Nov/Dec 2023

VOLUME 12 ISSUE 6

$5.99 NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023 SERVING CONTRACTING FIRMS AND THE ARIZONA COMMUNITY. . . THEN & NOW

VIRGIL MOSS: SKETCHING BOLD MID-CENTURY SIGNS GUERRERO-LINDSEY: A SIGN AND MEXICAN FOOD EMPIRE A NEON MIRAGE: RON PRATTE’S $40 MILLION AUTO SHOWROOM FRANK WALLACE’S ROCKY ROAD TO ARIZONA AGC PRESIDENT WILLIAMS TRUCKING AND RJM TRUCKING: A FAMILY AFFAIR

Arizona’s Timeless Magazine

GLOBE CONTRACTOR HARRY HAGEN’S CONSTRUCTION FOOTPRINT

SPECIAL EDITION

COMMUNICATION SUCCESS:

CHRISTY SIGNS CELEBRATES A CENTURY OF SIGNAGE PENTA COMPLETES SANTAN MTN CASINO

DISASTER-PROOF BUILDINGS USING ESP WIRE MESH PANELS

MCCARTHY INSPIRES STUDENTS AT NEW SOMERTON HIGH SCHOOL

FEATURE ONE HEADLINE

HENDERSON ASSISTS MORTENSON AT ASU’S MULLETT ARENA

HOW TO IMPROVE CONSTRUCTION CULTURE

PAGE

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

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Ted Pohle Annette Rubin Attending Luke M. Snell Christmas Eve Doug Sydnor

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FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITION?

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Serving Contracting Firms and the Arizona Community… Then & Now

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Arizona Contractor & Community (ACC) magazine is published bi-monthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, July/Aug, Sept/Oct, Nov/Dec). ACC is a professional publication designed for the contracting industry, engineers, architects, equipment rentals, suppliers, and others interested in Arizona and its history.

Content including text, photographs or illustrations may not be reproduced without the written permission from the publisher. The publisher does not assume responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

ACC reserves the right to reject any editorial and advertising material and reserves the right to edit all submitted content material.

Arizona Contractor & Community Copyright © 2023 All rights reserved.

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

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BUILDING OUR FUTURES

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Contents

“TELL US WHAT YOU NEED AND WE WILL WORK WITH YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN”

39

YEARS IN BUSINESS SINCE 1984

480-641-3500

BELLY DUMP-SUPER 16-END DUMP-LOW BOY SIDE DUMP-EXCAVATOR-LOADER-GRADER

14

Contributors - Jay Mark & Ted Pohle

16

From The Editor: Exhibit Featuring Long-Lost Signs Lights Up Tempe History Museum - Douglas Towne

19

Construction Around Arizona: Projects • People • Practices

47

Back When: Phoenix’s Sweetest Skyscraper - Billy Horner

48

Communication Success: Christy Signs Celebrates a Century of Signage - Douglas Towne

54

Virgil Moss: Sketching Bold Mid-Century Signs Billy Horner

58

Guerrero-Lindsey Sign Co.: How a Poor Kid Created a SignMaking Empire - Jay Mark

62

A Neon Mirage: Deconstructing Arizona’s Late Great Sign Museum - Douglas Towne

66

Frank Wallace’s Journey from Farmer to Hauler to Road Contractor - Ted Pohle

70

Saluting Arizona’s Builders: Harry J. Hagen

74

Old School Equipment: Bond’s Elevating Loader Billy Horner

78

Building on the Past - 1968: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Sign Billy Horner

82

Architect’s Perspective - Airpark Signs and Graphics: Respecting the Architecture - Doug Sydnor, FAIA

86

Digging Through the Archives: A Century of Williams Trucking in Arizona - Billy Horner

90

Bid Results

94

Advertising Index

Front Cover J.L. Wilkerson Crane Co. installing a billboard above Christy Signs, early 1960s.

Article on page 48 Image Courtesy of Dane Christensen

TWELVE

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CONTRIBUTORS

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JAY MARK ARTICLE ON PAGE 58

TED POHLE ARTICLE ON PAGE 66

J

A

ay Mark has had a long and diverse career, none of which, he says, is really worth mentioning. When pressed, he reveals activities like commercial photography, professional theater, radio, and television.

And even a stint as a track announcer for Greyhound Parks of Arizona.

Today, Jay works in historic preservation and with history museums and regularly contributes articles about local history and antiques. He makes presentations regularly on various subjects to groups throughout the state for the Arizona Humanities Council AZ Speaks program and the New Frontiers for Lifelong Learning program at Mesa Community College.

He has produced eight antiques-related books for Dover Publications. With Mark Vinson and others, he co-authored And Tiko-Tu? – a study of East Valley mid-century architecture. Buckhorn Baths & Wildlife Museum, co-written with preservation architect Ron Peters, is a book that chronicles the fascinating story of one of Arizona’s most iconic roadside attractions in Mesa.

Always busy, Jay has penned over 800 weekly local history columns for The Arizona Republic community editions and regularly writes features for the Antique Register.

Jay says he is honored to be a frequent contributor to Arizona Contractor & Community, a publication that has established itself as a significant archive of the state’s history in a fast-changing construction landscape.

s a kid, I wanted to build roads like my grandfather, Frank Wallace, who owned Wallace & Wallace Contractors.

This epiphany happened after seeing my father drive a bulldozer for him on a job near Jacob Lake. When I accompanied my grandfather on job inspections, I recall how upset he became at loafing employees.

Whenever I take a trip in Arizona, I often drive on a highway or road that my grandfather helped build. That always instills a sense of pride in me for what he accomplished.

My parents were teachers, and our family moved to various road-building projects during summer break. We usually lived in a small trailer, camping in rural areas near the jobs. My dad sometimes worked as a grademan surveying the roadbed, and I assisted him one summer on a job near Alpine.

My father was a land leveling contractor for a few years in Phoenix but switched occupations to become a teacher, rancher, and farmer in southern Arizona. My father and mother were both teachers at the school I attended in Elfrida, north of Douglas, until we moved back to Phoenix in 1953.

After graduating from ASU with a BA and MA in Secondary Education, I taught Industrial Arts and English as a Second Language at middle and high schools, primarily in West Phoenix. It was a challenging but rewarding career. After 30 years, I retired and moved to Prescott.

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

FROM THE EDITOR:

EXHIBIT FEATURING LONG-LOST SIGNS LIGHTS UP TEMPE HISTORY MUSEUM Douglas Towne

F

or any advertisers who doubt the value of publicity, my recent experience proves how important it is to keep your name in front of potential business clients. Last winter, journalist Matte Jaffe reached out for an interview about the legacy of Van Buren’s motel strip for Arizona Highways.

“You seem to be ‘the guy,’ so to speak when it comes to the subject,” he wrote.

We arranged a meeting in the courtyard of the SureStay Hotel by Best Western Top left: Ward’s Motor Hotel, 1993.

Top right: “Diving Girl Performing at Fiesta Mall,” 2011 by Douglas Towne.

Clockwise from below: Monti’s La Casa Vieja, 1960; “Cool is Always in Blue,” 2007 by Douglas Towne; and the exhibit’s custom neon sign created by Jude Cook.

Phoenix Airport, a gobbledygook name of one of the few motels left on Van Buren. In 1986, it was also the site of my first overnight stay in Phoenix with my late partnerin-crime Cathy Weiler when it was called Ward’s Motor Hotel. Jaffe and I chatted for hours about the street’s sad evolution and swapped journalism tales.

When Jaffe’s “Greetings from Phoenix” article appeared in the June 2023 issue of Arizona Highways, some unexpected messages arrived. David Sumner, a friend from my distant University of Arizona days, reached out after almost four decades. After working as a planner for the Department of Defense back east, Sumner retired in Arizona. “We’re in Sierra Vista as the Valley was just too hot for us,” he explained.

Images Courtesy of Author

We laughed about college memories, including the night I dressed as Hunter S. Thompson, and we went with Janet Johnson and Ann Ackelmire to “Hotel Halloween” at the Hotel Congress in Tucson. The bizarre extravaganza featured room installations by artists, a dance floor amidst a nightglow forest, and an otherworldly performance of skeletons cavorting on the bar.

Another email was from Josh Roffler, the Tempe History Museum curator, who wrote that I seemed like an excellent fit to contribute photos for their upcoming “Tempe Signs” exhibit. We later met to go over details with his associate, Marco Albarran, whom I had worked with on a previous show in 2010. Afterward, they kindly provided a fantastic “backroom” tour of the museum’s stash of historical artifacts.

Roffler said the museum’s growing sign collection prompted the exhibit. For years, he has been reaching out to owners of longtime Tempe businesses when they close or change locations, asking them to donate their commercial signs. “Often, the business sign is the most iconic thing they have to offer, and they are usually very

Image Courtesy of Author

Images Courtesy of Joshua Roffler

SIXTEEN

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

PacWest RENTALS

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Clockwise from top left: Hotel Halloween celebration at Club Congress 1985; Douglas Towne and Cathy Weiler 1986; Ann Ackelmire and Janet Johnson, 1987, and Ann Ackelmire and David Sumner, 1985.

pleased to know that the museum can preserve it for everyone to enjoy,” Roffler says.

The exhibit will also include signs on loan from the community, neon-inspired art, and historic photographs. A custom neon sign was designed and built for the show by Jude Cook, who, with his wife, Monica Cook, opened the Ignite Art Sign Museum in Tucson in 2018. The Cooks also kindly distribute ACC magazine in their unique gift shop, Deco: An Illuminating Experience.

“The overall goal of the exhibit is to evoke memories for our visitors,” Roffler says. “Signs represent places that sometimes have great meaning in our lives: where we had our first dates, first jobs, graduation dinners, and so forth. The exhibit will give visitors the opportunity to reconnect with their memories of beloved places from the past.”

And that includes Roffler, who, after successfully defending his Master’s Degree thesis at Arizona State University, was taken by his committee to celebrate at House of Tricks. “Sitting on that shady patio with a table of professors, it was the first time in my life that I felt like a professional colleague and equal rather than a student,” he recalls. “When I see the House of Tricks sign in our exhibit, I think about my personal journey and how that lunch marked a transition for me.”

The museum’s show opened mid-September at 809 East Southern Avenue and runs through January 27, 2024. Roffler and Vic Linoff, aka Jay Mark, a longtime ACC magazine contributor, will host a lunchtime talk about the sign exhibit on Wednesday, December 13, at 11:30 a.m. Stop by for their presentation and a stroll down memory lane, admiring these vintage signs, once community landmarks that electrified the Valley.

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Projects . PEOPLE . PRACTICES

Images Courtesy of McCarthy

SCHOOL’S IN SESSION IN SOMERTON THANKS TO MCCARTHY

E

ven before Somerton High School opened its doors for classes, McCarthy Building Company allowed its students to let their imaginations soar. “An event we hosted with the community once the bond election was completed was a STEM competition,” says John Kovesdy, McCarthy project manager. “We challenged students to build and launch planes made from the used bond election signs. Interaction with the students was a lot of fun, and being there to watch as they launched their planes into the air was pretty thrilling.”

Kovesdy adds that working with the community may have helped spark construction careers with some students.

“Throughout the Somerton construction job, our project team hosted numerous Yuma Union High School District class

ARIZCC.COM

tours, which also provided opportunities for hands-on lessons in construction, engineering, and architecture,” he says.

“Student participants could see how their lessons are applied in real life in the construction of their future school. Interacting with the students and answering their many questions was a rewarding experience and really connected us to those we were building the high school for.”

McCarthy teamed with the architecture firm DLR Group on the project. The

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA

Above: Concrete pour at Somerton High School.

Below: Ribbon-cutting event at Somerton High School, 2023.

Bottom left: Somerton High School, 2023.

biggest on-the-job challenge, because of its timing breaking ground in November 2021, was supply chain issues involving material procurement.

“We addressed this in various ways, which included replacing steel trusses,

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects Images Courtesy of McCarthy

which carried a very long lead time, with engineered wood trusses that had a shorter lead time,” Kovesdy says. “The engineered wood trusses were able to be used in the same way as steel trusses for many areas of the school, alleviating delays that would have been caused by using steel.” He adds that while the large open areas in the cafeteria and media center required steel trusses due to the span length, adjusting the project sequencing to accommodate the later arrival of the steel trusses avoided project delays.

“Navigating the desert weather conditions of high temperatures, heavy winds, and dry-dusty conditions was also challenging,” Kovesdy says. “The project team regularly adjusted for such conditions to ensure everyone’s safety.”

One unusual factor not generally faced

by Arizona contractors was building in an earthquake-prone area. The Algodones EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Valery Gonzalez, Project Engineer Experience: 2 years with McCarthy Building Companies Favorite job task: During a phone call, I once stated, “Oh, but I’m just the PE.” In response, one of my subcontractors exclaimed, “What do you mean ‘just the PE’? Project engineers are the glue that keeps everything together and running!”

Being the “glue,” although incredibly overwhelming at times, is also very rewarding and is the favorite aspect of my job.

Toughest job task: Since this was my first ARIZCC.COM

Top left: Plumbing installation at Somerton High School.

Above: Masonry work at Somerton High School.

Right: Installing geogrid at Somerton High School.

Fault runs through extreme southwestern Arizona. “The school is in a seismically active zone, and soil conditions required the use of a geogrid ‘raft’ system under the entire foundation of the school,” Kovesdy says. “This system allows the school to essentially ‘float’ on top of any soil liquefication that can arise if an earthquake occurs.” He adds that they considered many strategies in the design and construction of the high school to ensure its structure remains sound to serve the community for many years.

Building the first high school in Somerton in time for fall classes in 2023 project, I quickly found out there was a massive knowledge and experience gap that I had. While trying to close that gap, I have learned that being willing to ask even the simplest of questions and having constant communication with your team is vital to one’s success and growth.

Most memorable day at work: Seeing the first-year students walking into the campus for their first day transformed the school from being a construction project to a place that will help shape and develop young minds.

Favorite off-job task: Reading books, baking, and playing with my cats and dog.

I am also a big music fan and spend much time playing instruments and singing.

was an exciting time for the community, which demonstrated great pride in the facility. “Everyone truly came together to support the project,” Kovesdy says. He cites the local police voluntarily patrolling the site regularly after hours and on weekends and holidays to ensure its security and the many site tours with local community members. Coordination between McCarthy and the city went well, as both entities worked closely together on the project.

“I know I speak for everyone on the Somerton High School project when I say that I feel very fortunate to be a part of bringing the new school to the community and having the opportunity to work with such an amazing district knowing how much it means to so many people,” Kovesdy says.

The new high school selected a mascot and will be known as the Somerton High School Toros.

Editor’s Note: Valery went to Kofa High School in Yuma, which had hosted Somerton students until their own high school was built. She had an opportunity to attend classes firsthand with these students, who benefited from the new school.

