San Antonio Construction News March 2019

Covering the Industry’s News

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The Industry’s Newspaper Training the next generation

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Not your horse’s barn

AC fit for mom

Kevin LeStourgeon, managing member of Broadshield

Maria and Manny Mallen, owners of Air Today Heating & Air Conditioning

very teenager has had a parent say to him/her: “Clean up this room.

What, do you live in a barn?”

If Kevin LeStourgeon built your home, the answer could be, “Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I do.”

LeStourgeon started Broadshield Custom Homes and Contracting in April 2014. The first things he built were metal horse structures, like barns, stalls, pens and arenas. “Through the years we started putting living quarters inside of the horse barns,” he said, “and one thing led to another that we began to go ahead and build metal homes, or what is commonly known as Barndominiums.”

Barndominiums, according to LeStourgeon, began up north and worked their way to Texas. Those folks up there were

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www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 22 H Number 3 H MARCH 2019

converting old barns into actual living spaces. “Young and old are fascinated by them,” he said. Not only is the price good, but also people are into the industrial look, and “You can’t get any more industrial than a metal building,” LeStourgeon added.

LeStourgeon said, “Construction has been in my family for decades.” He started in construction working for his grandfather while growing up. As an adult, he has started and sold more than one business, admitting to a short attention span.

He also admits: “I’ve got a disease and it’s called entrepreneurism.” LeStourgeon has found that construction is the best fit for him because every project is virtually new every day. He says that the construction industry holds his attention. continued on Page 21

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mmanuel (Manny) Mallen’s business model is simple: he will give the same service to his customers as he would his own mother.

The Eagle Pass native was familiar with air conditioning prior to attending Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde, but he enrolled there to learn everything he could about it. The commute was long, but the education invaluable.

After school, Mallen worked for another AC company. The only problem was he was forced to sell as many new units as he could. His job was to convince customers they needed to shell out big bucks, when perhaps a less-costly repair was all they needed.

This caused Mallen to open his own company in October 2012: Air Today Heat-

ing & Air Conditioning. “I started the worst possible time to start a company,” he said.

The first six months were rough. But with his wife Maria’s encouraging, and his pound-the-pavement efforts, things picked up. He did a little apartment work on the side and passed out his card.

Mallen can’t thank Maria enough, for not only her support and encouragement, but how she helped the business grow.

“I’m just the face of the company,” he said. “She’s the brains of the whole operation.” Maria first started with answering the phones and then she learned all the AC technical lingo.

Maria does all the scheduling, dispatching and logistics. Mallen has never missed an appointment or dropped continued on Page 21

State-of-the-art vehicle recycling facility

tructura is a leading general contracting firm founded in 2006 by Rusty Morgan and Kevin Jones and who specializes in ground-up construction, adaptive reuse construction and interior finish-out for health care, retail, corporate, industrial and technology sectors. They have developed a reputation for their exceptional, cutting-edge buildings and interiors, responsiveness, agility and transparency. Client satisfaction is paramount at Structura. They are committed to getting the job done right and on schedule. Structura’s mission is to produce extraordinary results while building long-lasting relationships and meaningful partnerships with clients.

The San Antonio Wrench a Part project, owned by Dan Snyder, consisted of site development for 18 acres of land, including cleanup of existing stream and ground up construction of six pre-engineered metal buildings located on I-10

East, just outside loop 410. The project took approximately 12 months to complete at a cost of $4.4 million dollars.

Site preparation was key in order to provide sufficient yard space to stock and categorize vehicles for the state of the art vehicle recycling facility. Grading was also crucial, given the large site and need to ensure proper water management throughout and the protection of building foundations. In addition to the long lengths of utilities needing to be extended into the project, the size of existing utilities in the right of way had to be upgraded in order to service the facility. Several underground conflicts were encountered which led to close coordination with CPS, SAWS, TxDot and several fiber-optic providers.

Multiple buildings were strategically located throughout the property to remove environmentally harmful items consisting of liquids, batteries, parts, Wrench A-Part San Antonio, 5814 I-10 East

continued on Page 21

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Only the good stuff

his may be hard to believe, but some asphalt contractors may actually cut corners when it comes to the quality of their product.

It’s a good thing that Frank Gallagher moved out of his USAA office and into the world of paving so that he can help make sure the asphalt that goes down on the road is truly the good stuff.

Gallagher is the construction manager for Lone Star Paving. In a nutshell, that means he does anything and everything when it comes to pavement.

Gallagher worked for the insurance giant for 10 years, but wanted a change of pace.

He went to work for a company that tested construction materials, the same company his father worked at.

“He taught me everything I pretty much knew in a short amount of time,” Gallagher said. .

Frank Gallagher, operations manager for Lone Star Paving

Gallagher became a certified inspector in many fields, like con- plant,” Gallagher said, “and the way the crete and asphalt. He started at Lone Star mix is produced, to the way it’s trucked to in 2015. Lone Star Paving was founded by the jobsite, then from the jobsite to how Jack Wheeler, who had come out of re- it’s actually placed. Things can go wrong tirement and bought Lone Star (at that at any given moment.” Gallagher’s contime just a small company in Dripping clusion is: “Asphalt’s only as good as what Springs), “and then it morphed into this you’re putting it on top of.”

Everyone likes a newly paved surhuge operation,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher has tested paving materials face, but no one likes it when they get for TXDOT, then for Wheeler Coatings caught up in the re-surfacing. “You’re ei(Wheeler’s first company), and then ther a hero or a zero,” Gallagher describes moved on from quality control to superin- what’s it like being in asphalt.

But when we know the asphalt mix is tendent, finally onto operations manager.

Not only must asphalt meet TXDOT’s only the good stuff, Gallaher will always standards, but also a city’s standards. be the hero.

Lone Star Paving’s corporate office is in Many things can make a batch go sour.

“It’s a fine mix between the actual asphalt Austin but has a San Antonio branch. -dsz

Independent carpenter

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Kelley Hearn, owner of Chaparral Custom Cabinetry

veryone has to work a job they don’t like in order to pay the bills at some point. But isn’t it great when one finds one’s passion, thus making work a joy and you’re able to do what you were called to do?

Kelley Hearn is such a person. After he graduated from college with a finance degree in 1992, he was led to believe he had to join the corporate world. But even when he was applying and sending out résumés, his heart wasn’t in it.

After working in a variety of jobs, Hearn went back to school to learn how to start his own business. During this time, he stopped by a friend’s house who was building kitchen cabinets in his garage for a builder. He asked Hearn if he was busy. He was not. Hearn helped his buddy for the next several days, and “within a week I could tell this was a passion of mine.”

Within a short period of time, Hearn had developed Lotus spreadsheets to log estimates and track workflow. After a month, “I was running the business,” he said.

His friend had a short-term mindset for building cabinets, while Hearn saw a long-term future in it. While his buddy was partying, Hearn started Chaparral Custom Cabinetry on Jul. 4, 1994, in effect, declaring his own independence to be who he always wanted to be and do that which he loved.

Hearn had thought he would get into homebuilding as he had experience in it. He had worked for several other family-owned businesses, but found that he was making money for someone else.

But Hearn readily admits, “I’m a control freak and I can control my own environment [with my own business].” In the homebuilding profession, he would be at the mercy of others’ timing or lack thereof.

And, what Hearn really loves is dealing one-on-one with his customers to design just the perfect space for them, built with their tastes, lifestyles and personalities in mind. A homebuilder, by necessity,

can’t do this. He can. “You’re in much more control of your world,” he said.

This interaction with one customer at a time, for Hearn, is far better than dealing with nine other sub-contractors and all they bring to the equation.

Hearn has a lineup of basic cabinet styles, but when he works with a client, he often discovers that he and they come up with innovative ways of executing the cabinets. He likens it to taking a standard box of crayons, then mixing them together to produce colors that the standard box didn’t have or intend.

This is the driver and joy of Hearn’s work - the interaction, the creativity, the freedom to produce something unique and wonderful.

“The thing I find most satisfying for myself is putting all those parts and pieces [of a project] together and they fit together like a puzzle,” he said.

Even though Hearn’s heart wasn’t into the white-collar corporate world, he did find that his financial training has helped with running a business. And in his youth, Hearn did a lot of house framing. This taught him how to look at and read plans. Basically, everything in Hearn’s past came together at his Aha! moment when he built his first cabinet in his buddy’s garage and realized this was it. Since he always knew he wanted to run his own business and not work for someone else, this was the point in time when the light bulb came on.

Now, Hearn builds cabinets for kitchen and bathroom, makes home offices, wine cellars, shelving and custom furniture. With virtually no advertising or extreme social media presence (other than a website), word-of-mouth generates plenty to keep Hearn busy. Hearn has found his calling with his custom carpentry for his clients.

Sure beats punching a time clock for someone else. Independence Day isn’t just a holiday for our country.

Chaparral Custom Cabinetry is in Boerne. -dsz

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Learning well

Happy Birthday, Craig!

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our Quality Fence Family is grateful for your 39 years of dedication, leadership, and determination! Maybe you’ll get more time to fish this year.

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Mark Burns, owner of Boerne Pro Painters

ark Burns lives by this motto: “You can do anything you want if you learn how to do it.”

Case in point: his background is in real estate and banking. But being around homes steered Burns toward becoming a builder. As for many others, the 2008-09 years weren’t good, so Burns decided to retire. Retirement didn’t suit Burns, so he came back to the home business, this time as a home remodeler, and “has been busy ever since.” He started Boerne Kitchen & Bath in 2012.

Did Burns know anything about home remodeling? Not much, but “everything is a process,” he said, “and you just have to learn the process.” A big part of the process was hiring folks who did know what they were doing.

During his remodeling, Burns kept getting requests for painting. So much so, that he opened a whole new division, Boerne Pro Painters, in 2013.

“I can learn how to do anything,” he said. With this new painting division, Burns learned about surfaces and tex-

tures and paints and colors.

His two companies work totally independent of each other, but the remodeling naturally feeds into the painting. A homeowner will get a new kitchen, and then decides to paint the rest of the house. “Funny you should mention that,” Burns might say. “I have a whole painting crew that can help you out.”

Boerne Pro Painters does a 70-30 residential to commercial split, with a 5050 interior-exterior split.

Burns has five employees on the remodeling side, and three on the painting.

“We don’t have a lot of turnover,” Burns said. “They’re well paid.”

With the building boom going on between San Antonio and Boerne, this bodes well for Burns. “I just see our business expanding,” he said.

It is obvious Burns is a good student who gets straights A’s when it comes to running two businesses.

Boerne Pro Painters is based in Boerne.

-dsz

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Giving back, south side style

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light rain did not keep 1,000 residents from the south side from attending the Bexar County Rodéo Breakfast at the Biblio Tech parking lot, on the City’s south side.

Terracon Consultants Inc. participated in the third annual celebratory kick off for the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on Feb. 2 as hundreds of residents awoke early to delicious aromas and Tejano music filling in the air.

Warren Dean from Terracon’s environmental department was in charge of Terracon’s tent. The Terracon team was charged with making 1,500 country sausage and egg tacos as part of this year’s

Pass it on

cook-off. Unfortunately, they added Ro-Tel to Terracon’s eggs, was no match for the Big Red and the barbacoa that took first place. –cmw

Two of Jim Duarte’s four-man crew working on a driveway

W Team Terracon at the Bexar County Rodéo Breakfast

hen Jim Duarte looks back to when he was 16, he says of himself, “It was time to wake up and realize what life’s about.”

