South Texas Construction News March 2016

The Industry’s Newspaper

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America’s largest cross coming to Corpus Christi

Time for a move Up and coming

www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 3 H Number 3 H MARCH 2016

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After 43 years in the same building, D. Wilson Construction Co. in McAllen has moved into a new fa-

cility right next door – and gained almost 4,000 sf of space. “We’d been in the same building since 1973 and had basically outgrown it,” says CFO Tim Mickunas. “We were piled on top of one another and simply needed more space to serve a growing business.” The company that was founded in 1957 by Darrell Wilson and is now run by his son, President/CEO Bill Wilson, was formerly located at 1209 Pecan St. and owned the property at 1207 Pecan St., which was a retail storefront with a warehouse in the back. The entire build-ing was taken down to the bare walls and renovated into the new offices. The old

A ribbon cutting was held in January to mark the move into the new offices.

space was 3,700 sf and the new space is 7,500 sf. “It was early in 2009 when we sat down with all the employees and talked about building a new office,” Mickunas says. “At the time we agreed to move for-ward was also the time the economy turned down. The plan to move had to be put on hold for a few years due to the re-cession. It was last summer when we fi-nally got to do the construction and it took about four months.” With up to 25 employees working in the office, architect Boultinghouse, Simp-son & Gates came up with a floor plan that improved the flow of traffic and made work conditions much more effi-cient, Mickunas says.

In 2013, Sam Garcia launched Sam Garcia Architect LLC in McAllen from his kitchen table.

“It is a complete startup company that originated on the kitchen table,” Garcia says. “We currently have a staff of four with an office on the second highest floor in the tallest building in the Rio Grande Valley.” The philosophy toward customers and employees alike has likely contribut-ed to the company’s successful growth rate of a 50 percent increase in revenue from year to year. “Our philosophy towards customers is to provide first-rate services as a vision-ary architecture studio and development think-tank,” Garcia explains. “We aim to take our customers' best ideas and ex-pand upon them in ways that create tre-

mendous value for their operations. We remove our ego from the equation as much as possible and try to truly listen to our customers.” Employees are viewed as his greatest resource. “I have the utmost respect for them and their professional capabilities,” he says. “My view is that the people that work for me are adults - and should therefore be given the latitude to com-plete their work with general guidance and without micromanagement. “I place a great deal of trust in my employees and they take their work seri-ously. I prefer for an employee to be self motivated and confident enough to make decisions without relying on me for every tiny detail.”

L-R: Alex Gonzalez, intern architect; Fernanda Aragon, project manager;Sam Garcia, AIA – principal; Jean Gearhart, director of operations

Immaculate Heart of Mary ChurchHarlingen

The congregation of Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Corpus Christi, led by Pastor Rick Milby and Family

Pastor Danny Isom, has an ambitious construction project underway. They plan to build the tallest cross in the Americas – the Corpus Christi Cross. According to Isom, who is Milby’s son-in-law, the family often vacations to-gether in the summer. As the group drove towards Galveston a few years ago, they spotted something that took their breath away – the 198-ft tall cross at Sa-gemont Baptist Church in Houston. “We had multiple emotions,” Isom says. “It seems that today we are so re-moved from God in every facet of life. When you see something like that, it re-ally encourages you. We all began to talk it through. We thought how neat it would be to build one in Corpus Christi – which means ‘the body of Christ.’” The church has the perfect spot for

its cross, which they plan will be 210-ft tall. A 6.5-acre piece of land had been do-nated to the church a number of years ago. The land is on I-37 in between Car-bon Plant and Rand Morgan roads. It’s literally where most people, either by ve-hicle or air, pass by as they come into Cor-pus Christi. “We think God had a hand in all of this,” Isom said. “It’s taken about three years of discussion, prayer and dreaming. The cross just began to grow in our meet-ings.” According to Isom, project leaders discovered there is not a great difference in procedure from building the cross to 180-ft to taking it up from there. So, they settled on 210-ft high, with a crossbeam that will be 95-ft wide. The project, which had its ground-breaking on Jan. 31, is expected to cost $1 million. The foundation alone will cost City Council Member Lucy Rubio, City Council Member Carolyn Vaughn, Nueces County

Commissioner Mike Pusley, Radio Talk Show Host Bob Jones, Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney, Congressman Blake Farenthold, Corpus Christi Mayor Nelda Martinez, Nueces

County Sheriff Jim Kaelin and Pastor Rick Milby.

