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Commercial Drywall, Inc. Vol. 2

Craftsman

No. 11

September 1981 .

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GaBBeria high-rise

COD adds S^story Trapse® T®w8r to backlog CDI has received another major high-rise to add to its backlog of future projects. The most recent addition is the 64-story Transco Tower, a high-rise office building to go up immediately south of the Galleria on West Alabama between South Post Oak and McCue streets. The building, which will stand 901 feet tall, will be the corporate headquarters for Transco Companies, Inc. and Gerald D. Hines Interests and is believed to be the tallest building in the country outside a central business district. Transco will occupy 905,450 .square feet of the building's 1.6 million gross square feet and will house approximately 1,300 of the company's employees. Additionally, Gerald D. Hines Interests will move some 250 employees into its new corporate offices there. The Transco Tower has been designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee of New York, in association with Morris* Aubry of Houston. It will rise from a five-story base and feature setbacks at levels nine, 49, 56, 58 and 63. Transco’s exterior will be constructed of reflective gray glass set in anodized aluminum. Columns of bay windows of darker glass will project from this facade. A 90-foot arch of Texas pink granite will mark the main entrance into its first floor lobby. Serving as the general contractor on Transco Tower will be the J.A. Jones Company. Initial construction is expected to begin in midSeptember with initial occupancy ^^scheduled for late 1982. For CDI, the Transco Tower will be ^^a team effort with work to include the drywall construction, finishing and the paint on its core.

The drywall portion is expected to get underway in the spring of next year and last approximately a year. According to contract sales manager Alan Jezek, one of the job's biggest challenges will be its accelerated production schedule which calls for the completion of two floors per week. "CDI is probably the only drywall contractor in Houston with the capabilities to meet such a schedule", says Alan. Meanwhile, the paint group under its manager Robin Cravey will handle the painting operation. This phase will also be approximately a year-long endeavor on the 64-story project. "In fact,” says Robin, "this will be the largest high-rise office building we’ve done to date". The CDI paint group has done projects as large or larger, such as the Four-Leaf and Shell Woodcreek,

but Transco will be the first office building of this magnitude. According to Robin, painting operations are expected to commence in late 1982. The Transco Tower will be the first CDI Houston project for J.A. Jones. Previous work for the general contractor has been completed in Austin at the IBM complex on Building 045.

CDI recently received commitment for the Transco Tower, a 64-story building in the Galleria area. At 901 feet, it will be Houston's tallest building outside the downtown area.

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Tryst — it mates a team successful By Dick Phillips There’s a phrase used so often that I wonder if we really realize how vital it is. This phrase is "the team.” At CDI it is not just an expression, but a way of life. Let me share a few thoughts on how serious it is to have a clear understanding of the team concept. On a football team, for instance, there are varying talents, requirements, and physical demands. The tackles are big and the quarterbacks and the halfbacks are small, etc. But the essence of a team is to have all the talents necessary to accomplish a task. To achieve this, team members must be situated, equipped, motivated, trained and practiced so that each skillfully executes his part of the task. If any one part of the team doesn’t do his job, the overall performance of the team is crippled. Being a part of the team, we often lose our perspective and cannot see the overall team performance because we are so busy doing our specific job. From my vantage, the one ingredient that in my opinion separates the world champion performers from the also-rans, is 'St

trust. Without trust there is no way a team can function up to its ability. No way. For example, in baseball if a third baseman doesn't trust the shortstop to cover his area, then the third baseman will play away from his bag to help out. He is trying to play his position and part of the shortstop's, and it will only get one result — third base will be poorly played. In our business if the owner doesn’t trust top management then the owner’s got to manage. Or, if our management does not trust the front line supervisors, then management has got to supervise. There is only one way a non-trustee can make it in our business, and that is to be a one man shop. There’s not much opportunity for growth there!

CDI presented a belt buckle to craftsman Orphus Keeney in August. Orphus is a second period apprentice working at the Tenneco

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It's a big thing, well worth spending some of the quiet time thinking about. Trust — without it we become very negative an absolute bore to live and work with. This is the end of our fiscal year 1980-81 and a good time to reflect on our trust levels. To succeed as a team, we must be capable of trusting the rest of the team to do their job so that we can concentrate totally our own efforts. Think about it.

Apprentice earns belt buckle

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People who can't trust are generally unhappy and ineffective in their jobs. To grow, either personally or corporately, we must develop our trust levels with our fellow team members. We must make sure we are doing our part of the job and trust that others are doing theirs.

