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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper
San Fernando Cathedral
by Leavitt2me Photography
www.constructionnews.net
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 18
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Number 6
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JUNE 2016
His heart and soul
Bee-ing proactive
Gary and Ethelinda Reyes were married for 27 years and worked together at his company,
Rainbow Irrigation, for most of that time before she passed away.
Jason Christensen, president of JASON Contracting, estimates that his bees may be able to
produce about 40 pounds, or a couple of 5-gallon buckets, of honey this year.
A
fter nearly a year-and-a-half away
from his business, Gary Reyes has
re-opened Rainbow Irrigation,
the company he owned and operated
with his wife of 27 years, Ethelinda
Reyes, for more than two decades.
Gary shut down the business in the
fall of 2014 when Ethelinda, who was involved with Rainbow Irrigation from the
very beginning, became ill. She had been
having problems with her sciatic nerve,
and he turned his attention to taking
care of her. She passed away unexpectedly in her sleep at 58 when her heart
gave out on Nov. 9, 2014.
“You could say that she was actually
the heart and soul of the company, because she is the one who had the rapport
with the customers,” Gary recalls, noting
that many of their customers were
shocked by the news of her passing and
some even spoke at her wake.
“She’s the one who kept it going,” he
adds, noting that she was the office manager who ran everything from the inside
while he did designs and installs. “She’s
the one who acquired new business
through the phone. She would deal with
the contractors. I was basically outside.
As long as everybody in the field was
happy – my goal was that she wouldn’t
get any angry phone calls.”
Working as a licensed irrigator since
1992, Reyes has always believed in helping other irrigators learn and fix problems.
At one time, he had 30 guys working for
continued on Page 24
A
self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Jason Christensen keeps
his life buzzing with his new company, JASON Contracting, and his new
hobby, beekeeping.
With a long history of construction
in his family, Christensen started working
in the industry after graduating from
UTSA in 2003. After about 10 years working for a few different local general contracting companies, he decided it was
time to start one of his own.
With a passion for running his own
business, Christensen has run side projects for years, including ice vending machines, selling real estate and managing
properties. Now, he’s focused on growing JASON Contracting.
He cites patience as his biggest chal-
lenge in running the business, waiting for
the right opportunity to come along to
start doing ground up, like the projects
that comprise much of his previous experience.
Meanwhile, he has a wife and four
kids, ranging from ages 6 to 14, at home
in New Braunfels. With an interest in agriculture, they also have a few cattle and
some chickens. He also has two hives of
bees at his house. His dad kept bees
when he was growing up, but in the ‘90s,
they disappeared. Christensen later discovered that this was due to the arrival of
the Varroa mite in Texas.
Today, he emphasizes that it’s harder
to keep bees because Varroa mites and
continued on Page 24
Adding shine and space to southwest school
T
aking on the Christa McAuliffe Middle School addition and renovation
project, Kencon Constructors
made the Southwest ISD campus a
brighter and more modern learning environment.
With 140,861sf of renovation and
30,400sf of new construction, Kencon’s
work spanned a total of 171,261sf over 18
months, finishing in October at a project
cost of $10,622,950. Bob Skrobarczyk,
senior project manager, recalls that this
job had many facets.
The existing school is comprised of
four classroom wings, each with approximately 13 classrooms and standard student restrooms. The interior renovation
included a complete refinish of all surfaces in the existing school, meaning
new paint on all the walls, new VCT tile
and rubber base, new marker and tack
boards, new acoustical tile in all of the
rooms, and in some cases, acoustical grid
Kencon Constructors helped brighten the Christa McAuliffe Middle School, Southwest ISD,
with recent renovations and four additions.
was also replaced.
Refinishing all surfaces required everything to be brought up to ADA code.
The restrooms were brought up to ADA
specifications and renovated with new
ceramic tile, toilet partitions and some
new fixtures. The athletics area for coaches and students had walls that were relocated and space that was expanded to
meet ADA requirements.
There were four building additions,
one on each side of the building. The science wing on the north side added eight
science classrooms with five science prep
rooms. The library addition on the south
side allowed them to create a media center and library bigger than the existing
one, which was then converted to computer science classrooms in the renovation. On the west side, the addition to
administration area doubled the department’s space.
continued on Page 24
Page 2
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
‘A win-win situation’
L-R: Bart Koontz, CEO of Koontz Corporation, and Gary Joeris, CEO of Joeris General
Contractors, announced an acquisition deal that will benefit both companies.
I
n a move that will allow Koontz Corporation to return to its roots as a development company, Joeris General
Contractors has acquired Koontz Construction’s Commercial Group.
As part of vertically integrated
Koontz Corporation, Koontz Construction is a general contractor with a Commercial Division and a Multi-Family Division. The sale of the Commercial Group
means that its president, Henry Serry,
and its approximately two-dozen employees will be moving over to Joeris as
they finish existing projects under Koontz
Construction.
“I think it’s a win-win situation, where
everybody seems to benefit,” says Bart
Koontz, CEO of Koontz Corporation, who
adds that he and Gary Joeris, CEO of Joeris, have known each other a long time.
“We want to make sure that our employees have an opportunity with a great
company, which they do.”
Koontz recalls that the general contracting division of the company started
out from zero with two people in 2000 to
a $100 million company last year. Proud
of what grew out of a division that began
as the exclusive builder for the company’s development projects, he wants to
return to concentrating time and resources on the development business.
Meanwhile, the acquisition will give
Joeris an opportunity to broaden its markets and capabilities. The company has
extensive experience in retail, K-12 and
higher education. Koontz’s Commercial
Group will bring a wealth of experience
in corporate office, automotive, senior
living and medical office construction.
“We hope to expand our footprint in
those markets,” says Joeris. ”We’re going
to be looking at building more experience with [Koontz’s] people who have
built those types of projects.” –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
M
Page 3
United in the call for safety
ember companies of the Associated Builders and Contractors
(ABC) South Texas Chapter hosted several presentations on safety at
their jobsites during OSHA’s National
Safety Stand Down May 2-6.
Members actively involved in the effort and events included Gabriel Ochoa,
safety manager for Harvey-Cleary and
chairman of the South Texas chapter’s
Safety and Health Committee; Ben Pratt,
safety program manager for HD Supply/
White Cap; Dan O’Brien, safety manager
for Koontz Construction; Don Drake,
safety manager for Moore Erection; David Dahse, safety manager for Jordan
Foster Construction as well as Chris Preetorius, director of workforce development, ABC; and Raul Carrillo, compliance
specialist for OSHA. –mh
Skanska USA’s Methodist Hospital jobsite team listened to Raul Carrillo, OSHA,
make a presentation on safety.
L-R: Alex Porter and Raul Carrillo, OSHA; Gabriel Ochoa, Harvey-Cleary; Chris Preetorius, ABC,
at Harvey-Cleary’s Alamo Manhattan jobsite
Moore Erection team members gathered on a jobsite to learn more about fall protection.
Jordan Foster Construction
Koontz Corporation at the new Red McCombs Toyota dealership
Page 4
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 5
A half century of service
HOWELL CRANE
& RIGGING, INC.
AUDIE HOWELL
President
PHONE (210) 661-8285
FAX (210) 661-7683
MOBILE (210) 862-5301
1-800-438-9814
HOME (210) 649-3726
email: Audie@HowellCrane.net
Jonathan Yelitz, sales manager for County Wide Service, which has always focused on San
Antonio and Bexar County, has been with the company for more than 20 years.
W
ith more than 55 years of serving San Antonio and Bexar
County, County Wide Service
was one of the local air conditioning industry pioneers, focusing mainly on service at a time when few air conditioning
and refrigeration companies offered service.
Established in 1960 by Richard M.
Neil, a Korean War veteran, the company
began in its founder’s garage. In time, he
incorporated and grew the company to
what it is today. During this period of
growth, he also served as president of
the Texas Air Conditioning Contractors
Association (TACCA).
Though he was actively involved in
the business right up to the time of his
passing in 2009, Neil, sadly, never got to
see the 50th anniversary of his business.
However, before he passed away, he ensured that his son, David Meissner, and
longtime employee, Shirley Smith,
would become the next generation of
ownership of the company.
With the company for more than 20
years, Jonathan Yelitz, sales manager,
recalls that Neil had Parkinson’s Disease
and helped the cause by undergoing
treatments using experimental technology that was being engineered at the
time and is used in the medical field for
Parkinson’s patients today.
Yelitz says that he has stayed with
the company because of the loyalty to its
employees as well as its customers. He
adds that in its history, many owners and
service managers in the local construction community today have worked at
County Wide Service at some point. Today, with the core of the business still being service, the company has more than
50 employees, including its general manager, Jim Barnes, who serves on the
board of TACCA today.
County Wide Service does air conditioning repair, service, retrofit of equipment
and some new installations. The company’s
work is approximately 90 percent residential. –mh
Construction News ON LOCATION
All mixed up
L-R: Wesley Schramm, assistant manager, and James Hughes, delivery driver, were
mixing paint for orders at the Sherwin-Williams Fredericksburg Road store, where they
have a good mix of commercial and residential customers. –mh
San Antonio
CONSTRUCTION NEWS
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Page 6
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Robert Ober
CEO
Robert Ober & Associates
T
his year, Robert Ober marks 10 years
since establishing Robert Ober &
Associates as it exists today with its
two divisions, Plant Architects and Plant
Outfitters.
Though the design build firm bears
his name, he insists the company isn’t
about him; it’s about the people in the
office and in the field. He credits them
with making the industrial contractor
what it is today.
At 58, he remains active in his business as well as charitable pursuits and
personal projects outside of work.
Where did you grow up?
My father worked for U.S. Steel in
Gary, IN, where I was born. He later joined
a joint venture with Ford Motor Company
and worked on building a new stamping
plant in Chicago Heights, IL. So, we
moved nearby. After that, Ford was building a new stamping plant in Woodhaven,
MI, so we moved again.
Later, to start another joint venture
between a Japanese steel company, U.S.
Steel and Ford Motor Company at the
famed River Rouge facility in Dearborn,
MI, he transferred there and built that facility, and ended his career there at the
River Rouge after 40-some years with U.S.
Steel and Ford Motor Company.
So, I’m from a steel family, but his discipline was electrical work, electrical millwrighting and electrical design. I grew up
in suburban Chicago and suburban Detroit.
What brought you into this field?
The apple hasn’t fallen far from the
tree, because building cars or making any
other product is a manufacturing process
and that’s what we do. We are an industrial design-build firm. We do steel fabrication, and we do a lot of industrial raw material handling, but I would say that it’s not
that far from where I would have started.
I was supposed to get into automotive design and in fact had a path to do
that and chose not to. I chose rather to go
out west and attend school for mechanical engineering and trade school as well
to work as a mechanic.
Where out west did you go and when?
In 1976, I graduated from high school
and went out to Colorado. I enrolled in
trade school and took some college
classes as well. The big draw was that
Colorado had mountains, and I was on a
ski team. I was an avid downhill skier and
traveled all over with a high school-aged
ski team. The idea was mechanical engineering, but it was diesel power actually
that I was most interested in at the time.
The diesel power industry was growing
fast, and it was being looked at for automotive use as well. That was something
that intrigued me, so I thought I would
explore diesel power engineering.
My father had suggested that if I was
going to get into diesel power as an engineer that I receive a tradesman’s ticket in
diesel power repair and diesel heavy
equipment mechanics. That was the best
advice I think he could have ever given
me, because you’re talking to a mechanic
at the end of the day. I may own an engineering firm that employs industrial architects and engineers of many disciplines but at the end of the day, I am a
mechanic. That is how I approach problem solving.
While attending school, an internship became available with an employer
that provided crane and construction
machinery.
The business was Richard O’Brien
Companies, and Richard became (and
continues to be) a mentor of mine. Richard owned a number of automobiles and
was an automotive collector. So, I caught
that bug from him as well.
How did you get into the business
you’re in now?
First, through the equipment,
through maintenance, then through being a service manager, and then from service into sales, and from sales into management and administration, and along
the way, into alternative designs for
equipment.
I became kind of a “re-engineerer,” a
“re-inventer.” I started inventing accessories and finding different ways to do
things. That led me into designing whole
plant equipment and our own devices.
From the 10 years that I spent at O’Brien, I
learned that trade, so I basically stuck
with it. I never went into diesel power.
Where did you go from there?
When my wife and I were first married, we went to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where we had an opportunity. We
didn’t have any children yet. I was up
there for the better part of 13 years. I
went to work for some folks and ended
up a partner in the business. It was during
those years that I really got into the design and the rebuilding and redesign of
things.
My wife and I had three children
while in Canada: my daughter and two
boys. As they neared school age, we had
to make a decision whether we were going to raise three Canadians (we loved
Canada, and I had no problem staying
there, but with two brothers for partners,
I was always the odd man out, and really
nothing more than that) or three Americans. We just said, “Maybe we will go
back to the states sometime.”
So we had that in the back of our
minds, and then I was approached, oddly
enough, by the owner of a company that
is known in the construction industry as
“the Dow Jones of concrete.” They own
trade shows and expos around the world,
and at the time, 17 concrete- and masonry-related trade publications. He knew me
as I was the president of a couple of concrete associations at that time, and he offered me an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.
That provided a path back to the
Robert Ober credits his companies’ success to the strength and talents of his employees.
states. We relocated from the Calgary
area to Chicago. My wife is from Chicago
originally, so we were happy to make that
move. I really was given an on-the-job
MBA, if you will. Marketing and business
administration were things that I took for
granted—my background being all technical and design—and I was actually enlightened to what these trade publications and trade shows were doing for the
industry.
I had a two-year contract, and I was
counting the days at the end, because I
really missed the business development,
the selling and design work that I had
been involved in previously. At the end of
those two years, I parted amicably and
started basically what this company has
become.
When was that?
That would have been about 1995. I
started a company that was later bought
out by a company in San Antonio. So, by
2000, we were moving to San Antonio,
now under another contract for five
years, but this time as a buyout.
I worked there for four years under
that contract, at which point I was able to
buy my original company back from the
parent. The company primarily represented an Italian equipment manufacturer and over time their goals were different from mine, and we parted ways in
2006. At that time, Plant Architects +
Plant Outfitters was born as a renamed,
restructured company that holds no allegiance to any particular manufacturer, allowing us to truly work with our clients to
solve their challenges, instead of always
having a fiduciary responsibility to sell a
specific brand at the end of the day.
