Cindy Adams-Amplo, President of J.C. Steel, sits behind her desk in a large but functional office. Next to her is her husband and the firm’s Vice President, Kristopher Amplo. Looking down on them from the wall behind is an impressively large portrait of the UBS Arena, a few months before its completion in the spring of 2021.

This, at least at the moment, is the project that they are both proudest of. And not just because of its size and prestige. Because when it officially opens in November of 2021, this will be the new home for the New York Islanders, the greatest ice hockey team on the planet. I am not myself an ice hockey fan, but Cindy assures me that anybody who knows anything about the sport will know that this is a categorical fact. And, as Cindy and her family have been monumental ice hockey fans for generations, I am happy to take her word for it.

Cindy is the daughter of Jim and Deborah Adams who are the husband and wife team who launched J.C. Steel some 44 years ago, back in 1977. Beginning with just three jobs, which they serviced using their one and only pick-up truck, today they have more than 100 full time employees, many of whom have been working at the company for over 20 years. And when you include the people they bring in to work on their various rolling projects, that number swells to an average of 200 employees.

Ice hockey is not the only thing coursing through the family DNA. J.C. Steel was set up as a union-only construction company, and that ethos is very much the driving force powering the company forward. “Most of my relatives, on both sides of the family, were members of the Structural Steel Union”, Cindy says. “My mom and dad have been heavily involved in union activities for many, many years. And we are a hundred percent union operation. We don’t have any non-union workers, with the exception of our out of office staff.”

These days, the company has an annual turnover of around $65m. Which is a remarkable achievement given the challenges they were faced with, barely a decade ago, after the financial meltdown of 2008. Few sectors were affected quite so disastrously as the construction industry and the small number of businesses that manged to weather that storm did incredibly well just to survive. “There was a three or four year period where profit margins were very small to abysmal. Just to maintain the business and keep our employees employed during that time was very challenging.”

“J.C. Steel was set up as a union-only construction company, and that ethos is very much the driving force powering the company forward.”

It was at this point that the kinds of projects that they took on began to change. And the growth the company subsequently enjoyed was not just the result of hard work and careful planning. It was also a reflection of the larger projects that they were increasingly having to take on. “We were a medium sized company at that point, but we saw a drastic change as the private work completely dried up because developers stopped spending money. So, we had to make a decision as a company to move into the public sector a little bit more aggressively. That was how we were able to sustain any semblance of a business.”

At the same time, their determination to remain a strictly union only operation was another factor driving them to take on significantly larger projects. “In years past, the industry was heavily unionised, but over the course of the past two decades we’ve seen a large increase in the non-union factor in the New York area. And as the non-union side started to get more of the market-share, we were forced to grow as a company. Because the small to medium sized projects that we were accustomed to doing for decades were no longer available to us. We had to grow.”

All of which has meant that the company has seen average annual growth of more that fifteen percent over the last few years. As both the size of the firm, and of the projects that they take on has continued to increase. “Our average projects are in the $5-10m range. Just on the erection side, not on the overall construction side. I would say the average overall construction sum would be around $200m.” Because of course, J.C. Steel are just one part of the equation in any construction project.

The person or group who owns the site will partner up with a general contractor, and it will be up to them to appoint a series of sub-contractors to take responsibility for the various fit out and construction elements. One of which will be the steel needs. So, a steel fabricator will be appointed, and they in turn will sub-contract a company like J.C. Steel to erect the steel skeleton that the construction needs, in order for the project to be realised. They operate effectively then as a second-tier sub-contractor.

Given its size and scope, it is not surprising that they should be so proud to be part of the team responsible for putting up the UBS Arena. The $1 billion arena occupies 700,000 square feet and is part of a larger complex that will include a 340,000 square foot retail and hotel complex. And it is situated at Belmont Park in Nassau County, near the New York City borough of Queens.