The Fresno, CA, native signed up for Job Corps training, which took place in Indiahoma, OK. He really wanted to learn auto body and fender skills, but the Job Corps’ Oklahoma office didn’t offer that.

So, without any prior construction experience, Duarte signed up for concrete.

“I was disappointed,” he said, “but stayed in concrete.”

This training took place for a year’s time, which Duarte said was a great experience. The Job Corps then placed him with a Houston concrete company. He did this for three years, returned to Oklahoma for 17 years, then went back to Fresno and started Jim’s Professional Concrete.

But, since his mother lived in the San Antonio area, he came back to Texas in 1998 and started Jim’s Professional Concrete once again. His Fresno license has long expired, as they are only good for a year at a time.

Duarte covers about a 15-mile radius, doing both commercial and residential concrete, although the bulk of his time is residential. He does mainly driveways, patios and sidewalks. Also, he does a lot of slabs for garages out in the country, as well as the slabs for folks when the put up a shed in their backyards. Duarte is the exclusive concrete guy for one shed dealer.

Duarte guarantees his driveways for 10 years because he uses rebar in everything he does. The city allows concrete contractors to use wire mesh. Duarte

won’t use it. “I don’t believe in wire mesh,” he said.

He doesn’t mind, though; it means steady work replacing old, beat-up driveways. Duarte prefers to demolish the old driveway himself rather than subcontracting it out.

“You can’t depend upon anybody else,” he said. “You have to get in there and get it.”

To do the demo work, Duarte rents the Bobcat from one person exclusively, a guy he’s had for years.

“To me, it just makes more sense,” he said. “Demolition kind of goes with it.

You have to tear up the old driveway in order to replace it.”

Within the concrete world is decorative, stamped concrete, which Duarte didn’t learn from his Job Corps training.

Instead, he learned from watching a YouTube video clip and then he taught himself.

“People are real happy with the work,” he said. “If it’s concrete, I can do it.”

Since coming to the San Antonio area in 1998, Duarte has witnessed Alamo City’s explosive growth. Believe it or not, there used to be a gap between San Antonio and Boerne.

But with all those mesh-based driveways, that bodes well for Jim’s Professional Concrete. Duarte figures he has about 20 more years to go before he hangs his trowel up.

“I’ll do this the rest of my life until I can’t do it any more,” he said.

When Duarte thought about perhaps someday being a concrete trade instructor at a Job Corps or similar, he said, “That would be great. I would love to do that. I like working with people.”

This way, he could pass his skills onto another young person who needed direction in life. Pass it on, brother.

Jim’s Professional Concrete is based in Somerset, and does commercial and residential concrete work. -dsz

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

50 years and new leadership

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W hat’s Trending in Commercial Flooring

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he world of commercial flooring has evolved into numerous manufacturers making products with patterns far different than the wool and shag carpets of the 1900s. Commercial flooring manufacturers have enlisted fantastic designers and artists to help them create their beautiful finishes. From timeless woven carpets, to carpets with wild patterns, to brightly colors vinyl resilient tiles, commercial flooring has established itself as an incredibly design-driven industry.

L-R: Pat O’Brien, Justin McAfee and Preston McAfee

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n 1969, two men from Gainesville, TX, Steve Rogers and Pat O’Brien, inseparable friends since junior high, decided to start their own commercial construction company, Rogers-O’Brien Construction (RO). From the day they went into business, they dealt with each other the way real friends do - with respect, integrity and mutual commitment. As the business grew, they dealt with every person and every company with these very same values. Today, the company and its people still strive to always do the right thing. Remaining faithful to the founders’ principles and standards has enabled Rogers-O’Brien Construction to consistently attract the very best clients, employees and building partners; to successfully complete projects of all sizes; to comfortably transition to three generations of leadership and to become nationally recognized in the list of top contractors by Engineering News Record (ENR). The RO team is extremely proud of this legacy and looks forward to honoring this history to build the future.

Effective Jan. 25, Preston McAfee stepped down as CEO of Rogers-O’Brien Construction (RO) and assumed the role of Chairman. Justin McAfee stepped into the role of President and CEO of the company.

“I am proud of what RO has accomplished over the past 50 years,” states Preston McAfee. “I know that with Justin’s leadership and vision, the company will continue to grow and prosper, while providing our clients, trade partners and employees with the same level of respect and integrity we aspire for.”

Unknown to most, Justin McAfee worked for another large general contractor prior to joining RO to work alongside his father and grandfather. It was important to Justin to gain the respect from the industry and learn from some of the best. After coming aboard in 2009, McAfee worked in every department for an extended amount of time. In the past

San Antonio

year, he unofficially assumed the role of CEO. During this time, he led RO to a record-breaking year of $700,000,000 in annual revenue, and a new office in San Antonio. It is his leadership, passion and care that has allowed RO to achieve these milestones, all while ensuring each employee is enjoying what they do and are doing it well.

Since joining RO in 2009, McAfee has served many roles ranging from a Quality Manager in the field, to supporting RO’s Preconstruction and Client Relations Department in the office. He went on to assume the role as President of the Dallas/ Fort Worth office region, and to now fill the role as CEO as his father, Preston McAfee, retires in 2019.

Throughout McAfee’s time wearing many hats in the company, his desire to be at the forefront of the commercial construction industry resulted in over $2.5 billion in construction volume over the past five years. A large part of RO’s success can be attributed to the innovative culture that began when the Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) department was forged in 2009. McAfee handpicked the team of technology professionals that were tasked with leading this corporate initiative, and worked in collaboration with the VDC team on the first projects that utilized VDC, including 1400 Hi Line, SMU Moody Coliseum and the Shops at Legacy.

McAffee continued the push for technology and was the impetus in the transition from the use of paper to tablets in the field. This push for change enables their employees to be more effective with their time, saving over 50,000 hours per year, and over $1.5 million is cost savings by going to a paperless workflow. This is an exciting time for the RO team as they celebrate 50 years in business and a new CEO. Rogers-O’Brien Construction is a fullservice general contractor in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Austin. -cmw

Textures Carpet tile is being manufactured with a lot more texture and depth than in previous years. Commercial flooring Manufacturers are now producing finishes that are allowing designers to showcase their creativity on the floor.

The photos are some of Marmon Mok’s flooring selections for Frost Bank.

Colors The industry seems to be moving away from the cool greys, and towards warmer earth tones. In the resilient flooring, as well as carpeting, vibrant primary colors are being introduced to existing product lines.

Planks and Tiles For years roll carpeting was used in commercial spaces, but carpet tiles and planks are taking over. With different size tiles and planks, allow a design element to be added to flooring finished that weren’t possible with roll carpets.

Vinyl Plank Numerous manufacturers have lines of vinyl planks (LVT). This resilient flooring option is taking over the VCT market.

With less maintenance cost over time, and more design capabilities, vinyl planks are becoming a favorite in flooring solutions. There are wood looks, stone looks, concrete look, and a newer visual to hit the market is a woven vinyl plank. Another new design feature being added to vinyl planks, is the thickness of the product. This allows the vinyl plank to butt up to a carpet tile without the use of a rubber transitions.

Example - Frost Tower, San Antonio

The San Antonio sky line has seen an addition for the first time in over a decade with the recently built Frost Tower.

With interior construction still underway, Intertech Flooring has begun the installation of the flooring finishes. Of the towering 22 floors that make up the Frost Tower, Frost Bank occupies 14 of them. SpawGlass is the General Contractor for the Frost Bank portion, and Marmon Mok is the Architectural and Design firm.

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

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Submitted by: Mark Jones, VP Operations Tess Shelton, Product Consultant Intertech Commercial Flooring 11827 Tech Com Rd, Suite 100 San Antonio, TX 78233 210-650-9670

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

The 2017 AIA Insurance Exhibit and prohibited exclusions

YOU are not your business Steven Bankler, Owner Steven Bankler, CPA, Ltd. San Antonio TX

Charles E. Comiskey Sr. Vice President Brady Chapman Holland & Associates, Inc. Houston, TX

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hen it’s time to sell your business, you might discover you tied too much of yourself into it. Your money, assets—even your reputation—can be so entwined in the business that they’re difficult to separate.

Unwinding those ties can be costly and confusing. Save yourself the trouble and consider the following areas to address while creating your exit plan.

Personal Goodwill

Did you know that your reputation, expertise, skills, knowledge and business relationships each carry monetary value?

These self-created assets are called personal goodwill, and they can be added to (or subtracted from) your bottom line when you sell your business, or even be sold separately from the business.

The IRS considers very critically whether any intangible goodwill is personal or whether it’s more connected to the business. When it’s time for you to leave your business, your personal goodwill in the form of your expertise, the relationships you’ve built over the years, and other intangible assets can be deducted from the sale price because they’ll leave with you. Doing so can reduce taxes for both you and your buyer.

Personal Versus Business Property

It’s easy to mix business and personal property when you’re the business owner, but it’s a critical hurdle that may need to be overcome before you put your exit plan in motion.

Property that includes land, buildings and anything else affixed to it that is used solely for business purposes should be treated as real property. Personal property for a business should also be designated. This is everything else used solely for business from your trucks and equipment to your office water cooler. Even intellectual property like your trademarked business logo can be included. Real property and personal property for business are taxed very differently.

Then comes listed property, which are assets used for both business and personal. An example would be a company vehicle driven all the time. If you have a home-based business or allow employees to use property like company cars and laptops for personal use, it’s important to consider those assets and how they’ll be treated in a sale. Real, personal and listed property all have their own depreciation rules associated with them, which affect how they’ll be valued.

Personally Funding Your Business

If your business is a pass-through entity like a sole proprietorship, LLC or partnership, or S corporation, your money is already tied to the business. When your business has a bad year and suffers a loss, that loss can usually be deducted from your personal taxable income, too. But a corporation is different. To infuse your own money into a corporation, you need to decide how to characterize it: personal equity or a business loan. These two are very different when it comes to selling, liquidating, or closing the business, especially if things don’t work out.

Take an honest look at how closely connected your other finances are to those of your business, too. How much of your ability to personally guaranty liabilities could be benefiting your company? If you sell it, will the company be able to maintain its own credit power? Will your personal finances truly be disconnected?

There’s a cautionary tale we often tell of parents who pass down their business to their children and who, after a while, start getting calls from creditors. They end up losing their savings because they handed over the keys to the business—with their good credit attached—and didn’t notice when it was mismanaged.

Look at these areas and take steps now to separate yourself from your business. Doing so now could save yourself and your company’s next generation significant headaches and tax burdens.

-------------------------------------------------Steven Bankler has more than 40 years of experience in the accounting industry. Steven’s expertise lies in consulting, planning, tax, and asset protection as well as exit strategy services for closely held businesses.

He also provides litigation support (both as a testifying expert witness and a consulting expert), business negotiations and estate planning. Visit www.bankler.com for additional tax strategy tips and to learn more about Steven Bankler, CPA, Ltd.

40 years of service

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he 2017 AIA Insurance Exhibit includes significant enhancements in both the coverage required and in the manner in which coverage is required.

One of those enhancements is that this Exhibit not only details certain coverages that must be provided but goes on to prohibit a variety of exclusions that cannot included in a downstream party’s insurance program.

While legal, these practices by the insurance industry effectively border on widespread deception. Insurance policies frequently don’t change in front of your eyes. They are changed behind your back. The manner in which coverage is reduced is often quite subtle, making the limitations and coverage gaps difficult to identify. The revised policy or endorsement may have the identical heading as a standard coverage form, the exact same font, and contain almost the identical language. Sometimes the change is just one word, or the word is simply positioned differently. No warnings are given, no explanations are provided, and the changes can be difficult for even the most seasoned insurance professional to grasp.

