San Antonio Construction News December 2014

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A corner of mixed Sunshine

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A multi-faceted business needs a multi-faceted building. And that’s what Tejas Premier Building Con-

tractor built for Sunshine Distributors, Inc. The new facility includes 4,473sf of retail space, 2,334sf of office space and 1,027sf of residential space. The store for Sunshine Medical Uniforms, distribution offices upstairs, and a residential condo for the owners’ private use were built from the ground up at the intersection of Brooklyn and Camden in the new River North District. The new building replaced the old retail shop, which was demoed for this job, and was added to Sunshine’s existing 7,920-sf warehouse for its hotel and hos-pital products distribution company. Completed in early October, the de-sign-build project took 13 months for both design and construction, and it came in at a project cost in the under $2 million range.

The mixed use made the new build-ing unique and challenging. The owners wanted to include a space for possibly staying downtown overnight or for use by out-of-town guests. Julissa Carielo, owner and president of Tejas, notes that this required a tricky balance during the design stage. Oscar Carielo, Julissa’s husband and project manager on the job, explains, “We had to attend numerous hearings and get [the design] approved as far as all the requirements on those areas. We ac-tually went through a couple of months with different reviews on it before we were able to finalize what they needed. The City of San Antonio has a committee involved that’s making these decisions as far as how much glass they need on the street side, how much square footage, how far the building has to be from the property line.”

Tejas Premier Building Contractor built the mixed-use Sunshine facility, consisting of retail, office and residential space, in the River North District.

After 26 years in the construction in-dustry, Bill Norton felt a need to start his own business, Norton

Company, emphasizing quality over quantity as well as positivity. “What has kept me in the construc-tion industry is I enjoy working with the people, the owners, the contractors and subcontractors, and the architects and engineers, helping to guide the project in a positive atmosphere,” says Norton. “Construction can be a pretty mean busi-ness, but it doesn’t have to be. If I can get into a project early enough, I can set the tone of the project team, and then it’s a better process.” Founded in May of last year, Norton Company does project concept and plan-

ning, design and construction manage-ment, and ongoing consulting and com-munication. Norton handles exclusively commercial work, currently working on two Class A office buildings on the 1604 corridor and a small retail center on the northwest side. “It’s liberating and challenging at the same time,” he says of building his own business. “It’s new for me. I’ve always been employed by someone else. And I’m having a blast with my company. It’s exciting.” After earning his bachelor’s degree in construction science from Texas State University (TSU) in 1987, Norton spent 11 years working for Guido Construction,

Starting Norton Company has been a “liberating and challenging” adventure for Bill Norton.

Merry ChristmasY’all

The Capitol Aggregates cement plant recently became the first commercial-scale facility to boast

new carbon capture and utilization tech-nology. Skyonic Corporation, whose found-er and CEO, Joe Jones, invented the technology, officially opened Capitol SkyMine on Oct. 21. The $125 million Sky-Mine facility, which sits on property leased from Capitol, will directly capture 75,000 tons of CO2. The captured carbon will then be used to make products such as baking soda, bleach and hydrochloric acid. Jones had the initial idea about 10 years ago. He figured out a way to cap-ture carbon to combat CO2 emissions

and treat the CO2 as an input to a green chemicals process, allowing them to run carbon capture at a profit. Skyonic pipes over post-combustion flue gas from Cap-itol’s cement plant to the separate Sky-Mine chemical plant. Capitol SkyMine will reduce green-house gas emissions for a total carbon impact of 300,000 tons every year and is expected to generate $48 million in rev-enue and $28 million in annual earnings for Skyonic. Zachry Corporation is one of Skyonic’s investors and the owner of Capitol Aggregates. “We started partnering with Zachry back in 2009 to write the grants that we

Norm Christensen, project director for Skyonic, takes board members and VIP guestson a tour of Capitol SkyMine at the Capitol Aggregates cement plant.

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The San Antonio branch of ASCO Equipment hosted a “Wrap” Party Nov. 1 to shop and wrap birthday

gifts for children of fallen soldiers. Every year, ASCO employees choose a charity to support as a company, and then each branch holds a fundraiser for that cause, and ASCO’s owners match those donations dollar for dollar. “This year we were able to raise $225,000 for A Soldier’s Child Foundation (ASC),” says Kim Wigley, ASCO adminis-trative assistant. “The San Antonio Branch had the privilege of hosting the ‘Wrap’ party as well as the honor of presenting the check to ASC founder Daryl Mackin.” In the morning, 40 ASCO employees and their families stopped at a Wal-Mart

The great wrap party

to shop for gifts for the 88 ASC children with December birthdays. Then, they re-turned to ASCO’s San Antonio facility to host a birthday party for two ASC chil-dren, Jace Ventez, who turned 7, and Raquel Castro, who turned 15, along with 18 other ASC recipient children and their families who attended the birthday party in support of ASC. As hosts, ASCO offered pizza and cake, and concluded the party by giving all 20 ASC kid guests new bikes. Then, employees wrapped all of the presents they bought that morning and prepared them for shipping, aided by active and veteran service members, as well as vol-unteers from Steele High School. –mh

ASCO San Antonio presented A Soldier’s Child with a check fromASCO’s companywide annual fundraising efforts.

ASCO employees and their families “invaded” a Wal-Mart to shopfor the children of fallen service members.

This year, Marek Bros. didn’t just

participate in the American Heart Association (AHA) San Antonio Heart & Stroke 5K Walk; the company put its heart into the event – literally. Marek built a spe-cial structure for the AHA and its walk participants. “It was a very rewarding and emotional experi-ence [with] over 12,000 [people] in attendance at Nel-son Wolff Stadi-um,” comments Dennis Yanowski, Marek’s division president. “Since our drywall trade in-cludes framing and board products, we were asked to fabricate ‘heart-shaped arches’ and construct a ‘Memorial Vil-lage’ where attendees could write a trib-ute to lost love ones, or celebrate survi-vors. “The cause of the American Heart Association is special to us at Marek. A handful of years ago, one of our co-work-ers collapsed of cardiac arrest while at work. Fortunately, there were folks in the office that had CPR training. While we can’t say for certain that we saved a life, the EMS techs certainly seemed to think so. That co-worker survived, is now re-tired and traveling the country.” In Marek’s two years of sponsorship and support of the walk, Cynthia Beverly, AHA senior corporate market director for the Heart & Stroke Walk, estimates that Marek has raised more than $23,000 for the annual walk. For this year’s event, the AHA want-ed to create a Memory Walk but did not have the money to build it. Beverly ap-proached Yanowski with the idea, and he agreed that Marek would do it. Marek’s Jose Silva took on the proj-ect, designing and constructing it. On

Their hearts will go on

Oct. 23, during the setup for the walk, Marek’s team, including James Hill, Joe Ybarra and Mark Behrens, assembled the structure onsite, taking more than three hours to put it together and then spending time on Saturday taking it apart. “The structure includes two giant hearts connected by frames,” Beverly de-scribes. “The frames had boards attached that allowed participants to walk through and write a note to their loved ones.” On Oct. 25, the day of the walk, hun-dreds of people passed through the Memory Walk and signed the boards in an emotional tribute to those they love and some they have lost. Following the walk, the AHA had no-where to store the signed board with the lasting memorials, but Beverly explains that Marek generously offered to store them in their warehouse and they will bring it all back to the walk next year. “This is an incredibly generous, car-ing and giving group of people,” states Beverly. “We would not have had this amazing tribute without them. We have been flooded with comments since the walk about how beautiful it was and how meaningful to so many.” –mh

Stacy Gunderson, workforce development coordinator for Marek Bros., and her husband, John, with the memorial structure Marek built.


If you think constructing a building from the ground up is hard work, imag-ine having to build a home at 1/12

scale. Imagine a project where one inch is equal to one foot. In some cases, a 1/4-inch equals a foot for a total “footprint” of about 11 square inches. That’s the world of building and restoring dollhouses, a lifelong hobby for Mary Sweet, adminis-trative aide at Surmac. Growing up, Sweet was always fasci-nated by tiny things, such as dollhouse miniatures. When she was 16, she and her father built a dollhouse for her youngest sister, where he did the dollhouse and she made all the furniture for it. Today, building dollhouses along with the furni-ture and accessories is her favorite hobby, and she’s a “Jill-of-all-trades” when it comes to the craft. Initially, she checked books out of the library on dollhouse building, and then she found and joined the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts (NAME) where she met other dollhouse

builders who offered workshops, classes, and what they call “house parties.” “Depending on if it’s from a kit –there’s a multitude of them on the mar-ket – or if I’m actually cutting the pieces myself, it can take anywhere from a month to six months to actually build the house, because you want everything to be as perfect as you can,” says Sweet. “From that point, furnishing it and every-thing can take, oh, the rest of your life [laughs].” Back in the late ‘80s, she renovated a dollhouse that was built in 1921 for a friend of her mother, and the project took almost a full year. The dollhouse had been built from apple crates. She electri-fied it, adding working lights, renovated it, and made furniture to match the exist-ing pieces. Today, she takes commissions to renovate dollhouses, and she has built three of her own and many room boxes, which are often a presentation of a single room. –mh

Construction, miniature-sized

Mary Sweet made this room box and its furniture for her parents’ 50th weddinganniversary in 1993. It’s a replica of their favorite place to stay in Rockport, and outside

the window is the actual view from the condo across the canal.

Joshua FosmireCustomer & Public RelationsMonterrey Iron & Metal

Industry FOLKS

Joshua Fosmire recently came on-board at Monterrey Iron & Metal to

do customer and public relations for the 98-year-old scrap metal recycling company. A native of upstate New York – that’s anything north of the New York City metropolitan area – Fosmire grew up near Binghamton, attending Vestal High School, and when he graduated in 1999, he went on to Tompkins Cort-land Community College in Dryden. He’s currently finishing his degree in public relations with Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). In 2002, he came to San Antonio for a change of scenery and started working at Schnabel’s True Value hard-ware store. Like Monterrey, Schnabel’s is another longstanding San Antonio business with Fosmire estimating it to be 74 years old this year. He was store manager for 11 of those years. When the opportunity arose to work at Monterrey, doing exactly what he loves, Fosmire seized it. He says that every day at Monterrey is different and that he enjoys working for owner Jack Vexler and the family-owned private company. Another thing he loves about his job is meeting new people and building client relationships. In his role at Monterrey, he also works with the San Antonio Manufacturing Asso-ciation. Outside of work, Fosmire keeps busy finishing his degree and of course, spending time with his wife, who is a librarian for Katherine Stinson Middle School. The couple was married Jun.

15 of last year. He met his wife through Flexible Fitness, a personal training studio that Fosmire owned and oper-ated from 2011 to 2014. Since getting married, Fosmire and his wife have been talking about starting a family. Between his work schedule running both the hardware store and the gym, he decided to close the gym. Fosmire comments that this was “not shutting the doors to the oppor-tunity of opening another one some-time down the road, but for right now this is where I needed to go.” He believes closing the gym hap-pened at the perfect time, because the position at Monterrey presented itself and made for an ideal transition. Having appeared in a fitness mag-azine in 2001, fitness continues to be a passion of his with its roots traceable to family. “My dad introduced me to fitness when I was 15, and it was just some-thing I fell in love with,” he recalls. “I’m still a personal trainer, too. That’s something I’m always keeping active. It’s something I love. I get to vent when I’m working out. I feel like it’s some-thing [that can] clear my head. I get my best ideas at the gym.” An only child, Fosmire remains close to his father, who lives in New Hampshire, and he recently traveled back to the northeast to visit him. –mh


Team members of Baker Triangle San Antonio brought their families to the company’s North Brazos

Street facility Nov. 8 for its inaugural bar-becue cook-off event. The day was packed with fun for the kids, too, includ-ing a moon bounce, face painting, a pet-ting zoo and pony rides. Michael Sireno, president of the San Antonio office, notes that the Houston office has been doing a barbecue for a few years now, and he says they are go-ing to start one in every office, and the winners in each location will go on to compete for best overall. For this first-time event, eight barbe-cue teams cooked meat that Baker pro-vided, making for a level playing field, ex-plains Jon Randolph, vice president of the San Antonio office. The teams consist-ed of volunteer cooks who are workers and laborers at Baker. The cooks were able to come in and “tweak” the meat the night before, but it had to stay at the Baker facil-ity overnight, and then the next day, they were able to prepare it to their liking. –mh

Breaking into BBQ

Winners:Brisket1st: Hot & Spicy BBQ – Armando Paiz, Martin Morales, David Delgadillo, Jorge Arredondo, Taz Miera, Mario Moreno2nd: Chato BBQ – Alvaro Longoria, Luis De La Garza, Giovanny Damian, Juan Car-los Martinez3rd: Cowboys Without Horses – Doyle Dancer, Keith Dimmick, Tim Koba, Darnell Brown, Frederick SanchezChicken1st: Cowboys Without Horses2nd: The Texans – Cat Tellez, Jesus Villan-ueva, Argel Villarreal, Ricardo Martinez, Paul Mendoza, Luis Carreon3rd: El’ America – Demetrio Ibarra, Raul ManzanaresRibs1st: Cowboys Without Horses2nd: El’ America3rd: Hot & Spicy BBQBeans1st: Chato BBQ2nd: The Texans3rd: Hot & Spicy BBQShowmanship: The Texans

L-R: Luis Castillo, Margil Lechuej, Raul Olvera, Ray Balandran

L-R: Jon Randolph, Baker, and his son, Jonathan Randolph, Bartlett Cocke

L-R: Argel Villarreal made cotton candy with 7-year-old son Xavier by his side, and Gary

Hutchings, made popcorn.

At the petting zoo, Lauren Brown, 8, cuddled a bunny with Alyssa Fuentes, 6, and Samantha Rodriguez, 19, attending with her

father, Baker employee Chris Rodriguez.Braulio Minaya put his 3-year-old daughter,

Sofia, into the saddle for a pony ride.

