They worked hard burying telephone drops for major telecommunications players in the state of Texas, building a portfolio and a reputation for quality. As technology advanced, so too did Housley Communications, which expanded beyond telecommunications into gas, power, and wet utilities to become Housley Group.

Since then, projects have taken the company across Texas and further afield, a footprint that’s now supported by nine offices, including Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas. Housley has previously completed work internationally in Mexico and Africa.

Despite this growth and expansion, Housley Group is still a family business that maintains the work ethic and the underlying virtues with which Mr. Housley founded the company, but has greatly diversified the services it offers, the equipment used, and the skills and expertise within its growing ranks.

This has been possible because of the relationships and deeply rooted culture that originated with Mr. Housley and continued to be replicated by his late son, Robert Kevin Housley, his grandson Chris Housley, who recently assumed the role of Executive Vice President, his wife Mona, who serves as Chairperson for the Housley Board, and current President/CEO Dave Meek who has been instrumental in maintaining excellence for the 37 years he has worked at Housley.

The company culture was founded on four basic principles: honesty, integrity, quality, and professionalism, virtues that still guide the growing company and are maintained by long-tenured employees like Vice President of Risk Management Stacy Elms, who has been there for thirty years.

Discussing the legacy left by Mr. Housley, Elms says, “Mr. Housley always wanted us to do the right thing… He always wanted us to keep that in mind and that’s been the secret of our success: quality work done in a timely manner, and having the moral compass to do things right every time.”

When a company grows, change is inevitable, but in 43 years at the Housley Group one thing has remained unchanged: the proud Housley name and what it stands for. Now, with $50 million worth of equipment, 250 employees, and a strong subcontractor base upwards of 900 people, Housley Group is massively in demand.

Last year, during a telecommunications peak, the company was busy indeed, seeing revenue in excess of $110 million. The team buried more than a million linear feet of fiber per month for a single customer on a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project, and completed 94,000 different orders across three different telecommunications players on the buried-service-wire side.

“Telecom is our bread and butter, but if it goes underground and it’s a linear trench or directional bore—it doesn’t matter if it’s gas, power, or water, it doesn’t matter what conduit or pipe you put into the ground—we can do that,” says Chris Housley.

Part of the reason Housley Group can offer this guarantee of quality is the skill and experience its long-tenured employees bring to the table, and the leadership style that has been instilled in those employees over the past several decades.

It’s unusual in the construction world to find companies with employees who have been with them for twenty to thirty years, but retention is an advantage that Housley Group enjoys, particularly amongst its crew leaders and management. These employees exemplify quality, safety, service, and professionalism, and share their skills and experience with new team members.

According to Elms, “The new people that we hire, that we bring in to stand on the business end of the shovel, they learn from those long-term crew leaders, employees, and managers the standards that we want them to adhere to. So when you start day one, you go through safety initiation, certainly—but really, that’s not the secret.”

He continues, “Anybody can go through safety orientation; it’s when you arrive on a worksite from day one and you see that your fellow employees are working safely and efficiently and that they’re teaching you the right and safe way to do things, that reinforces the safety briefing that you got. On-the-job training from those crew leaders, supervisors, and managers reinforces that story from day one.”

Acknowledging that to err is only human, Housley says that safety truly is top-down at Housley Group. When incidents occur, they’re well-documented and communicated across the entire company to ensure that there’s accountability at every level to create a teaching moment and mitigate risks in the future. “We hear that accountability from the guy who’s working the shovel all the way up to Stacy’s and my position,” he says.

For Chris Housley, there is a lot more on the line than just the success of the family business; it’s a family legacy that he intends to preserve while also modernizing to remain competitive long into the future. “There’s a legacy here that I get to step into and I’m looking forward to the future of the company,” he says.

To ensure that Housley Group thrives for generations to come, the plan is to continue to offer quality work delivered on time with the foremost commitment to safety. The company is also streamlining its operations, identifying efficiencies that can support further diversification of the business.

Housley notes that, “We’re going to continue to succeed in telecom; we’ve done that for forty years and we’re poised to do business as usual, which means anything from repairs to installation of brand-new utilities.” But growth is also anticipated in the gas, power, and wet utilities sectors, which will require further investment in the company’s capacities.

Elms goes into detail: “Doing work in the regulated space, in the case of gas-related work, investing in our employees for the type of training that they need, keeping that training up to date, making sure that they’re trained not only for the work to be done but doing it safely so that those customers like gas companies trust us to do that kind of work. As we move into more of the power industry, we aren’t currently completing energized work, but because of the quality of work that we’ve done for those power customers before, they’re looking to us to expand.”

Concerning market diversification, Housley Group is focused on further diversifying the tools and equipment at its disposal, as well as adopting automation and new technology to streamline its operations for greater efficiency as it grows. As Housley says, “We’re a forty-year-old company, but still, why are we doing it that way? We’ve done things well, but let’s do them better by streamlining processes and challenging ourselves to be more efficient with what we have.”

