Program teaches the math, science and craft of building trades
A long-time math and science teacher who put himself through college by working construction and still operates a small home-improvement business, Jason Smith describes his current job as a perfect marriage. Smith is the construction trades instructor at Milford Mill Academy.
Four years ago, he joined the staff with a mission to rebuild the flagging trades program. He revamped the curriculum, acquired new tools and, last year, secured a $2,000 grant from the BC&E Foundation.
The result, Smith said, is 100 percent of his graduates to date have earned OSHA 10 and NCCER CORE certifications, several have entered careers in construction trades and some are HVAC apprentices.
The three-year program engages and supports students in multiple ways. Students spend a foundational year learning basic construction skills and earning their OSHA 10, and then spend one semester each focusing on four construction trades – carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.
Those focused semesters expose students to the history of the trade, major trade terms, unique safety considerations, unique tools of that trade and a hands-on project.
With the BC&E Foundation grant, students in the plumbing semester constructed two, elevated, 10-foot by 10-foot bathrooms, and installed complete plumbing and electrical components.
“One bathroom had a shower, the other had a bathtub and they both had working toilets and sinks,” Smith said. “We used copper, PEX and CPVC so they got a little bit of experience with each of those types of supply lines. We hooked up a garden hose to pressurize the systems and the bathrooms were fully functional. They all drained and filled.”
Projects in other semesters have included building a studded wall and installing 11 electrical stations with different configurations, turning 16-gauge sheet metal into ductwork and then transforming that ductwork into toolboxes for the students, building dog houses and, due to community requests, chicken coups.
The program teaches soft skills students will require in the workplace. It also teaches a lot of industry-specific math and science.
“Because of my background, I relate a lot of things in class to the science behind them,” Smith said. “We talk about chemical reactions in concrete mixes, thermodynamics in HVAC, electrons in the electrical unit, and there is a lot of time spent on math. To get their certification, students have to complete a huge amount of math and it is definitely the thing they struggle with the most. So, I talk about that from day one. I start preparing them for that test and give them math homework throughout the year.”
Clark program builds small business capacity
Earlier this fall, a new cohort of leaders of small, minority-, women- and veteran-owned firms in Baltimore began an intensive, eight-month, free, business education program through Clark Construction.
Clark’s Strategic Partnership Program (SPP) provides small business leaders in construction, architecture, engineering and related fields with instruction on vital topics within the construction cycle from bonding to estimating and scheduling to jobsite safety. The program then challenges them to complete a capstone project based on that curriculum.
Shatoya Williams — Community Affairs Manager for Clark’s Baltimore office, leader of the Baltimore SPP and a former university professor — says SPP provides participants with vital, current industry information, access to a roster of subject matter experts within Clark and a high-quality learning experience.
“This program resembles the format of higher education, but without the pressure and without the price,” Williams said. “We call it an executive-MBA-style course.”
Clark Construction launched the program in 2006 and has since expanded it to 10 markets (including Baltimore four years ago). It conducts annual reviews to ensure the curriculum remains current, relevant and important to small businesses, and reflects any changes in technologies or business practices within the construction industry, said Javid Aboutorabi, who leads SPP nationally.
SPP’s goal is to build the capacity of small companies and, consequently, prepare them to complete work for Clark or other companies.
“We spend a significant amount of time throughout the progression of the course talking about how to connect with Clark,” Aboutorabi said. “Participants meet with different subject matter experts within the organization and get connected with estimators, project managers and other executives. Toward the end of the semester and post-graduation, we spend time talking with them one-on-one about whether they are in a position to bid work to Clark or if there is a two- or three-year growth plan to put them in that position. We have ongoing communication with them for months and years so that we can position them to bid work.”
SPP leaders and alumni also remain in contact long after graduation, providing advice on business issues, leads on contract opportunities and industry connections.
To date, SPP has graduated more than 1,600 business leaders who have been awarded contracts totaling more than $1.5 billion with Clark. Clark has pledged to award $2.58 billion in subcontracting opportunities to SPP graduates by 2031.
Clark, however, is not the only source of heightened business opportunities for SPP graduates.
Alumni often team up to jointly pursue contracts they are not ready to tackle individually, Williams said.
In addition, the business skills that SPP participants gain equip them to successfully compete for work from a variety of companies. Williams points to a small Baltimore general contractor who completed the SPP program in Bethesda before the Baltimore program began. That company went on to land work with Johns Hopkins, CFG Bank Arena and Baltimore Peninsula.
Project Profile: Carroll County Career and Technology Center
From completely replacing MEP systems throughout an active school to installing automobile lifts and vertical band saws to preserving practice space for a marching band, the Carroll County Career and Technology Center (CCCTC) project included a dizzying array of requirements.
The $74 million project by the Carroll County Public School District was designed by Hord Coplan Macht Architects, to transform an overcrowded, 1971 school into a modern training center for 24 career programs, ranging from biomedical science, culinary arts and interactive media production to heavy equipment technology, collision repair, mechanical engineering, electrical construction, welding, HVAC and carpentry.
“This project involved installing a lot of specialized equipment,” said Brian Wood, Project Manager for Gilbane.