There are only two times when an upstream party (the company requiring the insurance) can accurately determine what coverage is being provided by a downstream party (the contractor or subcontractor providing the insurance): in negotiation or in litigation. Upstream parties placing insurance requirements on downstream contractors must have their guard up during negotiation to avoid being misled. If you’re not somewhat paranoid, you’re simply not paying attention.

For example, what is the worst general liability insurance endorsement in current use? The author suggests that it is the Continuous or Progressive Injury and Damage Exclusion. While different insurance companies use different wording, the most damaging states: “This insurance does not apply to: (1) Any damages arising out of or related to ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ whether such ‘bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ is known or unknown; (2) Which first occurred in whole or in part prior to the inception date of this policy); or (3) Which are, or are alleged to be, in the process of occurring as of the inception date of the policy; or (4) Which were caused, or are alleged to have been caused, by the same condition(s) or defective construction which first existed prior to the inception of this policy.”

What makes it so bad? A variety of questions and issues arise. Known to whom? This is not limited to known by the insured. Alleged by whom? The insurance company adjuster, perhaps? By a condition that existed prior to policy inception? An unknown condition that had not previously caused any injury or damage?

There may be, depending on state law, an argument that damage to property may be covered under other policies, but what about bodily injury? As-

Baker Triangle COO Debbie Brocker was recognized at the company’s corporate office for 40 years of service at Baker Triangle. Congratulations Debbie! L-R: Baker Triangle Chairman Steve Baker, Debbie Brocker and CEO Bryan Baker. -cmw

sume that the policy incepted two months ago and a serious injury arose today from an unknown condition that had existed for the past few years (e.g., a missing screw on a railing). No coverage would be provided under the current policy incorporating this endorsement, and because most general liability policies cover only claims that arise during that policy period, no coverage is available under any prior policy. And of course, when this policy is renewed with the same wording, the issue compounds.

This effectively becomes a claims-made coverage with no prior acts coverage and no extended reporting period.

Another egregious exclusion is the Prior Work Exclusion, which is effectively another quasi claims-made coverage in occurrence clothing. This endorsement excludes allegations arising from work that has been completed prior to the inception of current coverage. The result is that coverage is provided only with regard to work in progress at the time of policy inception or begun during that policy period. Coverage is completely lost for liabilities arising out of work that was completed prior to the inception of the current policy.

These are just two quick examples in a long list of harsh but invisible exclusions in common use. If you are the upstream party requiring insurance, how do you protect yourself? Three steps: • Your insurance requirements should be drafted in a detail manner, referring to industry-standard ISO forms to the greatest extent possible.

• Your insurance requirements should prohibit those exclusions and limitations that would effect the protection provided to you by your downstream contractors/subcontractors. Those listed in the AIA Insurance Exhibit are a good start but may not be sufficiently clear or broad for your purposes.

• Require a copy of the Schedule of Forms and Endorsements page from the downstream contractor’s general liability policy and review it carefully. This will list every endorsement added to the policy. Are some included that you do not recognize? If so, demand copies and read them. Are some included that are unacceptable? If so, negotiate or perhaps move on to another contractor that can provide the insurance coverage required.

If you are the contractor buying the insurance, make sure that your agent or broker understands the insurance needs of your firm, including what it is being required by others to provide, and has fully met those needs.

Charles E. Comiskey, CPCU, CIC, CPIA, CRM, PWCA, CRIS, CCM, CMIP Sr. Vice President Brady Chapman Holland & Assoc., 10055 West Gulf Bank • Houston, TX 77040 713-688-1500 Charles.Comiskey@bch-insurance.com

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Responding to OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy

Crane operator certification frequently asked questions

Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. Austin, TX

Joann Natarajan Compliance Assistance Specialist OSHA Austin, TX

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n late 2018, the federal courts of appeals for Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi overturned thirty seven years’ of precedent in deciding that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration can issue citations for a workplace hazard to entities other than Ken Bullock the actual employer of the worker exposed to the hazard.

The Case:

The facts of that particular case are useful in understanding the implications of the court’s decision. A Texas city, acting as owner, entered into a contract with a general contractor (GC) to build a public library. The GC maintained control over the worksite through on-site management personnel. As would be expected, the GC contracted with a subcontractor (Sub1) to perform a part of the work, and Sub1 also contracted with another subcontractor (Sub2) to perform part of its work. During construction, Sub2’s employees were working at the base of an unsupported dirt wall. The Occupational Safety & Health AdminBob Hancock istration (OSHA) received an anonymous tip concerning the hazardous condition and conducted an inspection of the worksite. Following the inspection, OSHA issued citations to both Sub2 (employer) and to GC (non-employer) for the lack of proper support protecting workers in an excavation.

OSHA’s Multi-Employer Citation Policy: In issuing citations to both the GC and Sub2, OSHA relied upon what it now refers to as its “Multi-Employer Citation Policy.” Under this policy, OSHA takes the position it can issue citations to a number of different entities at a particular workplace for the same workplace hazard – regardless of whether the cited entities actually employed a worker exposed to the hazard. Instead, at a workplace where several different entities are working alongside each other, OSHA classifies those entities in one (or more) of the following categories: “Creating”– entity that creates or causes a hazardous workplace condition.

“Exposing” – entity that exposes its employees to a hazardous workplace condition.

“Correcting”– entity responsible for correcting a hazardous workplace condition.

“Controlling” – entity that has supervisory authority or control over the workplace.

What Does It Mean for the Construction Industry?

Although the court limited its decision to upholding a citation under the “controlling” category of the Multi-Employer Citation Policy, the decision will likely have a broader impact potentially allowing OSHA to issue citations under the other categories of the Multi-Employer Citation Policy as well. As a result, general contractors and subcontractors may both now be subject to OSHA citations for creating a workplace hazard or failing to correct a workplace hazard even though none of their own employees are exposed to the hazard.

Because OSHA’s Multi-Employer Citation Policy will necessitate that general contractors and perhaps owners take an active role in down-stream contractor/ subcontractor (lower-tier contractor) safety, this Policy may lead to important liability consequences for up-stream owners and contractors under state law, such as increased potential exposure to lawsuits involving worker injuries, especially in instances where OSHA holds more than one entity liable for job site accidents. For very large construction projects that are of a scale that support owner or contractor controlled insurance programs (a fairly small percentage of the construction projects), it may make economic sense to use project-specific controlled insurance programs such as Owner Controlled Insurance Programs (OCIPs) or Contractor Controlled Insurance Programs (CCIPs) where owners and general contractors may be able to take advantage of the worker’s comp bar against a plaintiffs’ recovery of damages over and above their direct employer’s worker’s compensation benefits (a/k/a “action over claims”), especially in instances where gross negligence does not apply.

However, since controlled programs are expensive and deductibles under such controlled insurance programs tend to be very large, for the majority of projects, use of OCIPs or CCIPs is not possible. For more typical projects, selection of quality lower-tier contractors at every level, with strong, proactive, safety programs and safety records will be essential. It will be important for owners and general contractors, not only to hire the safest lowertier contractors, but it may be prudent to also (1) thoroughly vet all lower tier contractor entities for safety, (2) incorporate strong contractual indemnity language into subcontracts to protect against action over claims, (3) require lower-tier contractors to insure upstream parties as primary, non-contributory additional insureds under lower-tier contractor insurance policies, and (4) use flow down clauses to require the same protections from all down-stream, lower-tier contractors (with owners and general contractors as the third-party beneficiaries). We also recommend that up-stream parties review lower-tier insurance policies for coverage, when possible.

In summary, the Multi-Employer Citation Policy will require significant new levels of over-OSHA partnership, oversight, contractual protection and on occasions where it is an economic fit for a project, perhaps use of controlled insurance programs. Similarly, it will increasingly be important for contractors of all levels to educate their respective work forces in such a way that they can perform more safely on projects and better comply with OSHA requirements.

Ken Bullock is a Shareholder in the Energy & Maritime section in the Houston office of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. Ken has experience representing clients across a broad cross-section of industries, including representation of energy, marine and construction clients in connection with OSHA investigations and before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. For more information, Ken can be reached by telephone at 713-222-4061, or by email at kbullock@munsch.com

Bob Hancock is a Shareholder in the Construction Law section in the Houston office of Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C. Bob’s practice focuses on representing clients, including owners, general contractors, subcontractors, sureties and suppliers matters, including but not limited to, commercial litigation, construction contract negotiations and disputes, construction defect lawsuits, insurance coverage matters and personal injury and toxic tort matters.

He is also experienced in serving as outside general counsel in out-of-state litigation.

For more information, Bob can be reached by telephone at 713-222-1825, or by email at rhancock@munsch.com

Why is OSHA issuing this final rule?

In this final rule, OSHA revises crane operator certification requirements from Subpart CC – Cranes and Derricks. First, this final rule removes the requirement that crane operator certifications include the crane’s rated lifting capacity. The two testing organizations that have certified the majority of operators have issued certifications by “type” but not “capacity.” These certifications, therefore, would not have been valid without a change to the rule. The agency has concluded that the capacity requirement for certification is not necessary to protect workers and the agency is concerned that a shortage of certified operators will disrupt the construction industry severely. Second, OSHA is making permanent the employer duty to ensure that operators are competent to operate the equipment safely. While certification ensures an objective baseline of general knowledge of crane operation, it does not ensure that operators know how to operate a particular crane for a specific task. For this reason, OSHA is revising the crane standard to preserve a requirement that employers assess the ability of their operators to run the cranes they will be using for the tasks to which they are assigned.

What is an employer required to do to fulfill the employer’s duty under the final rule?

In addition to ensuring that an operator is properly certified, an employer must also evaluate the operator to ensure that the operator has the skills, knowledge, and ability to recognize and avert risk to operate the equipment safely. This evaluation must be done by a person who has the knowledge, training, and experience necessary to assess operators. Once an operator has passed an evaluation on one piece of equipment, the employer may allow that operator to operate different equipment without further evaluation if the employer can demonstrate that operating that equipment would not require substantially different skills, knowledge or ability to recognize and avert risk. For example, an employer may evaluate an operator and determine that he or she has demonstrated the ability to safely operate a large crane in a relatively complex configuration. If the employer determines that the operator has the skills, knowledge, and ability to identify

and avert risk necessary to safely operate a smaller crane of the same type and operating system, in a simpler configuration with a shorter boom, then the operator would not need to be re-evaluated (assuming that the tasks are similar). The evaluation must be documented and provide the operator’s name, the evaluator’s name and signature, the date of the evaluation, and the make, model, and configuration of equipment used in the evaluation. The employer must be able to make the documentation of the evaluation available on the worksite for as long as the operator is employed by the employer (electronic availability at the worksite is one way to satisfy the requirement).

Finally, when the employer needs to provide retraining, such as when an employer becomes aware that an operator is not competent in a necessary aspect of safe crane operation, the employer must also re-evaluate the operator with respect to the subject of the retraining. natarajan.joann@dol.gov 512-374-0271 x232

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

sors, “So, do people actually make a living doing art?” My dad was a professor who taught college all of his life, so he was really concerned about whether I could be successful.

Amy Martin Owner Amy Arts Converse, TX

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rom painting a homemade bench as a child to helping rebuild Big Tex for the Texas State Fair to transforming buildings with her murals, Amy Martin has colored the world with her creativity.

Share about your background.