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

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HENDERSON ENGINEERS ASSISTS MORTENSON CONSTRUCTION ON ASU’S MULLETT ARENA

H

enderson Engineers created smooth skating with their work at Mullett Arena, the new ice hockey venue located on Arizona State University’s (ASU) Tempe campus.

“One of the coolest things to hear about is when longtime NHL players rave about the speed and handling the ice rink provides,” says Kelly Hyde, sports practice director for Henderson Engineers. “That’s a huge compliment for a collegiate venue as well as a testament to the attention to detail, performance, and workmanship that went into the design and construction of the facility.”

Construction on Mullett Arena began in January 2020, and the project opened in

October 2022 at a total cost of $134 million.

ASU ventured into a public-private partnership (P3), which brought Mortenson Construction and Real Estate Development, Inc. into the fold and, consequently, other key players, including Mortenson’s construction team, Henderson Engineers, SCI Architects, Dibble Engineering, PK & Associates, Fleming West, and several others. “A P3 is outside the norm for ASU projects, but taking an atypical approach made all the difference,” Hyde says.

With the project on ASU’s main campus, space was limited for construction.

“The site had constraints from existing parameters on all sides, whether that be a road, a parking structure, an existing track and field, and solar canopies,” Hyde says.

“There simply wasn’t a foot to give, so we used every square inch of the parcel and even relocated some major underground utilities to allow for room to build the foundation footprint.”

Work started a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic, which required a big pivot by all parties. “It tested the design and construction team unlike anything we had ever experienced as we had to work in a fully remote environment while being as collaborative as possible to pull it off,” Hyde says. “The results speak volumes about the quality of the assembled team to bring the arena to life.”

Hyde adds that site observations were necessary to assess how everything was progressing. “Mortenson prides itself on its high safety standards, so our site visits were smooth since all the right precautions were in place,” he says.

An unusual aspect of the project was that the site was once a dumping ground for waste construction debris, which required an atypical site pad preparation called deep dynamic compaction. “The earth was compressed down more than two feet, and soil was then added on top to allow us room to

Images Courtesy of Henderson Engineers

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build without much interference with the contaminated rubble underneath,” Hyde says. “A lot of careful consideration went into this approach to ensure it was safe, and it benefitted the project by limiting the amount of over-excavation needed.”

Mullett Arena is a Pre-Engineered Metal Building (PEMB), which allows for a long-span truss that provides an open interior at a cost-effective price point.

“Placing overhead mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems and rooftop equipment in such a structure is a complex process that called for an unusually high level of upfront coordination,” Hyde says.

“Unlike a typical building where you can design under, above, and through a structure, our team had to design around it.’

As the project’s lead building systems design engineer, Henderson Engineers provided acoustical consulting, electrical, fire and life safety, mechanical, plumbing, security, and sustainability design and engineering services. Hyde notes that ASU requires projects to meet LEED® Silver benchmarks.

Hence, energy efficiency, carbon reduction, and a healthy environment were a focus throughout the design and construction process.

While Mullett Arena is primarily home to the university’s hockey program, the multipurpose facility offers two NHL regulation-size ice sheets. While the main rink is dedicated mainly to hockey and other public events like concerts and trade shows, the other is used for practice, intramural

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Tony Rattigan, Mechanical Engineer

functional outcome. Clear and consistent communication is necessary to ensure everyone involved is well-informed and satisfied with the result.

Experience: 4 years with Henderson Engineers Favorite job task: No day is boring, thanks to the complexity of each building and its systems. I find excitement in the opportunity to solve the various challenges that come up during planning or design to make the facilities we work on function as intended.

Toughest job task: Juggling the expectations of various stakeholders, from colleagues to clients to public entities. Expectations and deliverables can differ when designing for the most ARIZCC.COM

Most memorable day at work: Hands down, my first day at Henderson Engineers. Everyone was very welcoming, which matched the camaraderie and atmosphere I expected. It was awesome to start at a new place and have it turn out exactly how everyone said it would.

Favorite off-job task: The engineer in me loves building things, so I enjoy woodworking and have built barn doors, cabinetry, and some furniture that we use at home. I also enjoy assisting my wife in her business, running a Thai food truck, and spending quality time with our extended family.

sports, community skating, and figure skating. “The atmosphere of this venue, designed to accommodate roughly 5,000 seats/spectators, provides an intimate experience with a great view no matter where attendees are seated,” Hyde says.

A seal of approval came when the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes selected the new venue as their interim home, and all their games have sold out so far.

Hyde says that the community impact of the project can’t be understated. “ASU was keen on delivering a multipurpose venue that could be maximized to its full potential for the benefit of the univer-sity and the surrounding community, and that shaped every design consideration.

It’s truly a home for many, as every great venue should be.”

There’s usually a lot of scrutiny for projects of this stature, which can sometimes lead to pushback from the public.

But Hyde says the Mullett Arena is unique in that it was welcomed with open arms across the board from day one. “It’s incredibly rewarding to have had the opportunity to deliver a project that was desired by so many.”

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MEDICAL STAFF GIVES MCCARTHY THUMBS UP FOR BANNER GATEWAY MEDICAL CENTER EXPANSION

I

f general contractors, like physicians, were rated on their bedside manner, McCarthy Building Companies would receive exceptional scores for keeping the dust in check at their recent completion of the Banner Gateway Medical Center tower expansion project.

“Our construction team has had positive interactions throughout the building process with staff, patients, and members of the public,” says Kurt Radtke, McCarthy’s Banner Gateway project director. “We’ve had the privilege of providing a complimentary coffee cart for the staff there on a couple of occasions to both celebrate the project and also thank them for their patience during the process.”

The $243 million, five-story expansion doubles the size of the medical center campus at 1900 North Higley Road in Gilbert and is expected to add more than 600 new jobs to the campus. But McCarthy had some vital assistance on the project.

“Through collaboration, our integrated project team, which includes Banner, SmithGroup (the architect), and our trade partners, has developed innovations and risk mitigation strategies resulting in over $9 million of value to the project,” Radtke says.

The 351,000-square-foot addition includes an expanded Women and Infant EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: David Zak, Assistant Project Manager Experience: 5 years with McCarthy Favorite job task: Overseeing the building of a 311,000-square-foot Tower Expansion from the pre-construction phase through the closeout phase, all within two years.

Toughest job task: Working around and inside an active hospital and ensuring the staff and public are safe from construction activities daily. For this project, we added to three active sides of the existing hospital.

Most memorable day at work: The building’s topping out ceremony, where we set the last steel beam on the penthouse roof.

Favorite off-job task: Playing hockey, golf, hiking, and watching Buffalo sports teams.

ARIZCC.COM

Images Courtesy of McCarthy

Services Unit, added space for inpatient cancer care by Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center, and more room for surgical, emergency, endoscopy, and imaging services. In addition, the tower expansion increases inpatient beds from 177 to 286 with additional shell space to accommodate future growth and the relocation of the helipad to the new tower’s rooftop.

“We’re excited we can offer this addition for our patients and the communities we serve,” said Darren McCollem, Banner Gateway’s chief operating officer. “As the state and particularly the East Valley continue to grow in population, we want to ensure we’re meeting the demands of quality health care.”

The project was managed using a modified Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) with the owner, design team, general contractor, and trade partners co-locating in a virtual “big room.” This process allowed for the project’s design and construction strategies to be developed and enhanced through a robust system of collaboration, solution innovations, and coordination strategies to ensure operational excellence and end-user efficiency.

Some of the innovative cost- and time-saving measures included: • Project delivery completed in five separate design packages, allowing construction to start before the design phase completion; • Prefabrication of construction elements, including exterior skin, bathroom pods, headwalls, and mechanical and plumbing components; • Simultaneous construction of building expansions on three hospital sides.

As part of the IPD process, all the major building trade partners were contracted early in design to aid in target value design, constructability, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) coordination before the permit. Dibble Engineering led civil engineering, PK Associates headed structural engineering, and Field Verified was an exterior skin consultant. Major trade partners included AmFab Steel, MKB, AROK, Buesing Excavation, Delta Electric, Foothills Fire, KT Fab, Otis Elevators, Stafford Crane, SwissLog, TD Industries, and Walters & Wolf.

Still, according to Cari Brink, Banner Health project executive for development and construction, it wasn’t easy to complete. “The accelerated schedule was a challenge, particularly in today’s climate where we’re still dealing with the effects of COVID-19. However, we’re fortunate that the leadership team at Gateway has been accommodating and eager to collaborate to minimize construction impacts for our patients and staff.”

Construction on the tower expansion began in February 2021, and some campus renovation work will continue into 2024.

McCarthy completed the initial Banner Gateway Medical Center campus in 2007.

Brink also likes that the project had an unexpected dividend. “While planning the Gateway hospital expansion, we were also planning the Banner Desert women’s tower expansion in Mesa,” she says. “We were able to take advantage of cross-collaboration between all project teams, which doesn’t happen very often in this industry.”

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

Working together as a team, PENTA was immediately proactive and set up different temporary solutions to allow for the start-up and commissioning of systems to begin rather than waiting for the utilities.”

Towards the end of the project, precipitation impacted the construction and paving of the site’s parking lots. “PENTA participated in numerous meetings with geotechnical engineers to come up with creative ways to mitigate the rain and allow them to continue construction,” Palomo says.

One of Palomo’s favorite aspects of the casino is the inviting atmosphere of the front entrance, which is almost entirely covered in automatic tinted windows that offer stunning views of the mountains and desert landscape. “One of the newest forms of technology integrated into the project is the use of self-tinting glass,” she explains. “The glass is tied in with low-voltage wires and a sensor on the roof. Once the sun comes out, the windows begin to tint. A few thousand square feet of tinted glass can be found throughout the property. The casino also offers large-scale windows that let in natural light to maintain a bright and spacious atmosphere.”

Subcontractors used on the project included Comfort Systems Southwest USA for plumbing and mechanical (Chandler), Wilson Electric (Tempe), AmFab for structural steel (Bernalillo, NM), Hardrock Concrete Placement Co., Inc. (Chandler), MKB Construction, Inc. for exterior framing, interior drywall, and acoustical ceilings (Tempe), and Immedia for audiovisual systems (Scottsdale).

One of the PENTA project’s goals was to create a relationship with the Gila River Indian Community, which Palomo believes her company accomplished through various unique design elements. “Each entrance includes a chandelier crafted with dozens of circular paintings using color palettes that the Gila River Indian Community associates with each cardinal direction,” she says. “Art created by community members is found throughout the property.”

PENTA COMPLETES HIGH-END SANTAN MOUNTAIN CASINO

I

n most casinos, it’s difficult to tell whether it’s day or night. Not so with Gila River Resorts’ newest offering: Santan Mountain Casino, located on the southeast corner of Gilbert Road and Hunt Highway in Chandler.

“One of the most unusual aspects of the project is the use of natural light and incorporation of light color palettes, which is uncommon among casinos,” says Marisa Palomo, PENTA Building Group vice EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Robert Hansen, Superintendent Experience: 4 years with The PENTA Building Group Favorite job task: The challenges that come with it. At PENTA, no job has been the same, and they all come with different challenges that push me to think outside the box.

Toughest job task: The constant communication with multiple people.

You cannot let up, or things will get missed.

Most memorable day at work: Being offered a superintendent position with PENTA. After accepting the job, my team made it a memorable moment with encouraging words and fun gifts.

Favorite off-job task: Enjoying a weekend boating with my family on the Colorado River.

ARIZCC.COM

president, Arizona region. “Creating a light and airy feel, the Santan Mountain Casino’s interior includes white bar tops, white marble baseboards, and a white roulette wheel, among other design elements.”

The $168 million casino offers stateof-the-art gaming, an exclusive highlimit space, specialty restaurants, and a 7,000-square-foot BetMGM sportsbook, the largest in Arizona. The property includes an extravagant event lawn and ballroom, which can be reserved for private events. The casino was designed as an all-encompassing experience for guests and is inspired by the culture of the Gila River Indian Community. Las Vegasbased Steelman Partners was the project’s architect.

According to Palomo, PENTA made sure to implement quality and craftsmanship into Santan Mountain Casino. “This project offers multiple high-end finishes with unique details not often found on a typical casino project,” she says. “Prior to any contractor walking on site, PENTA held a pre-installation meeting to review all the necessary details pertaining to their scope.” Palomo adds that throughout the project, PENTA and its subcontractors performed numerous walks with the ownership, architect, and interior design teams to ensure that all the details drawn met the project’s intent.

Construction occurred from October 2021 to March 31, 2023, and encountered a few challenges. “They included lead time on large equipment, including mechanical and electrical objects, which required creative ideas to condition the building to proceed with the project,” Palomo says.

“Also, PENTA did not receive access to utilities until much later on in construction.

Images Courtesy of PENTA Building Group

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

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espite the lingering challenges created by the pandemic, our report highlights the resiliency of the construction industry and provides reason to be optimistic for the future,” says Blake Wells, vice president of preconstruction at LGE Design Build. “In Phoenix, even in the face of rising interest rates and water supply shortage concerns, the construction spending index continues to flourish at 1.74 and is projected to rise to 1.85 by year-end.

LGE Design Build’s third quarter Construction Delivery Outlook report examines trends within construction labor, supply chain, and material costs across the Supply Chain country as well as in the Phoenix market.

Supply chains are improving, port congestion has disappeared, and inflation has The report’s key findings include: reduced to 3 percent in June 2023, the lowConstruction Labor est level since March 2021. Other notables: The construction industry’s persistent • Container freight costs from China to labor and skills shortage isn’t expected to the U.S. West Coast are now lower resolve itself soon. Contractors are grapthan pre-pandemic levels, and transpling with substantial demand for largeport costs have decreased from 2022 scale projects like chip manufacturing peaks but remain elevated due to plants and clean energy facilities, all while higher wages and fuel prices. Ocean facing a scarcity of younger talent entering container rates dropped due to more the skilled trades. Other notables: capacity and less demand.

• As of Q2 2023, Phoenix shows a 2.3 • While the supply chain is healing, chalpercent increase in labor availability, lenges still exist, with 72 percent of but construction volume has declined companies still reporting supply chain by -13.4 percent, significantly alleviatchallenges. ing the strain on the labor pool.

• The most significant procurement pain • The construction unemployment rate points include HVAC units, electrical in the Phoenix market has decreased panels, and dry wells. slightly from 6 percent to 5.6 percent compared to last year. However, Material Costs despite this improvement, there are A recent report by global construction still challenges in finding available firm Rider Levett Bucknall reveals that conlabor, particularly in more sophisti- struction costs in Phoenix may have risen cated trades.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Projects

PHOENIX CONSTRUCTION MARKET THRIVING DESPITE CONCERNS

in the past three years due to supply chain challenges and other factors. Although these cost increases are now showing signs of stabilizing, they remain higher than most markets. Other notables: • In May 2023, Phoenix’s construction expenses were 7.58 percent higher compared to the same month the previous year, ranking it fifth in cost escalation among 12 major U.S. metro areas.

