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White Rock Lake sculpture

Pamela Bickle’s resolve has helped her establish companies and take control of her health.

Volunteering and building commu-nity-minded projects is an impor-tant part of The Linbeck Group’s

culture. That’s why building the new Presbyterian Night Shelter’s Morris Foun-dation Women & Children’s Center in Fort Worth was in perfect alignment with the general contracting company’s values. “One of the great things about work-ing for Linbeck is that we work for clients that do a greater good,” project manager Lizandro “Chando” Paiz explains. “The clients’ missions are very different but they all have the same underlying goal, which is helping humanity.” Paiz, superintendent Albert Suarez, estimator/project engineer Sherri Rankin, architect Bennett Benner Part-ners and shelter CEO Toby Owen collab-orated to create a warm and welcoming residence for homeless women and chil-dren. The new two-story, 30,000-sf build-

ing replaces the former residence build-ing, which had lacked privacy and was showing years of wear. The new building provides private rooms and semi-private bathrooms for up to 40 families, with a large study/recreation space and offices dedicated to partner agencies. Linbeck began in April 2015 to con-struct the new $8.4 million shelter at 2320 Poplar St., which involved selective demolition and asbestos abatement to prepare the site. During this process, the Linbeck team took great care to protect and coexist with a homeless population living nearby. With the area secure and ready for the foundation concrete pour, rain poured instead. The on-site rain gauge recorded 14 inches in May, costing the team 15 days on their critical path and delaying foundation activities until June. Fortunately, careful planning and the use

One never knows about best-laid, five-year plans. Back when Dar-rell and Christina Dixon worked

for another fire alarm contractor, they had planned to open a similar business of their own in five years. But they got a sur-prise – two-and- a-half years early. “They sold their business,” Darrell says. “It was a time where we either had to do something or we had to continue to work for somebody else.” Fortunately, the couple had planned the work and worked the plan efficiently to that point. “We’d always been really frugal with our money and stockpiled cash whenev-er we could,” he explains. “Any bonuses that I had ever been given weren’t spent, they were just tucked away because we

knew this was going to happen to us someday, we just didn’t know when. We knew that we were going to have to go several months without a paycheck. We lived on a budget and stuck to it. Thank goodness we did because it came sooner than we thought it was going to.” They crossed their fingers and estab-lished Fantastic Systems Inc., a fire alarm, security and low voltage specialty con-tracting company, in 2010. Still, with two kids to support, it was daunting to be the first in either of their families to start a business and go without trusted advice or regular pay. With president Christina’s lev-el head and thriftiness and vice president Darrell’s experience managing people

Fantastic Systems Inc.’s Darrell Dixon

The new Presbyterian Night Shelter’s Morris Foundation Women & Children’s Centerwas a special project for The Linbeck Group.

Whenever life handed Pamela Bickle lemons, she just set up her lemonade stand and went

right to work. After her divorce 20 years ago, she wasted no time in moving her family to Arlington and establishing Inca-Sol En-vironmental Inc. in October 1995. Within one month, she landed a major federal contract and, with her team of 10 em-ployees, completed asbestos and lead abatement, soil and water remediation and demolition projects for the Fort Worth Naval Air Station (NAS) Joint Re-serve Base. By the 10-year mark, her company had nearly 80 employees and she had branched out into janitorial services as well. But it wasn’t enough for her to just

grow her own companies. “My passion for federal contracting as federal program manager helped me to help others,“ she says. “Construction is a cut-throat business and we have to be prepared to get into the competition with bigger fish in the environmental and construction services. “My passion is opening job opportu-nities for other businesses,” she contin-ues. “I like to team up the project with small business owners and help them be-come successful on federal contracting government contracts. Small businesses need federal agencies for the growth; we often flounder through the red tape. One misstep can result in hefty fines, can-celled contracts, even jail time. I want to

Page 2 Dallas/Fort Worth Construction News • AUG 2016

Inside sales rep Holly Pollard enjoys bringing her 11-week old Yellow Lab Cooper to her job at ABC Supply in Fort Worth. When Cooper isn’t busy learning about roofing,

he’s being trained on the ins and outs of dove hunting. -mjm

Training is ruffConstruction News ON LOCATION

Getting a raiseConstruction News JOB SIGHT

The FB McIntire Equipment Co. crew rise early in the morning to raise air conditioning units off of a Fiesta supermarket roof in Fort Worth. –mjm

Trimming the family treeConstruction News ON LOCATION

Mark Huffman, owner of Trim Works Door & Moulding Supply, is the second generation to work in the business, and has been installing trim for 35 years. –mjm

Straight to your inbox

In June 2016, Construction News took another leap into the future of the publishing business with the launch of

digital subscriptions to all four papers. Construction News has been working diligently to stay up to date with the lat-est technology to bring all the news of the Texas construction industry to stake-holders, companies, businesses, associa-tions and anybody else who wants to keep up with industry news. “We started things off last year with a redesigned website that makes it faster and easier for people to access all of our great stories and photos – as well as pro-viding a new platform for our advertisers and their customers,” says Buddy Doeb-bler, publisher. During the first months of 2016, Doe-bbler and the marketing staff have been hard at work bringing Construction News up to speed with social media. “We now have various and constant-ly updated ways for construction indus-try stakeholders to find news, photos and advertisers through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter,” says Dana Calonge, ac-

count manager. “We welcome you to reach out to us and interact with us in all these new ways.” Capping off all of these forays into technology’s latest ways to stay connect-ed – at least for now – is the recent re-lease of digital subscriptions to the pa-pers. “Construction News is the largest in-dustry newspaper group in Texas and we wanted to make it available to everyone free of charge,” says Doebbler. “With the new digital subscription, the paper will be able to be accessed and/or download-ed each month free. Subscribers will get an email notification when the paper – or papers – they have subscribed to are ready to be opened. All of the content that is available in the printed product will be the same in the digital product.” Doebbler added that those compa-nies who qualify for a free subscription to the printed product will still receive their copy in the mail. Papers will also still be available on various rack locations in all the areas Construction News covers. –cw

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Dallas/Fort Worth Construction News • AUG 2016 Page 3

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

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Melissa Jones-Meyer . . . . . Dallas/Fort Worth [email protected] 817-731-4823

Dallas Fort Worth

The Dallas Fort Worth Construction News (ISSN 1547-7657) is published monthly by Construction News Ltd., dba Dallas/Fort Worth Construction News, and distributed by mail to construction related companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. All submissions should be mailed to our editorial offices. We reserve the right to edit any materials submitted. No fees for materials, copy or photographs submitted will be due unless agreed upon in advance in writing. Submissions will be published at our discretion on a space-available basis. Construction News, Ltd., dba Dallas Fort Worth Construction News, will not be liable for errors in copy or in advertisements beyond the actual cost of space occupied by the error. Publisher reserves the right to reject any advertisement at any time.

If you are a construction-related companyin Dallas, Tarrant, Collin or Denton counties

and are not receiving a free copy of theDallas/Fort Worth Construction News, callfor a Requester Form, or visit our website.

Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buddy DoebblerEditorial/Production . . . . . . . Reesa Doebbler Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cyndi WrightAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lacie CortezProduction Manager. . . . . . . . . . Sue Johnson

Account Manager . . . . . . . . . . .Dana Calonge

L-R: The great thing about building a performance venue next to your office is enjoying it during work breaks. David Gameiro, Justin Gilmore, AIA, and Matt Schneider of

architecture, interiors and planning firm Level 5 Design Group in Mansfield, can literally step away from their neighboring office and over to The LOT Downtown, on which they

recently completed construction. –mjm

Work break LOT-tery Construction News ON LOCATION

It’s hard to imagine that there is any-one out there who has not heard about drones. Plenty of people have

bought their own drones – either for play or for professional reasons. Many of you have probably heard that strange buzz-ing noise a drone makes and looked up to see one flying overhead. There is a

long list of professional applications for drones, and Brett H o f f s t a d t , PMP, a proj-ect manage-ment con-sultant for co mp anies that want to use new

technologies to improve their business, says drone use for construction compa-nies ticks a lot of boxes. “There are major benefits for using unmanned aerial drones for construction companies,” Hoffstadt says. “Site survey-ing, construction and building inspec-tions and project progress documenta-tion are three of those benefits.” Hoffstadt, who has two degrees in aerospace engineering, owns Brett Hoff-stadt Consulting, and is a certified proj-ect manager. He says drones have been available for more than 20 years, but in 2014 the Federal Aviation Administration became responsible for regulating their commer-cial use – and the rules are changing again in August.

In the drone zone

“That applies to construction compa-nies,” he said. “On Aug. 29, the latest rules should become official and it will make it easier for individuals and companies to operate drones.” Before, those wanting to operate a drone commercially had to receive an ex-emption from the FAA. After August, once a company or an individual has sat-isfied the requirements of the new FAA Parts 107 rules, they will be free to use drones as part of their business activities. Hoffstadt cautions, however, that the new rules still have many safety and op-erational limitations. Currently, on paper as of July 5, Hoff-stadt says, there were 350 people in Texas who have received the FAA exemption and are allowed to operate drones com-mercially. Some of the new rules, which were

introduced on June 21 and went into a 60-day review period, include: Drones cannot be heavier than 55-lbs and peo-ple on a job site must be in a covered structure with a roof or a covered vehicle if they are not one of the drone opera-tors. However, companies can request a waiver to these rules, Hoffstadt explains. “Benefits include not necessarily grinding all work at the site to a halt while the drone is flying and the heavy equip-ment machinery workers can continue to work,” he says. Hoffstadt is offering an online course that will help project managers to inte-grate drones into their projects. The course will be available in August and early signups and more information can be found at: http://www.engineery-ourinnovation.com/drone-revolution/uas-part-107-ops/

Of course, construction companies in Texas are already making use of drone technology. One such company is Rog-ers-O’Brien Construction, which works all over Texas and has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston. “We use drones on almost all our projects,” says Christine Massoud, Asso-ciate AIA, CDT, LEED GA, DBIA Member and regional VDC director. “It gives us the ability to document far more than con-struction progress. “For example, we take shots of all the reinforcing and rebar on deck before a concrete pour,” she says. “We can use those images prior to coring and leave them for the building owner – that can be huge information to them in the future in case of build out or renovation.” Massoud pointed out that drone use is also a great way to be able to check and photo a skin as it is going up. “We have the ability to fly the drone in from a distance and zoom in to identify flashing issues or water proofing leaks,” she says. She also said another way the com-pany currently uses drones is prior to the project, to identify site conditions and best locations for things like where the construction trailer might be located, as well as what entries and exits make sense for deliveries, based on traffic patterns. In the end, it’s up to individual compa-nies to decide whether drone technology can help their business, but both Hoffstadt and Massoud agree that, by their stan-dards, the technology is a time and money saver in certain situations. –cw

Rogers-O’Brien Construction uses drones to document rebar placement before a concrete pour. (photo courtesy Rogers-O’Brien)

Brett Hoffstadt


David SnellOwner

DFW Custom Wood Floors

Although it would seem that a man who owns three businesses would live to work, David Snell actually

works to live the good life, and to live it now. By working smarter and not harder, Snell can slip away from work to spend his time his way, which is usually by the water.

Where are you originally from? I was born in Rochester, NY. We moved to Virginia, back to Buffalo, then to Plano in 1974 and I grew up there. I went to Plano East High School and then went to Louisiana Tech in Rushton, LA where I got an aviation degree.

What spurred your interest in avia-tion? I always thought I was going to be a pilot full-time. During college as a sopho-more in 1991, I started Starlight Flight in Addison, which does 30- and 60-minute airplane tours of the city and also offers aerial photography and survey-related services for companies that are building buildings. I was driving home on the weekends to fly. I’ve still been able to continue my passion for flying; I have other guys who fly for me and then I go fly when I want. We use rental airplanes. Christmas by far is our busiest season with the light tours. Sometimes, we’ll have a Marine in town who wants to propose to his girl-friend and wants us to write out “Marry Me” in big letters with Christmas lights on the ground. For Valentine’s this year, we had a re-cord three days over that weekend to get in 76 30-minute flights; we usually do about 30, but for some reason we were just off-the-hook busy. With Starlight Flight, I don’t have to do too much unless I have to go out and fly. I have a person who schedules the flights and the pilots for me, but I have to go do it if they can’t. I have my crawfish catering business and wood flooring business, also.

