CM
Commercial Drywall, Inc.
Craftsman
Vol. 4 No. 2
December 1982
Marathon OH T@w@r
At the corner of San Felipe and St. James Place in Houston’s Galleria area, the Marathon Oil Tower is under construction. The 1,250,000 square foot tower will rise 41 stories when completed and covers a fiveacre area. Commercial Drywall began its phase of construction in August under the supervision of Ken Hyatt. The scope of CDI’s work is completion of the core. The exterior of the tower will be finished in carmen red granite quarried in Finland with set-in windows of dark bronze reflective glass. The red granite theme is carried throughout the two lobby areas. Behind the tower and connected by a glass enclosed walkway, a 10-level parking facility is being constructed. The top floor of the parking facility will house meeting rooms and a full service employee cafeteria and delicatessen. “This segment of the project will be the most challenging for CDI,” says project manager, Wayne Lueckemeyer. “The majority of the work in the cafeteria is the ceiling with its skylight monitors and furrdowns.” CDI is doing the heavy gauge framing around the skylights. This segment of construction is scheduled for March 1983. Commercial is right on schedule with its work. The completion schedule of the third floor was accelerated to January 1 to allow for the installation of new computers. The entire third floor of the tower will house Marathon’s computer center. CDI has met the third floor completion requirement. “It is a typical office tower with a typical core,” comments supervisor Ken Hyatt. “Everything is running
The Marathon Oil Tower located in Houston’s Galleria area will be home to a major portion of Marathon Oil Company's domestic and international operations
very smoothly. I have an excellent crew to work with.” Dusty Lobb is the tower foreman and Leo Ryza is handling the layout work. The tower is scheduled to top out December 17. Ken enjoys a fine working relationship with the superintendents of the general contractor, W. S. Bellows Construction Company of Houston, which aids in the smooth running of the job.
Developed by Marathon Oil Company and Mark Lee & Associates and designed by the architectural firm of Pierce Goodwin Alexander, Marathon Oil Tower has all the special features and highquality finishing found in the corporate office towers in the Galleria area. Marathon Oil is the sole tenant of the tower due for completion in the fall of 1983.
1982 going down as year ©f activity By Stan Marek With 1982 rapidly becoming history, it's appropriate to stop a moment and reflect back on the year and what it offered to CDI as a company and to each of us as individuals. For me, there seems to be just enough time this time of year to take a look back before we move forward into the new year. Overall, the year 1982 will definitely go down as one of our most active. It was a time of change—changes that occurred both within the company, within our industry and within the economy. All of them had a tremendous impact on CDI. In March, we saw major organizational changes with the departure of Dick Phillips, who left the company after serving as President for six years. This paved the way for me being named President along with Bruce Marek moving up to Executive Vice President, and Barry Barnard being named Vice President of Finance. In conjunction with this, Larry Hanvey was named President of our Western Division, while Mike Grogan was made President of our Northern Division headquartered in Dallas. More recently, we selected Alan Jezek as General Manager Houston, with Mike Holland and Frank Sciullo filling the vacated
position managing the drywall estimating department. During 1982, we saw the ill effects of a very sluggish economy, several major construction projects slated for Houston were shelved due to high interest rates. As a result, the drywall market grew tight with competition for jobs driving prices down. While the economy changes placed new demands on many of us, 1982 saw a host of significant accomplishments. System-wide, we concluded a good year financially. The hard work and leadership of our many key people in the field and office paid off. We experienced a great deal of growth in 1982. Paint operations in our Austin and San Antonio offices got off the ground. Our Dallas operations completed a fine year in drywall and acoustics while expanding into the computer flooring business. In 1982, we set up our Todd Road warehouse operations to supply the 64-story Transco Tower II with Vaughan wall systems at an enormous scale. We saw the maturation of our millwork shop with installations of custom work in several projects including some plush offices in the 75-story Texas Commerce Tower. Craftsmen and office personnel
joined in many noteworthy endeav including our third annual bass ^ tournament which attracted over 100 contestants. United Way results for the 1982 campaign showed that CDI led the entire city in per capita donations. Our fall campaign for next year once again topped its goal while pledging more than $125,000. The annual office/field football extravaganza was held, with the office crew led by our determined estimators pulling out a narrow victory. In 1982, we solicited the concentrated efforts of all our field personnel in reducing the number of jobsite accidents. With a new incentive program helping out in July, we reduced the number of jobsite accidents for the period July November from 219 in 1981 to 99 in 1982 - quite an accomplishment. Our management group went through an intensive 24-hour seminar with Dr. Carol Quartan, designed to enhance key relationships and effect a more productive organization, k We’re going into 1983 well ” prepared. It may well be the toughest year we've ever faced. The Houston economy is finally feeling the doldrums the rest of the nation has been experiencing. But, next month well talk about our goals and expectations for 1983. Now, let us give thanks for a successful year and we, the management of CDI, wish each of you a Happy New Year.