Crews had to install more than two dozen automotive lifts, large lathes and laser engravers, CNC machines, extensive welding hoods, a full commercial kitchen, medical equipment and a heavy-duty crane, capable of lifting 100 tons.
“There was a lot of heavy equipment that had to be rigged into place, including a six-color printing press that had to be rigged up the second floor,” said Ellen Becker, Project Manager for Carroll County Schools.
Furthermore, the project had to be completed while the school remained fully operational.
After completing extensive relocation of utilities onsite, crews constructed a 98,000-square-foot addition, then dug into a complex, phased renovation of existing school space.
“It was like a chess game,” Becker said.
For each phase, crews systematically relocated select trades programs, renovated their space and moved them back in. In the process, they also built out two additions, totaling more than 18,000 square feet, to provide expanded facilities to the heavy equipment, masonry and carpentry programs.
They also executed a complete, phased replacement of the school’s MEP systems.
“That took a lot of coordination, a lot of investigation to ensure that you weren’t cutting AC to an adjacent classroom that was active,” Becker said.
Crews had to contend with scattered, original electrical panels that fed unexpected circuits, redesign some mechanical equipment that wouldn’t fit within the roof structure, and ensure that MEP work didn’t impair operations of the school’s public address or telecommunication systems.
Civil engineering and site work for the project weren’t overly complicated, but still presented some challenges, said Steve McCalmont, Principal with MK Consulting Engineers.
To contain costs, the team kept the project footprint small and satisfied expanded stormwater management requirements with a single pond, said McCalmont, who was a 1977 graduate of the CCCTC drafting program.
The team also successfully tackled two unusual requirements.
First, “the city of Westminster has very strict water allocation limitations,” he said. “Because we were adding facilities, there was a water allocation balance that had to be worked out. We ended up putting in water saving fixtures in the Career and Tech Center that offset the increased usage to allow the city to permit the project to move forward.”
Second, the team satisfied a unique need for the parking lot located between CCCTC and the adjacent high school.
“The high school needed that parking lot to be maintained with minimal islands because they use that lot for their marching band practices,” McCalmont said. “It was a challenge, but we worked out how to preserve a nice, big, flat area for band practice. You have to accommodate everyone.”
Retiring builders, private equity fuel M&A activity
From Penza Bailey Architects to WBCM to Bunting Door & Hardware, various BC&E member companies have been parties in merger-and-acquisition (M&A) deals in recent years. And the pace of those deals seems to be increasing.
Market watchers say several factors are driving heightened M&A activity in the construction industry: growing private equity interest in the sector, the drive to create more robust and profitable companies through expansion, and a growing number of business owners looking to sell and retire.
That has resulted in several BC&E member companies becoming part of larger, dynamic companies.
Penza Bailey Architects became a Studio of Prime AE, an architecture, engineering and construction management company with offices in 23 markets across the country. This summer, Bunting Door & Hardware was acquired by The Cook & Boardman Group, a leading national distributor of commercial entry solutions and integrated security systems. Earlier this year, the consulting engineering firm WBCM was acquired by TranSystems – a firm that specializes in planning, designing and building transportation systems and other infrastructure. In turn, TranSystems was just acquired this summer by Gannett Fleming, creating a $1.3 billion firm with more than 5,000 employees.
Negotiating and executing M&A deals is rarely a pain-free experience. But a successful deal can generate robust benefits for buyers and sellers.
SteelFab’s acquisition of Baltimore Fabrication spurred rapid growth for the Maryland firm, both in sales revenue and production capacity.
“Prior to our acquisition by SteelFab, we had to organically grow our infrastructure,” said Scott Foreman, Executive Vice President of Baltimore Fabrication. “If the team sold a large job, we would have to fund equipment and resources with our own cash flow which was always a struggle. Having the financial support of SteelFab allowed us to climb a couple of rungs of the ladder, even skip a couple of rungs. If we sold a $10 million job and needed a $1 million piece of equipment, as long as the financials made sense, we could get that equipment. That catapulted us forward.”
That situation enabled Baltimore Fabrication to move into bigger quarters, invest in robotics and other major equipment, and expand its workforce.
The average size of its miscellaneous metals contracts grew from about $250,000 previously to nearly $3 million currently, said Mark Rich, President.
For both Baltimore Fabrication and SteelFab, the acquisition delivered one other competitive edge.
“The customer would prefer to have a sole-source contract when it comes to metals. By partnering with SteelFab, we could offer a turnkey package of structural steel, miscellaneous metals and ornamental metals,” Rich said.
“This was really eye-opening to me,” said Chris Gregory, Executive Vice President of SteelFab. “I realized we could really set ourselves apart by offering this package deal. It has allowed us to sell ourselves more on service — more so than focusing on price.”
Gregory, who has participated in multiple acquisitions at SteelFab, and Foreman and Rich, who oversaw Baltimore Fabrication’s acquisition of a York, PA company earlier this year, have all embraced one practice when it comes to integrating the acquired company into their operations.
When working with the acquired staff, “you try to couple any change that would cause discomfort, like policies that push people outside of their comfort zones, with a change that brings excitement, like a new machine or wage increases,” Foreman said.