PA+PO was a new name but the same basic team of employees. We pride ourselves on working from the perspective
of the client, to design-build the best
combination of manufactured and custom equipment to fit their needs.
Tell me about your family.
My wife, Suzanne, works at PA+PO
with me.
My daughter, Caroline, is a teacher in
Austin, specializing in autistic children.
She’s married to a great guy, Robin, who
is in sports marketing and travels around
the country with NCAA sports. My eldest
son, Ryan, is graduating UIW this month
[May] with a degree in business finance
and is considering law school. My youngest son, Michael, lives in Colorado, and
works with the company on the crews.
What are some of the things you do in
terms of community involvement?
I like to be involved, but I really don’t
like to be out in front.
I’m one of those who believe that if
you’ve got 10 cents and you can spare
five of it, then put it to work. Over the
years, I’ve been blessed. I’ve been very
fortunate and had a lot of great mentors
along the way, and I’ve had my hard
knocks along the way. Any time I’ve had
my hard knocks, there’s always been a
hand or two, and so I’ve never forgotten
that, and I pay it forward.
I established a non-profit organization called De Novo Foundation (DeNovoFoundation.org). De novo is Latin for
“new beginning.” I’m very proud of De
Novo. It’s one of the partners with Haven
for Hope. For years, I would adopt people, if you want to use that term – adopt
their dream, adopt their idea, help them
out – and some of those folks have gone
on to do great things. You don’t have a
100-percent success rate, but the one out
of three that succeeds is reason enough
for sure. You just never know. De Novo is
really the formalization of something
that I’ve done for a couple of decades in
helping people.
I’m very involved in other faithbased organizations, but especially enjoy
real boots-on-the-ground charities.
I’m on the board of San Antonio
Sports (SanAntonioSports.org), a wonderful organization that improves the
lives of children through sports.
Another notable charitable organization I’m involved in is The Ferrari Kid
(TheFerrariKid.org). I’m a car nut, and
hearing what they do for kids with cancer
got me greatly involved. The organization gives the kids a day to forget about
being sick, offering them rides in exotic
cars and taking them out for a favorite
activity. It sounds like a small thing, but
it’s not. It’s a big deal to those families
and to those kids. I’m proud to support
them, financially and with whatever we
can do for them.
Do you give them rides in a Ferrari of
yours?
I personally haven’t driven any of the
children, but I’ve supplied the cars and
I’ve had employees of mine drive the
cars. I think it’s kind of neat to let the employee drive the car instead of me.
We know you collect cars. What other
hobbies do you have?
You should never make your hobby a
business (because then it’s no longer a
hobby) but I did just that a little while
ago. I took a facility where I housed a collection of cars and turned it into a concierge storage, detailing and restoration
service. We take cars that are at a certain
level and bring them up to a concours
level.
I really do like fiddling with cars, but
that’s now a business. I have a full-time
curator and staff. It’s called Vault Auto
Services. A lot of people just don’t have
room or the time to take care of those expensive machines, and so we do that for
them. We deliver them to their homes, to
the airport, pick them up, clean them,
tune them, have them serviced properly,
take them to the dealerships if that’s
where they need to go.
I do spend some time in Colorado,
where we have a place. Whether I’m skiing or just relaxing, it’s a great getaway.
–mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 7
Barrels of fun
Submitted to Construction News
Mixing and meeting
Members of the ABC South Texas Chapter gathered to mingle and taste an array of wines.
T
he Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) South Texas Chapter
hosted its fourth annual ABC Wine
Festival Apr. 26 at the Boerne Wine Company. Around 90 attendees enjoyed sampling wine at the Main Street venue in
Boerne. Proceeds from the event benefit
the ABC UTSA Construction Management Scholarship. –mh
The Hispanic Contractors Association (HCA) de San Antonio hosted a networking mixer
Apr. 27 at the Quarry Golf Club ahead of its monthly meeting. L-R: (seated) Rosaelia
Emery, Sunset Painting; Jose Ramos, Paychex; Jamie Gutierrez, BBVA, and Cecilia
Rodriguez, Caprice Productions; (in the background) Jesse Torres, CPS, and Patty
Cardenas, HCA, greeting attendees –mh
Earl Henderson and Kendra Bailey, The
Industrial Company (TIC)
Construction News ON LOCATION
Supplier and demand
Naomi Leissner, Aerohead Group, was ready
to try the next wine.
Hou Yee Her, TIC, and Jay Farwell,
Cokinos Bosien & Young
L-R: Bud Hurta, TNT Crane & Rigging; Travis Church, TIC; Devin McBee and Justin Mercer, TNT
Noe Puente and Kimberly Owen at the Fastenal on Broadway say that their store has
done some supplying for the Bexar Metro Call Center being built on Tradesman and
supplied for the SkyMine job a few months back. –mh
Page 8
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Subs fire up their grills
Y
ou know the South Texas super
summer has arrived when subs and
other industry members break out
their pits for the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) San Antonio Chapter’s annual BBQ Cook-Off and Subfest.
This year’s event, May 6 at the Helotes
Fairgrounds, had 29 teams enter their
barbecue creations with more than 450
attendees to enjoy the food as well as live
and silent auctions and raffle prizes. –mh
Winners
Best Camp: Alamo Crane Service
Mystery Meat
1st: Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing
2nd: Alamo Crane Service
3rd: Joeris General Contractors
Chicken
1st: Joeris General Contractors
2nd: Dedicated Landscape
3rd: Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing
Ribs
1st: Bartlett Cocke General Contractors
2nd: MR Stoneworks
3rd: KCM Cabinets
Brisket
1st: Bartlett Cocke General Contractors
2nd: Schmidt Mechanical
3rd: Robles1 Demolition
Bloody Mary Contest: Southern American Insurance Agency
Washer Tournament: Robles1 Demolition
1st Place Chicken
Best Camp
1st Place Mystery Meat
1st Place Ribs and 1st Place Brisket
M.R. StoneWorks Construction & Remodeling
Dedicated Landscape Solutions
Schmidt Mechanical
Marek Bros.
Ridout Barrett
MEMCO (aka “aMAREKan BBQ”
Allen & Allen Company
M&M Metals
Lynwood Building
RR Cauble Lath & Plaster
Holes of San Antonio
www.constructionnews.net
publishing the industry’s news
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 9
Anglers on board for safety
Out of the Galaxy
The women of Galaxy Builders got away to Canton for two days of female bonding.
The 1st Place team at the Scales ‘N Ales Fishing Tournament was just one of the teams to help
raise money for boating safety awareness.
T
o honor the memory of their brother, Matt Freund, Comfort-Air Engineering, and Pat Freund, Primo
Plumbing, hosted the seventh annual
Scales ‘N Ales Fishing Tournament Apr. 23
in Corpus Christi to benefit the Scott A.
Freund Memorial Foundation.
The one-day “stringer tournament”
allows each team to weigh in a maximum
of three trout, two redfish and one flounder. With 152 anglers representing 39 participating teams, this year’s tournament
raised more than $8,000 to promote
boating safety and support the efforts of
first responders across the state. –mh
Winners:
1st: El Guapo – Rudy Keilman, Jamie
Galindo, Jim Kerr, Mark Guess, Chris Dubois
2nd: The BUS – Mike Murry, Steve Finken,
Joe Isenhart, Ken Duke, Joe Moon
3rd: Wright Meow, Kyle Wright, Rebecca
Wright, Sean Katz, Matt Barber
4th: Sea-N-Spots! – Matt Metting, Travis
Novasad, Harlen Merks, Mitchell Merks
5th: Thunderdome – Coby Young, Brad
Tarrillion, Dustin Durham, Jeff Gonzales,
Josh Kearns
Construction News ON LOCATION
These guys are the Win-ners
The team at Winsupply on MacArthur View was very busy filling orders for plumbing
supplies on a Monday morning, but we got a few guys to smile for the camera.
L-R: Corban Galbraith, counter sales; Kevin Ehlinger, inventory control;
Tony Delao, warehouse; Tony Pearsol, warehouse manager –mh
E
very year, Galaxy Builders sends
the ladies on a trip to promote
bonding and friendships, and it’s a
bonus to all who participate. This year, 20
women from the general contracting
company ventured to Canton, TX, a small
city east of the Dallas area. Galaxy always
provides each of the women with some
spending money, and this year, they each
received $250. The ladies enjoyed two
days of shopping, group dinners and
hanging out together at the Red Rooster
Inn.
“The ladies and myself really enjoy
getting out of the office for a few days,
having a change of scenery and mixing
and mingling with everyone and to get
to know more about those we don’t always work with directly,” says Tabatha
Erdely, executive administrator/marketing. “We bandwagon up there (typically
3-4 ladies to a car) where we immediately
drop our bags and hit the ‘First Monday
Trades Day’ market. The endless rows of
vendors provide everything from food,
furniture, pet toys, clothing and décor,
Christine Suniga explores the local monthly
market, shopping for fun finds.
which fills a shopaholic’s endless desires.
“When we are not shopping, we enjoyed getting some margaritas at a local
restaurant and venture home [back to
the hotel] to share stories, catch up with
one another’s lives and have some wine
and beer.” –mh
Page 10
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
R&D Credit is back
and better than before
Eight ways contractors can
improve their surety programs
Jim Streets, CPA
PKF Texas
Houston, TX
Tom Spencer, Construction Practice Leader
INSURICA
San Antonio, TX
N
W
ot only did the 2015 PATH Act restore and make permanent the Research and Development (R&D)
credit under IRC Sec 41 it added new subsection IRC Sec.
41(h) which allows qualified small businesses to use the credit against payroll taxes.
Prior to the PATH Act, the R&D credit could only be used against income tax, which did
not make it attractive to most start-up companies that typically incur significant R&D
expenses but no income tax.
Starting with tax years beginning in share of the social security portion of
calendar year 2016, the new subsection FICA taxes. It cannot be used to lower the
allows a qualified small business to elect employer’s portion of the Medicare tax or
to use the R&D credit against payroll tax- any FICA taxes the employer withholds
es. Under IRC Sec 41(h) a qualified small and remits to the government on behalf
business is a person, corporation or part- of employees.
nership with gross receipts of less than While the R&D payroll tax credit is
$5,000,000 in the taxable year of the limited, the credit against payroll taxes is
credit, and such entity did not have gross not taken into account in determining
receipts for any taxable year preceding the amount of income tax deduction althe 5-taxable-years, ending with the tax- lowed for payroll taxes. In other words,
able year of the credit. There are aggre- the payroll tax deduction is not be regation rules that apply. The election is duced by the amount of the R&D credit
made on or before the due date, includ- elected to be used against payroll taxes.
ing extensions, of the tax return for the The R&D credit against payroll taxes
taxable year and must specify the is allowed for the first calendar quarter
amount of the credit to which the elec- after the date the tax return is filed with
tion applies.
the election. Any credit not used in the
The R&D credit elected to be used first calendar quarter will be carried over
against payroll tax is limited to the least to the next calendar quarter. Many small
of $250,000, the amount of the credit de- businesses have payroll tax expenses but
termined without regard to the election, no income tax while they are in start-up
or in the case of a qualified small business mode which makes the new election to
other than a partnership or S corpora- use R&D credit against payroll taxes an
tion, the amount of the business credit opportunity to get immediate benefit
carry forward from the tax year deter- from the R&D credit.
mined without regard to the election. Jim Streets, CPA is a tax director for PKF
The payroll tax credit election can Texas. Contact him at 713.860.1400 or at
only be used against the employer’s JStreets@PKFTexas.com
hen working with contractors, one of the tell-tale
signs to determining success is to take a look at
their surety program. Best-in-class contractors easily
achieve the surety limits they need and have no issues
securing bid and performance bonds. They also understand how surety markets work
and what bond underwriters are looking for when they receive submissions. While no
contractor has control over outside influences such as the economy or market changes, there are specific things that best-in-class contractors do to ensure their surety
program is functioning as smoothly and efficiently as possible. These eight tips are
things every contractor should be doing to get the most from their surety program.
1. Work with a knowledgeable CPA
who specializes in construction.
Working with a CPA who understands contract surety is paramount to
the success of any contractor. CPAs must
be knowledgeable about percentage of
completion or completed contract methods of accounting in order to provide the
surety provider with all the necessary information that they require, as well as being able to provide the required financial
planning and tax advice to the contractor. A thorough CPA will present a contractor’s financials in a professional and
appealing way that makes a contractor
more desirable from an underwriting
perspective.
2. Work with a bank that is familiar
with construction.
Cash flow within the construction industry can present some unique situations and challenges. Working with a
bank whose lenders and board of directors understand construction finance can
alleviate a lot of headaches and hassles
to doing business. It is also a good idea to
meet and familiarize yourself with the
decision makers because lower level employees can come and go frequently.
3. Pay attention to collections.
After being awarded a job, one of the
most difficult aspects of business is collecting payment for it. For this reason and
others, contractors must be vigilant in
paying very close attention to open receivables. Best-in-class contractors make
very clear what the payment schedule
will be prior to the start of work and enforce their collection rules and guidelines.
4. Maintain a good understanding of
the law.
Laws regarding liens and stop-notices vary from state to state, and they frequently change from year to year. A simple mistake can cost a contractor their
rights, and in some cases, this can lead to
thousands of dollars in lost revenue. In
many situations, payment bonds may be
affected, so surety companies must be
aware that systems are in place to ensure
there are no payment issues.
5. Get to know your surety underwriters.
Maintaining a good relationship and
open communication with surety underwriters can make the difference between
receiving a “yes” and a “no.” Meeting underwriters is a great way to build a personal relationship and becoming a name
instead of a number in a file.
6. Make sure your staff understands
finance.
Having a staff that understands finance can be the difference that ensures
paperwork is processed efficiently and
correctly—ultimately speeding up collections. A knowledgeable CFO can turn
an accounting department into an efficient profit center, opposed to an expense.
7. Make sure your professional service
providers communicate with each
other.
It is a fantastic idea to make sure your
lawyer, banker, accountant, and surety
broker have professional working relationships with each other. Not only does
this allow them to work directly with
each other, but with good communication, changes that have been made to a
project or surety program can be easily
communicated between these people.
The result is an ease of doing business as
well as a lower chance for mistakes.
8. Choose the right surety broker.
For the same reasons that a contractor should choose accountants, lawyers,
and bankers who understand construction and surety, contractors should also
choose an insurance agent who specializes within the industry. A reputable industry-specific agent will have better relationships within the surety marketplace
and will be able to make program suggestions that improve your bottom line.