• Prices for concrete and flat glass continued to trend upward in recent months, whereas materials such as aluminum mill shapes, copper, and gypsum have generally trended downward.

Demand by Product Type Despite a nationwide slowdown in mega warehouse deals for e-commerce and logistics companies due to the pandemic, Phoenix’s industrial market continues to be driven by those same sectors.

The region has surged to the top of the industrial ranks, fueled by the current manufacturing boom and companies relocating from California. Other notables: • In June 2023, the Phoenix metro had an impressive 58 million square feet of industrial space under construction, accounting for about 16.6 percent of the existing inventory and surpassing supply pipelines in other major regions like Dallas-Fort Worth and the Inland Empire.

• Positive absorption in Central Business District submarkets hit hard during the pandemic suggests a potential urban core recovery. The prime south Scottsdale submarket showed significant occupancy growth, with 198,509 square foot net absorption. Although average direct rents are stable quarter-to-quarter, they have increased by 3.5 percent across the Valley.

To view the full Construction Delivery Outlook report, visit LGEDesignBuild.com.

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CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

MCCARTHY TEAMS WITH BUCKEYE STUDENTS TO CREATE OVERSEAS CONSTRUCTION WORKSHOP

“B

uilding communities is what we do at McCarthy,” explains Todd Scott, a McCarthy Building Companies project manager. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the construction of a local mixed-use high-rise or a humanitarian lodging and education campus in Africa.

For the latter, McCarthy is converting a shipping container into a workshop that will support the construction of a 13,000-square-foot campus that will eventually train the local African workforce in agriculture, construction, water and sanitation, furniture making, business entrepreneurship, and healthcare capacity building.

“By repurposing this shipping container, it allows us to work with our local community partners and our future trade professionals and permit them to learn technical and leadership skills, all while seeing how rewarding it can be to give back to those less fortunate,” Scott says.

The general contractor teamed with West-MEC’s Electrical Trade Specialty, Welding Technology, and General Construction Technology programs at its Southwest Campus in Buckeye to convert the 40-foot by 8-foot shipping container.

Arizona high school students received hands-on experience alongside construction professionals from McCarthy to complete the five-month challenge, which included designing, pricing, procuring, and building the unit.

“It was exciting working with these students, who will be our next generation of trade professionals,” Scott says. “I was

Images Courtesy of Todd Scott

ARIZCC.COM

amazed at their creativity and the collaboration between specialty trade classes to address the project’s challenges. They had a unique and well-thought-out design to build foldable welding tables that can be stored upright, allowing flexibility during construction.”

The work is part of a Battle of the Boxes design and construction initiative to repurpose shipping containers into medical, housing, or construction facilities that Phoenix-based nonprofit Pipeline Worldwide hosts. The group facilitates projects that deliver access to clean water, sanitation, education, healthcare, and development in East Africa’s most impoverished communities.

Scott, who also volunteers as a board member with Pipeline Worldwide, served as the team leader for this project. This is the second Battle of the Boxes team he has championed with construction students in Arizona, and he is currently planning a third similar project. Scott traveled to Africa to deliver the first container in 2021, and the two additional containers will be delivered in late fall 2023.

“This is one of our many projects that Pipeline Worldwide has helped facilitate in the region over the last ten years,” Scott says. “Our team recently traveled to Moyo, Uganda, for the groundbreaking of the future humanitarian lodging and Career Technical Education campus that these shipping containers will be used to help construct.”

Scott adds that during the trip, the Pipeline team provided over 1,000 portable solar lights to remote villages in the country that lack power. They also visited a hospital where they had previously installed

Above: Todd Scott, in red shirt, with Pipeline Worldwide team members.

backup solar power to the surgery ward and nursery, which has reduced infant mortality by 50 percent. “We also participated in the ribbon cutting of the Moyo General Hospital workshop that Pipeline recently remodeled, allowing it to build and repair crutches, wheelchairs, and other mobility aids for patients.”

The construction workshop will be filled with medical supplies to support local hospitals in Uganda before being shipped overseas. After the supplies are unloaded, the container will support the construction and maintenance of the campus, providing long-term, sustainable solutions to help the community rebuild a stronger, more secure future.

Project partners also included Hawkeye Electric, Northern Arizona University Facilities Leadership, Pipeline Worldwide’s Ugandan team, which provided design feedback to West-MEC students, and woodworking by McCarthy carpenters.

“Todd brought this project to us, and it represents something we are always trying to achieve in our educational setting at West-MEC, service learning, where we can apply our skills to something that helps a community,” says Aaron Parsons, WestMEC Southwest campus administrator.

“This was a hand-in-glove kind of partnership, and it allows our Arizona students to translate their learning into a marketable skill set.”

Parsons adds, “I’m just standing here looking at the excitement, smiles, and pride on their faces while they talk about how they did this, and that’s a lasting mark.”

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VERMEER LOOKS TO THE FUTURE WHILE CELEBRATING ITS 75TH ANNIVERSARY

B

uilt on Founder Gary Vermeer’s legacy of finding a better way for Vermeer Corporation, the last 75 years have centered around impacting people and the world for the better. As the company looks to the future, third-generation family member, President and CEO Jason Andringa says the next 75 years will continue to aim for the same purpose.

“What started as a small machine shop to meet the needs of local farmers in and around our hometown of Pella, Iowa, soon became the ground floor for my grandfather, Gary, to open Vermeer Manufacturing in 1948,” Andringa says. “With the guiding principle of treating other people how you’d want to be treated yourself, we’ve created a culture over the last 75 years of making a real impact on the way work gets done that continues to drive our company forward.

Andringa adds that, ultimately, it’s a commitment that is part of every interaction his company has among ourselves, suppliers, dealers, customers, and the communities we live and work in.

Today, Vermeer has expanded from its modest beginnings to an organization of more than 4,000 team members worldwide, recently having been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of America’s Best Midsize Employers. Operating eight facilities in six continents and offering service and support in more than 60 countries, the iconic yellow iron equipment is distributed

Images Courtesy of Vermeer

through a global network of more than 600 industrial and forage dealers.

Gary Vermeer’s first invention of the wagon hoist was followed by more innovative equipment. With the invention of the hydraulic horizontal directional drill, large round baler, and stump cutter — Vermeer has shown its commitment to developing high-quality equipment that addresses the challenges its customers

face. Helping connect people to the necessities of life, manage natural resources, and feed and fuel communities, new innovations Vermeer plans to bring to market will include expanding digital product offerings, developing next-generation machines, and introducing new equipment.

“As we look to the future, we are committed to carrying on the legacy of innovation and continuous improvement to make a lasting impact around the world,” Andringa explains. “We understand the important work our customers and equipment are doing and support them wherever they are. Together, we are equipped to do more.”

Above: Gary Vermeer with his round hay baler.

Left: Pipeline Specialists Inc. using a Vermeer T-600D in a Phoenix subdivision, 1980s.

Below: Vermeer campus in Pella, Iowa, 2023.

Image Courtesy of Bryant Shaw

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THIRTY SIX

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA People

ACC MAGAZINE COLUMNIST LUKE SNELL HONORED IN THE LAND OF LINCOLN

S

tudents at the School of Engineering, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, will remember Luke Snell for a long time.

The school recently recognized Snell, the founding chair of the Department of Construction, by naming a classroom after the registered professional engineer and his wife, Billie. Snell is a leading lecturer on concrete and contributed $100,000 to the Department of Construction in the SOE. The dedication ceremony and unveiling took place in the Engineering Building, Room 1008.

“SIUE had a lot of faith in me and supported me with a lot of research possibilities when I was coming there to start the program,” Snell says. “This is a way of saying thank you for supporting me. I had several graduate students working with me on projects, and the University supported a lot of the travel for the students. SIUE became a well-known group because of their successes, and that helped get me recognized in my professional societies.”

Snell began the day of celebration with a lecture to the CNST210 class available to both in-person and Zoom attendees, followed by the classroom ceremony and dedication. His endowment will enhance concrete-related education and student activities in the Department of Construction in the SOE. He retired from SIUE in 2002 and earned the rank of professor emeritus.

Throughout his SIUE teaching career, Snell integrated classroom learning with students competing and winning numerous competitions sponsored by the American Concrete Institute (ACI). Snell is a fellow of ACI and has served on technical Below: Founding chair of SIUE’s Department of Construction Luke Snell, PE. Bottom right: Luke and Billie Snell unveil the classroom plaque with their daughter Valarie Snell (in blue shirt).

and educational committees. He is the past chair of several ACI committees, including the ACI 120 History of Concrete, the Educational Activities Committee, and the Chapter Activities Committee.

Snell has made previous contributions to the Department of Construction, such as his $15,000 donation to support the SIUE student chapter of the American Concrete Institute (ACI).

“Professor Snell started the ACI club at SIUE in 1980,” says John Cabage, an associate professor and chair of the Department of Construction. “That same year, he helped six students compete in a concrete cube competition. That team won the competition. The department has been very successful at ACI competitions over the years, as demonstrated by the two full display cases in the hallway.”

Snell’s work also extends beyond SIUE to extensive consulting on construction and concrete problems throughout the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. He has also written more than 150 articles covering the methodology of measuring and improving concrete construction techniques. He has

Above: Denise Cobb, PhD, SIUE provost; Seth Walker, vice chancellor for University Advancement; Luke Snell, PE; Billie Snell; Narayan Bodapati, PhD; Cem Karacal, PhD, dean of the SOE; Lisa Smith, SOE’s director of development; Chris Gordon, PhD, associate dean of the SOE; John Cabage, PhD, associate professor and chair, Department of Construction (l-r).

been instrumental in starting concrete certification programs in China, India, Taiwan, Mongolia, and Saudi Arabia.

Snell acknowledges that those outside of the industry may be curious about his profession. “People outside of the industry wonder how someone could specialize in what they consider a narrow field,” said Snell. “Concrete is the second most used material in the world right now, only surpassed by water. This brings up interesting conversations at parties.”

Snell earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering and is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois and Missouri. He’s been a regular contributor to Arizona Contractor & Community magazine since 2015.

Images Courtesy of SIUE

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THIRTY EIGHT

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

LUKE M. SNELL, P.E.

C

onstruction equipment and its associated software are sophisticated and require training and practical experience for accurate output. Let’s examine two case studies that illustrate how to ensure good results, which builds on my article from the last issue.

Case Study #3 A company was having a 100 percent grouted reinforced masonry building built for them. The construction was nearly complete when a subcontractor, installing railings on a stairway, drilled into ungrouted masonry units. The owner panicked. The security might be compromised if the masonry was not completely grouted. The company even suggested that some masonry may have been purposely left ungrouted.

The owner’s engineer called me to evaluate the building with ultrasonic equipment to evaluate which masonry units were grouted. I suggested the hammer test as a quick way to determine if masonry cells were grouted. If you lightly tap a grouted masonry unit with a hammer, it will have a dull thud sound. In contrast, an ungrouted masonry unit would have a ringing sound similar to hitting a drum.

Still, they requested that I bring the ultrasonic equipment and demonstrate how to use it to evaluate the masonry.

After the initial ultrasonic demonstration, I explained that it would take a few minutes

to set up and evaluate the results every time, which would take a long time to survey the building. In comparison, the hammer test would be instantaneous.

Demonstrating the hammer test, I quickly identified masonry units that appeared to be filled and a few that seemed ungrouted. The engineer then checked these masonry units by drilling into them and visually inspected them to see if they were grouted. In each case, the hammer test proved to be fast and accurate. Once they were convinced of its accuracy, I was authorized to use the hammer test for the rest of the investigation.

Lessons to be Learned Often, we want to use sophisticated instruments to solve a problem, thinking that we’ll get better results and impress our supervisors or clients with our ability to use complex equipment. However, simple equipment is more efficient on some projects. Another lesson is the need to verify your findings. Both grouted and ungrouted masonry units were visually inspected to ensure accurate results.

Case Study #4 I’ve been asked to review several rebound hammer reports that were performed by others to determine the strength of the concrete. This test is inexpensive and nondestructive and a favorite of many batch plants, material suppliers, and testing laboratories because it is quick and easy to use.

To use the rebound hammer, a person holds it so that a plunger will strike the concrete and bounce off the surface. The rebound number is displayed, which varies from 10 to 100. A graph on the back of the hammer can be used to convert rebound numbers to the compressive strength of the concrete Most of the reports I have reviewed state that the person used the rebound hammer at three to five locations on the concrete and used a graph on the back of the rebound hammer to determine the concrete strength.

There are three main issues with these reports. First, an exact procedure should be followed when using the rebound hammer, which is provided in ASTM C805. Often, these instructions aren’t followed, including these blatant issues: 1. The concrete must be ground smooth to remove the top layer.

2. Ten rebound hammer readings must be taken, with each at least one inch apart.

Left: A hammer test on a masonry wall to determine if the cells are grouted.

Right: A rebound hammer is used to estimate the strength of concrete.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

IMPORTANCE OF VERIFICATION IN CONSTRUCTION – PART 2

3. Readings should not be taken over reinforcement with a cover less than ¾ inches.

Another issue is that the graph on the back of the rebound hammer only estimates the concrete strength. My research, along with several other engineers, has shown that the rebound number depends on the concrete aggregates. Hard aggregates such as river rock and granite will give high rebound numbers, while softer aggregates such as limestone will give lower numbers for the same strength of concrete.

To better estimate concrete strength, the rebound number must be compared to cores that are removed and tested from the same concrete placement.

The third issue is that the Building Code for Structural Concrete (ACI 318) states that all nondestructive testing, including the rebound hammer, can’t be used to determine concrete strength.

Lessons to be Learned If you are doing an investigation, it is essential to follow the exact procedures. If there is an ASTM or other recognized practice, follow it so the results can be dependable. It is also vital to know how the results will be used. Remember, the rebound hammer results are, at best, an estimate of the concrete strength.

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SEAN CLEMENTS

may be generic, contractors should be prepared to undertake site-specific plans when unusual conditions and road configurations are involved.

Traffic Control Plan Basics ork zones can be hazardous to everyEach TCP should reflect measures to one’s health. It’s not just workers who make work zones safer for workers and the are vulnerable. Depending on the zone’s public. It should cover: location, bicyclists and pedestrians are at • Construction management outline. risk of accidents. And, of course, unwary Done early in the project design phase, drivers can be both victims and the cause this details how the work zone impacts of accidents. workers, drivers, and pedestrians.