To meet its long-term growth goals, Bala Consulting Engineers Inc. has completed has completed four acquisitions to date.
“We are always open to acquisitions and there are a lot of smaller companies that are looking to be acquired for succession-planning reasons,” said CEO Kimberly Burkert.
Bala seeks out companies that have similar values and culture, a desirable geographic location, expertise that could expand Bala’s service offerings, and impressive talent. The deals, Burkert said, enable Bala and the acquired companies to offer a broader range of services and streamline their business processes and expenses by combining back-office operations.
Some acquisitions open doors to work in new locations or with sought-after clients. For example, Bala’s acquisition of Spears Votta and Associates enabled the company to partner with major architecture firms in Baltimore that do work nationwide, she said.
To facilitate that ongoing process, Bala has assembled a strong acquisitions team, including representatives of every Bala department and accountants and lawyers who specialize in M&A. It has developed checklists covering every step of the process.
On the surface, all that M&A activity presents interesting opportunities to company owners looking to sell.
“Private equity has been getting more and more traction over the last couple of years in the construction industry,” said Mike Gentry, Director at KatzAbosch. “Private equity is definitely interested in any company that has recurring service work. They love that revenue model. So, we have seen some plumbing companies acquired recently, some home renovation companies and some electrical contractors.”
But that doesn’t mean company owners can coast to a lucrative sale.
“This is a painful process,” said Chad Prinkey, CEO of Well Built Construction Consulting.
To begin, “your company is not worth anything close to what you think it is,” Prinkey said “And just like anything with supply and demand, the more companies that are exiting, the more options there are for buyer, the worse your valuation gets.”
“Some owners have their own valuation done ahead of time to know what they are potentially worth and ensure that they are getting the right deal,” Gentry said. “This might be money well spent. Owners always think their business is worth more than it is, so valuations can be disappointing. It is better to get that emotion out of the way up front rather than getting mad at a potential buyer for offering a price you think is way too low.”
Furthermore, “selling your company does not necessarily mean you can retire,” Prinkey said. “I have a lot of uncomfortable conversations with owners who say they’re not ready to sell because they don’t want to hang it up for another five years. Guess what. If you want to hang it up in five years, you want to sell today. When you sell, the terms will likely require you to stay on five years. You don’t get to just hand over the keys.”
The due diligence involved in selling a company is intense and shocking to many owners. Consequently, experts recommend owners begin compiling all their due diligence materials a full year before they plan to consider a sale.
Owners also need to carefully assess the financials of a sale, Gentry cautioned. Owners need to determine if the sale will be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains and realize that the tax will apply to the full sales price, regardless of how much debt the company is carrying. For example, a company with $500,000 in debt sells for $1 million. Under that deal, the departing owner would have to both pay off the $500,000 debt and pay taxes on $1 million in income.
Prinkey urges owners to make even longer-term preparations for an eventual sale.
“Start running your business like you are getting ready to retire way sooner than seems reasonable,” he said.
To facilitate a lucrative sale and set the groundwork for an easy exit, owners need to develop their staff to successfully run the business without them.
“Trust your people, empower your people and see what they can do. You need to start getting the ball out of your hands and into theirs,” Prinkey said. “That will put in you a position where you have options on when to depart and you will get dramatically better valuations. What a company is worth if you have done really well and are highly prepared dwarfs what your company is worth if you are stumbling into a situation where you need out.”
BC&E welcomes eight new members
Adashmore Creative is a Fractional CMO firm focused on B2B manufacturing and construction. Adashmore guides clients’ marketing efforts by developing communications strategies and overseeing implementation. www.adashmorecreative.com
Capital Bank is a full-service commercial bank dedicated to helping small- to mid-sized businesses thrive and supporting communities in DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. www.capitalbankmd.com
Based in Sykesville, Global Mechanical is a leading MBE mechanical contractor specializing in installing and servicing mid- to large-scale building and apartment building HVAC and electrical systems. www.globalmechanical.biz
Singer Damareck Real Estate is a commercial real estate brokerage, working with tenants and solving problems when they have issues with the real estate they’re using to run their businesses. www.singerdamareck.com
Smith Mechanical is a mechanical services provider, working directly with owners, builders and end users from design through construction and maintenance. With 45 years of experience, Smith Mechanical helps clients better plan, build and manage all plumbing and HVAC systems. www.smithmech.com
Trade Scouts is a multi-media, employment hiring platform. Employers can promote their companies and post job openings while job seekers can post credentials and apply for positions. www.tradescouts.com
WBCM Construction Services is a contracting and project management firm, providing a full range of services from preconstruction to full design-build, turnkey services, large-scale construction management, general contracting, and expert consulting. www.wbcmconstruction.com
Wright Constable & Skeen is a full-service law firm representing individuals and businesses in transactional and litigation matters, including construction law, business law, employment and labor law, estates and trusts, family law, real estate law, and surety and fidelity law. www.wcslaw.com
Agents of Change: Teams repurpose underused buildings
In November, the first renters will move into the Stehli Silk Mill and begin a dramatically different era for the 127-year-old structure.