It bodes well for Housley Group that the Texas market is ripe for growth. As the population grows, not only is there a greater labor pool from which to draw, but the growth also increases demand for infrastructure and thus for the services Housley Group offers.

“We’re in the right place at the right time and I don’t see anything but growth coming,” says Elms. The company is well-poised to capitalize on that opportunity, all the while remaining true to its core values, building steadfast relationships through exceptional project delivery, and evolving to stay diversified and competitive for the long term.

The post A Legacy in Action<p class="company">Housley Group</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Serving Pennsylvania, Delaware, Northern Maryland, and Northern New York, Keystone Custom Decks works closely with each of its clients, completing a 3D rendering of their proposed project to ensure total satisfaction. Founded in 1983 by Amos Esh, this family-owned and operated company features bespoke design for customized outdoor living spaces that meet the needs of each customer.

Now run by sons Michael, Marv, and Tim, Keystone continues to work with talented and experienced craftsmen to ensure the same quality service and exceptional product that has led to an impressive 40 years in business.

“When my father started this business, he built it on the premise of making sure his customers were taken care of,” says Partner Michael Esh. “When we were growing up, even if at times my father would have to take a loss on a job to make sure the customers were happy, he would do that. He was very concerned and very intent on making sure customers were taken care of, and that’s been the backbone of our company for 40 years now—making sure our clients are satisfied and happy with the work done.”

Keystone stands behind its work, providing a lifetime warranty on workmanship. The consistent dedication to ensuring customer satisfaction is also one of the main reasons for its ongoing success, Esh adds.

“Besides that, we’ve always stayed on the cutting edge of the industry, and we’ve always been proactive about recognizing and being ahead of new trends,” he says. Indeed, Keystone is known in the industry, particularly regionally, to be a forward-thinking company that not only recognizes industry advances but introduces new products and styles to the market.

“The third part of our success is our team, which is phenomenal,” says Esh. “They have been a huge part of everything.”

Keystone is also a full-service company, able to handle all aspects of every project it undertakes, from start to finish, in-house. When a client contacts them, Keystone first ensures the project is a good fit for what the company does. From there a salesperson goes to the home for an initial meeting to talk about design, make suggestions, and even help clients who have no idea what they want. The salesperson brings all the information back to the team of in-house designers, who create a 3D rendering with a video walkthrough of the entire project, all of which is done before the customer ever signs a contract.

“The second step is coming into our facility to our showroom where we present them with the 3D design, which is the first time they’re actually seeing the design,” Esh explains. “This gives them a very good visual of what their project will look like, and because their house is put into the rendering as well, they can see in good detail exactly what this project would look like on their house.”

From there, when the client is ready to go ahead, the project moves onto the production site where a team takes care of all permits. There is also a team purchasing necessary products, and when it’s time to start, clients are assigned a project manager.

“Then our crews go out and build the project,” says Esh. “We have our own mason crews, our own excavating crews, and our own pool crew if the project involves a pool. Someone can come to us and say, ‘we want a deck with a covered portion,’ or ‘we want a patio, swimming pool, or outdoor kitchen with electrical and plumbing work’—we handle all of that so they don’t have to work with external contractors or hire their own electrician and plumber to make it happen. We handle the entire project.”

This exceptional level of service is unusual in the industry, he adds, and has led to a lot of positive feedback from customers over the years. “To find a company that does everything for the backyard all under one umbrella is pretty unique.”

Being able to streamline a potentially timely and challenging project is clearly attractive to clients who aren’t interested in being their own general contractor; they just want the project done, and they want someone to handle it all, including coordinating all the scheduling.

This commitment to customer service has also led to impressive growth over the past few years, particularly at the height of COVID lockdowns when so many homeowners and families were forced to not only work from home but live, play, and also make the best of their backyards. Although shutdowns negatively affected many industries, others were able to thrive.

“Anybody who was doing anything with home improvement just had stellar years in 2020, 2021, and into 2022,” says Esh. “People figured out they were going to be home for a while, and they decided to spend money improving their homes. They also figured they probably wouldn’t be doing much traveling and vacations for a couple of years, so people used a good bit of the money typically spent on that to improve their homes.”

Homeowners investing in their living spaces—both indoors and out—created phenomenal growth for Keystone during those couple of years, with demand that was unlike anything the company had seen previously, Esh adds. Fortunately, Keystone was well-positioned to handle it, having moved into a brand-new facility several years prior.

“We had room to expand, we had our showroom set up and built, and we were positioned very well to respond to that increased demand,” Esh shares.

COVID, of course, did impact the supply chain globally, leading to issues obtaining certain materials, colors, and appliances, but Keystone managed to weather the storm.

“It’s leveled out a lot. It’s a lot better than it was,” Esh says. “Suppliers were trying to figure it out, and pricing was all over the map, so there were challenges to work through for a couple of years.”

COVID also changed the employment landscape—perhaps permanently—with more people working both hybrid and completely off-site, so while the demand for home improvement isn’t quite as high these days, it’s still impressive, he adds. And it’s a demand that Keystone will continue to embrace in the upcoming years. As a well-established company with 40 years of experience and a phenomenal team of people, Keystone is able to provide an entire dedicated team on every project from beginning to end.