Re-tile and re-styleConstruction News JOB SIGHT

L-R: Terrell Pye and Johnny Vivian, J&R Tile, laid new tile at the entry way to the building that’s home to the Builders Exchange of Texas, Virtual Builders Exchange (VBX) and

Construction News. –mh

A jolt for moraleConstruction News ON LOCATION

At Central Electric, members of the office staff produce a quarterly company newsletter, “The Circuit,” so that employees and visitors can catch up on the status of its many

projects and find out about new hires and who is having a birthday or work anniversary. L-R: (front) brothers and co-owners Chris and Ernie Martinez, (back) Trisha Wallace,

Samantha and Elaine Walters, Flavio Vilches, Sam Lopez –mh


A swing and a prayer

A new power house

210-587-7634www.GPSofTexas.com

Getting into the brick of it

Though James Groesbeck is 62 years old, he jokes, “I’m 35 going on 62.” As president of Groesbeck Ma-

sonry, the company he founded in March 1985, he looks back on how he got to be where he is today. “We started with one employee – me,” says Groesbeck, noting that the company always grew except for the off years during the recession. He adds that, at one time, they had 125 employees, and now, they have about 65. Groesbeck does a wide variety of projects, ranging from schools – K-12 and higher ed – to industrial work and ware-house buildings. In the office, his wife Kathy Groes-beck does the bookkeeping, billing, pay-roll and countless other duties as the of-fice manager, secretary and vice presi-dent of the company. His youngest son, Billy Groesbeck, does computer work and is a project manager on many of their jobs. Groesbeck’s older son, James Groesbeck Jr., works in Austin as a geol-ogist with Weston Solutions.

Groesbeck states that his father, Tommy Frank Groesbeck, was a car-penter superintendent for general con-tractors and then for HEB Construction for about 20 years. When bricklayers Dan Mills and Kenneth Reus worked on his dad’s house at Canyon Lake, Groesbeck and his brother labored for them. That led to working for them in the summers during high school. Soon, Groesbeck applied for the union bricklayers school. He served his apprenticeship with KR Masonry, Reus’ company. He worked for Reus for 14 years with Mills as his superintendent. “When I went to go into business, Kenny tried to talk me out of it,” he re-calls. “He said, ‘Now is a bad time to go into business.’ He was probably right, be-cause construction had taken a down-turn. But I told him I had already put it off two years before that, and if I didn’t go now, I wasn’t going to go at all probably. So, I went ahead and took off on my own.” –mh

L-R: James, Kathy, Billy, and James (JD) Groesbeck

The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) South Texas Chapter has a new home at 8306

Perrin Beitel Rd. and welcomed members and guests to its open house Oct. 29. Vincent Real, NECA president and president of Big State Electric, explains that the open house served to invite the people that support NECA to see the new office and meet fellow contractors. He adds that some of their members have not yet seen the new facility. He notes that NECA’s former location of more than 40 years was downtown by

the Pearl Brewery, but they needed a larger facility for meetings and training. In late 2012, NECA purchased an old drive-thru bank on Perrin Beitel near Loop 410. Real says that the building was in ter-rible shape, vandalized and stripped of copper with damaged walls and busted glass. Turning it into NECA’s new head-quarters required a total interior demo and remodel. The construction took six months in 2013, and NECA moved in about three months prior to its debut mixer. –mh

L-R: Les Moynahan, NECA; Rick Smith, Keller-Martin Construction;Daryl Klecka, Klecka Electric; Vincent Real, Big State Electric

L-R: John Wright, Alterman; Robert Livar and Sarah Corona, CDI; Billy Chamberlin, NECA

Nearly 110 golfers par-ticipated in the sec-ond annual Beyer

Boys Relay for Life Golf Tournament Oct. 23 at Can-yon Springs. Along with several sponsors, Beyer Mechanical and Beyer Plumbing raised more than $25,000 for the American Cancer Society. Jeff, Perry and Patrick Beyer and their employees began raising money for the American Cancer Soci-ety more than eight years ago when Perry’s wife, Cin-dy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Beyer family and their employees raise money for the cause every year through compa-ny events and participation in the Comal County Relay for Life. Last year, the Beyer Boys Relay for Life team raised more than $35,000 from all their fundraising events. –mh Winners:Top Net: Ed Ebrom, Kop-plow Construction; Tim Miner and Jared Beyer, Bey-er Mechanical; Brad Bright, TraneTop Gross: Lennox Industries – Brian

Top Net Team

Top Gross Team

Leonard, Brent Warner, Aaron Crawford, John Richmond


Chris Martinez, President

Central Electric

Metal StudsDrywall

AcousticalInsulationWALLS

A C R O S S

TEXASDOING A STAND-UP JOB SINCE THE 1900s

9018 Tesoro Suite 101San Antonio, Texas 78217

(210) 826-4123 Fax (210) 826-5801

At 36, Chris Martinez has been presi-dent of Central Electric since 2005. He co-owns the company his fa-

ther, Fred Martinez, started in 1975 with his vice president and 37-year-old broth-er, Ernie. Martinez majored in accounting, but quickly realized he wanted to work with his dad. He credits his dad and his moth-er, Rosie, with helping to make him who he is today. When he started working with his fa-ther, they had seven people working in the field. Today, the company has nearly 100 employees and almost 30 trucks, and it has grown every year, even maintaining double-digit growth through the eco-nomic downturn.

What was it like growing up with your father having his own electrical con-tracting business? When you have a family business, your summers are always accounted for – and weekends sometimes. I remember he would have us sweep the parking lot. I don’t think we ever got the parking lot clean, but that was one of our assign-ments. My mom reminded me of a story. When I was really young, I used to wake up before school, and I’d watch my dad leave for work. So, one day, I told him I had a school holiday, and so I went to work with him, and then shortly after breakfast, my mom called and said, “Where’s Chris?” He said, “He’s here with me.” [My mom said,] “He has school to-day.” My dad never pushed or influenced us to get into the business. My mom didn’t either. I remember we worked [here] through middle school and high school. When I was in college, my dad got a contract to demo the inside of part of an elementary school. So, my fraternity brothers and I went on a weekend and we knocked out this two-week job in a day-and-a-half. We’re very lucky that our parents provided us a very good education. I went to Central Catholic, and then I went to St. Mary’s University to be a lawyer. Freshman year, my dad had a lady in the office who helped him, and her hus-band got very sick, and she had to retire. So, he called and he said, “I need some help in the office.” I said, “Sure, I’ll help” and one thing led to another. By the end

of my freshman year, it was like – this is what I’m going to do. What drew you from pursuing law to wanting to work in the electrical field? I would say the business aspect cap-tured my attention. I’ve always been one when I get involved with an organization, I want to excel to the top, make a differ-ence and have an impact. And I saw that with my dad. I thought being an electri-cian was “Let’s go wire something or fix this,” but when I saw the human resource side, the payroll side, the employees, working as a team, planning, projecting, forecasting – I thought, “That’s really neat, and I want to be part of that.” Learn-ing the business side of electrical con-tracting is what intrigued me the most. The business is under my master license. When I was at St. Mary’s, I was work-ing in the office – payroll entry, data en-try, payables, receivables – and then I would help my dad write RFIs, prepare bids on the computer. I did a lot of the business side, but when I graduated, my dad didn’t necessarily want me to go in the field, because we’d always kind of been in the field. We’d go help with out-ages, help work on weekends, in the summer. I remember working at Alamo Heights Middle School, the Sunken Tea Garden. We were always the helpers go-ing through the attic or digging the trench. But when I graduated, I told my dad, “I want to go out in the field. I don’t want to be the boss’ son that comes in with a degree, and tells others what to do.” So, when I finished my finals my se-nior year, I went to a job that I helped es-timate and I got in the trenches. It was an outdoor site lighting project for the San Antonio Housing Authority. I got out there and I dug trenches all summer. There was an electrical inspector who’s still around and he calls me “ditch digger boy,” because he found out from another guy on the job that I was Fred’s son, and he said, “Why aren’t you in col-lege?” I said, “I did go to college.” He said, “Are you going to graduate?” I said, “I graduate on Saturday.” He said, “You’re digging a ditch and you’re going to grad-uate from San Antonio College or St. Phil-ip’s?” I said, “No, from St. Mary’s.” He said, “You’re digging and you’re going to grad-uate on Saturday?” I did that through the rest of the year, and my dad wanted me to learn more of the business side. So, I slowly came up from working in the field, digging and being more of an apprentice, a helper, to finally getting into being an electrician, from being an assistant project manager to an estimator. Cleaning and stocking the warehouse, changing oil on the trucks and washing the trucks – I’ve done all that.

What is it like to work with your brother? He’s the ying; I’m the yang. We share all decisions together. The company is also under the engineering license of my brother, Ernie, which gives us an edge on design-build/design-assist projects. My oldest brother, Freddie, also worked in the business with us, but he passed away in 2006. Ernie and I still think of him daily.

Tell me about your community in-volvement. I would say that Central Catholic and St. Mary’s really formed who I am when it comes to service, community, and family. I’m very proud to be on the St. Mary’s Board of Trustees now. I’m also on Central Catholic’s Board of Directors. I actually started a golf tournament at Central, got on their alumni board, and then they asked me to move up to the actual board of directors – and kind of the same thing at St. Mary’s. When I was at St. Mary’s, I started a student-employer networking golf tournament, and to this day, there’s a guy that got a job off that golf tourna-ment. I started the young alumni chapter at St. Mary’s, and then I moved to the alumni board. I became Oyster Bake chair. I became alumni association president. Then, I moved to the board of trustees as a representative of the alumni associa-tion, and now I’m a full, serving trustee. I got to meet City Councilman En-rique Barrera, and I graduated from St, Mary’s in 2000, and in 2001, he put me on the Zoning Commission. So, I was the youngest zoning commissioner ever, and I’m actually still the youngest zoning commissioner, and the longest serving. I’ve enjoyed doing it for 12 or 13 years now. I’ve been president of my neighbor-hood association. There’s a local govern-ment corporation formed by the City of San Antonio, and it’s called the Westside Development Corporation, and I’ve been board chair of that organization since it’s founding. We’ve grown from a staff of one to right around six now. I’ve been on a SAWS committee. I was on the City’s Bond Advisory Board. I’ve been on the IEC [Independent Electrical Contractors] board. Right now, I’m on Hope for the Fu-ture Board, a fundraising arm of the Arch-diocese. They raise scholarship funds for deserving children that seek a faith-filled Catholic education. Then, there’s an orga-nization called the Consejos – Rey Feo for Fiesta. It’s run by LULAC [League of Unit-ed Latin American Citizens], raising schol-arship money. I would say my passions to be in-

volved in are inner city and education for the youth, giving young kids opportuni-ties or advantages. I want them to experi-ence what I had the opportunity to expe-rience at Central Catholic and St. Mary’s, two places that formed and shaped who I am. I was part of CCA [Coastal Conserva-tion Association] with my dad for a cou-ple years, and one year, somebody do-nated a trip with a Greyhound bus and the food, and we were going to take a nonprofit, age group 8-15, and we were going to take them to Corpus to the hatchery to go fishing, and we were go-ing to barbecue out there. The folks at CCA came to me and said, “Hey, would you want to head this up?” So, I did ev-erything. I planned the bus. I selected the inner city nonprofit. Four of my buddies from St. Mary’s and Central – we got the kids, we picked them up on a Saturday, we were all the chauffeurs, and we hauled them all to Corpus and helped them fish. They had never been fishing in their lives. Some of them had never even been out of San Antonio. It was just so exciting to see their faces light up – when you fish at a hatchery, everybody catches some-thing – and just to see them get so excit-ed was really rewarding.

Tell me more about your family. My wife, Veronica, and I started dat-ing our freshman year at St. Mary’s. She’s a NICU [Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit] nurse. I would say she helped me get my master’s license, because when she was studying for her boards from the Health Science Center to become a nurse, that’s when I studied for my master’s license. We’ve been married for almost 12 years, and now we have three children: Alexa, 7, Andres is 5, and our youngest is 2-and-a-half, Ariana. I was really big into sports – the whole team working together, and you only win as a team – and to see them want to play sports is really exciting. So, I’ve coached soccer now, T-ball, and now we are starting basketball. When you get in-volved, you hope your kids do well, and to see them do well is just so exciting. –mh

L-R: Chris Martinez and his brother Ernie Martinez own and run Central Electricwith Chris as president holding the company’s electrical master license

and Ernie as vice president and its licensed electrical engineer.

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Industry jobs, just click

A statewide coalition of Associated Gener-al Contractors (AGC)

building chapters has taken the effort to address state-wide labor shortages and craft training needs to the Internet. Fittingly enough, the Texas Construction Ca-reers website, texascon-s t r u c t i o n c a r e e r s . c o m , launched soon after Labor Day. The virtual seeds were planted last summer when 10 “partners” agreed on a simple business plan: “The primary purpose of the website is to es-tablish and maintain a ‘go to’ online des-tination in Texas for information about training, education, and job placement as well as career opportunities for stu-dents and military veterans.” Doug McMurry, executive vice pres-ident of AGC San Antonio, states, “The plan grew out of some discussions among industry leaders at the AGC of America Building Division. We knew Wis-consin had a workforce development site, but we wanted to create one for a Texas audience and make it bigger and better.“ McMurry also points out that before this website, the industry didn’t have an online job bank that focused solely on Texas and construction, forcing firms to turn to paid space on Monster and similar sites. He says, “We wanted to give them a Texas option – an affordable, profession-al, not-for-profit place to go.” This collaborative effort between 10 AGC chapters, including TEXO, is still a work in progress. The industry’s recep-tion has been encouraging, McMurry notes, adding, “Interestingly, public own-

ers are using the site to advertise open positions.” Owners are those who purchase con-struction services. He observes that many owners are willing to help address the skilled labor shortage. He adds, “For ex-ample, in Houston, some owners are will-ing to pay more for construction services, if contractors are working ‘to positively address the issues facing the craft work-er,’” citing Construction Career Collabora-tive (C3). “By working together, owners and in-dustry leaders can achieve greater re-sults. We plan to continue our statewide marketing efforts during the last quarter. In January, we’ll publish a progress report with financial data for the original 10 partners. We may use the report to reach out to other interested parties.” While McMurry comments that Texas Construction Careers is one small part of the solution, he emphasizes that it pro-vides an online resource for anyone inter-ested in construction workforce develop-ment. He states that the partners may also work to establish a statewide Con-struction Careers Collaborative. –mh

A screen shot of the front page of the new website.

