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June 2019 | Advertising for Certified Women, Veteran & Minority-Owned Subcontractors | 39th Edition

HOW SUNSHINE PERSONNEL SOLUTIONS, LLC IS LEAVING THEIR CLIENTS “WALKING ON SUNSHINE” AT THEIR NEW JOBS Maribel Rodriguez CEO / Founder

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INSIDE

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Rice Is Transforming a Midcentury Sears Into an “Innovation Hub” for Houston

28

Port Houston Advancing Small Business Through Port University Program

20 Obtaining a Home Remodeling Project Building Permit may not be Your Idea of Fun, but…

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PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE

Keith J. Davis, Sr. CERTIFIED:

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The Subcontractors USA Texas Journal highlights opportunities and news relevant to the construction, energy, architecture, manufacturing, education, engineering, oil and gas, transportation and IT industries we serve. We hope you find this issue not only informative, but inspiring and educational as well.

This month’s issue highlights Sunshine Personnel Solutions and its founder and owner Maribel Rodriguez. Sunshine Personnel Solutions provides companies opportunities to easily fill their

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04 ARCHITECTURE 04 Gensler Designs Texas’ First Full Mass Timber Building in Fredericksburg 06 Rice Is Transforming a Midcentury Sears Into an “Innovation Hub” for Houston

08 CONSTRUCTION 08 Texas DOT proposes $8B highway plan, overhaul of I-35 through Austin 08 FERC approves fourth train at $14B Freeport LNG terminal 12 ENERGY 12 Renewable energy is taking strides towards a subsidy-free era 14 ExxonMobil to invest up to $100 million on lower-emissions R&D with U.S. National Labs 14 ENGINEERING 14 Welcome To The Future Of Industrial Design 16-17 COVER STORY 16-17 How Sunshine Personnel Solutions, LLC is Leaving Their Clients “Walking on Sunshine” at Their New Jobs

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22 SAFETY 22 Where safety innovation fits in the heads-down construction environment

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20 PERMITS 20 Obtaining a Home Remodeling Project Building Permit may not be Your Idea of Fun, but…

26 LEGAL 26 Why an Attorney is your friend?

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As always, thank you for your continued support of Subcontractors USA Texas Journal. When you support us, you are supporting more than just our company; you are supporting the communities in which we live and work. Working together, we can succeed in making positive things happen.

27 TRANSPORTATION 27 American Airlines, DFW announce up to $3.5B capital program 28 Mobility as a Service 28 Port Houston Advancing Small Business Through Port University Program

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ARCHITECTURE

Gensler Designs Texas’ First Full Mass Timber Building in Fredericksburg

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

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he first full mass timber structure in the nation to use southern yellow pine cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels is set for completion in September 2019. Designed by Gensler’s Dallas office, the First United Bank in Fredericksburg has the distinction of being the first full mass timber construction project to be completed in Texas as well as the first retail mass timber structure in the state. Designed to achieve net-zero energy usage, the project also opens up the possibility of utilizing this locally sourced structural material in future projects.

First United Bank, a community banking organization founded in Durant, Oklahoma, in 1900, has 38 locations across Texas. The bank encourages staff to volunteer for local civic and charitable organizations and projects. “They do a lot of after-hours programs, where the bank is opened up and used by groups to teach educational classes or to rent out the community space for meetings and events,” says Gensler project architect Taylor Coleman, AIA. The community emphasis is evident in the building’s design: Warm building materials, ample natural light, and an indoor-outdoor connection to the native vegetation surrounding the structure all attest to the building’s aesthetic as a town gathering place, rather than just a financial institution.

“They have such a strong community presence, and they wanted it to feel like a building for the community as well. We wanted to make it a very approachable project,” Coleman adds.

After several years of working on renovation projects for branch locations in Texas and Oklahoma, First United and the firm went in the direction of ground-up construction. Coleman says the client had two primary goals for the Fredericksburg location: to create a distinct structure that would stand out from other bank branches in the area, and to create a highly sustainable building.

“During the design phase, First Texas asked for sustainability, and we proposed net-zero energy,” Coleman says. “But they asked us, ‘Well, is there anything more that we can do?’ And that’s how we got to CLT, not only as a design tool, but as a sustainable solution.”

The 8,500-sf project incorporates a range of sustainability measures. Gensler implemented a high-efficiency VRF HVAC system, expansive floor-to-ceiling

windows to harvest natural daylight, and large cantilevered overhangs to shade the structure and reduce cooling costs. Coleman says the shape of the sloping roof and large overhangs lend themselves naturally to CLT. In addition, the sloping roof also facilitates rain collection. It’s estimated that the building will direct as much as 250 million gallons of water annually to an adjacent storage system.

Initially, the building was designed to use Douglas fir CLT panels; however, the fabricators — International Beams in Alabama — had a surplus of southern yellow pine, which Gensler elected to move forward with for both time and cost savings. This choice to use regionally sourced materials that require less energy to transport helped to lessen the environmental impact of the building before occupancy even begins. Coleman says that First United was very receptive to this choice and supported the expression of the structural elements, and the warm, rustic appearance the southern yellow pine lends to the fully exposed ceiling beams.

Coleman says First United has “fully embraced” mass timber and will continue to use the material in future bank buildings. An additional 12,500-sf location under construction in Shawnee, Oklahoma, will be the first full mass timber project in that state, and a 37,000-sf project in Sherman, Texas, is expected to be completed in 2020 and will serve as the bank’s North Texas hub office.

While Texas has no CLT fabricator as yet, this project may open the door for such businesses to come to the state and for regional and local mass timber materials to be utilized in future projects.

The enthusiasm with which First United has embraced this sustainable design trend bodes well for its acceptance in other project types.