“It’s not just one guy out of the back of his truck that you might not be able to get hold of,” Esh says. “When you call into our office during business hours, you’ll get an answer from a live person, which is rare. With Keystone, you’re well taken care of.”

This includes a team that works solely on building permits, he emphasizes, something many contractors can’t readily provide as they’re either working on the side, or they’re letting the homeowner take responsibility for it—a stress that isn’t needed. “We have that infrastructure built to take care of our clients from start to finish throughout the process, and I think that’s one of the things that really sets us apart.”

While economic conditions are always a challenge and can certainly affect consumer confidence, Keystone is always looking ahead and staying aware to keep producing its best work no matter the economic climate.

“We’re not trying to sell clients something they can’t afford or that isn’t the right fit for them at the time,” says Esh. “Part of our process is finding the best type of project for them. Is a bigger project or smaller project going to serve their needs better? Those are some of the challenges we address, especially with the uncertain markets right now, where nobody knows what’s going to happen.”

Along with the accomplishment of getting to 40 years in a notoriously challenging industry and growing a knowledgeable and reliable team into the formidable operation it is now, Keystone also has its eyes on some key milestones.

“Doing what we do with excellence has always been our objective, and sometimes that opens up opportunities that we can take advantage of and integrate into our company as far as expansion goes,” says Esh. “So, moving forward, we’ll just keep doing what we do and doing it well. That’s what our goal is.”

The post Backyard Bliss – Building Beauty Close to Home<p class="company">Keystone Custom Decks</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Founded in 1946 by Frank Brink, Brink Constructors’ supportive company culture has remained strong throughout the decades. “I would say that the thing that sets us apart from everybody else is our family atmosphere here,” says President John Keeler. “We operate as a family.”

Despite Brink Constructors Inc. becoming a subsidiary of Quanta Services in 2015, the company’s foundational culture persists. “There’s actually been Brink family [working for the company] all 76 years that the company has existed,” Keeler says. “Even today, after being bought out and owned by Quanta, there’s still Brink family here. We actually have fourth-generation Brinks in the organization today.”

This supportive, family atmosphere is also evident in the way that the company does business every day. “We never leave a job without knowing that we’re going to be invited back,” says Keeler. “We take that to heart, actually. That’s a pride thing; making sure that you do not only quality work, but that you take care of the customer. You do the job that you were hired to do.”

This attitude extends beyond the customers to the landowners and stakeholders who are affected by the company’s work. The team makes it a point to leave the land as close to how they found it as possible. It all goes back to that “pride piece of it, the family piece of it,” Keeler explains. “That’s the point of difference for us.”

Partnering for success
Parent company Quanta Services performs specialty contracting for the pipeline, industrial, communication, and electric power industries. The holding company approached the Brink family with a mutually beneficial offer that led to the 2015 acquisition.

“They buy companies that just need a little boost to take them to the next level,” Keeler explains.

Quanta’s company culture has proven a natural fit for Brink Constructors. “Quanta is a family too,” he says. And, as one big, extended family, Quanta’s resources are freely shared. “For anything that comes up that we have questions on, we have a one-way link right back to Quanta. If we need resources, we’re all family. You pick up the phone and they guide and help you through whatever you may have on your plate in front of you,” he shares.

“They support us in operations; they support us in safety; they support us on the financial side [and with their] fleet. We all have the same common goal.”

All eyes on safety
It should come as no surprise that, as a family-oriented company, a big part of this goal is prioritizing the safety and well-being of employees. “All our employees are family,” says Director of Safety Jon Gunderman, “and our number one concern is for folks to go home at the end of the day.”

This mindset is deeply entrenched throughout the entire company. “Safety isn’t just something that happens at work,” he explains. “It’s a culture for us.”

Since joining the company a little over two years ago, Gunderman has ramped up the focus on safety even further. These efforts have included an increase in training opportunities and the creation of specific safety positions such as a dedicated safety training manager and a dedicated department of transportation compliance manager, increasing the safety department staff to a total of fourteen people.

Gunderman is a huge proponent of communication and encourages “open conversations” with employees regarding the importance of safety and how best to achieve safe outcomes. He says that addressing safety from the perspective of how it benefits the employee personally—rather than just as a box to check for liability purposes—is key.

Building community
After doing business in South Dakota for three-quarters of a century, Brink Constructors has become an integral part of the community. In 2021, in celebration of the company’s 75^th anniversary, the team launched the Frank Brink Memorial Scholarship to provide opportunities for local students.

Two graduating seniors from any West River high school are selected each year to receive scholarships to attend Northwest Lineman College’s electrical line worker program. The scholarship covers the full tuition as well as any application fees, laboratory fees, commercial driver’s license costs, National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) crane certification, and all required tools. The goal is to foster the next generation of professional line workers and to give back to the community while simultaneously honoring Brink Constructors’ legacy.