I spent much of my early life in El Paso. I showed a lot of early interest in art and I was really good at it. I come from a large family involved in higher education, and while I have a lot of creative genes in my family, I think a lot of my family would say that I got all of the artistic genes.

There are a lot of intelligent, creative people in the family for sure, but not a lot of painters or artist types.

What is your earliest memory of being creative?

I remember painting a picnic table that my dad made around 1986 and saying, “I want to do this when I get older,” but not really knowing what that meant. I don’t think there was a good arts program at the school I was at during that time. I had a high school teacher who encouraged me to consider going to college for art. I started researching art schools and applying in high school and was accepted to Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

Was your family supportive of your artistic talent?

They were very supportive. I was also interested in dance; ballet was my main interest as a kid and young adult. It became clear, though, that I was maybe a little bit better at art, so they pushed me to go to college for art. They said if I was going to go to college, I should at least go for something I was good at.

I remember my dad dropping me off at college and asking one of the profes-

How did you support yourself as a starving artist in college?

While I was earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, there were little jobs that would pop up. One woman would take a picture of a pet, turn it into a 3-D resin-casted animal with swinging legs and turn it into a necklace. She would hire art students to paint them realistically with acrylics. It sounds pretty cheap, but I made $7.00 per item! A few of us worked with professors at the college to help them in the studios.

After college, what did you do?

I did some searching and traveled a bit. I worked in L.A. and Hollywood for few years and that launched me into the decorative arts field. It’s a long timeline; there are lots of years in there where I tried to find work. I did art on the side all of the time. I wanted to do art full-time eventually, but I had to find a way to make money, so I was trying other things, like getting my real estate license. But art was always in the background, and it gave me a lot of skills I needed to do what I am doing now.

Why did you launch Amy Arts?

I had been in San Antonio for nine years; I came here as a single parent with kids and I needed to make money for them. I started looking for jobs as a painter. I just started calling out of the Yellow Pages and numbers off of the internet, and I started freelancing with some artists in San Antonio. It became clear that I wasn’t going to make money freelancing, that I needed to do my own thing. I just started slowly building a sample portfolio, working with people and meeting other people. I did things like paint bathrooms and I offered creative services. I opened a DBA and made a bunch of business cards with a stamp I made and started that way. My name grew and clients called me. It slowly evolved into several different businesses. I partnered with other artists in town but it didn’t work out, so two years ago, I said I was going to go for it and I started Amy Arts.

How did you meet your business partner?

I was working on the Big Tex rebuild project for the State Fair for six months. It was an honor to be part of a project that was so iconic to Texas. It was during that project that I met my partner Aaron Reyes and we started dating. Aaron is a

Aaron Reyes and Amy Martin of Amy Arts, in front of her La Puerta mural, at a shelter for sex-trafficked youths.

very talented artist and musician and has his own creative endeavors and he was doing other freelancing jobs. I said we could really make something great if we worked together.

What did Aaron think of going into business full-time?

For both of us, it was important to have stable income, so the question was whether we could really do this full-time – together –­ and pull it off. It started off slowly and it just built and built. In the beginning, we were insecure about whether we could do it, but we’ve had a lot of success. Every other job we do, people just love the work we’re doing and the quality we offer.

Have you changed the way you work since Aaron joined you?

For sure. I’ve had to be more organized and focused. Any time you’re selfemployed, there’s always this funny line about when you’re working or not at work.

He is very organized about when we are at work and when we are not. I’ve had to be more disciplined working with Aaron.

He brings a lot to the company. He’s great with logistics. We push each other to grow and develop in the ways that we’re not very strong in. It’s a great balance. We work well together.

On what projects is Amy Arts currently working?

Right now, we focus on many different things. There is an amazing organization called Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, which helps sex-trafficked teens and kids who are aging out of foster care. It has different buildings that are being renovated so we have done

different projects for them, mostly murals inside and outside of the buildings. Most recently, we did a restoration of an exterior mural that was originally done in the 1980s; it was faded and old but they wanted to keep that mural alive and transform and redesign parts of it. We were awarded the contract, and it was a wonderful project. We’re in the works for a project similar to that, which is restoring old murals on buildings in town.

I absolutely love murals, and that is something I have always wanted to do. It happened slowly and organically.

What would your dream project be?

I have a project in mind to do in Boerne that I have been designing off an on in my free time. I would love to do a commemorative painting of Willie Nelson because he is someone I have really followed throughout the years. He’s one of those people I really honor and have a lot of respect for. I have a photo of him with his guitar in mind, so that’s kind of a dream project. I love him and feel strongly connected in some ways. It would be really fun to do a mural of him.

Did you ever meet Willie?

I would see him riding his bicycle and he would wave at me, but I never met him!

What other artists inspire you?

As far as the history of art is concerned, there are just so many I couldn’t name them all. I’ve been really affected by artists who did theatrical scenic painting, like Edward Hopper, who is a big inspiration. I love all of the impressionist painters.

What do you do in your free time?

A lot of time is spent with my two kids. I have really gotten into nature hikes to clear my mind; it’s so meditative and relaxing.

Do you ever do art for pleasure?

All of the time. I do things I wouldn’t normally do, like ink painting or sketching.

I’ve been focusing on digital media and digital art; when I was in art school that was not even around. Now everything is digital, so I am slowly catching up on a lot of digital media.

What do you enjoy about your work?

I like the whole process; I love the design work, getting creative and getting inspired by clients’ ideas. And of course, I love the reaction to it as well.

What do you hope the future holds?

I would love to get hired to work on projects all over the world. I love traveling, so that’s a dream that I have. This is something I would like to keep doing and I want to build Amy Arts into a brand. I would also like to create my own line of mural brushes.

I would also like to create a foundation where I support young artists and help them find a way to make a living when they’re in school. I’d love to give back to the arts in some way.

Subcontractor Amy Arts offers murals, fabrication and faux finishes. –mjm

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Walking the Capitol

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he 86th Congress opened their doors, beginning the countdown to the 2020 elections. Both democrats and republicans will be pushing to accomplish their priorities. Legislative Day 2019 offers business owners, associations and anyone interested in speaking with our legislators the opportunity to be heard. -cmw

ABC Members meet with Republican State Representative Lyle Larson. L-R: Bill Dawley, Markel Surety; Lyle Larson; Michelle Seward-Davis, Joeris General Contractors and Ben Davis, The Beck Companies

ASA members meet with Senator Donna Campbell

Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Association (TACCA) members gathered at the state capital to meet with Texas legislators.

Richard McSwain, McSwain Law Firm;State Representative Donna CampbellRyan Doege, Joeris General ContractorsJondell Shives, Harvey-Cleary Builders

L-R: R. Wes Johnson, Gardner Law; Travis Cody; Devin Bromley; Republican State Representative Kyle Bierderman; Bob Kilgore, Gardner Law; Ryan Rosenbom, Joeris General Contractors; Mike Traugott, South Texas Drywall

L-R: Devin Bromley, Legislative Director Eddie Metz, Bob Kilgore, Wes Johnson, Mike Traugott Democrat State Representative Leo Pacheco, Travis Cody and Ryan Rosenboom.

Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors (PHCC) members visited Republican State Representative John Kuempel during PHCC’s capitol walk. L-R: Pat Freund, Primo Plumbing; PHCC President Sherill Stanush, S&S Plumbing; Representative Kuempel; PHCC Executive Director Heidi Trimble; PHCC Vice President Trisha Ramirez, ARAM Plumbing and Jesse Hernandez, Viega.

L-R: Ben Davis, State Representative Steve Allison, Bill Dawley and Michelle Seward-Davis

ASA & MCA-SMACNA members pose for a photo after meeting with Republican State Representative Lyle Larson.

ABC Team Captains L-R: Rob Crowe, Alpha Building Corp.; Michelle Seward-Davis and Travis Cody

L-R: R. Wes Johnson, Bob Kilgore, Mike Traugott, Demorcat State Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, Travis Cody, Ryan Rosenboom and Devin Bromley

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Peacock bass adventure

by Capt. Steve Schultz Sponsored by: Waypoint Marine, Shoalwater Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Fishing Tackle Unlimited, Shimano Reels, E-Z Bel Construction, Costa Sunglasses, Simms Fishing, ForEverlast Fishing Products, PowerPro, Interstate Batteries, MirrOlure, JL Marines Power-Pole, AFW and AFTCO Clothing

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he phone call came early one August morning while on the water, fishing with some clients. Jim Poole of Waypoint Marine and Fish Tales Excursions were on the line and began by saying, “I’ve got the trip of a life time we’ve been talking about.” He had my full attention when I asked, when and where?

Ken McCarty was one of the anglers that caught a 20+ lb. peacock bass on our recent trip to Brazil. Pictured with Ken is his son Kross who also caught several fish over the 10-lb. mark.

This coming February in Brazil for peacock bass! It didn’t take long to respond, mostly because I had been talking to him for several years about a trip like this and I really had to get back to my clients that had paid for a day’s fishing. I’m in, I responded, and I’ll call you later, BYE!

ple. Needless to say that we managed to get 16 of the 20 that knew each other or were friends that were recommended.

This is what made the trip so appealing to me. What a way to scratch an item off your bucket list and to have a dozen of your buddies do the same.

A trip to the Amazon has been on my bucket list for quite some time, and in fact I really thought it would never come together because of the logistics of putting together the right group of 20 peo-

After getting to Manus, we hopped a charter plane to Santa Isabel which is a small community on the Rio Negro river.

There we boarded a 105ft, 5-star mobile floating hotel called the “Zaltan.”

The Zaltan, the mother ship where we stayed, ate, slept and shared our fishing adventure days.

This was our base camp for the next six days. We towed eleven 18ft aluminum boats and paired up with a guide every morning for our day’s fishing. The fishing was ferocious. There wasn’t anything that grabbed onto the baits that didn’t fight like hell. Mid-size bass from 6 to 10 lbs. had no trouble doubling my rod over and pulling off long lengths of line with every surge. The smaller bass came more readily to the boat, but even they had enough fight that you’d never consider lipping them for a trophy shot if you value the flesh on your thumb. Larger fish were a little more difficult to catch due to the high water in the river from recent rains, although several anglers out of our group did manage fish over 15 lbs. and one over 20 lbs. I was not one of those anglers, but I can tell you that you better be holding on to your rod when one decides he wants to hit your lure. All in all it was a great experience and one trip that I will repeat. The crew and service of the Zaltan were first class and would recommend this trip to everyone that has a desire to catch world class peacock bass.

If you are not ready for the Amazon Xtreme Fishing adventure, I am back on the Laguna Madre this month fishing our bays for speckled trout, redfish and drum.

My 2019 fishing calendar is starting to fill up now, so don’t hesitate in booking your fishing trips. To schedule your next bay fishing trip or hunting trip give Capt.

Steve Schultz a call at 361-813-3716 or email him at SteveSchultzOutdoors@ gmail.com. Good luck and Good Fishing.

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Ken Milam’s Fishing Line

2. Where does the fish like to live? Does it prefer the freedom of open water or the security of structures like rocks, caves Since 1981, Ken Milam has been guiding fishing trips for striped bass on Lake or sunken logs? Maybe your chosen speBuchanan in the Texas Hill Country, You can hear Ken on the radio as follows: cies likes both depending on conditions.

The Great Outdoors: 5-8 am Saturday on 1300, The Zone, Austin and The Great Outdoors: 5-7 am Saturday on 1200 WOAI San Antonio 3. How does light affect your fish? Does The Sunday Sportsman: 6-8 am Sunday on 1300, The Zone, Austin bright light cause them to seek out shadAll on iHeart Radio ows to hide in, or do they like to hunt and bask in the sunlight.

