2 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Contractors and suppliers see business improving in spring 2011 By Debra Bell SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER
In Maine, contractors and their suppliers are starting to see improvement in the economic sector. Whether it’s a pipeline improvement, a new governmental building, a sorely needed bridge repair, or an addition to a home, the building climate is busy. That’s because 2011 is full of economic development projects on the state and local level. And, many contractors are noticing an uptick in residential projects as well. With the weather getting nicer, Mainers will no doubt notice road repairs, expansions, and construction work. And Maine contractors and their sub-contractors are noticing that Maine is indeed back to work.
Commercial contracting In an economic climate rife with budget cuts and restrictions on bond funds, commercial contractors are doing
their best to stay above the fray by providing unrivaled quality for Maine firms. “We didn’t survive for 60 years without overcoming challenges,” said Karl Ward, president of Nickerson & O’Day. The Bangor-based company deals strictly with commercial clients. In fact, MaineBiz’s “By the Numbers” named Nickerson & O’Day the largest builder in Maine. One of the ways Nickerson & O’Day overcomes challenges is to continually work on streamlining production and operation costs while not sacrificing quality. And commercial clients have taken note. In fact, it’s meant that they’ve taken on repeat business for clients who know their quality. And, Ward said, keeping jobs with Maine based contractors is just good business. “Nothing raises the economy faster than construction spending,” Ward said. In fact, for each dollar spent, it goes back into the economy seven times, Ward said. When a Maine contractor does a job, those dollars stay in the Maine economy. And that, he said, is a boon to the state.
BDN PHOTO BY DEBRA BELL
Construction will soon be over this spring on a new Dunkin Donuts at 76 Main Road North, Hampden. Located on the site of a former Big Apple convenience store, the building's design includes a drive-up lane and window.
PHOTO BY TERRY FARREN
As the $24 million Brewer Community School nears its summer 2011 completion date, Nickerson & O’Day Assistant Superintendent Chris Russell (left) meets with President/CEO Karl Ward. Nickerson & O’Day has been busy with engineering projects including: • A energy retrofitting project for Eastern Maine Community College; • Finalizing the construction of the new Brewer Pre-K to grade 8 school due to open this fall; • Renovating a building at the old Bangor Seminary to create low-income housing; • Creating the new welcome center for the New England Outdoor Center in Millinocket; • New dormitories for John Bapst High School; • Low-income housing on Vinalhaven Island; • The second phase of a $26 million project for the ANG Regional Training Institute at Bangor International Airport; • Maine Department of Transportation’s Acadia Gateway bus facility in Trenton; • A new dormitory for Woodenboat; • The Schoodic Education and Research Center in Winter Harbor; • A new research laboratory for the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
Ward said that the company would also be rehabbing the steeple on the Hammond Street Congregational Church. Steeple rehabbing is a specialty of Nickerson & O’Day’s and the project has special meaning because that was the same church his parents were married in 1962. While federal- and state-funded projects are on the decline, Ward said, private commercial work is just beginning to increase. An ever-popular trend, he noted, is the addition of alternative energy resources when building. Green building practices are being implemented in new construction projects and that includes LEED — leadership in energy and environmental design — certified buildings. According to Ward, LEED certification coupled with lead-safe certifications make professional contracting firms an
attractive option for businesses, institutions and government agencies. “Green construction and the LEED movement has been coming on strong for several years now,” Ward said. “We saw it start in 2003 and 2004 and now we’ve become the largest and most experienced LEED contractor north of Portland.” According to Ward, projects are smaller, but consumers are focusing more on retrofitting and performing maintenance on existing buildings.
Residential contracting
According to David Plowman from PDQ Door, many residential contractors are staying busy retrofitting homes. “It has been a long, cold winter and people are starting to tackle the things
See CONTRACTOR, Page 5
BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ
Construction is almost complete on a new Circle K on High Street in Ellsworth. Contractors tore down the existing convenience store, built a new store, and installed new pumps.