The Air Conditioning Contractors As-sociation (ACCA) San Antonio Chap-ter hosted its first-ever membership

mixer Oct. 28 at Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling on Whirlwind. Tim Bruce, General Air and ACCA Membership Committee chair, com-ments that they chose Ranger Creek as the location for their inaugural mixer to invite their members and prospective members to do something different and exciting. The event boasted four beers for the tasting: an oatmeal pale ale; a Bavarian-style hefeweizen, a mesquite-smoked porter and a black IPA. Attendees were also treated to a tour of the facility. –mh

A taste of something new

L-R: Robert Freund, Comfort-Air Engineering/Primo Plumbing; Charles Rios, Carrier Enterprises; Dion Krause, Building 36

L-R: Max Gutierrez, Karen Ball, and Phil Gamble, Pure-Air Filter; Patty Wilson, Mr.

Wilson Heating and AirL-R: Gregg Zinsmeyer, A/C Technical Services,

and Steve White, AmeriCRANE

L-R: Terence Carr, Adolfo Perez, Insco Distributing; Nathan Cernosek, Insurance One; Brad Allison, Carrier Enterprises; Matt Freund, Comfort-Air/Primo Plumbing


Taking care of the team

To thank everyone working on the SurePoint Self Storage project Se-lect Building Systems, better

known as SBS Construction, is doing in Schertz, the general contractor held a Subcontractor Appreciation Lunch Oct. 30 at the jobsite. When asked why SBS hosted the event, Dave Morgan, SBS executive vice president and COO, replied, “Because we’re nothing without subcontractors. In the world of general construction today, you’re a team, and the team is the GC and all the subs and the vendors and suppli-ers that go with it. You have to take care of the people who take care of you. That’s what construction is all about.” –mh

An advisory ambassador

New development

MFR Erectors L-R: Raymond, Carlos, Daniel, Rolando, Martin, Sergio, Jaime

Johnson AC L-R: Enrique, Juan, Francisco, Richard, Abraham

L-R: Bill “Tiny” Leonard, SBS; Tony Murphy, Titan Electric; Steve Schiffman, SBS

As Trey Dawson, project manager at Pape-Dawson Engineers, set-tles in at the firm’s new headquar-

ters and gears up for the half-century milestone for the family business next year, he’s also helping high school stu-dents realize their career paths. Raised in San Antonio, Dawson at-tended San Antonio Christian School from kindergarten to graduation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engi-neering and his master’s in transporta-tion engineering from Texas Tech Univer-sity. While attending Texas Tech in Lub-bock, he met his wife, Meg, and in 2009, he started to work for the firm his grand-father began in 1965. “We’re loving the new building and we’re recently expanding into some of the other markets in Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston,” says Daw-son. “We’ve got probably about 100 peo-ple outside of San Antonio now. We’re a civil and environmental engineering company. We work for both the public and private sector, and we do commer-cial, residential and multi-family land de-velopment. “I think it’s important to know all of that to understand why I have a passion for being on the Career and Technical Education Advisory Board. I have passion for helping students realize what they want to do after school.” Having served on the district adviso-ry board at MacArthur High School for four years now, he spent this last year as its chair. The advisory council aims to raise awareness of the importance of technical education in areas such as math, science, engineering and architec-ture. The council also provides insight and evaluations of the programs offered to the students in the eight high schools within the district. Every year, the adviso-

ry council also plans the NEISD Career and Technical Education Career Fair and has awarded scholarships based on do-nations from that event. Dawson enjoys being able to help the students, whether that involves showing them actual projects in the works or just explaining the different types of engineering to them. He also thinks it’s important to provide real world insight for teachers to let them know if, for example, a computer program they’re using in the classroom is outdated tech-nology and no longer used in the field. “For me, it was an easy decision, be-cause I always wanted to be an engineer,” he comments, noting that he can’t imag-ine how hard it must be for some kids to not know what they want to do. He says it’s rewarding to help them figure it out, adding, “It’s such a big decision. Basically, when you’re 18 years old, you have to de-cide what you’re going to do for the rest of your life.” –mh

As chair of the Career and Technical Education advisory board, Trey Dawson

helps high school students get on the path to their future careers.

In January 1998, registered architect Mike Helmke, AIA, NCARB, started his own construction and architecture

business, Helmke + Associates. He also has Helmke Development Company, which is an arm of the business. Though the last five years have been a rollercoast-er, he notes things have gotten better. Helmke grew up in San Antonio and earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University in 1987. He moved to Flor-ida where he worked as an architect for a large architecture firm for about six years. After that, he went into construction management with Lincoln Property Com-pany. Then, in 1996, he moved to Rich-mond, VA and worked for W.R. Adams, a construction management company, on a new hospital building. At the end of 1997, he returned home to the Alamo City, believing this would be the best opportu-nity for him to open his own business. Today, Helmke, 50, has three employ-ees at the firm, which does mostly com-mercial and select residential. He notes

that all of their work is word of mouth and repeat business. They’ve had some clients for 10 years now. They’ve done a number of jobs for the Baptist Health Sys-tem, M&S Imaging and Gonzaba Medical Group, including two imaging centers and new executive offices, as well as mul-tiple equipment replacements for M&S. They have also done several pharmacy jobs for Crawford Pharmacy, including their pharmacy on Pleasanton Road. The firm handles the construction and architecture for the development company’s properties, which have includ-ed the Arbor at Thousand Oaks, which is an 18,000-sf retail center, and Alamo Mini Storage, off 410 and Broadway. “I like the flexibility and the ability to do different things on any given day,” says Helmke. “It’s never the same.” At home, Helmke has his wife of 20 years, Sue, and their 15-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. He enjoys playing vol-leyball with his daughter and baseball with his son, as well as hunting and fishing. –mh

Mike Helmke, owner of Helmke + Associates, with his wife and two children


What was your first paying job?

We do custom rebar fabrication for alltypes of projects, including shop drawings.

My first paying job, I was on a cleanup crew at a restaurant in Rickmansworth, England. So, in the mornings, I would come in – I was about 9 or 10, and clean up from the night before. I’d vacuum, clean up and take out the trash, all that kind of stuff.

Tony Battle,Byrne Construction Services

I worked at Swensen’s Ice Cream in San Antonio. This is when I was a senior in high school. I thought I was going to be scoop-ing ice cream and working with the public, but the guy that hired me showed me all the positions and then took me to the back and showed me where the dishwash-ing station was. So, my very first job, I was washing dishes, and it was like being in a steam bath back there. But in about a year, I was the assistant manager of the store. So, it worked out okay for me, and I worked there about three-and-a-half years.

Robert “Rocky” Lopez,Lopez Salas Architects

I was a mule [laughs], and I say that face-tiously. I was hired by a construction crew to drag a fence to level out grading. So, I had to place a chain-link fence on my back and drag that across the ground. So, I was paid to do that for one summer. That was here in San Antonio. I was 16 maybe.

John Mills, JA Mills Engineering

My first paying job was as a stock boy at my uncle’s auto parts store during the summer. I was 13. The store still exists. It’s Winkley’s Hardware in Hudson Bend up by Lake Travis.

Thomas McFarling, M&S Engineering

It would have to be yard work. That’s what I started doing. At probably 12 or 13 years old, I was mowing lawns in the neighbor-hood for whoever was willing to hire me.

Luke Zimmermann,Blue Frog Plumbing & Drain

My first paying job was at Hollywood Vid-eo, a movie rental place. I was 16, and I worked there part-time after school and weekends.

Mark Kastner, Larson Design Group

I was working for my dad at 14, stocking apartments and I’d drive the forklift. But the main job that I had for four years, all through high school, was at KFC as a cook every day after school. My aunt was a regional direc-tor for KFC, and she said, “You do a good job, because I’m recommending you.”

Randy Sanchez, A-1 Total Interiors

My first actual paycheck came from Lack-land Air Force Base. I worked at the gym. I was kind of a trainer/gym staff. I was 18 years old.

Danny Cornejo, O’Connell Robertson

It was mowing lawns. I used to do the front yard for $1, the back yard for $2, and I’d charge $1 to edge. When I was 12 years old, my dad would go deer hunting and he leased the property. There were 10 hunters on this lease, and one of the hunters dropped off, and I asked him if I could get on, and he had a meeting and met with the guys, and they said yes, as long as I was su-pervised through my dad. My dad believed in us having to pay our way, and he told me I had to pay for everything. So, I had to buy a lawnmower and an edger, but I went out and mowed enough lawns to pay the $125 for the deer lease, the $15 that it cost to build the deer blind, and I paid for the deer corn – all this cutting lawns in the summer.James Groesbeck, Groesbeck Masonry

I did a paper route. I was probably 12 years old. It was the Light. We used to have two newspapers here in San Anto-nio. We had the San Antonio Light, and we had the Express-News.

Raul Benavides Jr., RCB Construction

Cut from the same stone

Family is business-oriented at RCB Construction. Raul Benavides Jr. founded the stucco and stone com-

pany in 2002, and today, his wife, Sylvia, is the office manager and his 24-year-old son, Raul Benavides III, is sales and proj-ect manager. Benavides’ grandfather and uncles were lathers and plasterers. As he grew up, he went into lumber sales and then got into the stucco business for about 12 years. He observes that the most reward-ing part of striking out on his own has been meeting a lot of different people, working with builders, and being able to work all over San Antonio, as well as New Braunfels and Boerne. Though it’s primarily residential, about 20 percent of RCB’s work is com-mercial, including a few hotels and about a dozen Golden Chick restaurants. Having his family so involved in his company, Benavides believes the most challenging part is separating family time

from business time. Sometimes, they’re working six or seven days a week, mostly doing custom homes, checking on jobs and doing a lot of cut-stone installation. So, they’re living the business day in and day out. That’s why they take some time away from work to have fun as a family. They enjoy hunting, fishing, taking their jet skis to the lake and working out at the gym together. His son, Carlos, whose name is Benavides’ middle name, attends UTSA and competes in physique con-tests. Benavides notes that they all get into it. Benavides has two other children, a 15-year-old son, Reid, who attends O’Connor and is into swimming, and a 7-year-old daughter, Ava, who has been in competitive swimming since she was 3. He also has a stepson, Ryan Mitchell, who works at the University of the Incar-nate Word. –mh

Benavides with his wife and office manager, Sylvia

A lot of live wires

The 57th annual Independent Electri-cal Contractors (IEC) National Con-vention & Electric Expo lit up Balti-

more, MD, Oct. 22-25. The convention in-cluded the IEC Foundation (IECF) fund-raisers the Tom Jones Memorial Golf Tournament and a fishing tournament. The events also included a first-time at-tendees reception, a leadership apprecia-tion lunch, and the popular Platinum Partner Party. The President’s Reception and Awards Gala brought the convention to an electrifying conclusion. With appren-ticeship numbers growing from 150 in 2010 to more than 250 in the last two years, IEC San Antonio received the IEC National Apprenticeship Chapter of the Year Award. IES Commercial, San Anto-nio, earned an IEC-CNA Safety Award. Central Electric, San Antonio, received a National Award of Excellence in Electrical Construction for Randolph Air Force Base Hangar 40 in the category for contract amounts up to $500,000. Twenty-five winners of their local and chapter wire-offs competed for Ap-prentice of the Year, but Adam Dever,

IEC Texas Gulf Coast in Houston, took home the honor. Bob Wilkinson, also IEC Texas Gulf Coast, was distinguished as Chapter Executive Director of the Year. Tutor Electric, IEC Fort Worth/Tarrant County, earned the Community Service Award. Steve Humphrey Sr., IEC Dallas, won the Legacy Award. –mh

Central Electric received the National Award of Excellence in Electrical Construction.

IEC San Antonio won the National Apprenticeship Chapter of the Year Award.