The Lofts at Stehli Silk Mill in Lancaster, PA will include 165 apartments that feature 14-foot ceilings, oversized windows, modern interiors, and four-inch-thick, hardwood floors that still show marks made by massive milling and weaving equipment. The 250,000-square-foot complex will include an array of tenant amenities plus 20,000 square feet of boutique fitness, retail, and restaurant space.
To complete the transformation, CAM Construction had to repair extensive damage that occurred when a previous owner removed large sections of the 900-foot-long roof without imminent replacement and allowed hundreds of windows to be broken, leaving the building exposed to the elements.
The building, naturally, needed complete, new utility services and MEP systems. The property – which included railway tracks, crumbling pavement and the relics of a boiler plant – had never included any stormwater management or erosion-control measures. Consequently, CAM had to clear and regrade the 11-acre site.
Yet CAM Construction and other companies relish the distinctive challenges of repurposing properties. Conversion projects require expertise in creating unique architectural and engineering designs, overcoming the inevitable litany of unforeseen field conditions, completing bespoke construction requirements, and navigating a maze of permitting requirements. Yet those conversions enable properties — whether they are grand, historic buildings or commonplace, disused ones — to become entirely different and desirable spaces.
Creating workforce housing
CAM Construction is also currently preparing to transform the former Dunbar Elementary School Annex in east Baltimore into Caroline Street Lofts. The four-story building includes many qualities that make it attractive for a residential conversion.
“It has a lot of nice, interior features,” said Angelo Munafo, Vice President of Real Estate Development. “There are really cool, glazed brick wall assemblies in the corridors and stair towers. There are beautiful terrazzo floors that are indestructible. We have 14-foot ceilings and almost a continuous wall of windows on both north and south elevations of the building.”
Furthermore, the location bordering Johns Hopkins Hospital makes the property ideal for workforce housing.
But that’s not to say the transformation is easy. At the beginning of the project, CAM had to remove nearly 60 dumpster loads of trash.
“People had raided the building and removed all the copper,” Munafo said. “They ended up ripping off some of the asbestos pipe insulation, so we had to identify all of that and properly abate the material.”
And the company is currently developing a fix for the challenge in the basement. It regularly has a few inches of water on the floor, stemming from both the high water table in the area and a leaking, city water line.
CAM Construction, however, has built expertise in navigating the distinct challenges of historic conversions, Munafo said. Its best practices include partnering with architects and engineers to develop efficient, cost-effective designs and developing deep knowledge of the different codes that apply to different types of properties and conversions, and how different preservation and permitting authorities interpret those codes.
CAM also self-performs significant, unplanned work on its conversion projects.
“Accomplishing this unique work requires not only experience, but also much creativity and ingenuity. These projects require substantial manpower to fill in the gaps between trades which you don’t encounter on new construction or even simpler renovations,” he said. “There are a lot of items that CAM will self-perform to control costs and execution quality, and avoid getting hit with heavy change orders from subcontractors. At Stehli Silk Mill, our team ended up completing an endless list of skilled tasks, ranging from structural wood beam and decking replacement, salvaging and repurposing native materials, miscellaneous brick infills and openings, installing 850-plus historically accurate windows, and painting various existing steel features to accent and preserve them.”
Office-to-lab conversions
On a pair of newer buildings in Rockville, Plano-Coudon Construction has been completing a series of conversions to address changing needs for commercial space.
Demand for office space in the four-decades-old buildings had dropped, so owners opted to transform some empty offices into spec laboratories.
The labs which range between 3,000 and 9,000 square feet each, include basic services (not medical gas). One lab includes space for a future, GMP (good manufacturing practices) facility, such as a clean room.
“There’s not a lot we have to do with that space other than clearing it out, giving them the highest ceiling possible and connections to heat, power and water,” said Merissa Detwiler, Senior Project Manager. Blank GMP space “seems to be gaining in popularity and becoming a more frequent request from tenants. They want space that is compatible with putting in a pre-manufactured, clean-room box.”
Simple designs, however, don’t guarantee simple construction projects.
One building, formerly fully occupied by Comcast, contained a large amount of low-voltage cabling as well as a first-floor server room still occupied by Comcast. Crews had to carefully work around that equipment, especially during the installation of two new DOAS units.
“That’s a lot of really sensitive equipment so we had to work with the design team to figure out different ways to run the ductwork,” said Matthew Groce, Project Engineer. “We didn’t want to trigger an outage.”
In the second building, the project team had to align its work to avoid any disruption to the operations of another tenant – a surgical center.
The relatively modern buildings still presented some challenging field conditions.
“A lot of walls didn’t have framing that went all the way up to the deck. Some stopped a little above the ceiling and were held in place by the ceiling grid itself,” Groce said.
Since the project included replacing the ceiling, crews also had to replace those non-standard walls.
“The steel was definitely one of the bigger challenges we had,” Detwiler said. “The design for one project included adding supports for new roof screen steel located at each end of the building. The new steel penetrated the roof to be supported off existing joists. However, because of how the existing joists were constructed, it wasn’t an easy fit. There was a lot of reworking the new steel, a lot of coordination with the engineers, a lot of extra time. There were situations where we had to add a support because there was no joist in place or there was a piece of existing HVAC equipment that couldn’t be relocated so we almost had to put a steel bridge overtop.”