Contractors’ Outlook Cover Design: Bridgit Cayer; Norridgewock Bridge photo: Brian Swartz; Hampden Dunkin Donuts photo & Winterport road project photo: Debra Bell
BDN PHOTO DEBRA BELL
A construction project underway this spring at the Cumberland Farms convenience store on Wilson Street in Brewer is installing new underground fuel tanks.
BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ
Construction has been almost finished on the 35-by-40-foot Natural Resource Education Center being built at a state rest area on Route 15 south of Greenville. The project was partially financed by USDA Rural Development.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011 | 3
4 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Peter Vigue will utilize Maine workers’ skills in building new Arena By Debra Bell SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER
Pete Vigue believes in the Bangor/Brewer region. He believes in the region’s people, and in the potential for Maine to regain its position as a northeast regional economic leader while maintaining the state’s quality of life. Most of all, he believes that the Bangor/Brewer area has the potential to inspire significant economic improvement in Maine. “The northern half of the state is going through a huge economic transition,” Vigue said. “And the center of that transition is the Bangor/Brewer region.” Vigue is the president and CEO of The Cianbro Companies, the Maine-based heavy construction firm that currently has operations from Maine to California, and he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to transforming a company. The Cianbro “family” has grown to 4,000 people and has projects in 40 states. The company is a leader when it comes to innovations that lead to regional economic improvements, including Cianbro’s module manufacturing facility in Brewer and retro-fitting deep sea drilling platforms in Portland harbor. With such accomplish-
IMAGE COURTESY OF SINK COMBS DETHLEFS
The Cianbro Corp. will build the new Bangor Arena, a project overwhelmingly endorsed by Bangor voters during a May 4 referendum. Peter Vigue has indicated that Cianbro is “making every effort to use local companies and Maine-based companies” for the Arena project. ments under his belt, it’s no surprise that Vigue continues to have a passionate interest in the welfare of Maine. “I grew up here in this state,” Vigue said. “Maine is really a big small town with only 1.3 million people, but we have significant economic challenges.” Some of those challenges include the long-term lack of an economic vision for Maine, resulting in a chronic shortage of investment in the state which leads to the out-migration of significant numbers of
Mainers, especially those under the age of 35. But in the Bangor/Brewer region, the population is growing as community leaders build an economic strategy for the future. That is why Vigue believes the twin city region has the potential to spearhead more economic development in Maine, as during the region’s golden era of ship building and logging, the introduction of the first television station in the state, and the establishment of the first arena or civic center in Maine
PHOTO COURTESY OF CIANBRO
Peter Vigue is the Cianbro Corp. president and CEO. the size of the Bangor Auditorium. On May 4th, 75 percent of Bangor voters who cast ballots authorized city leaders to move forward on a plan to replace the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center. The project will cost an
estimated $65 million. Cianbro is the construction manager that will handle the new Arena project. According to Vigue, the vote by the citizens of Bangor shows a commitment to invest in the community and make Bangor a “great place to live and a great place to work.” “I believe that the success of this project will spread well beyond Bangor, Brewer and surrounding communities,” he said. “As a result, Mainers will gain the confidence and commitment to invest in their state.” As the construction manager for the Arena project, Vigue said Cianbro will capitalize on the skills of Maine workers. “We will focus on utilizing Maine people and Maine companies to build the project,” he said. “We did the same with the Penn National project in Bangor, and we’ll do the same for the arena. These developments show that the Bangor/Brewer region is, indeed, open for business.” According to Vigue, history has proven that Bangor/Brewer has energy and vision which is a powerful economic force. The new arena is just another part of that vision which will promote Bangor to the state and the nation. “Be observant, keep your eyes open, and know that the best is yet to come,” Vigue said.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011 | 5
Contractor Continued from Page 2 they put off,” Plowman said. “People are building new garages to add more space.” And that means that PDQ Door has been busy installing garage doors, as well as disposing of older doors. As a leadsafe certified door contractor, PDQ’s staff has been trained in the proper way to remove and dispose of doors painted
with lead paint. “In 2010, the [Environmental Protection Agency] sent down a ruling that if you change a garage door out that was painted with lead, you have to care for it in a very specific way,” Plowman said. “We had to go through a process to get our installers certified. This affects older wooden doors and houses and garages built before 1978. We don’t do a lead paint job often, but there are substantial penalties for not going by the rules.” All contractors, according to the new law, are required to become lead-safe
BDN PHOTOS BY DEBRA BELL
A flagger "holds" north-bound traffic on Route 1A in Winterport as south-bound vehicles maneuver through a road-widening project begun last year.