Source: Texas Architect

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Rice Is Transforming ARCHITECTURE

a Midcentury Sears Into an “Innovation Hub” for Houston

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or nearly the past 100 years, Houston has been proud to be a world leader in the oil and gas industry. However, despite the recent fracking boom, there seems to be a growing sense among its entrepreneurial and political elite that this economic model is going to fail at some point, or at the very least drastically contract, just as the manufacturing economy did in the Rust Belt. FOMO is writ large in their minds. The fear is Houston will be left behind. That Houston was the largest city not to be included in the top 20 choices for Amazon’s new headquarters, for example, stung badly.

A concerted attempt to reorient the city is evident in such initiatives as the ambitious push to enhance its major parks and bayou green spaces and the expansion of public transportation, both of which were seemingly inconceivable a generation ago, when the only thought by those in power was how to get more cars on the freeways.

Prestige institutions that can’t just up and move want their physical and intellectual investments in the city to remain viable as well. The president of Rice University, David Leebron has made it a centerpiece of his administration to increase both the stature of the school and its influence beyond the hedges surrounding the campus. To this effect, he has initiated a nonstop building campaign and increased student body. In 2009, there was serious discussion of acquiring the Baylor College of Medicine to get a foothold in the Texas Medical Center. Several interdisciplinary institutes have appeared. The latest effort to move beyond the campus includes Rice’s plan to reclaim the old South End as a hub for tech workers.

Rice was endowed with $4.6 million in 1904. In 115 years, that endowment has grown to $6.3 billion by means of Rice’s varied investments, a little more than 10 percent of which are real estate holdings.

One highly visible property is the tract at South Main Street and Wheeler Avenue a couple miles south of downtown that houses a New Deal-era Sears department store building much in the local news due to its recent closure. In January of this year, Rice publicly re-christened this building “The Ion.” It will be repurposed as the centerpiece of what Rice is variously calling an “innovation hub” or “innovation district.” The stated intention is “to support businesses at all stages of the innovation lifecycle and provide resources for Houstonians seeking to participate in the innovation economy.” Outside institutional project partners include the University of Houston, UH-Downtown, the University of St. Thomas, Houston Community College, Texas Southern University, Houston Baptist University, San Jacinto College, and the South Texas College of Law.

Originally the site of the expansive gardens around the Walter B. Sharp House (1895), a rambling Queen Anne building in what was then the almost rural outskirts of Houston, this tract, along with two adjacent city blocks, was later acquired by Rice. In 1938, the house was demolished to make way for a new suburban Sears, Roebuck and Company store (1939), designed by Chicago architects Nimmons, Carr & Wright. This store was one of five locations across the country designed by the firm that was profiled in Architectural Record in September 1940 as being “planned for the motor age.” The $1 million retail complex, which opened in November 1939, encompassed four city blocks. It included the 195,000-sf, four-level store, parking for 700 cars, a super-service station with 16 gas pumps (demolished), and a freestanding building selling farm supplies (still standing). The upper floors of the store were windowless and fully air-conditioned; the escalators connecting the floors were the first of their kind in Houston. Local reports at the time of its opening also remarked on the extensive interior art program of murals depicting scenes from Texas history, painted by Texas native Eugene Montgomery. In 1945, Sears, then highly profitable, entered into a 99-year lease with Rice.

Fast-forward to 1962, when the building’s

street-side windows were bricked-over and the upper parts of the building were clad in a slipcover of corrugated metal panels.

(Ironically, this preserved the building, and today it is one of only a handful of relatively intact prewar, early suburban Sears stores left in the country. Houston’s first auto-oriented Sears building (1929) on Allen Parkway, also designed by Nimmons, Carr & Wright, was demolished in 2006 to make way for an Ismaili Muslim cultural center, for which the architect was selected only this year.) In January 2018, Sears, in the throes of severe economic distress, closed the store.

In October 2017, Rice University bought out the remaining 28 years of the lease at favorable terms after several years of onand-off negations. In the process, Rice acquired the city block directly north containing a precisely detailed, steel-framed Miesian tire center (1960), designed by Houston architect Hugo V. Neuhaus. This created 9.4 acres of contiguous property.

By October 2018, Swamplot reported that Rice had several additional properties, increasing their foothold to 14 acres. At press time, according to the university, the area is up to 16 contiguous acres. No maps of the property holdings have been officially released.

Rice commissioned New York real estate and economic development planning

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guru John Alschuler to assemble a team to redesign the Sears site. Alschuler’s firm, HR&A, is perhaps best known for preparing the impact studies that showed the economic rationale for transforming the High Line into a public park. The final selections include an impressive roster of well-known design professionals. There are New York architects SHoP for the design and Houston’s Gensler office as architect of record. New York lighting designer James Carpenter was commissioned to help bring natural light into the deep, windowless floorplates. New York landscape architect James Corner Field Operations is designing the public plaza and garden that will occupy a portion of the surface parking lots. The Houston office of Hines will manage the project.

Interior demolition is currently underway with new construction expected to begin later this year. Completion is scheduled for late next year.

Initial renderings of the redesign were released in January, and they depict one exterior view and one interior view. Though details remain scant, on top of the building there will be a two-story addition clad with a glass curtain wall. Large windows will be cut into the sides of the building. Inside, the major design move will be to cut a 100-ft-long atrium through the center of the 50,000-sf floors. Although the project borrows the language of preservation, “the long-awaited renovation of the historic Sears building on Houston’s Main Street,” the design as presented in the two public images appears to overwhelm the building and erase much of its historic character. The architects were vague when asked if there were plans to uncover or restore the interior murals, historic color images of which were discovered by Preservation Houston. Rice says the murals have not been found, and confirmed there are no plans to landmark the building. (There are no landmarked buildings on the Rice campus.) One cannot help but wonder why, with all the open space around the building, a new structure was not designed so that the historic Sears building could be rehabilitated in a more sympathetic manner.