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Employment Center where he has

shown a great attitude towards his job. According to field superintendent Ted Hajdik, Orphus doesn’t have to be told what to do and always finds something to keep him busy. Orphus has an especially tough foreman - his father Dwayne — who makes him earn his pay. And, he has a good example to follow in his grandfather and CDI craftsman Carl Carsons.

CDI

Craftsman

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Editor: Larry Williams

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On its way The 14-story Warwick Post Oak under general contractor Harvey Construction is a CDI project. Supervisor Roger Warman heads the company's activity on the job with a crew of about 25 craftsmen.

The CDI Craftsman is published monthly by Commercial Drywall, Inc. for its employees and their families. Employees should send their news contributions to Larry Williams, Commercial Drywall, Inc., P. 0. Box 10686, Houston, Texas 77018.

Dallas operations m the move CDI Systems in Dallas announced that it is moving its office/warehouse .0 a new location in November According to Mike Grogan, vice president and general manager, the move is necessary to accommodate the office's growing operation. The new facility will provide 25,000 square feet of space, more than doubled the 10,000 square feet now occupied. The new office will be located just north of the present location in Carrolton, a north Dallas suburb. CDI System’s growth in its first year of business has been phenomenal. In addition to several major projects underway, the office recently received the contract for the 40-story City Center Two for Linbeck Construction. Other new projects include the 11-story Dallas Bank Tower for Austin Commercial and the Foster office building, a six-story for Avery Mays Construction. Superintendent Chuck Grogan reports that the CDI Systems field force has gone over the 100-man mark for the first time ever. Says

Members of the Farmers Branch Bank pose following a barbeque lunch. The group received the lunch in appreciation of their fine efforts on the six-story project in Dallas.

Chuck, “We have a lot of work going on and a lot more coming up. I think we’ll just keep on growing.” With all the success has come some pleasant surprises such as appreciation barbeques for the Texas

Commerce Bank and Farmer's Branch Bank crews. The catered barbeque lunches honored the craftsmen's hard efforts and good results on these two projects.

Austin paint group keeping busy CDI's painting activities in Austin continue to do well. Several stores in the new Barton Creek Mall have been completed including James Avery, Walden Books, Carolyn’s Corner, Stride Right Shoes and Helzberg Jewelry. In addition, an eight-man crew is busy on the paint portion of the Safeway Store while other painting is underway at the Capital National Bank building. In other painting news, foreman Gene Daughtery has been promoted to paint estimator for the Austin office. Gene has been with CDI for over three years as a foreman. In his new position Gene will work with Pat Lunday who heads Austin paint department. Elsewhere the Tanden Company job has passed the halfway point in its construction under foreman Jerry Wilhelm. There CDI is doing the ^•drywall, insulation, acoustical spellings, and computer flooring. The ~ job is scheduled for completion in early October.

A 10-man crew is working under Johnny Kovar on the Brockton Business Center, a job approximately 15 percent finished. Wally Galvan is nearing completion of the Safeway Store while the Foley's job under Gene Daughtery is about a third of the way through. The Police Station project is also winding down under the direction of foreman Terry LaRoche. And, David Kovar is running the first floor remodeling at Republic Bank while Jerry Brooks continues to do lease work at the American, United, and Capital National bank buildings. Paint foreman Monte Dunlap was recently awarded a belt buckle. Monte joined CDI six months ago and has done an exceptional job getting the paint production team off to a good start. Prior to CDI, Monte was employed with the Shahan Company. He has more than 15 years experience in the painting business and has displayed

his knowledge and ability on several projects already. According to paint supervisor Pat Lunday, “Monte has been running work for about 10 years now and is one of the best at coordinating jobs.

____j Paint foreman Monte Dunlap recently received a belt buck's for his leadership on Austin paint activities.

EMPLOYEE NEWS

TCI ©arms steak dinner, erew awards Members of the Texas Commerce Tower crew were recently treated to a steak dinner in honor of their budget beating efforts on the 75-story project. The approximately 190-man crew plus their spouses and dates attended the dinner held at the Texas Tumbleweed. Job supervisor Jay Richards along with director of construction Hoagy Cannon presented awards to several deserving craftsmen. Receiving belt buckles for outstanding job performance were carpenters Keith Odom and Danny Shelton, finisher Oscar Garcia, and labor foreman Horace Kelly. T-shirts and caps went to others as recognition for fine efforts. These included Nick Nunez III, Jerry Gathery, Russell Goode, Ponciana Villareal, and Robert Ybarro. The TCT crew earned a dinner as a reward for compiling 100 points in CDI’s Budget Beaters Program. To earn these points a job must beat its budget consistently over a several week period.

An applicant for a job admitted to the personnel manager that he had both good and bad traits. “What are they?” he was asked.