Be the fish!

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he difference between a good fisherman and a great fisherman is pretty simple. Patience is a fishing virtue, the right equipment is helpful, but the very most important thing a fisherman needs is an imagination! If you can learn to think like a fish, you can predict its response to whatever kind of baits you put before it.

Fish are complex creatures. They will respond to stuff that looks good to eat, things that frighten them and most peculiarly of all, things that make them mad.

You can begin to see just how complicated what goes on between those beady little fish eyes is.

Fish can go into vicious feeding frenzies that remind you of the piranhas in old jungle movies. They can pout and not feed for days. If something changes in their surroundings, they can sulk or get shy. If an invader moves in they can violently defend their territory. When spawning time arrives, a whole new set of rules apply. Are they nesting, cruising for a mate, sparring with rivals? You need to do your research. Check magazines, internet and old fish stories to learn what makes each species tick.

1. What do the fish like to eat? Is it an aggressive feeder like perch, crappie or bass? Does it prefer to just pick up an easy meal when it can like catfish or carp?

This can help you begin to solve the old “live bait or artificial bait” question.

4. What kind of water conditions does your fish prefer and how do different conditions affect them? Most important, what kind of water are you fishing in today and what can you do about it? This is where the color and scent of bait can be important.

5. How do they act when they spawn?

Do they nest and choose a mate or do they just have a running affair with a whole bunch of their own kind.

6. What kinds of baits have the fish become accustomed to? Fish are fish, but they are not stupid. They learn pretty quickly that certain munchies can lead to an “alien abduction” type experience and a sore mouth. You need to do something unexpected sometimes to get their curiosity going.

Once you have this down then you just daydream about being that fish… Is it warm enough for you to be hungry?

Does the sunlight hurt your eyes? If you are hiding in the shadows, would it take a bright colored bait to get your attention?

Take it and run with it. Kids can be really good at this part, because they can really let their imaginations run and they don’t have any preconceived notions about “what works”.

This may be why fishing can be so relaxing and restorative for us. Some days it’s just more fun to be the fish!

Ken Milam Guide Service (325) 379-2051 www.striperfever.com

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Thanks for a great time!

big shout out to Dustin Durham and Justin Garcia of Performance Equipment for a great time with great friends! Durham and Garcia invited Mike Maule, Outdoors; Steve Neal, Aardvark Pest Control and Kevin Murry, Mesa Equipment to the Long Fellow Ranch in West Texas to fill their last three management tags. Murry shot this 8-point, 6-1/2-year-old mule deer with a rack measuring 128”. –cmw

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ive-year old Duke Landry Jones dropped his first whitetail buck on the family ranch. Guided by his father Josh Jones with assistance from Grandpa David Jones of R.L. Jones LP. L-R: Duke and Josh Jones pose with Duke’s first buck. -cmw

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L-R: Dustin Durham, Steve Neal, Mike Maule, Justin Garcia and Kevin Murry.

Justin Garcia poses with his stalk and bow will of 43 yards with Dustin Durham and Mike Maule.

Never too young to start

Hunting with a purpose

ichele Seward Davis (Joeris General Contractors) put together a collage of various hunts wearing a Chris Kyle shirt to honor him and all of our heroes we have lost. Davis is a big supporter of our military, those active and former, wounded and those we have lost. “I am humbled to be a sponsor of Chris Kyle and his foundation started by his wife, Taya Kyle.” -rd

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Based in experience

Jason Taylor, owner of Taylor HVAC Solutions

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hen Jason Taylor’s wife was reassigned to Randall Air Force Base from a North Carolina base, it was a lucky break for Taylor. Because he had been building a career in the heating and air conditioning field, Taylor knew Texas’ unforgiving summers and unpredictable winters offered steady work.

With that in mind, he established Taylor HVAC Solutions LLC last year. The decision was a natural one: Taylor already had experience establishing another company’s HVAC department.

“I thought if I was doing it for a company, why couldn’t I do it for myself?”

Taylor says. “It wasn’t much of a change because I’m still doing the same exact thing, such as ordering my own equipment, and doing everything I need to be successful in working for myself.”

Although there is more paperwork involved with being a business owner, Taylor says he enjoys being his own boss, especially because he controls the customer’s experience.

“I enjoy all aspects,” he says. “Installing systems is probably the most satisfying. I just get in, do what I’ve got to do to get the job done and go from there.

The big thing is when you go in and talk to the customer and give them the information that they need in order for them to make an educated decision on replacing the system or fixing a part.”

With summer a few months away, Taylor plans to hire help for his growing business.

“It’s just me right now,” he says.

“Hopefully, by the end of this summer– because I know it’s going to be hot – I am looking to get another technician and getting someone to help with the administrative tasks.”

Until he can find the help, he knows he can turn to a certain high-flyer who is always in his corner.

“My wife just retired from the Air Force and is a contractor working on base, so she has her own work,” he says.

“But from time to time, when stuff gets overwhelming, she’ll step in!”

Subcontractor Taylor HVAC Solutions is located in Schertz. –mjm

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

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Family ties

Industry FOLKS Kimberly Maldonado

Administrative Manager of Corporate Accounts

Joeris General Contractors San Antonio, TX

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Fernando Lozano, president of X-Press Wallboard

ome people are amazed when Fernando Lozano tells them that his company, X-Press Wallboard, employs nothing but his family members.

They think surely there must be more drama than a daytime soap opera.

But that’s not the case. Lozano says that while “It’s a whole family business,” they all get along and work through any disagreements.

Lozano’s father, Basilio, started XPress Drywall back in 1976. The rules for filing paperwork for a business were not as strict as they are today. When Lozano bought the company from his father in 2006, it was incorporated.

Lozano is a UTSA graduate who majored in marketing and finance. “I went to school to find other options,” he said.

However, since the corporate world didn’t suit him, and since Lozano had spent much of his youth working for his father, it seemed only natural that he would one-day approach dad and ask him about buying the company. Dad agreed, and Lozano, the eldest son, took over in 2006.

All Lozano’s younger brothers and even cousins work at X-Press. Father Basilio still works there too. “I’m grateful that he instilled all that work ethic in us,” Lozano said. “I’ve done it all.”

Lozano learned the trade from his father, so now as president, he uses both his college training and hands-on experience to provide the leadership. X-Press works in about a 100-mile radius from its hub.

When X-Press started, it was only doing sheet rock installation. Then, taping and texture was added. Then painting.

Now, Lozano will do complete remodeling and is adding plumbing and electrical to its repertoire.

Lozano has sons and nephews to whom he might someday leave the family business. “I would love for this company to keep on growing,” he said.

Between doing more and more commercial work, and the housing boom we’re experiencing, it looks like this family will be busy for a while.

X-Press Wallboard, Inc., is based in Comfort. -dsz

hen Maldonado turned 17, she joined the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps according to Maldonado changed her life profoundly and helped shape the woman she is today. “I am a better person and more appreciative of everything based on those experiences.

My mother told my drill instructors if she had known what a difference it was going to make, she would have paid them to take me when I was 15!”

Maldonado has a 16-year-old son Gehrig, named after her favorite baseball player, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of baseball. “The Pride of the Yankees was one of my favorite movies growing up and my first exposure to work ethic and doing whatever is necessary to get the job done. For 56 years Lou held the record for most consecutive games played before being surpassed by Cal Ripken, Jr. No one comes close to either of them.” Her son, Gehrig, had a stroke at birth and has cerebral palsy. Watching him grow and everything he endured has shown Maldonado true courage. “He has the most wicked sense of humor. He loves reading, video games and fencing. He tries harder than anyone I know and I hope one day to be as special as him.”

Maldonado came to work in the construction industry after being hired as a building manager, walking three historic structures in downtown Denver during their remodeling and historic designation. She moved over to the construction side and never looked back.

Today, she is currently working on site for Joeris’ Broadway office development where she processes everything from subcontracts to owner pay applications to invoices and subcontractor payments. She is the owner liaison on special projects and supports Joeris’ project team with anything they need, doing everything possible to free them up to work on items only they can do.

“At the end of the day, I want to look back and know that I did everything I was able to do to make a difference to at least one person. This can be anything from tracking down a payment or just listening.”

Maldonado credits several mentors in her life. One was an old Master Gunny who showed her that the world is bigger than just you and I, and that kindness goes a long way. “He also taught me to always take responsibilities for your actions and own your mistakes. If you don’t own them, you won’t learn from them.”

Another mentor taught her it does not matter how good you are if you cannot operate as part of a team. Another taught me the importance of saving, how you do it and stick to it. This helped her to buy her first house. And one who continues to mentor her, Henry Serry.

“He’s shown me that doing the right thing, no matter what, is always the best course of action. No matter how difficult it gets, stay the course and continue to put all your effort forward.” -cmw

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU BOUGHT? My first vehicle was a Ford Bronco 2. I bought it because I learned how to drive a stick in it.

Tracey Davis, Crawford, A Sonepar Company

berglass hood, hopped-up motor; my brother did a custom paint job all over it.

Kelley Hearn, Chaparral Custom Carpentry

The first car I bought was a Chevy Malibu because it was a fast car.

Alpolonio Juarez, Webber Electric

I bought a 1970 primer blue Ford Mustang.

David Herrera, Baish Electric

A Chevy pickup.

Ronnie Dausin, Dausin Electric Company

The first vehicle I bought was a Pontiac Grand Am. My mom had one and I really liked it.

Drew Benson, ERT Lighting

It was an ’86 Chevy Nova. This Chevy Nova was not like the cool Chevy Nova; this was more like a Toyota Corolla. I paid $500 for it. I was a senior in high school. I bought in 1994. I was so excited. It lasted about eight months.

Fernando Lozano, X-Press Wallboard

All I could afford at the time was a ’68 Ford Mustang, so I bought it.

Kenny DeLaune, Crawford, A Sonepar Company

I bought a 1967 Ford Mustang.

Stacey Gray, Bell & McCoy Companies My first car purchase was a black 1993 Honda Del Sol. I bought it because it was tiny.

Shelley Padalecki, Hossley Lighting Associates

The first vehicle I bought was a Dodge Ram 1500 because it was jacked up on tires and had a nice exhaust system on it.

Luis Balderas, Klein Tools

The first vehicle I bough was a 2010 Nissan Titan because I like the Tennessee Titans.

Joe Rodriguez, J Anthony Electrical Contractors

I was 17 and all I could afford was a Mazda Protégé.

Edward Garza, Masters Electric

My first purchase was a 1989 candy apple red Camero.

Jorge Pinon, Walker Engineering

I bought a Chevy 2500, because Chevys run in the family.

Daniel Fila, Beard

My uncle sold me my first car. It was a Toyota Camry.

Michelle Bratton, Cosmo Electric Services

I think the first vehicle I bought was a Toyota Corolla.

Jenny Mohr, Greenlee I bought a 1995 Mazda Protégé.

Ashley Nibert, Powerhaus

A 1969 red Volkswagen Beetle. I paid $950 for it, and I bought it in 1971. I drove it for about six years. It got me through college.

Mark Burns, Boerne Pro Painters

The first car I ever bought was a 1972 Camero SS. I had it for about eight years and completely customized it and put in a car show three years in a row. I had a fi-

My first vehicle purchase was a 2010 Mazda Tribute. It had great gas mileage. It was spacious and I loved the look.