The dangers make planning by road • Temporary traffic control plan. This and bridge contractors a priority. And it’s sets out traffic control measures not the only seasonal risk to road workduring the projects, such as flaggers, ers during Arizona’s summer. The brutal, signage, and traffic control devices like seemingly endless heat wave that broiled speed safety cameras. the Southwest this summer, shattering all • Public information plan. This is importrecords, should have all contractors taking ant for keeping the public abreast of precautions against heat-related illnesses. upcoming projects and how they may impact traffic and travel routes.

Work Zone Safety in Arizona Arizona doesn’t have the worst work Work Zone Risks zone safety record, nor does it have the The TCP should reflect a detailed best. Between 2016 and 2020, it averaged assessment of the conditions that will influ16.4 deaths per million licensed drivers in ence the work zone risks, including: work zones, putting the state in the nation’s • Surrounding environment. Where is 25th spot. New York had the least number the work zone located? If it’s in a city, of deaths, 2.6, and Texas the most, with the rerouting must anticipate every 46.8. Often, the crashes are preventable. type of vehicle, from cars to scootBut conditions can distract drivers. Work ers, and manage pedestrian safety. underway can make roads uneven. Detours Anticipating the unexpected is also and barriers can be confusing. Lowered essential. For example, animals runspeed limits may be unnoticed or ignored ning through a rural work zone, espeby drivers. cially at night, can cause accidents.

Workers must be wary as they try to get • Nature of the work. Each worksite their jobs done, even if drivers aren’t paytask, whether installing signs, flagging, ing attention. In one instance, an Arizona repairing utilities, paving, or surveyDepartment of Transportation worker ing, should be evaluated for its effect spotted a speeding driver approaching and on the overall safety of the worksite. shouted for his crewmates to look out. The Controls should be put in place before driver crashed through the traffic cones work starts. where the crew had been working just sec• Work zone characteristics. Lane onds earlier. closings can be confusing to drivers.

Arizona has guidelines for work zone Changes in the road surface can add traffic control, and its counties and cities to the dangers. Road markings may also have requirements for traffic control change. Workers must be trained on plans (TCPs) for work zone projects. The what to expect, and sufficient warning plans require some rigor, as they are often signage about road conditions must be the basis for permits. While some aspects posted.

W

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

WHAT CONTRACTORS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WORK ZONE RISKS

• Traffic flows. The amount of traffic also influences work zone dangers.

Speeding drivers, flashing lights, and heavy equipment on the perimeter can distract drivers and workers alike.

Traffic control plans help manage the flow of construction, vehicles, and equipment.

• Traffic control systems. These systems, such as point-to-point cameras, are essential to work zone safety management, and their placement should be carefully planned. One test found they resulted in the posted speed limits being adhered to by 99 percent of drivers versus just 40 percent before installation.

Heat-Related Issues Heat strokes are a different type of safety issue for summer construction projects, but no less pressing than managing work zones effectively. It’s a big enough concern that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last year launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on indoor and outdoor heat hazards.

Heat-related illnesses such as cramps, heat exhaustion with headache and vomiting, and high body temperatures are 100 percent preventable. OSHA requires employers with at-risk workers to have a written preventive program in place, with training on recognizing and responding to heat illness. Safety measures range from making cool drinking water accessible throughout the day to providing mandatory rest and hydration breaks in a shaded area.

Sean Clements is Senior Vice President for Commercial Lines at global insurance brokerage Hub International.

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FORTY TWO

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

ANNETTE RUBIN

C

ompared worldwide, most buildings in the U.S. are relatively young. But most residential and commercial properties could use a makeover. Buildings constructed 20, 50, or over 100 years ago are less energy efficient and don’t compare in safety to new building methods. This factor will only increase with more frequent extreme weather and climate events.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, over 90 percent of new domestic homes are wood-framed yet cannot withstand a tornado or hurricane.

Even residential and commercial buildings constructed in some of the riskiest areas of the U.S. for earthquakes may contain design flaws that make them susceptible to damage. They are built using a non-ductile concrete method, which experts say has an inadequate configuration of steel reinforcing bars making the building vulnerable when shaken. While this method of construction was banned, older structures have yet to be required to be retrofitted to improve safety and structural integrity.

Instead of building with timber or concrete forms, a superior option can withstand damage under extreme conditions: 3D expanded polystyrene (EPS) wire mesh panels. These panels can be custom manufactured in various shapes and sizes and used to build roofs, interior and exterior walls, floors, staircases, and more. The EPS panels are clipped together using specialty metal fasteners and then coated on both sides with concrete.

Building with EPS wire mesh panels has many advantages, including manufacturing. Unlike wood or steel, which are at best only partially recycled, every scrap of polystyrene cut when shaping panels during manufacturing can be recycled and harvested to reuse in making another panel. Additionally, fewer carbon dioxide emissions are created during its manufacture than other building materials. EPS wire mesh panels also reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the building’s lifespan and are faster and less expensive when compared to other building materials and methods.

Buildings constructed using EPS wire mesh panels are more durable, disaster-resistant, and can withstand projectile objects blown into them during severe thunderstorms, tornados, and hurricanes. This type of building is also earthquake-proof, sometimes up to a 10 on the Richter scale, due to the flex allowed by the polystyrene and the strength from the wire mesh and the concrete.

Because the EPS wire mesh panels are coated on all sides with concrete, there is nothing to burn in a wildfire or house fire.

While finishing surfaces like roofing materials, siding, drywall, or windows might still be damaged in a fire, the structure of the building will remain intact. If timber structures are damaged in a storm or wildfire, once the debris is cleared, if the building slab retains its structural integrity, EPS wire mesh panels can be used to rebuild faster and stronger.

For commercial buildings, EPS wire mesh panels offer additional security. The panels are both bulletproof and blast resistant. This facet makes them an ideal building option for schools, hospitals, banks, and

Above: Annette Rubin.

Bottom left: EPS wire mesh panel installation.

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

EVOLVING CLIMATE AND WEATHER PATTERNS DEMAND NEW BUILDING METHODS

other commercial buildings where safety is a top priority and there are threats from guns or other forms of violence.

Timber structures no longer meet modern buildings and people’s needs and requirements. Transitioning the construction industry from traditional timber and concrete building methods will take time.

But the benefits of EPS wire mesh panel construction far outweigh the drawbacks of training crews to learn to build using this method.

In 2022, the U.S. was impacted by 18 weather/climate disaster events that caused losses exceeding $1 billion each, including flooding, severe storms, hurricanes, and wildfire. Between 2016 and 2022, there have been 122 separate billion-dollar weather/climate events with a total cost of more than $1 trillion in damages. These mega-events were devastating, and the magnitude of the damage is even more remarkable when smaller events are factored into the equation.

In addition, the Census Bureau estimates there were 3.4 million people forced out of their homes by hurricanes, wildfires, and other weather-related events in 2022.

Of those displaced, 16 percent have not returned home, 12 percent were displaced for six months or more, and 40 percent were able to return home within a week.

Continuing to build structures using traditional methods puts lives at risk and wastes time, money, and valuable resources. People living in disaster-prone areas deserve buildings that withstand catastrophic storms, fires, and other destructive forces. A better building solution exists. More must be done to ensure it is implemented, especially in areas with the highest risk for damage and loss.

Images Courtesy of Vero Building Forms

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FORTY FOUR

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

ASSOCIATION OF EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS STAFF

T

he construction industry has a labor shortage – and it’s not exactly breaking news. Headlines declare that “nobody wants to work anymore,” but is this explanation really at the root of a longstanding, industry-wide issue?

Amid the “Great Resignation,” as Baby Boomers retire and Gen Z workers reject the long hours of the construction industry, it’s more important than ever to examine the causes of this unprecedented labor shortage and explore potential solutions.

Numerous companies are feeling the pressure, especially in the skilled trades, and many have not yet been able to solve their workforce woes. After increasing pay and flexibility with little to no results, many companies ask: is our company culture to blame?

During an education session titled “Culture in Construction – Is It Really That Bad?” at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023, construction industry advocate Wally Adamchik explored why the answer to that question is both yes and no.

The good news is that industry-wide survey results indicate the construction industry’s culture issue may not be so bad, according to the 2019 People in Construction Report. In fact, 83 percent of employees say they would reapply for their current position, and 73 percent say they are happy at work. However, these results need to be better to sustain successful

growth and project execution, according to Adamchik.

In addition, there is a significant divide between project management in the office and field supervision on the job site. In the office, 81 percent of employees say they have a close friend at work, while only 50 percent share that sentiment in the field.

In addition, 75 percent of office workers feel they can maintain a reasonable worklife balance, while only 50 percent of field employees think that way.

Rather than list more statistics about the industry’s labor shortage, many leaders want information about creating a more long-lasting and motivated labor force.

Several concrete actions can be taken to improve company culture and keep workers happy.

Companies should act now to avoid losing more of their valued workforce.

The labor shortage isn’t exclusive to the construction industry; these actions can be implemented in any workplace. Even organizations with good company culture can implement these changes to elevate employee experience: • Standards and Values: Approximately 90 percent of survey respondents agreed that ignoring the core values of their workplace would get them into trouble. This statistic shows that workplace values still matter; the most visible way to manifest this is to enforce standards across the board. There should be no double standard, and leadership should be held accountable to employees’ standards.

• Creating Lasting Change: Threequarters of senior leadership, those

CONSTRUCTION AROUND ARIZONA Practices

CULTURE IN CONSTRUCTION: WHY IT MATTERS, AND HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER

who are supposed to spearhead change in the workplace, say that their efforts fall short. Change requires organizational capacity and requires a significant personal investment from leaders. Creating a path for change with concrete steps to follow will help companies maintain the organization and encourage employees and leadership to follow through.

• Encouraging Employee Recognition: There are many opportunities to show employees how much they are appreciated. Companies that regularly participate in positive recognition are more likely to attract and retain loyal employees.

• Increasing Referral Programs: About 84 percent of employees surveyed say they would recommend their workplace to a friend but don’t. There are also several ways to increase the effectiveness of a referral program, including an easy-to-use option, offering incentives to recognize current employees for referring candidates.

• Bridging Divides: There are gaps between survey answers from field and office staff members that could be corrected. For example, creating teambuilding opportunities for one’s entire staff, monthly or quarterly, can go a long way toward building camaraderie.

While several improvements would benefit the construction industry’s culture, the survey results show that the situation may be better than advertised. There are several actions that employers can take to improve company culture, from enforcing values to bringing employees together.

Even small steps make a big difference; there is no better time to start than now!

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Back When

PHOENIX’S SWEETEST SKYSCRAPER BILLY HORNER

B

ig buildings inspire big celebrations.

The Guaranty Bank at 3550 North Central Avenue was Arizona’s first 20-story building.

David Murdock developed the project; contractor Henry C. Beck oversaw the construction of the skyscraper. The groundbreaking ceremony on February 13, 1959, featured a cake modeled after the new building. The dessert behemoth, created by Sun Valley Bakery, measured 10 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet thick. There’s no information, however, on its calorie content.

Using a silver-plated spade, Murdock shoveled the first slice of the 3,000-pound cake (out of its fifth floor) to be presented to Governor Paul Fannin.

After the groundbreaking guests had satisfied their sweet tooths, the leftovers (imagine that!) were distributed to local charities.

As on many construction sites, teamwork saved the day when the cake began to slump because of rain showers during the ceremony. Arizona Sand & Rock Co. used its crane to quickly hoist a tarpaulin over the edible edifice, saving one of the state’s sweetest skyscrapers from collapse.

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FORTY EIGHT

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

COMMUNICATION SUCCESS:

CHRISTY SIGNS CELEBRATES A CENTURY OF SIGNAGE

“M

y father, Leonard L.W. ‘Christy’ Christensen, was an exacting man,” recalls Dane Christensen, his 82-year-old son. “I remember him preparing to paint a company’s logo on a truck door. He jacked up the vehicle and sat on a milk crate, about to go to work. But before he could start painting, he grabbed a newspaper, folded it three times, and placed it on the crate for a smidge of added height. ‘That’s more like it,’ he said and started doing the job.”

This father-son combo has long created memorable signage in the Phoenix area, and in 2024, Christy Signs will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Some of the company’s recent work includes the Arizona State Fairgrounds sign, Martin Auto Museum, and the Tempe IKEA Center. But the duo’s success

DOUGLAS TOWNE began with a jobsite mistake in a small Midwestern town over a century ago.

Dane’s grandfather, Samuel Christensen, was a housepainter refreshing a mercantile store in Fremont, Nebraska, in 1921. Christy, then 14 years old, was helping him when they accidentally painted over the business’s sign. Christy, amazingly, repainted the advertisement from memory and soon became known as the “whiz kid” sign painter in town, located 35 miles northwest of Omaha. Three years later, Christy moved to Omaha and continued to perfect his craft.

By age 20, Christy worked in the Bay Area in Fremont, California. He then boomeranged back to the Midwest, where he painted cigar and Coca-Cola signs on barns for a spell. “My father worked until the mid-1930s, but he was developing arthritis,” Dane says. “Christy went back to California, then decided to move to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he could work and get therapy. But while traveling through Arizona, he ran out of money and stayed.”

Christy initially landed in Prescott, where he opened a shop with Arnold Wieweck and Ben Mersereau called A & B Sign Company. “Christy was an unnamed partner since he didn’t want it to be called ABC signs,” Dane says. “He eventually met my mother, who worked at a dry cleaner he frequented, and they got married and moved to Phoenix. My sister was born in 1940, and I followed a year later.”

Dane recalls learning the industry by digging holes to put up Barry Goldwater and John Rhodes Jr. political signs during election season in 1952. Two years later, Dane had graduated to sign work with his father. “If Christy did a wall sign, he put up two ladders and a board and sketched the outside in chalk or charcoal while I filled in the middle.” Dane excelled at spray painting, a skill he also used to paint his two cars in high school.

Opposite page: Christy Christensen handpainting a Seagram’s advertisement for United Liquor Co., late 1940s.

Left: Howard Hinkle, Joe Long, and Christy Christensen at 514 W. Washington St. in Phoenix, 1939.

Images Courtesy of Dane Christensen

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

According to Dane, Christy was an excellent, low-tech sketch guy who liked doing things correctly. “He was the best gold leaf letterman in the Southwest, which he did for both business and government offices,” Dane says. “He was friends with Governor Paul Fannin, as well as Goldwater and Rhodes, and created the gold leaf lettering on doors for legislators at the state capital for probably 30 years.”

His father’s sign shop was initially located at 15 South 15th Avenue and later moved to a yard at Grand and 16th avenues, which Christy shared for many years with his friend, Bill Pearson Sr., who operated Pearson Sign. “My dad rented the shop first, and Pearson needed a place to work too, so he said, ‘What about I move

FIFTY

in here with you, and I’ll pay the rent.’”

Christy Signs later moved to 1919 West Grant Street, then 4200 North Seventh Avenue, north of Indian School Road.

