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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 17 H Number 2 H FEBRUARY 2019
Plumbing? Appsolutely
An added bonus
Billy Stevens, founder and owner of billyGO
Randall Hughes, owner of J Mil Sheet Metal Fabricators
B
illy Stevens has always been an innovator and forward thinker. When Google first came out, Stevens saw the potential there and had the first and only plumbing company on the first page for two years on the Google search in the Dallas area. “Our business exploded,” he said, describing the effects of being on Google. Now, after spending long enough time in retirement, Stevens is again innovating as head of billyGO, a plumbing and HVAC company. The entire business is run via the billyGO app. There is no warehouse, no office or shop whereby the plumbers all come into first thing in the morning to get their day’s marching orders. They all work from their homes and stay in their
T
he Learning Experience in Mansfield is one of TR Hall Construction’s (TRH) latest projects. The company was brought into the daycare project by Hanover Property Company, after the original general contractor went bankrupt four months into the job. The project took 10 months to complete, including two months to negotiate a replacement contract and remobilize subs, almost from scratch, after the first contractor vacated the job. The norm, according the TLE, is 8-10 months. This new 10,000sf day care center building combines childcare and early childhood pre-kindergarten education for children between the ages of 6 months to 6 years with amenities for before- and after-school programs as well as school-age summer camp. Brick, stone and stucco made up the facility’s exterior. The main entry is framed with TLE signature “leaning
own geographic area. “Wherever a guy lives is wherever we’ll service,” he said. “Our goal is to keep our employees in the area where they live.” “I developed an app that runs the whole business,” Stevens said. “It cuts the actual overhead 30 percent. You don’t need dispatchers. You don’t need phone call takers.” billyGO opened up it’s “doors” only recently - September 1st, 2018. In these few months, there have been over 1,600 downloads of the app within Stevens’ target area of a 15-mile radius. Stevens had been retired for the past six years. Before that, he was the owner of Berkey’s Plumbing. While he enjoyed spending quality time with his kids durcontinued on Page 16
W
hen Milt Krueger suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital in 1983, Randall Hughes knew exactly what to do. He gathered his co-workers at J Mil Sheet Metal Fabricators and instructed them that they must continue to work for their boss’ sake and to treat the situation as if Krueger was simply taking a vacation. Hughes’ levelheaded advice came from 15 years of previous experience at Brandt Engineering, where he had worked since he was 17 as a journeyman, a foreman and then a shop steward. When Krueger’s health improved and he returned to the office, he was amazed that company had actually performed better in his absence. Impressed and grateful, he told Hughes
that he would be receiving a bonus. “I said, ‘Look, I’m just doing my job, that’s what you hired me for,’ but he gave me the bonus,” Hughes remembers with gratitude. “I was always saving money. He had often wanted to sell the business to me, but I had not ever had the money at the time. The bonus was enough to put a down payment on the business, though, so I gave it right back to him. He actually financed the company for me and that’s how I bought J Mil in 1993.” Humble – and not wanting to mess with a good thing when he saw one – Hughes kept the company name just as it was. “I didn’t change the name because J Mil had a good reputation,” Hughes says. continued on Page 16
Signature daycare blocks” – colored blocks of EIFS with letters and numbers supporting the entry canopy on both sides. Everyone enters under the sign featuring “Bubbles” the elephant over the tag line “Academy for Early Education.” Hanover Property Company, the owner, insisted on upgrading the hardy board to brick and stone to match the amenities in their adjacent centers. While the upgrades on the exteriors do not contribute to educating the kids, the extra money paid dividends with drive up appeal and the opening enrollments. Interior materials are traditional wood stud framing, drywall partitions and acoustical ceilings. Then the TLE features kick in with multi-colored walls and flooring materials, the Make-Believe Boulevard and custom logos on the floor tile at Main Street and at the front entry. Separate classrooms are specifically The Learning Experience, Mansfield, TX
continued on Page 16