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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 16 H Number 9 H SEPTEMBER 2018
Fam-tastic legacy
Top o’ the world, Ma
L-R: The Quinones – Maria, Antonio, Sr., Amy and Antonio Jr. working in Hockley, TX.
L-R: grandson Ethan, son Randy, and dad Gary Reynolds, of Pinnacle Tile & Flooring.
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hen Antonino “Tony” Quinones Jr., a project manager at Stone River Excavation and Concrete, talks about his father and mother, Antonino Quinones Sr. and Maria “Luz” de la Luz, it’s like a love letter to great parenting. So it’s no surprise that Quinones Jr.’s dream excavation job would be one his father would enjoy. “We’re both soccer enthusiasts, so I wouldn’t mind building soccer pitches. That would be something very interesting,” Quinones Jr. says. “My dream job would be any 30-acre site, something large that has a bit of everything, that presents a challenge, that only my father could complete in a timely manner. He could really stamp his name on it and be recognized for it. I think he definitely deserves that.”
Quinones Jr. says he first learned construction from his father, beginning as a youngster riding on his dad’s excavator at job sites. Quinones Jr., who earned an Associates degree and construction management award in college, considered a civil engineering career but realized that he enjoyed working outdoors. He returned to his father’s side at another company, shovel in hand. “Most of what I learned was on the job site, but my father taught me how to work and how the job is supposed to run,” Quinones Jr. says. “If I get to a tenth of the knowledge he has, I will be doing pretty well.” Quinones Sr. had dreams of starting a business, and he and his wife invested continued on Page 14
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andy Reynolds got his start in the flooring business when he went to work at his father’s floor company back in 1988. Gary moved Reynolds Tile and Flooring to Houston in 1980. Randy worked part time for Gary in a wide variety of positions, eventually working his way up to vice president. When Gary decided to retire and fold up shop in 2009, Randy and his wife decided to open their own company, birthing Pinnacle Tile & Flooring in 2010. But dad couldn’t stay retired for long. Gary now works for his son as the head of Pinnacle’s commercial division. At present, Pinnacle is currently working on some schools, a movie theater and several restaurants. Reynolds said that Pinnacle has five
pillars in their mission statement: quality, integrity, partnership, reliability and value. Reynolds has noticed that designers are trying to out-do each other with designs that no one else has done so that their project is unique. “There are some pretty crazy installations that architects like to throw at us that we get to deal with on a regular basis.” This can be challenging, he said, but, “We pride ourselves in being able to think outside the box” in order to generate the finished product the customer wanted. This means that Pinnacle works closely with architects and designer, not the end user on most jobs. Having knowledgeable guys in the field to interface with contractors is key to keeping the continued on Page 14
Updating for the next generation
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hen the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District began planning a new elementary school to replace the existing outdated elementary school for an already population, they looked for a winning team to fulfill their vision. Purcell Construction Inc. began operating in light commercial renovation projects in 1990. Experience and quality work quickly moved Larry and Paula Purcell’s company into the expansion of multi-million-dollar projects that evolved heavily toward the academic arena. With 90 percent of the firm’s business involved in school construction and various school district projects they teamed up perfectly with PBK Architects who has more than 37 years planning award-winning K-12 projects. This was the winning team Cypress-Fairbanks ISD was looking for. Purcell Construction began breaking ground on Matzke Elementary in Jan.
2016. The 87,462sf new facility was completed within 22 months. To house 1,440 students in grades Pre-K through 5th grade, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD looked to PBK to create a facility to feature innovative Next Generation design. Features throughout the school purposefully engage students to move around and interact with their learning environment and break away from the traditional instruction method. One prominent feature of the school is the recreated tradition of the Matzke friendship tree. Each year, students and staff add their thumbprint to the tree, symbolizing the ever-growing Matzke family. The project was constructed of Nichiha panels, metal panels, sunshade and brick. The heavily wooded area around the new construction provided the added challenge of constructing the new school while maintaining and preserving Ernestine Matzke Elementary School
continued on Page 14