Tom Spencer is the Construction Practice Leader for INSURICA’s Texas offices. His
experience as a life-long construction insurance professional gives him a unique understanding of managing the risks facing
the construction industry. Tom can be contacted at TSpencer@INSURICA.com or by
phone at 210.805.5901.
Construction News JOB SIGHT
Clearing a path to the park
Michael Ruiz,
HJD Capital
Electric, did
some excavation
work at Medina
Greenway Phase
2 & 3, City of San
Antonio Parks &
Recreation project.
He and another
colleague were
establishing a road
for the Capital
team and other
subcontractors
to gain access to
an area where
they would
continue building
a retaining wall as
well as a sidewalk.
–mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 11
At what point does a surety’s
obligation pursuant to a
performance bond terminate?
Tracy McCreight, Shareholder
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C.
Austin, TX
I
n general, the duration of the surety’s obligation under a performance bond can be limited by the express
terms of the bond, the bonded contract, or the statutory limitation provision for filing
a claim. When these terms conflict, varying jurisdictions apply different rules of construction. The issue has not been extensively analyzed under Texas law (except as to
public work projects under the Texas Government Code, which is addressed at the
end of this article), so we look to other jurisdictions for examples.
• The AIA A312 performance bond
form expressly provides that the performance bond obligation, when triggered
by termination of the bonded contract,
may be invoked for only two years after
the principal’s default of the bonded contract. Consistent with this, in Kiva Const.
and Engineering, Inc. v. Int’l Fidelity Ins. Co.,
749 F. Supp. 753 (W.D. La. 1990), aff’d, 961
F.2d 213 (5th Cir. 1992), the court held
that, under Louisiana law, this two-year
suit limitation under the AIA A312 performance bond barred a claim later asserted
for breach of a 10-year warranty contained in the bonded contract. Id. at 756.
• In J.B. Mouton & Sons, Inc. v. Alumawall, Inc., 583 So. 2d 157 (La. Ct. App. 3d
Cir. 1991), however, a surety was liable for
a breach of warranty claim against the
principal for a defect occurring six years
after project completion because the performance bond (not an AIA A312 performance bond) explicitly incorporated Louisiana’s ten-year implied warranty of fitness for a building construction contract.
• In Milwaukee Board of School Directors v. BITEC, Inc., 321 Wis.2d 616, 622-623
(Wis. Ct. App. 2009), the bond’s one-year
general warranty and two-year suit limitation provision were superseded by a
specific five-year warranty on the roof in
the bonded contract. In that case (which
also did not appear to be based on an AIA
A312 performance bond form), the court
noted that the surety “could have negotiated for the inclusion of an express completion date in the performance bond, a
specific provision limiting its financial exposure, or one stating that any warranty
language in the contract was excluded by
the terms of the bond.” Id.
• Similarly, in Sorenson v. Robert N.
Ewing, General Contractor, an Arizona
case, the court held that surety’s performance bond liability under an AIA 311
performance bond, absent express limitations, is co-extensive with that of the
contractor, and includes contractually
imposed post-completion warranties.
448 P.2d 110, 112-113 (Ariz. 1968).
Whether the surety assumes performance of the construction contract may
be another factor if there are conflicting
terms in the bond and the bonded contract. In Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Tarmac
Roofing Systems, Inc., 276 F.3d 704 (5th Cir.
2002), the court held that a two-year suit
limitation on an AIA 311 performance
bond did not prevent a surety from being
sued within six years under the Mississippi six-year statute of limitations applicable to contract breaches. This is because
the surety had taken over performance
of the contractor’s contract and was subject to the same period of liability as the
contractor would have been in completing the bonded contract. Id. at 711. The
court specifically stated, “If [the surety]
elected to take over the contract, it voluntarily subjected itself to a new set of liabilities apart from the bond.” Id.
With respect to public work projects
under the Texas Government Code, the
Fifth Circuit specifically held in Hartford
Fire Ins. Co. v. City of Mont Belvieu, Texas,
611 F.3d 289 (5th Cir. 2010) that “final
completion” under the Texas Government Code means “substantial completion,” and, therefore, the performance
bond obligation terminates one year after substantial completion. The court expressly stated that “a surety on a performance bond is entitled to rely on the architect’s Certificate of Completion as the
final discharge of its duty on the bond
because the architect is the agent and
representative of the owner, and his representation is the representation of the
owner.” Id. at 295.
As demonstrated here, there is no
simple answer to when a surety’s obligation terminates under a performance
bond. Therefore, it is critical during the
contract negotiation process to understand the express terms of the bond and
bonded contract at issue, as well as the
jurisdiction’s limitations on bringing
claims.
Past issues of Construction News
can be downloaded at
www.ConstructionNews.net
OSHA issues
Recordkeeping Rule Change
Joann Natarajan
Compliance Assistance Specialist
OSHA
Austin, TX
U
nder a final rule that becomes effective January 1,
2017, OSHA will revise its requirements for recording and submitting records of workplace injuries and illnesses to require that some of this recorded information be submitted to OSHA electronically for posting to the OSHA website.
The final rule requires certain employers to electronically submit the injury and illness information they are already required to keep under existing
OSHA regulations. The requirement applies to the following:
Establishments with 250 or more
employees that are currently required to
keep OSHA injury and illness records
must electronically submit information
from OSHA Forms 300 — Log of WorkRelated Injuries and Illnesses, 300A —
Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and 301 — Injury and Illness Incident Report. The electronic submission
requirements do not change an employer’s obligation to complete and retain
injury and illness records.
Establishments with 250 or more employees in
industries covered by the recordkeeping
regulation must submit information
from their 2016 Form 300A by July 1,
2017. These same employers will be required to submit information from all
2017 forms (300A, 300, and 301) by July 1,
2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year
thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.
Establishments with 20-249 employees that are classified in certain industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses must electronically submit information from OSHA
Form 300A. Establishments with 20-249
employees in certain high-risk industries
must submit information from their 2016
Form 300A by July 1, 2017, and their 2017
Form 300A by July 1, 2018. Beginning in
2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.
Establishments with fewer than 20 employees at all times during the year do
not have to routinely submit information
electronically to OSHA. All employers required to report online under this rule
will report data annually.
OSHA will post the establishmentspecific injury and illness data it collects
under this recordkeeping rule on its public Web site (www.osha.gov). OSHA will
remove any Personally Identifiable Information (PII) before the data are released
to the public.
Employers must inform employees
of their right to report work-related injuries and illnesses free from retaliation.
This obligation may be met by posting
the OSHA Job Safety and Health — It’s
The Law worker rights poster from April
2015 or later (www.osha.gov/Publications/poster.html).
For further information on the new
recordkeeping law, visit the OSHA website at: http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/finalrule/index.html
natarajan.joann@dol.gov
512-374-0271 x232
What’s the last thing
you splurged on?
I have two little kids, a 5-month-old
daughter named Landon and a 2-yearold son named Hayes. So, it was my kids.
Kyle Pennington, AJ Monier & Co.
Golf clubs. I just walked out of the store. I
have been promising my son that I would
take him golfing, and we needed an extra set of clubs. He’s 17, and his name is
Layne.
John Verhelst, VA Electric
For me, travel is about the only thing that
I splurge on. [Last time] I didn’t have to
splurge too much, because I ended up
getting a paid trip to England for this research project that I’m doing. They
bought my ticket to go and present at a
conference, and the conference was for a
couple days, but I splurged by extending
it to a 10-day trip, so I could see a little bit
more of the country. I stayed in England
for a bit, and then I went to Dublin and
spent a couple days there before coming
home.
Lauran Drown, Bucrane Design Build
It was a pair of Nikes that matched my
Spurs jersey.
Jonathan Yelitz, County Wide Service
I’m trying to build an outdoor kitchen. I
like to hang out outside and grill. I was
born on Jul. 4, so that’s my deadline [for
finishing]. I don’t know if I’m going to
make it, but we’ll see [laughs].
Bret Bartley, Gibson Plumbing
I just bought a walk-behind string trimmer last week. Because the grass was
6-feet tall at my yard [laughs], and mine
was dead. So, I needed a new one.
Jason Christensen, JASON Contracting
Mother’s Day. We have a small car, so we
rented a nice little SUV. We went out to
the aquarium with our little ones and
went out to the drive-in to watch a couple movies. We got a hotel room and just
had a weekend we went all out with, and
[wife Lacie] was happy. So, everything
was good.
Reyes Cortez, Texas Archery Academy
A vacation to Disney World over spring
break. I have two kids, a 19-year-old and a
15-year-old.
Dwayne Hamilton, Jones|Carter
Probably the last thing I splurged on was
a new shotgun. I had a couple of older
ones, and I just felt like it was time to update and get myself a nicer, newer shotgun, because I enjoy utilizing it, enjoy the
outdoors as a lot of people in this area do.
I like bird hunting and do some deer
hunting as well.
Jerry Hirth, ISEC
The expansion for the ministry [here at
the shop]. It will take about two or three
weeks. We’re knocking down this wall,
because we need more space.
Armando Villalobos
AW Ready Plumbing & Backflow
Testing
Page 12
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Raised in the trade
L-R: Brett, Debbie and Bruce Marbach lead Marbach Plumbing through the trade that has
kept their family working together thorugh three generations.
G
rowing up in the plumbing business and starting out with his father, Bruce Marbach has created
a legacy of his own, Marbach Plumbing,
that his son, Brett Marbach, will take
over one day.
Marbach’s father, Frank, had his own
business in San Antonio, and Bruce started
working with him in his teenage years, taking plumbing classes during high school
and then apprenticeship school through
Local 142. Eventually, Frank moved to
Rockport and opened his business there.
Though he passed away seven years ago,
Bruce’s brother, who also grew up in the
trade, took over the Rockport business.
Bruce stayed in San Antonio and
worked for a company in a management
position for years before deciding he
wanted to go out on his own and get
back into doing commercial plumbing.
His wife, Debbie, has been involved with
Marbach Plumbing from the beginning in
2004, handling all of the accounting.
Bruce’s son, Brett, decided to follow
in his footsteps, coming into the plumbing company as a helper working in the
field. Since then, Brett, who is 29, has
earned his master’s license and started
learning the business side of the company from inside the office about a yearand-a-half ago.
Today, at 58 years old, Bruce has his
son working towards taking over, and in
time, his retirement plan is to come into
the office a few days a week in the next
six or seven years. He says that he’ll probably never get out of the business, because he has to have something to do all
the time. Bruce also has a daughter and
two grandkids who live in Georgia.
Currently, Marbach Plumbing has 26
employees, and Bruce comments that he
is blessed to have the good employees
and plumbers he has working for him.
Marbach Plumbing specializes in commercial plumbing, doing ground up and
interior finish out work in the private sector.
The company also does a lot of medical offices and is med gas certified. –mh
Industry FOLKS
Mike Morin
Assistant Branch Manager
The Reynolds Company
B
eing responsible for day-to-day
operations and inside sales as well
as overseeing warehouse operations
and inventory control at The Reynolds
Company is familiar territory for Mike
Morin. During his 10 years in the Navy,
he was responsible for very large and
valuable inventories.
“They taught me about logistics,
inventory control, expediting – pretty
much what we do in our industry right
now, as far as ordering for electricians,
and things of that nature,” says Morin.
Born in San Antonio in 1974, Morin
graduated from Thomas Edison High
School in 1992, at which point, he enlisted in the Navy. His first duty station
was in Norfolk, VA, and he was stationed on the USS Saipan. Soon, he
was doing a six-month deployment in
the Mediterranean.
“It was a tremendous experience
being able to travel and being able to
see other parts of the world,” he recalls. “I remember standing in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City thinking I
was just learning about this not long
ago and now here I am seeing it.”
Morin’s deployment allowed him
to visit Italy, France, Spain, Greece and
a part of Africa. After that tour, he returned to Virginia, and a couple of
years later, he met his wife, Brandy,
who happened to be from East Texas
and was visiting family in Virginia at
the time.
After the couple had been married about a year, Morin took orders
and they were stationed in Rota, Spain
for three-and-a-half years. While there,
they traveled Spain and Portugal, and
they had their first child, Alessandra, in
1997. Before they left, his wife was pregnant with their second child, Michael.
When his tour was up in Spain, Morin decided to prepare himself for a
transition to civilian life so that he could
devote his time to his family. He took his
last duty station in Virginia Beach, VA
and ultimately made his final rank as an
E6.
During his time in the Navy, Morin
moved from being responsible for one
storeroom with around $5 million
worth of material as an aviation logistics specialist to being responsible for
an inventory of about $500 million, including aircraft engines and components, and radar systems.
While in Virginia, he worked on
earning his degree in business administration from Saint Leo University. Morin
and his wife had their last child, Ethan in
2001, and he left the military in 2002. He
and his family returned to Texas, and in
2003, a friend introduced Morin to
Massey Brand, regional manager at The
Reynolds Company.
Today, Morin enjoys hunting, fishing and golfing, and he volunteers with
his children’s schools to support their
extracurricular activities. –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 13
Father knows the industry best
J
une is dad’s time to shine! And there are plenty of dads in the industry who are celebrating Father’s Day with their children working at
their sides, learning the business and following in their father’s footsteps. These are just a few of the families in the San Antonio construction community where the kids work with their dear old dad. –mh
Dumas Hardware, L-R: Ed Kanning and his son,
Greg Kanning, out hunting together
Lynwood Building Materials, L-R: Leslie Christians,
Chris Christians IV and Buddy Christians with their
father Chris Christians III
Chris Christians IV, recently became a
daddy himself, pictured here playing on
four wheelers at Bass Pro with his new
baby boy, Quint Christians
SpawGlass, L-R: Chuck Calvin, president of the San
Antonio region, and his son, Justin Calvin, San Antonio
Building Services manager
George Major Sr. (center) with his sons, L-R: Ken Major
and George Major Jr., at Holes of San Antonio
Two generations of HOLT CAT fathers and their children,
L-R: Peter John Holt, executive vice president and
general manager; Peter M. Holt, CEO and father of Peter
John and Corinna; Corinna Holt Richter, executive vice
president and chief administrative officer; B.D. Holt,
former CEO, father of Peter M.