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GPS for your business: Identifyyour top three business growth and profit opportunitiesByron Hebert, CPA, CTP, DirectorEntrepreneurial Advisory ServicesPKF TexasHouston, TX

Growth and profits are key to the success of any busi-ness, but how do you get there? The Growth & Prof-

it Solution (GPS) gives you direction in your business, much the same as a global posi-tioning system (also GPS) does in your car. Below are ten factors that are key to the profit and growth of your business:

1. Vision – where do you see your company in the future? Most people’s vi-sion is to do better than last year. In to-day’s global economy, that approach will not work. Have a vision with some step-change in it. It is likely to include divest-ments, acquisitions and new products and services. 2. Profit – is essential for cash flow, dividends to shareholders, and funding your growth. Profit is also a direct reflec-tion of your customer service. 3. Sales and marketing – generates growth and career opportunities. People generally do an average job of both. Sales are the life-blood of the organiza-tion. The sales process should be a ma-chine that can be tweaked at will. Sales are not just about increasing the top line of the business. Sales that improve mar-gin create more profit. 4. Technology – gives you leverage and efficiency, as well as reinforces your professionalism. Technology includes machines, new technical innovations, and social media initiatives. Technology changes quickly, so it is essential to stay on top of it. 5. Leadership – provides direction and inspiration to the people. Leadership is often overlooked, in part because there has been little innovation in leadership. How often do you brush up your leader-ship skills? 6. People and team dynamics – the key resource for making it all happen. A general rule is a third of your people are fantastic; a third, you wonder how they got there; and the remaining third are somewhere in-between. People are one of the biggest costs, but one we tend to do little to improve. 7. Strategy – making sure you are competitive and successful. Do you un-derstand your competitive advantage? Is it sustainable? Do you use it to make de-cisions? Are you planning to make signifi-cant improvements to your business this year? 8. Growth – essential for survival in a global economy. Growth creates oppor-tunities, but requires an investment of resources and careful management. The challenge is in making sure you keep the

level of risk under control during times of growth. 9. Innovation – the application of clever thinking and solutions to your business problems. Under-pinning most of the other factors is innovation. Keep in mind the Pareto Rule, 20% of what you do creates 80% of your results. Therefore, 80% of what you do has limited value. How can you apply innovation to make you a better leader, create more sales, re-cruit better people and make more prof-its? 10. Continuous improvement – the never-ending journey of continuously improving all your business processes. The Japanese word, Kaizen, means con-tinuously improving all the processes in your organization, using all the people. Do you do this? Changing just a few things each day becomes a significant improvement in your business. Understanding the key factors fac-ing your business at any specific time is essential for you. What are your current constraints? Businesses aren’t static. As you improve in one area, for example technology, the constraint moves to something else, say profit. Where are your three biggest opportunities for im-provement? Why do I need to do better? The first thing you need to assume is you may need to exit the business on short notice. If you had to sell within the next three months, is the business in a condition to transition to someone else? Imagine if your annual sales growth was 15% and your profits were growing at 30% annually. What price would you get for the business? What if you had a man-agement team not dependent on you and a great customer base with long-term contracts? Now what price could you get for the business? How would that make you feel each day? It might be a lot more fun!

Based in Houston, PKF Texas CPAs and Advisors is dedicated to the growth of mid-dle market construction companies and other service/product related businesses in the energy economy. Visit PKFTexas.com/GPSDiagnostic for more information.

Let’s get profitable: Planningahead for 2015Jeff Norwood, Executive Vice PresidentThe Nitsche GroupGiddings, TX

For now, the good times are back. After a long and slow recovery, we are finally seeing trucks moving,

cranes going up and help wanted signs everywhere. I know for my clients, this recovery has been a long time coming, and we hope it con-tinues well into the future. But, none of us know how long this will last. What we do know is that we have to make hay while the sun is shining.

With all the growth we are seeing, many contractors are venturing into new areas of construction. This is great; it can increase operations allowing the company to be available for more jobs. It can help spread out the income, so if one area starts to fall another may be able to help prop it up. Most of all, it should increase profits. Nobody know-ingly wants to lose money or just break even, so increasing profits should be a top priority.

With all this market growth comes opportunity, risk and reward. While we certainly cannot predict the future or protect against all risk, there are a few things we can do to be better prepared. Before you venture out into new ar-eas of construction, make a call to your insurance agent. Discuss what new types of work you will be doing. It could be that you already have the correct class codes on your general liability and workers compensation, but more than likely you do not.

Based on what you tell the agent, he/she will be able to find the correct codes and give you current rates. This will allow you to bid the work knowing the full cost of insurance up front. Rates vary greatly, and could easily cause a profitable venture to become unprofit-able. By adding the class codes and knowing the rates now, you should be able to avoid a nasty surprise at audit.

The next thing you should start looking at is your financials. In the past 18 months, we have seen many firms grow by 20% to 50%. These firms worked hard and were in the right place at the right time. In order to keep grow-ing, you may need to either establish a bond line or move your current one up to the next level.

It can be hard to make yourself at-tractive to the surety company if you don’t know what they’re looking for. Be-

fore making end of year decisions, visit with your agent and discuss what type of bond program you are looking for and build a plan to get there. December 31 is looming close, and is the date many firms typically close out their books for the year. But before you close out the year, speak with your agent and discuss what changes you need to make. You may find that you’re sitting on more cash than you considered pos-sible, so you consider paying off debt. Depending on the situation, that may or may not be a good idea. The problem is once you spend the cash, you may hit reverse and get the debt back, leaving you right back at square one.

It can be easy to get caught up in your current business conditions and forget about the needs of the future. You may be busier now than you have been in the past five years, and that is a great place to be.

But, you should always be looking toward tomorrow. Set yourself up for a profitable new year. Speak with your in-surance agent and find out what you can do to set yourself and your company up for success in 2015.

The Nitsche Group was created with the independent spirit of a small-town businessman in 1949. Then, known as the Hannes Insurance Agency, the company had only two employees at one location in Giddings, Texas. Today, we have more than 100 employees at nine locations across Texas to serve our ever-growing cli-ent base. Jeff Norwood is a graduate of Texas A&M, and Executive Vice President with The Nitsche Group where he has worked for the past 15 years. He specializ-es in construction insurance and bonding. Jeff can be reached at 254.493.4600 or [email protected]


Caulfield to lead NDA

The National Demoli-tion Association (NDA) recently announced

that Cheryl Caulfield, IOM, CAE has joined the associa-tion as executive director. Caulfield is replacing NDA Executive Director Michael R. Taylor, CAE, who is retir-ing from the association af-ter 25 years of service. Caulfield has more than 20 years of association ex-perience. “Among my goals moving forward is to increase public awareness about the many ways the demolition industry is making way for a more sustainable world,” Caulfied said. “I want communi-ties to understand how demolition helps them re-invent their futures. And, I want governmental agencies to know that de-molition contractors have the equipment and skills necessary to effectively respond to both natural and manmade disasters.” Caulfield spent a number of years working for building and real estate asso-ciations.

NDA President Jeff Kroeker of Kroeker, Inc. in Fresno, Calif., said, "Her proven abilities in advoca-cy, membership develop-ment and member educa-tion will be incredible as-sets to NDA.” Caulfield holds a bach-elor’s degree in political sci-ence from Old Dominion University, a Certified Asso-ciation Executive designa-tion from American Society

of Association Executives and a Certified Institute Organization Management des-ignation from the United States Chamber of Commerce. “My pledge to the members of the NDA is to enhance the products and ser-vices we provide that enable them to keep their businesses safe, profitable and pro-ductive.” She said. “We’ll renew our focus on education and safety training, profes-sional competency, membership develop-ment and government advocacy.” –cw

Cheryl Caulfield

Pay-if-paid clauses: Shiftingrisk vs. getting paid on timeCourtney Willis, PresidentWillis Law, PLLCAddison, TX

“We’ll pay you when we get paid”: it’s frequently heard in construction, and probably just as fre-

quently the start of a payment dispute. Parties hope to be paid quickly after performing on projects, but if

they’re not careful and haven’t read their contracts, they may discover that the up-stream parties do not actually have to pay until they are paid first.

Chapter 56 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code, titled “Agreements for Payment of Construction Subcontractor”, governs what are known as contingent payment clauses. Commonly referred to as “pay-if-paid” clauses, they are related to and often confused with “pay-when-paid” clauses, though the two are very different. Pay-if-paid means that a “con-tingent payor,” usually the GC, is obligat-ed to pay its “contingent payee,” the sub-contractor, only if it first receives pay-ment from the owner or upstream party. If it does not receive payment, it does not have to pay the subcontractor at any particular time. Put another way, the subcontractor assumes the risk of non-payment by the owner under a pay-if-paid clause. Pay-when-paid means that a GC is still obligated to pay its subcon-tractor regardless of what the owner does. Under Chapter 56, contingent pay-ment clauses can apply to contracts for construction, construction management and for the supply of materials. It ex-cludes contracts for design services, some types of projects relating to civil engineering construction, and most types of residential construction. Pay-if-paid clauses are enforceable in Texas, but there are limits on their ef-fectiveness. For instance, a GC that has breached its contract with the owner cannot refuse to pay a subcontractor un-der a pay-if-paid clause unless the ulti-mate reason for non-payment is the sub-contractor’s breach. Additionally, pay-if-paid clauses are unenforceable in ‘sham contract’ scenarios where the owner controls the GC or is the GC. Contingent payment clauses are also unenforceable if they are “unconsciona-ble.” The full meaning of “unconsciona-ble” is beyond the scope of this article, but the term is typically used when one party takes advantage of the other to a grossly unfair extent. To protect itself against the claim of unconscionability, a GC using a contingent payment clause should get the owner’s financial informa-

tion on the project and disclose it to the subcontractor upfront. The GC should also make reasonable efforts to collect from its upstream parties or offer to as-sign the GC’s causes of action against the upstream party(ies) for nonpayment. Interestingly, parties to a pay-if-paid clause have some room to maneuver when it comes to enforcement. The sub-contractor can deactivate the clause by applying for payment in accordance with the contract, and objecting to the clause to the GC in writing 45 days after apply-ing for the payment. The notice effective-ly renders the clause unenforceable eight to 11 days later, depending on the type of project. Predictably, the notice sent by a sub-contractor is ineffective when it hasn’t performed under its contract. As a gen-eral rule of thumb, all notices should be sent by certified mail, return receipt re-quested, or by other means that allow the subcontractor to prove the GC re-ceived the notice. The GC can override the subcontrac-tor’s notice by sending its own notice that the clause is enforceable, which must be received by the subcontractor at least five days before the effective date of the subcontractor’s notice, or the fifth day after the GC received the subcontrac-tor’s notice, whichever is later. Got it? The subcontractor can invali-date the clause if the GC sleeps on its rights. The GC can enforce the clause if it responds to the subcontractor’s notice on time. As always, timing is crucial, and the parties must have read their con-tracts and understand their rights and obligations. Doing so just might enable a subcontractor to get paid on a project when they could otherwise be forced to wait indefinitely, or, conversely, allow a GC to minimize its exposure to liability when it hasn’t been paid either. Willis Law, PLLC offers litigation and consultation services on commercial and residential construction matters state-wide. Courtney Willis can be reached at (972) 481-1779, or at [email protected].

Upcoming OSHA lawsJoann NatarajanCompliance Assistance SpecialistOSHAAustin, TX

A number of OSHA regulations have effective dates in 2015 and beyond. This month’s article will outline

these upcoming laws and their compliance dates. On January 1, 2015, several recordkeeping reporting requirements become effective. For all employers

within OSHA’s jurisdiction who experience a work related amputation, loss of an eye or an in-patient hospitalization due to a workplace incident will be required to report the injury to OSHA. Employers can report the injury to OSHA within 24 hours in one of three ways: by phoning your closest OSHA office during business hours, by calling 1-800-321-OSHA, or by completing an online report at http://www.osha.gov/report_online. OSHA maintains the requirement for employers to report on-the-job fatalities within 8 hours.

OSHA also revised Subpart V for power transmission and generation in 2014, with several provisions becoming effective in 2015. On and after April 1, 2015, qualified workers must use fall protection when climbing or changing location on poles, towers, or similar structures unless climbing or changing location with fall protection is infeasible or creates a greater hazard than climbing or changing location without it. On and after April 1, 2015, work-positioning equipment must be rigged so that workers can free fall no more than 2 feet. No later than January 1, 2015, employers must estimate the incident heat energy of any electric-arc hazard to which a worker would be exposed. No later than April 1, 2015, employers generally must provide workers exposed to hazards from electric arcs with protective clothing and other protective equipment with an arc rating greater than or equal to the estimated heat energy. Revised minimum approach distances become effective on April 1, 2015. Informative appendices to Subpart V can be used to help comply with these implementation dates. The OSHA hazard communication standard has an implementation date in

2015 as well. Over the course of several years, chemical suppliers will be updating labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) to comply with the new requirements. All new labels and SDSs must be finished by June 1, 2015; however, if employers order from a distributer they may still receive labels compliant with the prior hazard communication standard issued in 1994, until December 1, 2015. If an employer identifies new hazards after December 1, 2015 due to the reclassification of the hazardous chemicals, it has six months, until June 1, 2016, to ensure that those hazards are included in the hazard communication program, workplace labeling reflects those new hazards, and employees are trained on the new hazards. Finally, OSHA has extended the compliance date for crane operators to become certified by an independent testing organization accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization until November 10, 2017. Employers are still required to ensure crane operators are competent and safe in the interim.

[email protected] x232

The O’Connell Robertson architecture team has been doing a lot of school work lately, including Camelot Elementary School for Northeast ISD, Ogden Elementary for San

Antonio ISD, renovation of the football stadium for Schertz-Cibolo ISD, and various Alamo College projects. They’re also doing Faith Community Hospital in Jacksboro. L-R: Danny

Cornejo, Pete Pohorelsky, Gilbert Salinas, Randy Huggins, Walter Marks, Jorge Olivares, Erin Cushman, Kristin Jones, Jason Reed, David Villarreal. –mh

Catching up on school workConstruction News ON LOCATION

Past editions can bedownloaded at

www.ConstructionNews.net

Did youknow?


For fun and raffle tickets

The Associated General Contractors (AGC) San Antonio Chapter hosted its Casino Night and Construction

Industry Awards Dinner Nov. 13 at Oak Hills Country Club. The speaker and mas-ter of ceremonies was State Rep. Jose Menendez. Guests enjoyed a dinner buf-fet, drinks, and a variety of casino games where the payoff was counted in tickets for raffle prizes. –mh

Engineer of the Year: Terracon Consultants General Contractor of the Year: Turner Construction

Ace Tinch Service Provider of the Year:Pape-Dawson Engineers

Specialty Contractor of the Year:Alterman

(No photo, absentee winner)Bubba Moeller Award

for Outstanding Service:Katherine Willis, T.H. Willis Company Jacob Rodriguez, JCB of South Texas;

Esther Brown, Architectural Division 8

L-R: Michael Guido, Kinetech; Sam Nunnelly and Kali Chatham, F.A. Nunnelly Co.; Cosmo Guido, Guido Construction

L-R: Kristin and Bobby Rios, Bartlett Cocke;Jon Marek, MEMCO; Michael Sireno, Baker

L-R: Adam Lewis, Turner Construction; Rick Jeter, HCDT Insurance Agency; Greg Lyons and Megan Peterson, CNA Surety

L-R: Missy and TJ Rogers, Bartlett Cocke General Contractors; Kari Sireno, Baker Triangle; Pedro Ibanez, Luis Berumen, Leslie De La Cruz, Bartlett Cocke

L-R: Mike Palacio, Valerie Gonzalez, Thomas Schorsch, Architectural Division 8;Jay Farwell, Cokinos Bosien & Young

The Hispanic Contractors Association (HCA) de San Antonio held its 15th annual golf tournament at the Re-

public Golf Club. –mh

Winners1st: A Ram & Moore Supply2nd: Ridout Barrett & Co.3rd: Trevino Group

Green day de SA

1st Place Team

Below: Amy and Dave Sanchez were the winning bidders on the live auction for

this puppy donated by Big Foot Kennels.