certified. However, according to the EPA, if “you are a homeowner performing renovation, repair, or painting work in your own home, EPA’s RRP [renovation, repair, or painting] rule does not cover your project.” However, Plowman said, contractors who are trained in the proper way to remove items containing lead paint — including garage doors — can save a homeowner a lot of time and expense. That’s because, he noted, contractors have experience on their side. “A lot of our guys have been with us for 10-15 years,” he said. “They have the experience and they know what they’re doing.”
This June, PDQ Door’s experience will be rewarded when the company receives the Joseph Caputo Dealer of the Year Award from the International Door Association. This award is given to door dealers and the recipient must “demonstrate high integrity, be respected by peers, be quality oriented, display community and industry involvement and serve as a model door dealer company.” According to Plowman, commercial construction is up as well. PDQ Door is currently working on projects throughout the state, including installing 22 foot by 20 foot garage doors at the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Laboratory for their new wind energy lab. Whether the contractor is residential
or commercial, Gerry Ouellette, president of Hermon-based Atlantic Communications is noticing that contractors “are purchasing essential radio communications products to help them do their job more efficiently.” These radio communications connect personnel with the home base, allowing contractors to “coordinate their business activities with their personnel, both mobile and on site via mobile and portable radios.” This innovation saves time and fuel consumption as well as increasing safety, Ouellette said. “It also gives them one more level of safety for all their people by a quick access method of pushing one button (PTT) to communicate.”
The Maine Department of Transportation is spending $2.1 million to widen Wilson Street between the Green Point Road and Super Wal-Mart in Brewer. The project will add a fifth lane - a center lane for left-hand turns - and will replace the existing lights at Green Point Road and Wilson Street. Construction should be completed by early fall.
6 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Graceful arch identifies new Kennebec River bridge at Norridgewock By Brian Swartz SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR
A new 600-foot bridge spanning the Kennebec River at Norridgewock should open to traffic in mid- to late August, according to Catherine Mettey, P.E., the Maine Department of Transportation resident engineer assigned to the project. Mettey arrived in Norridgewock in July 2008 as Reed & Reed of Woolwich launched an extensive three-year, $21.5million project to replace a 600-foot tied-arch span constructed in 1928. Built with steel-reinforced concrete, the bridge had four arches and a narrow roadbed; safety concerns and the bridge’s age led the MDOT to fund a new tied-arch span with a single arch that rises “60 feet from the roadway to the top of the arch,” Mettey said. Before construction could start, Reed & Reed crews erected an approximately 600-foot temporary bridge “just downstream” from the existing bridge, she said. “It’s made from steel piles [and] girders” and “has a pre-cast concrete deck.” Built with two 12-foot travel lanes, the temporary bridge opened simultaneously with the existing bridge’s demolition in mid-January 2009. Considered “a non-hazardous material,” concrete removed during demolition was broken apart so steel rebar could be recycled, Mettey said. Then the
BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ
Rising 60 feet from the bridge deck, a graceful arch provides a striking architectural touch to the new 600-foot bridge that spans the Kennebec River at Norridgewock. concrete went into a landfill. Despite concerns about the 1928 bridge’s structural integrity, “when we started taking it apart, it was more solid that it looked,” she recalled. “It was more of a surface decay. But the bridge was too narrow and too low [to the river] and too hazardous at the intersection on the north end.” The 1928 bridge, known locally as the “Covered Bridge,” had replaced a 538foot, wood-covered bridge located immediately downstream, Mettey indicated. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission worked with the new bridge’s designer, Augusta-based Klein-