Preservation culture in Houston remains stuck in a stubborn infancy. An invasive remodeling project of New York’s postmodern AT&T Building (1984, designed

by Philip Johnson and John Burgee) caused such a public outcry that the developers were compelled to submit a more respectful design. So far, the Ion project has been met with nearly one hundred percent public approval in Houston. This project, in its design and reception, suggests that Houston, while clearly making strides in improving its urban environment, is still grappling with how to create world-class architecture without sacrificing its scant historic fabric to progress.

Source: Texas Architect

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CONSTRUCTION

CONSTRUCTION

FERC approves fourth train at $14B Freeport LNG terminal

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Texas DOT proposes $8B highway plan, overhaul of I-35 through Austin

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

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he Texas DOT has unveiled an $8 billion plan this week that would revamp Interstate 35 through Austin and alleviate traffic congestion through the capital city, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

The project would see the addition of two sections of managed lanes in each direction on I-35 — one 12 miles and the other 16 miles. The TxDOT also plans on eliminating an I-35 bridge section through downtown Austin and adding two levels of tunnels, which would include five standard lanes above two managed lanes and frontage roads at ground level.

The TxDOT introduced the plan at a meeting of the regional Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, which represents six counties in the Austin metro. The agency has pledged $400,000 toward the project and has added the overhaul to its regional transportation plan. TxDOT officials said the project is in the early stages and could change as the agency proceeds with engineering and gathers input from the public.

News of the massive expansion first emerged in 2017.

At the time, the TxDOT said the environmental study would cost $20 million and be complete sometime this year.

The TxDOT is relatively aggressive in spending money on needed surface transportation projects in

order to keep traffic flowing smoothly throughout the state.

The final stage of a $1.2 billion beltway around Houston is currently underway and, with Ferrovial Agroman, Webber and Granite Construction as main contractors, the project should be complete in 2022.

And just this week, the TxDOT recommended a 33-mile, $2.6 billion bypass alignment for US 380 in Collin County, Texas, which is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. The project, if approved, according to the Community Impact Newspaper, would begin in six to 10 years and could take as long as 20 years to build.

As the U.S. debates immigration and construction of new border wall infrastructure along the country’s southern border, the TxDOT recently launched its own border-related initiative — a 25-year plan to improve trade and travel between the U.S. and Mexico, The Monitor reported.

The agency will lead several regional planning groups in the next 18 months to develop a set of infrastructure priorities — including those on the Mexico side of the border — and said it will study all 28 points of entry plus any other corridors or policies that impact movement between the two countries.

The three-stage program would see smaller projects completed in one to five years; medium projects in six to 10 years; and longer-term projects with a timeline of more than 11 years to finish.

he Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approvedconstruction of a fourth liquefaction train at Freeport LNG's $14 billionLNG export terminal in Freeport, Texas. Freeport LNG filed its FERC application in June 2017.

The liquefaction unit, which is expected to become operational in 2023, will be similar to three others in various stages of completion at the Freeport site, and construction will include associated pipelines, storage vessels and ancillary facilities. Train 1 should start operations later this year, with Train 2 and Train 3 expected to come online in the middle of 2020. Freeport LNG estimated that Train 4 should generate thousands of construction jobs during the four- to five-year construction phase.

In its announcement, FERC said this is the fourth LNG project it has approved this year. The others are Venture Global LNG's $5 billion terminal in Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana; the $27 billion Tellurian Driftwood LNG project on the Calcasieu River near Lake Charles, Louisiana; and San Diego-based Sempra Energy's $9 billion LNG plant in Port Arthur, Texas.

Earlier this month, KBR announced that it had been selected as the preferred bidder for the Freeport LNG's Train 4 fixed-price engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPC) contract. KBR said it has managed and developed more than 30% of the world's LNG capacity through the liquefaction and terminal projects it has completed during the last 40 years.

Developers for the other LNG projects FERC has approved this year also have selected contractors to manage and build their facilities.

In December, Venture Global selected Kiewit as the EPC contractor for the terminal in Calcasieu Pass, and Bechtel announced last year that it would be performing more than $15 billion of work under EPC contracts at the Driftwood project. Bechtel is also an investor in Driftwood developer Tellurian. In addition, Bechtel is providing EPC and commissioning servicesfor the Sempra project in Port Arthur.

Last year, at a gathering of major LNG industry players in Barcelona, LNG contractors, including Bechtel, warned developers that they should be more realistic when it comes to the construction and development of their projects, particularly in the area of cost. Alasdair Cathcart, president of Bechtel's oil, gas and chemicals business, said collaboration and innovation are the keys to realizing the best outcomes, not the "low-bid path."

Former Fluor CEO David Seaton added that some developers make decisions according to unrealistic spreadsheet figures rather than on the realities of building LNG projects in the U.S. today, where, for instance, contractors are trying to reconcile increased demand with a shortage of skilled workers.

Source: Construction Dive

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Source: Construction Dive

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Become a part of the premier leader in North Texas to connect Buying Entity Members (corporations and public sector agencies) with certified ethnic minority-owned businesses in order to deliver innovation, supply chain excellence, a competitive marketplace advantage and economic impact to our communities.

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3 Build Access To Quality (Capable) Minority Suppliers

4 Advance Diversity Programs Focused On Minority Inclusion

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MORE THAN BRICKS AND MORTAR

As one of the nation’s largest commercial builders, Turner is dedicated to providing avenues of opportunity for Minority- and Woman-Owned Businesses in Houston to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Our commitment to social responsibility and fair play is not just on paper; it is ingrained in our corporate culture. We are devoted to making sure the contributions that strengthen the local economy reflect the demographics of the community at large.