“Well,” the man said, “on the good side I can do the job better than any man in the world. Twenty of the country's largest companies are bidding for my services. I could probably double your business within a month, if you hire me.” “That’s very impressive,” said the manager. “Now, what are your bad traits?" “Well,” replied the applicant, “there’s only one — I have been known to exaggerate now and then

Pat Click, left, watches as operator Nancy Vanke loads CDI's new computer for a run. Pat's direction of the computer's program processing has been a real challenge during the hectic conversion phase

Pat Click

Data manager keeping ©©mpyter going One of the toughest set of shoes to fill in the company right now may be the person who works most closely with CDI’s new computer. The problems of “conversion," going from one system to another, is known quite well among computer ranks, including CDI’s Pat Click. For the past year Pat has been the person at CDI filling those shoes and the demand has been nothing less than challenging. In October of last year CDI purchased and installed its own computer, one of the largest mini computers available on the market. And, with it has come the chore of getting everything working the way it is supposed to. As data processing manager, Pat ensures that programs are processed on an accurately and timely basis. She says her job is primarily one of managing. “I’ve got to oversee the computer s operation and coordinate the programs so that they come out on time. Presently we are on an extremely tight schedule due to the many problems we are experiencing with the computer itself. And, we have so much in it that processing is very slow right now.” 4

The programs currently on computer includes account payable^ account receivables, general ledger,' payroll and job costs. Scheduling them each week has been one of Pat’s biggest challenges “To process the payroll takes about 26 hours of computer time each week,” she says. To get everything even close to being on time has required some lengthy hours and a lot of weekend work on the part of Pat. Under Pat are programer Huegette Slattery, data entry operator Penny Mitchell, day operator Nancy Vanke and night operator Bette Hamilton. And, Pat has done an excellent job coordinating the work for these individuals. She came to CDI last year from Weingarten’s where she served as data processing manager for nearly five years. In all, she has more than 15 years data processing experience. Pat is a native of Dallas and has lived in Houston since 1975. Her ^ outside interests include reading, " camping and fishing. In addition, sheowns and races quarter horses in Oregon and California.

Finishing 'boss* honored

Mike O’Brian namad

©utetamdimg supervisor

CDI’s August supervisor award The men are doing a hell of a was presented to Mike O’Brien. The °bht c'aims M'ke. "They have the wood and bronze plaque which nght attitude and desire. All I have to denotes outstanding leadership do is aim them in the right direction. abilities recognized Mike’s They are really the ones who accomplishments as finishing deserve the credit for making this job supervisor at the Four-Leaf go, he says. Condominiums. Mike is a native of Florida, but has At the Four-Leaf, Mike has put called Houston home for the past together what he calls "the best three years. He is married and his group of finishers in Houston.” With wife, Kathy, is a licensed this crew and his ability to organize cosmetologist presently looking for a his men and the workload, he has location to open her own shop. been able to meet or beat his budget Mike enjoys softball and served as consistently since the job began. a player/coach on CDI’s league Mike attributes this success, winning South team. He also likes to though, not to himself or his men water ski and go deep-sea fishing. alone, but to the entire CDI crew of The Craftsman is pleased to carpenters, laborers, and finishers alike. "We have a good bunch of recognize Mike on his recent honor as one of CDI’s outstanding field men here," says Mike. "They are leaders. proud of their work, they enjoy it, they know their goals and they do a heck of a job.” The Four-Leaf project consists of twin 40-story buildings, giving him ^direction of some 80 floors of work. ^And, Mike classes it as “the toughest job I’ve ever been on." But making tough jobs successful seems to be his calling. Prior to Four-Leaf, he headed the finishing at Glen Brabham has been Greenway Condominium One and promoted to Interior Construction Two. And. condominium work is Coordinator for CDI. Glen, who generally regarded as more previously served as job supervisor complicated especially considering on the twin 40-story Four-Leaf the demands for greater quality Towers, has been with the company under tougher work conditions. for the past four years. Mike joined CDI in 1978 after He joined CDI as a first period spending five years as an iron worker carpenter apprentice and worked his in Florida. Beginning as an apprentice on a tool crew, he worked way to foreman in only two years. He served as a lead foreman under Jay on a number of projects including the Richards on several Greenway Plaza Allen Center, Houston Center, projects prior to heading his first Baybrook Mall and the Guest major job — The Greenway Quarters. Condominium One. His first job as a leadman on a Following completion of tool crew came at Greenway Condominiums One and Two at on the Summit Tower and City Club Greenway, he moved to his most projects under his brother, finishing recent project the Four-Leaf. His supervisor Ken O’Brien. tremendous success on these Mike says that the key to running projects earned him selection as work for a crew of 30 finishers is CDI’s top supervisor in October of ^organization. "You have to keep last year. ^production up by always keeping According to director of work in front of the men.” His crew construction, Hoagy Cannon, Glen are presently turning a floor every will be responsible for the interior four days.