Now that its construction has been completed, they can focus their attention on some of their other projects, some of which are every bit as impressive, and as complex, as the arena. “We are in the middle of a large project in Times Square in Manhattan, the TSX Broadway, which is a very large renovation project of an existing structure. And it will be the premier entertainment and retail complex in Times Square. We’ve been on that job for about 18 months and it’s now about a year away from completion. While our next major project is 141 Willoughby Street, which is a 24 story mixed use building in downtown Brooklyn. And we also have three New York public schools that are ongoing.”

On top of which, there is the infrastructure bill that the federal government is proposing which, assuming it gets through, is sure to lift the boats of everyone navigating the waters of the construction industry. All of which is certain to keep the members of the J.C. Steel extended family busy well into the foreseeable future. But it is reasonable to assume that the UBS Arena will continue to hold a special place in all of their hearts. After all, it is the home of the greatest ice hockey team on the planet. And that’s a fact.

It requires people of a particular mindset to get excited by the prospect of taking on a fast-track construction project, that if you fail to execute, could result in missed deadlines and unsafe conditions. That’s high-stakes poker and only certain kinds of people choose to play. JGM, a Heavy industrial construction and fabrication contractor, is apparently full of such people. Based out of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, home of the oldest continuously operating Steel Mill in America, JGM specializes in jobs that not many are willing to take on. Time-sensitive, potentially hazardous jobs that require speed, effectiveness, and above all, safety. And it’s not just the company’s specialty, but the thing that has its founder and CEO, Joe Messner Jr, springing out of bed every morning. 

Celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, JGM started out in similar fashion to many other construction shops, with what Messner called, “a truck and a trailer in a small garage.” Born into a family of serial entrepreneurs, it wasn’t long before Messner had aspirations of owning his own business. After a few years of learning the trades of fabrication and steel-erection, opportunity came knocking in the form of a 7,000 square foot liquor store construction job. The young and ambitious Messner submitted a proposal and was awarded the gig.

That was the springboard needed to set him on the path to his current success. According to Messner, “It grew from a one-man band to today, where we have over 120 employees. We began as a steel fabricator and erector and have evolved into a turnkey industrial contractor. We have a 65,000 square foot fabrication shop with tons of credentials: AISC, ASME, advanced bridge, and fracture critical. What that allows us to do is work on some of the largest industrial facilities, buildings, bridges, and stadiums in the world.” The days of the single truck and trailer are distinctly in the rear-view at this point.  

JGM has an unofficial motto – “When you need it yesterday”. Over the years the company has organically evolved into one of the North American leaders in emergency and “speed to market” work. 

When there is a five-alarm fire, sometimes metaphorically and sometimes literally, JGM is coiled and ready to spring into action. Speed to market opportunities is where the company has made its reputation. The jobs that might represent too much risk to other construction competitors are the ones that JGM leans into. Echoing that notion Messner said, “When others say it can’t be done, we’re gonna find a way.” It doesn’t much matter what corner of heavy industry the job is in, either. JGM provides its services across a vast array of markets. Steel mills, power plants, mining companies, and chemical plants all fall under its purview. Even the burgeoning E-commerce industry is in its sights.  

“When others say it can’t be done, we’re gonna find a way.”

Speed and quality in emergency work is how JGM stands out from the crowd. But paramount to both is safety. It’s why it is so insistent on transparent collaboration with its clients. Being aligned on that principle is key. That’s why we are are different than most. We don’t want to compromise and thing. We want to deliver projects safer, better and faster.  It isn’t playing the tight-fisted game of small margins and corner-cutting. It isn’t interested in that. Messner elaborated, “JGM’s 6 core values, uncompromising safety, family is our foundation, we plan-we adapt-we succeed, we create value through better solutions, whatever it takes and commitment to self improvement, are what we live by day in and day out.  We look for these core values in our clients, vendors, employees and partners. For JGM to successfully deliver a fast track proejct, it’s important that both our client and JGM are 100% aligned on our core values, most importantly, uncompromising safety! No job is worth hurting our people.”