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ENERGY

RENEWABLE ENERGY

is taking strides towards a subsidy-free era

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he renewable energy sector is entering a new phase of subsidy-free growth across the world, according to the 53rd EY Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI). Mainland China and the US remain at first and second positions respectively on the top 40 ranking, while France moves up two positions to third from fifth, led by a new focus on floating offshore wind capacity and doubling of its annual targets for onshore wind capacity additions.

Other notable gains in position have been seen in South Korea (24th position, up by seven) and Vietnam (26th position, up by 17), which made strong moves with their plans to build new renewable energy projects of 4GW and 475 MW respectively. Norway (36th, up by nine) and Finland (39th, up by three) are bouncing back with planned new investments shored up by power purchase agreements (PPAs) in a near subsidyfree environment. Among those trending downward are Mexico (19th position, down by six) and Taiwan (33rd position, down by six) that have both suffered due to major policy uncertainty.

As renewable energy grows into an increasingly unsubsidized sector, where projects compete in the market on their economic and environmental merits, the latest edition of RECAI examines two related characteristics of this new landscape: how projects are grappling with new-found exposure to wholesale power prices and market imbalance – known as merchant risk – and the growing role of corporate energy buyers in underwriting clean energy projects.

Ben Warren, EY Global Power & Utilities Corporate Finance Leader and RECAI Chief Editor, says: “In this more complex, subsidy-free environment, renewable developers must work harder and smarter to find the revenue certainty they need to finance or monetize their efforts. Europe has led the way with unsubsidized projects in areas with good renewable resources, and multiple projects across the Nordics, UK, and Spain are being developed which are backed by private investment and corporate PPAs to provide the required stability. For the renewable energy market overall, however, a future without government subsidy is one that will no longer be vulnerable to sudden shifts in policy, or to retroactive changes to promised tariffs. Instead, it will be one where market forces impose discipline, drive efficiencies and accelerate the cost reductions that have allowed the sector to stand on its own two feet.”

Corporate purchases of clean energy rocketed last year, with a number of new companies entering the market for the first time. According to the report, last year PPAs supported 13.4GW of clean energy generation, more than double the 6.1GW of PPAs in 2017. The latest RECAI indicates that new companies and new countries are becoming more comfortable with a subsidy-free renewable energy environment. For many companies, the motivation to enter into a PPA is economic – contracts that run for ten years or more, which offer a long-term hedge in the face of volatile power prices.

Other companies are choosing to procure renewable energy for reputational reasons or to reduce their exposure to carbon emissions.

The Index further highlights that in a number of jurisdictions, such as Japan and Indonesia, it is difficult to enter into PPAs with developers due to regulatory barriers. However, new countries are realizing that the investment into energy infrastructure need not come from taxpayers.

In markets such as Taiwan, corporate PPAs are now possible, while in other markets – such as Fr a nc e ,

Spain and Australia – changing conditions are resulting in PPA volumes taking off.

The current edition of RECAI includes a detailed look into the Brazil and China renewable markets. The report examines Brazil’s recent trends and deals in renewable energy, as its economy recovers from the recent slowdown, interest rates return to normal and anticipated positive changes to energy policy augur well for the sector. China’s renewable energy market is undergoing a transition, as the government seeks to rein in the cost of subsidies.

However, with continuing concerns about pollution, falling technology costs, and revived interest from international players, growth in the world’s largest clean energy market is set to continue.

Benoit Laclau, EY Global Energy Leader, says: “Thanks to rapidly declining costs, the competitiveness of renewables is no longer heavily tied to financial incentives. The outlook for clean and renewable energy looks very positive, but it needs stable policies supported by a long-term vision. With these in place we can expect a large and stable market to develop, attracting investment beyond current expectations — from individual, corporate, government and financial sponsors. We continue to see strong moves towards an all-electric future, driven by growth in renewable energy and non-traditional end uses of electricity. We foresee a sustained growth in demand for clean, carbon neutral electricity driving investment in new energy technology, including battery storage and electric vehicle infrastructure.”

A major recent growth trend in the renewables sector has been offshore wind, which has been a large success in Europe, and is now increasingly venturing into new countries. While Europe will see significant continued growth over the coming decade, emerging markets for offshore wind include the United States, mainland China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. The report examines the conditions as to which markets are likely to prove most interesting to investors, as they have very different support programmes, political backing and openness to international participants.

Source: EY

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ENERGY

EXXONMOBIL TO INVEST up to $100 million on lower-emissions R&D with U.S. National Labs

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xxonMobil said today it will invest up to $100 million over 10 years to research and develop advanced lower-emissions technologies with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory.

ExxonMobil to invest up to $100 million on loweremissions R&D with U.S. National Labs • Ten-year agreement with National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory • Collaborative research to bring lower-emissions technologies to commercial scale • Potential projects include biofuels, carbon capture and storage and life cycle analysis The agreement – among the largest between the department’s laboratories and the private sector – will support research and collaboration into ways to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors.

“We’re focusing on advancing fundamental science to develop

breakthrough solutions that can make a difference on a global basis in emissions reduction,” said Darren W. Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil. “We’re doing that with our in-house scientists and with corporate partners, through relationships with 80 universities and now with the intellectual and computing capacity of the renowned national labs.”

The partnership will work to develop technologies related to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas mitigation. The joint research will also focus on reducing emissions from fuels and petrochemicals production.

The agreement will stimulate collaborative projects between ExxonMobil and the two laboratories and facilitate work with other national laboratories, such as the Idaho National Lab. “Finding meaningful solutions to address climate change is going to take everyone – governments, companies and academia – working together,” said Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. “This agreement will help us advance fundamental science and demon-

strate scale. This is critical because it will give us a better understanding of how to progress technologies so they can be applied globally.”