Tell me about those businesses. I started Cajun Crawfish Co. in 1998 as a weekend side business; I was work-ing as a recruiter/marketing rep for an IT

recruiting firm. It originated from attend-ing school in Louisiana, flying planes and learning about crawfish. My roommate at the time found a crawfish-boiling trailer in South Louisiana and we worked the summer with an owner of a crawfish business. We saw such popularity on the weekends when we sold crawfish in front of grocery stores that I went from work-ing out of a cooler to negotiating a deal with Tom Thumb to lease our own space. It got so busy that I left recruiting and did crawfish catering full-time in 2006. The seasonal crawfish business is ba-sically February around Fat Tuesday through July 4, and then crawfish season is over and I get a really nice break. We do catering for a lot of trade-based and association-based crawfish boils, including many engineering asso-ciations and the Dallas Builders Associa-tion. I have to make sure I have the labor in place or I go do it. This is the business that keeps me the busiest; I have the largest crawfish ca-tering business and I’ve moved just un-der 150,000 lbs. of crawfish in 90 different crawfish boils over the last six months.

How does your wood floor business factor into it, and how busy does it keep you compared to your other two businesses? The flooring business keeps me the second busiest, but honestly, if I didn’t have the floor business I would be sitting around until February of the next year only doing flights. The floor business income has en-abled me to save money and be more comfortable with being self-employed. In the crawfish business, I spend that money down between July and February because I have a solid six months out of the year that I don’t get a lot of catering requests.

Your businesses are so different from each other. What attracted you to the flooring business? About 10 years ago, I wanted to change out carpet in my house for hard-woods, so I looked all around trying to find somebody that I thought would do well putting them in. Once I found some-one to put my floors in, I watched the whole process in my home and thought it was extremely cool. Being an entrepreneur at heart, the idea dawned on me that I could sell this to people that wanted to get rid of their carpet and tile which doesn’t seem to be as “in” as the wood floors. I found a niche with the hand scraped wood floors and refinishing of existing wood floors. I do floors year-round and I’ve been very fortunate to do well with the floor business. Floors have been slowing down a little lately, but truth be told, I have en-joyed having a little break. It’s hard to do crawfish and floor bids and be two places at the same time. All three things that I do are niche businesses where I found a specific mar-ket. They are hobbies that I turned into businesses. My phone rings non-stop be-

tween those and floor bids coming in al-most daily. It’s a bit of a balancing act.

Do you equally enjoy all three, or do you have a particular soft spot for one of the businesses? Flying is cool and sometimes I have to pinch myself and say, “Gosh, I get paid to go fly people around the city. That’s not such a bad deal!” With the crawfish business, I’m get-ting paid to be the center of attention at somebody’s corporate event; everybody wants to check out the crawfish trailer. I must be getting old though, because I send my guys to do the sorority events at Texas Christian University. I don’t want to drive halfway across town even though we’re basically getting paid to eat, drink and flirt –which is not that bad a gig ei-ther! I’m lazy though and would rather stay at my home and pay them to go do it. With the flooring, I subcontract two guys who have both been doing work for me for close to eight years, and I have great referrals with them. Considering the time invested, I’d say the easiest mon-ey I make of the three things I do is with the floor business. It has worked out well. All three things kept me from living under a bridge.

Did you have the entrepreneurial spir-it as a child? You mean like when I had a lemon-ade stand, or I was hanging upside down in the trees, looking for the biggest clumps of mistletoe with the whitest ber-ries to take in my wagon up to Safeway and started making five to ten bucks a hit for selling mistletoe? Yeah, I was that kid. I’m a big fan of the lemonade stand because those kids will end up being the salespeople. I will usually drop off ten or twenty bucks at a stand just to watch them freak out! I have a 12-year-old neighbor, Brian Ellis, who was diagnosed with diabetes in April. He is setting up his lemonade stand and baked goods at different places to raise $20,000 to not only buy a diabetic alert dog for himself, but for his friend who also has diabetes. I got in touch with his mom to see how I can help him be-cause I am so taken back by the fact that he is raising money selflessly, not like I used to do. I’m definitely a fan of any kid with a lemonade stand.

Do new ideas come to you easily? Do you just have a knack for seeing op-portunity where others don’t? I always say you either have it or you don’t when it comes to working for your-self. I was never one to need my hand held and told what to do work-wise. I think I land on my own two feet. The unique part of where I believe I got that from is that I was adopted as a baby. I found my biological mom more than 20 years ago and my maternal grandfather, Sidney, was self-employed with a metal scrap business. He always liked cars and boats and was said to be a flashy, flirtatious type. I have that entrepreneurial quality and I honestly think some of that is ge-netic. I don’t have genetic ties to my adop-tive parents, and neither they nor anyone one in their family is self-employed. I’m the only one who has gone on my own quest, and having had a couple of cars and boats and all of that, it’s right in Sid-ney’s footsteps. I have a photo of him on my desk and you would be amazed, we almost look identical. When I found my biological mom and aunt and uncle, it was almost as if they had gotten their dad back too. I honestly believe that is where I got my entrepreneurial background; I believe it’s genetic.

Are you able to stay connected to your biological family? Unfortunately, almost everyone ex-cept for my biological mom is deceased. She’s flying here in a few weeks and I am taking her and several of our friends on a

Maui vacation. Both of my moms like each other too; it has just been a really cool relationship.

With three businesses, do you have time for any hobbies at all? Sure I do. As I say to everybody, “I work to make free time.” To me, self-employment is not necessarily how much I can always make but rather its about making as much as I can and working as little as possible. To me, that’s education if I can have people like the three things I do and make as much money as I can, but work smart. I like the lake. I have a boat which has hand scraped hardwoods at the dock that I can show and sell to other slip own-ers to offset my slip cost. We are out at Lake Lewisville at a dock I split with a friend of mine; we have a bass boat and we like to go fishing.

What are your plans for the future? I’d like for someone to drop cash in my lap and buy the floor business and the crawfish business so I wouldn’t really have to work. Life to me is a weird deal: Why do you want to work the entire healthy part of your life, make a big pile of money so you can go to a nursing home or retire and look at your money in the bank? Life seems backwards to me. I always thought a cool Steven Spiel-berg movie would be that 10 random people are given $2 million and told, “It’s your money, but when you run out your life will be over. Use it as best you can.” You would see who manages their money the best. I think that storyline would be so amazingly unique, and ev-eryone would identify with that because the type of person you are would fit into one of the categories. It might be inter-esting to see how many people blow through their money. To me, it should be that you start off with a lot of money and when you die, you’re out instead of working the entire good part of your life, making money and trying to get some nice things along the way. I don’t want to work all of the time. Life is too short; I think it’s about ex-periences and having the time to go do things.

So if I dropped money in your lap and BOOM, bought your businesses, what would you do? I’d probably take a nice fishing trip; I’ve been to the Gulf and I like to go to Maui. I don’t go out and buy stuff, like a new car, every year. I’d probably do a little bit of traveling, which would be nice. And a lake house wouldn’t be bad.

DFW Custom Wood Floors in Frisco customizes and installs hand scraped wood flooring. –mjm

Seen on the road and on the Internet, these billboards are urging caution along construction-addled stretches of the I-35 corridor. This one shows promise of an

end to the continuous construction. We can’t wait for that day! –mh

A sign of things to come

Floor, flights and crawfish -David Snell does it all.


The 2016 Texas DFW Council Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA) Tactical Shooting Event was held Jun. 10 at a private outdoor shooting range near Ferris.

With the assistance of Group 6 Training, more than 40 participants simulated tactical take-downs of real-life hostage situations. –mjm

Tactical practiceSubmitted to Construction News

Y’know … as in “Florida”Construction News ON LOCATION

Even though the company’s name is Orlando Florida Construction, clients shouldn’t expect a long-distance relationship. Owner Orlando Gallardo says the concrete repair business is Fort Worth-based, but the “Florida” part is a wink to everyone who has ever

teased him about his name! –mjm

It’s great to be 58!

This year’s annual meeting of the Earthmoving Contractors Associa-tion of Texas (ECAT) celebrated its

58th year, because contractors from around the San Antonio area first orga-nized the group in 1958, meeting and organizing the association with the help of HOLT CAT of San Antonio. “Since then the organization has been through three name changes,” notes Carl Englerth, ECAT executive sec-retary. “They first started out as the Con-servation Contractors Association of Texas and evolved into a national organi-zation known as the Texas Chapter of the Land Improvement Contractors of Amer-ica and went on to become the Earth-moving Contractors of Texas.” The celebration of the 58th year was held Jul. 15-16 at the Hilton Garden in Duncanville. Members enjoyed a skeet and trap shoot, a tour of the Cummins South Plains engine plant, educational programs from Texas 811 and Westward

Environmental among others, and net-working sessions. Winners in the 2016 ECAT Scholarship Program were Bradley Cornell, Claude; Margaret Downing, Bee-ville; Natalie Irving, Canyon Lake; Katyln Hester, Giddings; and Toye Walter, Gid-dings. 2016-17 officers elected were John Frerich, Rowena – president, Joe Ed Jen-schke, Kerrville – vice president, and Trooper Irving, Canyon Lake – secretary. District directors elected were Clint Cor-nell, Claude, Dist. 1; Marty Caston, Robert Lee, Dist. 2; Eddie Leatherwood, Dublin, Dist. 3; Bobby Watts, Decatur, Dist. 4; Ed Smith, Fairfield, Dist. 5; J.D. Godby, Clifton, Dist. 6; Galen Weber, Uvalde, Dist. 7; Tom-my Watson, Cuero, Dist. 8; Clint Krause, New Braunfels, Dist. 9; Edwin Eckhardt, Fredericksburg, Dist. 10; John Puckett, Coleman, Dist. 11; Dennis Foerster, Gid-dings, Dist. 12; Chad Ottmers, Fredericks-burg, Director-at-Large; and Dave Sund, San Antonio, Associate Director. –mh

These are nine of the fourteen winners of ECAT’s 2016 Skeet & Trap Shoot held at Alpine Range Supply near Fort Worth during the association’s 58th Annual Meeting in Duncanville. Since the score sheets were “misplaced mysteriously,” all 14 were awarded were champion

blue ribbons and all still claim they were the winner.

L-R: John Frerich, ECAT president, presented Eddie Leatherwood, Dublin, C.E.L.

Contractors, with an award recognizing him as one of the longest serving members as an ECAT officer and director. He joined ECAT in 1976 and has been an active member for 40

years.

L-R: Galen Weber, Uvalde, Weber Construction, received the Membership

Award from John Frerich. He has won this award several times over the past several

years, pursuing contractors to join using his knowledge of the earthmoving business as

well as equipment used in earthmoving.

Quarterly surveyConstruction News ON LOCATION

Jim Casner, surveyor for Dunaway Associates in Fort Worth, has worked in the industry 25 years. –mjm

The big 4-0!Submitted to Construction News

The PCL Contract Bonding Agency team celebrated the 40th birthday of Melissa Lesch (second from right) at Pappadeaux on Jul. 19.

Happy birthday, Melissa (… did you save us a cupcake?)! –mjm


Winners take all

Horseshoe Bay Resort was the pic-ture perfect setting for the Associ-ated General Contractors Texas

Building Branch (AGC-TBB) 2016 conven-tion Jun. 12-14. A golf tournament, safety awards luncheon and, of course, the an-ticipated annual outstanding construc-tion awards were all part of the adven-ture. –cw

Photos by Catherine Bezman

Congrats to the winners!