Page 2 South Texas Construction News • Mar 2016

And the winners are…

The McAllen office of Raba Kistner (RK) is celebrating its 25th anniver-sary this year and the engineering

consulting firm with locations in Texas,

25 years and counting

Raba Kistner’s Valley offices employees play a big part in the community,including attending last year’s AIA Building Communities Conference.

Utah and Mexico couldn’t be more thrilled. A ribbon cutting is set for May 19 to celebrate the milestone. The firm also has a location in Brownsville.

The McAllen office was opened in 1991 by president William Raba and a gentleman from the Valley, Stanley Wil-cox. Wilcox passed away four years ago, having been with the company for 21 years. That longevity sets one of the themes for this article – the longevity of Raba Kistner’s people. RK’s first job in the Valley was for the City of McAllen - a large terminal runway expansion for McAllen/Miller Airport. RK crews worked out of a hanger supplied by the City, until they started getting calls to do other work locally, which they could not do in the hanger. This was the occa-sion that convinced RK that it was time to officially open an office in McAllen. “The Valley was an excellent market for us – they were very open to us – be-cause of the way we did business,” Raba says. “We were the only geo firm that used both professionals and techs on site, collaborating on projects. We made a commitment to offer our services with full professional, local leadership. Now, it is a common business practice, but it wasn’t then. And once the new lease was signed, we never looked back.” Raba Kistner is Texas based and many in the Valley had already heard of them. They immediately won – and still retain – contractural relationships with many of the large cities, counties, con-tractors, developers, school districts, and water organizations. “The nice thing about the timing of the development of our office is that we’ve been able to see the Valley go through – and we’ve participated in – the largest growth time that the Valley has ex-perienced in the last decade,” said Isidoro Arjona, PE, vice president and office lead-er for the Valley offices and the RK Mexico operation. “We’re honored to be a part of the community – on a professional and social basis – while providing employ-ment for McAllen and Brownsville.” –cw

On Jan. 29, the Associated General Contractors – Rio Grande Valley (AGC-RGV) announced its year-ly construction awards and introduced its 2016

board of directors, which included a women for the first time ever. Stephanie Rendon, Terracon Consultants, Pharr, was named an Associate director this year. The gala was held at Double Tree Suites by Hilton in McAllen. The chapter also presented a special award, the SIR Award (Skill-Integrity- Responsibility) to Murray Thomp-son, W. Murray Thompson Construction. It is the third time in the chapter’s 66-year history that the award was given. –cw

Photos courtesy Frontera Media Associate Member of the Year: Subcontractors: Pete’s ElectricAssociated Member of the Year Supplier/Service Firms:

Rio Grande Steel Ltd.

Safety Superintendent of the Year:Rudy Ramos, Peacock General Contractors Safety Pays Award: Wil-Con LLC Superintendent of the Year: Julio Lopez, Wil-Con LLC

Architectural Firm of the Year: PBK Architects SIR Award: Murray Thompson,W. Murray Thompson Construction

2016 incoming board of directors: front, L-R: Chris Hamby, president, H20 Construction; Robert Bennett, vice president, SpawGlass Contractors Inc.; Roy Garrison, associate director,

Hurricane Fence; Noel Munoz Jr., G.C. director, NM Contracting; Perry A. Vaughn, executive director AGC-RGV; back row, L-R: Jorge

Gonzalez, G.C. director, Tri-Gen Construction LLC; Bill Peacock, chair AGC-TBB, Peacock General Contractors; Stephanie Rendon, associate director, Terracon Consultants Inc.; Steve Garza, state

director, GP7 Construction LLP

CONSTRUCTION NEWS

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Construction News Ltd. Home OfficeP.O. Box 791290 • San Antonio, Tx 78279

210-308-5800 Fax 210-308-5960www.ConstructionNews.net

Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Buddy DoebblerEditorial/Production . . . . . . . Reesa Doebbler Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cyndi WrightAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lacie CortezProduction Manager. . . . . . . . . . Sue JohnsonMarketing Director . . . . . . Leslye HernandezAccount Manager . . . . . . . . . . .Dana Calonge