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Four-Leaf finishing supervisor Mike O Brien is shown on the project which consists of two 40-story towers.

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construction of the 5000 Montrose, Houstonian Estates, and Four-Leaf Condominiums. He will also coordinate future condominium projects including the upcoming Huntington and Park Lane projects. Glen is a native of the Houston area having grown up in Pasadena where he now lives. He has a wife, Candie, and two children — Brandon 5, and Tiffany who is just over a year old. The Craftsman congratulates Glen on his promotion and wishes him continued success as a CDI employee.

Motivation is what gets you started, Habit is what keeps you going. —Jim Ryan

COMPANY NEWS

Personnel changes In the past several weeks several changes in personnel have taken place, including runner Charlie Boyd moving up to project administrator at Transco . . . Glen Brabham coming into the office from Four-Leaf as Interior Construction Coordinator.. . Bettie Coppinger joining CDI as a billing clerk . . . Gina Farmer coming aboard as a receptionist . . . Reynaldo Ponce is the new runner while James Senneff, Jr. is the new paint runner . . . Mark Keith and Clarence Rife, Jr. are new project administrators . . . Eajaz Durrani is a new accounting clerk . . . John Shannon has joined the CDI interior systems in sales . . . Steven Wiens is a draftsman designer for the millwork shop . . . Kay Beall has been added to the clerical staff in Dallas . . . Helen Buro joins the clerical staff in San Antonio . . . Peggy Wimberley is the new CDI receptionist and Tami Kirkpatrick joins the clerical staff in Houston.

A Besson to be Beamed During a hike in the woods a troop of boy scouts came across an abandoned section of railroad track. Each, in turn, tried walking the rails but eventually lost his balance and tumbled off. Suddenly, two of the boys after considerable whispering, offered to bet that they could both walk the entire length of the track without falling off. Challenged to make good their boast, the two boys jumped up on opposite rails, extended a hand to balance each other, and walked the entire section of track with no difficulty whatever. There, in a nutshell, is the principle of modern business and community living. We do things better, we produce more, and we live better by helping each other.

Work at Terminal C of the airport has been completed by CDI. The project, under supervisor Brad Frierson, lasted some two and a half years for general contractors Linbeck and McKee construction companies.

Two am1 a half year project

Long-nirming aHirpoiri job mcenwBS honor The honor for being the longest running CDI job may go to September’s project of the month. The Airport’s Terminal C, which is presently winding down toward the punch list, has been in progress for two and half years. The job, under supervisor Brad Frierson, has been interesting from many facets. According to Brad, most of the drywall work involved insulating precast panels, pipe chases, vent shafts and restroom walls. “There were some corridors, but the bulk of the work was scattered,” says Brad. Because of the disperse work areas the Terminal C crew was held to a minimum, primarily ranging in size from two to eight craftsmen. Those most involved on the project included Gary Gillam, Joe Havard, Richard Gerber and Kenny Allen. ’ For the finishing Doyle Sim headed up and handled most of the work.

Construction was the contractor on the terminal’s interior and another air£ side portion of the job. W Because it was a project for the City of Houston, Brad and his crew had to anticipate and address problems up to eight weeks in advance in order to allow sufficient time to get changes or directives from the city. “And", says Brad, “all work was per the specifications and plans, and all changes were documented. We had to do this to keep everything right.” Despite the many unique circumstances of the airport job, the CDI crew under Brad did a tremendous job. They performed well against the budget and won several budget beater lunches during the process.

The job was split into two phases with different general contractors coordinating each phase.

According to superintendent Jim LaCaze, “we feel real good about the job. Everyone did their share and Brad did an excellent job planning and organizing the men. We’re proud of our efforts,” says Jim.

Linbeck Construction handled the first phase which consisted of most of the terminal itself and one air side facility. Meanwhile, McKee

The Craftsman extends its thanks 0 to Brad and the Terminal C crew for their fine efforts, and wishes success on future projects.

Closeinp a..