Baker Triangle, L-R: Michael Sireno, president of San
Antonio; his wife, Kari Sireno; and his son,
Jacob Sireno, estimator
Eagle Enterprise, L-R: Zack Croft, vice
president, and his father, Dave Croft,
president
Benchmark Plumbing, L-R: Carter
Ramzel and his sons, Spencer Ramzel
and Newman Ramzel
Treco Enterprises, L-R: JR Trevino, vice president of
business development; his grandfather, Joe Trevino;
grandmother, Edelmira Trevino; and his father,
Edward Trevino, president
Page 14
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Opening up the northeast
Submitted to Construction News
Breaking into financial
Customers, vendors and supporters of San Antonio Masonry & Tool Supply came to visit the
company’s new northeast location in Converse.
W
ith its original location opened
on the northwest side of San
Antonio in 2000, San Antonio
Masonry & Tool Supply held an open
house for its second location Apr. 28.
Located at 9513 Kneupper Lane in
Converse, the company welcomed between 200 and 300 guests to explore the
new facility, which was modeled on the
main location. Attendees also enjoyed
food, meeting with vendors, and the
chance to win prizes.
With 15,000sf of showroom and an
8-acre footprint, the northeast location
just off the I-35 corridor opens up supply
L-R: Ed Allan, H&E Equipment Services, and
Buddy Doebbler, Construction News
and distribution to Seguin, La Vernia,
New Braunfels, San Marcos and Austin.
Also, with all the capabilities of the
original location, including the fabrication of rebar, the company’s customers
will have convenient access to the supplier and its services on both sides of town.
The company opened a small satellite office on the northeast side about
seven years ago, and every year, it grew
until the volume reached the point where
it could support a full 8-acre facility.
Remaining focused on its masonry,
stucco and foundation contracting customers, the new facility opened four
months prior to the open house, but the
business was operating out of a tent and
a couple of trailers for about eight
months before the build was complete.
“We have 84 employees, great management, great drivers, dispatchers, and we
built a culture where everybody’s bought
into the concept of us serving our customers as a team,” says Robbin Bostick, president. “We only have team players. We’re
blessed with awesome people, and it’s fun
to come to work every day.” –mh
Bob Moore Construction, a Dallas-based general contractor, and the local project team broke ground on GM’s new regional financial servicing center in San Antonio. The new facility is projected to create up to 700 jobs in San Antonio and be
in operation mid-2017. The project architect is RVK Architects, and the civil engineer is Pape-Dawson Engineers. L-R: Kyle Birch, GM; John Mayfield, Olmos Excavating; Scott Dishman, GM; Chris Burt, GM; Daniel E. Berce, GM; Larry
Struthoff, Olmos Excavating; Ed McGuire, Bob Moore Construction; Larry Knox,
Bob Moore Construction; Joe Copeland, Bob Moore Construction –mh
Statewide growth
Jones|Carter’s San Antonio team recently relocated to a space on Lockhill-Selma
where there is more capacity for future growth.
T
Robert Salinas, Alamo Forest Products; Troy Fabre, San Antonio Masonry & Tool Supply;
Jake Holbrook, BlueLinx Corporation; Aaron Sims, Versetta Stone
exas engineering firm Jones|Carter
is celebrating its 40th anniversary
while the company, from its headquarters in Houston to its eight branch
offices, continues to grow. In the last five
years, it has grown by more than 100 percent.
Founded in Houston in 1976 by JR
“Bob” Jones, PE, and Larry Carter, the
firm’s practice areas include planning,
site development, community development, hydrology & hydraulics (H&H), municipal and district services, water, construction services, surveying and trans-
portation.
The celebration for the firm’s 40th
year began with its second annual meeting Apr. 1, which was open to all 550 employees. The new headquarters will host
an open house this year, and each location will be doing its own celebration for
the anniversary.
The Houston headquarters wasn’t
the only office that recently relocated.
The San Antonio office moved to 4350
Lockhill-Selma Rd., Suite 100, in early
May. Nearly doubling in size last year
with a few more hires coming in this year,
the office was completely out of space.
“The new location is great,” says
Dwayne Hamilton, H&H practice leader
and a senior vice president. Currently at
30 employees, he adds, “It will allow us to
grow to probably twice our size.”
Leading the H&H practice statewide,
Hamilton notes that the San Antonio office, established in 2007 through a merger with Brown Engineering, is strong in its
H&H work with the city and the county.
They also do work for the San Antonio
River Authority and the transportation
group does work for TxDOT.
Based in Houston, Jones|Carter is a
full-service engineering firm that specializes in civil engineering and surveying with
offices in Austin, Brenham, Bryan/College
Station, Dallas, Katy, Rosenberg, San Antonio and the Woodlands. –mh
Don’t forget
dear old DAD
on Father’s Day
Sunday June19!
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 15
Fishing thru the
summer months
by Capt. Steve Schultz
Sponsored by:
Waypoint Marine, Majek Boats, Evinrude
Outboards, E-Z Bel Construction, Power
Pole Shallow Water Anchor, Aggregate
Haulers, ForEverlast Hunting and Fishing
Products, MirrOlure, and Columbia
Sportswear.
W
ell as most everyone knows by
now, fishing continues to be
fantastic in the Laguna Madre
and Baffin Bay complex. I have also seen
the influx of more guides on the water in
the last several weeks, so hopefully the
depressed economy is picking up a bit.
Most of the high water has receded now
and hopefully tides will get back to normal conditions for the upcoming summer months. I am looking forward to a
Shane Klar of San Antonio was pleasantly surprised when this 48-inch redfish surfaced
near the boat on a recent fishing trip with VK Knowlton and Steve Schultz Outdoors.
They measured for a replica mount then released.
very busy summer on the water creating
great fishing memories for my clients and
friends.
As we approach the start of the sum-
mer months, I will start fishing some of
the deeper structures in the Baffin Bay
area and Yarbrough pass spoil islands.
These structures are surrounded by deep
water that give fish options to get out of
mid-day warmer surface temperatures
and escape early morning fishing pressure. As the day comes to an end, these
fish will gradually move back on top to
the structure to feed during the night
and early morning hours. Another area
that is always a good option in the
Emmrod’s Hole. This body of water has a
natural gut similar to the one that runs
from Pita Island into Beacroft’s Hole just
north of the Pure Oil Channel. Generally
four to five feet deep with tons of grass
and sand pockets, this area is great for
drifting for trout, reds and drum during
summer months. Along the shoreline of
the King Ranch is also some of the best
wading spots in the Laguna Madre for
trophy specks and reds. Don’t be surprised if you snag a flounder or two when
slow bumping your favorite soft plastic
along the shoreline either.
Another overlooked area to fish that
is relatively close to the JFK Causeway is
Corpus Christi bay. This large body of water is one of the main thoroughfares for
fish coming from the Port Aransas ship
channel. Lots of these fish make their
summer home in the CC bay area along
the shorelines and deeper gas wells in
the center of the bay. Not more than a
15-20 minute boat ride you can explore
lots of deep-water fishing and wade the
backside of Mustang Island for specks
and red’s all while taking in the majestic
downtown views. Also located on the
backside of the island between Corpus
and Port “A” is Shamrock Island. This
popular area is known more for red fishing than trout because of the shallower
flats that lay inside the cove. Shell reefs
can also be found in this area. This area is
also accessible from State Hwy. 361 and is
easy access for Kayak fisherman. Don’t
be surprised if you catch a nice speck in
this area either.
Summer schedule is filling quickly
but fall dates are still available. Don’t
wait untill the last minute to book your
dates. To schedule your next bay fishing
trip give Capt. Steve Schultz a call or text
at 361-813-3716 or 361-334-3105 or e-mail
him at SteveSchultzOutdoors@gmail.
com. Good luck and Good Fishing.
Page 16
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Ken Milam’s Fishing Line
Since 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
Lake Buchanan on
track to kick bass!
T
his just in! On Saturday, May 21st
the Texas Tournament Zone Tournament was held on Lake Buchanan.
One hundred fifty teams fished the tournament and the results were astounding.
First place stringer weighed in at 23.77
lbs. brought in by Adrian and Daniel
Barnes. The Big Bass winner was 9.25
pounds, caught by the Koslan and Crumley team. For more info be sure to check
out http://ttz1.com/, the Texas Tournament Zone website!
Now here is the best part. Both the
winning stringer and the big fish outweighed the winners of the Bass Champs
tournament held on Lake Amistad! Now
that’s not bad for a lake where the bass
were having to try to learn to walk to get
around the lake bottom just a year ago.
If you have watched the Toyota
ShareLunker program over the years you
may have spotted a pattern. Very often
the lakes that produce the best bass are
lakes that have recently refilled after being very low. Yep, that fits Lake Buchanan
to a tee.
We had a clue about this soon after
we moved our charter fishing operation
back up to home base at Tow. Max Milam
was just plinking around the newly reclaimed shoreline with new spinner bait
and ended up in a nice tussle with a six
pounder.
We are seeing this happen with all the
fish up here too. We have lots of cover and
plenty of bait fish thriving in it and they
are keeping the other fish well fed and
well fed fish spawn well and grow fast.
We are cacthing good numbers of
stripers and hybrids and seeing an improvement in the size of those fish too.
Catfish are spawning in the fresh muddy
water and the fishermen love it. Crappie
have all the structure to hide in they
could ever want and the white bass are
erupting on top water all over the lake
like little thunderstorms chasing shad.
One thing that really caught on during the drought is kayaking for fishing
and sightseeing. The willow trees standing in the lake make exploration a lot of
fun, not to mention there lots of little
quiet secluded openings to call your own
for fishing and birding.
ModernCrete
Tobolka’s big fish
Tobolka
Wherever you are, if you have a favorite lake that has been through this
same drought and flood cycle, you need
to go wet a hook and check it out. It is a
pretty good bet that any freshened up
lake will produce similar results.
People are coming back to Lake Buchanan to run up to see Fall Creek falls
again and catch the Vanishing Texas River
Cruise to the upper part of Lake Buchanan. That’s where you see the pretty, wild
country and wildlife abounds. All you
have to do is add great fishing to that and
you have a great summer outing.
It’s a good thing that school just let
out!
Home on the archery range
The Texas Archery Academy offers classes
and private lessons to help keep an archer’s
aim sharp.
B
ow hunters and archery enthusiasts
have a new indoor range to hone
their aim and sharpen their skills. The
Texas Archery Academy (TXAA) has a
new home at 8235 Vicar Dr., where the
space is almost triple the size of its previous San Antonio location.
TXAA is hosting a grand opening on
Jun. 25, 9am-6pm, with hourly lessons,
tours of the facility and archery challenges. There will also be food for sale, door
prizes and music. The nonprofit organization is also hosting a fundraiser Jul. 23 to
raise donations toward the purchase of
the new building.
Going from a 5,000-sf facility to one
that is 12,000sf will allow more public access, typically hosting about 160 people
on a weekly basis, and archers will not
have to feel crowded. TXAA can now
have archery tag, and the range, owned
by Clint Montgomery of Dallas, can host
corporate events, birthday parties and
other functions without having to close
during these events due to limited space.
With a family-friendly environment,
Reyes Cortez, manager of the Texas Archery
Academy indoor range in San Antonio, has
been shooting for 28 years.
Reyes Cortez, manager, says that TXAA
is a place to learn how to shoot a bow, to
shoot for fun, to compete in tournaments, or to prepare for hunting season.
He notes that they have 3D lifelike animal
targets for bow hunters who want to
practice.
Cortez, husband of Lacie Cortez,
Construction News office administrator,
says his parents bought him his first bow
when his mother was pregnant with him,
and they put a bow in his hand when he
was 4. He recalls, “I’ve loved it ever since.
Right now, I’m getting to teach my oldest
son, and he’s just loving it as well.” –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 17
Volunteers for a night out
All about that bass
J
ordon Brown, Quality Fence & Welding, was just one of the members of
the local construction community helping out at the churro booth for NIOSA
(Night in Old San Antonio) during Fiesta.
–mh
L-R: Kerry Stanush, You Name It Specialties,
was the chairperson for the churro booth
this year, and had Brown among her helpers.
Chelsey Wiatrek and her father enjoyed some quality time catching bass together on their
annual fishing trip.
C
helsey Wiatrek, ABC Fire Systems,
and her father, Howard Stulting Jr.,
recently took their fifth annual trip to
Lake Fork, TX.
“We’re addicted… to say the least,”
Wiatrek comments. “The quality and
quantity of largemouth bass at this beautiful lake is amazing! We have had the
same fishing guide every year and he always delivers.”
This was the first year they fished for
more than two days, carrying the fun
over into a third day. This was also the
first year they fished for white bass. Not-
ing that she loves largemouth bass fishing above all else, she says they fished
various kinds of lures, did blind casting
and sight fishing, where they “literally
find a bass on a bed and worked our
butts off to get her in the boat.”
She recalls, “First day, we caught a
handful of largemouth and white bass.
The weather was a little tricky. Second
day, we fished for 45 minutes in the rain
– was not the most fun. Third day, we
sight fished, caught some good ones, and
ended our last day with a 6-lb bass! Great
trip and I can’t wait for next spring!” –mh
Jordon Brown, gate department assistant
manager and marketing coordinator, making
churros for hungry NIOSA patrons
On the right:
L-R: Saul Robles, Robles 1 LLC, with one of his
sons, and Kerry’s husband, Mark
Page 18
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Supporting conservation through some recreation
T
he Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) hosted
its 37th annual banquet May 5 at the Freeman Expo
Hall. Attendees enjoyed a premium open bar, food
by Don Strange Catering, a live auction that included adventures for those that take to the great outdoors for fun
and sport, raffles and prizes. –mh
L-R: Trey Malone, Pulte Homes; Joe Eaton, Eaton Development
and Eaton Contracting; Sara Beth Eaton; Ruth Eaton, Eaton;
and Kadi Eaton
L-R: Daniel, Trevor, Rene, Nick, Michael, Steven, Adrian and
Mike, FARR Builders
L-R: David Dillard, Lana Sandell, Anne and Mike Cunningham,
Melissa and Jack McGee, Beth Moore, KCM Cabinets
L-R: Bob Jordan, Ken Powell, Sterling Morrison, Evan Creson,
Scott Bryan, Justin Griffin, HOLT CAT
L-R: Nathan Cobler, Bryan Spina, Steven Thai, LNV Inc.
L-R: David Salinas, Clint Snell, Mark Wohlfarth, Kash Hanson,
The Sabinal Group
L-R: Tony Ippolito, Darryl Schneider and Nathan Merecka, DR
Horton; Tucker Stephens, Urban Concrete
L-R: Patrick Fetzer, Eddie Rathburn and Ruben Huerta, The
Fetzer Companies; Jose Ford, Villa Park Architecture; Robert
Mora, Green Lawns of Texas; Billy Townsend, Billy Greaves
Insurance Agency
Submitted to Construction News
Submitted to Construction News
An omen?