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felder/S E A, to develop a design resembling the existing bridge. “They had a lot of input because the old bridge was considered historic,” Mettey said, referring to the MHPC. “They specified it had to be all concrete all it was before.” Actual bridge construction began in spring 2009. The new bridge incorporates three spans — two 140-foot approach spans and the 300-foot middle or “arch” span — and “for flood design” rises 3 feet higher on its north end than did its predecessor, Mettey said. Measuring 46 feet wide, the new bridge will incorporate two 12-foot travel lanes, a 5-foot downstream sidewalk, two shoulders, and a 7-foot upstream multi-purpose lane for ATVers and snowmobilers. This particular lane will provide a vital connection for local
recreational trails. Mettey described the bridge construction as “a very technical project with many steps. We had post-tensioning on this bridge.” Construction crews used multiple-wire strands, “like steel cables,” to tension “the tie girders, the outermost upstream/downstream larger girders that support the span with the arch,” she indicated. Crews similarly tensioned “the intermediate beams,” described by Mettey as “the transverse beams that went between the tie girders.” Post-tensioning “compresses the beams so it makes them stronger. You’re pulling in on the ends [with] a certain tension or certain force,” she said. According to Mettey, traffic should flow on the new bridge by late summer. The project’s completion date is October
2011, when “everyone’s totally done, we’re out of here,” and the contractor has removed the temporary bridge. “Its been a very interesting, challenging project,” she said. “It’s gone really well. It’s very pretty bridge.”
MDOT PHOTO
In early 2009, construction workers tear down a four-span tiered-arch bridge erected at Norridgewock in 1928.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011 | 7
Construction starts on new Piscataquis River bridge in Howland By Brian Swartz SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR
Snowmobilers will gain an additional Piscataquis River crossing as a new bridge takes shape in Howland in 201112. This past February, a construction crew started groundwork for a 582-foot bridge that will span the Piscataquis just downstream from an existing overhead through-truss bridge built in 1929. Measuring 42 feet wide, the bridge will have two 11-foot travel lanes, two 4-foot shoulders, and a 9-foot downstream sidewalk made “extra wide to handle snowmobile traffic,” said Phil Roberts, P.E. He is the Maine Department of Transportation resident engineer assigned to the $11.1-million project. The Cianbro Corp. and the engineering firm Louis Berger Group submitted the winning bid for the bridge, constructed as a design-build project. “During the bidding process, we gave them some parameters,” Roberts said. Called a “haunched girder bridge,” the approved design incorporates two abutments, two in-river piers, three spans, and longitudinal steel girders. The
BDN PHOTOS BY BRIAN SWARTZ
As an excavator operator works near sheet piling driven into the south bank of the Piscataquis River in Howland (right), two men watch (left) from from the 1929 bridge being replaced by a new 582-span that should be completed next year. “haunched” girders are taller (100 inches) at the abutments and piers than at mid-river, where girder height “drops off to a little under 5 feet,” Roberts said. When installed, the girders will create three arches over the river. Besides creating “a little bit of artistic look” to the new bridge, the haunched
design “creates more space underneath [the bridge] for the ice and high water,” he said. Similar to the steel girders beneath the Veterans Remembrance Bridge between Bangor and Brewer, the haunched girders in Howland will “weather” sufficiently to prevent rust from eating into the steel.
Crews will place precast concrete deck panels atop the haunched girders. “Each panels sits on two girders,” Roberts said. “You line them (panels) up and go right across the bridge edge to edge.” Then workers will install a rebar mat atop the panels and place concrete to create an 8½-inch deck.
