The pencil-like buildings that make up our city skylines become the backdrops of the movies we watch, the pictures we frame and hang on our walls, the memories we make as we explore the world’s most iconic cities. We admire them, sure, but we rarely stop to consider the mechanics of maintaining these impressive building facades throughout their long lifespans. R&R Scaffolding is a New Jersey-based Building Maintenance Unit (BMU) company that is on a mission to provide innovative suspended scaffold solutions that ensure efficiency, excellence, and above all else, safety. The R&R Scaffolding powerhouse is driven by the expertise of owner Gio Savinovich and his senior staff. They are a combined force that ensures business is carried out safely and efficiently while the company’s brand continues to grow across the New York City Skyline and beyond.
When Gio joined R&R Scaffolding back in 1986 he was just eighteen years old, sweeping the warehouse floors while the two-year old company found its feet. That was almost 40 years ago, and at a time when the company’s focus was on the distribution and rental of façade access equipment. As the company grew so did Gio, moving out of the warehouse and into the shop, before becoming a mechanic, then an installer and later a salesman, and manager. This career progression, born of hard work and a knack for all things scaffolding, reached new heights in 2001 when Gio was presented with an opportunity to purchase the company. R&R came of a period of dramatic growth in its service and installation business, and it was Gio who took the reins and led R&R Scaffolding to where it is today.
Today R&R Scaffolding is a leading force in the design, manufacturing, installation and servicing of Building Maintenance Units (BMUs). “Our specialty is very complex projects,” says Leila Savinovich, Director of Business Development. “There are the people who go out and wash windows, do exterior services, maintain equipment and then there’s us. We are the experts that are designing the systems for the accessibility, cleaning, and the maintenance of the facade to happen. We have a repair and service division where we overhaul motors and maintain existing equipment, a rental division where we offer temporary suspended scaffolding, pipe scaffolding, sidewalk bridges and sheds, and material hoists. We have window cleaning and façade restoration division, Façade Maintenance Systems (FMS) , and a wire rope division, Royal Rope, where we sell essential components for suspended scaffolding.”
The wide range of services provided by R&R Scaffolding allows for façade access during large-scale construction of residential and commercial projects, and then to design permanent access to the building for its lifetime which are Building Maintenance Units, are specialized crane-like system designed to facilitate maintenance tasks on the façade of high-rise buildings. “We all work in tandem,” says Leila. “Gio alongside our Senior Operations Director Christer Hogne, oversee the major projects with support of their skilled project assistance and engineering team. Karen Montero, as Chief Operating Officer ensures the company runs smoothly across all fronts. I research new development leads while also managing the company’s online presence. The permanent installations and field technicians are expertly managed by Juan Portelles, Chris Baquero, and Jose Nieves. Meanwhile, Jonathan Savinovich handles the service and repair departments.
R&R Scaffolding has established a well-known brand that is recognized across high-rise buildings State-wide. There is a lore that comes with hiring R&R for all facets of façade work, and as well as that respected brand name, this is down to the company’s organizational structure that works for, and not against the customer. “We’re the only company worldwide that designs, manufacturers, installs and services this equipment that isn’t funded by any private equity,” says Leila. ‘We can give our clients everything they want. We’re not at the mercy of somebody else, we can actually control everything from our first meeting with a client all the way until after the equipment is installed and being serviced by us, because we don’t have any obstacles.”
“We’re the only company worldwide that designs, manufacturers, installs and services this equipment that isn’t funded by any private equity.”
Seated: left to right: Norma Daletto-Kalisak, Leila Savinovich, Karen Montero, Karrisa LaCorte, April Horton
Most of R&R’s competitors on the other hand are publicly traded, which comes with reporting to a board of directors or a private equity group. “We are really able to focus on the needs of the customer and not a quota or a plan that investors made for us,” Leila says. “We run a lean operation and we can set ourselves apart from our competitors because of this.”
This ability to self-fund without being blocked at every turn by financial obstacles or agendas that are not client- focused allows R&R Scaffolding to take on prestigious and complex projects. “Our most recognizable project is the Hudson Yards, one of the largest multi-building expansions in New York City history,” says Leila. “We dealt with different architects and developers on that project, but we were the single source vendor for all of the developers. We have 29 pieces of our equipment in the Hudson Yards and we also secured other projects surrounding the Hudson Yards area. There’s the Spiral at 66 Hudson Boulevard, and the Manhattan West development which is also considered in the Hudson Yards area. We were able to corner the market in that development, so it’s extremely notable for us.”
R&R Scaffolding has a catalogue of projects of this caliber scattered around New York including 111 W. 57th Street, the Steinway Tower, 425 Park Avenue, and 9 Dekalb, the tallest residential tower in Brooklyn. Projects of note further afield include the Comerica Building in Dallas, Texas, The Prudential Center in Boston, MA, and Cirrus and Cascade Condos in Chicago, IL. “We’ve just been awarded the tallest tower south of New York City, which is the Waldorf Astoria in Miami, Florida,” says Leila. “Another extremely notable project was One Vanderbilt where we have three machines on the building. We have more pencil buildings, than any other Building Maintenance Unit manufacturer.”
The years have seen R&R Scaffolding achieve milestone after milestone, and this is a credit to Gio Savinovich and the team that he leads. “When someone hires us, they truly hire an expert,” says Leila. “R&R is a pioneer in this industry. Shortly after acquiring the company Gio built his own factory in Madrid called GinD, and that is where all the permanent installation equipment is designed and manufactured. There’s R&R Scaffolding South, an office located in south Florida servicing all states outside the New York Metropolitan area for installations and service of equipment. Most of our business is currently in the New York Metropolitan area, but we have been expanding our Permanent Installation division all over the United States into places like Chicago, Dallas, and Miami. Our maintenance and façade divisions are growing now too, and we are expanding into the Canadian market, primarily Toronto. Right now we have two offices, one in the New York metropolitan area and another one in South Florida. We’re hoping to add another two to three satellite locations in the next five years or so. Our goal is to educate as many skyscraper developers and architects as possible on the two biggest components of façade access: Safety and Efficiency. With more knowledge on the importance of building maintenance units our business will organically expand.”
Behind the company’s prestigious project portfolio is a genuine family-run business that extends beyond Gio’s connection. In this sense, R&R Scaffolding is a small business that runs projects that are anything but. Many employees at R&R have helped us reach these milestones as we have more than a dozen employees who have been with us for over a decade and very important ones that have been with us for even 20 and 30 years. We have a many loyal employees.
To see the R&R brand name across the iconic New York City skyline and beyond, and to know that behind it all is a close-knit team with a genuine family feel, operating independently of private investors, running a lean and efficient business that continues to expand and having fun while doing it, is a huge success story, and one that makes us think that maybe New York really is where dreams are made.
