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The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net
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Volume 13
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Number 11
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NOVEMBER 2015
Following a dream
Longevity in mind
Scarlet Castillo (center) and the Sunbelt Supply staff gathers at the Stafford location.
L-R: Ray, Miguel, Tom, Mandy, James and Larry, Vogler Sheet Metal
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ill Strickland operated Sunbelt Fasteners from 1980 to 2012. Today his daughter Scarlet Castillo is the general manager at the company, which is now Sunbelt Supply LLC. The Houston office has recently relocated to 4850 Wright Road #190 in Stafford. In 1980, after much stress and discussion with his wife Maxine, Strickland decided to start his own business. He wanted to pursue the American dream. “I had been in the fastener business for several years, and felt like I could be successful,” he said. “I left the company I was with and we started out of our garage.”
In the beginning, Strickland says he had $500 to work with. After six months of working in their home, the couple had orders all over the house and decided to get a warehouse. “We hired people to work for us, and some of them are still with us today,” Strickland said. “We gave our customers the best service, even if it meant giving up a fishing trip on a Sunday morning. “Maxine and I lived with Sunbelt 24 hours a day, and have been so richly rewarded and now we are able to pass this on to the second generation.” Castillo says over the years, the company mainly focused on providing fasteners to the Texas area but now has a
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ogler Sheet Metal has had a long history in Houston. The company has remained in business since
1904. “We moved into our current facility at Karbach Street about three years ago because we needed more space,” said President James Kaiser. According to Kaiser, the company operated at a building on Brunner Ave. for 105 years. Originally, Vogler Sheet Metal was a tin shop specializing in light metal fabrication, such as water tanks or cisterns, guttering, metal roofing, flashings, kitchen vent hoods, countertops, skylights and ventilators.
Kaiser says the Vogler family operated the business from 1904 through 1965. For the following 30 years, Ken Rawls took over ownership. Kenneth Jeanes started working for Rawls in 1984 and took over ownership in 1997. Mark Mancino joined Vogler in 2008 and soon after purchased an ownership interest in the company. Kenneth and Mark sold the company to Kaiser in 2012. “I am committed to insuring Vogler’s history in customer satisfaction and quality products,” Kaiser said. When asked what the key is to staying in business for more than 110 years, Kaiser said, “We do it right the first time. continued on Page 18
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Maximizing the flow of traffic
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ebber LLC has completed construction on the SH249 Tomball Tollway Mainlanes. Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) is the owner. Area manager Troy Gjerde says the project included .5 of a mile of construction on the main lanes on SH249 from south of North Pointe Blvd. to north of Three Lakes Blvd. The project included a 41,016-sf bridge, an un-manned toll structure spanning eight lanes at approximately 300 ft. wide, which included concrete IT buildings, and four concrete columns. There was 23,442 CY of roadway excavation, 118,592 CY of channel excavation and 200,182 CY of roadway embankment, 102,258 SY of concrete paving, and 63,859 sf of MSE Wall. “The project also included widening an existing retention pond by six acres for a total size of 12 acres,” Gjerde said. “In the detention pond there was 14,939
CY of clay liner required on the bottom and slopes to minimize erosion and ground water seepage. “A $1.4 million change order was added to the contract to widen the north bound and south bound frontage road at Northpointe Blvd. in order to maximize the flow of traffic at the crowded intersection.” According to Gjerde, the main challenge on the job was completing the toll plaza. This required coordination with two major subcontractors, as well as Webber crews working on the concrete structures. The Toll Plaza is comprised of four concrete columns at a compound angle, two cast in-place concrete IT buildings and a steel pipe gantry. “There were several design and erection concerns that needed to be mitigated with the owner and suppliers,” he said. An aerial view of the SH249 Tomball Tollway Mainlanes.
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