The bridge will have 12 drains, with four drains in each span. Workers will install a V-shaped steel nose plate on each pier’s upstream edge to break up river ice and protect the underlying concrete. Roberts indicated the nose plates are similar to those found
See HOWLAND, Page 8
8 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Howland Continued from Page 7 on the new Old Town-Milford bridge; “the steel should stand up better to that kind of [ice-caused] pounding as opposed to concrete,” he said. The bridge project faced a few challenges before actual construction could begin. “There’s a dam just downstream from the new [bridge] location,” and “[dam owner] PPL had control of the
river bottom,” Roberts said. “It’s like their right of way. “We had to do right-of-way work to put two piers in the river,” he said. Negotiations resulted in PPL granting a right of way across the Piscataquis River; in separate negotiations, the MDOT also acquired “some rights of way on land on either side of the bridge,” Roberts pointed out. Bangor Hydro-Electric consolidated six river-spanning electric lines into four and relocated them downstream, he indicated.
This spring, construction has focused on Abutment 1, located on the south bank. Workers installed boom fence in the river and “put in regular silt fence” before driving temporary sheet piling, Roberts said. “We got our first concrete placement [at Abutment 1] on Monday, May 2nd.” After completing Abutment 1, crews will use a barge-placed crane to start building Pier 1. The sheet piling installed at Abutment 1 “will be removed and used at Abutment 2,” Roberts said. The construction schedule “has them
getting all substructure in and all steel erected this fall,” he noted. “We have a water line and a sewer line going underneath the bridge, and we hope to install them by Christmastime.” After a shutdown in January-February 2012, crews will return next March to start building the concrete deck. The bridge will open next summer; afterwards, crews will demolish and remove the existing bridge, with the concrete shipped to a waste area and the steel recycled or reused. According to Roberts, the project’s scheduled completion date is December 2012. To facilitate traffic approaching the new bridge’s southern entrance, a round-about will be constructed at the Coffin Street-Lagrange Road intersection, Roberts indicated. Two intersections “will be combined into one,” he said.
BDN PHOTOS BY BRIAN SWARTZ
Yellow boom fence placed in the Piscataquis River and silt fence placed ashore help protect the river against runoff at a bridgeconstruction site in Howland.
Forms have been set in place for an addition to the Maine Coast Baptist Church on Route 1A in Ellsworth.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011 | 9
Commercial insurance helps protect contractors against losses By Brian Swartz SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR
A reliable insurance agency can help business clients lower their insurance costs, says Greg Palman, CPCU, CIC. As the Varney Agency’s commercial lines manager, he and the agency’s experienced commercial insurance agents work with companies across Maine to improve employee safety and reduce business insurance expenses. “We make our clients aware that they can control their insurance costs by how safely they run their businesses,” Palman said.
“By taking steps long recognized by the insurance industry as effective, a company can reduce workplace injuries,” he said. “This can lead to lower rates for Worker’s Compensation and to higher productivity; a safe work environment leads to fewer employees being out with injuries. Employees who are working safely are improving the bottom line.” Commercial insurance coverage “is very important for every type of business, no matter if it’s someone who’s self-employed or a company with hundreds of employees,” Palman said. He noted that state law often requires a
See INSURANCE, Page 11 BDN PHOTO BY DEBRA BELL
Ramp-closure signs abound around Interstate-395 in Bangor as the Maine Department of Transportation undertakes a $2.4-million project to replace bridge joints and other elements on the 25-year-old Veterans Remembrance Bridge.
BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ
A Maine Department of Transportation crew spent last summer repairing a Route 161 bridge in Guerette, near Cross Lake in Aroostook County.