The unique challenges that arise during conversion projects “make it really important for clients to pick a contractor who has done this kind of work previously and really understands how to deal with unexpected conditions as they arise,” said Lisa Tenley, Vice President at Plano-Coudon.
The company has also expanded its collaboration between pre-construction and project management on conversion projects.
“After the first spec lab project, we met and went through all the lessons learned and things that we need to account for in that type of project,” Detwiler said. “We worked with precon to make sure we have allowances with the client to accommodate things that come up so it doesn’t hurt the client’s numbers or ours.”
Building community
Occasionally, a conversion project aims to make a marked difference in a community.
Following the 2015 unrest over the death of Freddie Gray, Tim Regan, CEO of The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, and Calvin Butler, then CEO of BGE, initiated plans to transform the vacant Target store at Mondawmin Mall into a community empowerment center.
“The project as a whole presented a major challenge, as it involved managing several concurrent sub-projects,” said Douglas Townsley, CEO of DEL Electric.
For DEL, those projects included the gutting of the Target store as well as construction of a Whiting-Turner conference center onsite, offices for CareFirst, and the Touch Point Empowerment Center (a community meeting space and entrepreneurial support center).
The work needed to be organized to avoid disrupting the operations of existing tenants in the mall or impeding access by workers and shoppers.
“Additionally, the entire face of the building in the renovation area was removed which involved additional coordination to keep all systems operational,” including electrical and telecommunications connections and power to exterior and emergency lighting, Townsley said.
Fortunately, DEL’s Director of Project Management, Scott Cluster, had worked on the original construction of the store in 2007 and had insights into what the project would entail. The project team, however, still had to grapple with one formidable condition.
“The biggest challenge was trying to bring a distribution into the existing facility,” Cluster said. “On the backside of that facility, there is a significant grade difference. We had to do an excavation inside that building that was 13 to 15 feet deep to be able to get down to the level needed to bring the infrastructure into that building and up. The biggest concern was maintaining safety for everyone and preventing anyone from ending up in a precarious situation.”
The result, however, was worth the effort, Cluster said. “That whole project is geared towards helping the community. Knowing what this building is about gave DEL and our team a real sense of pride completing this project.”
Built to Move: Trends drive construction of athletic facilities
From elite performance facilities and college gymnasiums to pickleball courts and downtown fitness centers, strong demand for athletic facilities is providing contractors with a supply of routine and extraordinary projects.
On the shores of the Chester River, Gipe Associates was tasked with designing the mechanical/electrical building systems in a unique structure — a state-of-the-art, highly sustainable boathouse and training facility.
A goal of the Hodson Boathouse project was to create an elite training facility that would establish Washington College as a top Division III destination for first-class rowing and sailing student athletes. The design for the 12,000-square-foot building included an expansive cardio workout room, a 35-seat classroom, team lounge, locker rooms, offices, and a covered, wrap-around, 3,675-square-foot deck.
It also included a feature that Gipe Associates President David Hoffman had never encountered in his more than three decades of engineering experience – a state-of-the-art rowing tank room. Outfitted with a 16-station, 25-foot by 54-foot rowing tank, the room was designed to enable teams to perfect their sweep and practice during inclement weather.
That unique blend of functions within the building combined with the sensitive nature of the riverside site and the client’s sustainability goals compelled Gipe to design an unconventional yet simple mechanical system.
“One key design component was to have the ventilation air separate from the space conditioning air — a decoupled system — so the fresh air and exhaust is a separate unit from the unit that heats and cools the spaces,” Hoffman said.
To achieve sustainability goals and avoid having fossil fuels near the river’s floodplain, Gipe opted to heat and cool the building through a closed-loop geothermal system. The mechanical design also provided a unique, robust solution to the rowing tank room’s dehumidification needs.
“Because it is basically an open tank of water, we looked at the rowing tank area as an indoor pool. So, we utilized a pool dehumidification unit that is a geothermal water-source unit which means it ties into the geothermal system,” Hoffman said. “That makes it extremely unique. We are taking the heat from the dehumidification and dumping it into the ground. Then in the wintertime, that basically becomes free heat that we use to heat the building.”
The building systems also helped achieve the client’s goal of creating a showpiece and gathering space on the river.
“With this building, aesthetics were extremely important and the architect did a beautiful job,” Hoffman said. “Not ruining the aesthetics was the biggest challenge from our perspective. We have the things that are ugly, the things that make noise, the things that vibrate. We had to incorporate those without ruining the architecture on this beautiful, waterfront setting. I think geothermal was a home run in achieving that.”
In a much different environment, DPR Construction has been meeting a current trend in athletic construction and the challenges that come with it.
The drive to attract tenants and employees back to office buildings has prompted many building owners to renovate and repurpose space in order to create extensive amenities, including high-end fitness centers.
At 1801 Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C., DPR created a lavish, Gensler-designed fitness center, complete with workout rooms, extensive equipment, locker rooms, restrooms, sleeping pods and a napping area.