Building ($0 - $2M)1125 WashingtonWm. Taylor & Co. (CentexAGC)

Building ($2 - $5M)Renovations & Additions to Crestview Church of Christ, Pearson Construction Inc. (CentexAGC) Building ($5 - $10M)FEMA Dome and Performing Arts CenterDaniels Building & Construction Inc. (Southeast Texas)

Specialty ConstructionParkland Pedestrian Sky-Bridges

Azteca-Russell Joint Venture

InteriorsCrossroads Children’s Building

BakerTriangle

Mechanical 2 ($5 -10M)KPMG Plaza at HALL Arts

Polk Mechanical Company

Mechanical 3 (over $10M)Methodist Mansfield Medical Center

TDIndustries

Other SpecialtiesLove Field Modernization Program

Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing

Building ($10 - $30M)Texas Orthopedic Vertical ExpansionJ.T. Vaughn Construction LLC, (Hous-ton) Building ($30 - $75 M)UT Health Science Center San Antonio, Academic Learning & Teaching CenterBartlett Cocke General Contractors(San Antonio) Building (Over $75M)Austin Bergstrom International Airport Consolidated Rental Car FacilityAustin Commercial LP (Austin) Design Build ($0 - $10M)Voestalpine Texas, LLC A10, Administra-tion BuildingB. E. Beecroft Co. Inc. (South Texas) Design Build ($10 - $30M)Houston Methodist Orthopedic Sports Medicine Building at Sugar LandLinbeck Group LLC (Houston) Design Build (Over $30M)ExxonMobil Consolidated Lab ProjectH.B. Neild & Sons Inc. (Southeast Texas) Health Care ($0 - $10M)The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Clark Clinic 11th Floor Re-development, J.T. Vaughn Construction LLC, (Houston) Health Care ($10 - $30M)Kelsey-Seybold Main Campus ExpansionLinbeck Group LLC (Houston)

Health Care (Over $30M)Clinical Services WingJ.T. Vaughn Construction LLC, (Hous-ton)

Residential Multi-FamilyForest City Texas Texas & Cityplace Co.Rogers-O'Brien Construction Company (TEXO) Historical RenovationMagnolia Market SilosPearson Construction Inc., (CentexAGC) Interior Finish-Out ($0 - $500K)Baylor Pro Player Locker RoomMazanec Construction Co. Inc (CentexAGC)

Interior Finish-Out ($500K - $2M)Prestonwood Country ClubT&G Constructors (TEXO) Interior Finish-Out ($2 - $5M)Baylor Memorial Dining HallMazanec Construction Co. Inc (CentexAGC) Interior Finish-Out (Over $5M)JLABS @ TMCLinbeck Group LLC (Houston) Industrial/Warehouse ($0 - $5M)Gearench Machining FacilityBarsh Company (CentexAGC)

Industrial/Warehouse (Over $5M)Renovations and Additions, Balcones Distillery, Barsh Company (CentexAGC)

Specialty ConstructionParkland Pedestrian Sky-BridgesAzteca-Russell Joint Venture (TEXO)

Electrical 1 ($0 - 5M)Bexar County Courthouse Double Height Courtroom Renovation & Gondeck Addi-tion, Southwest Electrical Contracting, (San Antonio) Electrical 2 ($5 10M)CPS Energy Data Center Project ECHOAlterman Inc. (San Antonio)

Electrical 3 (over $10M)State Farm Regional CampusThe Brandt Companies LLC (TEXO) InteriorsCrossroads Children's BuildingBakerTriangle (TEXO)

ExteriorsPreston Hollow EstateLinbeck Group LLC (Houston) Mechanical 2 ($5 10M)KPMG Plaza at HALL ArtsPolk Mechanical Company (TEXO) Mechanical 3 (over $10M)Methodist Mansfield Medical CenterTDIndustries (TEXO)

Other SpecialtiesLove Field Modernization ProgramChamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing (TEXO)

The summer has recently brought two very sunny moments to Baker-Triangle.

The company held its 2016 BakerTri-angle Golf Classic Jun. 9 at the Dallas Ath-letic Club. The event was an enormous success, raising over $26,000 for the Our-Calling Ministry, a faith-based organiza-tion that assists the homeless.

Good times BakerTriangle also celebrated two important employee anniversaries. Bak-erDrywall vice president Charles Arm-bruster and project superintendent Kyle Caviness both were recognized for 30 years of service by Baker Drywall president Johnny Barnes. –mjm

BakerTriangle employees played to benefit OurCalling Ministry’s homeless mission.

L-R: OurCalling’s Jonathan Habashy, BakerTriangle’s Brad Baker and Steve Baker and OurCalling’s executive director Wayne Walker

L-R: Baker Drywall vice president Charles Armbruster, president Johnny Barnesand project superintendent Kyle Caviness


Pier review

The United Masonry Contractors Association’s (UMCA) Dallas/Fort Worth chapter hosted its an-nual Golden Trowel Awards Jun. 7. The event recog-

nizes member individuals and companies whose proj-ects inspire the improvement of excellence standards in the masonry field. –mjm Photos by Lacy Gladu

Educational Facility (Public Funded K-12)Three Lakes Middle School

Skinner Masonry

Resident Single, Crescent ResidenceTST Construction Services LLC

Residential Multi-Family, Winding Creek, Southlake, TexasAustin Masonry Construction

Block, Walmart – Royse CityArtisan Masonry Inc.

Industrial/Commercial, Old Parkland West CampusDMG Masonry Ltd.

Education Facility (College/University)TCU Mary Couts Burnett Library Addition - CannonDesign

Skinner Masonry LLP

Government/Institutional, Church of the Incarnation Sanctuary, Education and Welcome Center Addition

Dee Brown Inc.

Hardscape/LandscapeWayne Ferguson Plaza

Austin Masonry Construction

Restoration290 Carpenter Renovations Project

Austin Masonry Construction

www.constructionnews.net TexasStyle

publishing the industry’s news

San Antonio Austin South Texas Houston


L-R: RLB Construction workers (and cousins) Jimmy Marsh and Trevor Marsh load siding into the lift as they help renovate a NAPA Auto Parts store in Fort Worth. –mjm

Construction cousinsConstruction News JOB SIGHT

Running a-truckConstruction News ON LOCATION

It’s not only the roofers who are busy this time of year! Rafael Vargas, owner of Vargas Trucking in Dallas, hauls roofing materials to be used on some of the Metroplex’s many

roofing projects scheduled right now. –mjm

Basics of data privacy and securityWilliam Innes, Assurance Associate

Fisher, Herbst, & Kemble, P.C.San Antonio, TX

As technological progress has expand-ed the scope and possibilities for the

collection, storage, and sharing of elec-tronic data, organizations and individuals confront a complex set of issues related to the usage, disclosure, dissemination and security of data, all of which fall in the realm of data privacy. As reported by Symantec, three common and frequent sources of data breaches have been iden-tified: external targeted attacks, mali-cious insiders, and well-meaning insid-ers. The tangible costs of a data breach mostly include legal and forensic expens-es, cost of data restoration, increased in-surance premiums, and various commu-nication expenses. Also there is a signifi-cant amount of time and effort by staff in the aftermath of the data breach. Cyber breaches are caused by many different factors. The three most com-mon factors are malicious or criminal at-tack, system glitch, and human factor. Malicious or criminals attacks are attacks on the information system using mali-cious software code known as malware and it is the most prevalent form of cyber breach. The second most common cause of cyber breaches is human error. Examples of human error are people losing their laptops, giving out their passwords to unauthorized parties, executing transac-tions based on unauthorized sources and opening malicious emails. Finally, the third most common cause of cyber breach is system glitches. Examples of system glitches are outdat-ed firewalls, security patches and outdat-ed operating systems. Although, certain attacks such as hacking, phishing, theft and fraud are somewhat inevitable for most organizations, using some of the following techniques may reduce the chance of an attack.Encryption – Encryption is used to pro-tect both static data, i.e. data on a laptop or USB stick, and also data on a wireless network. Encryption works by convert-ing data into a form that cannot be easily read by unauthorized users. In order to understand the data, a decryption key is needed. The decryption key is an algo-rithm that undoes the work of the en-cryption algorithm. The correct level of encryption will frustrate potential hack-ers and criminals enough to keep them away from your private data.Anti-Malware Software – Implement-ing anti-malware software is very com-mon but effective deterrent against mali-

cious software. Anti-malware software works best when it’s integrated with the network or system firewall. Anti-malware software can help detect and eliminate spam, adware, spyware and end-point security issues. End point security has been known to be most likely to break down, due to significant use of laptops, USB sticks and smart phones that are more susceptible to misplacement or non-attendance, thereby resulting in possible data breach.Authentication – Authentication deter-mines whether someone or something is authorized or legitimate. This is most commonly implemented by the use of strong passwords and dual authentica-tion. It’s recommended to create a pass-word policy that will enforce a minimum length of passwords (at least 8 with one special character), schedule regular pass-word changes (at least a bare minimum of semi-annually) and that will keep pre-vious passwords stored in order to pre-vent repeat passwords (minimum last 3). Weak passwords can be easily cracked within minutes. Other more secure au-thentication processes include finger-printing, the use of a token and two peo-ple requirement to complete wire trans-fers and on-line banking payments. Written Plan and Education – It is im-portant to have a formal written disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan, which should include incident re-sponses to cyber breaches. Additionally, ensure all staff is briefed on the plan at least annually. Companies should also consider social engineering and network penetration testing. By following these few steps an or-ganization will be better equipped to provide a safe and secure network for its confidential data. Data privacy and data security is crucial for every entity. The risk of data breaches and cyber-threats is real and increasing, with serious economic and legal consequences. Every organiza-tion, public or private, large or small, for profit or nonprofit, has or manages vol-umes of data that someone may desire. While data breaches and cyber-attacks have compromised the private and confi-dential data of millions, numerous other intents have been averted due to appro-priate best practices, cyber risk manage-ment and strong and robust security. William Innes is an Assurance Associ-ate for Fisher, Herbst, & Kemble, P.C.He can be reached at 210-477-2720 or at [email protected].

Motor Vehicle Record (MVR)program insights

Wes Pitts, Sr. Vice PresidentUSI SouthwestAustin, TX

A key risk management activity is main-taining a list of approved drivers,

whereby nobody off the approved list is ever allowed to operate any motor vehi-cle in any capacity for the company. You never want to send a list of drivers to your agent for which you have not already checked the MVR and approved the driver(s) based on your grading and eval-uation criteria. Most carriers expect you to check MVR’s on drivers pre-hire, and then your entire list of drivers at least an-nually, and more often for those that may be on probation according to your writ-ten MVR program. Carriers generally should not be re-lied upon to check MVR’s in order to ap-prove or not approve drivers for the com-pany – this practice was changed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) which requires the employer/hiring co. to get a signed acknowledgment from the em-ployee/driver before running their MVR. Neither insurance carriers nor your bro-ker can police that you are getting these FCRA acknowledgment forms signed. Carriers rely on you to have an actively managed MVR program, to avoid unnec-essary risks in you as their insured allow-ing a driver with a poor or unacceptable record to drive on the insured’s behalf and potentially become an extremely at-tractive case for a personal injury attor-ney, i.e. negligent entrustment! Carriers will check or may spot check the drivers list provided to them to verify that you are in fact checking and approv-ing drivers. For this reason, the carrier should never receive an unacceptable MVR as you have already checked and cleared them as an approved driver. The list of potential drivers for the company should include full-time, part-time or incidental, and all employed or 1099 independent driver exposures whether assigned a company vehicle or using their own personally owned or oth-erwise non-owned vehicle or customer vehicle on company business in any ca-pacity. (Note on 1099 independents – in-clude if regularly used and driving for the company – always if reimbursed for fuel and/or mileage). A driver is not considered someone that comes to work, does their work and

then leaves. This type of employee would generally not be included on the drivers list. However, if these individuals could, as part of their job duty, have occasion to drive for the company, then they abso-lutely should be included. If not included in their job duty, then likely would not include on the driver list. Again, the MVR should be checked be-fore they get added to your approved list. The last thing you want to happen is you have an individual that is not a driver for the company, yet you feel you need to include them on the drivers list just to be safe and you hadn’t yet checked their MVR as you didn’t consider them a driver. Your agent then provides their infor-mation to your carrier, who in turn checks their record and it comes back unaccept-able. The carrier now knows about them and wants to exclude them as a driver. The issue here is your agent at this point usually cannot get your carrier to back off of wanting a signed Driver Exclu-sion on this individual. Now you could be forced to give up your “incidental what if” coverage if one of these non-driver in-dividuals did go against company policy and somehow got into a capacity of driv-ing related to your company even though he or she had not been approved as a driver. It is highly recommended if you feel there is any potential driving exposure at all, then the individual should be subject to your written Auto Safety policy rules and you should include them in your MVR Program and determine up front and on an ongoing basis whether they are approved or not approved – then only those approved are reported to the insurance company. It is advisable to review your auto rules, guidelines, and safety policy and specifically your Motor Vehicle Record program with your agent at least annu-ally. Wes Pitts is a Sr. Vice President and Southwest Regional Construction Practice Leader for USI Southwest - Austin, TX, USA. Wes can be contacted at 512-651-4107, or [email protected].