Meanwhile, in 1959, Dane was drafted into the U.S. Air Force and eventually stationed at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California. After two years in the service, he returned to Phoenix and briefly had a job with Christy. “My father and I didn’t belong working together at that time in my life,” Dane says.

The big Phoenix shops, including Myers- Leiber Sign Co., Virgil Moss Sign Co., and Eller Outdoor Advertising, subsequently employed the independently-minded Dane. “Virgil was a nice guy, and Karl Eller knew who I was but was aloof and

Images Courtesy of Dane Christensen

Top left: Christy Christensen with his son, Dane, and his daughter Tanya, 1944.

Above: Christy Christensen by a United Liquor truck on which he hand painted an advertisement, 1940s.

Below: Christy Signs, 15 South 15th Ave, Phoenix, early 1950s.

had his mind on bigger things,” Dane says.

So, Dane returned to Southern California for better pay, working for Pacific Outdoor, White Advertising, and Foster and Kleiser.

He bounced up to Denver for a while, then back to Orange County for a job with the DuBois Sign Company before heading home.

In Phoenix, Dane worked at a little sign place, which went out of business.

“I was driving home and stopped by to see Pearson, who hired me on the spot in 1965,” Dane says. “The next day, I went down to Tucson on a job, and the guy operating the ladder truck had a heat stroke. I had no experience, but I jumped into the driver’s seat and ran it for a week. When Pearson heard about it, he said, ‘Geez, you can do anything, Dane?’”

Dane was with Pearson for about eight years, then started a firm with Paul Hayfield, creating signs for land developments near Snowflake. “The signs had illustrations with water, but there was no water anywhere on those properties,” he says.

The two were using Christy’s Sign shop on Seventh Avenue late one night in 1972 to finish a sign project for Ben Brooks, a realtor marketing White Horse Ranch properties near Show Low. “If I could find a couple of guys who were hard workers like you two, I’d gladly sell this business,’ my father told me,” Dane says. “Paul and I came up with enough money to buy him out.”

Five sign painters were on staff when Dane and his partner purchased Christy Signs. “Now, there probably aren’t five sign NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Dane Christensen

Above: Christy Signs shop at 15 South 15th Avenue, early 1950s.

Top right: Howard Hinkle Sign crane truck and Christy Signs ladder truck (l-r), 1950s.

Right: A La Mirada subdivision billboard hand painted by Christy Christensen, 1950s.

painters in the whole state,” Dane says. By 1975, Dane felt Hayfield wasn’t contributing his share to the business and asked for a divorce. “Paul said, ‘It’s your name up there on the sign; you should probably buy me out.”

His father, Christy, died in 1979 at age 72. “He was known as ‘Christy the Sign Man,” and everybody was his friend,” Dane says. “He loved going to Turf Paradise and was good buddies with the owner, Walter Clure. He did all the painting at the horse track.”

In 1978, Dane moved Christy Signs to a property at 4488 Grand Avenue. He later wanted to expand the shop and asked for a permit from Glendale, which turned him down, saying the state was buying the land to improve Grand Avenue. In 1988, Christy Signs moved to 1825 South Black Canyon

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Highway on the Durango Curve. Earlier this year, they relocated to 3345 North 33rd Avenue.

Besides Dane, Christy Signs has longtime employees, including Scott Frazer, who moved from Pennsylvania at age 20 to join the company in 1977. He’s still the operations director 46 years later. “I’m either paying him too much to stick around, or he

doesn’t know the difference,” Dane laughs.

Dane’s oldest daughter Candise “Candy” Christensen, manages the office, and her husband, John, oversees the metal shop. His youngest daughter, Wendy, was in sales for many years but left to join her mother, Diane, in opening Melrose Vintage in central Phoenix. “Wendy’s son, Jules, has signed on and is learning the sign craft and moving up,” Dane says. “Keep an eye on him.”

As he looks back on his long career, Dane says that his biggest compliment might be from his old friend, Mike Cochran, in Tucson, a successful attorney he knew as a kid when they lived near Seventh Street and Glendale in north central Phoenix.

“I really admire you; you know how to do so much stuff,” Cochran recently told him. “I just know how to be a lawyer.”

Far left: Dane Christensen in his garage, 2023.

Left: Dane Christensen in his company’s yard with a Maroney’s Cleaners sign where his mother worked for four years in the early 1950s, 2015.

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VIRGIL MOSS:

Above: A Virgil Moss Signs crew installing letters for Darling Shops in Tucson, 1952.

SKETCHING BOLD MID-CENTURY SIGNS BILLY HORNER

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eon signs, once a vibrant sight in the American mid-century commercial landscape, have gradually faded from view. Their influence on advertising and the beauty of cities during their heyday, however, cannot be underestimated.

One man who played a significant role in signs and billboards in Arizona was Virgil Paul Moss. Although relatively unknown today, Moss’s work as owner of an eponymous sign company had an immense impact on the region’s visual identity.

Born in Joplin, Missouri, on August 26, 1916, Moss moved to Arizona with his family in the early 1920s. He spent his formative years in Phoenix and graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1935. An FIFTY FOUR

ambitious young man, Moss volunteered for the U.S. Army and climbed the ranks during World War II. Serving under General George S. Patton as an artillery officer, Moss earned several military decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal and the European theater ribbon with battle stars.

After the war, he continued serving in the Army reserves, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

In 1943, Moss married Ferne Johnson, the daughter of a successful Arizona contractor. After the war, he put his artistic talents to use by opening the Virgil Moss Sign Company in 1948. The firm gained a reputation for creating elaborate neon signs and billboard signs throughout the Southwest.

Moss’s success as a businessman was partly attributed to his charismatic nature. According to former employee Ken Treguboff, Moss had a unique ability to convince potential customers of the necessity of having a bold sign. Moss would sketch ideas for customers on the spot, providing them with a visual representation of his vision. His company artists would then hand-paint the artwork directly on billboards or storefronts, with the option of adding neon glass tubing for additional flair.

Glen Guyett, who worked for MyersLeiber Sign Co., recalls a fierce rivalry between the two sign firms, with Virgil Moss sometimes undercutting Guyett’s price after he had already done the sign’s design work. “Moss was the head of the National Guard in Phoenix at the time, but he was a scoundrel when it came to business,” he recalls. As an example, Guyett NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Above: Virgil Moss (right) with Bud Nutting examine plans, 1975.

Right: Ramada Inn sign on a flatbed truck being transported for installation, late 1950s.

Below: A painter working for Virgil Moss Signs finishing a billboard for Tropicana Motor Hotel in Tucson, 1950s.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

cites the huge Courtesy Chevy sign on East Camelback Road that he designed, but Moss offered to create cheaper.

But the two companies weren’t always at odds, as Guyett was good friends with his counterpart Boobie Conrad, who was the head artist at Virgil Moss. “We played pool and bowled together as a team,” Guyett says. “We won the state pool tournament.

As Willie Mosconi said, ‘Proficiency at billiards is a sign of a misspent youth.’”

As Phoenix grew in the 1950s, the sign company profited and relocated its shop to a larger facility at 2934 East McDowell Road. His company created memorable signage during the “Golden Age of Neon,” including the Rose Bowl Motor Hotel on East Van Buren Street.

During this prosperous period, neon was considered by some to be an eyesore, and the sign industry became increasingly regulated. In 1965, new federal highway laws proposed stringent sign ordinance restrictions and the removal of some signs, leading to concerns about the future of the ARIZCC.COM

Image Courtesy of Jordan Smith

Above: Rose Bowl Motor Hotel sign designed and constructed by Virgil Moss Signs along Van Buren near 26th Street, 1950s.

Below: A Virgil Moss Signs plaque owned by Dane Christensen.

Left: Moss sketch for A.J. Bayless sign additions at Seventh Street and Glendale Avenue in Phoenix, 1950s.

business. Moss, who was a member of the City of Phoenix zoning board, expressed his For example, in 1966, Hallcraft Homes opinion that these regulations would limit offered customers a “Showcase of Homes” the creativity and design options for sign at their office at 2201 East Camelback companies.

Road. John Hall, the owner, commissioned ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Virgil Moss passed away in 2000 at the Above: A fire at Virgil Moss Signs building at age of 83, leaving behind a legacy of signs 2934 East McDowell Road, mid 1950s. and billboards that became much beloved Right: A Virgil Moss Sign crew installing a sign in Texas for Bill Benton Clothes, 1955. landmarks for many residents in Arizona.

Bottom: Spokeswoman for Hallcraft, Jeanne Neon signs have faded from promiMetzger, with the rotating Hallcraft Homes nence, and few of Moss’s contributions Sign along Camelback Road, 1969. to the visual landscape survive. However, Moss’s firm to design and construct a large these stunning electrical displays continue revolving sign glowing yellow at night to to be remembered by those fortunate attract potential customers to the site. The elaborate design was the signature touch for Hall’s “full of options” subdivision paradise. City inspectors soon notified Hallcraft Homes that the new sign didn’t meet the code, though it was granted a three-year waiver that same year.

The homebuilder’s request for an extension of the variance was rejected 3-2 by the sign appeal board, with sign maker Virgil Moss voting for a new variance.

Hallcraft Homes appealed the action to the Phoenix City Council but was rejected.

In April 1970, Hallcraft Homes agreed to stop its large sign from revolving, and it remained stationary for a few more years before being removed.

In the 1970s, additional sign regulations were implemented, stifling the creation and upkeep of vibrant neon signs that adorned the landscape. Moss and fellow neon tube bender Bud Nutting lamented the demise of the massive neon signs of yesteryear. Cities like Scottsdale and Monterey, California, were particularly restrictive, requiring permits for flashing, rotating, or animated signs. Some municipalities fined businesses for noncompliance as their existing signs were deemed no longer appropriate.

Moss’s sign company continued operating into the 1980s but with fewer clients.

The sign visionary turned to other artistic pursuits, including oil painting, which he exhibited at shows and galleries.

FIFTY SIX

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

enough to witness the heyday of neon in the Southwest. While it’s unlikely that the days of extravagant neon displays will return, Moss would likely be both shocked and honored that some of his surviving signs now grace museums, and private collectors pay top dollar to have one of their own.

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GUERRERO-LINDSEY SIGN CO.: HOW A POOR KID CREATED A SIGN-MAKING EMPIRE JAY MARK

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n 1918, the world was in rough straits.

World War I, “the war to end all wars,” was finally coming to an end just as the Spanish Flu began to devastate the planet.

Amidst these challenges emerged an energetic 22-year-old, Pedro Carlos Warner Guerrero, who launched a career that would make his name one of the bestknown Arizona sign makers.

Born in Solomon, Arizona, on May 13, 1896, Pedro Guerrero was the son of Adolfo Guerrero, a Mexican Presbyterian preacher,

Image Courtesy of The Arizona Republican

FIFTY EIGHT

and Katie Warner Guerrero, a church organist and school teacher. Guerrero’s childhood was challenging, as his family frequently moved around Arizona but eventually ended up in Durango, Mexico.

By the time he was 11, the Guerrero family had relocated again, this time to Casa Grande. It was a difficult transition for a Mexican kid who spoke no English.

From early on, Guerrero worked odd jobs to support his family. His parents died before he was 14, and he lived with his

Image Courtesy of Mesa Historical Museum

grandmother and, later, family friends. The ambitious Guerrero continued to change residences, trying to find his way.

For a short time, he did construction work in Los Angeles, mainly the kind Anglos wouldn’t do. By 1914, Guerrero was back in Arizona with stops in Casa Grande, Florence, and Mesa, where the 18-year-old married Rosaura Castro. Work was not easy to find for the next five years, forcing the Guerreros to seek employment in Florence, Casa Grande, Nogales, Chandler, and back to Mesa, where he would start a sideline Above: Pedro Guerrero (left) and his employees at the company’s shop at 531 West Main Street in Mesa in 1927.

Below left: Pedro Guerrero works on Jarretts in Mesa, one of Arizona’s first animated electric signs.

Below: Pedro Guerrero began his career creating window and store interior signs.

Image Courtesy of Mesa Historical Museum

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

that would ultimately define his future – sign painting.

Working in retail stores, Guerrero became known for his management skills and painting. This vocation led to more travel for the young family. First to Florence, then to Casa Grande, with each job better compensated. In 1917, Guerrero received an $85-a-month offer from Mesa’s premier department store, LeSueur and Spillsbury, where his career took off. One of Guerrero’s jobs was painting signs for the store, which he later recalled, “It was my world.” He began transitioning from merchandising to full-time sign painting in the next few years.

In 1920, he launched his own company using a 1917 truck, on which he handpainted in bold letters, “GUERRERO SIGN SERVICE.” He had the first full-time sign painting company in Mesa and received small jobs. The 24-year-old realized that being self-taught wasn’t sufficient to be an accomplished journeyman sign painter.

Guerrero enrolled in a sign-writing course from the International Correspondence Schools to hone his skills.

Guerrero’s growing talent was rewarded with a commission to paint an 80-foot roof-top sign for the Charlie Blakely Garage in Gilbert. The auto repair business later developed into the statewide chain of Blakely Gas Stations, providing Guerrero with years of continuous contracts.

It was only a short time before he created signs for many businesses along Mesa’s Main Street. Then came an offer from out of the blue. Cecil Drew, a Mesa businessman and lumber dealer, offered Guerrero a rent-free room and telephone in his Main Street store from which he could operate his sign business.

Drew later advanced Guerrero $50 to take classes in gold leaf lettering. Guerrero

became interested in the technique after seeing it done by an itinerant sign painter named Richards, who occasionally visited Mesa. This new skill paid off dramatically for Guerrero.

Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Soon, Guerrero had created gold leaf signs for the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Mesa Western Union Office, and Strauch’s Stationery. The demand for his skills spread beyond local work. Guerrero accepted $150 for a gold leaf sign for the Alianza-HispanoAmericana, a low-cost Tucson insurance company serving the Mexican community.

Guerrero was eager to embrace new technologies, and the proliferation of electric signs occurred in the 1920s. In 1927, when Charles Cardell (C.C.) Jarrett approached Guerrero about constructing a “big vertical dazzler,” where the letters C.C. Jarrett, Gents Furnishing and Shoes were “to come on, one at a time from top to bottom, then flash off, and then come on in a burst of light.” Pedro accepted the challenge and created the first significant animated electric sign produced in Arizona.

Above: The Guerrero-Lindsey Sign Co. replacing the El Paso sign with the America Oil Co. sign at a Tempe service station, 1964.

Left: Guerrero Sign Service employees pose by the company truck, 1924.

Image Courtesy of Guerrero family via La Gloria Escondida

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Image Courtesy of Demion Clinco

Above: Buckhorn Baths Motel sign.

Top right: Guerrero-Lindsey employees installing the Chicago Cubs sign at Sloan Park in Mesa in 2014.

