for a bunch of different contractors.” US Framing also work on several large-scale jobs for Carmel Partners, one of which was a staggering one million square feet. “A size you don’t see a lot of for a single project,” Tom points out. “Maybe three or four projects together that might make a million, but not one alone. Some of the pictures are amazing. If you see an overall view, it’s almost like a whole city.” And no better people for the job; true to their track record it was finished ahead of schedule and laid those all-important foundations for what resulted in a very successful project. It is projects of such size and scale, and the success stories that stem from them, that prove no project is too big for US Framing. 

With an unwavering growth mindset and a keen eye for opportunity, US Framing continue to move forward despite the challenges facing the industry today. When asked about such challenges, Tom talks about the recent lumber shortage, or “lumber pandemic” as industry experts have come to know it. Lumber allows for speedy building, great sound and thermal insulation, cost efficiency, and a lower carbon footprint than other construction methods, hence why it is still so widely used across North America and beyond. Recent trends in the market have caused an increase in demand for housing and remodeling, sending lumber prices soaring and supply plummeting. Simply getting lumber and trusses to job sites so that framers can continue to work has been a struggle. But Tom and his team, having overcome and outsmarted many industry challenges in the past, look at this as only temporary and “expect things to be pretty bright for the future.” 

Through their hard work, steady growth and determination, US Framing have landed themselves in a rare position; to be able to say, as Tom did, that “we can’t really expand anymore geographically because we work nationwide.” Improvements and growth for US Framing in the future, therefore, will continue to work hard, be innovative, and build relationships with clients and suppliers. In Tom’s words, “we will continue to be on the forefront in framing.” With years of experience in the industry, US Framing comes equipped with manpower, vision, and the know-how to make all of their projects a success. US Framing will continue to make improvements in every area of framing for many years to come.