Break in the heatConstruction News JOB SIGHT

Roofer Hector Martinez is grateful for a rare 88° F summer day as he and other Phoenix Roofing workers prepare to work on top of the CED Miller Electric Supply/

Kite’s Custom Cleaners building in Fort Worth. –mjm

A concrete bondConstruction News ON LOCATION

L-R: Brothers Goyo Vasquez and Martin Vasquez are able to spend quality time together as they work alongside each other for Lewisville-based asphalt and concrete repair

company Pave-It Inc. –mjm

Employer responsibilitiesto protect temporary workersJoann NatarajanCompliance Assistance SpecialistOSHAAustin, TX

To ensure that there is a clear understanding of each employer’s role in protecting employees, OSHA rec-

ommends that the temporary staffing agency and the host employer set out their respective responsibilities

for compliance with applicable OSHA standards in their contract. Including such terms in a contract will ensure that each employer complies with all relevant regulatory re-quirements, thereby avoiding confusion as to the employer’s obligations.

Joint Responsibility While the extent of responsibility un-der the law of staffing agencies and host employers is dependent on the specific facts of each case, staffing agencies and host employers are jointly responsible for maintaining a safe work environment for temporary workers - including, for exam-ple, ensuring that OSHA’s training, hazard communication, and recordkeeping re-quirements are fulfilled. OSHA could hold both the host and temporary employers responsible for the violative condition(s) - and that can in-clude lack of adequate training regarding workplace hazards. Temporary staffing agencies and host employers share con-trol over the worker, and are therefore jointly responsible for temporary work-ers’ safety and health. OSHA has concerns that some em-ployers may use temporary workers as a way to avoid meeting all their compli-ance obligations under the OSH Act and other worker protection laws; that tem-porary workers get placed in a variety of jobs, including the most hazardous jobs; that temporary workers are more vulner-able to workplace safety and health haz-ards and retaliation than workers in tradi-tional employment relationships; that temporary workers are often not given adequate safety and health training or explanations of their duties by either the temporary staffing agency or the host employer. Therefore, it is essential that both employers comply with all relevant OSHA requirements.

Both Host Employers and Staffing Agencies Have Roles

Both host employers and staffing agencies have roles in complying with workplace health and safety require-ments and they share responsibility for ensuring worker safety and health.A key concept is that each employer should consider the hazards it is in a posi-tion to prevent and correct, and in a posi-tion to comply with OSHA standards. For example: staffing agencies might pro-vide general safety and health training, and host employers provide specific training tailored to the particular work-place equipment/hazards.

• The key is communication be-tween the agency and the host to ensure that the necessary protections are pro-vided. • Staffing agencies have a duty to inquire into the conditions of their work-ers’ assigned workplaces. They must en-sure that they are sending workers to a safe workplace. • Ignorance of hazards is not an ex-cuse.

OSHA is participating in the first an-nual OSHA Construction Conference to be held in Irving in October 2016. To learn more about this event or to sign up to attend, visit http://www.oshacon.org/.

[email protected] x232

Can I quit working if they don’t pay me?Bethany F. Thompson, ShareholderGardner LawSan Antonio, TX

Contractors, subcontractors, and sup-pliers frequently consider whether

they can stop work on a project when their customer fails to properly make payments for their work. This can be a risky proposition and as a result it should be undertaken in an informed and thoughtful manner, if at all. The first place a contractor, subcon-tractor, or supplier should look to deter-mine if they can stop work for nonpay-ment is at the terms of their contract. Is there a forced work clause requiring them to continue working despite a dis-pute on pricing or scheduling? Are there notice provisions that must be complied with before action is taken? Is there an enforceable contingent payment clause that applies in the current situation? These are all key issues that will vary from project to project and construction con-tracts increasingly have difficult and complicated terms for downstream par-ties. The next consideration for contrac-tors, subcontractors, or suppliers should be various laws that might apply to their situation. Prompt Payment statutes ap-ply in the context of both public (Gov-ernment Code Chapter 2251) and private (Property Code Chapter 28) work in Tex-as. These laws allow for the right to stop work a certain number of days after writ-ten notice is furnished and where cura-tive action is not taken. Note, there is a special separate section in the Govern-ment Code that applies only to TxDOT work. Those furnishing labor or materials should verify in writing whether the up-stream parties have been paid. This can be easily done with public information requests where a project is owned by a governmental entity. For private proj-ects, parties should obtain written verifi-cation where possible of the payment status between companies. Lastly, and perhaps most important-ly for many contractors and subcontrac-tors, the unpaid party should consider whether they have furnished a perfor-mance bond on the project in question. Where a performance bond has been furnished, the stakes are substantially higher; if a work stoppage is wrongful, it could likely constitute a default under

the terms of the bond. Because bonds are secured by indemnity agreements with the individual owners of a company in their personal capacities, this is an excep-tionally risky proposition. As a general rule, it is not recommended contractors or subcontractors stop work on a project where they have furnished a perfor-mance bond unless there is a clear and unequivocal prior breach by their cus-tomer and they have also properly fur-nished all necessary notices in writing prior to taking any action to stop work. Overall, the decision to stop work in-volves both legal and business related factors, and should not be done lightly. Where the unpaid party is substantially close to completion of their scope of work, it is typically recommended they complete the project to avoid unneces-sary issues in litigation down the road. However, if there is still a considerable amount of work to be done and there are credible indications of continued prob-lems on the project, the unpaid party should take what actions are available to mitigate their risk. Ultimately, the deci-sion to stop work is tremendously case specific and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Bethany F. Thompson is a Shareholder with Gardner Law in San Antonio, Texas, and her practice focuses on construction litigation. In a time when many cases settle before trial, she has first chair state court jury trial experience, arbitration experience, and bench trial experience in federal court. Ms. Thompson represents general contrac-tors, subcontractors, and suppliers on a va-riety of issues including contract drafting and negotiation, lien and bond payment claims, delay and defect claims, and con-tract default and terminations. She has pre-sented seminars for a variety of organiza-tions throughout the state, guest lectured on construction contracts at Texas A&M, and is active in both her local chapter of the American Subcontractors Association and the Attorney Council for the national level of ASA. Contact: [email protected].


L-R: Ayax Arrivillaga, owner of A Flooring Services in Fort Worth, and his helper Victor Argumedo load materials and tools for the tile, carpet, wood flooring or granite

countertop project scheduled for the day. – mjm

Load ‘em upConstruction News ON LOCATION

Twenty-six years! That’s how long service tech Steven Crow has worked at Phillips & Associates in Arlington. Crow says working for “good people” is the reason for his long-

time loyalty to the electrical systems construction and design company. –mjm

Continuous ratingConstruction News ON LOCATION

Matt SmartWork-In SupervisorTrison Construction Group

Industry FOLKS

Since Matt Smart moved for his dad’s business from Essex, a county 30

minutes south of London, to North Texas, he’s had to get used to two things fast. He first had to become acclimated to the scorching summers here “It was hot,” Smart says about the weather upon his arrival last summer. “It started out rough! But we used to travel here quite a lot, so I kind of knew what to expect. But living and working in [this heat] is just a whole different experience from London.” And of course, the second thing he became accustomed to were ques-tions about where he’s from. Is he wea-ry of all of the cowpokes asking him about the origins of his accent? “Yes and no,” he laughs good-na-turedly. “I mean, I like it because it’s a novelty. Most people think I’m from Boston, or north or west Texas. I get that a lot! But I’ve lived here a year, and I’m getting a bit of a Texas twang.” Those two things aside, the 23-year-old has settled in nicely. “I just like the way of life here,” he says. “It’s so relaxed and chilled out.

The traffic doesn’t compare to London, no way. It takes 2 hours to go eight miles in London. Gas is good here too because we pay $10 a gallon there.” Smart has also found a job he en-joys as a work-in supervisor for general contractor Trison Construction Group. “I like being hands-on and build-ing stuff,” he says. “Trison is a family-run company. They’re good people to work with and we do good work.” When he’s not working, Smart en-joys spending time with his son and recently joined a local soccer team. “Coming from England, that’s our main sport. I’ve played it since I was 3 years old,” he says. “I’m alright, but I wouldn’t say I was good!” Keller-based Trison Construction Group is a full service commercial gener-al contractor. –mjm

www.constructionnews.net


Summer fishingupdate

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.

Well I must say that this has got to be one of the windiest Julys that I can

remember. July weather is typically the beginning of summer hot days that start preparing you for the dog days of sum-mer. Instead we have had spring-like windy mornings that turn into blown out days. These conditions make it hard to get to some of the more favorable fishing spots we are accustomed to fishing in mid-summer months. Nonetheless, we are catching limits of trout with scattered

reds and an occasional flounder or two. I know complaining about the wind will come back and haunt me in August when I’ll be begging for a breeze about 10 AM in the morning. With August around the corner, I’m expecting to start seeing quite a few more redfish in the mix of things. Typi-cally, our redfish start schooling up in mid-August and feed up before they make their way to the gulf. Schools of bull reds will start making their way out of Baffin Bay working their way down the King Ranch shorelines. It is wise to keep a

rod rigged up with a weeklies gold spoon or a 1/4 oz. jig head with you favorite soft plastic. These schools can appear out of nowhere and you have to have some-thing that is heavy enough to cast when there’s not much wind or casting into a light wind. Once you have located the school you can probably stay close enough to them with your trolling motor to catch several before they disappear. An alternative to beating the heat and getting into some of the bigger game species in our waters this month is to explore some of the deeper waters off-

Bill Morris of San Antonio caught this monster redfish on a recent fishing trip with Steve Schultz Outdoors. Fish measured 35+inches and weighed over 15 lbs. (Released)

shore. With easy access through the packery channel, one can be trolling baits within minutes of the JKF causeway. Some of the species most commonly sought after in our waters include king mackerel (kingfish), Spanish mackerel, red snapper, ling and several other spe-cies of fish. Proper tackle is required to land some of these bigger, more power-ful fish than your ordinary bay tackle, so be prepared when busting through the jetties. This type of fishing can be very enjoyable for the whole group because you never know what you’re going to catch and most every time I take a group offshore we experience something unique. This month can also be perfect for fishing the beach front for trout and reds also. Anchoring your boat between the guts along the beach and pitching croakers or perch in these guts can pro-duce some fantastic action if conditions are right. One thing to remember when you’re fishing the beach or any water in the gulf is to keep an eye out for waves that can sneak up on you when you least expect it. Make sure everyone is aware of the dangers while fishing in the gulf be-cause conditions can change in an in-stant. Summer schedule is filling quickly but fall dates are still available. Don’t wait until 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 [email protected]. Good luck and Good Fishing

Everyonehas a story.

Send usyours.