CDI
Craftsman Editor: Larry Williams Asst. Editor: Maureen MacAuley
The above fiberglass reinforced gypsum ceiling is unique to Houston construction. It was designed for all the lobby areas at the 71-story Allied Bank building in downtown Houston and is the first ceiling of this type to be done by CDI craftsmen. y
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The CDI Craftsman is published monthly by Commercial Drywall. Inc. for its employees and their families. Employees should send their j news contributions to Larry Williams, Commercial Drywall, Inc.. P.O. Box 10686. Houston, Texas 77018.
Transco Tower II
CDI craftsmen meeting demands of 84-story CDI work is now in full swing at Transco Tower II with some 130 men on the job under the supervision of Jay Richards. Commercial’s hard working crews are currently working six 10-hour days per week to meet the tight occupancy schedules. Three floors will be moving in December 13 with six more moving in on December 20. The core work is progressing very well - ahead of schedule. “The tenant work will be caught up soon and return to the normal two floors per week construction,” says CDI project manager, Chris Howard. “Jay is doing a fantastic job keeping on top of the whole job." Jay has a fine crew assisting him with the project. Terry Day and Dennis Warman are the base foremen with Wendell Ward, Ronnie St. Lawrence and Mike Longtain as tenant foremen. Alan Field is handling the base and tenant work for the fifth floor down. Horace Kelly is the labor foreman and Michael Hannah the finishing foreman. Building construction is scheduled to top out December 17. Transco Company will be the major tenant of the tower occupying the first 40 floors. Vaughan walls are being installed on these floors for Transco. This is the largest project CDI has done with Vaughan walls.
Two CDI craftsmen are seen here installing a Vaughan Wall panel at Transco Tower II. They are carpenters Charlie Wakefield (left) and Lenny Burros.
Todd Warehouse is in full operation building the wall panels and stocking the floors at night. “The key to this project is the sequencing. Once the carpet is in, CDI crews move in to cover it with plastic and then install the walls,” says supervisor Jay Richards. “Everyone is working very hard
keeping up with the demanding schedule." The dramatic art-deco style of Transco Tower II was the design of architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee. J.A. Jones Construction of Houston is the general contractor with the developer being Gerald D. Hines Interests.
1982 projects in review The year 1982 saw the completion of several major projects by CDI in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas. Below is a list of some of the projects that kept craftsmen busy during 1982. Houston ° Host Hotel ° Benchmark ° Four Seasons ° Warwick Post Oak o Montrose Condominiums o Houstonian Estates o Summit Tower • Texas Commerce Bank o City Park East Austin o Hyde Park Baptist Church
° Lockheed ° La Costa ° American Bank Tower ° Sweco Manufacturing Plant ° Lockheed Building F San Antonio o Woodstone Office Complex ° La Quinta Plaza ° Rand Building ° South Texas Building ° Cline’s Landing • Prudential o North Frost Center o Valero II Credit Facility ° Gill Plaza Dallas ° City Centre II o Continental Plaza • Galleria Mall 3
0 Placid/Elm ° Cedar Springs ° Lincoln Centre I
An optimist is a guy who goes ahead and makes a deposit on his vacation before his tax refund comes through. One of the hardest things to learn in life is that when something you’d like to say can't possibly do any good, it’s usually best to say nothing. This is especially true if your idle comment might ruffle someone else’s feathers.