Growing strong in Texas, MEI Rig-ging & Crating opened its San Antonio branch in January 2012

because the company saw promise in the market. Since then, MEI has successfully grown by capitalizing on that potential. Starting out in a 5,000-sf building, local operations moved into a 22,000-sf building a year-and-a-half later. Though the growth has been incremental, from the perspective of staffing, the branch is growing very quickly, having hired two new sales people within the last year. Headquartered in Albany, OR, Bruce and Julie Marler founded the company that eventually became Marler Enter-prises Inc. and is today operating under different ownership and its acronym, MEI. “We move heavy machinery for our clients from point A to point B,” says Todd Hovis, branch manager for the San Antonio division, who has been with the company since it opened its doors in town. “Any of your construction jobs that

Rigging the market

are happening actually require rigging, whether it’s an air handling unit that goes up on the roof or it’s a cold water chiller that actually goes inside of the building. That requires the use of riggers, which is where we come in.” Hovis describes rigging as “the art of moving something, whether it’s just a chair or a big press or an injection mold machine.” The crating part of their busi-ness is for export packaging, which they do not do in San Antonio as of yet, though their regional main office in Pla-no and fellow satellite office in Houston do quite a bit of crating. MEI does complete turnkey removal and relocations, and sometimes that re-quires cranes, in which case, they work with local crane companies. Babet Motes, sales, explains that OSHA has made it mandatory that “anytime a crane hooks up to a load, you have to have a certified rigger doing that,” and that’s what MEI provides. –mh

MEI Rigging & Crating has grown its local presence since it arrivedin the Alamo City just two-and-a-half years ago.

All across Texas, Baker Triangle employees celebrated the 40th anniversary of the company founded in 1974 by Bob Baker. The family-owned business has since grown into a $120

million company with nearly 1,500 employees. Pictured above, the San Antonio crew. –cw

40 years of hard work and prosperitySubmitted to Construction News

15 to 500 TonCapacities

Available for yourToughest Projects

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35 Years of Service to Texas

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Setting tilt walls with 500-ton

crane at a new strip center on

Loop 410

Established in 1866 as Ed Steves & Sons Lumber Company, Steves & Sons has a rich history woven into

the tapestry of San Antonio where it still has its headquarters today. Sam Bell Steves, president and COO, and his brother, Edward Steves, CEO, are the fifth generation to run the business, which they are proud to say is the oldest building materials company in the U.S. under the same family’s continuous own-ership and management. They have members of the sixth generation already preparing to continue that legacy. Throughout the company’s history, its patriarchs have been stewards of its longevity and have remained heavily in-volved in the business, as well as the community of San Antonio. The past leaders’ civic participation includes various charitable boards, mu-seums, and other ventures. In 1916, when the company was the largest millwork operation in the south-west, Albert Steves served as mayor of

San Antonio. Of today’s leadership, Sam Bell Steves served as a former chairman of the San Antonio Parks Foundation and kept a longtime involvement with the Nimitz Foundation that funds the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. His brother was a longtime member and former chair of the Coliseum Advisory Board. Today, Steves & Sons has three inte-rior door plant facilities located in San Antonio, Virginia and Tennessee. The company has more than 1,000 employ-ees, about 800 of whom are in their San Antonio facilities, which include a com-modity exterior steel and fiberglass plant and premium exterior entry door plant. They produce 24,000 doors per day, which are shipped all over the U.S. east of the Rockies. In 1999, Steves & Sons was proud to be the first recipient of Home Depot’s En-vironmental Vendor of the Year Award and won the retailer’s Millwork Partner of the Year Award in 2006 and this year. –mh

San Antonio-based door manufacturer Steves & Sons was recently named2014 Millwork Partner of the Year by Home Depot.

Sons of San Antonio


The race wasn’t on the track at Texas Motor Speedway – it was in-

side an infield garage where 19 teams from Texas, New Mexico, northwest Arkan-sas and Oklahoma raced against time to install ceil-ing components. “The 2014 Grid Games – The Arm-strong Ceiling Construction Challenge” hosted Nov. 6 featured a first round for all teams to compete for best installation time, and a sec-ond round for the four fast-est teams to compete for cash prizes. The top four teams in the final round were all from Tex-as, with Integrated Interiors Inc. in Fort Worth taking top prize. –mjm

On the grid

Winners: 1st Place: Integrated Interiors, Fort Worth

2nd Place: Double Drywall, Fort Worth3rd Place: Marek, San Antonio4th Place: Trinity, Fort Worth

Marek in San Antonio teams sent two teams to the finals.

L-R: Marek San Antonio’s Alfredo Martinez and Jaime Hernandez placed third in the final round.

L-R: David Aguilar and Luis Montenegro of Marek in San Antonio placed 11th in the first round.

Submitted to Construction News

Offering some respite

SpawGlass presented a check for $22,500 to Respite Care of San Antonio Nov. 18 at the Davidson Respite House. The funds were raised at the general contractor’s inaugural

golf tournament in October. Respite Care provides care for children with special needs, some of whom have suffered abuse or injury. –mh

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BAFFIN BAYLAGUNA MADRE

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FISHING AND HUNTING TRIPS

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Colder weather brings bigger fish

by Capt. Steve Schultz

Sponsored by:Premier Yamaha Boating Center, Majek

Boats, E-Z Bel Construction, Power Pole Shallow Water Anchor, Aggregate

Haulers, Interstate Batteries, Pure Fishing, Mirr-O-Lure and Columbia Sportswear.

WOW! Another year is just about gone. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering where

time went. I’m sitting here and still can’t believe that I’m writing my last column for the 2014 year. This has been a very tough year for me and my family because of my injury that occurred last spring. Gladly, I have almost made a full recovery and am looking forward to the 2015 fish-ing season. I know I have said this in some of my previous columns, but I would like to thank everyone again for the support and generosity on the bene-fit that help me make it through this year. Although the calendar may say it’s the end of the year, it doesn’t say it is the end of fishing for the year. Winter fishing is just as popular as any other of the sea-

sons. Many anglers wait for the colder months to fish because, typically, you catch bigger fish during winter months. As we move into pre-winter fishing pat-terns, keep in mind that one must slow down his retrieve as temperatures con-tinue to drop. As water temps fall, fish be-come lethargic and feed less frequently. Wade fishing is usually the norm dur-ing this time of the year, slow rolling soft plastics and suspending baits over soft mud and rocks in Baffin Bay. While top water baits land some of the largest specks during warmer months, they will still land some large trout throughout the winter. Don’t be afraid to give your favor-ite plug a few casts, especially amidst an abundance of mullet. If you catch one of these beauties make sure you handle

Tres Agulair was flawless while fighting this 40-inch+ redfish to the boat.Fish was caught in Baffin Bay on live perch.

Flounder like these are starting to showup along drop-offs near deep water. This

22-inch flounder caught by Capt. Steve Schultz fell for a free lined mud minnow

near the Humble Channel.

them with care. Their only protection against predators is their slimy coating. Try to keep them wet while taking pho-tos and never use a towel to handle them, as you will remove their natural defense. Preparing for your wade fish trip is a must. Waders become a necessity until spring and should be checked for leaks. Winter conditions can be very harsh at times in South Texas, but are extremely harsh when on the water. Proper cloth-ing and gear are a must for a comfortable day on the bay. I’ve seen many folks not be able to concentrate on what’s hap-pening on the end of their line because they are having some sort of malfunction with their clothing or gear. Don’t be fru-gal when purchasing your wading gear!

Simms waders are the top of the line and they stand behind their products. I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Looking forward to a great fishing season in 2015. To schedule your next bay fishing trip give Capt. Steve Schultz a call at 361-813-3716 or 361-334-3105, or e-mail him at [email protected]. Already booking for the 2015-fishing season. Good luck and Good Fishing.

Seasons Greetings from Everyone atConstruction News


Ken Milam Guide Service(325) 379-2051

www.striperfever.com

MUSTANG COLT SERVICESServing Customers HonestlyElectrical Contracting • Commercial/Industrial

Special Projects

San Antonio, TX 210 494 7100Weslaco, TX 956 969 5703

Ken Milam’s Fishing LineSince 1981, Ken Milam has been guiding fishing trips for striped bass on Lake Buchanan in the Texas Hill Country,. You can hear Ken on radio on Saturday and Sunday mornings, 6-8

AM on AM 1300, The Zone – Austin, or http://www.am1300the zone.com

We all know how weird the weather is here in Texas! We don’t seem to get definite sea-

sons like some places do. Two weeks ago I was still waiting until late afternoon to mow so it wouldn’t be so hot and this morning I walked the dogs with frost sparkling on the grass, wickedly happy that the grass will stop growing now! I guess that means autumn is here! My father-in-law just got back from his annual “last Colorado hunting trip ever, ‘cos I’m getting too old”. He’s done this for the last dozen years or so. He and his brother bagged a couple of really nice mule deer and had a ball, so I figure they are already planning next year’s trip.Acorns are pinging off the tin rooftops and the deer are coming to eat them. Pe-cans are falling and any nice evening you see folks poking around in the leaves un-der the trees to collect them for holiday goodies. The first batch of fresh fried venison hits the dinner table! While some might fuss about Bambi’s passing, the rest of the family is appreciatively chowing down, thankful for the hunter’s success and the cook’s skill. Yep, it’s fall! Fall affects fishing too. The first thing you notice is that the lake is a lot quieter now. There’s not such a line at the launching ramp. Now you can catch fish without two other boats making a bee line for your fishing spot. It’s pretty much all yours now. Sure you have to keep your eye on the weather and choose your days wisely, but even as the native species of freshwater fish might be slowing down for winter, the stripers

and hybrids are just starting to get com-fortable as the water cools down. Since stipers are native to cold water, they re-ally thrive in the winter. They are very ac-tive, feeding hard to prepare to spawn in the spring. Trade in your shorts and flip-flops for a nice jacket and a set of binocu-lars so you can spot birds working on top of feeding schools of stripers and hybrids and fish feeding on top water. If you do decide to concentrate on winter stuff like hunting and football and holidays, be sure you take time to put your boat up for the winter. Now is the time to take it to the shop to have any little glitches taken care of and get it win-terized. You will be glad you did when nice spring weather gets here and all you have to do it hitch up your rig and go. It’s a lot easier to get your repairs done this time of year than in the spring when ev-erybody else discovers their motor won’t start. The last thing you need is to have your first time out next year ruined by clogged fuel lines and such. I hope you and yours have joyous holidays! As always, if you want to enter-tain holiday guests with a fishing trip or just need a gift certificate for your favor-ite sportsman, give us a call at 325-379-2051!

How do you knowit’s fall in Texas?

It’s a story that’s bound to make An-drew Hunt, PE, PMP/RKPM, the envy of any seasoned hunter. Hunt, who

works for Raba Kistner Program Man-agement, was only on his second deer hunt when he landed himself the Safari Club International (SCI) world record for a free-range axis deer. Guided by Jesse Grace, the hunt was on a hunting lease of Hunt’s father-in-law, Keith Strimple. The buck was taped at 176 inches. “Since it was only my second hunt, the guide would only let me shoot at a doe,” stated Hunt. “I guess my father-in-

law took pity on me, because he called the guide while we were out and told him to let me shoot a buck. A few bucks walked out suddenly, and the guide told me to aim for the big one. I did, and no one is more surprised than me at the re-cord.” When avid hunter Gary Raba, Raba Kistner, Inc. chairman and CEO, learned of the new world record award being pre-sented to Hunt, he commented, “Well, I’m happy for him and I’m glad he at least knew which end of the gun to hold!” –mh

Bucking the world record

Call Andrew Hunt’s award-winning buck beginner’s luck,but make sure you also call it the SCI world record.


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Mike Hendrickson and Tom Quintero, of IBTX

Risk Services, hosted their an-nual South Dakota Pheasant Hunt during the opening week-end Oct. 18-20. Clients attending the hunt included Bruce Bejia, Alamo City Medical; Dan McClendon, McClendon Construction; and Brad Baylis, Mark McIntosh, Steve Guyton and Doug Cook of City Wide Mechanical. Hunting over native grass-es and through cornfields, the group harvested 44 ring neck pheasant. Temperatures during the hunt were warm and skies were blue. Some hunters even had to take a break from all the shooting! –cw

A pleasant day of pheasant

Tom Quintero and Bruce Bejia

The warm weather caused some, including Don Hendrickson, to enjoy a little shut-eye.