Angling for their
share
Baby on board
Construction News managing editor Cyndi Wright spotted this morning vision at the end
of her driveway recently. Is it an omen? No, just a friendly buzzard letting all the other
buzzards know that the dead snake on the road was his! –cw
On their May 7 fishing trip, a few
team members from Quality Fence
& Welding and friends limited out
by noon while wading in Baffin Bay.
L-R: Clint Snowden, Oil Barron; Billy
Mayes, Drive-in Truck Salvage; Rory
Wilsey and Craig Noto, Quality
Fence & Welding –mh
On Mother’s Day,
Construction News’
San Antonio editor
Mary Hazlett
was showing off her baby
bump. Pictured midway
through her fifth month of
pregnancy, she and husband David Hazlett are expecting their first child in
September. –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 19
The doors of opportunity
I
t’s been a long and winding road since
the inception of Schweiss Doors in
1980. But during that span of over 35
years, many doors “literally” have opened
for the start-up company. Owner Mike
Schweiss relates how he got started in
the door business.
"It was 1980,” he says. “I was at a
wedding dance. A friend commented,
‘Mike, you build lots of different things.
Why not a door that folds up?’“
At that time, Schweiss and his three
employees were manufacturing things
like farrowing crates for sows, snowblowers, farm trailers, tile plows and something
called the Schweiss Chicken Plucker!
"It was the Chicken Plucker that gave
us name recognition and, in fact, got us
going financially," Schweiss laughs.
His first bi-fold door measured 12 x
12 ft., and was installed on a Renville
County highway shed, 10 miles from Schweiss' country factory location between
Fairfax and Hector, MN. The door is still in
operation.
Custom quality
During years of manufacturing doors
of all sizes and shapes, requests kept
coming in from customers who wanted
Schweiss Doors to help them with their
own personal door project to specifically
fit their application. Schweiss listened
and answered the challenge to design or
make alterations to their door.
“Bingo, that’s when the fun began to
spread,” says Pat Schmidt, promotions
director. “We hit a few home runs and
saw the need and requests for unique
custom-made doors. That’s how our ‘Designer Doors’ got their name.”
Schweiss says this line has become
global.
“We have completed and installed
many beautiful and elegant, off-the-wall
given new meaning to the term "hangar
home." The structure is 50' wide x 60'
deep x 30' tall, all metal.
“However, a 45' x 15' Schweiss hydraulic door sporting a wrap-around
porch with decorator railing, table and
chairs, a walk through door with stylish
window, and veranda roof gets your attention,” Schweiss says.
More recently, the company started a
sideline enterprise to retrofit 40-foot
steel shipping containers with designer
doors on the front and sidewalls. The
units can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from home and construction
offices to hunting cabins.
Mike Schweiss standing in front of a Schweiss bifold liftstrap door.
designer doors resulting in making many
end-users very happy,” he says. “We delivered them a real factory showpiece they
could be proud to show off. The designer
doors have become a strong market for
us. Architects and designers are calling
from around the globe. We are now designing and manufacturing hydraulic and
bifold doors from hangars to storefronts
and residences that are mouthwateringly
beautiful. They dream it; we build it!”
More than one to make a team
Schweiss Doors is a family run business.
“I am acutely aware that a successful
company is only as good as the people
who work there,” Schweiss says. “I realized early on that to be the best you have
to have highly skilled employees.”
Coming up with new and better
products is an ongoing challenge for Sch-
Sibling unity
weiss and his 60-70 employees.
Really big doors to unique apps
Last year, Schweiss fulfilled orders
from SpaceX for rocket development facility doors installed on a new steel hangar at Cape Canaveral. The largest of the
two is a Bifold Liftstrap door, 90 ft. wide x
61 ft. tall. The second door on that shipment is 40 ft. wide x 69 ft. tall. Each of the
doors is equipped with automatic latches
and is windrated to 150 mph. After they
arrived at the site they were clad in
26-guage sheeting and have 4-inch blanket insulation. Bottom-drive 480 volt, 3
phase motors and patented Schweiss liftstraps do the lifting of these doors that
exceed 53,000 lbs.
The Hydraulic lifting porch hangar
door, a classic Florida hangar home Schweiss wall/porch door, has drawn national attention by television networks. It has
It’s art
When customers request something,
Schweiss employees look forward to taking on the challenge of satisfying them.
“We are passionate and serious
about manufacturing doors and try each
and every day trying to manufacture a
better door. In 1998, we invented our current patented liftstrap design that uses
straps instead of cables. Liftstraps are
stronger, maintenance-free, safer and lift
doors faster; it was a real game changer in
the bifold door world,” noted Schweiss.
Schweiss office personal have
stepped up just to handle the designer
door requests and love working on these
one-of-a-kind custom doors. Many hours
of design and engineering goes into
these special doors.
“It’s really rewarding to be able to
participate in someone’s dreams and
Schweiss provides years of door knowledge to enhance each and every designer door — it’s more than a door, it’s a
piece of art. Adding beauty to a structure
is what Schweiss Doors does with each
and every style door we manufacture,”
Schweiss says. –cw
Construction News ON LOCATION
Putting the pieces together
The next generation was taking care of the daily operations at Reeso Tiles on Vance
Jackson. Allie Olguin was running the showroom and restocking sample boards
while Michael Olguin Jr. was working in the warehouse, overseeing the sealing of
the tiles and orders being sent out. –mh
Raised in Ohio, Lauran Drown, and her brother, Chris, are bringing their dreams to fruition and
collaborating on their own business venture, Bucrane Design Build, in San Antonio.
B
rother and sister Chris Drown and
Lauran Drown have been working
in related industries since college,
and in October of last year, they combined their skills and experience to form
their own firm, Bucrane Design Build.
As co-owner and studio manager,
Lauran, 30, handles the design side. She
studied architecture and has worked in
design in the U.S., in India, where she
studied abroad and worked after graduating, and in Canada, where she earned
her master’s in architecture and worked
before relocating to San Antonio.
As co-owner and construction manager, Chris, 28, handles the build side. He
studied industrial electricity and moved
into construction management while
working for homebuilders. After serving
in the Army as a generator mechanic with
a deployment in Afghanistan in 2012, he
moved to San Antonio.
Though Bucrane has been primarily
providing design services in its first
months, the firm’s niche is offering semicustom home options for mid-range
homebuyers. Lauran observes that most
residential design services are targeted
at high-end projects, and while they have
also done high-end, the goal is to target
and enrich the mid-range market.
In time, they hope to expand into
multi-family and to develop their own
projects or work with developers using
designs they’ve built up in their library
that give new and desirable options to
the mid-range homebuyer.
Recently, children’s book author Doreen Cronin came in from New York to do
a reading of her book, “Diary of a Worm,”
after reading about Bucrane’s entry,
which was inspired by her book, for the
AIA Storybook Houses Exhibit at the San
Antonio Botanical Gardens.
Based in Converse, Bucrane Design
Build is a full-service design-build firm that
specializes in the customizable residential
market. –mh
Page 20
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Submitted to Construction News
To the rescue (demonstration)
Members of the San Antonio Fire Department from Station 51 provided a safety
demonstration on manhole rescues to Sundt Construction employee-owners as part
of Safety Week 2016. –mh
Restoring Hemingway’s house
William Dupont (second left) and his Cuban and American colleagues in 2012 working on
the architectural design of the new facility now in construction on the 5-acre property of
Hemingway’s Cuban home
F
or more than a decade, William Dupont, a professor of architecture at
UTSA, licensed architect and fellow
of the AIA, has been applying his passion
for historic preservation to help with the
restoration of Ernest Hemingway’s home
in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba.
Traveling to Cuba an average of twice
a year to help with the preservation of the
house Hemingway inhabited for the final
third of his life, nearly 22 years, Dupont
has offered architectural consultation
and oversight as well as connecting the
Cuban team with experts to help in the
conservation effort.
The current focus is new construction of a building that will serve as an archival storage facility and workshop for
the conservation of Hemingway documents and artifacts. Dupont and his team
worked with the Cuban team on the design over the years.
The principal preservation effort was
focused on the main house. The home
Hemingway left behind after his death in
1961 needed a new roof, had tremendous
termite damage, and was taking on water to
the point where the walls were saturated.
Serving as a technical advisor, Du-
pont brought in engineers and material
conservation experts to examine these
and other issues. His team also took home
samples to do paint and mortar analysis
for the preservation team in Cuba, which
executed all of the preservation treatments.
They also helped with the conservation of Hemingway’s fishing yacht as well
as cultural landscape and climate management issues. The house doesn’t have
reliable electricity and wouldn’t support
a full-blown HVAC system, and vegetation ties into the climate management.
Now, he and his technical team from
the National Trust for Historic Preservation can also export construction products and tools to Cuba. And with that
building’s construction starting, all of the
materials in terms of windows, doors,
electrical, plumbing, drop ceilings, tile
fixtures and finishes are being delivered
to the site from the U.S., which was previously not allowed.
“Now, we’re actually authorized to
bring materials to them and be a true partner in the effort,” says Dupont. “We
couldn’t do that before, and they’re not
able to get it done without our help.” –mh
Dupont and Cuban architect Nelo (Adanelio Benavides Ramos) reviewing the roof and gutter
assembly of Hemingway’s house in 2006
Construction News ON LOCATION
Ready for a change
L-R: Jon Lopez and company owner Armando Villalobos, “AW Ready” Plumbing &
Backflow Testing were working on the inside of the shop on Spencer Lane, changing
some of the interior work spaces. –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 21
Industry FOLKS
Todd Calder
Project Executive
Sundt
S
ince joining Sundt about two years
ago in a business developmentstyle role, Todd Calder says it was a
very comfortable transition into the
role of project executive and that he
fits very well with the group he is
working with at the company’s San
Antonio office.
Though his background is rooted
in operations and he has always been
part of the crew out on a job building a
project, his new position has him doing a lot more front end work such as
contract negotiation and procurement of work.
“I like the hybrid reality of it,” says
Calder. “I like the fact that I am doing
some front end, more business-style
work and also acquisition-style work,
but I’m still able to participate and be
involved in the day-to-day operations
of what we do.”
A lifelong Texan, Calder was born
and raised in the Dallas area. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a
bachelor’s in environmental design
and went on to work in construction
all over the Lone Star State. He worked
for a few different general contractors,
doing healthcare and higher education. One of his projects was the
SAMMC addition here in San Antonio.
The way all the pieces of construction fit together to serve a purpose
and create a bigger picture drew
Calder to architecture and building in
general. The ability to see the fruits of
his labor and the labor of the people
Showing
gratitude
T
he National Association of Women
in Construction (NAWIC) San Antonio Chapter hosted its annual Industry Appreciation Night Dinner May 4
at the San Antonio Petroleum Club. –mh
L-R: Michelle Urbanczyk, San Antonio
Chapter president, presented Judy DeWeese,
a past national president of NAWIC who
recently retired from Mauze Construction,
with a surprise award commemorating her
years of service to the association.
Leslye Hernandez, Construction News and
longtime NAWIC member, with Bexar County
Commissioner Precinct 4 Tommy Calvert,
who was the guest speaker at NAWIC’s
Industry Appreciation Night
he’s working with attracted him to the
industry, and he enjoys the challenges
of bringing it all to fruition.
“My favorite projects that I’ve
been involved with – I probably took a
little bit from each one of them, but
I’ve done some pretty complicated
laboratory work for Texas Tech and the
University of Texas that was challenging,” he recalls. “That’s probably what
keeps me going in this, learning new
things and constantly being challenged by the process and the materials that we’re putting in.”
At 42, Calder’s life outside of work
is all about being a full-time dad. He
and his wife, Leah, have two children,
an 8-year-old son named Carson and a
10-year-old daughter named Maddie.
Both of them play all kinds of sports,
and Maddie excels at playing the cello.
Calder is an Eagle Scout and is a big
supporter of the Boy Scouts, and so,
Carson is in the Cub Scouts.
His wife was born in the Brenham
area, but she has followed him all over
the state over the 12 years they have
been married. The last 10 years she has
been a stay-at-home mom, and together, they spend all of their free time
with their kids. –mh
Did you know?
Past editions can be
downloaded at
www.
ConstructionNews.net
Page 22
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Scholarly tee time
1st Place Team, Low Gross L-R: Bobby Eicholz, tournament co-chair, ASLA, Rialto Studio;
Larry Nitche, FSG; John Kush, Workspace Solutions; Daniel Perez, AIA, Stantec;
Jeffrey Fetzer, FAIA, tournament co-chair
T
he American Institute of Architects
(AIA) San Antonio Chapter and the
South Texas Section of the American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA) co-hosted their 28th annual
Scholarship Golf Classic. More than 140
golfers turned out for the AIA/ASLA
Acme Brick event May 9 at the Quarry
Golf Club. –mh
Winners:
1st Low Net: Allen & Allen Team – Patrick
Murphy, Matt Huggins, Ryan Griffin, Mike
Haddock
2nd Low Net: Scott Moore, PE, and Michael Reise, PE, CNG Engineering; Mike
Milburn and David Creekmore, J&R Tile
3rd Low Net: Alpha Consulting Engineers
Team – Ryan Malitz; Scott Tak, PE; Reid
Loehman; Thomas Hamer, PE
Putting their teams together
Don Rackler and Brian Simpson, Jon Wayne
Air & Plumbing; Steve Mechler and Bryan
Blass, Steve Mechler & Associates
T
he Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors (PHCC) San Antonio Chapter and the American Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE) Central Texas
Chapter held their fourth annual Golf
Tournament Apr. 28 at Hyatt Hill Country
Resort with 120 golfers hitting the green
that day. –mh
Winners:
Low Gross: Gunn Nissan – Tony Lasater,
Billy Wagner
Low Net: Champions Marketing – Hunter
Gordon, Paul Inke
Putting Contest: David Delgado, 1st
Plumbing Services
Straightest Drive: Jerry Mulder, Mr. Rooter of San Antonio
Golden Throne Award: Nick Skeen, Jon
Wayne Air & Plumbing
Aaron Hollbrook, DBR Inc., and Chris Phillips,
Jacobs Engineering and ASPE-Central Texas
2016 president
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 23
Round-Up
James Deaven has
joined
Bartlett
Cocke
General
Contractors as controller. A licensed
CPA with 22 years of
experience in accounting for the
construction industry, he will be responsible for the daily
activities of the accounting department
and serve as a liaison between other departments within the corporation. He is
involved with San Antonio CPA Society’s
“Funlympics,” benefitting at-risk children,
and on the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) board. He
earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from UTSA.
