COVER STORY By Mike Larson
Erectors Plan and Flex
Winning Projects Showcase Scheduling Agility and Design Collaboration
At the 2025 SEAA convention, a moderated panel discussion with company representatives addressed challenges and lessons learned during winning Projects of the Year. A contractor's capacity to adapt to a client's schedules and address unforeseen complications is essential for the successful completion of a project. This year's Project of the Year award recipients demonstrated these abilities effectively, enabling them to deliver results on time and within budget. Multiple mobilizations and demobilizations were required in the following three projects to adjust schedules to the customers’ needs. And two of them saw the contractor work with the project’s engineer to make changes to the as-designed plan and still finish on schedule. “These projects are excellent examples of how steel erectors bring a variety of services to construction projects,” said Pete Gum, Executive Director of SEAA. One of the winners featured here served as both fabricator and erector. Another is a specialty services provider—an industrial contractor that performs structural installations of material handling systems. This article features three of the five winning projects. (Look for the article about the remaining two in Connector, Fall edition.) The Project of the Year award competition is open to SEAA members. To learn how to enter the SEAA 2026 Project of the Year competition, visit seaa.net/ project-of-the-year. Mike Larson is a journalist with more than 45 years of experience writing about equipment, engineering, and construction. He is editor emeritus of Crane Hot Line magazine.
24 | THE STEEL ERECTORS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
IN THIS ISSUE Kaseya Center Arena, Miami, Fla. Structural Class I (up to $500,000) Erector: Hodges Erectors, Inc. Fabricator: Suncor Inc., National Metals Detailer: DGS Technical Services Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti Architect: Perkins & Will Construction Mgr./GC: Hedrick Brothers Construction Contract Value: $495,000 | Tons of Steel: 180 Bond Building, Phoenix, Ariz. Structural Class II ($500,000 to $1 Million) Erector: All Things Metal, LLC Fabricator: All Things Metal, LLC Detailer: Structures Online, LLC Structural Engineer: Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. Architect: George Oliver Design Construction Mgr./GC: RSG Builders Contract Value: $892,000 | Tons of Steel: 72 Lucid Motors, Casa Grande, Ariz. Miscellaneous Metals Class II (over $500,000) Erector: ORBIT Industrial Service & Maintenance, LLC Fabricator: Bang Kransysteme, Schuff Steel, ORBIT Industrial Service & Maintenance Detailer: Bang Kransysteme, Schuff Steel Structural Engineer: Bang Kransysteme, Schuff Steel Architect: Bang Kransysteme, Schuff Steel Construction Mgr./GC: Barton Malow Co. Contract Value: $2.7 Million | Tons of Steel: 225