Supervisor of the month
Vernon Lambert Barn§
Supervisor Vernon Lambert displays the plaque he received when recognized as November's supervisor of the month. Vernon is pictured here with director of construction Hoagy Cannon and executive vice president Bruce Marek.
Outstanding leadership and superior job performance are the criteria for choosing the CDI supervisor of the month. Vernon Lambert, supervisor of the Parklane condominium project, displays these traits well everyday on the job. As a rule, condominium projects have the potential of many construction problems. "I am amazed how smoothly this one has run. We have had no real problems at all,” says Vernon. He attributes this to the “good bunch of men on the job. If it hadn’t been for the hard work of each and every man on the job, I would not have received the supervisor of the month award. It belongs to every man on this job.”
Employe® spotlight
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Mike Huegele tamdtes demanding job His ability to handle a great deal of pressure and get along well with everyone in the field has earned Mike Huegele recognition this month. Mike, known to many as “Treetop", is responsible for scheduling all material deliveries to the jobsites and for keeping all the projects stocked. Mike joined CDI some two and a half years ago. Initially, he worked in the tool room then moved to his current position when Dennis Yanowski took over as manager of tools and equipment. According to Dennis, “Mike’s is one of the hardest and most demanding jobs at CDI. You have to be able to please everyone - those who work for you and those in the field.” The job entails a great deal of coordination with the foremen, estimators and timekeepers. In handling about 150 telephone calls per day, Mike is able to schedule the tremendous amount of material going to the jobsites. Most of the job stocking is done in overtime.
“The key to my job is getting all the materials to the jobsites. It takes a great deal of scheduling and coordination," Mike says about his responsibilities. “I find it rewarding especially when I keep everyone in the field happy." Mike works with a crew of 12 men about whom he says, Some of the yard laborers are the best workers around. This helps me do my job well." Prior to joining CDI, Mike was employed as a machinist with FMC Corporation for five years. Mike, a native Houstonian, graduated from St. Pius High School where he played basketball. In his time away from the job he enjoys bird hunting and fishing ’ Mike, in this past year, has certainly proven himself in his job," says Hoagy Cannon, director of construction. “His dedication is shown in the number of hours hp Puts into h,s job. Mike is hh T Lh?n you need him andV does what it takes to get the job done ” The Craftsman is pleased to highlight such a fine CDI employee. 4
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Mike Huegele is recognized this month for his fine efforts in handling a tough job. - I
November tomor a
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Assisting Vernon with the runnina of the job are framing foreman Scott Ray, hanging foreman Jim Furr finishing foreman Charlie Son s and ’ labor foreman Benny Charles' “Everyone has gotten alonq well on this one,” he adds. Prior to supervising Parklane Vernon supervised the Montrose condominium project. He also started the leasework at Post Oak Central III and he was a foreman for Nick Nunez at the Oxford condominiums This has given him a great deal of condominium experience. “Vernon has lots of condo experience. He was chosen for the job because of the high degree of difficulty of Parklane," comments director of
construction, Hoagy Cannon. “He ablitv n? attentlon t0 detail, has the “y 0 sequence well, has a good rapport with his crew and is ™lca!ly very strong. All of these Parklane° ^ f'ne j°b he 'S doins at Vernon joined CDI two years ago after working for Flexible Wall and Champion Paper. His father was a home builder in Houston enabling him to learn the construction business when he was quite young.
“CDI is one of the greatest companies I’ve ever worked for. They do more for their employees than any other construction company in Houston,” Vernon says about CDI. “They are a great bunch of people to work with.” Vernon, his wife, Sharon and 11-year-old Tanya make their home in the Woodforest subdivision in west Houston. In his time away from the jobsite, he enjoys bass fishing.
9 Stemmons Place nearing completion CDI Systems in Dallas has enjoyed a great deal of success with the construction of Stemmons Place, a project for general contractor Charter Builders, Inc. of Dallas. The building is a three-phase connected structure with the tallest tower being 20 stories. The exterior finish is black glass with a gray stripe. Stemmons Place is the largest job for Charter in Dallas and also the largest project the developer, Vantage, has put together. “It has been a good project for us, comments CDI Systems president Mike Grogan. “In the general sense it is going well. After the initia P and downs, it has run smooth y. The scope of CDI's work is the drywall and acoustical ceiling installation under the supervision Dudley ChisholmwMikeeMar.,ni,Sway project manager ^ as the job foreman. They attribute the success of the project to hard working crew and to the materials coordination by the warehouse crew.
