Covering the Industry’s News
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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper April bluebonnets
www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 16 H Number 4 H APRIL 2018
His own company & rules
Close call
L-R: Ryan King, Steve Clarke, Mike Mashburn, Greg George (owner/CEO, Fort Worth Heat & Air), Michelle George, Joanna Garret, Paul New, David Dossett
The Texas Specialties & Installation’s staff
T
he best thing about Greg George being the founder and owner of Fort Worth Heat & Air is that he can call the shots. “I’ve worked for some good folks and some that weren’t so good,” he said. The Knoxville, TN native came to Fort Worth when his father retired out of Carswell Air Force Base in 1981. He started working as an in-house refrigeration repairman for the Tom Thumb grocery chain in 1986. He graduated from HVAC trade school and worked for different companies in the ensuing years. “After working for several people over the years, I saw what I liked and what I didn’t like and I decided to start my own company where I can make the rules and
do what I felt was right and what the customer deserved,” George said. One incident from his other-company days was one of the biggest factors moving him to go into business for himself. George was called to a 95-year-old woman’s house in the dead of a hot Texas summer. Unfortunately, she was unable to pay for the repair on her AC unit. Not being able to authorize a free service call, George could not perform the maintenance, even though he had the part in his truck. He subsequently found out that the woman died three days later due to the heat. continued on Page 16
C
indy Jones and her husband Stewart had only owned Texas Specialties & Installation Inc. for a month when national tragedy struck. “I was doing a previous employer’s products but I wanted to expand. My husband and I started our own company and started expanding our product line in August of 2001,” Jones explains. “Then 9/11 hit and we thought, ‘What have we done?’” Rather than panic at the aftermath’s possible economic impact, “we worked seven days a week, sometimes 18 hours a day,” she says. “We have wonderfully loyal customers and we got through it.” Two years later, the couple felt comfortable enough to expand. “We only used to do toilet partition
and bathroom accessories,” she says. “Now we do every scope of Division 10 including fireplaces, lockers, benches, all types of fire extinguishers and cabinets.” The staff has also expanded to 14. “We have a great support staff, and two assistant vice presidents. Angela Cook is assistant vice president of sales and a project manager. Nick Ulmen is assistant vice president and operations manager. Our niece Elizabeth Stephens is also a project manager.” Staff growth and the desire to offer more product choices means the couple is currently hunting for larger facility. In the meantime, it’s a good thing the staff continued on Page 16
The great wall of Russell Creek
T
he City of Plano is known for their gorgeous greenbelts and beautiful parks throughout the city. One of the busier greenbelts sits at Russell Creek. The Russell Creek Greenbelt is part of The City of Plano trail system. This trail has courses parallel to Russell Creek for a total of 2.5 miles and connects to Andrews Elementary School and Capstone Park. The city realized that to maintain the beauty of the 8.5 acres greenbelt there were several areas that needed updates. They called for an erosion control project to mitigate subsidence and deterioration of Russell Creek Drive and the adjacent neighborhood. To accomplish this, retaining walls would need to be installed along Russell Creek Drive between Independence and Sutherland Lane. As part of the project, a temporary trail was needed to also be installed along the wall
as well as a pedestrian bridge across the creek to the trail on the north. The city wanted to make sure that, as this project was going on, the residents could still enjoy the trail until completion. After the successful completion of the Plano Courtyard Theatre and several other projects, the City of Plano decided to once again use Joe Funk Construction Engineers (JFC) for the Russell Creek Drive Phase 1 Greenbelt Improvement. Joe Funk Construction was founded in 1965 in a garage by Joe Funk. Joe, now in his ‘90s, serves as chairman emeritus with his son Marshall Funk stepping in the President role in the 1990s. Today Marshall is the company’s CEO and Rusty Norris has been president since 2004. Over 1000 linear feet of retaining wall was constructed (nine separate walls in total). The walls ranged in height from The Russell Creek Greenbelt
continued on Page 16