Below: Guerrero-Lindsey Signs promotes “Neon” on its mid-century shop, 1950s.

That same year was pivotal for Guerrero, as he bought a lot at 531 West Main Street in Mesa. He moved his business there, into a 24 x 40-foot corrugated metal shop, four years later. He also met Jim Lindsey, a trombonist for the Glen Oswald Recording Orchestra that was in Mesa while its leader recuperated from tuberculosis. Ironically, Lindsey had apprenticed in an Anson, Texas, sign painting company before joining the musical group.

In 1931, Lindsey gave up his musical life on the road and returned to Arizona, where he had previously met and married his wife, Ethel Hines. Lindsey opened a sign painting company in Downtown Phoenix, but three years later, he opted to work with Guerrero. The two men were so compatible that Guerrero took Lindsey on as a partner, creating the Guerrero-Lindsey Sign Company.

The pair had an ideal relationship that lasted for decades. “We fit together well, and each of us was strong where the other tended to be a little weak,” Lindsey later reminisced. “Pete has always been aggressive, restless, willing to take a chance on a new idea or a new venture. I’m conservative and stable. We had arguments many times during our 32 years together, but never anything serious.” Even after Lindsey sold his share of the partnership back to Guerrero in 1948, the two continued working together for many years afterward.

Guerrero-Lindsey produced numerous signs for many clients during their time in operation. Some prominent names stand out: Bashas’ markets, Serranos Mexican

Restaurants, Starbucks, Food City, State Farm Insurance, Jimmy John’s, Dillard’s, Five Guys Restaurants, and Richfield Oil Company. Work for the latter company illustrates the thriftiness of the sign company.

A major sign contract with Richfield Oil, now called ARCO, unexpectedly provided building materials for the rear portion of the sign company’s main building. In 1936, Richfield had bought the far-flung retail outlets of the Rio Grande Oil Company and needed new signs at the many stations.

“Despite Lindsey’s considerable apprehension about risking so much money on one job, Guerrero-Lindsey accepted it,” according to La Gloria Escondida – the Guerrero Story, Dean Smith’s 1967 biography of Pedro Guerrero and his family.

The company had 36 sign painters on the payroll in an all-out push to meet the contract deadline. In the process, Guerrero-Lindsey, accumulated a massive stack of old Rio Grande signs, all sturdy sheet metal. Guerrero had the idea to put the metal signs to good use in building a shop addition.

Guerrero, never forgetting his early life, was known for his generosity. When churches came to his company for their

Image Courtesy of Author

sign needs, he often performed the work at no charge. After years of hard work, the once shunned Mexican kid had risen to such prominence that he was honored as Mesa’s Man of the Year in 1941.

But signs were just one of Guerrero’s talents. In 1928 he launched a subsidiary, Arizona Decorating Company, which provided services for conventions, street events, and other large-scale activities.

His second son, Pedro Eduardo Guerrero, gained worldwide recognition as Frank Lloyd Wright’s longtime official photographer. In 1923, his wife, Rosaura, started what would become Rosarita Mexican Foods, one of the nation’s first commercial Mexican food manufacturers.

Jim Lindsey passed away in 1985, followed by his partner, Pedro Guerrero, in 1990. The sign company continued to operate for the next quarter-century, closing in 2015. But the company’s signs still serve as landmarks in the community. One of its most significant sign installations is at Sloan Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs. Many, however, feel the company’s giant Buckhorn Baths sign represents one of its best efforts.

Image Courtesy of Mesa Historical Museum

SIXTY

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Above: Kathy Furtmann and Maureen Towne (l-r) by a 1954 Pontiac Bonneville and a 1950 GM Futureliner bus.

A NEON MIRAGE:

DECONSTRUCTING ARIZONA’S LATE GREAT SIGN MUSEUM DOUGLAS TOWNE

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t may have been the most underhyped invitation I’ve ever received. A casual offer to tour a warehouse, where some guy whose name I didn’t recognize stored old cars and associated ephemera. Little did I know that the contents of this display were worth $40 million.

“I go to a lot of collections… but for American cars, I’ve never seen anything SIXTY TWO

like this,” Craig Jackson of Barrett-Jackson Auctions in Scottsdale told The Classic Cars. com Journal. “It’s the best of the best.”

But this wasn’t a museum and wasn’t open to the public. Now that the statute of limitations has expired, I’m allowed to tell the story about the afternoon I nonchalantly had my wife pose between a 1954 Pontiac Bonneville and a 1950 GM

Futureliner bus, having no idea these vehicles would soon sell for a combined $7.3 million.

The event that precipitated this 2013 visit had occurred a week earlier at a July 4th soiree at a cabin high on Mount Tritle outside Prescott, Arizona. “This is Doug,” said Kathy Furtmann, introducing me to her boyfriend, Rick Stimbert. My badminton friend added, unsure what else to say, “He likes neon signs.”

A broad smile emerged on Rick’s face.

“You need to see this place that I can get us into,” he said. Even my wife, Mo, was intrigued by the offer. The proposed visit felt clandestine since we were sworn to secrecy about its location and contents.

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Author

Photos would be allowed, but I was supposed to take only a few, which is an onerous stipulation for a journalist. The ones I did snap would prove invaluable since the collection would disappear within the year as if it had been a mirage.

We rendezvoused at a two-story hangar at the Chandler Airpark, located southeast of Phoenix. Rick had access to the space because he worked for a company that had helped move and place the vintage signs for the auto collection. He unlocked the front door, flipped on the lights, and we had the run of the place.

Silly me focused on the auto-related neon displays, metal signs, gas pump lights, and vintage mechanical equipment, which ARIZCC.COM

easily exceeded a thousand in number. But these were mere accouterments to the show stars: more than 140 vintage autos.

The collection was owned by Ron Pratte, a Chandler native who worked at a gas station as a teenager. After serving in Vietnam, he started Pratte Development Co. Inc., a wood framing and concrete foundation company.

In 2004, the company launched a joint venture with Pulte Homes to provide the materials and labor for their housing developments in Arizona and Nevada. Ron Pratte served as the chief executive of Pratte Building Systems, a concept which would reduce construction costs and timelines.

“Initially, the joint venture will focus

on delivering material and labor related to concrete foundations and associated flat work, framing, exterior sheathing, roof trusses, exterior and interior doors, and trim packages for Pulte’s Nevada and Arizona operations. In Phoenix, the venture will also provide material and installation services for underground plumbing,” according to an article in the Las Vegas Sun. Pratte had over 4,000 employees at his company’s height, building 60 houses daily in Arizona and Nevada. He sold the company to Pulte right before the Great Recession in 2008.

Afterward, Pratte became a contributor to children’s charities and was a regular at Barrett-Jackson Auctions in Scottsdale.

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

His estimated worth of $350 million unsurprisingly granted him a front-row seat.

Pratte had previously accumulated gas pumps and other automobilia, and now he added cars to his collection.

When Pratte put together his personal showroom, he was a stickler for details. He decorated the airplane hangar with neon signs and ensured their electrical cords and outlets were hidden. Even the screws at those outlets had to be aligned in the same direction.

Seven months after our visit, the entire contents of the warehouse were sold at a Barrett-Jackson Auction. The 1,600 pieces of automobile ephemera brought in $6.55 million; with the cars, the total haul exceeded $40 million.

• 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake – $5.1 million • 1950 GM Futurliner Parade of Progress Tour Bus – $4 million • 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special Motorama Concept Car – $3.3 million • 1936 Delahaye “Whatthehaye” StreetRod – $671,000 • 2005 Ford GT Serial #003 – $605,000 • 2007 Blastolene B-702 Custom Roadster – $550,000 • 1969 Shelby GT500 Convertible “Carroll Shelby’s” – $550,000 • 1969 Ford Mustang BOSS 429 – $550,000 • 1949 MG TC Roadster Race Car – $539,000 • 1941 Packard D’Agostino Custom “Gable” – $495,000 This odd ending to Arizona’s most incredible neon museum that never opened makes me appreciate people who have put together local sign museums.

They include Jude and Monica Cook’s Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson and the Casa Grande Neon Sign Park, a project spearheaded by Marge Jantz.

On shoestring budgets, they’ve managed to amass collections of varying sizes, entertain and educate the public about the sign industry, and preserve their heritage for future generations. There’s no better way to catch a buzz in Arizona than to visit these electrical displays.

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NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

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FRANK WALLACE’S JOURNEY FROM FARMER TO HAULER TO ROAD CONTRACTOR TED POHLE

T

here are countless stories of ordinary individuals who, through a twist of fate and unwavering determination, rise to great heights of success. One such inspiring tale is that of Frank Wallace, who ventured into the road construction business on a fluke and turned it into a thriving enterprise, Wallace & Wallace Contractors.

This article explores the life of Wallace, tracing his humble beginnings and the path he traversed to become a prominent figure in the Arizona road construction industry.

In 1923, serendipity smiled upon Wallace when the Lee Moor Contracting Co. of El Paso, Texas, needed dump trucks for their road construction project near the Wallace farmhouse in New Mexico. Seizing the opportunity, Wallace agreed to rent his International flatbed truck to the company.

But exhibiting shrewd business sense, he negotiated to be the driver as well, which

launched his road construction business.

Wallace worked diligently on the project for a month, hauling loads of gravel and soil to earn income for his struggling farm.

The toil of manual labor did not deter Wallace; instead, it instilled in him a passion for road construction. With his family, which included his wife, Georgia, and their two young daughters, he followed the Lee Moor company to their next project near Lordsburg, New Mexico. There, he founded the Frank Wallace Trucking Company and became a subcontractor.

During the 1920s and early 1930s, road construction boomed across America with the popularity of automobiles.

Above: Wallace (wearing hat) with five of his truck drivers working for Lee Moor in El Paso, Texas, 1931.

Right: Frank Wallace, 1951.

Images Courtesy of Author

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NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Author

Above: Frank Wallace (left), with Erie Wallace on their first road project near Bylas east of Globe, 1940.

Top right: Erie Wallace with their Northwest shovel near Bylas east of Globe, 1940.

Right: Wallace & Wallace state highway project list, 1940-1953.

Below: A Frank Wallace Trucking Company dump truck after being hit by a train near Buckeye in 1938. Barney Sanders, the driver, was uninjured.

State and federal government programs were launched to improve highways, and Wallace realized the promising future of the industry. As demand for his trucking services surged, Wallace expanded his fleet, acquiring a new Ford Model T truck

with a dumping mechanism, which eased the need for manual labor.

The Great Depression presented challenges, but Wallace’s ingenuity prevailed.

He hired truck drivers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps and

continued subcontracting for Lee Moor. In 1936, the Wallace family moved to Tucson for work. Wallace’s dedication to his business led him to seek contracts with various construction companies while still maintaining a strong bond with his old friend and construction superintendent for Lee Moor, Erie Wallace (no relation).

In 1940, Frank Wallace took a daring step and fulfilled his dream of starting a ARIZCC.COM

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

road construction company. He formed a 50-50 partnership with Erie Wallace and launched Wallace & Wallace Contractors.

Setting up the company involved acquiring expensive machinery and hiring skilled workers, a task made easier by Frank Wallace’s management experience and Erie Wallace’s engineering expertise.

Wallace & Wallace Contractors earned its reputation for excellence, securing

projects including building runways at military bases during World War II. But tragedy struck the company in September 1942 when Erie Wallace was killed in an airplane crash traveling from Palm Springs to Phoenix, leaving Frank Wallace to run the company.

Not much is known about why the plane crashed. Frank Wallace and his wife swore, however, that Erie Wallace had told

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

them that he had visited a fortune teller in Las Vegas shortly before the flight for insight on whether the company could drill a successful water well near a construction job. The fortune teller told him the well would be productive but that his flight would end in disaster, but the engineer didn’t believe her.

Frank Wallace was capable of running the company, but finding qualified workers Above: Wallace & Wallace aggregate operations near Payson, 1956.

Left: A Wallace & Wallace Caterpillar D8 bulldozer on the Beeline Highway project, 1957.

Below: AGC National Convention party at Westward Ho Hotel in Phoenix with Bob Markman, H.L. Royden, Roger Hayford, and Frank Wallace (l-r), 1952.

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NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Image Courtesy of Author

Above: Frank Wallace with wife, Georgia, during a Horseless Carriage show, 1957.

Right: A Wallace & Wallace mechanic with his service truck on the Beeline Highway project, 1957.

Below right: A Wallace & Wallace Kolman conveyor loading screened material into an Euclid scraper on the Beeline Highway project, 1957.

was a challenge as young men were being drafted for the war. Around late 1942, Wallace temporarily shut down his firm and sold most of his equipment to Morrison Knudsen (MK). He relaunched his company after the war, purchasing equipment and a 5-acre yard on South 19th Avenue in Phoenix. Wallace’s efforts proved successful, so he expanded and added a new partner, Bob Makemson, an engineer.

In 1948, tragedy struck again when Wallace and Makemson were involved in a near-fatal accident near Clifton, resulting in permanent injuries. Despite these setbacks, they continued to run the company until Wallace’s health began to deteriorate in the late 1950s. In 1957, Wallace became president of the Arizona Chapter Associated General Contractors (AZAGC).

During this time, Wallace and his wife enjoyed other activities, including becoming members of the Horseless Carriage Club, where they drove their 1908 Overland auto in parades.

Wallace’s passing in April 1961 marked the end of an era, but his work lived on through his successful company and its impact on the road construction industry. Makemson took over the business, renaming it the R.M. Makemson Company, though he died in June 1962. Wallace’s wife, Georgia, liquidated the construction equipment and sold the 19th Avenue property to contractor D.C. Speer the same year.

Beyond his entrepreneurial achievements, Wallace was a family man with a great sense of humor. He cherished his ARIZCC.COM

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

loving marriage to Georgia and enjoyed playful pranks with their collection of joke items. Throughout his life, Wallace exhibited remarkable resilience, resourcefulness, and a pioneering spirit, leaving an indelible mark on the road construction

industry. His commitment to his business and his community exemplified his strong work ethic and integrity. Wallace’s legacy as a skilled businessman and a trailblazer in the construction industry remains an enduring inspiration.

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

SALUTING ARIZONA’S BUILDERS: HARRY J. HAGEN

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hether constructing roads, bridges, or concrete buildings, Globe contractor Harry J. Hagen proved time and time again that he could perform quality work at the lowest cost.

Hagen’s construction legacy includes portions of the Apache Trail, the Mt. Graham Highway, the Pinto Creek Bridge, and many mine facilities near Miami and Globe.

These engineering feats are all the more impressive, considering that Hagen started his career as a mine laborer before owning a construction firm.