Furthermore, “the level of finishes was uniquely impressive,” said Bill Hahner, Preconstruction Executive at DPR. “Every wall was covered with custom mirrors or back-painted glass. The TVs were all behind mirrors so it looked like a mirror unless the TV was on.”
Other areas were adorned with bronze curtains, he added.
The challenge for DPR was to create that lavish space in a parking garage beneath the building.
“The fitness center was located four stories underground,” Hahner said. “Demolition of the slab-on-grade and lower levels was needed to accommodate the high ceiling heights.”
In addition, “being an underground facility, the only access for materials was down the parking ramp which required unique site logistics to ensure the safety of workers and materials,” he said. “Our teams leveraged laser scanning and VDC models to ensure the design worked within the space.”
Repurposing of other commercial real estate spaces has provided Ruff Roofers with a stream of business.
“I keep coming across all these projects that have pickleball in the description,” said Spencer Jacobs, Vice President of Service.
At least five times in the past year, crews from Ruff Roofers have transformed portions of industrial or flex buildings into pickleball centers, ranging from small amenity spaces to large, athletic centers with more than a dozen courts.
Jacobs said the projects are fairly routine and typically focus on making roof modifications to accommodate additional HVAC equipment required by the pickleball facilities.
Ruff’s more challenging athletic projects tend to involve gymnasiums for K-12 schools and colleges.
Due to the roof span, gymnasiums require robust commercial roofing systems.
“Because schools need these facilities to last a long, long time, we are doing almost a ‘bullet proof’ system,” Jacobs said. “You are doing three or four layers of roofing, not just one, to make sure there are no leaks and make sure the school gets the full term of the roofing system whether that is 15 or 20 or 30 years.”
Delivering that extremely tight system requires special efforts.
“Our biggest concern is always the flooring underneath us,” Jacobs said. “Gymnasium floors are immensely expensive and if a floor gets ruined by a leak, that is a major, major impact.”
So, on every gymnasium project, Ruff assigns an extra supervisor to review site conditions, especially at the beginning and end of each day, to ensure that nothing is left exposed. Ruff also directs extra effort to educating clients about the critical need for regular roof inspections and maintenance.
“Every single system requires regular maintenance, and every manufacturer includes that in their warranty” Jacobs said. “A lot of sealants and caulks only have a five- to 10-year lifespan. You have to be up on the roof every year, making sure all your sealants are in good shape, making sure all your drainage systems are clear. I have seen it thousands of times that a water bottle gets dropped on a roof, washed into a drain, then the drain backs up and sends water into the roof.”
Then every now and again, an athletic job comes along that is anything but routine.
Construction of the Under Armour Track and Field Facility involved a bevy of BC&E member companies: The Whiting Turner Contracting Company, Excell Concrete Construction, Henry J. Knott Masonry, Baltimore Fabrication, Walls and Ceilings, Ariosa and Company, and Live Green Landscape Associates.
Together, the project team created a state-of-the-art, signature facility that includes an eight-lane, 400-meter competition track and seating for 1,400 fans. Its multi-dimensional field is designed to support a range of sports, including regulation high school football as well as NCAA and high school soccer and lacrosse.
Under Armour also plans to use the venue to test its products in the pursuit of new levels of athlete performance. Consequently, the facility is outfitted with leading edge technology that can track and measure athletes’ performance in real time.
The facility also had to blend with the high sustainability standards of Under Armour’s new headquarters on Baltimore Peninsula.
“Our new campus is a physical expression of our brand’s commitment to this community and to our core values – including to act sustainably and love athletes,” said Kathy Blessington, Vice President of Real Estate.
Brave New World: AI gains greater role in construction industry
From reality capture to modeling site development options to searching data lakes for relevant project comparisons, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing bigger and more varied roles inside the construction industry.
During BC&E’s Understanding AI in Construction webinar in August, representatives of construction, design and technology companies discussed the tasks that AI is already performing in the industry, possible impacts of AI on the workforce and best practices for implementing AI in companies.
“AI is no longer a futuristic concept,” said Daniel Audette, Associate, Technology in Practice Specialist with GWWO Architects and moderator for the webinar. “It is here, it is growing rapidly and it is impacting the way we design, build and manage construction projects.”
Those impacts can be seen in multiple functions.
The reality capture technologies at OpenSpace enable a construction worker to put on a hardhat outfitted with a 360 camera, walk a construction site and capture two, 360-degree images per second, said Adam Settino, Senior Manager and Solutions Engineer at OpenSpace. Within 20 minutes, the technology will plot all images to a construction plan, enabling crews to assess as-builts and progress over time.
When he started working on stormwater management and other infrastructure projects, Brett Settles said it would take him two days to generate five options for laying out a site. Using SITEOPS, workers can now complete that task in two hours and generate two million options, said Settles, Product Owner at Allied BIM.
Employees at Harkins Builders today can utilize a large language model (a type of AI) to help compile project bids. They can ask the system to search out all similar projects the company has completed for similar clients and architects, compile data on each project’s financials, and flag the risks presented by such projects, said Patrick Hennessy, Director of Scheduling and Analytics at Harkins.
Successful implementation of AI-enabled technologies, however, is not simply a plug-and-play activity.