Stemmons Place in Dallas has kept CDI craftsmen busy during the past few months. The construction of the three-tower building has gone well for CDI Systems.
One challenging aspect of the project is the huge tenant floor from the 12th floor down as these floors extend the length of the three towers. Stemmons Place is due to be completed February 1, 1983.
Mike Grogan extends a well deserved round of applause to the field and office employees. Their joint effort has enabled CDI Systems to ... enjoy tremendous growth during 1982.
You can’t expect a man to see eye to eye with you when you re looking down on him. 5
Most of us would be happy to pay as we go if only we could catch up on where we’ve been.
AJ„ Fr@cmi®t@d31© COD general mamagetr CDI has announced the promotion of Alan Jezek to general manager. Alan, who previously served as manager of contract sales, will be primarily responsible over the company’s sales departments. Alan joined CDI as an estimator in July 1977. Since that time he has distinguished himself in estimating, bidding and project management. In his new role, Alan will be directly responsible for coordination of the company's sales efforts in paint, interior systems, tenant/lease construction and drywall/acoustical. He will work closely with the heads of these departments-Robin Cravey, Bob Mueller, Bobby Spencer, respectively, plus Mike Holland and Frank Sciullo who now head drywall/acoustical estimating. “Alan has been a blessing for the company,” says president Stan Marek. “He knows as much about the business as anyone I know and he deals effectively with both contractors and our field personnel.”
According to Alan, one of his primary goals is to develop optimum coordination among the sales departments. "I hope to achieve this through the establishment of standard operating procedures for the departments. I am presently working on these with the help of the managers." Alan says that he is looking forward to his new role because of the challenges it presents. "We haven’t had a definite organizational structure where the sales departments report to one individual. It will be new and interesting, and I think very worthwhile for CD I,” claims Alan. A native of Kansas, Alan joined CDI in 1977. He lived in New Orleans for a few years before coming to Houston in 1971. He is a graduate of Tulane University with a bachelors degree in economics. He, his wife Renee and their two children A.J., 13, and Krista, 11, live in Conroe.
Alan Jezek has recently been promoted to general manager of CDI's Houston office.
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Give the gift of life During this giving time of year, perhaps we should think about giving more than presents. We should donate the gift of life - our blood. 1982
CDI ACCIDENT CHART
By donating blood, you and your family are covered for a period of one year should any one of them need a blood transfusion. One of our fellow employees, ■safety program in effect
16 15 14 13 12 11
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10 9
AUG
SEPT
OCT
NOV
CDI continued its safety efforts during the month of November. The company recorded 23 compensable accidents in November resulting in an incidence rate of 9 2 CDI set a goal earlier this year to keep the rate under 10
DEC
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Denise Emschwiller, recently underwent surgery where she required nine pints of blood. As her insurance coverage only would pay for half the required blood, she must personally pay for the balance unless others make blood donations in her name. If you are interested in making a donation to help Denise, the Memorial Northwest Hospital located at 1635 North Loop West holds a clinic on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 12:00 noon to 4:45 p.m. in the chapel of the hospital. All you need do is tell them your donation is replacing blood for Denise and they will provide you with a card she can use to reduce her cost. You will be screened at the hospital prior to donating to be sure you are able to. The process should take only 30 minutes and the hospital advises you should eat a good meal prior. An individual in good health is able to donate bloo/ every eight weeks. Never pay a compliment as though you expected a receipt.