Right: Dan McClendon,

McClendon Construction

City Wide Mechanical

Richard Reed, a construction lawyer for Coats|Rose, has a lot of reasons to be proud of his son, Richard

Reed Jr. The younger Reed, 30, is prepar-ing to graduate as he finishes his last se-mester at St. Mary’s School of Law, and he recently made a splash by catching a spinner shark that came in just nine pounds shy of the world record. On Oct. 5, Reed Jr. and a friend head-ed out for a quick 8-hour offshore fishing trip. When the captain brought them up to the first shrimp boat in search of black-fin tuna, they found that the boat was throwing bycatch over the side and had attracted more than 100 spinner sharks, Reed estimates. At the front of the boat, he put a bo-nito head on a big shark hook and threw it over the side. After missing a big one and pulling it away from smaller ones, the giant spinner shark came up and grabbed the bait. After 25 minutes, Reed finally hauled in the shark. The spinner was a little bit over 8 feet long, and once they got it on the scale, it came in at just under 200 pounds. The In-ternational Game Fish Association (IGFA) lists the all-tackle world record at 208 pounds and 9 ounces, caught by Ray-mond F. Ireton off Port Aransas on Dec. 13, 2009. “It was a lot of fun,” Reed recalls. “I didn’t have any idea what the record was, or how much that shark weighed until we got it on the scale. Then, the deckhand ran up and told me, because he had been involved, I guess, in the previous records on that kind of shark, which is apparently pretty abundant off of Port Aransas, and they keep finding bigger ones every now and then. It was a pretty good time, and

Close call with a world record

Richard Reed Jr.’s spinner shark came close to the world record that was set five years ago.

we wound up with a lot of good meat. I mostly just love fishing. So, anytime I get a chance to do something like that, it’s always a really memorable time for me.” On his way to becoming a construc-tion lawyer like his dad, Reed assists his father with grading student papers and exams for his construction law class at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He and his father are also in the process of co-authoring an article on some recent developments in construction law that will appear in St. Mary’s Law Journal. –mh

Plumbing buckaroos

Danny Pruitt and Mark

B a r s a l o u , Quarter Moon Plumbing, AC & Heating, each landed a buck on a recent hunting trip with Ferguson. –mh

Danny Pruitt

MarkBarsalou


A big buck for Big BSubmitted to Construction News

Bert Mazac, Big B Construction, shot this 190+ class buck at Lone Star Whitetail Ranch, which is

the ranch of South Texas Drywall & Construction’s Michael Traugott. Mazac won the hunt in the raf-fle to benefit Captain Steve Schultz at the 25th an-niversary Fun Shoot Pre-Party and BBQ Cook-Off in

August. –mh

Don Harrell, Harrell Commercial Plumbing, went on a hunt Nov. 3 at the 4 N Ranch in San Angelo. Go-

ing as the deer season got underway obviously paid off, because he shot two good-looking bucks. –mh

A real buck-aneer

Chocolate fallow buck, 32” main beam, 260 lbs.White-tailed buck, 11 points, 27” main beam,

200 lbs., scored 164

Edgar R. Kleck III, also known as Kip Kleck, Interna-tional Mechanical Services, took his 8-year-old son,

Cole, hunting Nov. 1, and his son landed this 8-point buck. Cole had his eye on the buck, even though he was about 329 yards from the blind – way too long of a shot for Cole, but Kleck left the blind with his son and helped him track the buck. They weaved in and out of the sen-dera and crawled through mud to avoid the South Tex-as stickers for an hour and 10 minutes. Finally, they got within 125 yards and when the buck came out of the brush, Cole took the shot – and his second deer – with a rifle on bipod. –mh

A buck to kickoff the season

Michael Stratis, owner of MPS Construction & Design, and his wife, Mary, really hop to it on the kangaroo bounce at their

Boerne beer garden and family events center, Random. –mhPhoto by Connie Moreno

Recreatingat Random

Danny Pruitt

Publishing the Industry’s News . . .

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Gasoline – On Road Diesel – Off Road DieselOn Site Fueling – Wet Hosing – Temporary Loaner Tanks

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210-666-6002Brent & Mark Marshall

They’re wacky and spooky, crazy and kooky, but they’re not who you might ex-pect – they’re members of the San Antonio construction industry! Every year, many of you burn bright with the Halloween spirit like a well-carved jack-o-lan-

tern, and every year, you astound us with your creepy creativity and mad genius. Here are some of this year’s costumed celebrants. –mh

Dressed for spooktacular success


Mdn Architects

Padgett Stratemann

Baker Triangle

Alpha Building Corporation

L&M Steel

Virtual Builders Exchange (VBX)

Timms Trucking and Excavating

Cram Roofing


Along with a group of friends traveling in four Corvettes and a motorhome with a Jeep, Jon Randolph, Baker Triangle, and Cathy Martin, as well as Craig and Teresa Noto, Quality Fence & Welding, traveled to see the Albuquerque Inter-

national Balloon Fiesta. “It is hard to describe the scene when the balloons are taking off in the morning,” says Randolph. “You are surrounded by literally 700 to 800 balloons, and all you hear from everywhere is, ‘Look at that one!’ Truly a great bucket list trip!” The trip included visits to Petroglyph National Monument in Boca Negra Canyon, the historic old town plaza in Santa Fe, and the Caverns at Sonora on the way home. They also took a drive down Musical Road, where grooves in the pavement create a tune as the tires pass over them. –mh

Up, up and away

Petroglyph National Monument L-R: Craig and Teresa Noto, Cathy Martin, Jon Randolph

The New Mexico sky filled with more balloons than onlookers could count. Balloons of all shapes and sizes, even Darth Vader!

TexasStyle

San Antonio Austin Dallas/Fort Worth Houston South Texas

www.constructionnews.netpublishing the industry’s news


They don’t skimp on the shrimp

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We buy Aluminum, Brass, Copper, Iron, Stainless Steel,Steel, Brass & Radiators

2300 Frio City Rd. 210-927-2727 www.monterreyiron.com

With an expected turnout of 400 guests, Martin Marietta Mate-rials hosted its annual Custom-

er Appreciation Shrimp Boil Oct. 23 at its Northwest Military Highway facility’s Beckman Park. The company’s cooks made 300 pounds of shrimp, 60 pounds of potatoes and 60 pounds of corn for the luncheon attendees. –mh

L-R: Joshua Fosmire, Monterrey Iron & Metal; Ricardo Guajardo Jr., Josiah Construction;David Little and Amy Mikolajczak and Kris May, Martin Marietta

L-R: Clint Haney, Haney Sitework; Shawn Forks, Martin Marietta; Joey Haney, Haney Sitework

L-R: Mike Innis and Billy Osborne, Olmos Equipment; Mike Britt, Metzger Construction;Dale Storbeck, Olmos Equipment

L-R: David Coy and John Glidewell, Sunset Logistics; Wayne Skipper, Martin Marietta

L-R: Roland Gonzales, Martin Marietta, and Michael Muniz, Yantis Company

On a cold drizzly Nov. 15, HJD Capital Electric, as well as other contractors from

the area participated in CPS Energy’s first-ever GrillsGiving BBQ cook-off. Head cook Ronnie Villanueva, electrical proj-ect manager for Capital, manned the pit.

The fundraiser at Mission County Park raised funds for the Residential Energy

Assistance Partnership (REAP). –mh

Submitted to Construction News

REAP-ing the rewards

Trekking from the equipment deal-er’s locations all over the state, 18 HOLT CAT employees came to San

Antonio Oct. 11-12 for the annual multi-ple sclerosis (MS) 150-mile bike ride fund-raiser Bike MS: Valero Ride to the River. Along with hundreds of other sup-porters, the team started the course in San Antonio, made checkpoints in Se-guin, New Braunfels, and Canyon Lake, and then finished at the Comal County Fairgrounds. The HOLT MS Bike Ride Team partici-pants represented its locations in San An-tonio, Irving, Fort Worth, Pflugerville, and Corpus Christi. The riders included Guy Clumpner, Thomas Barry, Keith Solo-mon, Julie Kenfield, John Groweg, Preston Price, Tray Raye, Michael Sig-mon, Guadalupe Rivera, Lucie Frost, Michael McNew, Cory Turman, Robert Marlar, Nicolas Olvera, Vic Huvelle, Paul Hensley and Richard Kuniansky. This year, the team raised approxi-

Ride, boldly ride

The HOLT bike ride team got to ride again to support the fight against MS

mately $42,000, and in the past decade of participating, HOLT and its employees have raised approximately half-a-million dollars for the National MS Society for re-search, education, and families in need. HOLT also earned the distinction of rank-ing among the top 10 fundraising teams at this year’s event. HOLT’s ride team members have known some people affected by MS, ei-ther directly or indirectly, but this year was particularly emotional and deeply personal. On Jun. 13, HOLT employees lost a dear friend to this disabling disease of the central nervous system. “She was a warrior in her battles against her physical challenges and afflic-tion, and God has called her home,” Bar-ry, team captain and HOLT power sys-tems rental manager, said in a statement. “I started riding because of her and con-tinue because of others like her, including my cousin, who was recently diagnosed with MS.” –mh


continued from Page 1 — An all-new Norton

continued from Page 1 — Captured!

continued from Page 1 — A corner of mixed Sunshine

He points out that the committee aims to standardize those elements for the River North District, and it took time to get the reviews to agree on both the commercial and residential sides. He comments, “Helping the city in develop-ing standards for a mix-use facility was a challenge worth the wait.” Offering an example of how this also affected the construction aspect of the build, he adds, “Being residential up-stairs, we had to have a particular fire-proofing material all around the residen-cy like an envelope. So, that was a chal-lenge on its own, being able to schedule everybody around that, because once

that is installed, nothing else could go into the steel after that – meaning that we had to hang out the hangers for the air conditioning and all the electrical con-duits had to be on before they sprayed all of this insulation. Normally, that’s not how it’s done at the beginning, but in this instance, we had to schedule everybody upfront for the roofing before they could even get all the other trades behind them.” Julissa notes that they had a very positive working relationship with Sun-shine’s owners, Walter and Siew Pang. “We really liked the service and at-tention that Tejas Premier had to offer,” comments Siew, noting that they will be using Tejas again on their next project. “Their employees had a very helpful atti-tude and listened to our needs.” The superintendent on the job was Ken Shellaby. The architect was Shawn Kaarlsen, Shawn Kaarlsen & Associates, and the landscape architect was Leticia Zavala, CFZ Group. Kevin Spraggins, PE, VEI Engineering, did the civil engi-neering. Robert Martinez, REM Engi-neering, did the structural, and Richard W. McHugh, MS2, did the MEP. Subcontractors on the job included Bexar Environmental doing demolition, Damco Utility, F.A. McComas, Intertech Flooring, Jerry’s Concrete, Texas Steel Welding & Erectors, Travis Millwork, Ab-solute Power Electrical, Pro-Line Pave-ment Maintenance, Bexar Air, W.P.V. Construction doing concrete, Enterprise Fire & Safety, All Stone Counters, R.S.&M Contractors doing masonry, J&M Ortiz Plumbing, Concrete Floor Finishes, Turner Roofing Company, Toms Glass Service, Alpha Insulation & Waterproofing, H3O Water Systems, and Growing Solutions doing landscap-ing. Tejas Premier Building Contractor spe-cializes in design-build, new construction, and renovations. The general contractor has worked on medical, educational, insti-tutional, retail, office, government and reli-gious projects. –mh

becoming a project manager. He spent the next 15 years with Project Control as a project manager and then as a senior project manager. His project portfolio includes the McNay Art Museum’s Leeper Auditorium and the St. Pius X Maneth Hall project with Keller-Martin Construction. On the public side, he did the original ice rink at Freeman Coliseum and the elephant house at the San Antonio Zoo. He has also done industrial and biomedical, as well as renovations, such as Incarnate Word Chapel and the original San Anto-nio City Hall. “I think what drew me to construc-tion originally was that in high school and in college, I worked for framing con-

tractors, swinging a hammer, carrying boards,” he recalls. “I liked building things, working with my hands, and see-ing the progress of something built from the ground up and turning into a home or a corporate headquarters. I was in-trigued by that.” Outside of work, Norton serves on the Construction Advisory Board at his alma mater, TSU. He enjoys the outdoors, hiking, duck hunting, and working on projects at home. His primary focus, how-ever, is his family. He and his wife have a daughter, who graduated from Texas A&M and is working on her master’s at TSU, and a son, who is a junior at A&M in the Corps of Cadets and will commission with the Marine Corps as a pilot. –mh

ultimately got to build this plant,” says Stacy MacDiarmid, communications di-rector for Skyonic. “We’re commissioning now, but once we start generating prod-uct, we’ll be operating at full capacity. I imagine we’ll show a profit in the first quarter.” San Antonio’s air pollution is report-edly on the rise due to heavy industrial output in the Eagle Ford Shale, and while MacDiarmid says they’re happy to help alleviate some of that, she explains that this project has been in the works for five years and such current news was not a factor in the decision to choose Capitol or San Antonio for the project. They had a thorough vetting process for their part-ners with a long list of people they con-sidered. In the end, Austin-based Skyonic

had done a lot of development work at Southwest Research Institute, and San Antonio was also the convenient location of “a really willing, progressive partner.” Currently underway, the commis-sioning process for Capitol SkyMine en-tails turning over more than a hundred separate processes that make up the Sky-Mine plant, one by one. MacDiarmid says they expect full implementation by the end of the year. “We’re really excited to be at this stage as a company,” she says. “We think that profitable carbon capturing utiliza-tion is really something that could have a major impact. It’s a way to deal with a problem and also stimulate the econo-my.” –mh

Awareness of a different colorSubmitted to Construction News

Team members at River City Waste wore purple in support of World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day Nov. 13. L-R: (standing) Shauna Meuth, Cody Byrom, Cecily Byrom,

Tiffany Herald, Terry McCarty, (seated) Randy Nelon, Ida Fernandez, Lynette Gray –mh


Hot shots shoot coldRound-Up

This is a monthly section for brief company announcements of new orrecently promoted personnel, free of charge, as space allows.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Email (w/digital photo, if available) by the 15th of any month,

for the next month’s issue (published 1st of each month).Email info to appropriate city issue, with “Round-Up” in the subject line:––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

San Antonio: [email protected] Austin: [email protected] Dallas/Ft. Worth: [email protected] Houston: [email protected] South Texas: [email protected]

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Amanda S. Barber joined Raba Kist-ner, Inc. as enter-prise quality officer for the firm and its subsidiaries, includ-ing 14 offices across the state of Texas, Utah, Mexico and New York. With more than 15 years of experience in qual-ity management programs, she will be responsible for the implementation and management of the firm’s Quality Man-agement System (QMS). She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engi-neering from Louisiana Tech University. She also holds a bachelor’s in chemistry and is an ASQ-certified quality auditor.