Lindsi Williams, Southwest Exteriors

Feels like a fresh start

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The design team of Allied Fire Protection, L-R: Troy Davenport, Jesus Munoz, Raymond Delling, David Navarez and Paul Mahan.

wo young men: one who spent his younger life being raised by strangers in an orphanage outside of Fort Worth; and the other who lost his father to brain cancer at a young age. They found their way to being best friends at the age of 13. They dreamed of owning a business together and never gave up on that dream. After high school, Shannon Payne experienced the corporate world after obtaining a business degree, while best friend John Hubbard began climbing the ladder in the fire sprinkler industry, starting as a fitter, then advancing to foreman and eventually to a project manager.

In 1998, while in their mid-20s, the two followed through with their life-long dream and established Allied Fire Protection. Payne with the business knowhow and Hubbard with the trade experience, began working out of Payne’s garage in Pearland, a suburb of Houston.

“For the first year, we worked out of my garage. We did everything back then. We designed, we installed, whatever it took.

We wore multiple hats to get the company off the ground,” says Payne.

It did not take the company long to build up a customer base, but by their third year, they experienced their first emotional upset, 9/11. Everybody was holding onto his or her money, as no one knew what to expect from our Nation’s tragedy.

The young company persevered and by late 2002, the economy began to pick up steam. In 2003, Allied expanded into San Antonio and McAllen. By 2005, the market was exploding, so Payne and Hubbard welcomed a new partner, Troy Davenport. The next few years welcomed even more growth, which led to Allied continuing the expansion into Dallas in 2008 and Austin in 2010. In late 2009/early 2010, there was a slide in the economy which led the partners to believe it was time to diversify the company, so they also opened the Fire Alarm division of the business. Their latest expansion was just last year, in 2018, when they put boots on the ground in Laredo.

In 2017, as Allied approached its 20-year anniversary, the company began rebranding after being sought out by another company. “We hired an outside consultant because we wanted to rebrand and modernize our logo. We wanted to upgrade our website and show everybody our strengths. We began peeling away the layers of the onion, so-to-speak.

When we were trying to figure out who we were in this branding process, we realized that we weren’t the same company in our other offices.” said Payne.

“Today, when we look around the company, everybody knows what our vision is, what our mission is, and how we are going to get there. Everyone knows what our core values are, our strategy, how we’re implementing our plan and who our fellow team members are. Twenty years in the business, this being our 21st, and in a lot ways it feels like a fresh start,” states Payne.

With the rebranding complete, Davenport has relocated back to San Antonio after a 13-year presence in the Houston/ Pearland market. He plans to build relationships along the I-35 corridor and build on the meaning behind the company’s new logo; a badge. The logo symbolizes service, protection, security and public trust; all of the things a badge stands for and what Allied has built its company and core values around.

Through the years, Allied Fire Protection has evolved building its name designing, installing and maintaining fire sprinkler systems. They have built a foundation that provides a full scope of fire alarm systems, staffing their own Alarm Planning Superintendent (APS) who is licensed to draw, design and submit plans for permitting. They offer a strong service support system in all areas of fire and life safety and property protection to include fire alarm monitoring, kitchen hood systems, fire suppression systems, fire extinguishers and special hazards. They also have a private security license.

Allied believes strongly in the importance of supporting organizations in the communities they serve. “We want our communities better. We want our families stronger for the next generation. I feel like it is our duty and responsibility to help our neighbors and our communities and we are proud that we are involved in our communities,” adds Payne. Allied works year-round with groups that center around causes that make a difference including Youth Education and Arts, Military Support, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Community Development and Conservation.

Allied Fire Protection is a full-service fire and life safety contractor and service provider in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Rio Grande Valley and Laredo, TX. -cmw

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Bigger and better

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he third year of the Ag Mechanics Marketplace Auction proved to be a major success as more buyers became involved with this great event. The Ag Mechanics show is one of the features of the annual San Antonio Live Stock Show and Rodeo which brings FFA and 4H Kids from all over the State for this grand competition.

Held Feb. 22-24 with the auction on Sunday the amazing array of projects built and entered this year showed these kids were really serious in their desire to achieve.

Projects were in four categories -livestock and farm equipment, wildlife, home recreation and conveniences, and trailers. It seems the number of females involved continues to increase every year. Title Sponsor again this year was Urban Concrete Contractors.

Combined, the live and silent auctions brought in over $130,000.00 with $101,900.00 coming for the live.

Ruben Martinez and Travis Cody both of Joeris

Page 17

General Contractors were Co-Chairs of the Ag Mechanics Marketplace. Both were happy with the turn out, sales and involvement of the local community.

“We had 36 entries in the Marketplace event and a ton for great buyers that supported this.” said Ruben.

“It’s all for the youth of Texas and we had a lot of support from the local construction industry.

“When we first started this event it was tough for us to reach out to the individual buyers because they didn’t understand it. But once getting them out we are having repeat companies support us on a yearly basis.

“We want to thank the local San Antonio people for the support and we look forward to next year and many more years to come,” concluded Martinez.

“This year we broke the $100,000 mark in the live auction which is a new record,” stated Cody. “We are extremely excited about that and we have a great buyer pool we continue to build upon and we are really happy to have them here.

“These kids participating in this event are our future oinour skilled trades and the skills they are developing now should take them to great heights in their careers.”

Grand Champion team from Anna FFA received the winning bid from Rush Enterprises.

Anxious buyers waiting to bid

The Career Fair was also larger this year with additional companies and trade associations participating.

This event gives the youngsters the opportunity to speak with representatives from the construction industry to see if they might be a good fit. –bd

Reserve Grand Champions from Sandra Day O’Connor FFA got the winning bid from Black Tie Affairs- Richard Ojeda.

Career Fair

BARTLETT COCKE General Contractor

JOERIS General Contractors

Associated Builders and Contractors, South Texas Chapter

International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning industry

Independent Electrical Contractors, San Antonio

PHCC

Urban Concrete Contractors & URBAN –Land-Tree-Soil

TDIndustries

CMC Commercial Metals

Page 18

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

THIS TH MON Jan: Construction Forecast Mar: Construction Education May: Concrete Industry July: Electrical Industry Feb: Construction Safety Apr: Women in Construction Jun: HVAC & Plumbing Aug: Service Providers

College isn’t for everyone Nehemias Moreno Public Relations/Marketing Manager Setien & Associates Schertz, TX

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district’s schools.

oreno is a former Career & Technology Education (CTE) instructor, during which time he worked to build the gap between construction companies and schools. He is currently visiting the CTE program at the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, trying to make connections between construction companies and the

“They have a wonderful architecture and construction program at the SCUC ISD schools. The students are learning and using three-dimensional computeraided software and are learning how to weld and read plans, giving them a hands-on application of learning.”

What areas of education need to be improved to better serve the construction industry?

During my last couple of years in education, I began to study Texas high school graduates and higher learning.

Through my research, I found that only 20 percent of Texas high school graduates obtain a college degree. This might have changed in the last four years, but I don’t expect it has changed that much.

Even though only 20 percent of high school graduates obtain a college degree, many, if not most, high schools focus more time preparing students for college rather than preparing them for the workforce.

The education industry needs to improve in this area. They need to do a better job of identifying the youth that does not want to attend college and help them acquire skills that will make them valuable to companies, such as those in the construction industry. Reaching out to companies in the construction industry, identifying what skills, education, training and certifications would benefit students interested in construction jobs, would help to ensure a higher success rate for both students and companies.

Why aren’t young people looking to construction as a career?

There are several reasons why young people are not looking to the construction industry for jobs. One reason is that 30 to 40 years ago there was a certain stigma attributed to manual labor jobs such as those in the construction industry.

Many people would say, “Get an education; you don’t want to dig ditches for the rest of your life”. This got people to believe that vocational jobs were not worthwhile

Construction education Josh Carson, Project Executive Moss & Associates Board Chair, TEXO Foundation Dallas, TX

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he construction industry is a wide-reaching and exceptionally dynamic field. It is a central part of our US economy with some estimates of domestic annual construction over $1.2 trillion. Since the last economic downturn, not only have projects grown in complexity and size, but they now need to be delivered quicker. Thankfully, these are problems we can – and are – solving as an industry. The greatest challenge for us isn’t in processes or materials, it’s people. From designers to general contractors and trade partners, there is simply more work to do than the workers we have to do it.

For years, our industry has faced a challenge of replacing experienced supervisors and key trades people and training the next generation of professionals. However, couple that with the explosive growth of Texas and it drastically complicates the problem. The Texas Legislature is preparing for the population in our state to double by 2050 and this only happens if the construction industry can support this growth. In colleges, class sizes shrank in the late 2000’s and are just now recovering to pre-recession levels. In high schools, trades and technical training have largely been eliminated

due to focuses on science and technology and the push for everyone to attend college. A booming domestic industrial sector including oil and gas has pulled many of the upcoming construction teams into the oil fields and refineries.

With increased pressure to feed our people pipeline, a renewed effort in marketing and training for our industry is at an all-time high. Groups like the TEXO Foundation in Dallas, TX are broadening their focus to primary and secondary education, growing their collegiate reach across the United States and across the globe, and doubling

Construction Education Sept: Green Building Nov: Architecture & Engineering Oct: Specialty Contractors Dec: Construction Equipment

occupations. Now, you might want to reconsider the digging ditches job because you will probably be doing it with heavy equipment with a possible starting pay between $20 and $25 per hour.

The second reason is that students are not being encouraged to consider construction careers. This has to do with educational institutions not being in touch with the students’ interests, abilities, skills and aptitudes. During my last four years as an instructor, I conducted annual student interest surveys. I always found that a good percentage of my students were interested in construction jobs.

and talk on their cell phones” or we can get involved and do something about it.

What does the construction industry need to do to attract the next generation of youth into the industry?

Everyone in the construction industry is very busy performing his or her jobs. It is hard to take the time to get involved with the schools to help educate and train the next generation of skilled workers. Having said that, that is exactly what it is going to take. Construction companies must take the time to get involved with the schools of their communities. They can do this by providing internships, mentorships, job shadows, etc.

I currently attend the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD Career & Technology Advisory Committee meetings. This is a great way to get involved because it gives the companies the opportunity to influence the education system in their area. It is easy for everyone in the construction industry to throw their hands up and say, “Oh, these kids don’t want to learn, they just want to play video games

How can contractors get involved in the school systems to educate the youth on construction careers?

As I mentioned before, everyone in the construction industry is very busy and it is difficult to carve out time to get involved. Having said this, if construction companies don’t find the time to get involved with the school systems, eventually the companies will age-out.

Reach out to the school district or high school in your area. One phone call won’t take more than 10 to 15 minutes. If possible, hire someone or find an existing employee that might be interested in collaborating with the schools. The persons that you might want to contact are the CTE teachers, CTE coordinators, college and career advisors, etc. You can also contact the Career and Technology Education Coordinator (CTE) at the school district.

Once you have made the initial contact, ask if it is acceptable to visit the school and meet with the program staff.

If possible, get involved with the CTE Advisory Committee. They usually only meet three times a year with meetings lasting no more than an hour and a half.

Lastly, make contributions to the CTE programs. These contributions will help to make a positive impact on the students.

Though monetary contributions are always helpful, there are other ways to contribute such as providing internships, jobs, job shadows, mentorships, etc.

Setien & Associates is a structural design and steel fabricator in Schertz, TX. -cmw

down by engaging community groups such as veterans, second chance initiatives, and many non-construction-related industry groups. Many specialty trade companies have grown or created their own internal training and recruiting elements to help develop their workforce while partnering with education entities to offer the training.