LNV announced the following:
Derek Naiser, PE,
CFM, has been
named executive
vice
president/
COO/executive vice
president of Northern Region Operations. With more
than 25 years of diverse experience in the industry, he is the
designated principal-in-charge for the
San Antonio office as well as all northern
offices.
Byron Sanderfer,
PE, CFM, LEED AP
BD+C, has been
named vice president of the San Antonio office. With
more than 15 years
of experience as a
project manager for
LNV, he has provided municipal engineering services.
Alan Thompson,
PE, has been named
senior vice president/chief strategy
officer. Since joining the company in
2014, he has served
as a professional
engineer, a business development professional and a
part of the Executive Officer Committee.
O’Connell Robertson recently named
two new associates: Jennifer Hoskins,
IIDA, LEED AP, and Jayna Duke, RID, LEED
AP ID+C. Both are in the firm’s interior design department and serve clients in
both the Austin and San Antonio offices.
A registered interior
designer,
Hoskins leads the
firm’s interiors team.
She has more than
10 years of experience,
all
with
O’Connell Robertson. Hoskins has
worked on a variety
of projects, but concentrates primarily on
interior design for higher education and
healthcare facilities. She holds a Bachelor of
Science degree in interior design from Texas State University and a Bachelor of Arts
degree in government from The University
of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the
International Interior Design Association.
Duke is also a
registered interior
designer and LEED
Accredited Professional. She has eight
years of experience
and has been with
O’Connell Robertson for eight years.
Duke’s experience includes a variety of
healthcare and educational projects, with
emphasis on K-12 facilities. Duke earned a
Bachelor of Science degree in Family &
Consumer Science with a concentration in
interior design from Texas State University.
Arthur Garcia has
been promoted to
senior project manager at Project Control. Having joined
the company in
2005, he is currently
part of the team
providing project
management services for the Henry B.
Gonzales Convention Center expansion.
His expertise is in building systems and
information technology, and he manages
the company’s requirements for communications and data resources. A graduate
of the UTSA, he holds certification as a
LEED AP.
Closner Equipment
Co. Inc. has named
Clint Blackmon as
director of service.
In his new role, he
will have statewide
responsibility for all
field
technicians,
shop personnel and
fleet maintenance. Blackmon has held
various positions in the construction and
materials industries for 20 years. Prior to
moving to Texas, he held leadership positions at Vulcan Materials and Tractor &
Equipment Co. in the Southeastern U.S.
Rick Nanez has
joined Cambridge
Contracting as vice
president. Previously, he was a senior
project
manager
with Metropolitan
Contracting,
Bartlett Cocke General Contractors and
F.A. Nunnelly Company. His experience
includes ground up construction of office, retail and medical developments.
Randall Jay has
been promoted to
field
operations
manager for Bartlett
Cocke General Contractors for South
Texas. With the company for more than
19 years, his responsibilities include overseeing daily field operations, ensuring safety procedures are
followed, and making sure project schedules and budgets are met. He has received
awards for Outstanding Superintendent
of the Year as well as Project of the Year
Over $20 million from the American Subcontractors Association (ASA).
Page 24
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
First in their class
Eleven high school seniors from schools across the San Antonio area, including Jourdanton
and New Braunfels, graduated from the new Heavy Equipment Academy L-R: Stephen Covey,
Shawn Cruz, Catherine Espinoza, Luis Galindo, Jesus Hernandez, Coby Hyatt, Braydon Jobe,
Jose Maldonado, Orlando Salazar, Francisco Sanchez and Cheyenne Stevens
W
ith partners HOLT CAT, ASCO
Equipment, RDO Equipment,
ROMCO Equipment and Closner Equipment as well as the City of San
Antonio and CPS Energy, Alamo Academies hosted the graduation of its inaugural Heavy Equipment class May 4 at the
Venues at Valero.
The Alamo Academies Class of 2016
included 11 high school seniors with the
distinction of being the first students to
graduate from the new Heavy Equipment Academy. Each student completed
33 hours of college credit while earning a
Marketable Skills Award in Diesel Light/
Heavy Truck Technology Mechanic Helper, OSHA certification, and Level I Certificate of Completion with the Alamo Colleges. –mh
Peter John Holt and Mayor Ivy Taylor,
pictured with Heavy Equipment Academy
graduate Braydon Jobe, came to the Alamo
Academies graduation ceremony to support
and celebrate the new Heavy Equipment
program and the four other academies that
aim to address the “skills gap” in our industry
and the modern workforce.
continued from Page 1 — His heart and soul
Rainbow and five trucks. With the company going again, he is using sub crews,
people who are friends and longtime associates, some of whom he helped train.
He has also worked with Milberger and
Maldonado landscaping companies. Very
soon, he expects to add another person
and another truck as Rainbow builds up
again.
Meanwhile at home, he notes his
wife’s family, some of whom she got involved in the business, has been there for
him. He also has Shelby, a 16-year-old
Pembroke Welsh Corgi, who is the last of
the five corgis he and Ethelinda have had
over the past 20 years. She fell in love
with the breed, and Shelby’s companion,
Riley, passed away a year after Ethelinda.
But Gary will get another one as a companion for Shelby, noting “I can’t not have
a corgi simply because they remind me of
her.”
He is thankful his last memory of her
is a good one, and he believes it’s important to remember what truly matters, advising, “Do not go to sleep angry.” –mh
continued from Page 1 — Bee-ing proactive
other factors such as Africanized bees
can devastate the colonies. Since taking
up the role of beekeeper in the middle of
last year, he takes precautions to protect
his bees from those threats.
In the interest of bee conservation,
he also makes efforts to save feral colonies, trapping them out of areas where
they are unwanted. He estimates that
since October of last year, he has removed four different hives from different
places.
“If people have got bees that are unwanted, I’m happy to go and get them,”
says Christensen, adding that since he
does construction, they can cut them out
and fix it in cases where that is necessary.
“If somebody’s got bees and they don’t
want them, let us know. Don’t kill them.
Let us come and get them. The beneficial
aspects of the honey bee are numberless.”
JASON Contracting is a commercial
general contractor. Currently, JASON’s
workload is 80 percent medical and 20 percent retail finish outs and restaurant remodels, along with other work. –mh
continued from Page 1 — Adding shine and space to southwest school
L-R: HOLT CAT scholarship recipients Luis Galindo, Cheyenne Stevens and Shawn Cruz with
Peter John Holt, HOLT CAT executive vice president and general manager
Construction News JOB SIGHT
Men at work
Alex Gonzalez and Oscar Hernandez, with Ocean2Ocean, have been working hard to
build a beautiful fence at Stone Field subdivision in Bulverde. –cw
As part of the recent renovations at Christa McAuliffe Middle School,
Kencon added a new media center/library.
On the east side, the addition of an
elevator provided ADA access to an existing mechanical room, with extra space,
that has been in use as a weight room for
the students. Initially, the process planning included an addition of a 1,000-sf
weight room in that location, but the elevator allowed the weight room to remain in its current 3,000-sf space.
In one of the wings, Kencon converted a couple of classrooms into a bigger
art room, and the fine arts space was reconfigured and upgraded. Two classrooms were captured to add storage
space to the cafeteria and a room adjacent to the kitchen for a serving line to
increase the capacity of students that
could be served each lunch period. The
project team also expanded offices for
kitchen staff, upgraded their restroom,
and added a new sound system and finishes to the cafeteria.
Kencon also added HVAC to the auxiliary gymnasium, which did not have HVAC
before. During the course of this work,
they discovered old water leaks under
some of that gym’s wood flooring. After
some repairs to the existing floor, the district decided to refinish the wood floors in
both the competition and auxiliary gyms.
The team also added a new sound system
and new lighting to both gyms.
On the site work, Kencon added new
aluminum pedestrian walkway covers to
the front of the building and did landscaping around the front of the campus.
They also did a complete mill and overlay
of all the asphalt surfaces.
“The campus had to remain active
throughout construction, and that was
the biggest challenge,” Skrobarczyk says.
“It required breaking the project up into
several phases, and when we completed
the planning, the project required 16 different permits. In order for the campus to
remain active, we had to bring in additional portables, prior to the start of construction in ’14 and set those up so there
was sufficient classroom space to swing
students from inside the existing wings
over into the portables.”
The project superintendent was Ray
Valdez. Kencon’s vice president, James
Saenz, served as project executive. Luis
Montoto, Marmon Mok Architecture,
was the project manager. Along with
Montoto, Monty Howard, associate partner, and James Moore, associate/senior
project manager of Marmon Mok, comprised the architect’s design team. Hugo
Quintero, Alpha Consulting Engineers,
was the structural engineer. Stacey
Weichert, Cude Engineers, was the civil
engineer. Matt Dunn, Taylor Koerth and
Scott Wells, Alderson & Associates, did
the MEP engineering. Leticia Zavala,
CFZ Group, was the landscape architect.
Kencon also worked with the City of San
Antonio, particularly Crystal Kastner and
Al Niebruegge, on this project.
Subcontractors on the project included Alamo Door Systems, Alpha Insulation, Architectural Division 8, Automatic Fire Protection, Burditt Tile &
Stone, DEA Specialties, Ericstad, FloAire Service, Koetter Fire Protection,
Maldonado Nursery & Landscape, Masters Electric Services, Millennia Cabinetry, Opiela Mechanical, Pro-Line Pavement, Schindler Elevators, R. Hester
Contractors, RAST Iron Works, Samuels
Glass, San Antonio Floor Finishers (SAFFI), South Texas Drywall & Construction,
T.H. Willis Company, Tex State Constructors, Traugott Inc. and Turner Roofing.
Kencon Constructors is celebrating its
30th anniversary this year. The general contractor has done work for nearly all of the
school districts in San Antonio and the surrounding area. –mh
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 25
HVAC & PLUMBING
Modern times mean modern
methods
Kyle Pennington, Business Manager
AJ Monier & Company
San Antonio, TX
K
yle Pennington doesn’t come from an
HVAC or plumbing background. His
experience at Ernst & Young in Dallas
working in accounting and finance gives
him a business-driven perspective on the
trades. As business manager of AJ Monier
& Company, he observes three major factors influencing the industry today.
First, the difficulty in finding qualified technicians in today’s day and age
has encouraged the company to reach
out to high schools and join up with the
apprenticeship program at Local 142.
Their goal is to make sure the students
know that there are career opportunities
that do not require attending a four-year
university and can create wealth for them
and their families.
To help with the shortage of technicians, Pennington attends events and
programs with AJ Monier team members
to educate high school students about
the opportunities that are readily available for qualified technicians in the
trades.
Recently, Pennington attended the
Texas Construction Career Initiative (TCCI)
Construction Career Day, and he discov-
ered that a lot of high school students do
not even know what the acronym HVAC
stands for, nor did they know that the
duct work and a lot of what is unseen behind walls and ceilings is what they deal
with in this business. They also did not
know that water can be used to cool the
air, referring to chilled water systems.
While they make efforts to help alleviate the shortage of skilled labor in the
future, Pennington brings up the second
factor, which is that technology has become even more important to stay competitive. With technological growth
reaching a rapid pace, companies have
started utilizing technology in their everyday business.
“AJ Monier implemented iPads in the
field for HVAC technicians about three
years ago,” he explains. “That allows
them to pull up operations manuals for
specific pieces of equipment that they’re
working on right then and there. We’re
allowed to do videos and pictures, and
email them back and forth to supervisors
in the office as well as even using FaceTime on a rooftop to help a lesser skilled
technician troubleshoot a problem.”
What about the stigma of
choosing a trade vs. a
college degree?
Alicia Dover, CAE, Executive Director
Associated Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of Texas (PHCC Texas)
Austin, TX
T
his question was asked of a panel at a
recent state agency summit on workforce needs in Texas. It got me to thinking deeply about this aspect of trade vs.
college choice. I remember my days in
high school when it was the “not so
smart” or “not so driven” kids who chose
the trades. Money available for education, or lack thereof, was probably another factor in their choices.
In my role as executive director for a
state trade association representing the
plumbing and HVAC industry, I promote
the trades as a viable option. Texas is facing a shortage of skilled tradespeople,
especially in the construction related industry.
The average age of a master plumber is now 56. There are not enough people in the “pipeline” to meet the void
these plumbers will create when they retire. A 2012-13 study performed by the
Texas Workforce Commission found that
by 2020 there will be a 25% greater demand for plumbers and HVAC installers
than in 2012.
The next question that begs asking
is, “How much money can a trade person
make?” It varies throughout the state,
but recent Department of Labor Statistics
show that in Texas, the average wage for
experienced, licensed plumbers is
$45,000 to $57,000 annually. In many areas of the state, the average is even higher. Master plumbers command an even
higher wage. Responsible master plumbers are usually the business owner, and
they are showing earnings of $100,000
and up. Further, employers are now willing to invest in the training of their new
hires. It is not a rarity anymore to see
four-year apprenticeship programs completely funded by the student’s employer. The company provides the on-the-job
training, the school provides the necessary classroom time, and voila, within
four year’s time, another licensed journeyman comes into the marketplace.
With salaries such as these, education available, and the demand as it is,
why do we still face a critical shortage of
qualified workers? Many in the world of
academia have stated it is because we
have spent much of the recent past pro-
Pennington also notes that they try
to attend seminars and conferences hosted by the Mechanical Contractors Association (MCA of America, MCA of Texas,
MCA-SMACNA of San Antonio). He says
there are always breakout sessions relating to the future of the industry and how
technology ties into what they do.
“I am a firm believer that if I want to
stay competitive in my industry that I
need to be on the forefront of technology for our business,” he says. “Our business has been around for over 100 years,
and when I first got here, technology was
not something on our forefront. So I
made sure that we invested more money
back into technology and into the training that goes along with that technology
for our technicians. We started with our
HVAC technicians. We use it also for our
plumbers as well. We’re starting to get
our construction people involved.”
This ties into Pennington’s third
point, noting that with technology rapidly improving, the company has been able
to expand its services into building automation and controls. He sees these services as the future for helping shed electricity loads for buildings.