“The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is excited to work with ExxonMobil to develop scalable energy solutions for the future and facilitate research partnerships across the national lab system,” said Martin Keller, director at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

“Our partnerships with industry, government, academia and other research organizations drive the collaboration and innovation that is integral to revolutionizing the global energy landscape. By working side-by-side with ExxonMobil researchers, this partnership provides an unprecedented opportunity to explore new technologies and transform energy through science.”

This collaboration is a recent addition to a series of partnerships ExxonMobil has established for innovative lower-emissions research programs, which includes over 80 universities, five energy centers and multiple private sector partners. The company has spent more than $9 billion since 2000 developing and deploying loweremissions energy solutions.

“This opportunity targets research challenges and the development of technology central to our mission and our capabilities,” said Brian Anderson, director at the National Energy Technology Laboratory. “We’re bringing incredible research capability, enhanced by ExxonMobil’s industry expertise and ability to scale-up new technologies globally, which will ultimately benefit consumers in the near term, while also enhancing our nation’s prosperity and energy security.”

Source: ExxonMobil

ENGINEERING

Welcome To The Future Of Industrial Design

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

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he first step in engineering a breakthrough starts with creating a prototype.

And, because advanced energy solutions today require sophisticated designs and geometries, researchers are increasingly turning to 3D printing to develop those early models. Even the most dexterous hands cannot match the intricate designs from these printers.

At ExxonMobil, technicians in the company’s advanced 3D printing laboratory are forming new acrylic, metal and ceramic spirals and other shapes that are instrumental in larger energy systems.

Nothing speaks to this cutting-edge process like 3D printing being used as a rapid prototyping tool for the development of cMIST™ technology. The cMIST system removes impurities like H2O, CO2and H2S from natural gas production to achieve safety and gas quality standards.

Specifically, the cMIST system has a droplet generator which produces fine droplets

of the solvent, well dispersed in the gas, allowing for more efficient processing. These droplet generators start their lives in the 3D printer (as seen below) as prototypes that get tested

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extensively for performance and reliability.

The 3D printing team was able to quickly roll out models of that cMIST droplet generator, allowing the design engineers to make swift optimizations.

This futuristic printing shop produced an intricate, sophisticated droplet generator.

That small piece will be a key component to enable greater production of cleanerburning natural gas in unconventional reservoirs and challenging offshore deepwater locations.

Source: ExxonMobil

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SUNSHINE PERSONN

Mission to Shine Light and Brin

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

S

unshine Personnel Solutions, LLC was built on the foundation of helping those in need. CEO and founder Maribel Rodriguez started Sunshine Personnel Solutions after leaving her job at another staffing agency. She knew the ins and outs of how the business worked but also knew there was a group of underserved people that could use her services.

Rodriguez was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico but raised in Houston, Texas. She has over 15 years of experience as a business owner and over eight years of experience in assisting staffing companies in recruiting temporary and direct personnel.

Nicknamed “Sunshine” for her ability to spread light wherever she goes, Rodriguez’s mission is to spread her light to those in need through Sunshine Personnel Solutions. “’Sunshine’ is my nickname,” Rodriguez said. “It came from helping a lot of people who could not find a job. They felt like they started seeing a light of hope shining around me, so I wanted my business to shine that same light and positivity.”

She designed Sunshine Personnel Solutions as a way for companies to easily fill their employment needs with available, high-quality workers. It focuses on providing prompt service, quick response times and help to anyone with temporary employee and direct placement needs. Their goal is to simplify the search for the right candidate.

“My vision for this business is to deliver services to people that need help the most, by connecting great companies with dynamic people through education and employment,” Rodriguez said.

“My vision for this business is to deliver services to people that need help the most, by connecting great companies with dynamic people through education and employment,” —Maribel Rodriguez CEO / Founder

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NEL SOLUTIONS, LLC'S

ng Stability to Their Employees A unique aspect of Sunshine Personnel Solutions is the diversity they are able bring through reaching out to different industries. Some of these industries include: • Office Professionals • Maintenance • Transportation • Industrial • Hospitability • Medical

Inside of these industries, Sunshine Personnel Solutions provides several hiring options and other additional services such as: • Temporary Positions • Temp-to-Hire Positions • Direct Hire • Payroll Services • Drug Screening • Background Screening • Local and Long Haul CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) Drivers • Onsite Safety Meetings

“We provide personnel to a lot of different i n d u s t r i e s ,” Rodriguez said. “We are able to bring diversit y to these companies and to our own pool of clients. We partner with many different companies. We attend all the job fairs we can and reach out to a lot of people and businesses through social media.”

Another characteristic of Sunshine Personnel Solutions that sets them apart from other staffing agencies is their passion to employ individuals who often get overlooked. They work with candidates who have backgrounds and need a second chance.

“We deal with people with all types of backgrounds,” Rodriguez said. “From people with the cleanest records, to those who may have a troubled past or struggle with a disability. We help them with opportunities and bring some stability to their lives.”

Sunshine Personnel Solutions has partnered

w it h s e v e r a l homeless shelters in the Houston area to assist individuals at the shelters in their efforts to find employment. “ We h a v e helped several p e ople f r om homeless shelters —Maribel Rodriguez in Houston find CEO / Founder a job,” Rodriguez said. “We have even hired people to work directly for us in our offices throughout the Houston area.”

Sunshine Personnel Solutions now has seven different locations in the state of Texas, with the goal being to have 10 offices just in Houston, and they are hoping to continue expanding to other parts of the United States. Rodriguez has received several recognitions for her work including the Better Business Bureau Excellence in Business Award as well as the Top 30 Influential Women of Houston Award.

“My business helps bring stability back to people’s lives,” Rodriguez said. “And that is what we want to do for this community and the other communities we expand to.”

“We’ve Worked With A Diverse Customer Base.

How Can We Help You?”

