Companies - Page 198

More than 330 members, guests and friends of the SITE Improvement Association joined in celebrating the group’s 50^th anniversary recently at Busch Stadium.  Participants enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on the track surrounding the ballfield; a place many don’t often get to visit. And then were treated to dinner in the Redbird Club’s air conditioned spaces.

“Welcome to an event 50 years in the making,” said SITE President Mike Kappel (Byrne & Jones Construction) in addressing the gathering.  “SITE remains the largest independent construction association operating in this area, if not the state of Missouri.  That is something that should make us all proud.”

As part of the celebration, SITE honored 14 companies that are still in business 50 years after helping to establish the construction association.  Eleven of the 14 charter members of SITE were recognized with an award by the association.  They included, Bumb Construction, Hoette Concrete Construction Company, J.S. Aubuchon Concrete Company, Oreo and Botta Concrete Company, R.V. Wagner, Inc., Vee-Jay Cement Contracting Company, Budrovich Excavating, Nor-Vel Construction Company, N.B. West Contracting Company, Bussen Quarries and Fabick Cat.  Three other charter companies could not attend the event.

In addition to the charter members of SITE, 39 other companies were recognized for being members of the association for 25 years or more.  Representatives of these companies were also given awards recognizing their contributions to the association.

SITE itself was recognized by the public officials in each of the four metro counties surrounding St. Louis (St. Charles, St. Louis, Franklin and Jefferson) and by the city of St. Louis with proclamations congratulating the association on its 50^th  Anniversary and the many accomplishments the association has achieved in that time.

The 10^th Annual Swinging Fore Dreams Golf Tournament sponsored by S. M. Wilson & Co. raised $20,000 for The Dream Factory of St. Louis on May 16, 2016 at Glen Echo Country Club.  More than 50 construction-related companies and organizations supported the event, which helps children with critical and chronic illnesses to realize their dreams.

“Since 2007, S. M. Wilson has helped raise more than $319,000 for The Dream Factory of St. Louis,” said Amy Berg, President of S. M. Wilson.  “This annual event underscores our core commitment to serve and enrich the community with passion and inspiration.”

“The St. Louis Chapter of Dream Factory would like to thank S. M. Wilson for once again holding their annual golf tournament to benefit our chapter,” said Mike Gaterman, President of Dream Factory of St. Louis. “We are so grateful for the donation year after year; with your help, we are able to continue to grant dreams to critically and chronically ill children ages three to eighteen. The money you raise stays in the St. Louis area to benefit local children.”

The Dream Factory of Saint Louis was founded in 1983 — one of 36 non-profit Dream Factory chapters around the country. The Dream Factory is the only children’s wish-granting organization that does not limit its mission to children who have life-threatening illness. The organization believes children with chronic illnesses and disorders also suffer from substantial emotional and physical pain. To learn more about the St. Louis Dream Factory, visit www.dreamfactoryincstl.org .

S. M. Wilson is a full-service construction management, design/build and general contracting firm with headquarters in St. Louis.

Performance, luxury and versatility will converge at one location this winter when Jim Butler unveils a new 14,800-square foot, glass-walled dealership in Maplewood. The facility will house sales and service for Maserati and Alfa Romeo. Construction begins this month.

Jim Butler officials said that now is the right time to bring more choices in high-performance luxury vehicles to St. Louis drivers. “Drivers accustomed to European luxury brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz are bored and are looking for more excitement in their driving experience. Jim Butler Maserati and Alfa Romeo bring together the high tech engineering, passionate Italian design and our own Black Tie Service to provide that thrill behind the wheel,” said Brad Sowers, president and co-owner of Jim Butler Auto Group.

The two carmakers offer models ranging from sports cars to mid-size luxury sedans to high performance luxury SUVs.  Jim Butler launched its Maserati dealership in Spring 2015 at a temporary location in Crestwood, next to Jim Butler Auto Plaza.  The Alfa Romeo dealership will debut when the facility opens in early 2017.

The building, designed by M² Architecture Studio and built by Hensley Construction, places visual emphasis on the tall, glass showroom as the jewel case, highlighting the cars within as sparkling jewels. Interior finishes are all high-end, commensurate with the quality of the vehicles within.

Full height, glass-walled sales offices, a custom customer lounge, and material selection areas surround the open showroom floor. The facility will also feature a service center with eight service bays and a retail parts department.

The project is part of the Sunnen Station Development, which is being handled by Cozad Commercial Real Estate, situated at the northeast corner of South Hanley Road and Sunnen Drive.

Sowers said that Jim Butler’s staff will consist of product experts that will provide the top service that luxury car buyers deserve.  Services include personnel to help facilitate the purchase or lease of new or pre-owned vehicles, courtesy transportation vehicles and service options that include pick-up and delivery.   See all the new vehicles at www.jimbutlermaserati.com

Jim Butler Auto Group has served the St. Louis region with new and pre-owned sales and service for more than 30 years.

