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CONSTRUCTION
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Happy Birthday America
The Industry’s Newspaper July 4, 2015
www.constructionnews.net
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 15
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Number 7
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JULY 2015
Arriving in Austin
Marking a milestone
L-R: Alix Pillman, Andrew Gonzales, Bill Brooks, Donnie Brooks, Allen Pierce, Juli Soric, Ron Padula
Gorrondona & Associates Austin branch employees
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hile concentrating on growth and diversification in San Antonio, Alterman Inc. has taken its first step toward its long-term plan to grow geographically as well. Earlier this year, the electrical contractor established a presence in Austin. Alterman officially acquired Hill Electric Jan. 29. John Wright, president and CEO of Alterman, notes that the transition is going very well as they are picking up jobs as Alterman and helping to finish jobs that Hill had ongoing at the time of the acquisition, most of which will be finished by the end of the summer. Jack Hill founded Hill Electric in the 1960s. When he passed away a few years ago, Dana Hill, his daughter, and Bill
Brooks, who helped run the company for more than 35 years, became the owners. Now, Hill’s daughter is helping with the transition, and Brooks will remain with Alterman as the director of operations in Austin. Seven office employees and approximately 35 people in the field have remained with the company to become Alterman’s Austin team. To aid in the transition, the project managers in Austin are being mentored by two of Alterman’s most senior project managers in San Antonio. One San Antonio employee has relocated to the Austin office to help with the transition to Alterman’s business policies and practices and to help implement continued on Page 17
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orrondona & Associates Inc. (G&AI) celebrated 25 years as a company and the 10th anniversary of opening its Austin branch office at a crawfish boil Jun. 12. The company held the event to show appreciation to clients for their contribution to its success serving the Austin and Central Texas community. During the afternoon, employees, clients and friends enjoyed crawfish, sausage Jambalaya, chicken and cold beverages. The original founder and current president and CEO is Brad Gorrondona, RPLS. Gorrondona is responsible for the overall management and quality control efforts for the firm.
“Our mission remains the same today as it did in the beginning,” Gorrondona said. “As we have grown over the years, we have sought to put systems in place that facilitate our ability to still serve our clients as though we remain that same 20-person firm.” Over the past ten years, employees have stayed active in the Austin community. Gorrondona started a local scholarship of $10K for the Heart of Texas (HOT) Chapter of WTS. The chapter was able to create four new scholarships in the amount of $2,500 each for area high school students. continued on Page 17
Ready to ride
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eville Custom Homes (dba Deville Construction) has completed the Jack and Adams Bicycle Shop (Bicycle World) project in Austin. The owner is Jack Murray. Dean Deville, Deville Custom Homes/Deville Construction, was the project manager and project superintendent. The architect was Forsite Studio in conjunction with 3 Dots Design. According to Deville, the tenant improvement build out was in a new mixed used building located on South Lamar near downtown. “This is a bike shop that has continued to expand and needed a larger space,” Deville said. “The unit was 5600sf of empty space before the interior space was created.” The construction materials used for the project included metal studs, sheetrock, drop ceiling, reclaimed wood and
black steel. “We added a few intricate details such as a black steel wheel to hold the bike wheels, as well as a very large barn door from a 100-year-old building,” he said. “We also built a juice bar inside of the bike shop.” A major challenge presented in this job was building inside of a residential building where tenants were living and sleeping overhead. “We had to be conscientious of the tenants and change our hours of operation to later in the morning so that we wouldn’t wake up the tenants above,” Deville said. Deville Custom Homes/Deville Construction has completed home building and commercial building projects in Texas and Alaska. Deville Custom Homes/Deville Construction puts the finishing touches on the Jack and Adams Bicycle Shop (Bicycle World) project.
continued on Page 17