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PERMITS

Obtaining a Home Remodeling Project Building Permit may not be Your Idea of Fun, but… associations building requirements and obtain necessary permit • Visit permitting jurisdiction web site in advance to review building codes and changes in permitting process • Schedule a meeting with jurisdiction plan reviewer to review project scope if have concerns in ability to meet building codes • Review project scope of work with your customer and make sure to note on job estimate the responsible party for obtaining building permit – contractor or the homeowner • If scope of work dictates a building permit is needed, indicate kind of building permit required on job estimate along with approximate cost of permit

By Helen Callier Contributing Writer

T

he truth is pulling a residential building permit when required is the right thing to do for your customer and it minimizes your liability as a contractor.

It is exciting to see trucks rolling, hammers swinging, and a lot of contractors participating in the estimated $450 billion home remodeling market in the U.S. And while being busy, with a backlog, is preferred by most contractors, rushing from job-to-job to handle a bulging workload is not a reason to ignore obtaining a building permit.

Calls to our toll-free number suggest that some contractors seem to be having challenges with permitting. Questions like the following have been asked by homeowners: • How do I respond to the pages of city permitting rejection comments?

• I have been to the city twice and still not closer to obtaining permit. What are my next steps?

• Do I pull a city permit or is my contractor responsible for obtaining permit for remodel?

A residential building permit is required for new additions, structural changes and for work that impacts the home’s foundation. A few examples of projects needing a

permit include garage additions, pools, driveway replacements, patios, expansions and moving load bearing walls.

It may not be a fun experience going to your local jurisdiction or taking time to figure out how to upload the files for submitting online, but pulling a building permit ensures that your residential construction remodeling job is being built to code and is safe for your customer.

So, what is some advice to follow when you are busy and struggling to manage your time on construction jobs? Listed below are five tips to help you with pulling building permits during the peak housing remodeling season.

• Check before starting construction with home

Also, as a reminder, post the building permit on the construction project site where it is visible to customer, your trades and to City Inspector.

In Conclusion Peak season is a great opportunity to grow your home remodeling business and pulling the proper building permits builds safe structures for your customers. The abovenoted five tips are meant to be a quick checklist for using before starting a residential project. If you have questions about permitting your next residential project, call 1.844.

PERMIT.4. #BuildSafe

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SAFETY

Where safety innovation

fits in the heads-down construction environment

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

I

n the construction industry, the most threatening risks are the ones that go undetected for too long — design flaws that are spotted well into construction, bad habits that could get a craft worker hurt or a hazard that escapes a manager's attention.

Underlying most contractors’ safety programs is a group effort at vigilance on site to make sure workers are operating safely and are alerted to dangers before an incident takes place. Technology can add another layer to this effort by facilitating safety-related reporting and conversations or by detecting hazards in real time across multiple areas of the site, compared to a superintendent or safety manager who can only see what is before him.

But even more valuable to safety leaders, perhaps, are the platforms that can take this data and structure it in a way that allows them to understand trends on their projects and even pre-empt incidents altogether.

Smartvid.io is one such tool, which pairs artificial intelligence and machine learning with jobsite cameras and videos. The program combs through image data for risks at a rate that is not humanly possible. It ranks potential hazards, such as missing personal protective equipment or standing water, on a dashboard in order of their risk level. Three-month, six-month and 12-month trends are presented, which gives safety leaders a sense of where their efforts are best spent, Charlie Avolio, president and general manager of Suffolk’s New York region, told Construction Dive. “The system is learning how certain movements from the crews and certain things with the way jobs are set up might be able to tell us predictively whether the crew is working safely and if there are things specifically in that group that we need to make adjustments to,” he said.

A number of contractors are exploring Smartvid.io, including Skanska, Mortenson, Shawmut Design and Construction and Consigli. But for most of the industry, a lack of dedicated funding acts as a roadblock to sampling and implementing new technologies like this.

Only 10% of contractors have a designated innovation budget, according to a recent FMI study, which identified this as an obstacle to wider adoption of innovative tools in the safety and risk management space.

One reason for this could be that while safety is a top priority for many companies, schedule and

cost pressures on projects don’t leave much space for experimenting with technology.

The fast-paced nature of construction projects tends to pull leaders’ and employees’ attention away from innovation, Shawmut CEO Les Hiscoe told Construction Dive. Projects have little tolerance for schedule, quality or budget slips, he said, and the heads-down mentality on jobsites likewise isn’t friendly to experimentation.

To warm employees up to innovating, companies should offer pilot programs as a low-risk commitment that can cushion against negative impacts on a team or budget if a tool is ineffective, said Hiscoe. They don’t break the bank compared to a broader implementation, he added, because “pilots by their nature are designed … to be quick, to be nimble and to be learned from before you make your decision to make the big investment.”

The returns are much more impactful when a company runs not one but several pilots concurrently, according to Hiscoe. “It creates that fabric that supports the whole safety culture,” he said. “With one pilot here and one pilot there, I don’t think you get a sense of the real power of a fully integrated technology platform for safety.”

There are several types of technology that offer benefits in addressing and avoiding safety incidents. Threequarters of respondents to FMI’s survey saw value in internet of things (IoT) tools like wearables to curb occupational risks. Triax Technologies is one leader in sensor-based wearable technology. Its Spot-R clip tracks a worker’s movement on a jobsite and alerts others to his or her location if there is an accident, which the company says can improve injury response time by 91%. Supervisors can also quickly relay distress signals or report hazards to workers wearing the belt clip.

Many respondents also cited AI image recognition tools as a top

emerging technology for risk mitigation. Products collect swaths of jobsite data, but in most cases, that remains siloed and removed from the information pool of weekly and daily safety reports. Some contractors see untapped potential in this data.