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CDS-Austin
Concludes year with many projects After a rather slow summer, all economic indicators point to an active economy in Austin. New construction permits issued by the City of Austin are up almost 70 percent over this time last year. The estimating department is extremely busy with numerous large projects currently up for bid. CDI Western Division president, Larry Hanvey, is “pleased with the scope and quality of prospective new work and expresses confidence that CDI
will get its share of these new jobs.” Lease work at the Steck Office Plaza is progressing on schedule under the supervision of Jerry Wilhelm. Construction crews of foremen Jerry Brooks and Mike Griesemer have been very busy with the lease work at the American Bank Building. CDI has started the lease work at Great Southwest Finance Corp. building under the supervision of Bob Fritz. Terry LaRoche is handling the new lease work in the
five-story La Costa Center building while David Kovar is supervising the leases at Braker Office Center. CDI-Austin paint department has several projects on the go currently. Paint department manager Pat Lunday reports that his crews are working on the Aqua Biology Laboratory in San Marcus, the PruCare Hospital, the University of Texas Teaching Center and the University of Texas Federal Credit Union in Austin.
San AmtotruEj© finishes year on busy n©t@ Work continues on the 10-story Corporate Square Building under the supervision of Bob Winder and the 16-story Forum Building headed by R.D. Forbes and Pete Williams. Drywall has now been completed on the Clines Landing condominium project in Port Aransas under the ^^direction of Paul Buck. The paint portion of the project is now about 75 percent complete with Phillip Flores in charge. At Gill Plaza, Vaughan Walls have been installed on four floors under the supervision of Roger Filly. This is the first Vaughan Wall installation job for the San Antonio office. So far, it is running smoothly.
The paint department is keeping busy with work continuing at several locations under foremen Forrest Delao and Harold Radicke. CDI has paint work in progress at seven stores in the Courtyard shopping center in New Braunfels. The San Antonio office has recently signed two new contracts. CDI will be doing the drywall and acoustical ceiling work at the 14-story Milam-Chardin building. The general contracator is Barlett-Cocke Construction. The company will also be doing the drywall, paint, and ceilings at the new 80,000 square foot Northchase II building.
Finishing Up .. . CDI finisher Billie Ireland is seen here putting the finishing touches to one of the fiberglass reinforced gypsum ceilings located in the lobby of Allied Bank building.
hp a center of CDI activity with heavy Lincoln Centre in Dallas continues o b ous/y completed leasework in
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Never underestimate the power of words. In 1896 an obscure congressman from Nebraska attended the Democratic National Convention as an alternate delegate. He was only 36 years old. Yet he made a speech which was so powerful that the convention ended by nominating him as its candidate for President of the United States. The man was William Jennings Bryant.
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Slam Marek elected ASA president At the November 17 meeting of the American Subcontractors Association, CDI president Stan Marek was elected president of the organization for 1983. Stan has served on the board of directors since the organization’s inception in 1974. As president of ASA, Stan will preside over all membership and board of directors’ meetings as well as attend to other presidential functions. He will be responsible for appointing board members to special committees and for choosing the board members to chair the committees. “I feel the success of the chapter will depend greatly on increasing the membership and securing interesting programs for the 1983 business year,” says Stan about ASA. “The outlook for new starts in 1983 is bleak and thus the subcontractors will need to be better businessmen and the principles and guidelines offered through the national office of ASA will be invaluable.” CDI estimator Bob Pigg was elected at the same meeting to ASA's 17-member board of directors for a two-year term commencing January 1, 1983. As a board member, Bob will be delegated to serve on one of the association’s special committees. About ASA he says “The most important thing we do is exchange information with other contractors about our
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American Subcontractors Association officers for the coming year were recently elected CDI president Stan Marek (left) was elected association president for 1983 while CDI's Bob Pigg will serve on the board of directors for 1983 and 1984
customers. It gives Houston’s subcontractors a chance to work out industry problems as a team." The Houston chapter of ASA has a membership of some 130 area subcontractors. It is affiliated with the 50-member national organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was established to provide an open exchange of information and viewpoints between subcontractors and work out existing problems in the construction industry.
Words of wisdom The difference between a cute little rascal and a potential juvenile delinquent is whether he is your child or somebody else’s. Some people criticize football players as being a special breed of people who love violence. Have these critics ever tried to get a hot dog at halftime?
CDI Craftsman Commercial Drywall, Inc. 3539 Oak Forest Drive RO. Box 10686 Houston. Texas 77018
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