Send us your photos and stories.Outdoor activities and sports

Fishing • Hunting • Biking • RacingHobbies • Crafts • Entertainment

All content and photos are placed free of charge.Email to: [email protected]

or call Melissa at 817-731-4823


Half or Full Day Fishing Trips

All Bait, Tackle & EquipmentFurnished

Your catch Filleted andBagged for You

Furnish your TPWD FishingLicense & Refreshments,

and WE DO THE REST!Ken Milam Guide Service(325) 379-2051

www.striperfever.com

I don’t know how many times we have watched weekend fishermen come all

the way up the lake to find my boat dock because they think that will help them catch bait. Often overheard, “There must be bait here; Ken Milam’s dock is here!” No, my dock is here because my wife was raised here and it’s where we live. The bait is in the lake. It’s up to you to find it, just like I have to. I am always amazed at the way fisher-men fall into the trap of thinking they can duplicate a good fishing trip. It is easy to think that if you go to the very same spot and present the same bait you should get another good stringer. We can’t help that we tend to think like that. So much of our day to day life works pretty well by that for-mula, but not fishing. You have to remem-ber that fish are fickle little boogers from bait size to trophy size. If you remember that you caught bait yesterday on a certain spot surely

you can do it again today, right? Wrong. What you didn’t figure on was that even if the wind and moon and weather didn’t change a bit there still might have been a school of bass that found your secret bait hole and spent the last couple hours chasing them for breakfast. The same thing is true for game fish.

Ken Milam’s Fishing Line

Patterning: The art of thinking like a fish

Since 1981, Ken Milam has been guiding fishing trips for striped bass on LakeBuchanan in the Texas Hill Country, You can hear Ken on the radio as follows:

The Great Outdoors: 5-8 am Saturday on 1300, The Zone, Austin andThe Great Outdoors: 5-7 am Saturday on 1200 WOAI San AntonioThe Sunday Sportsman: 6-8 am Sunday on 1300, The Zone, Austin

All on iHeart Radio

Lusk 36 lb. bluecat

With technology being what it is to-day, I have given up on worrying about people carrying gps devices onboard for our charter fishing trips. I finally realized that even if someone can find my current spot, the location won’t do much good if he doesn’t know how to fish it. That is where learning to understand the patterns that fish follow will save the day. Fish have yearly cycles. When it comes to reproduction, they have pre-spawn, the spawn and post-spawn and each of these phases has distinctive behavior that only applies to their species. Read up on the fish you want to catch so you can under-stand the timing of these very strong cy-cles. That will tell you when they want to feed and when they might not need to and where on a body of water they might be driven to go. The weather and the moon phase can matter too. Overnight storms, sudden cold fronts and a bright moon can cause them to turn off or on depending on whether you get there before or after

these events. Fish are often moved from place to place by wind and wave. A good angler learns to use the memory of the conditions of the day to try to understand why the fish did or didn’t bite. Once you learn more about patterns and start applying them to future trips you become a lot more able to find fish. An-other good thing is if you can’t get to the fishing spot you like, you can look for other places on the water that mimic those con-ditions and find more fish. Any time you spend on the water catching or not will help you to build your experience and make you a better fisherman.

According to Texas Parks & Wild-life News, local lakes – most

recently Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth – tested positive for zebra mussels. Originally from Eurasia, rapid-ly-reproducing zebra mussels can have serious economic, environ-mental and recreational impacts on Texas reservoirs. First found in Texas in 2009, mussels have fully infested six Texas Lakes in three river basins. Remember that it is against the law to possess or transport ze-bra mussels (either dead or alive). And don’t forget to “Clean, Drain and Dry” boats, trailers and gear every time when traveling from one lake to another. –mjm

Hustleout themussel


Make a fish!Pickin’ of the seaSubmitted to Construction News

Trade Management’s David Meyer caught this massive tuna while on a trip to Puerta Vallarta with his family. –mjm

Marty Murphy, DFW division presi-dent of Pavecon LTD Co, must have

made quite the wish when he blew out his birthday candles in June. Celebrating the special occasion with his family in Cabo, Murphy caught a 10-lb. shark (he

cut the line rather than landing it in the boat). His wife Cheryl Murphy and god-son Konner Kyser both caught enormous striped Marlins, helping to make it a birthday to remember. –mjm

Above: Cheryl Murphy’s Marlin and Below: Konner Kyser


Park and brideSubmitted to Construction News

Taking in the scenery

Butler and Butler Masonry’s Brandon Stewart paused to take in the scenery as he kayaked at Fort Worth’s Panther Island Pavilion Jul. 17. –mjm

It was 29 degrees and snowing, but the hearts of Ann Hicks of Hicks Resource

Consulting and Otis Hatcher Jr. were warm as they were married May 10 in the Mammoth Springs Chapel in Yellowstone National Park. The ceremony was per-formed by the park chaplain and wit-nessed by chaplain’s wife and the con-gregation. Hicks’ bouquet was a gather-ing of Wyoming wildflowers; the local florist travelled in a Montana blizzard to ensure the bride had a beautiful bou-quet. The happy couple certainly chose a setting rich in beauty and in history. Con-gress passed a bill to build a chapel at the fort so that the stationed 324 soldiers, families and civil employees there had a place to worship. Scottish masons con-structed the chapel using native sand-stone from a quarry between the Gard-ner River and the Mammoth Camp-ground in the northwestern section of the park, which was founded in 1872. U.S. Army administrators replaced civilian su-perintendents six years later to help pro-tect Yellowstone’s resources from the threat of poachers, souvenir collectors and developers for the next 30 years. The

Francine Hawkins-Alegeh celebrated

her independence from working too much over her July 4th holiday. The founder of Alegeh Drafting Services and F.D. Hawkins Painting and Remodeling and senior CAD technician for an information tech-nology and service company took a much-needed vacation in New Orleans and at Biloxi Beach. As you can tell from the photos, she got some R&R and then some. –mjm

Freedom to have

fun

The living is Easy in New Orleans.

Time for tee. Rocking on by the water Dropping a line to say “Fish you were here!”

chapel was completed in 1913, and today, regular Sunday morning services – and weddings! – are held in the 350-person capacity chapel. The venue was extra spiffy for Hicks’ big day; with the national parks turning 100 this year, the grounds were ready for Cen-tennial celebrations this summer. –mjm



If you could travel anywhere, where

would you go?

Summer sessions

The Texas Aggregates & Concrete As-sociation (TACA) hosted its 62nd an-nual meeting and summer confer-

ence Jun. 29-Jul. 1 at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort in San Antonio. This year, the meeting broke the association’s re-cord for highest attendance of the event with more than 550 attendees. The meeting included the opening general session with Rich Szecsy, TACA president; Friday sessions with speakers from various state departments and offi-cials, the annual TACPAC fundraiser, which included a silent auction; and the past chair’s banquet, during which TACA honored all past Bob R. Beard Good Neighbor award winners and Tommy Abbott, Argos USA, chair of the board, passed the gavel to Pat Strader, CEMEX, incoming chair. The annual awards luncheon recog-nized outstanding companies and indi-viduals across a variety of categories. Safety Awards went to Argos USA, Redi-Mix Concrete, CEMEX, Martin Marietta, Hanson Aggregates and Trinity Con-struction Materials. Also, the TACA scholarship for $2,500 was awarded to Lola Chambers, a student at the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin. –mh

High Strength Concrete CompetitionPlant Mix 1st: Allied Concrete (14,610 psi) Lab Mix 1st: Redi-Mix Concrete (14,790 psi)

The past winners of the Bob R. Beard Good Neighbor Award were honored at TACA’s 62nd annual meeting with a commemorative lapel pin.

The outgoing chair of the board, Tommy Abbott, passes the gavel to the incoming

chair, Pat Strader.

Public Appearance AwardsBest Plant Aggregate, A: Hanson Aggre-gates, Servtex PlantBest Plant Ready Mix, A: Argos Ready Mix, Corporation Frisco Plant #1009 and CE-MEX Construction Materials Houston, Galveston PlantBest Plant Ready Mix, B: BURNCO Texas, Anna PlantFront-Line Employee AwardsProduction Employee of the Year: Miguel Huerta, Area Production Supervisor, BURNCO TexasTruck Driver of the Year: Bruce Campbell, Argos Ready Mix Corporation

The Texas Society of Professional Sur-veyors (TSPS) held its 11th annual Hook, Line & Surveyor Scholarship

Fishing Tournament Jul. 16 at Redfish Boat House in Aransas Pass. With 17 teams and approximately 68 participants, the event raised more than $5,000 for the as-sociation’s scholarship fund. –mh

Guided1st: Bow Movements – Stanger Survey-ing, Tyler2nd: 2 Buoys & 2 Gills – Unintech Consult-ing Engineers, San Antonio3rd: Kuehlem Surveying, San Antonio.

Surveyors take to the seaUnguided1st: Cowboy Welding & Fabrication, La Vernia2nd: G4 Spatial Technologies, Austin/San Antonio3rd: Team 410Largest Hardhead: Weekend HookersLargest Redfish: Team 410Largest Trout: Cowboy Welding & Fabri-cationMost Spots: SAW Dawgs

1st Place – Guided

1st Place – Unguided

I would really like to go to Costa Rica. [My wife Christina and I] go to Mexico a lot, Cabo, Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. It’s really easy to get in and out of those plac-es, it’s a three-hour trip, but with a busi-ness, it’s kind of tough to take a trip to Costa Rica because it takes so long. If I went there, I would hit the beach, have a bunch of drinks, relax, enjoy the ocean and listen to waves come in.

Darrell Dixon, Fantastic Systems

Bora Bora. I want to stay in a room over the crystal clear water! Or Easter Island. I’m fascinated by cultures that just disap-pear with no explanation.

Ann Hicks, Hicks Resource Consulting

I would like to walk on the moon and see the earth from that vantage point.

Donna Nuernberg, Lane Gorman Trubitt PLLC

You know, most people would say the moon or outer space, but I get claustro-phobic and that rocket would just about kill me, so I’m opting for Iceland. I’ve had friends move there three years ago, the country is gorgeous, downright breath-taking and the hikes would be unforget-table!

MaryEllen Evans, Trade Management

I want to go to Tuscany. It just looks beau-tiful and peaceful, and I really enjoy wine.

I was supposed to go a couple of years ago, but my husband and I are trying to plan a trip next year for our anniversary.

Pamela Tresp, Progress Lighting

I would visit Czech. That’s my heritage and I can’t wait to see my family, who they are (or part of them anyway), which I plan to do in a couple of years!Tonya Watson, Gadberry Construction

Prince Edward Island (Canada) because the area was the inspiration for one of my favorite books, Anne of Green Gables.

Katie L. Humphries, Balfour Beatty

I would say Hawaii. I’ve never been there, and it looks good. I would like to take a Jeep tour; I had some friends that did that, they went up on the mountains and looked over.

Wayne Wooten, Empire Disposal Ltd.

I would go to Sorrento. I hear the beach there is fantastic, and I guarantee that the food is as well.

Geoff Gross, Concept Surfaces

Maldives because it seems exotic, tran-quil and peaceful. I wouldn’t take the kids. I would relax on the beach and in our over-water bungalow.

Melissa Lesch,PCL Contract Bonding Agency


Service Providers

Business still booming in Austin

James Gill, OwnerAustin Rent Fence LLCAustin, TX

How would you describe the state of the construction industry in

general terms? Business is still booming. We have seen around a 12 percent increase in sales in the first two quarters of 2016. While the national economy may be sus-pect, Central Texas remains strong.

What factors are driving this increase?Quality service. A direct benefit to trying harder than other companies is custom-ers get it and appreciate the service. Con-tractors talk amongst themselves and when you provide excellent service the word spreads fast.