Harkins Builders spent about six years optimizing its data management systems within a central, data lake before it was prepared to utilize a large language model. The company is now working on leveraging AI to improve project controls and procedures, especially scheduling.
While technology firms are steadily generating new AI applications for construction, those technologies are still evolving and many are developed by people who do not have construction-industry experience.
Consequently, construction and technology professionals alike say collaborations between those two industries are essential to successful implementation of AI in construction.
“One of the best ways we can understand AI and figure out how it works with our processes is by partnering with product developers,” said Carlos Zuluaga, Virtual Design and Construction Manager, Harkins Builders. “Platforms like OpenSpace, Drone Deploy and others are trying to develop tools. When we provide feedback of actual cases in a jobsite, it really helps them develop a better product.”
“Don’t be afraid to reach out to the software providers that you work with, ask them what they are doing on the AI product side and then ask if you can get involved in Beta testing, in providing feedback,” Hennessy said. “They will absolutely love you and you might even get a discount on your next renewal.”
Providing feedback helps developers better understand builders’ pain points. Sharing data, such as scheduling files on a completed project, helps developers better “train their [AI] models,” Hennessy said.
Successful adaptation of AI-enabled technologies, however, also means addressing changes in the construction workforce.
“There is this dream out there that AI can do everything. No, it can’t,” Zuluaga said.
While AI can quickly assemble and partly analyze data, humans still need to complete a substantial amount of analysis and decision making, he said. But together, the technology and human effort can make company operations more efficient.
“On the design side, my mantra has been AI will not take your job but someone who knows how to use AI will,” Audette said.
In a recent interview, the CEO of LinkedIn “mentioned that generative AI is likely to change most jobs skills by about 60 percent in the next five years,” Hennessy said. “He didn’t say it is going to take 60 percent of jobs away but it is going to change the job skills.”
Consequently, employers will need to help employees adjust to new technology adoption and the automation of some tasks. They will also need to develop plans to divert the time and resources saved through the adoption of AI into other productive tasks.
AI not only presents the prospect of boosting the efficiency and productivity of construction companies, Zuluaga said. It also creates opportunities to expand the construction workforce by recruiting different types of employees. Rather than focusing solely on recruiting engineers, project managers and tradespeople, “maybe we need to hire a data scientist or somebody who has mechanical fabrication knowledge to help with our MEP installations.”
Bringing virtual reality devices, BIM models and other construction technologies to university job fairs is already beginning to attract computer science students to the construction industry, Settles said.
“These are people who didn’t even know that construction had this sort of capability or that they even had a place in this industry,” Settles said. “AI is going to allow companies to keep capacity while they figure out how to bring new people into the industry.”
Grant helps construction students learn 3D printing
In addition to framing roofs, hanging drywall, installing windows and assembling Adirondack chairs, the students in the Kennedy Krieger High School Career and Technology Center’s construction trades program are branching into a new, high-tech activity — 3D printing.
The BC&E Foundation facilitated the addition to the curriculum by awarding a $3,748 grant to Kennedy Krieger last year. The grant helped the school acquire Bambu Lab X1-Carbon Combo 3D printers and a variety of filament.
The school provides individualized education plans and career training in one of five industries to about 175 special education students. Adding 3D printing to the construction curriculum both exposes students to a new technology in the industry and provides them with a richer educational experience, said Lindsay Turwy, Principal.
“Our students sometimes need more visual representation when they are learning some concepts. 3D printing turns 2D designs into something more concrete for them,” Turwy said.
In its grant application, the school explained that a 3D printer would help students better understand details of building design and the impact of design choices.
“For example, when exploring the functionality of floor plans, it can be difficult for students to look at a 2D drawing and identify why a door needs to swing a certain way or why a light plate or electric box should or should not be in particular locations in a room. Being able to turn 2D renderings into 3D models with a printer would give students an opportunity to truly conceptualize and understand the functionality of the direction a door swings or why a light plate might be in a certain location.”
For their first 3D printing assignment, students were directed to leverage their architectural design instruction to sketch out the floor plan of a building then input those designs into a software program that would direct the 3D printer.
The students loved the technology, said Adimu Waters, the school’s construction teacher. “They literally saw their inventions come to life. It was a really interesting merger of construction and technology which is the way the business is moving these days anyway.”
The assignment also delivered an unexpected learning outcome.
“The biggest eye opener for us was the precision that had to go into the design process before the printing could come out the way we wanted it,” Waters said. “If you didn’t connect certain lines exactly right in your design, if the measurements were off at all, you had an issue. There was really no room for error.”
The school envisions additional assignments and uses for the 3D printer. For example, the technology could allow students to craft small components for larger projects.
“Combining woodworking and 3D printing would open the door to a more comprehensive set of crafts and skills,” the grant application said. “The students could support not only their own classroom projects, but also the entire school by crafting iPad stands, pencil holders that attach to desks, or other items adapted to the specific needs of students with disabilities.”
Learning 3D printing technology also creates new career opportunities for graduates, Waters said. Construction trades students learn a wide range of core construction skills as they complete units in roofing, drywall and window installation. Some students go on to pursue careers in construction, but some others lack the physical abilities to do those jobs.