In another effort to support education within the industry, the company works closely with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. “We volunteer time, equipment, and money and manpower to help them out,” says Keeler. Several of the company’s employees sit on various boards affiliated with the school, offering their insight and expertise in areas ranging from civil engineering to industrial and mechanical skills.

The company is also actively involved with diverse local community projects and events. This includes spearheading local lighting projects, volunteering at the local youth fair, sponsoring local high school rodeos as well as Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeos, sponsoring a local softball team, volunteering at the Rapid City Summer Nights concerts, donating to the upkeep of local veterans memorials, and participating in local parades.

“We’re always looking for ways to get involved in the community, no matter what it is,” Keeler shares.

Adding to the family
Today, the team is looking ahead to the future, starting with making sure that future leaders are lined up to continue the company’s success. “We’re big on our development of leadership,” Keeler says. After experiencing rapid organic growth in recent years, these leaders will help guide the company through its ongoing expansion.

In addition to the Frank Brink Memorial Scholarship, the company is actively recruiting employees to support its growth and puts a concerted effort into visiting various colleges, including the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Brink Constructors developed its first internship program with the school this year to support and develop professional talent, focusing on skills such as estimating, project management, safety, and quality control.

“We started that in 2023 to hopefully bring some of those engineering graduates that aren’t sure that they want to sit at the desk and design things all day long, but still have that construction mindset and mechanical abilities,” Keeler explains. “Those are our future leaders.”

Another recruitment focus is on linemen graduating from colleges all around the country, from Idaho and Texas to Florida, as well as locally in South Dakota. “With each graduating class, we go attend their career day the last week of their schooling, introduce them to Brink and who we are and where we’re working and what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Keeler says. “So that’s been a great way to pick up young linemen. But the seasoned and veteran linemen that are out there, a lot of [recruiting them] happens just by word of mouth. Employees recommend people to the company; we just do it old school.”

With an industry giant backing the company, in addition to a strong company culture and recruitment efforts to ensure a staff of highly skilled employees and future leaders, Brink Constructors is well-placed for ongoing success.

The post An Asset to the Industry and the Community<p class="company">Brink Constructors</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Established in 1994, the firm employs more than 200 architects in offices in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Denver, with a variety of projects that include the National September 11 Memorial, The House at Cornell Tech, urban infrastructure and master planning projects, high-density mixed-use developments, multi-family projects across all incomes, hotels, corporate headquarters, and buildings for non-profit, institutional, and educational clients all over the world.

It is Handel Architects’ work in the Passive House field, however, that has helped the company make its mark. More than just energy-efficient structures, buildings certified as “Passive House” use up to 60 percent less total energy, and up to 85 percent less dedicated heating and cooling energy, than conventional structures.

Passive House buildings offer a better interior environment and superior indoor air quality via fresh, filtered ventilation to every livable room around the clock, and quieter interior conditions due to a heavily insulated and tight façade. Additionally, they improve the longevity of building materials and offer outstanding thermal comfort.

For Handel, its focus on the Passive House sector took shape in 2013 when the company teamed up with two developers, Hudson Companies and Related Companies, to present concepts for new student residences to Cornell Tech.

“We had a whole slew of sustainability ideas in that proposal, one of which was Passive House,” says Principal Deborah Moelis. “Everyone was interested in Passive House, so it was somewhat of a perfect storm in that the client was extremely interested and they really wanted to execute it.”

One of the most energy-efficient buildings in the world and the biggest and tallest residential structure ever constructed to Passive House principles, The House at Cornell Tech is part of the 2.1 million-square-foot technological campus recently built on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The campus’ residential building, The House, was built in accordance with Passive House Institute (PHI) guidelines, which significantly lowers energy use while fostering a healthier and more comfortable living environment for a fraction of the energy expenses of conventional buildings.

As Handel’s Director of Sustainable Design, Louis Koehl, explains, “The goals of Passive House design offer a great parallel to Handel’s sustainable design approach. Passive house looks to optimize the whole building to achieve verifiable occupant comfort and energy reduction outcomes. Our sustainable design approach is similarly outcome-based. We look at our whole practice to identify opportunities to improve the performance of our work and allow us to create the healthiest, most sustainable homes and buildings for the broadest range of people.”

With this approach in mind, Handel is also intensely invested in affordable housing, exemplified in the groundbreaking Sendero Verde project. Offering inhabitants of East Harlem a “community of opportunity,” Sendero Verde, a mixed-use multi-building project in East Harlem, New York City, was chosen under the City’s SustainNYC program, which aims to develop highly sustainable, affordable housing for New Yorkers without sacrificing design quality.

The project will include large amounts of community space, retail space, and outdoor gardens in addition to 709 designated affordable Passive House units.

“What’s unique about that project is it’s 100 percent affordable, and it’s 100 percent Passive House,” says Moelis. “It’s almost done, and when it comes online, the whole world will see that this is feasible on a large scale for low-income multifamily housing.”

While Cornell was radical because it was the largest in the world at the time, what’s groundbreaking about the Sendero project is that, as affordable housing sponsored by New York City together with private developers, it will show the whole world future possibilities in the field.