At Collin College in McKinney, Texas, funding and support for a new technology building was successful and the project is being built today. This new program will have an entire wing dedicated to construction education including many trades like welding, mechanical, and electrical along with safety and management. This is another example of how strong the demand for talent is right now and how entities are having to step up to the challenge to sustain this economic growth.

More so than ever before, we are being forced to analyze the way we engage and educate the industry. We are being challenged to look at the opportunity to enter the construction industry through many different lenses and focus on international talent and technological engagement. International demand to enter our industry is there, but how do we connect those people to the jobs in our industry? Ten years ago, Ken Robson, then Director of Construction Science at the University of Oklahoma, started an international student competition pairing students from the United States with students from Ireland to compete in domestic competitions. This program has grown and now engages students in Australia and other parts of Europe. This encourages us that global education of the

U.S. construction industry is working and should remain a priority.

The construction industry has shifted to emerging technology over the last couple decades as well with BIM and prefabrication. These are tools that create another avenue to capture a workforce that wants more of a technical focus and allows our projects to more quickly develop. With new programs starting for continuing education and training, it reinforces there is a need and market being served and it is exciting to see where this takes off in the future.

The outlook for our industry is encouraging and the energy around construction education is a positive indicator the renewed efforts to feed the growth and create new jobs and opportunities is working. For many people outside the industry, they are now aware construction can be a home for almost any professional and the potential for their kids to build a rewarding career that will serve them through their life is a real possibility. More resources are needed and there is a lot of work left in front of us, but the next chapter in the construction industry is bright and the new workforce being educated today has the opportunity to build the future…and change the world!

Moss & Associates is a national construction management company with offices in California, Florida and McKinney, TX. TEXO is the largest commercial contractors association in Texas empowered by the affiliation with the national Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). -cmw

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Page 19

NEXT TH MON

Women in Construction

To represent your company in an upcoming FOCUS, contact SAeditor@ConstructionNews.net 210-308-5800

Skilled trades training Rebecca Young, Director Lone Star Construction Trades Training Austin, TX

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hey say history repeats itself and most likely it does.

I recall when a person only needed a high school education to be able to succeed in life and make a decent living. Then it became the rule that everyone needed a college degree and a sustaining career to make it through life in a somewhat comfortable fashion.

It has become a common theme nowadays that everyone doesn’t need to go to college and that an alternative career can be sustaining and rewarding.

Skilled trade training has become an undeniable focus of many governmental and industry leaders now that many of the older generation of craftsmen are retiring and leaving a big hole that needs to be filled with competent and capable people.

The best way to learn a skilled trade is through an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships are defined as job training that involves working with and learning from a master of the trade on the job. Electricians, carpenters, masons, ironworkers,

and many other skilled trade professionals often learn their trade through apprenticeships. As apprentices learn on the job they are also earning a sustainable paycheck, also known as on the job training. Apprenticeships have different programs with incentives like medical and retirement benefits that the contractor pays for, so it doesn’t come out of the apprentice’s paycheck. It’s a good idea to do your homework before you make the decision which program to enter. When the apprentice completes the hours, schooling and passes the state test you will become a licensed Journeyman.

Have you noticed there is construction everywhere you look? It’s time to

Farewell to beer can cold Chris Walters, Director/Instructor The Training Center of Air Conditioning & Heating Houston, TX

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he HVAC industry has been forced to accept new methods of competence and part ways with the old methods like BEER CAN COLD charging techniques. The sad part of this old technique is that it was never proper even 40 years ago. Manufactures have given us charging tables for many years that used superheat and subcooling charging methods, but most technicians were resistant to see the importance and ignored them. Grabbing the suction line and charging until it was cold as a beer can and then checking to see if the evaporator split was around 20 degrees was the extent of charging. The same resistance often was used against proper vacuum procedures and nitrogen flushing during brazing.

Cold air was obtained by the “seat of the pants” methods and that was somewhat passable with older low seer units.

Today’s units use smaller tubing in the condensers and sometimes have microchannel evaporators and condensers. These units must be critically charged exactly as specified by the manufacturer. Two ounces above or below the correct charge will really affect the operation, lose efficiency and shorten the life of the compressor.

All of this boils down to one thing and that is the need to get proper training for our technicians and installers. As a whole most of our industry has been trained on the job by other technicians.

Field experience moves these technicians up the ladder and they sometimes

become owners and hire their own techs.

What gets lost along the way is the proper training of the fundamentals that all future experience gets layered on top of.

Without a proper foundation of fundamentals, we can still make a career out of this HVAC trade but will fall short time and time again.

This knowledge shortfall really shows when we hit a problem that requires a deep understanding. This lack of understanding usually leads to not doing things the correct way and that is why BEER CAN COLD has existed forever and never been correct. Seeing a phrase like sub cool and superheat in a book or installation manual doesn’t mean much unless you fundamentally understand it.

start thinking about a career in the construction trades. It can be a little overwhelming when you start thinking about joining an apprenticeship but, with a little guidance, you can be on your way to a great career that pays well. Journeyman is a title you earn after finishing your apprenticeship like getting your bachelors in college after completing the required classes. It’s not a gender. There are many women in the skilled construction trades.

This is a realistic career path for women.

And earning your journeyman title is just the start for many people. There are many paths to choose from after that.

You can start running work and become a foreman, a general foreman or a superintendent. You can go into estimating or become a project manager. You can start your own construction business. You could become an inspector or, like me, you could become an instructor. The career paths you can take are endless and rewarding. If you enjoy learning and working with your hands and making the good money, this will be a great choice.

My name is Rebecca Young. I’m a journeyman electrician and have worked 27 years in the trade. When I first started my apprenticeship, the trades weren’t very welcoming to women but, through

the years, the attitudes are changing.

Men are realizing women pay attention to detail, they listen, are easier on the equipment and tools and can do the work! This is an amazing time in history with the trades becoming so open to women joining the ranks to help fill the shortage of construction workers needed right now! Remind the people around you, including the women, that a career in construction can be rewarding, provide financial stability and provide medical and retirement benefits.

There are programs out there to help people decide if this could be a realistic career path and try out the trade. Darci Brennan, who is also a journeyman electrician, and I have started Lone Star Construction Trades Training. We offer free hands-on electrical classes to help people find that path to apprenticeship and, as we grow, we will be adding welding, carpentry, HVAC, heavy equipment, etc.

Anyone interested in becoming an electrician or is interested in taking a free Lone Star Construction Trades Training class can call 254-833-7487 or visit lonestarctt.org. We can help you find the pathway to apprenticeship. -cmw

Even if you manage to perform the task and obtain a superheat or sub cool number, it will not mean as much without the understanding. Eventually you will want to quit doing a task that doesn’t make sense and that keeps bad habits like beer can cold hanging on forever.

Fortunately, most contractors are seeing a payoff for having proper training and they are seeking out courses and even sending seasoned technicians back to take the basics.

I have talked to many technicians that have been in the trade for years and winged it with on-the-job training. Once they decided to take a step back and fill in the missing fundamental training they became amazing technicians almost overnight.

As contractors, we are forced to take continuing education courses every year to keep our license current. This is the absolute minimum and certainly can be supplemented with many other online, offsite or self-directed enhanced learning objectives. Walters can tell you from experience that every time you look at a part of the HVAC system you see it with different eyes that are filtered with a different experienced brain. Pick up a textbook and look up any component and you will gather some new perspective of or nugget of information that eluded you before. We should strive to learn new things every day and do more than the minimum of learning. Technicians that are not forced to take CE courses by the state should consider it or other training

regardless and get used to continuous training and learning.

It has been stated that we have approximately 125 million homes in the USA and, of the homes with central air, approximately 90 percent have oversized units with undersized air distribution. If we want to correct this, we have to quit doing things the old way and start paying attention to static pressure, duct design based with flex compression considerations, load calculation based on the house as it is today and not as it was when built, and duct and envelope testing.

Once we master these things, we will start whittling away at the 90 percent and start making a difference in comfort as well as energy conservation. Let’s leave beer can cold for after work where it belongs.

Chris Walters has been in the HVAC industry for 40 years. During which time, he owned his own commercial A/C business for 22 years and just recently closed it to focus 100 percent on training. Walters started The Training Center of Air Conditioning & Heating after years of being frustrated by the lack of qualified technicians. Once the training school was approved, he realized he could better serve the industry by choosing it full time. He spent several years as a subject matter expert for the State of Texas working on the exam committee for the certified tech, class A and B exams. In addition, he has developed several types of HVAC courses including video and printed materials. -cmw

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

JOB SIGHTS

Training the next generation, Tripe R Electric’s Brad Pauly works closely with nephew Donovan Owens. –cmw

L-R: Alfredo Gonzales, Alex Billamueba and Angel Jimenez with L&H Contracting frame and install drywall at the new sports complex for St. Thomas Episcopal Church and School.

Keller-Martin Construction is the project’s general contractor. -cmw

A crew from Capital Excavation forms curbs and sidewalks at Loop 1604 and Military Highway. L-R: Miguel Izarraras, Alejandro Cruz, Angel Isael, Samuel Osorio, Juan Cruz, Dean DeLeon and Oscar Castalleda. -cmw

Keller-Martin Construction’s Alfredo Gonzalez and Joe Gomes perform carpentry work at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church and School new sports complex. -cmw

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Page 21

Association Calendar

continued from Page 1 — Broadshield He loves this environment.

Broadshield still does the metal horse structure - it just finished a huge 36-horse stall - but “it’s not our primary focus.”

LeStourgeon prefers to stay in a 60mile radius. He will go further if the situation is right, like recently building a Barndominium in Seguin, but going out past his range is rare.

LeStourgeon has a unique outlook on getting new projects. “I fish every day for business,” he said. “I get up out of bed, and I put my hook in the water but I don’t bait my hook. I’m a big proponent of if the Lord brings you the business you’re supposed to get, I don’t push really hard to get it. It’s uncanny how He delivers time and time again the right amount of business we need to keep us busy but not too busy.”

LeStourgeon credits divine inspiration Broadshield’s name and logo. There is no special significance to the name.

LeStourgeon originally picked the Barndominium industry to get into because there was a plethora of conventional homebuilders but not the metal structure builders. This way, Broadshield’s name is first on the search engine’s listing and not buried amongst everyone else’s.

Having said that, LeStourgeon has moved from strictly the horses to more

humans, doing mostly Barndominiums now. He’s looking into the tiny home market, but hasn’t decided yet. His son-in-law will be joining him soon to expand into an insurance claims division.

Also, he will do home remodeling, but on a case-by-case situation. And, LeStourgeon will also build a wooden house too, not just a metal one.

Broadshield has four full-time superintendents and a stable (no pun intended) of sub-contractors. Included among those is his concrete floor stainer whom LeStourgeon calls “an artist.” He can make a concrete foundation look like any type of wood floor.

LeStourgeon has converted real horse barns into human houses. That gives new meaning to the expression, “Do you live in a barn?” It must feel so good to be able to answer yes.

The Boerne/Hill Country area keeps LeStourgeon plenty busy. The demand for conventional homes as well as Barndominiums keeps him from having to fish very hard. Why use bait when the fish jump into the boat on their own?

Broadshield Custom Homes and Contracting specializes in metal homes and structures, located in Boerne. -dsz

continued from Page 1 — Air Today Heating & Air Conditioning invoice paperwork. “If it wasn’t for her,” he said, “I guarantee I wouldn’t invoice for a lot of this stuff.”