Is Here!

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OPEN Monday thru Friday 8am – 5pmSaturday 8am – 2pm

Utility, Landscape, Dump, Tilt Deck, Carhaulers & GoosenecksSpecial Orders Towing Accessories

www.helotestrailers.com www.helotespits.com

KEEP HAULING MY FRIENDS

In the midst of a major cold front, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) South Texas Chapter held its an-

nual Sporting Clay Shoot Nov. 13 at the National Shooting Complex. –mh

Winners:Yellow Course1st Team: B.G. Metals2nd Team: Hart Acoustical & Drywall3rd Team: IBTX1st Individual: Kasper Kotora, Hart Acous-tical & Drywall2nd Individual: Bill Ethridge, B.G. Metals3rd Individual: Clay Swetman, B.G. MetalsRed Course1st Team: Tex-San Site Service2nd Team: Wortham Insurance3rd Team: Repcon1st Individual: Trey Baring, Tex-San Site Service2nd Individual: Ryan Baring, Tex-San Site Service3rd Individual: Erek Stone, TDIndustries

1st Place Team – Yellow Course

1st Place Team – Red Course

1st Place Individual – Yellow1st Place individual – Red

Miguel Elizardo, Assoc. AIA, has joined Mitchell De-sign Group LLC, as an intern architect. He will contribute to the design efforts, particularly working closely with the firm’s local and na-tional retail chain clients. Originally from Brownsville, he is a graduate of the Uni-versity of Texas at San Antonio College of Architecture.

Erik Murray has been promoted to associate principal at Wiss, Janney, El-stner Associates, Inc., (WJE). Special-izing in the design of roof systems and building envelopes, building investigation and repair, he has a broad knowledge of building systems and construction processes. He currently serves as chair of the Building Enclosure Council - San Antonio, as well as chair of the Sustainable Environment Committee of the Texas Society of Architects. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in architec-ture and architectural engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Big Red Dog Engineering announced the following:

Joe Mendoza has joined the firm as a designer and civil CAD drafter. His pre-vious position was with Coursen Koehler Engineer-ing. He earned his degree in comput-er-aided drafting and design from Texas State Technical College.

Emma Obeng-Boampong has joined the firm as a graduate engineer. With more than six years in land devel-opment, her previ-ous position was as an engineer at Ur-ban Ltd. in Chantilly, VA. She earned her master’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Polytech-nic and State University (Virginia Tech).

DEA Specialties announce the following:

Brandon Bjella has joined the company as an estimator/project manager. With 20 years of construction experi-ence, he will cover all of DEA’s territory, which includes 119 counties, and he will focus on Kalwall, Smoke Guard and Sol-atube.

Dean Flann has joined the company as architectural specifier/business development for San Antonio and West Texas covering 71 counties. With 13 years of construc-tion experience, he will work with architects and general con-tractors to promote the manufacturers with exclusive distributorship through DEA.


Construction Equipment

The XR4030 is the newest addition to Xtreme’s line of telehandlers. With a

40,000 lbs. lift capacity at 36” load center, Kessler L91 axles driving 23.5R25 foam filled tires, and a Perkins 173 hp 1204E twin turbo engine coupled to a Dana 32000 transmission, the XR4030 is a capable rough terrain telescopic handler. The foundation of the XR4030 begins with 2” thick steel plate chassis. Center-mounting the engine and transmission creates an optimal weight distribution and increased stability. Three standard steer modes (front-wheel, four-wheel, and crab steer) allow for maneuverability. Rear-wheel steering is an available option.The two-section boom is fabricated from heavy steel plate, with a large cross section,

Xtreme

resulting in the strength and stiffness needed to handle loads up to 40,000 lbs. The XR4030’s boom rollers will outlast slide pads several times over. A bulletproof frame and chassis will withstand the toughest conditions for over a decade. Heavy duty boom chains resist stretching and sagging. Standard safety feature includes in-cab 360 degree visibility. All major components from the engine and transmission, to the cooling system, to the axles, to the cylinders, to the entire hydraulic system are easily accessible. Beyond accessibility, the use of common filters allows for easy maintenance and upkeep. The XR4030 doesn’t require specialized training or unique tools.

The most popular frame size got a new up-

grade. Operators already familiar with the 700 and 800 platform loaders tout the performance, comfort, visibility and machine pro-tection of the machines. Now, the M-Series lineup is more complete, from the radius lift path and all-around versatility of the S510 to the extra power, vertical lift path, excellent reach and large, high-flota-tion tires of the S590. Premium M-Series cab has new positioning for better visibility, in-creased cab space, pres-surized interior and re-duction in cab sound levels provide comfort. Stronger hydraulics and more than 20 percent improved attachment perfor-mance; convenient, easy-to-use controls and many other features saves time and ef-fort on the job. And simplified daily maintenance prevents damage to the machine. The hallmarks of Bobcat performance remain in the new 500 platform: construc-tion, smart cooling and a maintenance-free chaincase. Horsepower ranges from 49 in the s510 to 66 in the S590. Rated operating capac-ity ranges from 1,650 lbs to 2,100 lbs.

Bobcat

JLGThe 1850SJ Ultra boom®

from JLG Industries is the world’s largest self-pro-pelled boom lift, providing nearly three million cubic feet of reachable space. Delivering 19 stories of working height, the JLG® line of Ultra Series boom lifts reaches more applica-tions at unprecedented heights, moving aerial work platforms into appli-cations previously reserved for truck-mounted booms and allowing operators to work more effectively and productively on the jobsite. The JLG 1850SJ offers a maximum capacity of 1,000 pounds, al-lowing operators to move more tools and materials to the elevated worksite. Pro-ductivity is further enhanced with faster cycle speeds, enabling the boom to ex-tend from ground to full height in less than five minutes. The machine’s telescopic jib extends and retracts to provide additional 25 feet of reach, up-and-over capability and the ability to telescope into and around structures. A graphic display of the oper-ator’s position in the work envelope aids

in positioning, and the communication of service codes, engine status, fuel levels and other messages assists the operator and service provider with operation, di-agnosis and troubleshooting. The JLG 1850SJ further enhances productivity with a powerful turbo diesel engine that provides 99.8 horsepower to optimize drive and lift performance. In addition, standard four-wheel drive and four-wheel steer maximize jobsite ma-neuverability.

The L213 features radial-lift boom geometry,

with the boom connected directly to the frame for outstanding pushing and excavating power. Maxi-mum reach is achieved at roughly eye level during operation, making it ideal for loading and unloading flatbed trucks and trailers. New Holland knows a comfortable operator is more productive. That’s why New Holland designed a cab with supe-rior comfort and conve-nience and incorporates it into every 200 Series skid steer and compact track loader model. No matter which model is chosen, the operator gets a cab that’s one of the widest in the industry, with more head room and shoulder room and joystick controls that come naturally to fingertips. The long 200 Series wheelbase, combined with a low center of gravity and the correct front to rear weight distribution results in a smooth, stable ride.

New Holland

Wacker Neuson's 8003 track excavator offers

one of the smoothest and most powerful hydraulic systems available on the market today in this class. This 8-ton excavator comes with an air conditioned cab, and a choice of short or long dipperstick. Powered by the economical Yanmar 4-cylinder diesel engine, the 8003 track excavator of-fers rubber track, dozer blade and boom-mounted working light. Hydraulic system features oil cooler, pilot joystick controls and dipperstick-mounted auxiliary hydraulic connection for two directions of motion. Other standard features include: auto-shift 2-speed travel drive, hydraulically dampened drive pedals and levers, flat faced couplers and control pattern selec-tor valve.

Wacker Neuson

Other features include: minimal tail projection over tracks for work in tight spaces; Large cab offers easy access and operator comfort; Tiltable cabin for easy accessibility to all maintenance compo-nents.

NEXT month in Focus:

Construction Forecast 2015



Case skid steers and compact track loaders have always been known for

power and productivity. Now with nine new skid steers and three new compact track loaders, the line is even more im-pressive. Improved visibility, operator com-fort, climate management and operator controls define the new Case Alpha Se-ries machines. To begin, the skid steer cabs are 25 percent larger—the widest in the indus-try. They feature a revolutionary ultra-narrow wire side-screen design that im-proves operator visibility. Plus, the glass surface was increased to provide 360-de-gree visibility.

Case

The Case SV300 skid steer is the re-sult of combining industry-leading trac-tive force and industry-leading breakout and horsepower. This vertical-lift ma-chine is engineered for lift-and-carry and truck loading. With the use of CEGR tech-nology, the SV300 meets Tier 4 regula-tions while also increasing productivity, improving fuel efficiency, and increasing uptime through best-in-class serviceabil-ity. The new Alpha Series machines de-liver best-in-class horsepower and buck-et breakout force—up to 8,585 lbs (38.2 kN). By any measure, the new Case Alpha Series will boost performance and pro-ductivity.

The new Cat® 950M wheel loader - powered by a Cat C7.1 ACERT™ engine

meeting Tier 4 Final emissions standards - is significantly more powerful than its K-Series predecessors and delivers 10 per-cent better fuel efficiency. The new mod-el features major drive-train refinement, extensively redesigned hydraulic sys-tems, new cab amenities, electronic pay-load measurement, optimized Z-Bar link-age that combines optimized bucket per-formance with parallel lift, and a range of Cat Performance Series buckets and work tools. These innovative systems intelli-gently lower the average working engine speeds and reduce the overall system heat loads which result in significantly im-proved performance and fuel efficiency. With a net rating of 230 horsepower (171 kW), the new 950M produces 9 per-cent more power than its K-Series coun-terpart. Peak torque is up an average 18

Caterpillar

percent for the new model, which means more useable power at the wheels. In ad-dition, the new, productive Economy Mode automatically senses power-train load and adjusts engine speed and torque for optimum performance and fuel efficiency. The 950M use a new five-speed Cat power-shift transmission featuring a lock-up clutch torque converter with lock-to-lock shifting (transmission gear remains locked during gear shifts), as well as the Cat single clutch speed shift system (which keeps the forward/reverse clutch engaged during gear shifts). Auto-shift features control the automatic shifting of the transmission and engagement of the lock up clutch. These two features work-ing together maintain more effective and efficient torque flow through the trans-mission during gear changes, especially valuable when accelerating up ramps.

SkyTrak

SkyTrak® all-wheel-steer telehandlers are hard-

working machines for hard-working people. No-nonsense design gives op-erators what they need, when they need it. They of-fer the maneuverability and stability to handle the toughest terrain with load-sensing hydraulics, a solid steel frame, joystick con-trols and a host of other per formance -boosting features. Three steering modes and up to 18 inches of ground clearance pro-vide excellent maneuver-ability for virtually any job-site. There are five models with capacities up to 10,000 pounds and up to 54 feet of lift height. The Skytrak cab features an unclut-tered design that is both rugged and comfortable. It is designed to help keep operators comfortable so they are more productive.

There are also a host of accessories and attachments available for Skytrak telehandlers that can make these ma-chines more flexible and productive on the jobsite. Power and reliability ensure that work gets done.

Serious productivity demands serious thinking. Many of the numerous ad-

vantages of the 844K-II came from the brightest minds in the industry — John Deer’s Customer Advocate Group. Armed with insights from loader owners and us-ers, these productive material movers are equipped with larger, higher-capacity ax-les with standard axle cooling and filtra-tion for heavy-duty maneuverability in

John Deere

the most demanding terrain. Self-adjust-ing wet-disc brakes for extended wear life and sure stops; advanced onboard diagnostics with pushbutton customiza-tion of machine operation and response. All to help increase productivity and up-time, while lowering daily operating costs. Owners, operators, and mainte-nance personnel will benefit from the big ideas found in the 844K-II loaders.

The new German-made LEO15GT from Teupen

features an improved working height and later-al outreach. The LEO15GT is per-fectly suitable for applica-tions in tight spots – on the inside as well as outside. Due to its compact design, it passes thru stan-dard doors and offers fast and efficient access to confined areas that regu-lar access platforms can´t reach. All functions are available centrally from the basket. The easy han-dling makes the machine attractive to both – opera-tors and rental companies.

Teupen



NEXT MONTHJanuary 2015

Construction Forecast

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Oct: Specialty ContractorsNov: Architecture & EngineeringDec: Construction Equipment

2015Schedule

Leica

The Leica ICON Robotic Total

Station ICR60 series perfects one-per-son construction layout and 3D Ma-chine Control. With high performance tracking; an innova-tive prism lock & find mechanism, and job tailored software makes it the most powerful remote control ro-botic total station on the market. The new cube search builds a virtual 3-D cube around the prism’s position. The ICON robot dy-namically searches within its dimensional cube for its targeted prism. The ICON CC66 controller or data col-lector is a construction tough Windows 7 handheld computer with no cables, long range bluetooth connections, WiFi, and fully loaded with desktop programs ca-pabilities. The MEP module now includes

a set of four MEP routines. Whether one constructs buildings, roads, bridges or tunnels, the benefit from intelligent construction is obvious. Leica ICON is more than a new product line or software package, it enhances performance, and increases profitability through perfecting your construction workflow.

In 2002, Link-Belt introduced the world to hydrostatic drive on a six-wheel carrier frame with the RTC-80100 Series II. Twelve years later, Link-Belt is adding reach and

capacity to its rough terrain crane line with the new 150 ton (135 mt) RTC-80150 Series II, powered by a 345-hp Cummins Tier 4f diesel engine. Features include full power latching style boom with market leading capacity for its class; innovative 10 ft (3.0m) fly integral to one of the on-board fly options; over 25 tons (22.68mt) capacity and two load line lift procedures; and a counterweight that consists of modular-style counterweights for multiple transport and lift scenarios.

