Covering the Industry’s News
P.O. Box 791290 San Antonio, Texas 78279-1290
Texas Style
PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT #1451
Change Service Requested
San Antonio Dallas/Fort Worth Austin Houston South Texas
San Antonio
CONSTRUCTION
™
The Industry’s Newspaper San Fernando Cathedral by Leavitt2me Photography
www.constructionnews.net
H
(210) 308-5800
H
Volume 18
H
Number 6
H
JUNE 2016
His heart and soul
Bee-ing proactive
Gary and Ethelinda Reyes were married for 27 years and worked together at his company, Rainbow Irrigation, for most of that time before she passed away.
Jason Christensen, president of JASON Contracting, estimates that his bees may be able to produce about 40 pounds, or a couple of 5-gallon buckets, of honey this year.
A
fter nearly a year-and-a-half away from his business, Gary Reyes has re-opened Rainbow Irrigation, the company he owned and operated with his wife of 27 years, Ethelinda Reyes, for more than two decades. Gary shut down the business in the fall of 2014 when Ethelinda, who was involved with Rainbow Irrigation from the very beginning, became ill. She had been having problems with her sciatic nerve, and he turned his attention to taking care of her. She passed away unexpectedly in her sleep at 58 when her heart gave out on Nov. 9, 2014. “You could say that she was actually the heart and soul of the company, because she is the one who had the rapport with the customers,” Gary recalls, noting
that many of their customers were shocked by the news of her passing and some even spoke at her wake. “She’s the one who kept it going,” he adds, noting that she was the office manager who ran everything from the inside while he did designs and installs. “She’s the one who acquired new business through the phone. She would deal with the contractors. I was basically outside. As long as everybody in the field was happy – my goal was that she wouldn’t get any angry phone calls.” Working as a licensed irrigator since 1992, Reyes has always believed in helping other irrigators learn and fix problems. At one time, he had 30 guys working for continued on Page 24
A
self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Jason Christensen keeps his life buzzing with his new company, JASON Contracting, and his new hobby, beekeeping. With a long history of construction in his family, Christensen started working in the industry after graduating from UTSA in 2003. After about 10 years working for a few different local general contracting companies, he decided it was time to start one of his own. With a passion for running his own business, Christensen has run side projects for years, including ice vending machines, selling real estate and managing properties. Now, he’s focused on growing JASON Contracting. He cites patience as his biggest chal-
lenge in running the business, waiting for the right opportunity to come along to start doing ground up, like the projects that comprise much of his previous experience. Meanwhile, he has a wife and four kids, ranging from ages 6 to 14, at home in New Braunfels. With an interest in agriculture, they also have a few cattle and some chickens. He also has two hives of bees at his house. His dad kept bees when he was growing up, but in the ‘90s, they disappeared. Christensen later discovered that this was due to the arrival of the Varroa mite in Texas. Today, he emphasizes that it’s harder to keep bees because Varroa mites and continued on Page 24
Adding shine and space to southwest school
T
aking on the Christa McAuliffe Middle School addition and renovation project, Kencon Constructors made the Southwest ISD campus a brighter and more modern learning environment. With 140,861sf of renovation and 30,400sf of new construction, Kencon’s work spanned a total of 171,261sf over 18 months, finishing in October at a project cost of $10,622,950. Bob Skrobarczyk, senior project manager, recalls that this job had many facets. The existing school is comprised of four classroom wings, each with approximately 13 classrooms and standard student restrooms. The interior renovation included a complete refinish of all surfaces in the existing school, meaning new paint on all the walls, new VCT tile and rubber base, new marker and tack boards, new acoustical tile in all of the rooms, and in some cases, acoustical grid
Kencon Constructors helped brighten the Christa McAuliffe Middle School, Southwest ISD, with recent renovations and four additions.
was also replaced. Refinishing all surfaces required everything to be brought up to ADA code. The restrooms were brought up to ADA specifications and renovated with new ceramic tile, toilet partitions and some new fixtures. The athletics area for coaches and students had walls that were relocated and space that was expanded to meet ADA requirements. There were four building additions, one on each side of the building. The science wing on the north side added eight science classrooms with five science prep rooms. The library addition on the south side allowed them to create a media center and library bigger than the existing one, which was then converted to computer science classrooms in the renovation. On the west side, the addition to administration area doubled the department’s space. continued on Page 24