Covering the Industry’s News
Texas Style San Antonio H Austin Dallas/Fort Worth H Houston
P.O. Box 791290 San Antonio, Texas 78279-1290
PRSRT. STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT #1451
Change Service Requested
Austin
CONSTRUCTION
™
The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net
H (210) 308-5800
H Volume 19 H
Number 7
H JULY 2019
Yesterday doesn’t count
A real two-fer
Gary Raesz, owner of Raesz Custom Floors & Lighting
Belinda and Steve Payne, owners of Gemini Mechanical
B
orn, bred and Austin lover Gary Raesz has witnessed the ebb and flow of the Capitol City during his time. As namesake of Raesz Custom Floors & Lighting, Raesz has weathered the dot.com bust of the 2000s and has played an integral role in building Austin up. “We’ve done some of the finest highrise condos downtown,” he said. Not to mention banks, schools, high-end homes, country clubs, medical facilities, public buildings, etc. Raesz could rest on his laurels but does not. “Whatever we did yesterday was yesterday,” he said. “Today is a new day.” In other words, if Raesz Custom Floors & Lighting gave great customer service on Tuesday, that doesn’t mean a thing to a
S
tructure Tone Southwest (STSW) was originally founded in 1977 in Dallas as Constructors & Associates by Senan “Fitz” Fitzmartin. Constructors & Associates joined the STO Building Group, known then as the Structure Tone Organization, in 1987 and changed their name to Structure Tone Southwest in 2010. Structure Tone Southwest is a fullservice general contracting firm providing a complete range of construction expertise since 1977. They have offices in Texas’ major business centers of Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. For more than 30 years, Structure Tone Southwest Austin has been involved in some of the city’s most iconic projects, including the Frost Tower, Bob Bullock Museum and the renovation of the Texas State Capitol. Nationally recognized for their expertise in mission critical facilities, including several projects in the Austin market, they are proud to contin-
new customer on Wednesday. Raesz likens it to a music concert-goer: that person expects the performer to have his/her A Game on when he goes to the show. “Floors have changed so much over the years,” Raesz said. He remembers when carpet and vinyl tile was the rage. “Now, the number one item in any home is hardwood floors,” he observed. Case in point is a home in El Paso his company recently did that was 19,000sf of hardwood flooring. “The tile industry had to change gears because it lost so much business to the wood people,” he said. Raesz travels all over the globe for the best wood products. “We bring in the finest French woods you can imagine,” he proudly stated. continued on Page 14
S
teve and Belinda Payne started Gemini Mechanical in April 2000. One might assume that the name “Gemini” refers to the two of them. But one would be wrong. It’s named after their twin girls. (Fooled ya.) Actually, Gemini Mechanical is the second version of the Payne’s Gemini ventures. Steve had Gemini Enterprises, a custom deck and patio business, in the few months previous to Gemini Mechanical. Steve had been doing HVAC since he was a kid with his father. Before the deck and patio business, Steve had worked as a project and operations manager for other large HVAC companies, and, “Honestly, I was a little burnt out with the industry. I didn’t want to do it.” Thus, he exited HVAC and started pa-
tios and decks. However, Steve was still getting calls from friends and contacts to do some HVAC work for them. “I got weak and did a couple of jobs,” he said. Belinda is more blunt: “We were broke,” she laughs, and told Steve, “You might as well go ahead and do that one [HVAC job]. We’ve got this deck coming up and it won’t interfere with the AC.” “The next thing I know I’m doing all air conditioning and no decks and patios,” Steve said. Belinda added, “20 years later, here we are.” For Gemini Mechanical, Steve and Belinda are co-owners, but Belinda is the majority owner by one percent. By being a woman-owned, Historically Underutilized Business, this gets Gemini a foot in continued on Page 14
Customized facility ue contributing to the built environment and the community of this dynamic city. Specializing in both ground-up, new construction and interior renovations for a variety of sectors, including specialized markets such as data centers, STWS was the ideal fit for the construction of the new FS Builder Resources Regional Headquarters and Distribution Facility. STSW led the new construction and interior fit-out of over 271,000sf across 15 acres to create FS Builder Resources’ new regional headquarters and distribution center in Pflugerville. Phase One consisted of the new tilt-wall shell building for office, showroom, and warehouse space. The building encompasses a total of 187,414sf including the shell building, 2nd floor office mezzanine structure and 2nd floor IBS mezzanine and warehouse shell. Site work and grading for Building 2 and future Building 1, paving, and landscaping were FS Builder Resources Regional Headquarters and Distribution Facility, Pflugerville, TX.
continued on Page 14