What are the cost increases relating to your industry? The price of steel fluctuates greatly depending on a variety of economic fac-tors. We are constantly trying to stay

ahead of the game by purchasing at the right time. The difficulty we face is often we don’t need new materials at the time but the price is right. So you have to make a decision about whether it is best to reinvest in the company while prices are low and have excess inventory or to wait until new product is needed and then order. What are the rewards of the industry? Getting to know other business own-ers in Austin and nationwide is a great experience. It has led to new business en-deavors and some good friendships

What are keys to being successful in the industry? Response time. Everyone wants it yesterday. In today’s society of every-thing being accessible instantly by your smart phone or computer, people want

things right now. You have to be on call 24/7 if you want to do a better job than your competitors.

What is the biggest part of your fence business? The number one thing is construc-tion sites. We also do a tremendous amount for events – festivals, racing, par-ties – anything that serves alcohol! TABC rules say events serving alco-hol have to have a fence up. We always used to simply do panels for six years, but now we’ve expanded to doing barri-cades and posts in the ground for a wider variety of things. About 80 percent of our business is for private clients.

What advice would you give to some-one who wanted to become a success-ful service provider in the construc-tion industry? Two main things: You have to learn everything from the ground up so you can understand the company and run it yourself if you have to. Take a risk! I didn’t know if it was go-ing to work or not, but I would much rather try and fail than not try at all.

What makes your company unique? Austin Fence was started in 2008 as an alternative to large national compa-nies that were mostly faceless. I wanted companies to know if there doing busi-ness in Central Texas they can put a name and face to their service provider. –cw

Competitive price,core values vital

Craig Farmer, CEOFarmer Environmental Group LLCCarrollton, Houston & Mesquite, TX

What are the “hot button” issues in your industry?

Right now, the “hot buttons” in our specific industry are asbestos, mold and Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. The asbestos, mold and lead have consis-tently made up about 70% of our busi-ness. This has been a constant for over 22 years that we’ve been in business. Asbestos, mold, lead and crystalline silica fall under the industrial hygiene cat-egory and continue to be a driving force of work for our company. Farmer Environ-mental is contracted by business owners, developers, architects and general con-tractors to do the initial testing and eval-uations of the suspect materials. If and when there are positive results of suspect materials, in most cases we then are con-tracted for the oversight and manage-ment planning to be onsite during the abatement process. Farmer has devel-oped very close relationships with highly qualified abatement contractors throughout the country that we can refer to our clients as part of the bidding pro-

cess. As new construction developments grow, we are doing more Phase I ESA’s for pre-development data, which is vital for ensuring that the property is researched thoroughly through historical data.

What are the major changes in the in-dustry in recent years relating to the type of work that you do? The most recent changes that Farm-er has seen relate to technology. As tech-nology has become more advanced, we made the decision to move with it and enhance our business software that en-ables us to manage our inventory of cli-ents more effectively and manage costs for each and every project. With this ad-vancement we are also able to handle last minute emergency response type projects for some of our higher profile cli-ents like banks, major universities and hospitals. This has also allowed us to re-duce the paper reports unless our client specifically asks for it.

What is the most significant challenge your industry faces? Both labor shortages and cost in-creases are a challenge in our industry. As more new consulting companies with lower overhead pop up, we are very con-scious of the importance of competitive pricing. However, we have always prided ourselves on having highly trained and qualified personnel at Farmer Environ-mental Group who have been with us many years. This, we feel, sets us apart from others who may be lower on their rates. But, we’ve continued to grow at a steady rate with the professional attitude that lower is not always better. The labor shortages are due to the specific license requirements that our field technicians have to obtain and maintain. We take great pride in our low turnover rate with-in our company and feel this is due to our company core values. So, if we find some-one that is eager to learn and grow with our company, we will hire a non-licensed person and train them. With that type of philosophy we have truly hired some quality team members.

What are the cost increases relating to your industry? The cost increases to our industry we feel are not uncommon to others. Payroll, insurance and taxes are the largest costs. Farmer does everything to avoid passing those costs on unless we absolutely have to. When we do pass on these costs, we do so in a very gradual way to avoid ticket shock to our valuable client base. It’s a necessary evil and we understand that. But that is just business. We continue to feel that small businesses have to sup-

port other small businesses that are local.

What are the rewards of the industry? The rewards of the environmental consulting industry are knowing that we are making a difference with our clients. We are very diligent in making sure that our client is informed with the right infor-mation about their environmental needs so that they can feel confident that the people walking into their facilities have peace of mind that they are in a safe building.

What are the keys to being successful in the industry? Farmer Environmental Group LLC feels like the key to being successful is teamwork. When you develop a strong cohesive team of great leaders for each branch office as well as quality team members who have a great work ethic (which all of ours do) you are successful. Success in our view is not about being the biggest in our industry, but we strive to be the best in our industry. Our leader-ship is made up of three partners who have been the core of our company for over 20 years. We have four branch offic-es throughout Texas and one in Colorado. Our branch managers are all the best of the best. We have always operated our company with the attitude of deep faith and ethics for doing what is right. If we are known for nothing more than the fact that we never compromised what is right for what is profitable, then we feel that we are successful. Farmer Environmental Group offers in-dustrial hygiene, environmental consulting and oil and gas services. –mjm

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Service Providers

On track to continuemonitored growth

Blake Stephens, PresidentGPS of TexasSan Antonio, TX

The benefits of GPS tracking in the con-struction industry are fairly simple –

protecting your assets and proving that your employees spend their time pro-ductively. In the last 10 years, the cost of this service has decreased significantly while business has been growing and is expected to grow tremendously over the next few years. Blake Stephens, president of GPS of Texas, explains that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new requirement for electronic logging is one of the biggest factors driving the newest wave of growth in this rapidly growing industry. Commercial truck and bus drivers who currently use manual logs to keep their hourly work records must now use certified electronic logging devices (ELDs) to prove safety compliance and ensure safe practices on the job. The ELD Final Rule makes this mandatory by 2017. If a DOT officer comes to a truck, the driver will have to show their electronic logs, which they can pull up on a tablet or

smartphone, and with the devices GPS of Texas has, the driver also has the capabil-ity to email the electronic tracking log to the officer from right there in the cab. “[Drivers] tend to have less fines when you have electronic logging,” ex-plains Stephens. “Plus, there’s a headache like you wouldn’t believe in paperwork if you have paper logs. [An ELD] is pretty simplistic, easy to use, easy to setup, and it’s going to take the worry out of that electronic logging mandate.” Noting that they carry the products these drivers will need to meet the re-quirement for getting these products certified, Stephens says he has already seen an increase in calls from members of the construction industry on this par-ticular issue. He has received inquiries from crane companies as well as trucks working in the oil field that haul sand, water, cabling and pipe. The rise in demand for ELDs comes at a time when work in the oil field has slowed down for some of the construc-

tion industry, but Stephens observes that he is still adding customers in the oil field all the time. He says it just depends on what side of the equation they are on, be-fore the drilling or after. These customers, like many others, also appreciate that GPS of Texas is a local company and has the capability of re-ceiving a phone call and installing a unit on the same day. Stephens says this par-ticular key to his company’s success is rare in his industry. He has had many calls from people dissatisfied with his national competitors as well as their long-term contracts. He notes almost all of his cus-tomers have gone month-to-month in the last four or five years he has been of-fering that option. In the last decade, Stephens has seen the GPS tracking industry skyrocket due to the need to be more productive in the field. Before then, he said tracking wasn’t utilized as companies were making a lot of money. But as costs associated with la-bor, running vehicles and generally do-ing business went up, companies searched for ways to be more productive. According to Stephens, monitoring em-ployees’ hours and travel by GPS pays for the costs of the units in a few weeks if used properly. As costs associated with the con-struction industry have risen, costs have decreased significantly for the GPS indus-try. Stephens believes this may be due to the costs of manufacturing the hardware going down as well as the industry be-coming more competitive. He estimates that, about four years ago, his pricing was

almost cut in half for the hardware itself. As his costs have come down, he has passed that savings on to his customers, who have been able to buy two units for what he used to have to charge for one. The other cost to the customers is the monthly monitoring fee for the life of the unit, which is paid to the cell compa-nies for their services. For trucks, GPS of Texas has one-minute trackers that re-port data that often. However, on assets such as equip-ment, for the purposes of asset recovery, those trackers report about six times a day and anytime that a customer wants to ping it to find out it’s exact location, which only takes about six to 10 seconds. This part of the GPS industry is as reward-ing for Stephens as it is satisfying for his customers. “We’ve solved a lot of thefts,” he says. “We have customers that have $85,000 backhoes stolen, and they’re back on the job in two or three hours. We protect thousands and thousands of pieces of equipment. We just had a weld-ing machine stolen from one of my cus-tomers in Fredericksburg, and it was tak-en to Austin. When the police finally showed up there after getting a warrant, they arrested 21 illegal aliens and found a ton of stolen equipment all over the place.” Blake Stephens founded GPS of Texas in San Antonio about 17 years ago. The company offers a variety of GPS tracking systems. While most of its customers are in Texas, GPS of Texas serves customers from Alaska to Puerto Rico. –mh

It takes time to build clientele

Audrey Jones, Co-OwnerBlueprints Plus

Houston, TX

What is the current state of the Hous-ton construction industry? When the prices of oil went down, it hurt a lot of our customers because they were somehow associated with the oil industry. I think there has been an influx of companies moving to Houston in the past few years. We have seen lots of changes in the construction industry over the years. We watched Beltway 8 go up near us and have seen improvements in the road-ways in our area. Why did you decide to work in the blueprint business? I have worked in this business for 34

years. My husband worked for a civil engi-neering company and started going to a blueprint shop near his office. He became interested in working in the self-service blueprint business so he and I decided to get into the business in 1981. We have been doing this ever since! What are a few major changes in your industry? The equipment has improved so much over the years. Back in the early days we did blueprinting with ammonia. Nobody liked the smell and we didn’t like the smell. Your nose eventually adapts. We saw where the industry was

changing where more and more custom-ers were learning to do AutoCAD draw-ings on the Internet. Eventually the blueprint machines and the ammonia went away. I remember just to keep the ammo-nia on the premises we had to pay a per-mit fee every year. That went away when we went over to black and white copy. Nobody blue-prints anymore.

What advice would you give a young person who wants to do what you do today? If you want to start your own busi-ness, you need to do a lot of research first. You really do have to have location, location, location. Questions you have to ask yourself include are you going to have enough cli-entele who keep you going so you can pay rent, your employees and your sup-pliers. You need to have at least six months of working capital. Your first two months you might twiddle your thumbs wondering if you

did the right thing. It takes time to build up your clien-tele. Meanwhile you will have to pay the rent and utilities. Many young people get into this in-dustry through their family or a friend’s business. It would be helpful to take a class to make sure it is what you want to do.