San Antonio • Austin • Dallas/Fort WorthHouston • South Texas

Cyndi Wright, South Texas Editor: [email protected] 210-308-5800

South Texas

The South Texas Construction News (ISSN #2327-4670) is published monthly by Construction News Ltd., dba South Texas Construction News, and distributed by mail to construction related companies in the South Texas area. All submissions should be mailed to our editorial offices. We reserve the right to edit any materials submitted. No fees for materials, copy or photographs submitted will be due unless agreed upon in advance in writing. Submissions will be published at our discretion on a space-available basis. Construction News, Ltd., dba South Texas Construction News, will not be liable for errors in copy or in advertisements beyond the actual cost of space occupied by the error. Publisher reserves the right to reject any advertisement at any time.

If you are a construction-related companyin Aransas, Atascosa, Bee, Calhoun, Cameron, DeWitt, Dimmit, Frio, Goliad, Hidalgo, Karnes, Kenedy, Kleberg, LaSalle, Live Oak, Maverick,

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South Texas Construction News • Mar 2016 Page 3

They go together!

Everyone had a great time at the 2016 American Institute of Archi-tects (AIA) Lower Rio Grande Valley

“tamales y cerveza” social. Feb 4. –cw

Frana Schrock, Marta Salinas-Hovar, AIA, sharing their love of hearts, which Marta

collects.

Murphy Scurry, PE, Mark Corbitt, Yara Corbitt, Herman Garza, EIT

Cesar Roque, Assoc. AIA, Leah Lakstins, Daniel Lakstins, Sergio Lainez, AIA,Humberto Rodriguez, AIA

Business is a game! Play to win!Part 3: Know your cashflow needsCarrie D. Bradshaw, ShareholderBrown, Graham & Company P.C.Georgetown, TX

In part one, we discussed the importance of knowing your score to be able to win the game. In part two, we

discussed evaluating your costs and how to use break even analysis to improve your score.

This month, we will discuss how to use cash flow projections to fund your next winning season! There are basically two methods of recording revenue and expenses: Cash Basis: The practice of recording revenue when the related cash is collected and expenses when the check is written. The disadvantage is you do not know your profit. Accrual Basis: The practice of recording revenue when it is earned and expenses when incurred. The disadvantage is you do not know your monthly cash flow. We will need these two concepts to coexist for this exercise. Projecting your cash needs involves the following steps: Step one: You will need your income statement (on an accrual basis). Using the income statement, calculate the percentage of sales for each expense category. For example, if sales are $100,000 and small tools expense is $2,000, the percentage of small tools expense percentage is 2%. Step two: On a separate piece of paper (or preferably in a spreadsheet if you are comfortable) create a column for each month of the year. Take your best guess and pencil in your anticipated monthly sales for the next year. Step three: Forecast your monthly expenses by using the average percentages calculated in step one, based on the projected sales you estimated in step two. If your small tools are 2% of sales, in each monthly column you will multiply 2% times the monthly sales to populate the individual monthly small tools expense. Step four: Convert this monthly accrual projection to a cash basis. You do this by evaluating when you believe each job will pay according to the anticipated contract schedule. Then determine the monthly payments to be made for job related costs such as subcontractors, materials, and other variable supplies. Step five: Next estimate your monthly payments for general and administrative costs which is relatively predictable based on historical trends. Step six: Calculate your cash surplus or shortfall. Begin with the expected monthly cash receipts from customers

and deduct cash payments for expenses. This is the amount of cash flows provided by your operations. Next deduct anticipated purchases of long lived assets or repayments on debt and dividends to be paid to owners. Step seven: Repeat this process for each month of the year and calculate the cumulative effect to determine your cash balance for the year. If you have a cash surplus, you are winning. If you have a cash shortfall, you need to start planning. Identify the month(s) with a cash shortfall. You will need to determine what method you will implement to cover the shortfall. The traditional options are: 1. Deposit personal funds into the company, 2. Borrow from the bank, 3. Borrow from your vendors by delaying the payment of their invoices. You may have the opportunity to fund shortfalls by squeezing cash from your balance sheet. To accomplish this consider the following: 1. Collecting accounts receivables faster by giving net/15 discounts (or simply printing a due date on the invoice), 2. Implementing a just-in-time inventory system, 3. Evaluating if you have short term debt that can be refinanced into long term debt, 4. Paying vendors early to take advantage of their discounts. If your business is in a growth phase, this tool is critical. You can use this to anticipate the cash that will be needed to fund the growth. Many small businesses “grow broke” because they do not have a way to anticipate the cash needs to fund the start up costs related to growth. This concept also applies to an upcoming large job. By forecasting and proactively managing your cash, you can develop the strategy to coach your team to greater success! Carrie D. Bradshaw, CPA and CCIFP with over 20 years of construction contractor coaching experience, is the Managing Shareholder of the Brown, Graham & Company, P.C.’s Georgetown office. You can contact Carrie at [email protected] or call 512-930-4090.