“Handel has really established itself as a leader in this type of design,” Moelis says, which includes other notable projects such as the Passive House dormitory at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and a 1.8-million-square-foot building in Boston—of which the 800,000 square foot office component will comply with Passive House standards—that, once complete, will be the largest Passive House office building in the world.

Together with offering a strong, high-performance enclosure that enables airtightness, windows with extraordinarily low U-Values, continuous insulation, and thermal bridge-free detailing that results in excellent R-Values, Passive Houses also boast high-performance low-energy heating and cooling systems, and bring constant fresh air ventilation with heat recovery, balancing exhaust and supply ventilation within 10 percent of one another.

It all sounds like a win-win—so why isn’t everyone embracing this way of building?

“Like anything else, change is difficult for people, especially in the construction industry,” says Moelis. “Builders are used to doing things the same way and some builders, developers, and owners just don’t embrace change very well.”

Koehl agrees. “Education is the key to change at the scale we need it, and architects have real power here,” he says. “We can educate clients by proposing innovative solutions with verifiable outcomes, educate the construction industry through promotion of new standards and technologies, educate policy-makers on the benefits and hurdles of certain legislation, educate our staff by sharing challenges and successes and by providing opportunities for engagement at all levels. We don’t want to collect expertise in a vault, we want to share what we learn and facilitate a conversation that gets information into the minds of the people who can do the most with it.” To this end, “We are actively involved in several industry organizations focused on decarbonizing buildings, standardizing criteria for healthy materials, addressing embodied carbon, and expanding access to healthy homes in several cities.”

The good news is that codes are changing and becoming so aggressive that industry analysts anticipate that this way of building will soon be business as usual. It’s been amazing, Moelis says, to how websites and product lines have matured since Handel started in 2013.

“That’s only 10 years ago, and we’re seeing more of these products come online,” she adds. “It’s a little more expensive, and it’s not familiar to a lot of the decision-makers on these projects. I think they get uncomfortable when they’re in a position where they don’t really know something new. So we work really closely with our clients to explain what’s going on and show them different comparisons so they can see how it’s different.”

“It’s critical,” says Koehl, “that sustainability be incorporated throughout our design process and not something added at the end. Allowing sustainable design decisions to track the broader project evolution increases opportunities for innovation and education.”

And clients are getting on board. “We’re working on senior housing for a great open-minded client who really wants to make Passive House work for senior housing and be affordable,” she says. “We’re going to do everything we can to make that project work and include Passive House.”

The company’s Passive House work is, says Koehl, “a great example of our effort to be a sustainable design leader—this is an evolving challenge and we are constantly looking to collaborate with clients, communities, and industry organizations to shape the next frontier of sustainable design… Sustainability is not just about zero energy and fossil fuels; it is also about human health and happiness. Sustainable buildings support sustainable lives!”

“It’s a healthier interior environment that contributes to the overall wellness of those who live in a Passive House,” Moelis agrees. “You’re getting fresh-filtered air into each room 24/7. There’s a reduction in allergies, asthma, a number of health conditions. You’re also separated from the exterior from an acoustical standpoint, which is unbelievably obvious and useful, especially in New York City.”

Koehl makes a distinction—and a connection—between the experience of a building and the performance of that building, and believes that both are crucial for sustainability. “Daylight, fresh air, non-toxic materials, a place for quiet—all play as important a role in building a sustainable home as an efficient HVAC system,” he says.

Certainly, Handel Architects boasts a host of LEED awards, from silver to platinum, but Moelis stresses that LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is different from Passive House. While LEED is more of a checklist—and great for buildings overall—Handel likes to employ Passive House for the building and the building systems, and then overlap LEED for homes for the interior or a similar program, which helps make an even better building from the standpoint of materials, and for unit-to-unit separation.

“Passive House looks at the building holistically,” she says. “You can look at your building and your energy model and push and pull as you want; the energy model allows us to deliver a building design that works aesthetically and meets Passive House criteria.”

Passive House isn’t only environmentally beneficial through the reduction of loads and so using less energy, it also provides safety and security during power outages or potential natural disasters.

“If you close your windows in a Passive House, you should be okay for many hours or days, which is very important, especially for the elderly,” Moelis says. “If the grid goes down, you’ll still stay at a nice temperature, so in that sense, it’s quite resilient.” Passive House also protects the actual structure of the building, as no dirt, dust, or bugs are getting in through the walls.

Starting from a place of no experience in Passive House construction to now being responsible for the world’s largest Passive House projects is a huge achievement for Handel. Put it down to dedication, innovation, and getting things to happen.

“Learning about new systems and materials is always challenging,” Moelis says. “We always want to make sure we’re up to speed.”

Being up to speed includes being ready for the upcoming Local Law 97, designed to limit the level of carbon emissions from New York City’s buildings. Going into effect in 2024, the law will serve to penalize builders based on the amount of carbon dioxide a building emits. “We’re all trying to reduce the amount of carbon that’s going into the air, and Local Law 97, once it comes into effect, is going to be a wake-up call for quite a few owners.”