By teaching 3D printing and other technologies, Waters said the school aims to provide students with expanded job opportunities.
Presenting the 2025 BC&E Board Nominees ….
As we approach the new year, it’s time to vote on the 2025 Building Congress & Exchange leadership.
Ballots for the BC&E Board and Executive Committee will be sent out electronically later this month and must be returned by Oct. 22. The new board will be introduced at the Annual Meeting on Dec. 4.
The proposed 2025 Executive Committee is comprised of the following returning members: Ted Bowes of Excell Concrete Construction as President, Jeff Hossfeld of The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company as Vice President; Thomas Koch of Plano-Coudon Construction as Treasurer; Marianne Crampton of MK Consulting Engineers as Secretary, and John Gregg of GWWO Inc. Architects as Member at Large.
After years of valuable service, Jonathan Goetz of Oak Contracting, Fred Marino of Design Collective, and Doug McGinnis of Bunting Door and Hardware Co. will retire from the BC&E Board of Directors at the end of this year.
The returning Board members are: Schyler Bailey, Bowie & Jensen, LLC; Timothy Campbell, Clark Construction Group; Chris Eisenhart, Gray & Son; Rick Kottke, Harkins Builders; Greg Meyer, Wohlsen Construction; Mark Rich, Baltimore Fabrication; R. Nelson Oster, HMS Insurance Associates; and BC&E Past President Michael Martin, Live Green Landscape Associates.
Dennis Walsh of Floors Etc. is on the ballot again to return for a second, three-year term.
The board slate also includes two new people. We asked them to share a little about their work and their lives.
Emily Sales
Senior Associate, Architect
Design Collective
A class assignment in second grade sparked Emily Sales’ interest in architecture. As part of an enrichment program, she was challenged to design her dream home and lay it out in Planview.
“Because you only know what you know, I basically copied my grandparents’ house,” Sales said.
But soon, Sales began tagging along with her mother, a real estate agent, on home tours and appreciating the vast opportunities to design spaces differently.
She completed a BA in Architecture at Lehigh University, a Masters at University of Maryland, then immediately went to work for Design Collective. Since then, she has worked on a wide variety of projects — offices, event spaces, higher education buildings, student housing, multifamily housing and more.
“I am never pigeon-holed into one typology,” Sales said. “I love the variety. It keeps things fresh. But I still enjoy designing spaces where people live.”
What is the most unusual thing you have ever done on a project?
While I was working on a student housing project in Gainsville, Florida, my principal, Luis Bernardo, thought it would be best if we saw some precedents before we started designing, so he took me and our landscape architect on the project, Brian Reetz, to Miami. We snuck into a private and pretty famous housing development by pretending that we were scoping out a future home for my parents. We went there to admire the project, but we ended up being pretty critical of it.
What’s your favorite tool of the trade?
My favorite tool is consultants whether they are contract consultants, product reps, tech support or team members. It is amazing that we can reach out to each other, ask dumb questions and get great help that we need. Right now, I am working with glue-laminated beams and heavy timber structures for the first time, so our engineers are my current, go-to people.
What movie or television character do you currently love the most and why?
I have been indulging in Bridgerton. There is this one sassy girl named Eloise. She is cool, free spirited, doesn’t get involved in all the fuss the Victorian-era ladies are into. She rolls her eyes at those things. It is fun that they threw her no-nonsense character into all the pomp and circumstance.
Ricky Venters
Managing Director
Hartman Executive Advisors
One of Ricky Venters’ fond childhood memories is watching his parents bring their work home and spend evenings tinkering with circuit boards, medical devices and other pieces of technology. It stoked his love of problem-solving and convinced him to become an engineer.
Venters earned an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Manhattan College, completed executive education at The Johns Hopkins University – Carey Business School, and spent years managing construction projects and technology commercialization efforts at JHU.
“I have designed systems for every type of building, other than a stadium,” he said.
Venters who faced health challenges as a child, holds a special love for hospital projects, both because of the complex construction challenges they present and the tremendous benefits those facilities deliver.
What is the most unusual thing you have ever done on a project?
I was doing a project with one of my mentors that included a steam system for a hospital. He said, we have to get under the floor to get to the system. I figured there was a ladder or elevator to get us down to the basement. But no, it was a crawl space. I’m looking around, wondering what are we going to do. I turn back around and my mentor has already popped the grid off and he is crawling in the steam tunnel. We had to crawl on our bellies or backs so we could understand what was making the system work.
What’s your favorite tool of the trade?
I love enterprise resource planning (ERP) technologies. It is about the dashboards, KPIs, understanding the metrics of projects. I have been blessed to be able to see the industry through different lenses — engineering, construction, owner’s rep, and now, at Hartman, from the technology side. My role is working with the construction and real estate industries to help organizations utilize technology to become more efficient.
What movie or television character do you currently love the most and why?
There is a biography movie on Netflix called The Black Godfather about Clarence Avant. Most people don’t know about him. But if you talk to the most influential people in the entertainment industry, many of them have a story of how he is the person who got them where they are. The reason why that resonates with me is I strive to be that person that is a connector for people. I watched that documentary and I thought wow, this person speaks to the kind of person I want to be.