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10 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Hire a lead-safe certified contractor for work on a pre-1978 house By Environmental Protection Agency WWW.EPA.GOV/LEAD
A new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency mandates that all renovation and repair contractors working in pre-1978 homes, schools, and day care centers who disrupt more than six square feet of lead paint are required to become EPA Certified in lead-safe work practices. Contractors are required to take a one-day training course and firms must send a short application to the EPA. If not, they could face tens of thousands of dollars in fines in the future. Steve Owens, Assistant Administrator of the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said there is a simple reason for the new rule: protecting people’s health, especially children. “Childhood lead poisoning is a preventable disease, and our goal is to eliminate it,” said Steve Owens. Many contractors think the issue of lead paint poisoning went away years ago, or that they are doing all that needs to be done to avoid it. But lead paint poisoning isn’t just about eating paint chips, and even contractors who think they are doing a good job may not be working in
form every day. “The greatest risk is for young children living in homes during renovations,” said Owens. “One study found they were 30 percent more likely to have unsafe levels of lead in their blood than kids in homes where renovations were not occurring. So it’s very important that contractors learn how to work lead-safe and that families hire leadsafe certified contractors.” A pregnant woman exposed to lead can transfer lead to her fetus. The irreversible damages of lead poisoning can lead to a range of effects from memory loss and diminished motor skills to behavioral and learning disabilities. Those who work on pre-1978 homes, apartments, schools, day care centers and other places where children spend time, from large and small contractors to building services professionals, will have
Renovator training is also available via e-learning. This option allows trainers to provide much of the course content online, making it more convenient for many renovators. EPA certification is good for five years. “Getting lead-safe certified is it the right thing to do for contractors, their customers, and their employees, and especially for the children who spend time near spaces that are being renovated,” said Owens. Steve Owens says that the EPA is mindful of the small added costs that may result from complying with this important rule. To that end, he GRAPHIC COURTESY OF EPA.GOV said the EPA is launching a If your home or building was built before 1978, you must make sure that a lead- consumer campaign designed safe certified contractor is working on your home or building. to raise awareness of the dangers of lead paint poisoning, a lead-safe manner. to take the necessary steps to become and encourage consumers to choose In fact, new research shows that con- lead-safe certified. only contractors who are Lead-Safe Certractors like plumbers, electricians, Firms must register with the EPA and tified. painters and window replacement pay a fee. Individuals must take a oneFor additional information including experts can inadvertently expose chil- day training course from an EPA-accred- how your firm can get Lead-Safe Certidren to harmful levels of lead from invis- ited training provider to become a certi- fied and where to find an EPA-accreditible dust disturbed during jobs they per- fied renovator. ed trainer in your area, visit
BDN PHOTOS BY DEBRA BELL
If you are planning improvements on a house built before 1978, use a contractor certified as lead-safe. Demolition, renovation, or additions to your home — even changing windows and garage doors — can mean that you’ll disturb lead paint. Using a contractor that is lead-safe certified ensures a high quality job and prevents you and the contractor from running into big fines for improper disposal. epa.gov/getleadsafe or call 800-424LEAD today. For more information about the
EPA’s lead paint requirements go to: www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm #homeowners.
BDN PHOTO BY BRIAN SWARTZ
Major construction improved a section of Route 186 in Gouldsboro last year.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011 | 11
Insurance Continued from Page 9 business to obtain insurance coverage. Registering a vehicle requires proof of insurance meeting minimum state limits of liability coverage, and a business with employees must purchase Worker’s Com-
pensation insurance. “These can be costly. Varney Agency agents know how to help you minimize your cost,” Palman said. “There are liability issues. A contractor digs up a fiber-optic line that costs $100,000 to repair. Insurance can protect you against that unexpected expense,” he said. “We work closely with contractors because they engage in activities that can be hazardous,” Palman
BDN PHOTO BY DEBRA BELL
West Street in Bar Harbor was closed to all but local traffic in mid-May as construction continues on a 102-room hotel overlooking the harbor and the Porcupine Islands.