Link-Belt

Brian P. McGuire, President and CEO Association Equipment Distributors (AED)

Alexandria, VA

As the trade association for North American construction equipment

distributors, AED is playing a pivotal role in shaping public policy. And while the nation did not exactly elect a transporta-tion-friendly Congress on Nov. 4, I am ex-cited about the opportunities the lie ahead. I'm also deeply impressed by all the AED dealer executives across the country who rolled up their sleeves and demonstrated overwhelming grassroots commitment this fall! Dozens of members held events for candidates, including an Oct. 31 rally for new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCo-nnell (R-Ky.), hosted by AED member Brandeis Machinery in Louisville, as well as local Dallas/Ft. Worth-area distributors who hosted Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex-as) on Sept. 5. And those were just the beginning. In 2015, our new regional managers will coordinate another 60 visits by members of Congress to AED-member dealerships, giving lawmakers a first-hand look at the important role our industry plays in their

districts. Our members are keenly aware of the importance elected officials to hear and feel what is of concern to the construction equipment industry – I don't know of an organization whose members – both dealers, manufacturers, and service suppliers – are more effective in voicing their concerns and engaging their own members of Congress. Bottom line: there has never been a better time to be an AED member, and there's no time like the present to get ac-tive in this association. There's a lot of work to be done, and we are leading charge on numerous fronts. Our top leg-islative priorities for the lame duck Con-gress include: • Permanent extension of Bonus De-preciation and Sec. 179, which encour-age contractors to buy new equipment• Passage of a multiyear federal high-way bill – Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) will be the next Senate Environment & Public Works chairman. Inhofe has strong con-servative credentials, a good working re-lationship with the committee’s top

Democrat. He formerly held the EPW gavel and has experience shepherding a highway bill to enactment. That should allow him to hit the ground running both to build support for a Highway Trust Fund revenue fix and to pass new multi-year road, bridge and transit legislation.• Immediate approval of the Keystone XL pipeline – When the dust settles, we expect the GOP will control 54 Senate seats. Add to that number the six return-ing Democrats who say they support Keystone and you have what looks like a filibuster-proof majority in favor of get-ting the project underway.• Creating a tax environment that en-courages investment and allows busi-nesses to grow and hire employees – New leadership on the tax committees on both sides of Capitol Hill means the tax reform debate is on hold in the short-term. But both Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), respectively the presumptive incoming chairmen of the House Ways & Means and Senate Fi-nance Committees, have considerable depth on tax and budget issues, which means the process could get underway quickly as soon as new committee staff is in place. AED made its voice heard loud and clear with our Legislative Action Week in mid-November. Our members took time every singe day during the week of Nov. 17 to call and e-mail their members of

Congress to urge swift action on all of these issues. The U.S. midterm election results hopefully send a strong message to both the president and the members of the House and Senate: Americans are look-ing for Congress and the president to get things done! AED stands ready to help Congress and the president move forward on these and the other important issues before the nation. I hope all the equipment manufacturers and distributors of Texas will join us in our work. I also invite you to attend our reinvigorated Summit annual meeting Feb 10-13 for a week of exten-sive executive and management-level education (6 tracks), unrivaled keynotes, Condex and Hospitality Suite meetings with the industry's suppliers, plus great golf, relaxed gatherings for networking, and a fantastic party with a live auction to benefit The AED Foundation's workforce development efforts. Please visit aed-summit.com for details, and I welcome your feedback directly to me anytime at [email protected]. AED is an international trade associa-tion representing companies involved in the distribution, rental, and support of equipment used in construction, mining, energy, forestry, power generation, agricul-ture, and industrial applications. More in-formation is available at www.aednet.org.

Coming together to make a difference in today’s political world


Association CalendarContent submitted by Associations to Construction News

ABCAssociated Builders & Contractors

All events are held at the ABC office unless otherwise stated.Dec. 4: Construct A Kid’s Christmas Gala, Freeman Coliseum Expo HallDec. 10: OSHA Record Keeping Rules/Temporary Worker Program, 9-11am; Safety Committee meeting, noonDec. 16-17: OSHA 10-Hour, 8am-2pmDec. 17: Apprenticeship Committee meeting, 11:30am-1pmDec. 25-26, Jan. 1: Office closedFor more information on these events, call Dana Hickman at 210-342-1994

AGCAssociated General Contractors

All events are held at the AGC office unless otherwise stated.Dec. 2: BIM Unit 2: Technology, 8am-5pmDec. 5: New Member Orientation, noon-1pmDec. 11: Holiday Open House; 4-7pm; hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served; Ericatures will be drawing caricature sketches; casual dressDec. 15: Brown Bag Lunch: Practical ways

to maintain your Construction SWPPP as a GC, noon-1pm; Ethics Course, 2:30-4:30pmDec. 16: Beginner Scheduling Workshop with Computer Applications, 8am-5pm; CLF Steering Council meeting, noonDec. 18: Safety and Health Committee meeting, 11:30amDec. 19: Board of Directors meeting, The Petroleum Club, 8am

AIAAmerican Institute of Architects

Dec. 12: Procrastinator’s CE Day; 9am-4 pm; AIA Center for Architecture, 1344 S. Flores St.

ASAAmerican Subcontractors Association

Dec. 17: Reasonable Suspicion-DOT Compliant Drug & Alcohol Training for Supervisors; identify indicators of proba-ble drug use and alcohol misuse; Ridout Barrett, 10843 Gulfdale; 11:30am-2pm; members $40, non-members $60; for more information, call 210-349-2105 or email [email protected]

1415 West PoplarLocated at I-10 & Colorado

www.toucanrecycling.comM-F 8:30–5:30 Sat 9:00-3:00737-2267

HCA de San AntonioHispanic Contractors Association

Dec. 11: VIA Bus Hop; 8am; Crossroads Park & Ride; visit Turner Construction for breakfast and presentation, then visit SpawGlass for lunch and presentation; free for members, non-members $10; for more information or to RSVP, call 210-444-1100, email questions to Patty at [email protected], or register online at www.hcadesa.org

IECIndependent Electrical Contractors

All events are held at the IEC office un-less otherwise stated.Dec. 2: Lunch & Learn, Healthcare Re-form, TBDDec. 4: Construct A Kid’s Christmas, Free-man Coliseum Expo Hall, 5:30-11pmDec. 5: Construct a Kid’s Christmas Toy Dropoff, Construction News, 10am-2pmDec. 12: Member Appreciation Casino Night, 6-11pmDec. 15: Continuing Education Class, 5-9pmDec. 16: A&T Committee meeting, 11amDec. 17: Board of Directors meeting, 11amDec. 20: Electrical Maintenance Techni-cian Class, 8am-5pmDec. 25-Jan. 4: IEC office and school closed for Christmas and New Year’s holi-daysJan. 12: Accelerated Class begins, 5:30- 9:30pmFor more information on these events, call 210-431-9861 or visit www.iecsanan-tonio.com

MCA–SMACNAMechanical Contractors Association

Sheet Metal & A/C Nat’l Assn.

Dec. 4: Construct A Kid’s Christmas Gala, Freeman Coliseum Expo HallDec. 17: Christmas Party, Oak Hills Coun-try Club, 11:30am

NAWICNat’l Assn. of Women in Construction

Dec. 4: Construct A Kid’s Christmas Gala, Freeman Coliseum Expo Hall

PHCC Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors

Dec. 6, 13: Plumbers Continuing Ed classesDec. 9: Planning meetingDec. 11: Christmas Fiesta on the River-walk, Mexican Manhattan, 6:30pmFor more information, visit www.phcc-sanantonio.org

SAMCASan Antonio Masonry Contractors Assn.

Dec. 4: Holiday Celebration & Banquet; Christopher Columbus Italian Society Hall, 201 Piazza Italia; 6-10:30pm; $60 per person includes casino games, prizes and dinner; for more information, call Debbie at 830-606-5556

USGBCU.S. Green Building Council

Dec. 3: Seventh Annual Austin “Green” Holiday Party; 6-10pm; Barr Mansion, 10463 Sprinkle Rd., Austin; “Farm-to-Plate” dinner, music


The Quality Fasteners sixth annual Washers for a Cause washer tourna-ment at Olmos Basin Park raised al-

most $7,500 for the Children’s Shelter of San Antonio. In the past three years, Quality Fas-teners has donated more than $10,000 to help feed and clothe the children of the shelter by raising funds with the washer tournament, as well as a raffle and silent auction. With 64 people participating in the tournament, the Republic of Texas BBQ team served more than 100 barbe-cue plates. –mh

Toss in favor of the kids

Quality Fastener employees participated in the annual washer tournamentto benefit local children in crisis.

L-R: Matt Prater, 2nd Place; Jimmy Smith, 1st Place; Trey Bailey, 3rd Place

L-R: Stephen Faulstich, Quality Fasteners, invited his nephew, Brayden, and his daughter, Kylah, to try their hands at a washer toss.

The Benefit & Customer Appreciation BBQ hosted by Ramming Paving Company Nov. 8 at Schertz City

Park served two purposes: to show grati-tude for their customers and vendors and to raise funds for an injured coworker. With more than 400 people in atten-dance, Ramming Paving was able to ex-ceed its goal to help support an employ-ee who was injured in an accident by rais-ing money for that employee’s family in the aftermath. “Ramming Paving would like to thank all of its employees and customers for their generosity in making this a memorable occasion,” says Frank Galla-gher, director of operations and barbe-cue cook for the event, or pit master, as he prefers to be called. “Ramming Paving raised over $14,000 dollars for the injured employee. We smoked and served 16 brisket and 60 lbs. of sausage. Not a sin-gle slice of meat was left. Great food and a great time was had by all.” The fundraising efforts included a bake sale, obstacle course and a balloon drop. Some of the employees arranged other donation-driven shenanigans, in-

Having fun doing good

cluding a surprise ice bucket dump on Gallagher while he was doing the balloon drop and challenging him and his boss to dress up in sumo suits and sumo wrestle. Raffle prizes donated by outside contrac-tors included several Yeti coolers, four tickets to see the Spurs, barbecue pits and fishing trips. –mh

A few of the Ramming Paving guys gather around the pit. L-R: Frank Gallagher, director of operations; David Garcia, superintendent;

and Ben Carroll, division manager

More than 400 guests turned out for Ramming Paving’s benefit barbecueand customer appreciation event.


continued from Page 19 — Dressed for spooktacular success

Ridout Barrett – Partners

Quality Fence & Welding

IBTX – Bonds Department (The Bonderosa)

Ridout Barrett – Small Business ServicesRidout Barrett – Audit Department

Mitchell Design GroupRidout Barrett – Tax Department

IBTX – Claims DepartmentIBTX Risk Services

Closner Equipment CompanyMitchell Design Group

Ferguson


Alpha Building Corporation

Construction News


continued from Page 30 — Dressed for spooktacular success

IBTX Risk Services

Construction News

Drawing winners

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Antonio Chapter hosted its annual awards banquet Nov. 18

at Peacock Alley in St. Anthony Hotel, fol-lowed by a skyline after party on the rooftop. –mh

Honor Award: Dixon Water Foundation Josey Pavilion, Decatur, TX

Architect: Lake|Flato Architects

Mayor’s Choice Award: Our Lady of the Lake University Main Building Restoration

Architect: Muñoz & Company

Twenty-Five Year Award:Hilton Palacio del Rio Hotel

Architect: Cerna & Garza ArchitectsContractor: H.B. Zachry Company

Unbuilt Merit Award: San Pedro Creek Feasibility Study

Architect: Muñoz & Company

Honor Award: The GourdArchitect: Overland Partners

Contractor: Overland Workshop

Unbuilt Honor Award: Fire Training Centerat the First Responders Academy

Architect: Alamo Architects

Merit Award:Phil Hardberger Urban Ecology Center

Architect: Lake|Flato ArchitectsContractor: Guido Construction

Merit & Committee on the Environment (COTE) Awards:

Hughes Warehouse Adaptive ReuseArchitect: Overland Partners

Contractor: Beck

Merit Award: Alta HouseArchitect: Tobin Smith Architect

Contractor: Troy Jessee Construction

Merit Award: Condon ResidenceArchitect: Poteet Architects

Contractor: Rubiola Construction

Student Honor Award: 6 Prototype MotelArchitect: Rodrigo Gorgazzi, Assoc. AIA


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Happy

Holidays

Coming soon to Houston and Austin

Consulting engineer firm Terracon hosted its third annual Client Ap-preciation & Casino Night Nov. 13

at its Terracon Consultants location on Blanco Road with an estimated 250 guests attending. The event featured a 96-inch pizza by Dirt Road Cookers and food truck items from K-Hill BBQ. There were plenty of games and raffle prizes. Mi Young Squire, MS Engineering, took first place at the casino tables, while Mike Wilson, J-3, took second.

Engineered fun and games

Terracon teamed with two charities for the event: the Children’s Museum, which Terracon helped with its new facil-ity; and Kuvempu Kannada Sangha of San Antonio, to help educate people about Indian culture. Including $250 to each from Terracon, the Children’s Muse-um raised $345, and Kuvempu Kannada Sangha raised $375. Chuck Gregory, office manager, said, “Tonight is a celebration with our cli-ents, vendors and influencers and the people we work with.”–mh

Did anyone order an 8-foot-pizza? Pizza delivery is great for cold weather, but having a giant one cooked onsite is even better.

Engineers shouldn’t gamble with their work – at work on casino night, however, is a

completely different story!

L-R: Todd Putnam, PE, Bexar County Public Works Department; Jason M. Nelson, PE,

Bury; Melynne Wulff, Terracon

These three ruled the casino game tables.

On the rightL-R: Mike Bratten, Beicker Martinez

and Chuck Gregory, Terracon

Over the moonConstruction News ON LOCATION

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Luna Architecture + Design, the firm hosted a ribbon cutting with the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Nov. 14 at its

West Bitters location. –mh

San Antonio Construction News December 2014

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Transcript of San Antonio Construction News December 2014