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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper George West
www.constructionnews.net
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 3
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Number 9
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SEPTEMBER 2015
From the heart
Instrumental rentals
L-R: Erasmo Casas, Ebrahim W. Morales and George Kellard
Front, left to right: Dale Lawrence, Ben Fanning and Austin Cox; back, left to right, Robert Martinez, Jonathon Villarreal and David Herbel.
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AE Construction in Edinburg started life in 2009 as the non-profit agency, One Hand Una Mano – a construction company that donated its talents to helping the poor. “There is a terrible need down here,” says owner Ebrahim Walter Morales. “There are a lot of colonias in need of assistance.” Morales and others spent three years renovating and rebuilding 45 homes, including insulation, carpentry, roofing, caulking, painting, electrical, wheelchair ramps and more. “For the most part it was just securing and weatherizing their home to make it safe,” he says. The charity ran on donated labor
and private funding from citizens of Pharr, Donna and other local areas. When Morales’ daughter graduated from college, he realized he was going to need to make some changes to pay back the education and EAE Construction was born. EAE stands for Ebrahim, Alyssa (daughter) and Elma Cardona, his mother. “My mom inspired me to start the nonprofit,” Morales says. “She has always given back to the community. My daughter is a complete inspiration: one, for being who she is and two, for what we are doing together now.” continued on Page 14
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hern Rentals, started in 1953 by John P. Ahern, is a nationwide company with 78 locations. One of those locations opened eight years ago in Corpus Christi off of Leopard Street. Dale Lawrence is the manager there, and although he has only been there since Apr. 1, 2015, he’s been with the company for 14 years, starting in Las Vegas. “We are a family,” Lawrence says. “This is a team. Nothing gets done without everybody’s cooperation.” There are 14 employees at the Corpus Christi branch and Lawrence says the guys get together and barbecue a minimum of once a month.
“These guys like to eat! We spend more time together than we do with our families,” Lawrence says. “It is truly a group effort. We are all invested.” Lawrence says Ahern, the largest independently owned equipment rental company in the U.S., is a great place to work. “There is a lot of longevity with Ahern,” he says. “As long as I work in the rental industry, I won’t work for anybody else.” Today, John Ahern’s son, Don F. Ahern, runs the company with his brother, Paul and his son, Evan. “We promote from within,” Lawrence continued on Page 14
Pasture raised
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hen people think about 60 acres in the Victoria area, they might picture pastures and cows. They probably wouldn’t think about 60 acres of 6” thick concrete paving – but that’s exactly what made a recent project by Weaver & Jacobs Constructors Inc. so unique. The project is a Pioneer Natural Resources Pumping Services operations facility for fracking crews and the support of those crews – the latest one the company has built in the Eagle Ford Shale play. The $32 million project took 20 months to complete, with all new construction consisting of 150,000 sf of offices and shops, 60 acres of 6” thick Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) paving, fueling stations, truck washes, ice buildings and more. “This is the first time RCC has been utilized in the South Texas market,” says
Mike Weaver, a founder of Weaver & Jacobs and also the project manager. “The project is unique in its use of that quantity of concrete paving.” John Miller of Weaver & Jacobs was the project supervisor. This isn’t the first project Weaver & Jacobs has done for Pioneer. “We also built similar facilities in Pawnee and Cuero, bringing our total work with them to about $80 million over a 3-year span,” he said. The Design Build Fast Track Construction was the most challenging aspect of the job, since the information flow as the various phases were constructed was essential, Weaver said. Other aspects of the project included Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings (Ceco) with drywall interior construction.
The Pioneer Natural Resources Pumping Services operations facility in Victoria.
continued on Page 15