“Building automation is getting
smarter and smarter, and controls – DDC
(Direct Digital Controls) – have been
around 20-plus years, but it’s getting
smarter as technology is getting smarter,”
he observes, adding that they try to partner with their customers to make their
buildings smarter too, and now they can
be monitored from a cellphone or tablet.
“Technology has made it easier for
people to pull up the information on the
web, and you didn’t have to be at the
building itself to see it,” he says. “I can get
an email notification that a set point on an
HVAC unit is starting to get out of a specified range, and that email can tell me before a tenant can complain to the building
manager, and I can proactively contact
the building manager if they don’t already
get the email as well. We can try and head
off the issue before a tenant can complain
and be discomforted.”
Along with this advanced technology, the controls are now open protocol
with the Niagara Tridium platform, which
allows anybody to work on it. So, if a customer feels that for some reason they are
not happy with AJ Monier’s level of service, they will be able to have another
contractor work on the building, because
the controls are not proprietary to AJ
Monier, adding the value of freedom for
the customer and their contractors on
this open platform.
As he points out the factors affecting
the industry, Pennington had a couple of
points for homeowners and end users
too. He emphasized that filters should be
changed quarterly to keep your unit operating properly, and the thermostat
should not be cranked so low that it
makes the machine work overtime and
can cause issues down the line.
AJ Monier & Company was founded in
1908 by its namesake, who was succeeded
by his son, Kurt AJ Monier, father of the
company’s current president, William Kurt
Monier. Kyle Pennington’s wife is a fourth
generation Monier. The company does
HVAC service, plumbing service, building
controls, welding and fabrication, new construction, retrofits, and owns 50 percent of
sheet metal company M&M Metals. –mh
moting college degrees as the only path
as a student leaves high school. Further,
these same educators state that Texas’
focus on standardized testing is preventing the high schools and often middle
schools from investing in the lives of their
students they serve.
After a good amount of these meetings, it has occurred to me that there still
exists a stigma, if you will, about not
choosing college and choosing a trade.
So how do we promote the trades as
a viable and rewarding career option?
That is the million dollar question my industry faces. Visits to trade schools that
hold plumbing and mechanical programs
show that they are not full. They can’t
seem to attract a large pipeline of future
plumbers and HVAC technicians. For
many of the programs, the word is, people don’t really know what we do. They
hear “plumber” and they think stopped
up toilets. An HVAC technician’s job is perceived as too hot and too sweaty.
Our first attempts at attracting more
high school students into our industry
were to reach out to the school counselors. What we found was professionals
too busy with paperwork, testing, and no
time to learn, let alone share information
about other career options outside of a
two- or four-year college.
Next, we began a push to have industry professionals participate in job and
career fairs at the school district level. This
has proven to show some success. A bona
fide company with real jobs is a draw. Further, it has allowed the participating employers an opportunity to prescreen a
group of students who could actually
come to work for them in the very near
future. For many employers, they can hire
an apprentice at age 16 for part time work.
I have been told that the starting wage for
these individuals is well above the current
minimum wage rates for Texas.
Third, we are now reaching out the
Texas State Legislature for more assistance in promoting the trades. Both the
House and the Senate are holding meetings during this interim period to discuss
the implications and implementation of
House Bill 5 from 2013. This bill affords all
students a variety of postsecondary education and workforce opportunities. Students are given the opportunity to earn
an endorsement in an area of interest. For
the trades, this was critical to bringing vocational education back into the schools!
So where does this leave us going
forward? We must show students and
their parents that choosing a trade is not
a second rate choice, but one that carries
with it pride, accomplishment and success. I return to the question posed at the
beginning. Does a stigma exist? Yes, it
does. Can we do something about it?
Most certainly. It starts with taking pride
in our work. And then, sharing that pride
and encouraging others to come along
side of us in our pursuit of excellence in
what we do.
How do we accomplish this? We begin the conversations. Talk to anyone
who will listen to us. Reach out to the
schools, the administrators, the legislators, and then the community. We also
need to give back. The professionals in
our industry need to enter the classroom
and lab. Teaching their trade to the next
generation is paramount to producing a
“pipeline” of qualified individuals. –cw
Page 26
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
HVAC & PLUMBING
Labor, regulations
challenges to industry
William Biggs, Owner
Biggs Plumbing Co. Inc.
Austin, TX
H
ow would you describe the state
of the construction industry in
general terms? Have you heard of an
increase or slowdown in business?
Trying to predict the construction
cycle is tough. The best you can do is prepare your contingencies. In Austin, we’ve
had a very good construction economy
for a long time now, so I hear concern
about the future, but it’s mostly caution
and not fear.
What factors are driving this?
Austin is a hot market still, but that
can’t go on forever. It’s important to
know who you are working with and
have confidence in a project before you
invest your own resources as well.
Do you see an increase in the number
of outside contractors coming to the
area?
Absolutely. Even if there are just as
many projects, there is now increased
competition, and it could actually hurt
good companies as they face competi-
tion from desperate or even reckless contractors.
What are the “hot button” issues in
your industry?
Of course adequate labor is huge.
Government regulation is another hot
topic. No matter which administrative authority, people just want clarity and simplicity.
What is on the horizon for your industry? Changes in technology; equipment; materials?
The use of technology has been developing in our industry with mixed results. If used correctly and with intelligent
input, it can speed up the work and provide great reference. If used poorly or in
the wrong situation, it delays work and
drives up cost. As energy and water conservation concerns grow, I think the need
for innovation in plumbing is going to
grow as well.
Have there been any significant code
changes in the last year?
There are a lot of important but subtle changes in codes that apply to plumbing, particularly regarding efficiency and
conservation, but you always have to
check which administrative authority
you’re working under to even be sure
what the current “code” is.
With the recent emphasis on green
building, what is the most environmentally friendly change relating to
your industry?
I would have to say it’s in the area of
water conservation. It’s such an important resource and sensible plumbing design has to be at the forefront if we’re going to protect our future supplies.
Do any new water restricting fixtures
impact plumbing installation?
As long as the design and installation
match the needs of the new fixtures, I
don’t see any reason there should be any
impact. But you might need to pay more
attention during a remodel.
What is the most significant challenge
your industry faces? Labor shortages?
Other?
Labor is a big challenge, but trying to
keep costs competitive while complying
with administrative authorities, regulating bodies, and complex construction
documents are other challenges as well.
Is HVAC/Plumbing education available for those wishing to enter the industry?
There are a number of formal ave-
nues like PHCC, ABC, trade programs, and
the unions. Our company makes it a point
to help those who possess the right attitude with an opportunity to learn regardless of prior experience. I’m sure other
companies feel the same. We can teach
the skills if someone is dedicated and
willing to learn.
What are the cost increases relating to
your industry? Aside from labor increases, we’re
also seeing an increasing demand for legal counsel and insurance as contracts
become more complicated, risk is becoming harder to manage, and more layers are added to the construction process. The more complex building becomes, the more things can go wrong.
What are the rewards of the industry?
Being able to work with your hands
and mind while providing for your family
is not unique to plumbing, but it’s hugely
rewarding.
What are keys to being successful?
I would say diligence and focus with
a strong moral compass about your business practices is a start. Hard work is a
must, but sweat equity alone doesn’t always work. You’ve got to have a good
plan and stick to it.
Biggs Plumbing began in Austin in
1972 with a goal to provide the highest level
of plumbing services to the construction industry with a belief in our employees and
our profession. –cw
It’s a great time to become a
technician
Chris Walters, President
Extreme Air Conditioning Services Inc.
Houston, TX
W
hat sparked your interest in the
HVAC industry?
My dad was very mechanical and we
fixed everything that needed fixing ourselves.
At first, I was interested in auto mechanics but my dad suggested air conditioning and I took his advice.
I started my company when I was 33
years old.
Did you have a mentor in the industry
when you first got started?
Yes, my instructor and mentor was
an ex drill sergeant.
He taught college A/C at night and
technical high school during the day.
One of his most memorable quotes
was, "You must know the normal before
you can figure out the abnormal.” I still
use this line today.
What does it take to be successful in
the HVAC industry, in your opinion?
You must be flexible and constantly
search for opportunities to take on work.
You also must be willing to make a
plan and focus on it but adapt as the job
needs change.
You have to get rid of all the tire kickers that take tons of your time but never
have good paying jobs for you.
You have to understand the buck
stops with you - everyday you are responsible for how the day went and if you
were successful and got enough done to
pay the bills and your employees.
You must never forget nothing can
compare to hard work and dedication.
I tell employees all the time: no matter what is happening in your life, it is going to be worse without a job.
This type of thinking gets me up at
5am without an alarm clock and keeps
me focused. You cannot be lazy and you
cannot slack off in this business.
This is a full time commitment that
many people are counting on your efforts and you on theirs.
Are there any changes you have seen
in the HVAC industry lately?
Yes, one of the changes I have seen is
the prices of replacement unit change
outs has risen double what it was just a
few years ago.
However, the equipment itself is
only a bit more expensive.
What advice would you give a young
person who wants to work in the HVAC
industry?
Every day I tell prospective technicians how great the need for technicians
is.
I tell them in 20 years of owning my
business the lack of technicians is the
single largest obstacle to overcome.
There has never been a better time to
enter this high demand job.
Technicians are highly sought after
and the shortage is not expected to end
anytime soon.
What is your perspective about the
current state of the Houston construction industry?
What I notice first is the number of
bid invitations that we receive from general contractors.
We see our invitations to bid for
new construction has doubled which is
a great indicator of an economy on the
rebound.
Established by Chris and April Walters
in 1996, Extreme Air Conditioning Services
Inc. is commercial HVAC contractor. The
company focuses on both commercial and
industrial services in the Houston area. –ab
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Feb: Construction Safety
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San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Page 27
Completing their journey
Recognizing the safe way
D
uring Safety Week, HJD Capital
Electric hosted activities and
training sessions to celebrate and
increase awareness of safety on the job
site. –mh
Benjamin Tijerina, Superintendent
Graduates of the PHCC San Antonio Plumbing Apprenticeship Class of 2016
L-R: Roland Pantoja; Abelardo Flores; Charles Phillips, Victaulic rep; Kody Fielder,
Clay Saliba, Geoffrey Letcher
T
he Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors (PHCC) San Antonio Chapter held a ceremony for the first
graduating class of the plumbing apprenticeship program May 12 at St. Philip’s College.
The fourth year apprentice graduates were Kody Paul Fielder, George
Plumbing Co.; Abelardo Flores, Primo
Plumbing; Geoffrey Marshall Letcher,
REC Industries; Roland Daniel Pantoja,
Primo Plumbing; and Clayton George
Saliba, George Plumbing Co. –mh
Ed Harrell Memorial Excellence
Award: Geoffrey Letcher, REC Industries
BrassCraft Scholarship Winners
Year One
Highest GPA: Corey Opiela, Opiela Mechanical
Best Attendance: Gregory Billa, REC Industries
Year Two
Highest GPA: James Hamilton, Beyer
Plumbing
Best Attendance: Robert Chauvey, Beyer
Plumbing
Year Three
Highest GPA: David Ross, Texas Plumbing
Diagnostics
Best Attendance: Salvador Sandoval,
O’Haver Plumbing
Eloy Cardenas (middle), Plumber
Kenneth Erceg, Electrician
Pictured above are the recipients of the company’s annual
Award for Exemplary Safety and Service (May 2015-May 2016)
Golf in the mix
Capital employees “Safety Dave” Tagaras (pictured) and Tyler King read to students at Adams
Elementary as part of the 6th annual Hispanic Chamber Reading Day, May 5.
T
he Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) South Texas Chapter hosted a Topgolf Mixer May 12 that included appetizers and refreshments. –mh
L-R: Ross Loewe and Lance Muennink,
ASCO Equipment
L-R: Shannon Cadena, Trade Management; Adam Robles, Robles1; Marikka Strunk, Trade
Management; Andrew Brumgard, Robles1; Nicole Krueger, Williams Scotsman
L-R: (front row) Megan Townes, Thomas Steele and Elaine Buchhorn, Mobile Mini; (back row)
Helen Nelson, Satellite Shelters; Scott Balvin, Mobile Mini; Ronnie Buchhorn, A Plus Carpentry;
Greg Sims, Satellite Shelters
Page 28
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Cars, bikes and backhoes
R
BBQ Grand Champion: Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
aising funds for two local charities,
Soldier’s Angels and 4KIDS of South
Texas, ASCO Equipment hosted its
fifth annual Benefit Car & Bike Show and
BBQ Cook-Off May 14. The fun included a
kids’ zone, dunking booth, live band and
a backhoe rodeo. –mh
Winners:
Brisket
1st: Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
2nd: Branch 8 Smokers
3rd: Undecided Kookers
Chicken
1st: Branch 8 Smokers
2nd: Super Gringos
3rd: Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
Ribs
1st: Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
2nd: Super Gringos
3rd: Hot Sands BBQ
Beans
1st: Hot Sands BBQ
2nd: Super Gringos
1st Place Men’s Backhoe Rodeo: Ed Ramirez
Association Calendar
Content submitted by Associations to Construction News
ABC
GSABA
Associated Builders & Contractors
Greater San Antonio Builders Assn.
Jun. 2: Blue Book Showcase, Embassy
Suites San Marcos
Jun. 16: Summer Shindig, Blue Bonnet
Palace
For more info on these events, email
Ruby Trejo at ruby@abcsouthtexas.org
Jun. 10-11: Saltwater Fishing Tournament;
Port Aransas Civic Center; awards and prizes, raffle drawing; $450 tournament entry,
up to four anglers per boat; for reservations, call Lucy Gale at 210-696-3800
AGC
Hispanic Contractors Association
Associated General Contractors
Jun. 2: Blue Book Network Showcase,
Embassy Suites in San Marcos
Jun. 9-10: Free OSHA 10 courses, English
and Spanish; for more info, email safetytraining@tdi.texas.gov
Jun. 15: Monthly meeting/Mixer; The DoubleTree Hotel, Downtown San Antonio;
6-8pm; members free, non-members $10
Events are held at the chapter office
unless otherwise stated.
