Ram Construction by North American Constructors Journal

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RAM Construction Services:

Providing Concrete Solutions

As it embarks on its second century, RAM Construction Services in Livonia, MI continues its evolution as a leader in commercial and industrial waterproofing services Written by Kevin Doyle Produced by Stephen Marino

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s it embarks on its second century of operation, RAM Construction Services of Livonia, MI can look back with pride on its steady growth and development into a well regarded provider of commercial and industrial waterproofing services across an array of industry sectors. Established in 1918, the company today employs more than 800 individuals and maintains additional offices in Michigan (Detroit, Grand Rapids), Ohio (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo) and Minnesota (Blaine).

RAM Construction Services | 4 works seven days a week. I’ve watched him work so incredibly hard my whole life. Next year will be his 50th year of involvement with the company – for half of the company’s life, he’s been involved! He has built incredible relationships because he’s just a great guy; he walks the walk, talks the talk and never asks anyone to do something he wouldn’t do himself,” she says with pride. “Our skilled tradesmen are the backbone of what we do and so incredibly talented – they’re just the best at what they do,” Nagel adds.

“We have been in business growing, adapting and learning for over 100 years now. It’s safe to say that our team is one of the most well established and experienced in the marketplace,” says Erica Nagel, the company’s Director of Marketing.

RAM is a member of several industry associations, including The Association of United Constructors (TAUC), the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

“We have always learned from our mistakes and taken something away from all of them, and we couldn’t do it without the processes and procedures that have developed from lessons learned along the way,” she adds.

“Anything that helps our company establish a better network within the industry is a plus – it gives us the opportunity to talk about projects coming up, opportunities we may not know about, or different training for our staff,” Nagel says.

Nagel credits her father, company President Bob Mazur, for being a visionary while keeping the company moving on its path forward for more than five decades and setting it apart from others in the field. “My dad is an incredible leader. He

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Some Key Projects The Book Tower: Known as “Detroit’s Most Ornate Building”, RAM partnered with Bedrock and recently completed restoration work on the building designed by Louis Kemper and

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“At what point are we going to back ourselves into a corner as a society and not have the ability to fix what needs to be fixed or build what needs to be built? We need talented tradespeople.” - Erica Nagel, VP of Marketing

completed in 1926. The building had deteriorated over time until purchased by Bedrock in 2015. Building elevations were cleaned and maiden statues at the underside of the soffit were removed and completely restored. Tower cleaning began in 2017 and included inspection of the façade and replacement of terracotta as needed. Michigan Central Station: The

600,000-square-foot train station in downtown Detroit was abandoned in 1988 and purchased by Ford for $90 million in 2018. The automaker plans to move 2,500 employees into the restored facility by 2022. RAM is teaming with Christian-Brinker on the project to restore the tower. It will take two to three years to remove bricks and repair underlying steel framework prior to cleaning, repointing

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and replacing the damaged exterior terracotta, limestone and brick. A statement on the RAM company Facebook page reads, in part: “We are honored to be a part of this iconic project.”

2,000 projects a year, from under $1,000 up to in excess of $5 million. Nothing too big and nothing too small.”

May Company Garage for JACK Entertainment: RAM’s Cleveland group is working in conjunction with lead contractor Donley’s, Inc. of Cleveland on this $35 million restoration of a 10-story parking deck, located across the street from JACK Casino in downtown Cleveland. The project is expected to take two years to complete.

The AGC recently presented the company with a Silver Standard specialty sub-contractor award for safety.

In general, Nagel says, “we do over

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Safety Initiatives

“We have an incredible Safety Department that is well-established. Two of our safety managers have been with the firm for over 25 years. They’ve learned first-hand and worked tirelessly to help RAM improve and to ensure that our safety culture is

RAM Construction Services | 7 second to none,” Nagel notes. “The things we do just a little bit better at RAM are accountability, proactivity and communication.” For example, new hires wear orange hard hats for the first two years of their employment. “It’s a way for the more seasoned employees and project management to keep an eye out for them. Our safety director Vince Griffin always urges our field crews to look out for their brother,” Nagel explains. The company demonstrated its dedication to proactivity and accountability by investing in equipment a year before new OSHA silica standards went into effect. “With a lot of what we do, we have

to air monitor to make sure the amount of silica dust is within OSHA standards, so we started investing in dustless equipment and air monitoring equipment to make sure we were ahead of the curve and that our estimators knew what productions were realistic. We knew that by the time the law went into effect we were already four steps ahead of everyone else,” Nagel says.