Who would you buy a beer for and why?

Individual Health Insurance Mandate and what it meansto youCindy Brenke, Risk AdvisorIBTX Risk ServicesSan Antonio, TX

Beginning in 2014, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care

required most individuals to maintain health insurance coverage or potentially to pay a penalty for noncompliance. Specifically, most individuals are required to maintain minimum essential coverage (MEC) for themselves and their dependents. MEC is a term defined in the ACA and its implementing regulations and includes most private and public coverage (e.g., employer-sponsored coverage, individual coverage, Medicare, and Medicaid, among others). Some individuals are exempt from the mandate and the penalty, and others may receive financial assistance to help them pay for the cost of health insurance coverage and the costs associated with using health care services. Individuals who do not maintain MEC and are not exempt from the mandate have to pay a penalty for each month of noncompliance with the mandate. If you did not purchase MEC beginning Jan. 1, 2014 you faced a penalty of the greater of 1% of adjusted household income or $95 per adult plus $47.50 per child. In 2015, you will have to pay the greater of 2% or adjusted household income of $325 per adult plus $162.50 per child. Thereafter, the penalty will be the greater of 2.5% of adjusted household income or $695 per adult plus $347.50 per child. The penalty is assessed through the federal tax filing process. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can attempt to collect any owed penalties by reducing

the amount of an individual’s tax refund; however, individuals who fail to pay the penalty will not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty for such failure. The Secretary of the Treasury cannot file notice of lien or file a levy on any property for a taxpayer who does not pay the penalty. Certain individuals are exempt from the individual mandate and the penalty. For example, individual’s with qualifying religious exemptions and those whose household income is below the filing threshold for federal income taxes are not subject to the penalty. The ACA allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to grant hardship exemptions from the penalty to anyone determined to have suffered a hardship with respect to the capability to obtain coverage. Effective for the 2015 filing year, employers, insurers and government programs which provide minimum essential coverage to any individual must present a 1094/1095 to the IRS and a statement to the covered individual that includes information about the individual’s health insurance coverage to prove compliance with the federal mandate. Recognized in the industry for her in-depth employee benefits knowledge and insight, Cindy Brenke is excellent at sharing her more than 14 years of experience with all levels of employees. She is Texas Group 1 Life and Health licensed. She is a graduate from Michigan State University and now resides in Boerne, TX. with her family.

The FLSA and coming changes: How will they affect you? Christa Boyd-Nafstad, Esq.The Cromeens Law FirmHouston, TX

The Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is a federal statute, regulated by the Department of Labor

(“DOL”,) which covers minimum wage and overtime pay for most employees. All non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay at a rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week. Whether an employee is exempt or non-exempt depends on: (1) how much they are paid, (2) how they are paid, and (3) the kind of work they do.

In July 2016, the current threshold for non-exempt salaried employees will more than double. Under the current regulations, a salaried employee will automatically be non-exempt if that employee makes under $23,600 a year, and is exempt under the “highly compensated employee” exception if they make over $100,000. The DOL is changing these amounts to $50,440 and $122,148, respectively. The changes also include a mechanism that automatically adjusts these figures going forward based on inflation and costs of living. Hourly employees are always non-exempt. Salaried employees making less than $23,600 ($55,440 as of July) are always non-exempt. For salaried employees making more than the minimum threshold, their status depends on if they fall into one of the so-called “white collar exemptions.” Whether an employee falls into a “white collar exemption” depends on the duties they perform, and not on their job title. For this reason this is often referred to as the duties test. There are three kinds of exemptions: executive, professional, and administrative. The exemption that comes up most often in construction is the executive exemption. An employee is considered exempt as an “executive” if management is the “primary duty” of their job. The exempt executive must regularly supervise two or more employees. However, “mere supervision” is not enough. The manager/executive must be responsible for, or have genuine input into the decision-making process regarding hiring, firing, interviewing, promoting, selecting and training employees. They should also determine work techniques, plan the work, and apportion the work among employees. In the construction industry this issue comes up most often in the case of the foreman. Despite the fact that construction workers are almost always non-exempt (meaning entitled to overtime pay), one exception to this is