The Korte Company has come up with an infographic to use in marketing its design-build services. It uses data from McGraw-Hill Construction and the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management to make a cogent argument that design-build is the most efficient project delivery method. This infographic suggests that design-build can produce a project cost estimate about three months before traditional construction methods.

Click on the URL below to review the infographic.

Design Build Infographic

Milestone 25^th Anniversary of Banking Service to Arnold Community

Midwest BankCentre has completed the renovation of its bank lobby and interior at 1950 Richardson Road in Arnold, Mo., coinciding with its 25^th anniversary of serving Arnold customers and businesses.

According to Branch Manager Cristy Heuer, the highlight of the refreshed space is a new community room equipped with a big-screen TV, WiFi access and a whiteboard. The room, which can accommodate up to 15 people, is available free of charge to community groups. In addition, Midwest BankCentre installed new computer stations for customers.

“Just from word-of-mouth, we already have our first community room booking,” noted Heuer, a Jefferson County native. “The fact that groups can meet here after regular bank hours is going to be appealing. To make that possible, we invested in an electronic security system that permits meeting-goers to use the kitchen and the community room while restricting access to other areas of the bank.”

The Richardson Road branch is one of four Midwest BankCentre locations in Jefferson County. Its other branches in the county are in Crystal City, DeSoto and Imperial.

Gray Design Group served as architect, with R.G. Ross Construction Co., Inc. as the general contractor.

HDA Architects is designing a 110,000 sf warehouse expansion for HEB Grocery’s Retail Support Center in Houston, Texas.  The Support Center is a complex operation that supports the grocery chain’s operations in America’s fourth largest metropolitan area.

The building consists insulated metal panel on a conventionally framed steel structure, which allows for significant product storage increase through increased racking height. This increased height will allow HEB to load and unload pallets over 50′ in the air.

Midwest BankCentre and Lindenwood University broke ground on the financial institution’s second branch in St. Charles County. The new bank at 1820 First Capitol Drive in the city of St. Charles will be part of Lindenwood’s newUniversity Commons mixed-use development now taking shape across the street from the university’s main campus. The branch is slated to open in late 2016.

The new 5,200-square-foot bank will feature a brick and glass exterior, three indoor teller stations, customer computer kiosks, and a community meeting room with a big-screen TV, WiFi service and a whiteboard. A 24-hour ATM and two drive-up banking lanes will also be provided. A staff of at least 10 professionals will serve customers. Leading the St. Louis-based project team is M+H Architects, project architect; Blanton Construction, general contractor; and O’Toole Design Associates, interior designer.

Midwest BankCentre has been a mainstay of St. Louis community banking for 110 years. With total assets exceeding $1.6 billion, the locally-owned community bank provides integrated financial services with expertise in commercial, retail and digital banking; business cash management; mortgage lending; and consumer lending.

Founded in 1827, Lindenwood University educates about 16,000 students a year in more than 200 degree programs at two campuses, 10 regional centers and extension sites throughout Missouri.

Midwest BankCentre (www.midwestbankcentre.com), founded in St. Louis in 1906, employs a staff of 270 currently working at 16 bank locations in the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County.

By Stephanie Woodcock

The two largest wall and ceiling contractors in St. Louis, Niehaus Building Services and TJ Wies Contracting, team up on the BJC Campus Renewal Project, a 558,000-square-foot, 12-story expansion of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and 222,000-square-foot, 12-story expansion of St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

This complex project demanded new ways of working together from the start. ACW Alliance, comprised of general contractors, Alberici Corp., Clayco Corp., and S.M. Wilson Co, came together specifically for the purpose of capturing this project. In similar fashion, the wall and ceiling scope demanded a unique relationship between top specialty contractors.

TJ Wies and Niehaus Building Services took on the challenge, but not without a few ground rules first. While neither company leader goes as far as subscribing to the term “friendly competitors,” aspects of trust and cooperation are present.

President of Niehaus Building Services Kyle Lopez, said, “Tim Wies (CEO of TJ Wies) and I have a ‘trust but verify’ deal. We were open about the rules of engagement at the beginning of the project and have stuck to them. We share this project, but we both understand we are competing on everything else. We both take pride in our work and are proud of our company’s history. From the office to the field, wearing our brands is a badge synonymous with quality and that’s what makes us both successful and able to deliver for our clients and for this project.”

Though both company brands are worn on shirts in the field, the craftspeople operate as one team. This team approach was designed before the project bid as a prerequisite for collaboration. Each company designated a point person as PM leader, and TJ Wies took the lead as contractor with Niehaus Building Services as the subcontractor.

Wies said, “we felt that our customer (ACW) and their customer (BJC) would be best served with one strong project management team, one point of contact, and therefore one set of learning curves. This project is extremely complex, has a very demanding schedule, and has a very tight jobsite footprint. With the TJ Wies/Niehaus team, we are able to provide two of the largest and most sophisticated wall and ceiling contractors, who could handle the complexity, speed / manpower requirements, and the financial demands of this large of a project. Also, by teaming up with Niehaus, neither of us are stretching our capacity to compete for and complete other projects for our other customers.”