Existing buildings will need to be retrofitted and new buildings will need more innovative ways of reducing their carbon footprint, she says. The first step is not to use gas or oil, and for the United States to clean up the production of electricity, which is still largely done through burning coal and fossil fuels.

“As architects, we can only set up the building to use electricity; whether that electricity is clean or dirty is really up to the government,” Moelis says. “While much of the grid is dirty right now, within the next 30 years we’re hopeful it will become clean. That’s why it’s imperative that we now to convert our buildings to electric in anticipation of clean electricity. It’s the only hope. We know that burning fossil fuels will never be clean, so we’re hoping hydro and solar and geo and wind get us there.”

Education and marketing play a role as well, and while that might be slow to take effect, enacting stricter codes will help speed up a necessary change. As Koehl puts it, “We know a sustainable future requires contribution from every corner of our industry, so there is real value in bringing this conversation with us to any room we are invited to join.”

Talking about and sharing all the aspects of Passive House as much as possible, whether in person or in print, is another way to keep people informed about its many benefits, she says, as Handel continues to work toward being the busiest and biggest multifamily-architecture firm in the world. “We want every client that’s doing a multifamily building to come to us. We’re always striving for that.”

The company is also eager to expand into other geographic markets. While it does a lot of work in New York, Boston, Miami, Florida, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, it’s really looking to push out further to Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, and Houston.

As for milestones, “We do help a lot of developers with feasibility studies and analysis and such,” Moelis adds. “We’re always hoping that the next one comes along.” Handel currently has a senior housing project in the works—another passion for the firm—that is slated to meet Passive House standards.

In the meantime, the company will continue to do what it does best. “What sets us apart? We don’t take no for an answer,” Moelis says. “We’re constantly pushing through barriers and looking for solutions and trying to push the envelope. And we’re actually getting these projects built.”

Although many companies do a lot of research and strive toward greatness, Moelis says Handel is walking the walk. “These places are getting built, and people are living in them,” she says. “We believe we can improve lives through beautiful, innovative, and sustainable architecture. We want to do that through making places healthy and groundbreaking to live.”

The post Beautiful, Innovative, Sustainable<p class="company">Handel Architects</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Although Homestar Inc. was founded in 2002, the company’s roots go back to the mid-90s, when then teenaged Mark Hatfield got a summer job working an eight-hour day installing drywall for $6/hour. “But,” he says, “I’d go home and mow two lawns in two hours and make fifty dollars. I talked to my dad about quitting my job and he agreed that once I had ten lawns, I would be earning more than I was doing drywall and could give my notice. So, I hustled the neighbourhood, got ten lawns, put in my notice—and that was just one day’s work.”

That was only the beginning of Hatfield’s entrepreneurial adventure, as he developed relationships with customers who requested more work around their homes: weeding, taking out trash, cleaning out garages and barns.

“So I diversified, continued my lawn care business, which I named University Venture, got my first truck while I was still in high school, and when I went to Mount Allison University (two hours away in Sackville, NB), I had people at home running my business and I would come on weekends to work.”

In his third year at university, he took an opportunity to sell the business, so when he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2001, he was debt-free and ready to take on the corporate world. Or so he thought.

Making it happen
Hatfield soon realized that working for a large corporation wasn’t for him, and in 2002 his entrepreneurial spirit drew him back to his roots when he founded Homestar Inc. in the Town of Quispamsis. The company is ideally placed to serve the Greater Saint John area, which, in addition to Quispamsis, includes the City of Saint John and 16 municipalities, including the towns of Rothesay, Hampton, and Norton, and the Kennebecasis River Valley area, with a population of over 126,000.

By 2023 Homestar Inc. had grown to include five divisions. There’s the custom-built home division, and Propertystar, a holding company which owns and manages 50 residential and commercial properties, including apartment buildings and shopping malls. Within the last five years, Huff & Puff, (insulation installation); Homestar Building Supplies, (a Castle Building Supplies dealership); Allstar Heating & Cooling; Outlaw Trucking, (with a fleet of 130 vehicles); and Maverick Electrical have all been added, bringing to fruition Hatfield’s vision of a “one-stop shop”.

In addition, Homestar’s reach has extended to New Brunswick’s two other main cities, Fredericton and Moncton, and across the provincial border to the Town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, with a staff of 135 which includes eight project managers.

But none of this happened overnight. Hatfield slowly and patiently grew the company, surrounding himself with good people, while reinvesting profits to offer more services and remain competitive. As the boss, he says he was always the last to get paid, sometimes going for months without pay.

Johnny-on-the-spot
“I started in 2002 as a niche market, taking care of homes whose owners went south for the winter, and I marketed myself through real estate agencies. On closing day, new owners sometimes couldn’t move in because snow was piled up or there was garbage in the driveway, and I told them, ‘I’m Johnny-on-the-spot’ and I’ll be there in one day and have it ready for the movers, he shares.