Jun. 2: Safety Happens Guest Speaker,
8:30-9:30am
Jun. 12-15: Texas Building Branch Convention, Horseshoe Bay
Jun. 14: BCA Education: DBE Goal Presentation VIA Metropolitan Transit,
6-7pm
Jun. 16: CLF General Membership meeting, 4:30-6:30pm
Jun. 17: Midyear Economic Forum; The
Witte Museum, Prassel Auditorium;
noon-1:30pm; speakers are Ken Simonson, AGC of America chief economist,
and James Gaines, chief economist of
Texas A&M University Real Estate; to
make a reservation, sponsor or for more
info, call 210-349-4921 or e-mail kwilson@sanantonioagc.org
Jun. 20: Brown Bag Lunch: Tricks, Tales
and Myths in Drug Testing for Employment, noon
AIA
American Institute of Architects
1st Place Women’s Backhoe Rodeo:
Peyton Smith
Left: Penny Torres was ready for the annual
event’s first ever Backhoe Rodeo
Construction News JOB SIGHT
Right pretty!
Jun. 9: Canstruction Kick-Off meeting,
San Antonio Food Bank
Jun. 27: Chapter meeting; Luby’s Fiesta
Room, 911 N. Main Ave.; Bexar Heritage
Update, speaker is Betty Bueché, Bexar
Heritage Programs director; no RSVP required; members $20, guests $25, interns
and associates $15
Jun. 28: Sustainable Urban Development Luncheon with Urban Land Institute; “Sports Stadiums – Opportunity to
Build Community,” panel includes Joyce
Wilson, El Paso city manager, and Janet
Marie Smith, Baltimore Orioles; Pearl Stable, 307 Pearl Pkwy
For more info on these events, visit www.
aiasa.org
ASA
American Subcontractors Association
Oscar Rada and Elias Rivera with Best Landscaping recently updated and fixed storm damage
to the grounds of the Construction News, VBX and PACE building on Naco Perrin. –cw
Jun. 3-4: Annual ASA Fishing Tournament; Rockport, TX; team of 4 $450
Jun. 7: Lunch & Learn: Cyber Security;
Gardner Law Firm; 11am-1pm; members
$25, non-members $35
Jun. 15: Safety Update Luncheon, ESC
Safety Consultants, 11:30am-1pm
Jun. 16: Summer Shindig, Bluebonnet
Palace, 4-7pm
Jun. 21: General Membership meeting;
The Petroleum Club; 6:30pm; members
$35, non-members $40
Jun. 22: Safety Training: What Should Be
in Your Safety Program; ESC Consultants;
11:30am-1pm; members $15, non-members $20
Jun. 28: Seminar Series: Lien & Bond
Laws; Gardner Law Firm; 1:30-4:30pm;
members $35, non-members $45
CFMA
HCA de San Antonio
IEC
Independent Electrical Contractors
Events are held at the chapter office
unless otherwise stated.
Jun. 2: Ideal National Contest Challenge,
5-9:30pm
Jun. 4: Print Reading/Intro to Estimating
Class, 9am-3:30pm
Jun. 13: Continuing Education Class,
5-9pm
Jun. 16: IEC Graduation, Leon Valley
Community Center, 6:30-8:30pm
Jun. 17: 8th Annual IEC Sporting Clay Fun
Shoot, San Antonio Gun Club, noon-6pm
Jun. 18: Electrical Maintenance Technician Class, 8am-5pm
Jun. 30: Membership Luncheon, Old San
Francisco Steakhouse, 11:30am-1:30pm
For more info on these events, call 210431-9861 or visit www.iecsanantonio.com
MCA–SMACNA
Mechanical Contractors Association
Sheet Metal & A/C Nat’l Assn.
Jun. 1: Regular & Associates meeting,
Oak Hills Country Club, 11:30am
Jun. 8: Labor/Management meeting,
MCA-SMACNA office, 11am
Jun. 15: Joint Industry Fund meeting,
Oak Hills Country Club, 11:30am
NAWIC
Nat’l Assn. of Women in Construction
Jun. 1: General meeting; Petroleum
Club; 6pm; DIRRT Build Better CEU,
speaker is Andrée Iffrig, LEED AP
Jun. 4: Stars Game Night, AT&T Center
PHCC
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors
Jun. 2: PHC Industry Shoot (PHCC, ABPA,
ASPE), San Antonio Gun Club
Jun. 4, 18, 25: Plumbers Continuing Ed,
PHCC-SA classroom
Jun. 9-10: PHCC Texas Apprentice Contest; St. Philip’s College-SW Campus; 3rd
and 4th year apprentices representing
member companies are invited to compete; winner will compete at the PHCC
National CONNECT Contest in October;
for more info, call Alicia Dover, PHCC Texas executive director, at 800-992-7422
Jun. 10: PHCC Texas annual meeting &
Business Owner Mini-Bootcamp, St. Philip’s College-SW Campus
Jun. 8-12: Journeyman Pre-Test classes:
Plumber OSHA10, 8-Hour and 18-Hour
Code; PHCC-SA classroom
Construction Financial Mgmt. Assn.
SAMCA
Jun. 14: Chapter Officer Installation and
Scholarship
Presentation
Banquet;
11:30am-1pm; Old San Francisco; speaker
is Julissa Carielo, Tejas Premier; RSVP to
Stephanie at 210-828-6281, ext. 1575, or
stephanie.harms@padgett-cpa.com
San Antonio Masonry Contractors Assn.
CMAA
Construction Mgmt. Assn. of America
Jun. 16: Monthly meeting; Texas 811
with Doug Meeks; 11:30am-1pm; Ferguson’s Showroom, 303 North Park Dr.;
lunch will be served; register online at
www.sctxcmaa.org or pay cash, check or
credit card at the door; members $25,
$30 after 7pm on Jun. 14; guests $30, $35
after 7pm on Jun. 14
Jun. 9: Golden Trowel Awards, Sunset
Station, 6:30pm
Jun. 29: Membership meeting; Pappadeaux Restaurant, 76 NE Loop 410;
noon; $30 per person; speaker is Kathy
Rodriguez, City of San Antonio – Historic
Preservation; for more info, call Debbie at
830-606-5556
SDA
Society for Design Administration
Jun. 23: Monthly Chapter Luncheon;
noon – 1pm; “Invest in Your Personal Development”; The Barn Door, 8400 N. New
Braunfels Ave.; for more info, email angelica@tejaspremierbc.com
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
C
ities and towns around the world
continue to struggle with the complex issues surrounding homelessness. Many well-meaning plans directed
at getting people off the streets and into
permanent housing have failed again and
again.
But on a 27-acre tract of land in eastern
Travis County, a faith-based program with
a history of successfully housing homeless
people has joined hands with the Austin
building community to create something
magical – Community First Village.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF), which
owns Community First Village, began
with five parishioners of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Austin. Now
MLF, with plenty of volunteers, has
opened a new concept in housing – most
likely the first of its kind in the nation.
“This project is the product of the
most diverse group of contractors on the
planet,” laughs Alan Graham, president
and CEO of Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
Meagan McCoy Jones, COO for McCoy’s Building Supply, has been on the
board of MLF for five years, serving one
year as chairman.
“Part of our job [as human beings] is
to care for our neighbors,” she says. “As
we got to know the people without
homes in our neighborhood, we came to
know Alan and the work of Mobile Loaves
& Fishes.”
When McCoy got involved with the
organization it was already searching for
a site for Community First Village. Around
that same time, American Institute of Architects Austin Chapter (AIA) launched a
competition called Tiny Victories, where
architects and builders built tiny homes
suitable for housing the homeless. Many
of the homes at Community First are replicas of the winning designs from that
competition.
“McCoy’s has a relationship with
many of the independent contractors, remodelers and home builders,” McCoy
says. “A year ago MLF had an event that
hosted 40-50 builders at the village
Page 29
Building a community
David Weekley Homes employees were hard
at work buiding a tiny home at the Village.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes Thomas Aitchison, communications director, and Alan Graham, CEO,
sit in front of an outdoor movie screen and several bed and breakfast tee-pees at Community
First Village.
where they met with the architects of the
winning homes. We asked each of them
to commit to raising $18,000 and to building two homes.”
Community First Village is well on its
way to being a finished project, although
there is still plenty of construction going
on and more planned.
The whole vibe of the Village is a
spot-on reflection of what makes the
nearby city of Austin such an eclectic and
unique collection of people and places.
“A profound catastrophic loss of family is the single largest issue of homeless,”
says Graham. “We are creating a community within geographical boundaries, but
also within the community at large.”
The tiny houses are on one side (there
are currently 120) and are colorful and
odd - in a fun and good way. The creative
and whimsical minds of Austin’s architectural community are clearly on display.
On the other side are the RVs. In all,
there will be 100. The RVs are slightly larg-
er than the tiny homes.
Also on the site are 20 canvas-sided
cottages. At the front are a selection of
small RV’s and tee-pees that serve as a
bed and breakfast for groups who want
to come in and volunteer or attend symposiums on how the concept works. Recently, representatives from five U.S. cities
were there for a multi-day symposium.
There’s a blacksmith shop, a beautiful and just finished art center for microenterprise opportunities, an organic
four-acre garden, and chickens, goats
and beehives.
Every Saturday there is a farmers
market for residents to find fresh vegetables and eggs for free.
The Austin building community has
stepped up and embraced the Village, a
$14.5 million project. Many of the involved builders usually build high-end
homes in the area, but Graham and McCoy believe the builders are just as committed to building superlative tiny
Alan Graham sits in a ready-to-rent tiny home.
homes at the Village.
“You have to expand your knowledge of what home is,” Graham says.
McCoy’s Building Supply furnishes
all building supplies at cost. The company delivers all the needed supplies for
each home to the site and area homebuilders who have raised the money and
committed to building send in crews to
build the homes.
Meagan, her husband and her parents are also building a large operations
center and maintenance shop for the
community.
“It’s a cool model,” she says. “It’s both
about lifting people off the streets and
equally important, it’s a collaboration between all these people in the building
community.”
For more on Community First Village,
as well as a list of builders and architects
involved in the project, please see our website at constructionnews.net. You can also
find out more at mlf.org. –cw
“Top Chip” Winners L-R: Dave Sanchez and the RBFCU team, Patrick Nixon, Patti Rutherford
and Angel Leal
“Top Golf” Winners L-R: Dave Sanchez, HCA
executive director, and the DES team, Earl
Roberts and Jeremy Leal
Their top
golfers
W
ith almost 100 golfers stepping
up to play, the Hispanic Contractors Association (HCA) de
San Antonio held its second annual Topgolf Experience May 13 with food, fun,
door prizes, and of course, some friendly
competition. The fundraiser tournament
at the Topgolf San Antonio venue helps
support HCA’s educational programs for
members and non-members. –mh
Construction News
Texas
Style



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San Antonio
Austin
South Texas
Houston
South Texas
Page 30
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
Retreat to an island feast
W
hen the weather heats up, the
SpawGlass team gathers people from across the San Antonio
construction community to celebrate
Hawaiian-style. The general contractor
hosted its 19th annual Luau May 19 at
Bluebonnet Palace in Selma. –mh
L-R: Jeff Froboese, Alterman; Sebastian Perez,
Alamo Grounds Control; Greg Bailey, Aerotek
L-R: Donna and Vincent Real, Laurie and Forrest Wilson, Big State Electric
Submitted to Construction News
Taking safety to new heights
L-R: Clay Ochoa, Vicki Towery, and Mike Munoz, Firetrol; Shannon Cadena, Trade Management;
Nicole Krueger, Williams Scotsman; Michael Benavidez, Firetrol
Skanska USA hosted its 12th annual Safety Week activities May 1-7 with the “Ladders
Last” campaign. Nearly 400 local construction workers at the Methodist Children’s
Hospital emergency department and tower addition project gathered for a presentation
by Chamberlin on ladder safety. Another of the onsite activities included Skanska
employees and subcontractors on the job participating in a can building competition
where all cans used in the contest were donated to the San Antonio Food Bank.
Facility Solutions Group won first place. –mh
L-R: Tom Wright, Padgett Stratemann; Jordon
Brown and John Hoot, Quality Fence &
Welding; Bobby Friedell, SpawGlass
L-R: John Wright, Alterman; Al Vazquez,
SpawGlass
L-R: Melissa Kidd, Pape-Dawson Engineers;
Monty Howard, Marmon Mok; Erika
Passailaigue, Datum Engineers; Louis Rowe
L-R: Gary Baldwin and Thomas Schluter,
Beckwith Electronic Engineering
Dana Calonge, Construction News
and Jeff Froboese, Alterman
L-R: Dallas Cloud and Robin Clayton, Moore
Erection; Chuck Calvin, SpawGlass
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016
W
Page 31
Family fun at Fiesta Texas
ith its headquarters in San Antonio, Bartlett Cocke General
Contractors hosted its annual
Employee Picnic May 7 at Six Flags Fiesta
Texas. Employees and their families traveled from all four of the company’s regional offices, including Austin, Dallas/
Fort Worth and Houston/Baytown, to enjoy a fully catered all-you-can-eat lunch
and all-day admission to the park. –mh
Among the attendees to Bartlett Cocke’s annual picnic were these employees have more than
20 years of service with the general contractor. L-R: Cathie Blackler, project manager; Jimmy
Worswick, superintendent; Jose Sigala, laborer; Jose Mosqueda, carpenter; Bartlett Cocke, Jr.,
founder; Harry Moeller, president; and Randy Pawelek, CEO and chairman
James Deaven, recently hired controller, with
his wife, Lisa, and children, Jacob and Jill
Left:
Randy Pawelek (center), CEO and chairman,
with Bartlett and Winifred Cocke
These new employees were experiencing the company picnic for the first time.
Harry Moeller (right center), president, with his wife, Rita; sons, Hunter, Wes and Daniel;
daughter-in-law, Morgan; and grandsons, Brooks and Boone
Construction News ON LOCATION
Submitted to Construction News
Creating works of art
Victory party
L-R: Adrian Cavallini, and his father, Manlio Cavallini, have elaborate, colorful displays
of the stained glass The Cavallini Company designs, crafts and supplies in their stained
glass studio and showroom on Fredericksburg Road. –mh
L-R: JR Trevino, vice president of business development for Treco Enterprises and a
director on the Hispanic Contractors Association (HCA) de San Antonio board, and Bexar
County Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin Wolff celebrated Trevino’s election to Council
Place 1 in Castle Hills May 7 at Guajillo’s Mexican Restaurant. –mh
Submitted to Construction News
A romantic moment at Subfest
At the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) Subfest May 6, Jordon Brown, Quality
Fence & Welding as well as a director on the ASA board and member of the Subfest
Committee, was caught off guard when Zach Knerr, a journeyman for Davila Electric, popped
the question! She said yes, and the couple plans to tie the knot sometime next year. –mh
Page 32
San Antonio Construction News • Jun 2016