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CONSTRUCTION
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The Industry’s Newspaper www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 19 H Number 10 H OCTOBER 2019
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Electrical detective
A real rolling stone
Bryan Long, owner of Fusion Electric
Jim and Melissa Connelly, of Jim Connelly Masonry
ryan Long is one of the fortunate ones who found his life’s career path early on. Soon after graduating from high school, his mother’s boyfriend asked him to come to work with him at Mercury Electric. The first job he worked on was doing the electrical infrastructure for a new elementary school. “And I’ve been doing electrical ever since,” he said. “It seemed to fit me, and I understood it.” Long’s electrical career path had him work there for several years, but he did quit Mercury when he asked to go to their residential division to learn that aspect of the trade, but they said no. Long first got his taste of the residential side when he was asked to handle a job closer to where he lived, which he did.
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“I wanted to learn how to do residential so I could be a more well-rounded electrician,” Long said. He discovered that commercial and residential have different nuances and he wanted to learn all that he could. Long went to work for a few other companies, and eventually started Fusion Electric around 2001. He called his company “Fusion” for a fairly simple reason: he worked for a particular company whose name began with a “G.” It didn’t go well, and this company was the only one in his life to ever fire him. “Fusion” begins with an “F,” which put it before the “G” company in the phone book. So there, take that. continued on Page 14
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im Connelly has been rolling along in the stone business for 40 years now, which begs the question: Will he still be at it at the 50-year mark? “You might want to check with me at 45, just to make sure!” he laughs. The main thing is, Connelly is still having fun at age 61 and being in the masonry trade ever since college. Jim Connelly Masonry started in 1979 (incorporated in 2000) when Connelly became a partner in another masonry contracting firm, which became his own when the other partner went back to New York. Looking back at his beginning in masonry, Connelly laughed again when he said, “It was all a mistake.” The University of Texas, Austin, student was undeclared for his major and worked as a masonry
helper for Richards Brothers Masonry. Masonry won. Connelly “dropped out to pursue my masonry career. Masonry made more sense than school to me.” Connelly became a partner at Miller Masonry when he personally bought a needed mixer to handle the increasing workload. It was Miller Masonry that became Jim Connelly Masonry when Mr. Miller left. Connelly wanted to grow his business. He had heard other contractors mention how much it helped to have one’s wife help out in the office, which frees up the contractor to be hands-on in the field. Connelly agreed. Enter wife Melissa. “We met at church in 1992,” Melissa continued on Page 14
Vacant lot to vibrant destination
ogers-O’Brien Construction (RO) is helping to transform five city blocks in east downtown Austin, called Saltillo. The heart and soul of Austin, Saltillo is an exciting new development which brings dining, shopping, music and entertainment together to create a unique and vibrant destination bustling with activity. This is an important milestone in the more than 20-year effort by the community and Capital Metro to revitalize a vacant piece of real estate and increase rail and bus ridership. Rogers-O’Brien’s scope encompasses over one million square feet and includes 115,000sf of retail and restaurant space, 150,000sf of office space, four below and above ground parking garages, and 1.4 acres of open space and public art. The Plaza Saltillo District will feature one of the region’s most diverse mobility infrastructure programs, including the established MetroRail station, plus pe-
destrian paseos, extension of San Marcos Street, electric vehicle stations, reserved Car2Go spaces, a B-Cycle station and an extension of the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. The structural construction of Saltillo encompassed concrete with post-tensioned cable reinforcement. The Saltillo exterior was a combination of glass, metal panel, clay tile, terra-cotta tile, ceramic tile, limestone and aspect block CMU. It’s interior construction featured wood, ceramic tile, concrete tile, plaster and metal panel. The presence of the Capitol Metro railway, which runs along the south side of the entire jobsite, presented a major challenge for accessibility to the site. The railway restricted much of the RO team’s access to the south side of the buildings, making it difficult to deliver materials and equipment. There were also strict guidelines put in place by Capitol Metro that had to be adhered to, including a mandaPlaza Saltillo during construction
continued on Page 14