the Construction Foreman. The distinction turns on whether the foreman is purely supervisory or if he is a “Working Foreman.” The foreman, if purely supervisory, is likely exempt under the executive exemption. Of course, if the foreman is paid hourly, or his salary is less than $50,440 (as of July), then he is entitled to overtime pay, even if he is purely supervisory. However, if the forman is salary and meets the minimum salary amount, then the question becomes whether he is an exempt supervisor or a non-exempt Working Foreman. A Working Forman works side-by-side with other construction workers while also performing administrative tasks. A Working Foreman does manual labor and works with their tools for the majority of the day, and also manages other employees and fills out necessary paperwork. The Working Forman is entitled to overtime pay regardless of whether they are hourly or salary, and even if they meet the minimum salary of $50,440 a year ($970 per week). For a salaried foreman to be exempt under the executive exception, he must not devote more than 20% of his working hours to activities not associated with directing other employees. It is important to note that the duty to keep records classifying which employees are exempt or non-exempt falls squarely on the employer. Because of this, employers should begin preparing for the coming changes; evaluating their current exempt positions and determining whether to raise their salary to the new minimum or re-classify them as non-exempt. In addition, the DOL is expected to modify the requirements concerning the duties employees must perform in order to be considered exempt. These changes are expected to have significant impact and go into place in 2016. For information on the FLSA or any employment matters, please contact me at [email protected].

Peyton Manning…for overcoming ad-versity, injuries, age, critics, and doing his part to make the team successful.

Eric C. Kennedy,SpawGlass South Texas

Hard to say since I don’t like beer, but I guess I would for Rachael Vasquez, a friend of mine who never gets a chance to relax.

Debbie Montez, AIA Corpus Christi

Anna Mae Bullock because she is Tina Turner…need I say more?Lynda Parma, VCS Companies, Victoria

I would buy a round of drinks for my co-workers. Everyone here at Terracon works so hard, a cold beverage would hit the spot after a long day!

Stephanie Rendon, Terracon, Pharr

I would buy a drink for my Mom and Dad so I could talk to them one more time. They are both in Heaven and I miss them.

Vickie Thompson, NAWIC Corpus Christi and Dixie Pipe Sales

Danica Patrick. I’d love to pick her brain and listen to some of her stories about making it in a traditionally male-domi-nated place. It’s something that is very important to me as a woman in con-struction.

Shelley Rubio, Support Stream,Corpus Christi

I’d love a chance to talk to my grand-mother, Edna Ross. She was my special protector when I was growing up and I never really got a chance to know her as a woman.

Cyndi Wright, editor,South Texas Construction News

I would buy a beer for MasterPiece Con-tractors who has a true entrepreneurial spirit. I especially enjoy helping a com-pany get started and planting the seeds for growth in the industry.

Dana Calonge, Account Manager,Construction News

I would buy a beer for the Santikos Fami-ly, who has slated $12 million in grant funding for 2016 to include healthcare, high school completion, scholarships, and local community needs.

Leslye Hernandez, Marketing Director, Construction News

I think I’d like to buy a beer for President Obama and sit and talk to him. He seems to do that, so why not?

John Martinez,Virtual Builders Exchange

I would like to buy a beer for Ellen DeGe-neres. She’d be interesting and fun to talk with. And we could invite Bradley Coo-per and Sean Connery for a little added spice!

Sue Johnson, Construction News


gratifying.