A i@®k at Austin’s toss = Larry Hanvey Six and a half years ago. CDI hired ^T_arry Hanvey to serve as branch manager over a new office in Austin. At that time, Larry was a vice president at Vanco Construction in Houston. Today, Larry remains in his CDI position having taken an operation that began in a small metal building with just himself and a handful of field people to one of Austin's foremost interior contractors. In addition, he opened an office in San Antonio in 1978. And, that office too is rapidly growing and making its mark in the construction market. Today, Larry is a vice president of CDI and general manager of our Western division - an area which includes the Austin & San Antonio offices. Obviously, Larry’s success started long before becoming part of the CDI team. Prior to Vanco, he served as general manager of Capitol Acoustical here in Houston. Itogether, he has more than 11 ears experience in interior construction. A native of Wichita Falls, he attended college there at Midwestern University earning a BBA degree. As an avid golfer, he attended the school on a golf scholarship. Immediately after college, Larry served in the Air Force as an instructor for aviation instructors. He also spent a year in Viet Nam as an aircraft mechanic. Following his stint in the service, he married his high school sweetheart, Pam and they now have two adopted children Chris 6, and Erin 2. With CDI, Larry's first job in Austin was Building 008 at the IBM complex. According to Larry, he started out alone, but soon added a secretary Nancy Craig, who is still with the office today. After two months he added Fred Parker, who is also presently around serving as CDI-Austin’s labor foreman. Among his first foremen in the field was Johnny Kovar who came %(o him from CDI in Houston. By the i end of the first year Larry’s Austin operations had grown to include 12 men in the field.

Western division vice president and general manager Larry Hanvey has had tremendous success guiding CDI operations in Austin and San Antonio. He was responsible lor the opening of both of these CDI offices.

Since that time, Larry has headed a steady, calculated growth. Today the field operations normally fluctuates in manpower from 70 to 90 craftsmen while the office is staffed with eight employees. Larry’s goals are simple, as is his philosophy for being successful. "I want to be the number one interior contractor in Austin,” says Larry. -I'd like to get at least half of the big work and 20 percent of the smaller jobs.” And to do this you have to give quality work and quality service - and build a reputation from this.” Larry says he expects his office to continue to grow with Austin. "Austin is not the fast paced growth of Houston, it’s a lot more gradual. But, we plan to stay right with it,” he says. One of Larry’s strongest assets besides his intense technical knowledge, is his pleasing personality. This has allowed him to build a relationship with several of Austin’s major general contractors corporate clients and developers. In addition, it has helped build an office 7

and supervisory staff of good people willing to work to get the job done right. "One of the best ways to be good in business is to employ good people,” claims Larry. “And, I think we have some of the best in the city — from office people to supervisors to our craftsmen in the field.” For the future, Larry sees continued growth not just in Austin and San Antonio, but doing the same thing in other places as well. “We’re ready for whatever comes up,” he says. When away from the job (which is very little physically and even less mentally!) Larry is active in flying, shooting skeet, and family recreation. He has recently received his pilot’s license and enjoys his time with his family. Obviously, CDI would not be the company it is without the employment of Larry and dedicated others like him. The Craftsman is pleased to highlight Larry as he continues to successfully guide our Austin and San Antonio operations.

Bysy 4th qyarter ahead for CD!»SA San Antonio field activity is on the upswing as fourth quarter activity starts to gear up. Manager Roy Van Cleave reports that several new projects are scheduled to commence in the coming weeks. Among these is the Valero Computer facility to start in early October. The job includes interior and exterior work and is being done for general contractor Linbeck Construction Company Also for Linbeck is the two-story Prudential Building scheduled to start in mid-October. The job, located near Loop 410 and 1-10, consists of drywall, acoustical ceilings, and tenant build-out. Still another project starting up is a heavy guage framing contract at the Advance Micro Device’s building. The 33,000 square foot facility is under the general contracting of Tribble-Stevens with construction management by Span-tech. Recently started is an interior remodel where CDI is serving as the general contractor. Under foreman Pete Williams, the job includes demolition and remodel. Another interior remodel is underway at Lutheran FHospital under Wayne Schultze. Tenant work at the North Frost Center is getting underway headed by foreman Bob Winder. Work is presently centered on the bank floors and suites on levels 10 and 11. Jobs recently completed include a sound acoustical project at Kelly

CDI Craftsman Commercial Drywall, Inc. 3705 Piney Woods P.O. Box 10686 Houston, Texas 77018

AFB under Don Buck and the Valero Two under foreman Paul Buck. Roy Van Cleeve also reported that the LaQuinta Plaza project will begin late this year. The eight-story building will consist of the drywall for both core and tenant work and is under the contract of Lyda, Inc. Lyda also serves as the general contractor on the 11-story North Frost Center.

(right) Members of the S.A. workforce crash after a long day on the open seas. The group went deep-sea fishing off Port Aransas in August. Below, the eight-story La Quinta Plaza is shown The fob is expected to commence in November for Lyda. Inc.

BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE

PAID HOUSTON, TEXAS PERMIT NO. 2840