He added that a “teaming effort would have to make sense for both parties” and “for teaming to be successful, transparency and trust are essential.” Each company needs the other for different but significant reasons. While the partnership makes sense for business reasons, it goes beyond putting numbers in a bid for the sake of securing the project.

First and foremost, each company has to trust the other, as well as create a “checks and balances” approach.

Lopez said, “both companies have assigned project managers, who work closely together to keep things balanced,” and both companies “report monthly to each other and have open books for this deal.” He calls the deal “really simple,” because “we agreed at the onset on a profit and cost split and we manage to that… with a few ground rules of course.”

Wies said, “our history helps to reinforce the trust we have in each other,” because “both companies have roots in the industry that precede our current endeavors and our predecessors have always held each other in high regard.”

History, track record, trust, transparency, and communication are all necessary elements in the rules of engagement for a successful collaboration. Those elements must be in place even before the magic of teamwork and cooperation materializes.

While Lopez called the process “simple,” getting to that point of simplicity took some work. Getting systems in place, managing and determining expectations, setting parameters and trust dynamics all happened at the top first, before numbers or bids were submitted. The rules of engagement were in place before any actual “engagement” took place.

Wies explained, “We are working as one because it comes from the top down.  Both organizations feel that this teaming arrangement was the best option for our organizations as well as our customer. This spirit of teamwork is then promoted and reinforced on the craftsperson level. A successful project is a product of successful team work.”

When asked what struggles have occurred as a result of working with a competitor, each company head demurred, explaining that having an “agreement up front” to provide their top craftspeople and team to this project has helped keep the project on track.

Lopez said, “deciding what to expose about our business was a short-term concern, but our businesses don’t run the same way. We don’t try to be like TJ Wies, and I know they don’t try to be like Niehaus, so there really haven’t been many struggles.” He added, “When you have two very competitive companies with leaders that have Type A personalities, it always makes things more difficult, but we both understand who the lead is and what responsibilities each handle.  Both teams have great estimators and project managers, and each has a unique skillset.”

In fact, the two owners talk about how the differences between the companies has become a strength rather than a detriment, as the individual capabilities of each company is learned by the other. Niehaus brought technological expertise with PlanGrid and Ipads, as well overall experience on the BJC campus. TJ Wies brought a large craftsperson workforce, financial stability, and experience with a Total Station Robotic layout.

Yet, before each company gets warm and fuzzy with the other, they remind us and each other that they remain strong competitors on all other projects. Wies summed up the sentiment well: “I am handsomely paid to try to ‘beat your brains out’ from 7am until 5pm. After that, we can have a beer and have fun.”

When asked to interpret the term “friendly competitor,” Wies said, “A friendly competitor is an oxymoron. If you compete, you compete to win, period. You can be friends that compete, but in my mind, you can’t be ‘friendly competitors.’”

Lopez agreed that the term doesn’t work for him either, saying, “This is a business deal in the purest sense. When we first sat down to discuss the deal, the first question was about our customers and the advantage for them. When we both agreed and understood that answer, the next question was about us. The two answers aligned, and we went after it.”

While they both continue to “go after it” together and “go after each other” on other projects, they adhere to their rules of engagement. “We both know the implications if we go against what we agreed to,” Lopez said.

“The negotiation on the front end proves vital to the success of an extensive collaboration. Knowing the process and expectations going into the project ensures confidence among our teams. Leadership, at every level, makes this happen.” 

As President of Seal the Deal Too, Stephanie Woodcock works with companies in overall brand development and cultivating their digital identity through electronic newsletters, social media management and websites.

Local Roofing Contractor Acknowledged for Exceptional Installation Quality

Carlisle SynTec Systems, a leading manufacturer of single-ply roofing materials for more than 50 years, recently honored RSS Roofing Services & Solutions with its 2016 Perfection Award. Each year, Carlisle presents this award to a small percentage of its top contractors, which are selected based on a history of exceptional installation quality and warranty claim performance.

“We are honored to accept this great achievement for the second consecutive year, and look forward to many more,” said Joe Lauberth, General Manager of RSS Roofing Services & Solutions. “This award is Carlisle’s way to acknowledge and thank contractors for whom perfection is the highest priority. The RSS team demonstrates the importance of perfection on every job.”

The Perfection Award is a distinction that recognizes the top tier of Carlisle’s contractors annually. To qualify, contractors must complete a minimum amount of warranted work and number of jobs per year. Recipients are then selected based on installation quality and warranty claim performance.

“Carlisle appreciates contractors who are committed to providing top-quality workmanship and RSS Roofing Services & Solutions exemplifies this philosophy,” said Nick Shears, Carlisle’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Contractors who receive this award have consistently demonstrated high levels of skill and expertise, but what truly sets them apart is their commitment to perfection on every installation.”

For more information on this award, visit Carlisle SynTec Systems’ website here. RSS Roofing Services and Solutions is a nationally-recognized, design-build roofing contractor covering projects of all sizes for the commercial, industrial and institutional markets.