In your opinion, what does it take to be successful in your industry? Take pride in what you do. Your repu-tation is very important. If you do a lousy job it gets around very quickly. If we ever have a problem, we to whatever it take to fix it right way. We don’t charge the customer for it if it was our fault. What is the best part about what you do today? I like working with our customers and I think our customers enjoy working with us. Our customers are Houston area contractors, architects and designers. –ab Blueprints Plus is a reprographics print shop. –ab

NEXT MONTHSeptember 2016

Green Building Trends

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San Antonio • AustinDallas / Fort WorthHouston

(210) 308-5800

Jan: Construction ForecastFeb: Construction SafetyMar: Construction Education

Apr: Women in ConstructionMay: Concrete IndustryJun: HVAC & Plumbing

July: Electrical IndustryAug: Service ProvidersSep: Green Building

Oct: Specialty ContractorsNov: Architecture & EngineeringDec: Construction Equipment

2016Schedule


Fun to spare

L-R: Double Eagle Electric journeyman Kevin Ellis and apprentice Kevin Macias install a solar light at the new Z Bones Dog Park in Fort Worth. Brian Smith, project manager of the Raydon Inc.-constructed project, said light installation is the final task to complete. –mjm

A light touchConstruction News ON LOCATION

Taking the wheelConstruction News ON LOCATION

It’s rare that he does the driving these days. But Paul Gregory, vice president of transportation at site utilities/excavation/trucking-surveying subcontractor Tri Dal Ltd. in Southlake, was happy to help when his company needed to transport equipment. –mjm

L-R: Team Safety’s Greg Strudwick, Cutler-Smith’s “Spike” Cutler, PCL Contract Bonding Agency’s Eric Lesch, Texas Representative and construction attorney Jeff Leach,

NUCA Texas’ Deana Butorac and IBTX’s Mike Hendrickson met Jul. 13 to discuss the underground utility contracting community’s concerns and Rep. Leach’s expectations for

the upcoming Texas legislative session. –mjm

Planning aheadSubmitted to Construction News

Leadership team members from Bob Moore Construction and TTI Inc. broke ground on TTI’s 610,000-sf distribution center in Fort Worth’s Mercantile Center Business Park. The building

will house TTI’s North American warehouse, assembly and distribution facilities. –mjm

TTI tilt-upSubmitted to Construction News

American Subcontractors Associa-tion’s (ASA) North Texas chapter held its second annual “Split Hap-

pens” bowling tournament Jul. 14 at AMF Euless Lanes. One hundred and fifty play-ers divided into 30 company teams to bowl-ttle it out to victory. After all of the pins were swept away, City Wide Me-chanical beat out last year’s winner, Dal-las Door & Supply, for first place. –mjm

1st place victors City Wide Mechanical (1659 score)

2nd placers Buyers Barricades (1527 score)

Third place team Dallas Door & Supply Co. (1502 score)

Dead-Ass Last: Trade Management(696 score)


continued from Page 1 — Built-in resolve

continued from Page 1 — A fantastic plan

continued from Page 1 — New beginnings

Banging about

It was a perfect day for clay. On Jul. 14, the International Concrete Repair In-stitute (ICRI)’s North Texas chapter

hosted its 2nd annual Sporting Clay Clas-sic at Lewisville’s Dallas Gun Club. Fifty-two participants divided into 13 teams and spent their morning (and ammo) at 12 shooting stations. After the smoke cleared, members gathered for lunch and to see which three teams and indi-vidual shooters would be awarded cash prizes. The event’s individual first place winner was R.W. Smith of the Conley Group team and the first place team win-ner was All-Tex Supply. –mjm

Reggie Hill of WR Meadows prepares to shoot.

L-R: First place winner R.W. Smith of the Conley Group Team and event organizer R.W. Smith of Master Construction (yes, they have

the same name!)

of LEAN tools/boards, and BIM (Building Information Modeling) and AutoDesk program BIM 360 helped the team track lost time and helped them generate a re-covery plan. One idea was to use the owner’s warehouse off site to fabricate underground piping while the site dried out. “Our plumber set out the under-ground piping in the warehouse like he would out in the field,” Paiz explains. “Once the rain let up, the plumber and the electrician were able to dig their trench, drop the underground piping in and cover it, which saved us two weeks. We were able to get back on track.“ Paiz says that although an elevator cab coordination issue prevented the team from finishing early, every subcon-tractor went above and beyond to main-tain workflow and meet the deadline. “All of our trade partners – Anchor Fence, Anchor Roofing Systems, Anton, Basden Steel, Baker Drywall, The Brandt Companies, Shahan & Son, Cheyenne Construction Co., DMG Ma-sonry Inc., Executive Protective Sys-tems, Fabulous Floors, Mutual Sprin-klers Inc., Pierce-Riverside Glass, Hol-brook, George D Alan and T&D Systems – did a great job,” Paiz says. The result turned out to be a beauti-ful, nurturing haven for residents. Upon entering the lobby, different elevations of colorful strip lights with interchange-

able gel inserts brightly welcome guests. A children’s quiet room filled with art-work, books, games and small desks and chairs await young residents, with a com-puter lab tucked in behind the space. The single story area features a dining hall boasting large tiles in cheery hues, a kitchen and a retail space. The two-story part of the building shimmers with tiled hallways leading to 20 dorms, 10 semi-private bathrooms and a separate living area on each floor. On the second floor, seven dedicated offices, a four-cubicle open office, a break room, staff restrooms and a small conference room accommo-date shelter employees. Durable materi-als such as a polished concrete floor, high-resistant drywall and carpet tile will stand up to years of heavy use. Even after construction was com-pleted, Linbeck wanted to add a special finishing touch. Responding to the shel-ter’s call to “Warm the House,” Shanna Saldaña, executive assistant to Linbeck’s general manager, coordinated the dona-tion of bed linens, lamps, laundry sup-plies and baby essentials. The group then decorated a room before the May grand opening in June. “It was really great because Mr. Owen sent us a picture with the lady that was going to be moving into our room,” Saldaña says. “It was a big day for her and a big day for us.” The experience of being involved in

the project left a similar and lasting impression on Paiz. “It’s definitely one of my favorite projects,” he says. “I’m very proud and very happy of our efforts on that building from beginning to end.”Founded in 1938, The Linbeck Group is a Texas-based building construc-tion firm offering con-struction management at-risk, design/build and integrated project deliv-ery services. –mjm

since the age of 18, however, they were able to hire their first employees eight months later. Now, the couple oversees six employees and also subcontractors. The pair hasn’t stopped making plans either. “I would like to have our own build-ing because we rent right now,” he says. “We’re working on our special hazards extinguishing license; I have to take a test for it and I plan to take it later on this year. By the beginning of next year, we should be licensed for extinguishing sys-tems special hazards. After that, within

three to five years, I plan to have a fire sprinkler license as well.” Darrell, an 18-year fire alarm and se-curity industry veteran, feels confident that he and his wife made the right choice six years ago. “It’s really rewarding,” he says. “I can’t imagine having to go back to working for somebody else again. If I’m going to be working 12-hour days, I might as well work for myself!” Haltom City-based Fantastic Systems Inc. is a HUB-certified, woman-owned busi-ness. –mjm

Moving forward on safetySubmitted to Construction News

CORE Safety Group’s safety manager David Fendelander provides on-site safety services for their client Coreslab Structures at the new Toyota headquarters in Plano. –mjm

The Linbeck Group donated items to “warm” one of the rooms.

teach them how to comply with key rules and regulations and avoid terminated agreements, fines or worse. The only path to financial stability is avoiding any kind of litigation problems with the gov-ernment.” She shares the business with her family too: Son Aaron Bickle serves as company president and project manager while daughter Michele Bickle handles the business’ financial aspect. Having help she can count on is nice to have, es-pecially since life handed her another lemon four years ago. Pamela began facing osteoporosis and arthritis pain and took action. Her routine consists of 5:30 am workouts six days a week, going to work at 7am, eat-ing an anti-inflammatory raw food, tak-ing a siesta and often working into the evening. She found that losing 30 lbs. improved her work. “I know how to deal with tension and painful muscles. I’ve gained mental ability and reduced anxiety and agita-tion. It improves emotional stability and brings happiness and harmony. I have a better quality of sleep. Yoga helps me fo-

cus on the present, brings me inner peace and much more. Exercise is my addiction now! I can’t go one day without going to the gym.” Just as she did with her business suc-cess, Pamela wants to share the benefits of better health. Construction clients ask for tips on fitting exercise into hectic schedules, her kids work out and she helps others outside the industry. “I got my training and certification to do aqua therapy and aqua yoga with se-nior citizens. I enjoy helping people with pain; if they are overweight, I educate them about nutrition,” she says. Pamela knows her resolve to have a better life fuels her success and she hopes others can find the same resolve. “You can’t force people to do it,” she says. “They must decide to live and feel better; it has to be inside of them. It’s very important to business success. Inca-Sol Environmental Inc., a service-disabled veteran-owned business, offers deconstruction, demolition, disposal, abatement, remediation, restoration, im-provements, project management and scheduling. –mjm


Round-UpAssociation CalendarContent submitted by Associations to Construction News

AIA - DallasAmerican Institute of Architects

Aug. 11-12: METROCON16, Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Fwy, Dallas, 8amAug. 25: Fellows Dinner, The Petroleum Club, 2200 Ross Ave., 39th Floor, Dallas, 6:15pm

APWAAmerican Public Works Assn.

Aug. 16: General membership luncheon

ASCE - DallasAmerican Society of Civil Engineers

Aug. 8: Branch meeting

ASA North TexasAmerican Subcontractors Association

Aug. 19: Clay Shoot, Alpine Shooting Range, 5482 Shelby Road, Fort Worth, 7:30am registration. Contact LaDell Tul-los at (817) 640-8275 or [email protected]. 25: Lunch meeting, Las Colinas Country Club

CFMAConstruction Financial Mgmt Assn.

Aug. 18: Membership meeting, Hackber-ry Country Club, 1901 W. Royal Ln., Irving, 11am

CSI - Dallas Construction Specifications Institute

Aug. 11-12: METROCON16, Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Fwy, Dallas, 8am

DACADrywall & Acoustical Contractors Assn.

Aug. 5: Annual Clay Shoot Event, Dallas Gun Club

IEC - Fort Worth Independent Electrical Contractors

Aug. 12: 2016 Clay Shoot, Alpine Gun Range, 5842 Shelby Rd., Fort Worth, 8am

NARI - DallasNat’l Assn. of the Remodeling Industry

Aug. 9: Meeting, Allied Stone, 2405 Crown Rd., Dallas, 6pm.Aug. 25: Women in NARI (WIN) meeting, Blue Mesa Grill, 14866 Montfort Dr., Dal-las, 11:30am

NAWIC - DallasNat’l Assn. of Women in Construction

Aug. 15: Dinner meeting, “Construction Trade School” Aug. 17: Annual Meeting and Education Conference, Grand Hyatt San Antonio, 600 E. Market St., San Antonio

NAWIC - Fort WorthNat’l Assn. of Women in Construction

Aug. 17: Annual Meeting and Education Conference, Grand Hyatt San Antonio, 600 E. Market St., San Antonio (Fort Worth chapter’s August business/dinner meeting cancelled to accommodate members attending AMEC)

NTRCAN. Tx Roofing Contractors Assn.

Aug. 10: 6th Annual Not So Mini Trade Show, 1010 Collins St., Arlington 10am

NUCANat’l Utility Contractors Assn.

Aug. 17: TopGolf, 3760 Blair Oaks Dr., The Colony, 4pm. Contact Deana Butorac at [email protected] or (682) 402- 4293

PDCAPainting & Decorating Contractors of Amer.

Aug. 10: Happy Hour

PMI – DallasProject Management Institute

Aug. 4: Dinner meeting, Brookhaven Country Club, Main Club House, 3333 Golfing Green Dr., Farmers Branch, 6:30pm

PMI – Fort WorthProject Management Institute

Aug. 18: 7th Annual Career Fair, DFW Marriott South, 4151 Centreport Dr., Fort Worth, 6pm

TLPCATx. Lathing & Plastering Contractor Assn.

Aug. 11: Clay Shooting Event, Elm Fork Shooting Sports, 10751 Luna Rd., Dallas, 8am

SEAoTStructural Engineers Assn. of Texas

Aug. 16: Lunch and presentation, Mag-giano’s Little Italy, 205 Northpark Center, Dallas, 11:30am

SAMSubcontractors Assn. of the Metroplex

Aug. 4: Dinner meeting, MCM Elegante Hotel, 2330 W. Northwest Hwy., Dallas 5pm happy hour, 6pm meeting. Contact Pete Snider at [email protected] or (972) 771-0188

TGA/N. Tx DivisionTexas Glass Association

Aug. 9: Membership meeting, Hilton Inn DFW, 2001 Valley View Ln., Irving, 6pm. RSVP with Michelle Ordonez at (972) 488-0635 or [email protected]

TSPSTexas Society of Professional Surveyors

Aug. 5: Ray Wisdom Dinner & Auction, Bedorck Park, Canyon of the Eagles Re-sort, 6pm

USGBCU.S. Green Building Council

Aug. 9: FMexpo, Frisco Convention Cen-ter, 7601 Gaylord Pkwy., Frisco, 11:30am Aug. 11-12: METROCON16, Dallas Market Hall, 2200 Stemmons Fwy., Dallas, 8am

UMCAUnited Masonry Contractors Assn.