One of the most important tools to have before you venture out for your day on the water is something that can’t be pur-chased. A GAME PLAN must always be one of the first things you should have

Most anglers know that wintertime is when speckled trout are at their peak weight. A 30” trout caught in the middle of the summer may only weigh 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 lbs.; where as that same fish may be 9-1/2 to 10 lbs. in the winter. These heavi-er trout make your catch that much more

Spring Fishing Forecast

by Capt. Steve Schultz

Sponsored by:Waypoint Marine, Majek Boats,

Evinrude Outboards, E-Z Bel Construc-tion, Power Pole Shallow Water Anchor, Aggregate Haulers, ForEverlast Hunting

and Fishing Products MirrOlure, andColumbia Sportswear.

Hey folks, here we are already in March and the weather already feels like summer. We have been

having days in late February where tem-peratures are reaching the upper 80’s, and sometimes touching 90 degrees. Fishing season is upon us early this year so don’t hesitate in planning your sum-mer outings.

For the next few months we will spend many days walking countless miles wad-ing the shallow waters of the Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay in search of one of the most sought after trophies that roam the inshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

before you leave the dock. If you’ve kept logs in the past like most serious anglers do, review them. Think back to previous years or outings that were successful. What lures did you throw and which ones did you have the most success with. What were the weather conditions like, cold, windy, cloudy, sunny, etc.? Try to predict what your day is going to be like and look back to find a similar day in your logs. Don’t be like most routine fisher-men who go to the same spots over and over because they caught a good fish with their grandpa when they were a kid. Now that you have arrived to your pre-designated fishing spot, your next deci-sion should be which lure to throw. My suggestion to most of my clients is to throw a lure you have confidence in. I al-ways start out with a lure that has been a producer for me in the past. If I have a group of customers, I always try to mix it up. I start everyone off with a different lure. This helps me determine what the fish are wanting on that given day. After we have established what the fish want we can all go to the same type of lure. Don’t get caught up in some new item that came in a fancy package and costs a small fortune or a lure that your buddy gave you and said these are what I catch all my fish on. Remember one thing when your walking down the aisles at Bass Pro Shops or Academy, fishing lures are packaged to catch the eye of the fish-erman rather that the fish. I have already started to fill the calendar for the upcoming 2016 season. Don’t wait till all the good dates are gone! To schedule your next bay fishing trip give Capt. Steve Schultz a call at 361-813-3716 or 361-334-3105 or e-mail him at [email protected]. Good luck and Good Fishing.

Mark Walters (Left) and Chris Huey (ForEverlast Prostaff) had a successful day on thewater wading with Capt. Steve Schultz on Baffin Bay last week.

Walk this wayOn Feb. 13, the SpawGlass South Tex-

as team participated at the Walk for Women Chili Cook Off. “With support of our specialty con-tractors and friends, the SpawGlass South Texas fishing tournament raised $5,000 for Walk for Women,” says Eric

Kennedy, South Texas Division presi-dent/employee owner. “This will allow their organization to help women in the Rio Grande Valley with the financial bur-den of fighting breast cancer, provide a network of support, and raise aware-ness.”

The SpawGlass South Texas fishing tournament raised $5,000 for Walk for Women L-R: Linda Poovey, Rocky Poovey, Hugo Ramos, Chris Pennington, Jenny Faircloth,

Daniel Lerma and Eric Kennedy


If you are out driving around in Texas and you see purple painted tree trunks

and fence posts – it doesn’t mean that someone who loves the color purple (me, for example) lives there. In fact, purple paint on trees and posts mean the same as a prominently displayed “No Trespassing” sign. Purple was chosen due to the fact that even people who are color blind will see it. The law was added in 1997 to the Texas Penal Code regarding Criminal Trespass and was created to allow Texas landowners an alternative to posting “No Trespassing” and “Posted” signs that would give the same legal weight, but without the cost of signs or having to fre-quently replace them. Section 30.05 of the Texas Penal Code, dealing with criminal trespass, says that: (paraphrased) ‘A person commits an offense if he…enters property of another without consent…and that he had no-tice that the entry was forbidden.’ One of the code’s definition of notice is the placement of identifying purple

Purple trees in Texas?

paint marks on trees or posts on the property and that those marks are: verti-cal lines at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide, placed between 3- 5 ft. from the ground, and that their placement is in a location that is easily visible to a person approaching the property, and that the markings be no more than 100 feet apart on wooded land or 1,000 feet apart on open land. The rule was created in September 1997 and amusingly had an original re-quirement that landowners also post a sign on the property explaining that the purple markings meant no trespassing. That requirement for posting a sign ex-pired one year later, in September 1998. Placing purple markings around your property – as per the Texas code above – to give notice and mark bound-aries, does have the same legal weight as a “Posted” or “No Trespassing” sign; un-fortunately, few people know what the markings mean. But, now, you are not one of those! –cw

