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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper Market Square
by Leavitt2me Photography
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(210) 308-5800
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Volume 18
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Number 2
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FEBRUARY 2016
A first of their own
Adapting to change
L-R: As family, Daniel Huband, vice president, and Kenny Mantor, president, have been working together in general contracting for over 15 years.
Roxann and Mike Cotugno (right) have transitioned MJC & Associates into MJC Construction Services since Mike’s retirement. Today, he and Jeff Ragland (left) run the nonprofit Adapt A Vet.
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hen Kenny Mantor and his family moved to Boerne in 2011, he and Daniel Huband, his stepson, started their own general contracting business, Huband-Mantor Construction (HMC). Originally intent on staying small, the company is doing around $20 million a year now and celebrating its fifth anniversary. Specializing in commercial with a residential division that is a separate company, HMC Custom Homes, HMC’s projects include several car dealerships in the Boerne area and recently working on a project for the City of Kerrville. Previously, Mantor worked for a couple of general contractors. With experience as a superintendent and project
manager, he started his own company, KJM Commercial, which he operated for 10 years while living in Corpus Christi. When he and his wife, Angie, relocated to Boerne, Huband moved, too. With a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology, Huband was a superintendent at KJM. “I like seeing him grow and develop and become a better manager,” Mantor says of Huband. “Hopefully, one day, he’ll take over everything. I enjoy seeing him develop what it will take to become an owner and operator of everything to do with construction.” Huband, 32, is one of Mantor’s two stepsons. The other, Rodney, owns a big continued on Page 24
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ne year ago, Roxann Cotugno became owner and president of a new company, MJC Construction Services. At the same time, her husband Mike Cotugno retired when their former company, MJC & Associates, closed on Dec. 31, 2014. Formerly the majority owner of MJC & Associates, Roxann has made a seamless transfer to her new company. The new MJC has transitioned back into the residential side of construction while maintaining a commercial presence. The company does work for CPS Energy, schools and banks as well as residential remodels and design build custom homes. Running the business on her own is a
new experience for Roxann, but she notes that it is also fulfilling, and she has the support of her husband. She says, “I enjoy what I do, so I have fun coming to work every day and building dreams for clients and homeowners.” While Mike still does consulting for the new MJC, which opened Jan. 1, 2015, he is now director of operations for Adapt A Vet, a nonprofit that adapts the homes of disabled veterans so they can navigate and maneuver through the house comfortably and safely. Mike discovered the need to adapt homes while doing work under MJC & Associates, and now MJC Construction Services will be just one of continued on Page 24
WC’s fair share
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ith the City of San Antonio one year closer to the goal of SA 2020, downtown is buzzing with construction activity on several sites, including Hemisfair Park. With different construction teams contributing to different areas and pieces of these massive projects, WC Solutions LLC worked on part of the Hemisfair Historic Homes Stabilization and Rehabilitation project. The job was exterior preservation, stabilization and restoration of 10 historic homes in Hemisfair Park. Starting work in November 2014 and achieving substantial completion in October of last year, Walter Lamar was on site daily due to the sheer size of the project. As project manager, superintendent and owner of WC Solutions, Lamar oversaw the work through a few major challenges. There were two large projects going simultaneously, the work related to the Hemisfair Homes and the renovation of
On the Hemisfair Historic Homes Stabilization and Rehabilitation project, WC Solutions faced significant challenges working around an overlapping jobsite and the frequent presence of the public downtown.
Hemisfair Park itself. Since the properties are intertwined, boundaries for WC Solutions’ project crossed over into the boundaries of the Hemisfair Park project and vice versa. “It was tough, because you’ve got a fine line, and you don’t want to mess up someone else’s work,” explains Lamar. “So, you have to do a lot of coordination and you have to give a lot of support to the other contractors, because they may need to come through your area. When I had to do the pavers, I had to wait for [the other project’s crew] to come do their underground sprinkler system to get the plant beds ready before I could come and cut the dirt out, bring the fill in and lay the pavers down.” In addition to concern about crossing paths with other construction teams, Lamar had to take extra caution with pedestrian traffic due to the jobsite being in continued on Page 24