Maria has hired two extra ladies to help with the office. Because of all this effort, “We’re on top of our game,” Mallen said.

From two trucks to six and now 10 employees, Mallen oversees day-to-day operations. And, as head of his own company, he says, “The customer is our first priority,” not sales

“It’s our job to educate our customers,” he said. In other words, Air Today will explain just what they need, not what it wants them to buy. “They don’t know what they actually need,” Mallen said.

Mallen will go the extra mile to right things right if he has to. “We operate with integrity,” he said.

Air Today has a robust work radius: to New Braunfels and San Marcos, to Castroville and Boerne.

Mallen is big on routine service and maintenance. With Texas’ hot-cold climate, a unit can be strained. Mallen wants to

catch inexpensive problems way before they turn into very expensive ones.

And, having one’s trusted AC company is like having one’s primary care physician: just have one. “There’s plenty of business in San Antonio for everybody,” Mallen said. “Customers need to have their company they go to; it doesn’t matter who it is.” Just have one.

“I can train my people to fix just about anything,” he said. What Mallen is looking for is a positive attitude and mindset that puts the customer’s needs first. “Attitude is the biggest thing to us,” he said, when it comes to an employee.

He would like to get more young techs fresh out of school so he can train them.

With a loyal customer base that is growing, Mallen will expand Air Today as far as the need is. After all, there are plenty of moms out there who need to have reliable air conditioning on hot Texas days.

Air Today Heating & Air Conditioning is an HVAC contractor, serving the greater San Antonio area. -dsz

Content submitted by Associations to Construction News ABC

Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.

Mar. 7: Chili Cook-off, Rolling Oaks Mall Parking Lot (in front of Sears), 6909 Loop 1604, 3:30pm.

Mar. 21: Happy Hour, The Growler Exchange, 4130 Broadway St., 4:30pm Mar. 24-28: ABC National Convention, Long Beach, CA. For more info, contact Alissa Miller at alissa@abcsouthtexas.org or 210-342-1994 AGC

Associated General Contractors

Mar. 16: CLC Service Day, San Antonio Food Bank Whse. Sorting & Packing Mar. 25: Annual Golf Tournament, The Club at Sonterra, 901 E. Sonterra Blvd.

For more info, call Kelly Wilson at 210349-4921 AIA American Institute of Architects Mar. 7-8: All Day Spring Conference, AIA San Antonio, 1344 S. Flores St. Feb. 12: Architect’s Day, Texas Society of Architects, 500 Chicon St., Austin, TX. For more info, contact Torrey Carleton at 210349-4921 or email jaylouden@gmail.com Mar. 25: Chapter Meeting, San Antonio Zoo, 3903 N. St. Mary’s St., 11:30am-1pm.

For more info, contact Torrey Carleton, Belinda Sanchez or Laura Smith at 210349-4921 or email jaylouden@gmail.com

tires, etc. prior to becoming available for public selection. The main building consisting of over 12,000 sf is open to the public and serves as the entry and exit to the vehicle yard in addition to processing their clients’ selections. The air-conditioned building has large restrooms, training rooms, fire riser room, offices, break room, telephone sales room, etc.

Other noticeable buildings include the crusher building which marks the end of the vehicles life cycle once the useful parts have been stripped from the vehi-

American Subcontractors Assn.

Mar. 20: ASA Golf Tournament, TPC Canyons Course, 23808 Resort Pkwy, 7:45am.

Mar. 26: General Meeting, The Petroleum Club, 8620 N. New Braunfels, 11:30am. For more info, call Jennifer Swinney at 210-349-2105 IEC

Independent Electrical Contractors

Mar. 22-23: 19th Annual IEC San Antonio BBQ Cook-off, Helotes Fair Grounds, 12210 Leslie Rd. For more info, contact Julie Tucker at 210-431-9861 or email jtucker@iecsanantonio.org GSABA

Greater San Antonio Builders Assn.

Mar. 1 – Apr.1: 2019 Summit Awards Call for Entries. For more info, contact Audrey Kannawin at akannawin@sabuilders.com HCAdeSA

cle and the Maintenance building, which is available for lease.

Close coordination between Structura Project Manager Richard Watson, Superintendent Randy Miller, the City of San Antonio, Studio8 Architect, Miles Vandewalle and Big Red Dog’s Civil Engineer Jeremy Doege ensured a positive completion of the project on time and within budget.

Structura is a full-service general contractor with offices Austin, Houston and San Antonio, TX. –cmw

A vision of light

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) shared this photo of NAWIC member and Construction News’ Dana Calonge with NAWIC’s February guest speaker Rebecca Young, Lone Star Construction Trades Training, who presented Calonge with a “Light Robot” built by students in Lone Star’s two-week program. -cmw

Hispanic Contractors Assn. de San Antonio

Mar. 12: Breakfast Seminar, HCAdeSA Offices, 2391 NE Loop 410 #206, 8am s

MCA-SMACNA of San Antonio Mechanical and Sheet Metal Contractors Assn.

Mar. 13: Regular & Associates Meeting, The Petroleum Club, 8620 N. New Braunfels, 7th Flr. For more info, call Sandee Morgan at 210-822-3763 Mar. 27: Joint Industry Fund Meeting, MCA-SMACNA office, 12500 Network Blvd., #410, 11:30am. For more info, call Sandee Morgan at 210-822-3763 NAWIC

National Assn. of Women in Construction

Mar. 3-9: WIC Week Mar. 6: General Membership Meeting, The Petroleum Club, 8620 N. New Braunfels, 5:45pm.

Mar. 8: NAWIC Annual Golf Tournament, Canyon Springs Golf Club, 22405 Wilderness Oak, 11:30am. For more info, call Becky Rodriguez at 210-639-2489 or email rjrodriguez@tcco.com PHCC

Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors

ASA

continued from Page 1 — Structura

Mar. 20: Monthly Meeting, Quarry Golf Club, 444 E. Basse Rd., 6pm Mar. 21: Get Certified by SCTRCA, HCAdeSA Offices, 2391 NE Loop 410 #206, 8:30am Mar. 28: PMP Education Series, HCAdeSA Offices, 2391 NE Loop 410 #206, 1-5pm.

For more info, call Dave Sanchez at 210444-1111 or email dave@hcadesa.org

Mar. 7: Sporting Clay Tournament, National Shooting Complex, 5931 Roft Rd., 10:am-6pm. For more info, call Heidi Trimble at 210-824-7422 or go to www. phcc-sanantonio.org SAMCA

San Antonio Masonry Contractors Assn.

Mar. 21: SAMCA Annual Golf Classic, The Republic Golf Club, 4226 SE Military Dr., 12pm Lunch, 1pm Shotgun Start, $125 Golfer, $25 Non-Golfer. For more info, contact Debi Solis at 210-347-2423 TACCA

Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Assn.

Greater San Antonio

Mar. 4-6: ACCA National Conference & Expo, Henry B. González Convention Center, 900 E. Market St. Mar. 21: Sporting Clay Shoot, National Shooting Complex, 5931 Roft Rd. For more info, call Dawn Thompson at 210901-4222

Submitted to Construction News

Round-Up

Catamount Constructors Inc. is pleased to announce: Sandi Wolff, PhD, has joined the Catamount family to further develop the firm’s strategic relations and business development activities. Wolf holds a PhD in Education with a concentration on Organizational Leadership from UIW, a Master of Arts in Education with a focus on Secondary and Adult Education from OLLU and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from STMU. –cmw

Rebecca Alfonso has been promoted from project coordinator to a new company role, Enterprise Applications Coordinator. In this role, she will coordinate training for teams on the firms enterprise applications to ensure technical platforms can be leveraged efficiently for communication and overall cost savings. –cmw

Sonia Carrasco has joined the Catamount family as Marketing and Proposal Coordinator providing marketing support and proposal coordination. She brings nearly 30 years of experience with 10 years in marketing. –cmw

Chuck Poole joined the Catamount as part of the firm’s business development team. He brings 16 years of experience in strategic operations and business development. He holds a Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University. –cmw

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

Construction News ON LOCATION

Taking in fresh air

Branch Manager Bill Eaves, Lynwood Building Materials, at Lynwood’s Capital Port location enjoys a moment outside and fresh air while visiting with Construction News. -cmw

Catching up

Construction News catches up with Jose Sanchez, Martin Marietta Materials, after delivering a load of cement at a nearby jobsite. -cmw

San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019

D

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Saddle up & ride over

o you recall that old saying, “bring out the fine china, we’re having company?”

That’s exactly what the folks at Crawford, A Sonepar Company did for their customer appreciation party held on Jan. 31. The event, with its chuck wagon theme had over 500 customers, friends and family in attendance. Guests enjoyed the sounds of Texas favorite, The Drugstore Cowboys, a full barbecue spread complete with an array of desserts and great door prizes.

“We’ve been here 14 years now and we wanted to show appreciation to our customers. We have so much more to offer now than we did when we first opened. We have Crawford Solutions, on-site project management, a full estimating team, inside and outside sales teams that can fill any need our customers have. We just want them to know we are here for them,” says Tracey Davis, Project Quotations. -cmw

Momentum Solar – L-R: Jacob Contreras, Augie Gamboa, James Morim, Luis Correra, and Hill Electric’s Albert Contreras

Yates Company - L-R: Johnny Contreras, Diego Campos, Pete Cancel, Andres Cordero and Nick Duran.

Magnum Engineering team members take the courtesy shuttle to Crawford.

Webber Electric – L-R: Alpolonio Juarez, Edward Guerrero, Richard Hernandez

Dausin Electric – L-R: Legrand’s Gary Fillinger, Ronnie Dausin and Kyle Dausin

SIEMENS – L-R: Brad Cope and Crawford’s Ron Martin and Kenny DeLaune

Klein Tools – L-R: Luis Balderas, Brent Crocker and Crawford’s Donny Wallace

Baish Electric – L-R: Mario Mendoza and David Herrera

Masters Electric – L-R: Cody Smith and Edward Garza

Luis Larraga, ABB; Kevin Bulliner, ABB; Beard’s Daniel Fila and Alec Dews

L-R: Robert DeLany, Crawford; Webber Electric’s Larry Webber and Crawford President Tim Horny.

L-R: Dana Calonge, Construction News; Tim Reininger and Stacey Gray, Bell McCoy Companies

Cosmo Electric Services – L-R: Michelle, Ally and Jesse Bratton

ERT Lighting – L-R: Brian Thomas, Signify; Jordan Doyle, Drew Benson, Molly Shirley and Jerry Doyle

The Drugstore Cowboys

Greenlee – L-R: Justin Wetzel and Jenny Mohr

L-R: Brian Richardson, 2M Lighting; Stephen Peavler, Judson ISD; Scott McInvale, Judson ISD; IES Commercial’s Tommy Nentwich and Alton Vrana

Alterman – L-R: Greg Padalecki, Hossley Lighting Associates’ Shelley Padalecki, Shaun Blumhoff, Nelson Blanchard and Dana Calonge

Walker Engineering – L-R: Drew Schreiber, Crawford; Chase Compton, Crawford; Sebastian De Ouna; Jorge Pinon; Frank Valedez and Nick Ramos

PowerHouse Electrical Services – L-R: Juan Saenz, Edward Gutierrez, Roland Ornelaz, Lanehart Electric’s Bobby Solis, Perry Saculla and Ashley Nibert

J Anthony Electrical Contractors – L-R: Graham Wheeler, Daniel Tovar, Efren Hererra, Miguel Viera, Edward Lares and Joe “Sas” Rodriguez

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San Antonio Construction News • MAR 2019