“That helped me get established and as time went on, I started buying properties and renovating them. In two months I hired my first employee, Geoff Bryson, who is still with me, and we continued to grow the business, doing more renovations and more landscaping.”

Having Bryson, someone Hatfield could trust, as Project Manager, gave him the freedom to explore other avenues and develop his idea of what a one-stop construction business could look like.

“I had talked to people getting renovations done on their homes and according to them, it was a nightmare. The carpenter would blame delays on the electrician, and the electrician would blame it on the plumber, and if the plumber got delayed, it was the crack-filler’s fault. I saw an opportunity to mitigate that and make the work all flow in a logical manner.”

Having assembled a team that could execute renovations smoothly, Hatfield was ready to begin custom home building, which he says was a juggling act if it meant depending on multiple subcontractors.

“Now when we build a home, the only thing we sub-out is the well and kitchen cabinetry. Everything else is in-house: we excavate the property, put in the ICF (insulated concrete form) foundations, and backfill. We frame and sheathe it, put in the roof, windows and doors, siding, decking, and fencing. We have our own electrical division, plumbing division, drywallers, interior finishers; everything is done in-house, including the interior design.”

David MacMorrough, Project Manager for Homestar’s custom homes (with interiors designed by Sarah Dorcas), notes that they’re built to R2000 standards, come with a 10-year Atlantic Home Warranty, and for two consecutive years have received the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association New Brunswick’s “Best New Home Award”, based on quality, design, and uniqueness.

Hatfield describes MacMorrough as “one of our safety gurus. We had a culture change about eight years ago where we got into being safety focused and worked with keen individuals from WorkSafeNB [please confirm] who came into our shop and helped educate our team. We look at them as an asset. We call them with questions or concerns and they appreciate us doing that because they say we’re the only company that does.”

Next-level safety
MacMorrough, who took on the responsibility of getting COR Certification, says he knew how important it was to the continued success of the company. “I always value safety and I want to see every person go home with their lives and all their digits. I don’t ever want to be the person to make a call to a loved one to say a worker was hurt, hospitalized, or worse.

“The commitment to getting certification was a big step for us, and took me a year, as it was extensive, considering the amount of documentation and training through the NB Construction Association to become the COR Prime.

Once I completed that I revised the safety manuals to ensure all our safe work priorities and job procedures were covered. It was quite a workload, in addition to being the full-time project manager, but I was glad to be able to pull it off.”

Very few workers were at all resistant when the new safety protocols were introduced. “I understand that because I’ve been in this industry since 1992 as a carpenter, and we were walking on 12-foot walls without safety harnesses, wearing shorts and no shirts, and it was a free-for-all.

“But I got with the times because as you get older your perspective changes. Now they understand I want them to go home at the end of the day, and that I’m not doing this to be a nag. A life-changing accident can happen in a split-second, and I want them all to be safe.”

Giving back
Hatfield says community service and giving back to the community is important, and that “we’re always looking for good causes to work together as a team.”

The company provides maintenance services to Hestia House in Saint John, a shelter for women fleeing abusive relationships; maintains two dog parks which it built in Quispamsis and Hampton; works with the Canadian Peace Keepers’ Association to provide storage space at no cost for their equipment—beds, canes, walkers; sponsors baseball and hockey teams; and raises funds for the Saint John Food Bank. Every few weeks the Homestar team gets together and makes over 300 sandwiches, with the food supplied by the company.

One thing which concerns Hatfield about the future of the construction industry (something that company owners across the continent have spoken of to this publication) is an education system that devalues trades, resulting not only in a workforce shortage for companies but often wrong life choices and missed choices for everyone.

“I wouldn’t have thought it possible if someone had told me years ago that there would be a lack of talented, skilled trades along with increasing demands in the industry. But now we’re seeing it,” he says.

“I grew up in an era when going to a trade school was not seriously considered, and you were frowned upon if you didn’t go to university. I look back on it now and I wish I had gone to a trade school. University did prepare me for certain things, but a trade school would have been better. What parents and academic educators don’t understand is that tradespeople can make a very good income—between $80,000 to $100,000, plus they get paid while they’re apprenticing.”

“Better than me”
“I was always mechanically inclined,” Hatfield says, “but from the start, I looked to hire people who could do it better than me and I think that’s where my success comes from. I surround myself with great people, people I trust and rely on, and they give me the freedom to look for new ideas and opportunities and take care of everything behind me while I’m looking ahead.”

Another secret of Homestar’s success is the partnerships he’s formed with companies such as Castle Building Supplies which offers superior products nationally, and the architectural firm Polyline Designs based in Sussex.

“We want to partner with companies that stand behind their products and stand the test of time,” he says, “just as we stand behind our company. Homestar is still a young company and I’m only 44 years old. I still have another 25 years of growing the company and I want those people and companies with me.”

The post From Mowing Lawns to Full-Service Construction<p class="company">Homestar Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Typical projects include jobs for the state of New Hampshire, hospitals, schools, and large housing projects. The close-knit team maintains ongoing relationships with these clients, often earning repeat work.

