US DEVELOPERS JOURNAL Winter 2010 Edition ii www.usdevelopersjournal.com Drilling to a Greener Future RIC-MAN CONSTRUCTION INC. From Shovel to Success H.A. DORSTEN INC. Working with Precious Mettle Juba Aluminum Products Company, Inc. T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R C O N S T R U C T I O N E X E C U T I V E S
American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) 65 Erecting the Mid-Atlantic Structural Skeletons Steel Fab Enterprises LLC 68 Energized by the Winds of Changing Industry OlsenBeal Associates 70 Equipped to Meet All Customer Needs G&G Steel, Inc. 73 Steeled for What the Future Brings Capitol Steel and Iron LLC 75 One Woman s Success Cundiff Steel Fabricators and Erectors 78 Forty Years of Fabrication Steel West Incorporated Focus on Geography Northeast 104 Excelling at Home and Abroad Lessard Group 107 Repeated Success in Charm City Concord Associates Inc. 109 Bridging the Public-Private Gap C.H. & D. Enterprises Inc. 34 Spotlights 82 Disaster Relief is its Middle Name Repairs Unlimited Inc. 85 Opening Lines of Communication Advanced Network Services LLC 88 Half a Century of Progress Doherty Steel, Inc. 91 Working with Precious Mettle Juba Aluminum Products Company, Inc. 96 Expanding a Close-knit Business Malone s Mechanical, Inc. 100 Building a Sustainable Future Perkins + Will 91 5
Spotlight Disaster Relief is its Middle Name Repairs Unlimited Inc. Produced by Neal Russo & Written by Molly Cohen There s no place like home until disaster strikes be it manmade or courtesy of Mother Nature. When a home or business is damaged, owners need a dependable and honest company to turn to for help. Home damage repair can be an especially emotional period, but dealing with a sensitive company helps ease the process. As one of the 100 largest remodelers in the nation since 1999, Repairs Unlimited Inc. (RUI) understands the burden of disaster-induced restoration, and uses its experience to best serve every client. RUI focuses its work on fire, storm and water damage restoration for residential and commercial buildings, but also is adept at regular remodels and additions. Serving the Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kan., and Denver, Colo. areas, the company s strengths have been put to the test and repeatedly proven during its 11-year reign as a top restoration firm. Promising Service RUI founders Emory F. Jigger James III and Stephen B. Galey formed a friendship in high school. But it was not until 1986 that the two went into business together. Originally, RUI was a one-stop shop for all home repair needs. The plan was to house every form of certified craftsman under one roof. That way, if an owner was doing any sort of repair, he or she need only call one company instead of coordinating work between contracting firms. No matter how large or small the job, RUI had the people in place to handle it. 82 US Developers Journal Winter Edition II 2010
Two years later, the partners restructured the company from general residential handymen to fire, water and storm damage restoration, emphasizing client service and efficiency. These new tactics led to a steady increase in revenue each year. In 1999 RUI opened its satellite operation in the Denver area. Now the company has 23 employees and annual revenues of $10 million. RUI is the preferred repair choice of several major insurance companies, keeping its relationships positive by delivering timely, on-budget quality service. As part of its commitment to outstanding service, RUI guarantees a 24-hour response period, something that owners and insurance companies dealing with damage appreciate. RUI s solid reputation and its ability to deal handily with red-tape bureaucracy have also led to new opportunities building for the U.S. government. out of your house. Hoses, water. Axes and pry bars. The smoke. The smell of burnt wood. And all we can do is stand there, watching. But you have no idea really about what s going on inside. The firemen couldn t stop to talk. They had a job to do, and quite frankly, I didn t want to get in their way. But you just feel... helpless. You really don t know what to do except call your insurance agent. Even though my insurance agent was there for me, there really wasn t much he could do, Steve continues. I had a business to run, my family to take care of, including my Fired up Lately RUI s big-ticket projects have been in large residential fire-loss remodeling. One in particular stands out as representative of how the company takes care of its customers and how it tries to do business every day. In 1896, William Rockhill Nelson, founder of the Kansas City Star newspaper, built a 4500-square foot country retreat on 1,800 acres about 30 miles east of Kansas City in what is now Grain Valley, Miss. In 1989, Steve and Debbie Gildehaus purchased the home and began their process of resurrection and expansion. By June of 2009, the now 20,000-square foot home was virtually complete, lacking only the selection and installation of two chandeliers in the formal dining room. On Thursday, June 18, 2009, while Steve was at work and Debbie and their 13-year-old son were away, an electrical fire started in an upstairs storage area. The cause appeared to be a small animal chewing on an exposed wire. It might have been the family s pet rabbit. Nobody will ever know for sure. Firefighters arrived about 3 p.m. and worked tirelessly to extinguish the fire and make sure it didn t restart in some remote part of the house. Steve and his family arrived on the scene by 3:30 p.m. and stood on the front lawn of their home for the next four hours watching what they were sure was the virtual destruction of what had taken them 20 years to build. It s devastating, he said. Watching firefighters run in and wife s mother, who was living with us. It would take a while for the insurance adjuster to arrive and begin his process but until then nothing was happening. It seemed all I could really do was look at what was in front of me every day and imagine the electrical, the plumbing, the carpet, the drywall, the flooring and carpeting, the custom finishes we d worked so hard to find or create. We didn t have any clean clothes. We didn t even have a toothbrush. And nothing was happening. Frustrated? I was about to explode. On Monday, on the advice of a friend, he called Repairs Unlimited. He realized that regardless of his insurance company, he had to get his home buttoned up against the elements. Regardless of his experience in designing and expanding his home, he couldn t drop everything else in his life, including his business, and take on the job that loomed over him like a blackened heap. And no matter how committed he was, he needed someone to start getting a handle on the clean up and restoration process immediately. 83
Spotlight Steve, we re taking over your problem. That s what we do. I remember I called Jigger that Monday morning, and he and Todd Wertz were at my house early in the afternoon, recalls Steve. They had an emergency crew on site and working to secure my house in less than 24 hours. They had full crews sorting furniture and belongings and starting demo within 48 hours. They ve been absolutely fabulous from the day they walked on the site. Understanding that the company is not just dealing with the physical damage caused by such a disaster, Repairs Unlimited is extremely sensitive to the human needs of their customers, which is something others might not bring to the table. Although insurance restoration is the company s main focus, RUI and its well-rounded half-dozen project managers still serve clients who are looking for a traditional remodel or expansion. Some of RUI s recent non-disaster projects include creating a solution to a low lighting problem in a home basement, expanding a dining and kitchen area in a residence, removing a wall to create a more open living area, and updating an out-of-date kitchen. Providing comprehensive services has benefitted both the clients and the company. So far, RUI has avoided most of the economic problems many firms in the general construction industry are currently facing. With its multi-faceted services and vast experience in the disaster-focused niche, RUI stays out of harm s way. As we begin sorting through the damage, James says, we understand all of these belongings aren t just stuff. They re the physical evidence of people s lives. That s why we approach every phase of the project and every item we encounter with respect, and the understanding that what we do and how we do it will have an impact on their lives. As Repairs Unlimited is fond of saying, it s just the way it does business every day. 84 US Developers Journal Winter Edition II 2010