For example, Shawmut is using Microsoft Power BI to pull all sources of data into a structured dashboard with more comprehensive insights than each source could provide on its own. It’s a work in progress, said Hiscoe, as the contractor determines which information, out of the massive pool, will offer the most value. The goal, he said, “is a combination of all our behaviors plus all the technologies and the data they produce, [so that] the dashboard becomes the really powerful platform that we operate from. That excites me.”

Webcor is customizing the same tool to leverage better insight on leading and lagging indicators, according to Webcor Builders VP Greg Chauhan. The ability to eventually review a dashboard from the field for project-specific trends on risks, injuries or real-time environmental conditions, he told Construction Dive, “helps reinforce … that we’re creating a culture that’s going to take care of workers.”

The vision is heavier reliance on technology, but the focus on people can’t change when that transition takes place, said Chauhan. The ultimate goal is “blending all those powerful tools that are out there as long as we’re figuring out how we connect to the people,” he said.

People, process and tool is the order of importance when it comes to innovating, Chauhan added. “Sometimes a shiny tool comes out and people jump at using the tool, but you have to then create a process around the tool and then you have to try and force people to use the tool,” he said.

Company leaders have recognized that this backward approach of putting the tool ahead of people and processes doesn’t work, he said, "and we always go back to the basics” — sending people home safe every night, making sure that processes and products are aligned with that most important goal.

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Source: Construction Dive

June 2019 | 23

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LEGAL

Why an Attorney is your friend?

And, having an attorney on retainer means if you ever have a question about a contract or need a lien filed, you can easily call them and get the assistance you need.

The construction industry in San Antonio is at an all-time high, and that means more work, but also more chances for issues to arise; so it’s good practice to make sure you’re protecting yourself.

By Nathan Estrada News Provider

F

irst, you may be asking yourself, “How can an attorney be my friend?” A valid question. Second, you may be thinking of the stigma that can be associated with having an attorney. However, an attorney’s job is to protect you and your rights, as well as your business. The road of business law is long and sometimes confusing. What contracts should you sign? What’s in this contract? What’s a partnership agreement? What’s an LLC? All of these questions are common and important. That’s where an attorney comes in.

Here in San Antonio growth is booming, yet we still feel like a small town where everybody knows everybody and sealing a deal on a handshake is the business norm.

Many new

businesses are starting up. More construction projects are up for bid and there is so much work happening it can be hard to keep up.

If you decide to branch out and start your own business or already have a business, it’s extremely beneficial to sit down with an attorney to ensure you and your business are protected. An attorney can work with you to prepare business formation documents for you to file and finally start your business. They can create an employment handbook, credit applications, partnership agreements, and much more; all tailored for your long-term protection.

As the saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and this is beyond true when it comes to business and law. Investing in having a contract reviewed on the frontend can save you potentially tens of thousands in litigation costs later.

Having an attorney as your first line of defense, instead of as a weapon of last resort, can save you a lot of stress and money.

Attorneys can:

• Create, and/or Review Contracts • Form your business • Create all the formation documentation for your business, i.e. credit apps, employee handbooks, non competes, and more • File your Mechanics Liens in Bexar County (or any other county in Texas) • Collect monies owed to you • Defend you in Court

After all, you wouldn’t put sunblock on only after you’ve been burned.

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TRANSPORTATION

American Airlines, DFW announce up to $3.5B capital program

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

D

allas-Fort Worth International Airport and American Airlines announced Monday that they will build a sixth terminal at DFW and make improvements to existing Terminal C — work representing a capital package worth between $3 billion and $3.5 billion. The airport is making the investment as part of a long-term commitment from American to operate out of DFW. Design work for Terminal F, which will be located south of Terminal D, is slated to start immediately and will include a flexible design that will enable the airport to open the new terminal by 2025 and to phase in up to 24 gates as needed.

Improvements at Terminal C, which was built in 1974, are expected to mirror changes completed at Terminals A, B and E in 2018. These include new check-in areas, larger security checkpoints, more space for concessions and upgrades to lighting and flooring.

Terminal F's design details are expected to be worked into the new lease American and DFW are currently negotiating. The cost of the new terminal and existing facility renovations is expected to be financed by bonds and repaid via airline rates and charges.

Airports all over the U.S., many of which were built in the 1960s and 1970s, are undergoing expansions and

renovations. According to the Airports Council International-North America, U.S. airports will need $128 billion of improvements in the next five years to keep up with passenger and airline demands. One of those is the New Orleans International Airport, which will unveil its new $1.3 billion terminal later this year. That facility will feature 35 gates and 14 TSA lanes.

Airport projects of this size are massive undertakings that require a significant amount of upfront design work, planning and investment, which is why it came as such a surprise to many when, amid accusations of corruption, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador pulled the plug on the new $13 billion Mexico City airport, which was already 30% complete. Since then, López Obrador and his administration have come up with a dual-airport solution, one that has the local business community concerned about flight transfers and other logistical issues since the two facilities are about 30 miles apart.

As the plan currently stands, the existing Mexico City airport will be upgraded and work in coordination with a new airport that will be built at an existing air force base north of the city. That project is expected to get underway in June.

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Source: Construction Dive

28 | June 2019

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Mobility as a Service TRANSPORTATION

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

M

obility as a Service” (MaaS) is a new concept being driven by today’s technology-enabled world and is the future of mobility as we know it. It’s smart, integrated, on-demand mobility at your fingertips that puts you in charge of your journey. You may see it in examples like rideshare, bikeshare, scooters and many on demand transit solutions. Your device enables you to create your journey on your schedule.

Because of the growth of MaaS, it is the right time for the introduction of high-speed train service to the state.

As Texans continue to rapidly embrace these technologies, options like the high-speed train become even more of an attraction than they already are. Your Texas high-speed train is a transformational part of this tech-enabled mobility boom happening across the country.