Hagen grew up in an Oregon logging town and studied civil engineering at college for two years until contracting tuberculosis. Hopping a freight train with a friend, Hagen eventually made it to Globe in 1916 as a 19-year-old with eight dollars to his name. He worked as an underground miner for Inspiration Copper Company but was promoted to draftsman and later hired by a local contractor.

In 1917, Hagen became the Arizona Highway Department’s youngest supervisor and was selected to lead a 10-man

crew to survey the Maricopa-Yuma County line west of Phoenix. The project required them to camp in rugged and remote desert terrain along the 100-mile survey boundary. Hagen did paperwork during the day and surveyed at night to avoid the hottest temperatures.

Hagen subsequently became the youngest resident engineer in the Arizona State Highway Department at age 21. His first engineering job was on the MiamiSuperior Highway, dubbed the “Million Dollar Highway.” Hagen supervised two contractors with 150 employees, who excavated using hand shovels or mule-powered Fresno scrapers and hauled away debris in wheelbarrows and wagons.

Hagen subsequently married Thelma Webb and joined the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, working in the Pacific Northwest until returning to Globe to form Hagen Construction Company in 1930.

Under Hagen’s leadership, the company left its construction footprint across Arizona, including Strawberry Hill over

the Mogollon Rim towards Flagstaff, U.S. Route 66 overpasses, city streets in Globe and Flagstaff, upgrades at the Navajo Army Depot, U.S. Highway 70 between Cutter and Peridot, 35 miles of U.S. Highway 60 between Globe and Show Low, including the steep, treacherous four-mile southern descent into the Salt River Canyon.

The company also performed concrete work, building Inspiration Mine’s primary crusher and ore bins, Miami Copper Company’s leaching facilities, a concrete dam for Kennecott Copper Corporation, and the concrete structures at the Copper Cities Unit Mine.

Hagen’s last construction project, the Carrizo Creek Bridge on U.S. Highway 60, was in 1977. Hagen worked as long as he could, saying, “If I retire, I’ll let my crew down—especially the old gang that’s been with us all these years,” he told his granddaughter, Elaine Hagen McBride. Turnover at his company was very low, which is rare in the industry.

“The people in the company are most of Harry’s world,” his wife, Thelma, told McBride. “He’d do anything for them.”

McBride sums up her grandfather’s legacy. “His integrity, business know-how, and stalwart ethics make him a permanent pillar both in Globe and the Arizona construction communities,” she says.

Right: Harry Hagen, 1960s.

Below: Pinto Creek Bridge plaque.

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Image Courtesy of Elaine Hagen McBride

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Left: Harry Hagen, 1960.

Above: Hagen’s Caterpillar bulldozers working on U.S. Highway 60 north of Globe, 1953.

Below: Hagen’s company working north of Globe on U.S. Highway 60, 1959.

Images Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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OLD SCHOOL EQUIPMENT: BOND’S ELEVATING LOADER BILLY HORNER

I

n 1970, a heavy jumbo jet was destined to begin service to Phoenix, but Sky Harbor Airport’s runways wouldn’t be able to handle it. The Boeing 747 was the world’s first twin-aisle jetliner, carrying 366 passengers.

To solve the problem, Mesa Paving Co. of Tempe improved Sky Harbor’s runways that year. With a low bid of $431,000, the contract included 5,800 feet of runway and apron prep and moving 62,000 cubic yards of excavation and 45,000 cubic yards of borrowed material.

A Phoenix company, James Bond Trucking, was contracted to move the material using heavy 80- and 100-ton double-gate belly dumps. An inventive person, Bond modified a massive twin-engine

Letourneau Westinghouse Wabco self-loading scraper with a 60-inch side discharge conveyor for continuous dump truck loading.

The operator and truck driver could see each other and move in unison during loading. The impressive setup allowed Bond’s company to move 20,000 cubic yards of borrowed and excavated material daily.

Working with his mechanics, Bond created the side discharge by fabricating and stabilizing the conveyor on the scraper.

On the scraper’s right side, an engine propelled the belt that sat below to assist the material directly onto the belt and out into the trucks. Contractors were worried that the material would tip over the scraper,

but Bond had attached a 1-inch-thick steel plate box on the opposite side as a counterweight.

The trucking company worked with multiple contractors moving and hauling material, influencing their methods. M.M. Sundt later emulated Bond’s scraper adaptation in their projects.

Top right: Wabco scraper and Ed King, project manager for Mesa Paving Co., 1970.

Other photos: Wabco scrapers loading trucks during Sky Harbor Airport’s runway excavation, 1970.

PAGE

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Mike Denny

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Building on the Past 1968 - GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER SIGN BILLY HORNER

I

n 1968, the Myers-Leiber Sign Co. overhauled a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. sign so large and dramatic that six years later, Arizona Public Service would have to reassure the public that restarting it would not endanger the state’s power grid.

The oversized advertisement, located near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Interstate 17, was built by Myers-Leiber in 1959. Four large steel beams held the huge sign; the company added an oval time clock in 1961.

During the 1968 expansion, three new beams expanded the sign to 100 feet long and 89.5 feet tall. While Myers-Leiber constructed the new skeleton, the original

PAGE

sign remained functioning. Seven stanchions were visible then, with one original sign beam to the east later removed.

When completed, the new time clock also flashed the temperature and the “Go-GoGoodyear” motto.

Portions of the old sign would be re-erected east of Tempe Bridge before the city’s new sign ordinance outlawed signs of that height.

Maintaining the Goodyear sign was a challenge. “When bulbs would burn out in that sign, we had to service it by climbing between the two frames to change them,” says Glen Zwick, a former Myers-Leiber employee. “We waited until enough bulbs

burned out and altered the letters before climbing up there.”

The bright sign went dark for six months, starting in the fall of 1973 during the energy crisis. It was turned back on in May 1974 after the situation had eased, and APS officials gave their assurance that the re-illumination would not endanger the state’s electrical supply.

In 1976, after a 16-year run, the Goodyear time and temperature sign went dark for good because of high operating costs, estimated at $5,000 per month.

Goodyear stated that the 4,900 squarefoot sign would later be dismantled or at least limited to 768 square-foot, as allowed by the current Phoenix sign ordinance.

Only the sign’s time and temperature portion were removed, however, and the behemoth has continued advertising other entities, including KNIX and Spencer’s Appliances.

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Duke University

Above: The original Goodyear sign, 1961.

Left: Expanding the Goodyear sign, 1968.

Top right: Expanding the Goodyear sign, 1968.

Right: Goodyear sign with the updated square time clock, 1969.

Bottom right: Construction on I-17 with KNIX sign in background, 1986.

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Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

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EIGHTY

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

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“A

sign is something by knowing we know something more,” philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce said. Signs are often just symbols, found in three overarching categories: to identify, describe, and create value. They are often associated with trademarks and commerce, designed as visual communication.

The message will likely be transferred to the viewer if the signs and symbols are aesthetically pleasing.

Since the Middle Ages, symbols have evolved toward simplification: being clear, refined, and avoiding the nonessential. By the early 1920s, graphic design was considered a fine art. In the last 40 years, environmental graphics has embraced design disciplines, including architecture, interiors, landscapes, and industrial design. It

Architect’s Perspective: Airpark Signs and Graphics: Respecting the Architecture Doug Sydnor, FAIA

Doug_sydnor@outlook.com involves wayfinding, communicating identity and information, and shaping the idea of creating an experience that connects people to places.

An Arizona company founded four decades ago that excels at these connections is Airpark Signs and Graphics (ASG).

Its founder and president, Gretchen Wilde, grew up in Phoenix and attended Scottsdale

High School. She launched the company in 1983 by engraving signs in her mother’s family room.

Given such humble beginnings, ASG is pleased to be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023. Wilde’s roots are in the joy of simply making things. “The company mission is to respect the integrity of the project and not detract but add to the architecture,” she says. “We work closely with our clients to realize their vision and enhance their overall objective.”

Over the years, ASG has had several locations, including a facility in the Scottsdale Airpark, which contributed to its name. The current headquarters is at 1205 North Miller Road in Tempe, a property it purchased in 2007.

ASG has a staff of 54 designers and technicians, plus 45 employees in three allied companies with state-of-the-art equipment, cranes, and installation services. The company is a full-service architectural signage design, fabrication, and installation provider. Their managers track projects from inspection through all phases of creating and implementing them.

ASG has designed and installed signs for medical, banking, educational, and governmental buildings. The list of clients includes Amazon, American Express,

Image Courtesy of Bill Timmerman

Top left: Airpark Signs and Graphics office.

Left: The Marilyn exterior.

Below: The Marilyn exterior logo.

Images Courtesy of Author

EIGHTY TWO

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Images Courtesy of Author

Above: The Marilyn portrait graphic.

Left: The Marilyn with Gretchen Wilde.

Arizona State University, City of Peoria, City of Goodyear, DoorDash, eBay, FBI Phoenix Division, Freeport McMoran, Maricopa Community Colleges, McKesson, PayPal, and United Way. The company specializes in Arizona but works nationwide and even overseas in Aruba.

The company has a favorite endeavor.

“It is an absolute joy to restore old signs,” Wilde says. “We did a sign at the Stockyards Restaurant, which was rebuilt from the original historical drawings. We also did Don Wood’s “Say When” sign in Phoenix, located at the Rise Uptown Hotel on Camelback Road.”

Wilde and I toured The Marilyn at 4602 East Thomas Road in Phoenix. Kaibab

Industries had the original structure built, designed by Peter A. Lendrum, Architect.

LightVox Studio designed the major renovation and interior improvements for the building a few years ago. The Marilyn is a workspace solution that offers furnished private offices with additional amenities, including high-speed secured Wi-Fi, conference rooms, and a concierge service.

Common areas include lounge seating, work tables, and the Muse and Market restaurant.

ASG designed, fabricated, and installed new exterior signage, interior wall graphics, and code-required signage. Identification signage evolved with a single stylized capital “M” logo, influenced by the building’s

angular lines and diagonal wall siding pattern. An exterior ground-mounted red “M” was repeated as an interior vinyl-applied logo at the suite entry. The Marilyn sign is also suspended below a new entry canopy and intentionally casts the word in shadows across the walk below. A final creative touch is a sizeable pixilated graphic of Marilyn’s portrait at the entry area lounge seating, an overall approach that respects the architecture.

The Graduate Hotel at 225 East Apache Boulevard in Tempe was a former Howard Johnson Hotel and Restaurant, which has been transformed into a more energized, youth-focused property across from the ASU campus. This hotel chain focuses on

Images Courtesy of Bill Timmerman

Above: The Graduate Hotel with Gretchen Wilde.

Right: The Graduate Hotel on Apache Boulevard, Tempe.

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Left: Rio Vista Recreational Center.

Image Courtesy of Bill Timmerman

recapturing college days but with upgraded amenities. ASG designed and installed the new signage, including the high-impact exterior neon signs, effectively attaining the desired character.

The Rio Vista Recreational Center at 8866 West Thunderbird Road is a 52,000 square feet public facility for the City of Peoria designed by Architekton. The center is intended to engage residents

and promote healthy lifestyles. Signage included major exterior identification with a layering of corrugated Corten steel letters overlaid on the wall siding, complemented by words with high-contrast lighter letters.

The words’ staggered shift suggests a horizontal movement across the elevation. ASG also designed an exterior curving and linear memorial for Peoria residents that served our country. This project is a beautiful

example of signage using appropriate materials and respecting the architecture.

ASG has been active in the community for years, with Wilde serving as the Arizona Chapter of the Society of Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) co-chair. She has also been a member of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) for 20 years and was honored with an IIDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 for her ongoing support. Her company has donated signs and hosted fundraising events for the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center. Wilde has also worked for a decade with Circle the City, which facilitates housing for the homeless, mentored young designers, and provided regular facility class tours to the ASU Interior Design School.

ASG has been a creative, professional signage and environmental graphics resource in the Southwest for decades while demonstrating an ongoing commitment to serving our community.

Douglas B. Sydnor, FAIA, is Principal at Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates, Inc. and the author of three Arizona architecture books.

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DIGGING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES:

A CENTURY OF WILLIAMS TRUCKING IN ARIZONA BILLY HORNER

T

he family behind Road Jammers Machinery (RJM) has been a familiar name for truck hauling among Arizona contractors for four generations.

Their dump trucks, schemed in light green, have carried asphalt, aggregates, and other materials to construction sites for 100 years.

The business was started by R.H. (Bob) Williams, who was born in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and later moved to Arizona. He and his wife, Lily May, had five sons, Robert V., Ed, Roy, Jack Durwood (J.D.), and Donnie, and three daughters, Margaret McIntire, Fay Sanner (contractor Bailey Sanner’s first wife), and Nellie May Barrett.

Bob launched his Phoenix excavating and trucking company in 1923, offering hauling services to local contractors.

The company was initially located at 1532 Grand Avenue but moved to 722 South Third Street by the mid-1930s. When Phoenix contractor J.C. Steele retired in the 1930s, Bob purchased some of his trucks.

Bob later expanded his services using a Universal Power shovel and a Lorain-40

EIGHTY SIX

shovel for excavation and highway work.

“Aside from contracting, Bob owned the last livery stable in South Phoenix, which he sold in 1941,” his second youngest son, J.D., said in 1980.

Above and top right: Williams Trucking and Road Jammers Machinery (l-r) end dump trucks hauling ABC to Pulice Construction during Continental Homes Bell Air project at 43rd Avenue and Bell Road, 1973.

Below: Jack Jr. and Mike Williams with original truck door decals, 2023.

In 1945, Bob died at age 55, still on the job. His funeral services were delayed until J.D. could return from the U.S. Coast Guard while serving on a cargo vessel as a radio operator during World War II. After his military discharge in 1946, J.D. briefly

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Left: R.H. Williams equipment and employees, 1930s.

Bottom left: R.H. Williams shovel and dump truck during road construction in Santa Cruz County, 1937.

Image Courtesy of Wiliams Family

continued his father’s company, where he had worked as a boy helping load and unload dump trucks with hand shovels until the firm was dissolved.

J.D. then launched his own firm, Williams Trucking, with one Ford truck in 1949. “At that time, you couldn’t be an owner-operator unless you had a permit,” says Mike Williams, J.D.’s youngest son.

“Our grandfather R.H. (Bob) had a permit, which he would later pass down so the whole family could benefit from it.”

By 1956, J.D. had a fleet of International and Ford trucks parked on a vacant lot next to his house at 18th Street and Osborn Road. Williams Trucking primarily hauled ABC and asphalt for highway road projects, often outside Phoenix, for companies such as Peter Kiewit & Sons, Tanner Brothers, M.M. Sundt, Tiffany, D.C. Speer, Fisher, and later Wheeler, Pulice, Nesbitt, and Hunter.