Considering the scale of some of the operations JGM applies its expertise to, safety needs to be the first principle. Not long ago, the company got a phone call from one of its clients asking for help in the wake of a serious fire at their plant. One of their major buildings was structurally compromised with a massive crane above it. These aren’t the kinds of plants that can be shut down for long periods of time without catastrophic consequences. But, this is what JGM is built for. Messner recalled, “It required engineered and selective demolition of the building and the 125-ton overhead crane. And then rebuilding the building. All new structural steel, roofing, wall paneling, various pieces of electrical & mechanical equipment and final site paving. all of this in a tight timeframe to get the plant back up and running. We had boots on the ground within five hours of the phone call and people and equipment mobilized to site within one week.” 

Not hindered by the logistics of locations, JGM goes to where the problems are. They’ve already done work in 18 states spread across the country. A few years ago, they answered the bell in North Dakota, helping a mining outfit get their plant back up and running. Within seven days of the phone call a turnkey proposal was sent to the mining company and three days after that they were awarded the 12-million-dollar job. Speed to market, indeed. 

One aspect of the company Messner is quite proud of is its apprenticeship program they have implemented and continue to develop. JGM wants to provide not just a job for its employees but offer the opportunity to be trained to the highest level of their crafts. As Messner described it, “We’re very focused on developing a full-blown training program. We want JGM to be known across the country. If you want to learn and excel at a craft, then you come to JGM out of high school. That’s our goal – to have a world class training program where we’re training tomorrow’s builders.” 

JGM is similarly proud of their culture of family spread throughout the business. One of its core values is “Family is our foundation.” There are 10 or 12 families that have multiple members working in the company. And Messner is no exception. His brother, father and uncle all work alongside him, pushing the company to be better every day. That foundation starts at the very top. 

JGM is something of an outlier. They play a different game than others. Not many companies are comfortable operating in the high-stakes environment of emergency construction work. The risk is just too significant an obstacle. There are less intense ways to make a buck. But, it’s that very quality of the work that makes it so intriguing to Messner and JGM. It’s not only the fact that it’s a particular niche that allows its workers to ideally deploy their skills. It’s also something of a lure. When asked whether the intense pressure of these high-wire act jobs ever stressed him out, Messner gave a soft chuckle and replied, “That’s actually what gets most of us out of bed. We love that. When we get that phone call, the ‘When You Need it Yesterday’ phone call, we just naturally get into the mood of ‘all right, let’s figure it out and get it done’. And when we’re finished, there’s a huge sense of accomplishment and comradery.” For these folks, the juice is more than worth the squeeze.

The construction world is a thrilling and fast-paced place. Literally and figuratively, it is ground-breaking territory where problem solving and product development can lead to positive changes around the globe. Despite this however, it can also be a difficult industry to negotiate. With competing businesses constantly striving to excel and dominate, fluctuating markets and the drive within companies to innovate and lead from the front, business decisions can become solely dependent on financial considerations. Unfortunately, the industry can become a case of risk versus benefit. In terms of encouraging positive relationships, community progression and genuine innovation, this is not a particularly good place to come from. It is refreshing then, to see the continuing upward trajectory of Aveiro Constructors Limited, an Ontario based General Contractor working in the ICI sector, that has served the local and international markets for almost forty-five years. It is not hyperbolic to state that this is a company that is focused on creating lasting, impactful projects that will benefit communities and clients alike. Indeed, this attention to ensuring the positive impact of its work is an aspect of the business that has, in addition to the technical skills and business nuance, been passed down through generations.

“Aveiro Constructors has built a vast wealth of experience, being in business for over forty years.”