After featuring the company in 2020, we caught up with Mr. Hiltz this month to learn the latest news and developments. “We’ve expanded our aggregate division quite a bit,” he says. “We’ve probably doubled it in size and volume. We started making new products and advertising it more, and it’s really taken off. The demand for our products has been quite high because we’ve focused on making a real high-quality aggregate.”

The company has also invested in new equipment, increasing the fleet substantially. Over the last twelve months, it purchased eight total pieces of Hitachi equipment from Chappell Tractor. “There are many good manufacturers of heavy equipment,” Hiltz says. “The difference is the support and service we get from Chappell.”

He explains that this service stands out among the competition particularly because Chappell Tractor continues, through challenging times within the industry, to have the personnel and resources to provide the necessary support. In fact, after many years working together, “Chappell Tractor has risen even higher than before; they were already at top level,” he says. “For instance, if I called another dealer [because] I had a machine down, they might tell me it would be three weeks before they can fix us. Chappell is out there that same day, and if they can’t fix us, they’ll bring us a machine to run or to use until they can get us up and running.”

This support is more important than ever in light of recent workforce challenges, which add pressure to adopt advanced technology that, in turn, requires skilled service. “We have equipped skid steers, excavators, and bulldozers with full 3D automation,” says Hiltz. “With the diminished workforce, technology is a must to maintain high levels of production and quality.”

The team has been collaborating with outside businesses with increasing frequency and tangible, positive results. “Collaborating with other companies is more crucial now than ever before,” he says. “We used to self-perform almost everything, and now we look to our subcontractors and vendors who specialize in certain tasks to help us maintain our aggressive schedules and quality work.”

For example, the team outsources 3D model building for project layout and machine guidance. “The 3D model building, we don’t do in-house,” Hiltz says. “Model building is an exercise in which you create a surface so that you can go out and do your layout. You can load your machine with the model, so you can build it with automation, and we sub that out to a company where that’s all they do. So instead of trying to take that task on in-house, once we get a contract, we send these plans over to them and they build the models for us.”

Another company handles safety assessments of each job site. “They do bi-monthly inspections of the projects and repair facility and help us stay safe and legal,” he says. Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. also outsources IT, as well as stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) permitting and inspections. “All our field inspections for the SWPPP, we sub out,” he says, “and it saves another step for our superintendents.”

When considering the future, workforce shortages will very likely remain a challenge industry-wide. “I anticipate we will not maintain the size we are for much longer due to the labor shortage and the younger generation’s lack of interest in the trades,” Hiltz shares. “We are unwilling to compromise our standards, and as a result, we are prepared to size the company around the number of exceptional employees we can retain and hire. The industry, as a whole, is struggling to find employees. Finding qualified talent is all but impossible.”

The team will continue to rely on the latest technology to offset the lack of workers. “Thankfully, we have embraced technology to fill the void and have accepted our destiny with the workforce,” he says.

While new employees may be in short supply, the company enjoys the support and loyalty of its existing people. “Brian Veazy has moved into our lead project manager role and is doing a great job,” Hiltz says. “We are excited to watch the younger generation step up and excel within our company. We have a new office manager, Kathleen Smith, who came on board a year ago. She brings with her over twenty years of experience in the industry and has our office running smoothly. Her attitude and dedication are exceptional and much appreciated.”

Many employees have stayed with the company long-term, sometimes for decades. Karen Nichols, responsible for office administration, human resources, and safety, has worked here for twenty-six years. Leo Robitaille retired from the company after nineteen years. Tom Lyford and Tracy Fellows have been here for 20 years and counting. Superintendent Jason Hughes has worked for the business for seventeen years. Steve Garland had such a good experience working for Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. that he returned after retiring.

Even when employees leave to pursue other opportunities, they maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the company. For example, Will Hess, once General Manager, launched his own successful engineering and consulting company. “He still works with us regularly as we contract his firm to assist in many tasks,” Hiltz says.

Jeremy’s son, Colby, has come on board full-time and is proving to be an integral part of the company’s future. “He has become a vital part of our operation,” he says. “He is an accomplished equipment operator and has become proficient with GPS layout and equipment automation.” He has a commercial class A driver’s license and is currently studying for his septic designers and installer license. “Last Fall he attended a road builder class hosted by Caterpillar in Illinois and is always eager to learn new things,” Hiltz adds. “Looking ahead, we will be focusing on estimating and project management. The final goal will be to have Colby run the company one day.”

Having Colby move into that leadership position will fulfill his father’s dream and benefit the company as a whole. “It is important to carry on a family legacy, and it’s also very important that we maintain the company much like it it’s always been so we’re here for the employees,” he says. “We want [them] to continue to be able to work in an environment that they’re used to.”

Armed with a twenty-seven-year track record of success, the latest technology and equipment, a supportive team, and a promising successor, Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc. is well prepared for the years ahead. “The future of the company looks promising,” Hiltz summarizes.

The post Continued Success in the Granite State<p class="company">Jeremy Hiltz Excavating Inc.</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.