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CONSTRUCTION NEWS The Industry’s Newspaper
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www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 19 H Number 11 H NOVEMBER 2019
Breaking into the industry
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The Arrow Glass Industries team
ince Brian Soberalski began working for Arrow Glass Industries last year, he jokes that he’s learned a thing or two. “I learned glass breaks and it’s sharp!” laughs Soberalski, who works in outside sales for the San Antonio region. “Tempered glass, which we mostly use, can break into a thousand pieces.” Okay, Soberalski already knew this about glass, but he still loves to sell it for Arrow Glass Industries. If it were a few decades earlier, he would be selling a different product altogether: The company founder, Joe Kinsella, originally established Arrow in 1994 as a shower and countertop marble supplier. Marble’s unpleasant odor changed Kinsella’s mind on that, as did the industry’s challenges.
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“We found that it was easier to maintain quality in the glass industry,” Soberalski says of Kinsella’s decision to focus solely on producing glass. “We went from less than 50 employees to over 200 employees. Our service area is Dallas metroplex, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and everything in between. We also have a few offshoots. We do wholesale glass under a company called Brick Glass, which is owned by his wife. Then we own a company called City Glass where we can do emergency services, and that is usually portioned out of the Dallas area. We also do emergency services in all of the major Texas cities.” Soberalski says his work, despite glass’ sharp qualities, is very hands on. continued on Page 16
Hip to be squared
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Squared Away Plumbing’s Christopher Brooks
eing a Navy veteran himself, Christopher Brooks had no trouble coming up with the perfect business name when he established it in 2014: Squared Away Plumbing LLC. “Just about every branch of the service uses the term ‘squared away.’ It is a generic term that always for us [in the military] means ‘being in good order, being prepared, a job done well,’” Brooks explains. The Texas native served in the Navy for five years before returning to Austin and working in the telecommunication field. After his brother encouraged him to join the local union and learn a trade, Brooks discovered how much he enjoyed plumbing. “I went through the union appren-
ticeship for five years. In that timeframe, I learned more about plumbing and I got into being an all-around plumber/ pipefitter/welder rather than only a plumber or pipefitter or a plumber,” he says. “From there, I got my plumbing license in the early 2000s and worked as a journeyman though the local 286 in Austin.” While he enjoyed the work, Brooks felt the pull to strike out on his own. “I felt like if I started my own business, I would be more in control of my own destiny,” he says. “[It would be] less in the hands of other people telling me where and when I could work, setting my schedule and valuing me.” When his employer put him on continued on Page 16
Braun & Butler, Rizzo merge
wo companies that followed a nearly identical trajectory for almost two decades have intersected and now follow a single path. General contractors Braun & Butler Construction and Rizzo Construction, both founded in 1982 in Austin, recently merged and will operate under the name Braun & Butler Construction. Kenton Heinze, Braun & Butler Construction’s CEO/President and Brian Lauterjung, Rizzo Construction’s president before the merger, both built companies focused on projects that united people and created communities: churches, schools, fire stations, and health centers. They discussed their desire to better their companies, and realized a merger was the perfect solution. “We quickly realized the best way forward was for us to join forces to give us that security,” Heinze says. “What it
allows us to do is maintain our flexibility and our customer service that will have a larger footprint and help us serve our clients better.” As a result of the merger, Heinze will continue to serve as Braun & Butler’s CEO and President and oversee all business activities. Lauterjung will assume the role as Executive Vice President of Braun & Butler and manage business relationships. All employees at both companies will stay on and work on the assignments they had pre-merger. “Rizzo offices have been in Westlake on 360 and we will keep that office,” Heinze explains. “Cedar Park will be our headquarters and Westlake will still operate. Eventually, we will serve traditional Braun & Butler projects out of the Westlake office, along with traditional Rizzo projects and Cedar Park will serve both projects as well going forward.” L-R: Brian Lauterjung and Kenton Heinze
continued on Page 16