Over 16 million journeys are already made between North Texas and Houston per year, with over 90% made by road. The high-speed train will give these travelers significant time saving as well as a comfortable, safe and secure environment. For example, the introduction of a technology-enabled option like the high-speed train will allow you to get between your office in Houston and your client in North Texas with one seamless transaction.

Just as smart devices created the “me-conomy” – in which you shop, buy and travel the way you want, MaaS offers you custom mobility solutions based on your travel needs.

You get to tell providers what you want and where you want to go. It’s a departure from the traditional model of transportation entities dictating routes and schedules. It’s “customized travel” vs “standardized travel” – ultimately improving your quality and convenience of travel while reducing cost and time.

You will not only be able to choose the safest transportation option in the world when you book a seat on the highspeed train, you can start and end your trips at the exact locations of your choice though an integrated mobile app.

You will be able to shop, plan, and purchase customized journeys directly from your smartphones!

And, as ride hailing options continue to expand, access to and from stations will become easier, even if you don’t have your own car. Texans’ use of ride hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, has been growing steadily. Surveys show that between 2016 and 2018 the proportion of travelers using ride hailing to travel to and from airports has doubled in only two years! Nearly 80% of travelers that use ride hailing services indicated that either they “definitely” or “probably would” travel by the high-speed train on their next journey, greater than the Texan average of 72%.

Percentage of journeys made to and from Houston and Dallas airport using ride hailing services (2016-2018) 30 25

+ 10%

+13% 20.0

20

23.0

15 10

10.0

10.0

2016 2018

5 0

To Airport

From Airport

MOBILITYAS ASAASERVICE: SERVICE: MOBILITY • Is an integrated technology platform will let you shop, book and pay for your trip right from your phone – creating seamless journey planning. Think “freedom” and “variety”!

• Creates one stop shopping that combines multiple modes of transportation – the train, rideshare services, even public transportation like buses.

Mass transit, like the Texas high-speed train, is central to MaaS. • The Texas high-speed train announced an agreement with Amtrak in May of 2018 that links the train with Amtrak’s interstate passenger network using Amtrak’s reservation system. This seamless ticketing experience is a great example of MaaS. • The high-speed train is in ongoing discussions with Houston Metro and Dallas Area Rapid Transit to define connectivity options once the high-speed train is operational.

AUTONOMOUSVEHICLES VEHICLES–– AUTONOMOUS IMPROVEMENTS INMOBILITY MOBILITY IMPROVEMENTS IN The rollout of autonomous vehicles (AVs) is expected to occur initially in dense urban areas in the 2020s, as these locations will have the best business case for introducing AV technology. This will complement the Texas high-speed train service by making it cheaper and more

convenient to access and leave from passenger stations.

Autonomous vehicles will also broaden access to the train for those unable or not wanting to drive. As technology improves and autonomous vehicles are able to operate cost effectively on door-to-door journeys between North Texas and Houston, they may bring further benefits to traveling by road. Even then, they will never be as fast as the high-speed train for these journeys, nor as efficient for long distance travelling.

Investment banking advisory firm Evercore has studied Waymo, Google’s ridesharing/autonomous ride service platform, and issued a report that uses a city-by-city model to determine potential future demand. Dallas & Houston were identified as having two of the highest Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) of the major markets where Waymo is expected to launch service.

So, Google sees that Houston and North Texas are great markets where people are already getting out of their cars and embracing new transportation solutions.

This matches the data we are seeing in the excitement of people who will ride the train.

The high-speed train will provide these travelers with a faster, safer, more convenient and reliable alternative to driving or flying, with more technology-enabled solutions for riders. This project is set to transform travel in Texas and bring a new high-tech industry to the country and the Lone Star State.

Source: Texas Central

TRANSPORTATION

Port Houston Advancing Small Business Through Port University Program

By Subcontractors USA News Provider

P

ort Houston continued its popular Port University course for small businesses with presentations from various departments about how to do business with the port. Port University, a four-week training course, is an outreach program designed to educate small businesses about procurement opportunities. The workshops are presented in collaboration with the University of Houston Small Business Development Center.

More than 50 small business representatives attended the class. They learned about: port procurement opportunities, port facilities, the small business program, contracting language, bonding, insurance requirements and the port’s BuySpeed Procurement System. Since its inception in 2003,

more than 800 small business owners have graduated from Port University.

In addition to the course, attendees are given information about other upcoming port small business events and opportunities. “Port University is the best thing that the port offers,” said Ryan Lockridge, Lockridge Packaging. “It makes you think and learn about the organization when pursuing contracts. It has been more than helpful.”

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Source: Port Houston

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PROGRAM MANAGEMENT I COMMISSIONING At Rice & Gardner Consultants, Inc. our success is your success.

We act as an extension of our clients by offering comprehensive, custom services from concept to closeout

6161 Savoy Drive, Suite 1212, Houston, TX 77036 I 713.482.2300 I www.ricegardner.com Experience Our World of Advertising, Marketing, Media and Communication

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Houston supports small businesses & entrepreneurs Learn how certifications, classes and other tools from The Office of Business Opportunity can help you start and grow your enterprise Web: houstontx.gov/obo

Call: 832-393-0594

Email: OBOSC@houstontx.gov

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HUB OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT

For more information about how to do business with the University of Houston, bid opportunities or to be kept abreast of events, workshops and seminars, visit www.uh.edu/hub or email us at hubevent@uh.edu

THE HISTORICALLY UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESS (HUB) Program at the University of Houston was established to identify and encourage HUBs to participate in the competitive bid process with the objective of increasing the number of contracts and subcontracts awarded to HUB vendors.

THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON HUB PROGRAM is committed to expanding business opportunities available in order to promote the successful development of growing businesses, to have a positive impact on improving our local economy and to give back to our community.

We encourage solicitations from HUB vendors in an effort to award more contracts to those businesses.

WWW.UH.EDU/HUB