“Dad’s (J.D.’s) favorite color was Glenmist Green, like his 1949 Ford pickup,” says his son, Jack Williams Jr. “It wasn’t white and didn’t show dirt like darker colors. From then on, all his trucks in the Williams fleet were painted Glenmist Green, and RJM continued the tradition to this day.”

Image Courtesy of AZ Public Records

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

Jack Jr. recalled one contract to haul all the asphalt for D.C. Speer at The London Bridge. “We were supposed to pave right up to the bridge with specific instructions not to cross it, but one of our drivers drove right across the brand-new bridge just before the grand opening,” he says.

Another trucking company helped out when the Salt River flooded in the Valley, which left only the Mill Avenue and Central Avenue bridges usable in early 1980. “To avoid the hour-long wait, Union Rock

& Materials would let our trucks sneak through their yard, where they had a turnaround that led across the Salt River,” Jack Jr. says. “This shaved an hour of traffic wait time for our drivers.”

J.D. amassed a fleet of trucks by the mid-1960s, including 10-wheel trucks and 18-wheel belly and end dump trucks to handle the workload. To keep organized, the company numbered their 10-wheeler trucks with two digits and their 18-wheelers with three numerals.

One memorable employee was Chuck Dunnigan, a long-time driver for Williams Trucking. “Chuck was missing his left arm, and his dump truck was older with two sticks to shift,” Mike says. “He would steer with his left knee while shifting both sticks and smoking a cigarette with his right hand and not miss a beat. When the CDL law came out, it stated that a driver needed two arms to drive a truck. DOT would grant him a waiver if his truck were automatic with power steering. Dad bought him a Above: R.H. “Bob” Williams with his dump truck purchased from J.C. Steele, late 1930s.

Below: J.D. Williams with the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, 1940s.

Left: Williams family: Mike, Roger, Lonita, J.D., and Jack Jr. (l-r), early 1960s.

Images Courtesy of Wiliams Family

EIGHTY EIGHT

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

Image Courtesy of Wiliams Family

new truck with power steering and automatic transmission to keep him rolling.”

J.D.’s three sons, Roger, Jack Jr., and Mike, continued in the trucking industry, starting RJM (Road Jammers Machinery) in 1967. J.D. still operated Williams Trucking, but he wanted his sons to have their own trucking firm.

“The Corporation Commission did not issue any more sand and gravel licenses during this time, so you had to purchase one from someone willing to sell,” Jack Jr. Image Courtesy of Arizona Contractor & Community

Image Courtesy of Tom Phillips

says. “While J.D. already had the license passed down from Bob for heavy haul and sand and gravel, he purchased another license from an older local hauler, Bill Cummins, who had one truck and was retiring. At one time, a heavy haul license was hard to come by and worth a lot of money but became worthless upon deregulation in the 1980s.”

Through the 1970s, Williams Trucking and RJM operated as two different companies out of the same yard. But J.D.’s permit

expired in the late 1970s, and he decided to phase out Williams Trucking and retired in 1980.

J.D. and his wife, Lonita, raised thoroughbred horses in retirement at their Ja-Nita Farms on South 19th Avenue and Baseline Road. Horses had long been a part of J.D.’s life, though it wasn’t until 1970 that he started his breeding operation.

J.D. got into the thoroughbred business for the challenge, but it became profitable by offering his colts and fillies at the Arizona Breeders sales held at Turf Paradise.

But the horses didn’t keep J.D. occupied all the time. “Even when Dad ‘retired,’ he still found an excuse to come down to the office because he had candy in his desk,” Mike says. J.D. passed away from cancer in 1985.

Meanwhile, RJM kept the Williams name in hauling. The oldest son, Roger, sold his shares, retiring in 2014, and passed away in 2021. In 2016, Jack Jr. sold his shares and continues to live in Phoenix.

RJM is currently owned by J.D.’s youngest son Mike Williams, along with Mike’s son, Ben Williams, and his daughter, Hannah Williams, and features 20 modern trucks which haul asphalt and aggregates.

Above: J.D. Williams, Charlie Harris, and Donnie Williams on a project in Mesa, 1960.

Top left: J.D. and Lonita Williams, 1980s.

Above left: Current owners of Road Jammers Machinery: Hannah, Mike, and Ben Williams, 2023.

Left: Williams Trucking delivering asphalt to Fisher Contracting during the paving of the I-10 Broadway Curve, 1966.

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ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

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Wallace & Wallace, Phoenix $44,551 Grading, Drainage, Paving 8.5 Miles Grand Canyon-Williams Rd.

Christopher Columbus Park Improvements Kapp Con $5,593,998 9/8/23

Island Path Repave Pioneer Earthmovers Inc $2,050,262 9/20/23

Hedgepeth Waterline Improvement (REBID) TF Contracting Services $3,753,446 10/3/23

R.J. Daum Construction, Phoenix $331,000 Remodel/Alterations Tucson Veterans Hospital

Casa Grande Tucson SR 87 FNF Construction $7,745,874 9/8/23

(CMAR) Price Road 66 inch Sewer Interceptor Chip Seal Fog Coat Services B&F Contracting VSS International $30,000,000 $26,638,187 9/20/23 10/3/23

Mark Cockrill Construction, Phoenix $125,740 Outfall Sewer System City of Mesa

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Prop 411 Rehab Package 4 Southern Arizona Paving SAP $5,637,645 9/14/23

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BinghamEquipment.com BUCKEYE 710 N. 195th Ave. (623) 853-1000 PHOENIX 21828 N. 7th St. (623) 850-6000

CASA GRANDE COTTONWOOD LAKESIDE MESA PARKER 815 W. Gila Bend Hwy. 2694 S. Union Drive 5819 Hwy. 260 1655 S. Country Club Dr. 1320 Geronimo (520) 836-8700 (928) 646-5388 (928) 251-0403 (480) 969-5516 (928) 669-9271 PRESCOTT VALLEY TUCSON TUCSON YUMA 10123 AZ-69 5225 N. Casa Grande Hwy. 4350 S. Palo Verde Rd. 3214 E. Gila Ridge Rd. #1 (928) 350-4295 (520) 887-7799 (520) 316-8139 (928) 726-4701

*$0 Down, 0% A.P.R. financing for up to 36 months on purchases of select new Kubota KX, U and SVL Series equipment from participating dealers’ in-stock inventory is available to qualified purchasers through Kubota Credit Corporation, U.S.A.; subject to credit approval. Some exceptions apply. Example: 36 monthly payments of $27.78 per $1,000 financed. Offer expires 12/31/23. For complete warranty, disclaimer, safety and product information see dealer or KubotaUSA.com. † For complete warranty, safety and product information, consult your local Kubota dealer and the product operator’s manual. Power (HP/KW) and other specifications are based on various standards or recommended practices. K1243-24-148562-4

NINETY

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

P: 623-847-3594 F: 623-931-3693 W: newwesternrentals.com 7909 W. Glendale Ave. Glendale, AZ 85303 Operators available upon request, small jobs such as jobsite prep, grading & Cleanup Light Towers Generators Earthmoving Equipment Aerial Equipment Track-Out Shakers Water Trucks Water towers & Backflows

TUC (520) 822-8333

PHX (602) 368-8797

TUCSON & PHOENIX LONG DISTANCE & LOCAL ARIZCC.COM

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

&3 CAT CAT

73,000 lb 54,000 lb

328DL L CR 321DL CR

Options: Thumb, Hammer, Wheel

CAT CAT

631E 627K

34 yd 24 yd

Trimble-GPS available for certain models

PAGE

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

ARIZCC.COM

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX PLEASE PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS, THEY MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE! A to Z Rentals 480-558-0063 a-zequipment.com

P. 81

E&E Companies 480-251-8929

P. 36

MDI Rock 602-569-8722 mdirock.com

P. 36

Solterra Materials 602-531-0454 solterramaterials.com

P. 80

Arizona Materials 602-278-4444 arizonamaterials.com

P. 8

Earnhardt 480-926-4000 nobullfleet.com

P. 38

Metro Engineering & Survey 623-466-6640 metroaz.net

P. 40

Sonsray Machinery 844-sonsray sonsraymachinery.com

P. 22

Asphalt Busters 623-936-8800 asphaltbusters.com

P. 81

ECCO Equipment 602-276-2040 eccoequipment.com

P. BC

Metro Traffic Control 623-879-0610 metrotrafficcontrol.net

P. 10

Southwest Asphalt 480-730-1033 fisherind.com

P. 14

Baja Ready Mix 602-503-9391 readymixconcreteaz.com

P. 7

EES 480-809-4687 emergencyenv.com

P. 6

NCS 928-567-6585 networxcs.com

P. 26

Specialty Companies Group 623-582-2385 specialtycompaniesgroup.com

P. 11

Ben’s Express 877-4-BEN-EXP bensexpress.com

P. 85

Eagle Iron Works 480-730-1212 eagleironworks.com

P. 64

NECA 602-263-0111 azneca.org

P. 28

Statewide T&T 602-368-8797

P. 91

BidJudge 602-456-BIDZ bidjudge.com

P. 42

Elite Sports 602-899-9200 elitesportsbuilders.com

P. 7

New West Oil 602-759-5559 newwestoil.com

P. 52

STS Materials 602-586-5909 stsmaterials.com

P. 20

Bingham 623-850-6000 binghamequipment.com

P. 90

Empire Sales Center 520-582-2050 empirecat.com/eloy

P. 42

New Western Rentals 623-847-3594 newwesternrentals.com

P. 91

Sunland Asphalt 602-323-2800 sunlandasphalt.com

P. 40

Blueline Grizzly 928-308-1901 bluelinerockgrizzly.com

P. 73

Fisher’s Tools 800-390-4063 fishertools.com

P. 42

Next Level Steel 480-733-1600 nextlevelsteel.com

P. 84

Sunstate Equipment 888-456-4560 sunstateequip.com

P. 61

Branco Machinery 480-892-5657 brancomachinery.com

P. IFC

Forrest Rents 602-620-2383 forrestequipmentrentals.com

P. 76

Otto Trucking 480-641-3500 ottotrucking.com

P. 12

Superstition Trailers 602-415-0222 stlaz.com

P. 72

Buesing Corp 602-233-3339 buesingcorp.com

P. 4

GenTech 800-625-8324 gentechusa.com

P. 8

Pacwest Rentals 480-832-0855 pacwestrentals.com

P. 17

Trench-Ade 833-384-1176 trench-ade.com

P. IBC

CalPortland 602-817-6929 calportland.com

P. 10

GoodFellow 623-594-5401 goodfellowcorp.com

P. 76

Pacwest Trading 480-455-8800 pacwesttrading.com

P. 5

TSR 602-253-3311 tsraz.com

P. 24

CAMS 602-331-5455 cams-az.com

P. 30

Greer Aftermarket Parts 602-541-0554 602-541-5971

P. 34

Powerscreen 602-772-1419 powerscreenwestern.com

P. 34

Vermeer Mountain West 480-785-4800 vermeermountainwest.com

P. 40

Castle Hot Springs 844-276-8052 castlehotsprings.com

P. 36

Herc Rentals 602-269-5931 hercrentals.com

P. 26

Preach Building Supply 602-944-4594 preachbuildingsupply.com

P. 53

Westroc 480-550-1815

P. 34

CED 602-437-4200 cedphx.com

P. 13

Insearch Corp 480-940-0100 insearchcorp.com

P. 53

Reliable Portable Bathrooms 602-601-2222 reliableportablebathrooms.com

P. 9

WillScot 800-782-1500 willscot.com

P. 44

Cemex 602-416-2652 cemexusa.com

P. 30

Insurica 602-273-1625 insurica.com

P. 24

Reuter Fabrication 602-415-0449 reuterequipment.com

P. 13

Woudenberg Properties 480-620-8555 woudenbergprops.com

P. 3

Cliffco 602-442-6913 cliffcorepair.com

P. 3

JS Cole 602-633-0990 jscole.com

P. 92, 93

RT Underground 602-622-6789

P. 10

WSM 623-936-3300 wsmauctioneers.com

P. 46

Curry Fluid Power 602-661-6596 curryfluidpower.com

P. 7

KE&G 520-748-0188 kegtus.com

P. 11

S&S Paving 602-437-0818 sspaving.com

P. 44

Wyman 480-695-4636 wymanexcavating.com

P. 15

Custom Truck 602-527-4088 customtruck.com

P. 77

Keystone Concrete 480-835-1579 keystoneconcretellc.com

P. 34

Salt River Materials Group 480-850-5757 srmaterials.com

P. 65

DCS 480-732-9238 dcscontracting.com

P. 13

Korfab 602-309-2009 korfab.us

P. 73

Shanes Grading & Paving 602-992-2201 shanespaving.com

P. 26

Diamondback Materials 623-925-8966 diamonondbackmaterials.com

P. 13

Landco Power 480-788-1333 landcorental.com

P. 15

Shanes Hauling 602-992-2201 shanespaving.com

P. 28

DitchWitch 602-437-0351 ditchwitchwest.com

P. 18

Lang & Klain 480-534-4900 lang-klain.com

P. 64

Sharp Creek Contracting 602-437-3040 sharpcreek.com

P. 32

Dynamic Diesel 602-376-1448 dynamicdieselrepair.com

P. 15

Marrs Construction 602-282-4007 marrsconstruction.com

P. 57

Sitech Southwest 602-691-7501 sitechsw.com

P. 72

NINTY FOUR

FOR ADVERTISING INQUIRIES CONTACT BILLY HORNER 602-931-0069 BILLY@ARIZCC.COM

NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2023

YOUR LOCAL SHORING SOLUTIONS PARTNER

Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott

(833) 384-1176

ALUMINUM HYDRAULIC SHORING | ALUMINUM HYDRAULIC MULTI-SHORES | ALUMINUM BUILD-A-BOX | STEEL FRAMED ALUMINUM SHIELDS | ALUMINUM END SHORES | TRENCH SHIELDS | MANHOLE BOXES | TRENCH BOX ACCESSORIES | STEEL CROSSING PLATES | CONCRETE BARRIER WALL | BLOWERS AND SIFTER SCREENS | CONFINED SPACE AND PIPE TESTING EQUIPMENT | CRANE TRUCK OR FLATBED DELIVERY AVAILABLE ARIZCC.COM

ARIZONA CONTRACTOR & COMMUNITY

PRSRT STD US Postage PAID Permit #1662 Phoenix, AZ

602-276-2040

Providing Rentals and Service in AZ, since 1998

Frank Alvarez

Operations Manager O: 602-276-2040 C: 602-769-6725

franka@eccoequipment.com

Dixie Chavarria

Inside Sales O: 602-276-2040 C: 602-722-7930

dixiec@eccoequipment.com

Jeff Hightower

Outside Sales O: 602-276-2040 C: 602-725-1123

jeffh@eccoequipment.com

Paul Kannapel

Outside Sales O: 602-276-2040 C: 602-647-5816

paulk@eccoequipment.com