Hotel construction will change the Bar Harbor landscape in 2011 By Brian Swartz SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR
Bar Harbor’s undergoing a significant change this year as a new hotel rises on West Street and renovations revamp a venerable Eden Street hotel. In early November 2010, a contractor started demolishing several buildings along West Street to make room for a $12-million hotel being developed by Ocean Properties Ltd. When completed in spring 2012, the 102-room hotel will stretch from Main Street to Rodick Street and will visually alter intown West Street, which runs from Main Street to Eden Street (Route 3). Among the buildings torn down was the Quarterdeck Restaurant, which had stood at Main and West streets for many years. Acadia National Park visitors often ate lobster dinners on the Quarterdeck’s upper deck overlooking Bar Harbor and Bar Island. The wood-frame building housing the Bar Harbor Whale Museum was also demolished. Because Lennox Street intersects West Street
between Main and Rodick, the new hotel will rise on two foundations, with the building meeting above Lennox Street. A Bar Harbor contractor started the foundations earlier this winter; slated to continue until the 2011 tourist season begins, hotel construction will resume in the fall. The as-yet-unnamed hotel will front on West Street; guest rooms will provide good views across Frenchman Bay toward Sorrento and Schoodic Mountain. With a prime location one block from the Bar Harbor Municipal Pier, the hotel will dominate the West Street skyline. At the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Conference Center at 119 Eden St., Bar Harbor, four buildings with a cumulative 60 rooms will be replaced by a single 60-room building, according to Witham Family Limited Partnership. The buildings were torn down to make room for the new building, which should be completed by early July 2011. Atlantic Oceanside Hotel has 153 guest rooms and lies on Frenchman Bay.
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said. “Contractors have a certain social responsibility to protect themselves and others in case of accidents and other problems. They don’t want their employees to get hurt, and they don’t want their equipment damaged or destroyed or damaging the property of others. “They want to protect the assets they’ve worked hard to build up all these years,” he said. “We give them the road map of how to get there,” Palman stated. “We work with our clients to reduce their risks by visiting their facilities, observing how work is done, and recommending changes that can help to minimize the risk of an accident.” With 14 offices spread from Houlton to Bedford, N.H., the Varney Agency provides commercial insurance coverage throughout Maine and New Hampshire. The Varney Agency insures businesses representing a broad cross-section of Maine commerce. Palman listed several economic sectors, including: • “Main Street” businesses, such as grocery stores, restaurants, and retail shops; • Commercial fishing. At the Varney Agency’s Machias office, Michael Hennessey works with commercial fishermen and lobstermen along the coast; • Construction companies and project owners. Palman explained that with either new construction or building renovations, a performance and payment bond ensures that if a contractor defaults, the project will be completed. A payment bond ensures that subcontractors are paid if a project encounters financial difficulties so that the owner doesn’t have to deal with subcontractors filing
mechanics liens on their property. At the Varney Agency’s Bangor headquarters, Michael Varney (a Villanova graduate with a major in finance) specializes in writing surety bonds for contractors. A surety bond is a financial guarantee between the bonding company and the project owner that the job will be completed and that all subcontractors and materials suppliers will be paid. Many contractors need surety bonds in order to do municipal, state, and federal construction projects. A surety bond is a financial guarantee. “Doing business with the Varney Agency and Mike Varney ensures you are dealing with someone who understands finance and its relationship to contract bonding,” Palman said. Palman recommended that business owners “work with an independent insurance agency” to obtain “the most comprehensive coverage at the best price.” He indicated that “we represent regional and national companies that we have contracts with to be their agents. Not every single insurance company writes coverage for every conceivable situation; with the companies we represent, we can provide the specific coverage that our clients need. “Our agents are trained to explain to our clients the different types of coverage and the costs involved,” Palman said. “We visit a client and do an insurance assessment” to “identify potential gaps in insurance coverage. We explain how to close those gaps. “Our independent insurance agents will sit and talk with you and explain insurance forms and coverage to you,” he said.
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12 | BANGOR DAILY NEWS | Friday | May 20, 2011
Army Regional Training Institute, Phase 1, Bangor Scheduled Completion ~ Summer, 2011
Wells Commons, University of Maine at Orono Completed ~ April, 2008
Brewer Public Safety Building, Brewer Completed ~ November, 2008
Since 1952, a Maine Contractor ~ Proud to be Building Maine!
Maine Maritime Academy, Student Union, Castine Completed ~ September, 2005
Bangor Waterworks, Bangor Completed ~ March, 2007
Husson Meeting House & Gracie Theatre, Bangor Completed ~ September, 2009
Brewer Community School, Brewer Scheduled Completion ~ Summer 2011
Jackson Lab Dining Commons, Bar Harbor Completed ~ December, 2006
Bangor Police Department, Bangor Completed ~ December, 2006
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