Day to Day In her Marketing role, Nagel oversees all regions as well as Social Media platforms such as LinkedIn. “I make sure we are well represented in Social Media and that our site is up to date and that our LinkedIn is

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RAM Construction Services | 9 constantly updated so that we can recruit talented people. My goal is to make sure the company image is consistent across all of the markets that we work in,” says Nagel, who spent her first seven years at the company as an estimator and project manager. Her dad oversees all project management and estimating for the four divisions that comprise RAM; Building Façade Restoration, Concrete Restoration, New Construction Weatherproofing, and, most recently, Department of Transportation. “During the recession, my father saw a speech given by President Obama about the government’s plan to fix the nation’s roads and bridges that

inspired him to start our DOT Division. We already had the equipment and expertise working in parking structures, which meant we were doing the concrete work, deck coating systems, and epoxy systems. He thought ‘Okay, they’re still spending money on the roads, so we could keep our guys busy doing the work we’ve been doing, just on a larger scale.’” Nagel recalls. “Twelve years later we’re working in 20 states doing DOT overlay work and the division continues to excel. We’re bidding work for next year and the year after right now,” she adds. The company is addressing the industry-wide issue of a declining skilled labor pool in a number of ways. One is countering the notion that a

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“My dad is an incredible leader … I’ve watched him work so incredibly hard for my whole life. Next year will be his 50th year involved with the company – for half of the company’s life, he’s been involved! … He’s just a great guy; he walks the walk, talks the talk and never asks anyone to do something he wouldn’t do himself.” - Erica Nagel, VP of Marketing

four-year college degree is necessary for future success. “There used to be such respect for blue-collar labor and people who were skilled and could do things with their hands and that’s really not promoted anymore,” Nagel offers. “Kids now are going to college and acquiring a lot of debt – then unfortunately their job security isn’t the same as working in the skilled trades would guarantee.” Construction, she maintains, has a concrete need for the manpower to fill available jobs. “At what point are we going to back ourselves into a corner as a society and not have the ability to fix what needs to be fixed or build what needs to be built? We need talented tradespeople,” Nagel asserts. The company also works with the Michigan prison system to provide training and job opportunities for individuals about to be released.

Candidates are selected only after background checks. Bob Mazur is also working with Catholic priests in the region who operate homeless shelters to provide similar opportunities for individuals down on their luck. Since it self-performs 98 percent of all work, the company rarely needs subcontractor partners. When it does, it calls upon an extensive network of companies established through the years that have stood the test of time. The company has recently been looking for additional limestone and granite materials partners to help meet its burgeoning workload. Their vetting process, though perhaps a bit old school, works. “We ask to take a tour of their facilities so we can see how they work, how their shop is set up, what their real capabilities are. We check out their yards to see how organized they are. You can learn a lot about a company’s culture simply by walking through their

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RAM Construction Services | 13 office. And we ask around within our network to verify that other people have worked with them and what they may think,” Nagel says.

Into The Future One year into its second century, RAM Construction Services remains a nimble, vibrant organization that adapts as it grows. “The culture of RAM has changed so much in the last 10 years. We’ve got a great team of leaders looking out for the company to make RAM more effective, more professional, and to provide a better work environment for all of our employees,” Nagel says.

Her advice to those new to the industry? “’Keep yourself at seventeen inches’ – my dad recently shared this message from Coach Scolinos about accountability to our RAM leaders. In baseball, all home plates are seventeen inches, from little league to the major leagues. If a pitcher can’t throw over the plate, the coach must hold him accountable no matter who he is. Don’t widen home plate for anyone, and especially not for yourself. It’s important to keep your team and keep yourself at seventeen inches.” she says. A statement that has 100 years of success backing it up.