Aug. 12: Sporting Clay Shoot

Round-UpSubmissions

This is a monthly section for brief company announcements of new or recently promoted personnel, free of

charge, as space allows. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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

next month’s issue(published 1st of each month).

Email info to appropriate city issue, with “Round-Up” in the subject line:––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––San [email protected]@constructionnews.netDallas/Ft. [email protected]@constructionnews.net

Kevco Electrical Construction Inc. in Grand Prairie re-cently hired Melisa Byron. Byron will handle the compa-ny’s human resourc-es responsibilities, employee benefits and accounts pay-able.

Scott Russell joined HNTB Cor-poration as sales officer and vice president in the firm’s Central Divi-sion, which spans 11 states. Russell is re-sponsible for sales and growth initia-tives working with clients throughout the division. He brings 20 years of experience to the position, including nine years at HNTB. Russell holds an undergraduate degree in finance and is currently pursu-ing an MBA from the University of North Carolina and a post-graduate diploma in strategy and innovation from the Univer-sity of Oxford.

Sean Studzinski, AIA, has joined Stantec’s Plano of-fice as project direc-tor. Studzinski will work in Stantec’s architectural prac-tice within the edu-cation sector, with a focus on student housing. Studzinski has designed residence halls for private de-velopers and higher education clients for nearly two decades and is considered an industry leader on student housing de-sign. He is a registered architect in Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and New Mexico.

Butler and Butler Masonry hired Brandon Stewart as project manager in the company’s Lancaster office. Stewart is responsi-ble for project plan-ning, scheduling, budgeting, project execution and project management. He was previously em-ployed as a project manager at South-west Demolition Services and brings six years of experience to his new position. Stewart is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he earned a bachelors degree in international economics.

Rebecca “Beki” Webster has joined HOLT CAT as its new vice president of human resourc-es. With more than 20 years of experi-ence in human re-source manage-ment and leadership, Webster will have executive oversight of all human resource operations and will assume responsibility of the company’s security and safety de-partments. A native of San Antonio, she recently relocated to South Texas after 20 years working at Northrup Grumman, a leading global aerospace and defense technology firm.

MYCON General Contractors has re-cruited industry veteran C. Scott Pitt as project di-rector. Pitt will be responsible for overseeing the project manage-ment team for MY-CON’s institutional market, including contract negotiations and execution, construction planning and scheduling, quality control and safety and compli-ance management. Pitt holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering technology from Murray State University.

National Roofing Partners in Dallas announces the ad-dition of Geoff Craft as vice presi-dent of operations. Craft, who has more than 20 years of roofing industry ex-perience, will be re-sponsible for the planning, directing and coordinating of operations for NRP. He will also manage daily operations and contractor resources along with planning for financial and human resources. Craft previously served as vice president of sales at Olympic Fasteners and senior vice president at Roofing Supply Group.

Intertech Commer-cial Flooring has named James Ale-jandro, CPA, CGMA, as chief financial of-ficer. He brings more than 20 years of accounting and finance leadership experience to his new position. Alejandro is an alumnus of The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he received both a BBA in account-ing and a master’s in business administra-tion. He is a licensed certified public ac-countant in the state of Texas, and is cer-tified as a chartered global management accountant (CGMA) with the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts.

Cadence McShane Construction Com-pany announces the addition of Ste-ven A. Levy as the firm’s vice president of education. In this role, the 32-year construction veter-an will provide growth and leadership for the company’s market expansion within the K-12 educa-tion sector. He will partner with Cadence McShane vice president Michael Geach to pursue and implement K-12 projects on a local and regional basis.

When downpours kept 40 workers from roofing jobs, KPost Company sent them to attend a Regional Hispanic Contractors Association (RHCA) Focus Four training instead of losing pay. (L-R) RHCA safety council chair Luciano Perez of KPost, KPost CFO/safety director Jayne Williams and president Steve Little receive a safety recognition plaque

from RHCA vice president Yolanda Tafoya. –mjm

Rain, rain, go for paySubmitted to Construction News


Work of art

They’re “checking” up on the kids! One hundred twenty-nine employ-ees from more than one dozen local

architectural, engineering and construc-tion companies donated part of their March paychecks to benefit Children’s Medical Center Foundation. Through company donation matches or direct company donations and sponsorships, the group raised nearly $57,000 during North Texas’ first “KIDstruction Week.” The funds support essential family sup-port services such as social work, pastoral care and “Child Life,” which includes clown, art, music and pet therapies. Construction companies also partici-pated in the Red Balloon Run & Ride, where KIDstruction leaders hosted a KID-struction Zone for children and families, complete with Lego building stations and construction-themed opportunities.

Building kids’ health

Companies represented at the check presentation included (front row, l-r) CBRE, Chamberlin Roofing & Waterproofing, WHR Architects, Skanska USA, Spring Valley Construction Co., David

Berry, Walter P Moore, McCarthy Building Co., Ben Retta, Datum Engineers,(back row, l-r) HDR, HKS, TEXO Association and Schwob Building Co.

The Watson brothers rest in a donated Kubota tractor in the KIDstructionWeek Design and Build Zone.

CBRE’s Mark Stewart and Spring Valley Construction Co.’s Whitney Teague paint

tool-shaped cookies with 4-year-old Karsyn.

Planning for next year’s KIDstruction Week begins in August. –mjm

Eleazar Velazquez, superintendent at Posey Plumbing in Keller, is enjoying his 15th year at the company. –mjm

It’s been superConstruction News ON LOCATION

Past editions can bedownloaded at

www.ConstructionNews.net

Did you know?

White walls, great tile floors, good bones – all were important “must-haves” when Concept

Surfaces owner Geoffrey Gross chose his office location. But what to put on those white walls? Gross didn’t think buy-ing expensive art was the solution; that money was better spent helping his em-ployees reach their goals. Still, he wanted to show clients his staff’s personality and wanted employees to feel ownership of the space. “We’re in the artistic industry where people express themselves and we spend more time at work than we do with our own families,” Gross says. “We wanted to take pride in where we work.” As a result, employees he hired re-ceived a canvas, eight paint colors and a deadline. The only rule was that the time-less base color black had to be used somewhere in the piece. The employees presented the artwork to the group. “At first they’re timid, but when they see their colleagues’ reaction, their eyes and faces light up,” Gross says. “It really is meaningful. They help decorate the of-

fice and it empowers them to be a true part of the company. “I’m amazed at the talent, and also at the direction that they go,” he continues. “Some go very abstract, some go very simple. It’s pretty impressive.”

Some veteran employ-ees have even requested a new canvas. “They want to start fresh!” he says. “But that’s the beauty of this; they can do something now that their personali-ties have changed a little bit and they’ve grown. The art is priceless.” Concept Surfaces in Dal-las supplies hard-surface materials including porce-lain tiles, glass mosaics and hardwoods. –mjm

Concept Surface employees take pride in their paintings.

Employee artwork reveals to clients what kind of personalities work there.


Supervisor Brandon Patterson prepares to help father-in-law Misael Gonzalez, owner and manager of MG Roofing in Fort Worth, repair a roof and replace siding on a Food

Mart damaged in July’s hail storms. –mjm

Being hail-pful!Construction News JOB SIGHT

Making the cutConstruction News ON LOCATION

Jose` Garcia, foreman at VLP Contractors in Mansfield, cuts steel to be welded to a frame. –mjm

Pamela TrespAccount managerProgress Lighting

Industry FOLKS

Being a former police officer means never having to say you worry. As a

Progress Lighting account manager, Pamela Tresp regularly talks to compa-ny leaders and never breaks a sweat. “There’s nothing you can send my way for me to do that’s scary after do-ing police work!” Tresp says. The Dallas native joined the force after her in-home certified trainer busi-ness took a hit in the 2008 recession. As a 42-year-old single mom of two, she applied to train at the Dallas Police Academy despite the age 45 cutoff. “I knew I was pushing it but I wasn’t worried about the physical part,” she says. ”There is a physical test, a civil test and a full background check; I had to get transcripts from elementary school! A detective talked to every family member and employer, logged into all of my social media and looked through my private messages. I took polygraph and psychological tests. During oral boards, different ranking officers interrogated me to see how I would handle stress.” After eight months in training, Tresp spent four months on patrol at the smaller Wylie force. Weekly tests, all-weekend study sessions, constant stress, job uncertainty, lack of social life, loss of friendships and 12-hour night shifts made her re-evaluate her path. When her night vision dimmed, possibly compromising her partner’s safety, she knew she needed to leave the force. “It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she says. “I

feel bad that it wasn’t longer, but I do feel it was for the best for the depart-ment and myself that I left.” After meeting husband Mark in 2010, she joined him at his lighting de-sign firm and then followed him last year to Hubbell, Progress Lighting’s parent company. She calls on archi-tects, designers and developers doing multifamily, hospitality, student hous-ing and senior living projects and de-velops light packages. Her trainer/offi-cer past even comes in handy. “I enjoy it very much!” she says. “One trend in lighting is its potential health benefit; I find that interesting because of my trainer/health back-ground. I also joined the IES Security Lighting Advisory Board for lighting and crime, so I get to be involved with how lighting prevents criminal activity.” She admits the recent police fatali-ties during a Dallas protest make her sad she can’t return to help. “At first I was shocked and then just so sad because that’s like my fami-ly,” Tresp says. “I thought of every per-son I knew; I turned on the TV and saw some people I knew from academy weeping. It’s really hard.” She knows she is fortunate to find work she enjoys after being on the force. “I love to learn and take on new challenges and it’s a very exciting time in lighting with room to grow,” she says. “I plan on staying where I am.” –mjm


Construction’s best friend

On July 21, construction and archi-tecture members went off the leash and celebrated the Bark +

Build Kick Off Party at the Dallas SPCA. It’s for a good paws: The Second Annual Bark + Build Doghouse Design/Build Competition, hosted by TEXO and Ameri-can Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Dallas chapter, benefits SPCA of Texas’ Home for the Holidays event. The competition serves to foster re-lationships between architecture and contractor firms and raise awareness and support for the SPCA’s mission. When the doghouses are on display in November at NorthPark Center, all of the dogs will be let out as to who leads the pack in high-quality design, construction value and talent! In honor of this occasion, we’ve in-cluded some snaps of our industry mem-bers’ fur-ever friends. –mjm

Progress Lighting’s Pamela Tresp went to the vet with one dog and came home with more after meeting rescue group volunteers outside the building. “The experience of rescuing a dog that was going to be killed really touched me,” she says. “I started getting involved and helping with fundraising and foster-ing.” Tresp says one Bichon Frise, Duncan, turned out to be a “foster failure. We were just going to foster him but we couldn’t let him go! But I just finished fos-tering a dog I rescued on my birthday. He was going to be killed at 4 o’clock that day, so my birthday present was to foster that dog and save its life. In three weeks, he found a new home.” Tresp’s foster dogs have no shortage of friends when they come to visit – she has five dogs of her own. “The little brown one is Arabella and she is a toy poodle Shih Tzu mix. Howie, a malti-poo, is the fatter white one. Audrey, the black and white one, is some kind of Shih Tzu mix. The small fluffy white one, Wolfgang, is a Maltese.” –mjm

Jet, black Lab, mighty hunterOwner: Bay (pictured) and Ben Wallace,

Site BarricadesJett, full Doberman from a champion line

Owner: Nicole Arnold, Nicole Arnold Interiors

Butters “Buddy Harvey”, 6. Mixed Beagle/Human Garbage DisposalOwner: Liz Harvey, Sundt

Fizzy, Owner: Gary and Jan Hooker,The Hooker Co.

Hank, 2-and a half-year old Heinz 57Owner: Chris Hayes, Concept Surfaces

Duncan, before and after fostering

Playing dress up

Left: Friends fur-ever

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