Victor Aveiro, President of Aveiro Constructors, is rightly proud of both the longevity his company has achieved, and the quality of service it provides for its customers. While Victor acknowledges that it can find itself competing with larger companies on projects, he explains that the flexibility and foundation the company has built ensures that it is more than capable of rivalling these businesses. “Quite often, we are competing against General Contractors that are much larger than us. But we are fortunate enough to have our own operation; we have our own office and shop. We are not renting space so that facilitates us by being able to store equipment and stock. Our competitors don’t necessarily have that, so we are able to be more competitive sometimes because our overhead costs are lower.” In addition to this, Victor states that the reputation his company has earned over time means that it has built partnerships with other companies in the field, something that has enabled Aveiro Constructors to increase its reach across the industry. “Some of the large contracting firms in Ontario will have us join them to help and assist in the design process. Our part would be the design, supply and installation of the steel building. That is our specialty. It is also something that has helped us survive through hard times in our industry. We sometimes have other general contractors that will reach out and, literally, we can do work for our competitors.”

Recognition of the value in working together is something that has been instilled in Victor and is evident throughout the rich history of the company. Aveiro Constructors has built a vast wealth of experience, being in business for over forty years. The company was incorporated in 1976 by Victor’s parents, in partnership with his paternal grandfather. Victor’s parents shared all working aspects of the company, his mother running the accounts while his father worked primarily in the field. “My Dad would have done the estimating and running the jobs while my Mom ran the accounting side and the finances of the business. The two of them were partners.” Given that construction is, sometimes unfairly, seen as primarily a male led industry, this collaborative working model is not necessarily the norm. Refreshingly, it ensured that Aveiro Constructors were working to a progressive and inclusive charter long before such things were commonplace. Initially, the company targeted the residential market, a decision that was not initially successful. The struggled to gain a foothold. However, when Victor’s grandfather retired, his parents acted quickly, pivoting the business towards the area they now excel in; pre-engineered steel work. “They were able to turn it around, switching their model fairly quickly from residential into the commercial sector. They focused on pre-engineered steel building, and we are still very strong in that world.”

Around the time the company was set up, Victor’s father was working on a project that went beyond the technical details of a traditional building. The project, building homes in Chile, still resonates throughout the company and has, in a very tangible sense, influenced the course Victor has taken throughout his own stewardship of the company. “One of the milestone projects of his life is when he went to Chile. It was an emergency response project and, funded by the Canadian government, he built 30 homes in 90 days. That is one of the projects that he did just before he started this business and it kind of put him on the map of doing what he did for the rest of his life.” The reverberations of the project continue to echo through the work being done today. Victor talks in glowing terms about the work Aveiro Constructors did with Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) to build a thirty-bed shelter for homeless youths in the London, ON area. It is the first building of its kind in Ontario and provides a “low barrier, trauma-informed model of care for youth between the ages of 16 and 24.” The shelter is pet-friendly, with each resident getting their own room. Additionally, six of the rooms are disability accessible. “That project was also kind of groundbreaking in that there is no other emergency use shelter in the London area or in Ontario, that we know of. To be able to make that project a reality was really very nice.” A secondary, but enduring, benefit of working on this project has been the positive relationships built between Aveiro Constructors and its partners, YOU and the architectural firm, A+Link Architecture. “Since then, we’ve been on other projects with them. We have a good relationship together have been invited to bid on other projects that they’ve been involved in.” Despite the impact that COVID has had on the construction industry, Aveiro being no exception to this, the future of the company is a positive one. While the pandemic had resulted in a slight scaling back for the company, there is growing evidence that the strong relationships the company has built, and the flexibility that comes from being a stable and enduring part of the local community, is assisting Aveiro Constructors in navigating uncertain times. “With COVID, we had around a 50% decrease from a bidding and estimating perspective. That made it far more challenging but we managed to keep a few jobs moving.” The future of the company is one that will be based on continuing the tradition of his company, doing the right things for customers and communities alike by playing to its strengths, building relationships and fulfilling promises. For Victor, it is simple. At the end of the day, it is about community and relationships. “We’re fortunate that the staff that are here are experienced. They know what they’re doing here and they are always willing to put the effort in, whatever it needs to be. So now, we are kind of taking more of a team approach. We are pretty lucky. We have good people here that are willing to kind of be part of that team and work together.”