Ken Milam’s Fishing LineSince 1981, Ken Milam has been guiding fishing trips for striped bass on Lake Buchanan in the Texas Hill Country,. You can hear Ken on radio on Saturday and Sunday mornings, 6-8

AM on AM 1300, The Zone – Austin, or http://www.am1300the zone.com

I’ve been in the fishing business almost all my life and nothing is as much fun as taking kids fishing. I don’t know

what it is about kids and fish that makes something magical happen.

Part of the allure I’m sure is getting to go fishing with the grownups. It is a little rite of passage. It doesn’t matter if they go with mom and dad or grandma and grandpa, every kid loves to see and learn new things at the side of their favorite people. Nothing makes them feel more special than for you to share something you love doing with them because they understand that it is a gift.

If you are jerking a perch out from under a sun drenched dock, crappie from the riverbank, largemouth from a stock tank or catfish from a Kid Fish even at the coliseum, it is that tug on the other end of the line that is just magical. Fishing is entertaining because it gives us immediate, continuous feedback. Fishing beats video games because you can always find a way to cheat or manipulate your way to achieving a goal in a game, but not in fishing. Right quick the fish let you know they don’t care a thing about messing with you because they are largely in charge of the situation. If they feel like biting, you don’t know when or where or how they’ll do it. No telling whether they will try to sneak off with your bait or hit it so hard they knock it out of the water and just keep on chasing it. Most of all, who knows what you are going to catch and how big it’s going to be! And maybe the fish will just turn loose and leave you wondering what just happened…. Nope you can’t just reset the level on that and try it again!

Then there is the fact that fish are just so darn fascinating in the ickiest way. When it comes time to clean the fish you catch most kids are awestruck. First thing, a soft little finger tip has to just see what one

of those googly fish eyes feels like. Next comes the anatomy of a fish lesson. Fish guts are just amazing when you are a kid. They are smelly, not too bloody and so many different colors and purposes. I never met a kid who could pass up a chance to just watch fish being dressed. If you go ahead then and wet another hook and line under the fish cleaning station and get to catching what is lurking there for a quick lunch it just gets more interesting!

Fish are just fun. You can watch them in an aquarium with calm fascination, catch a serious case of the giggles over a dare to touch one, or just put a hand full of minnows down your sister’s shirt and run like the dickens. And don’t think girls can’t get into fishing just like boys do because they can and will often out fish you. One bunch of little kids comes to mind. When it came to be picture time to show off their catch at the trip’s end, they all preferred holding their catch

Kids Love Fishing!

like favorite teddy bears embraced by both arms and hugged up tight with big happy grins! II bet Mom was thrilled with that load of laundry!

Spring break – kids – you know what to do.

Off to see the worldSubmitted to Construction News

Bibiana (Biby) Dykema, Dykema Architects Inc., in Corpus Christi, spent some time in January in Dubai and India traveling and shopping for her other business, Curri (Curristyle.com). Pictured left: Biby in front of the tallest building in the world, lo-cated in Dubai.

Pictured below: Waiting for the day’s purchases to be inventoried and tal-lied in India.


Cally Coleman Fromme, vice president of business development at Zarsky Lum-ber in Victoria, says she is constantly

thinking of ways to get young people interest-ed in the construction industry – and specifi-cally the lumber and building materials indus-try. As a past chair of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, Fromme wanted to brainstorm ideas that would help the industry as a whole, but particularly in a lo-cal way. After having a conversation with some of her counterparts on a national level, Fromme formed ideas for ways to engage local youth turned to education. As a result, Zarsky Lumber partnered with Moses Kim, manager for the South Texas divi-sion of Steve Klein Custom Builder and with Mike Pollok, general manager of Weyer-haeuser’s Houston facility, to invest in the LBM industry’s future by creating an introductory educational program for elementary students. Kim is a business customer at Zarsky. “I thought they would be a good fit be-cause they had just built a new subdivision next to an elementary school and they’ve been provid-ing support for the elementary school since then,” Fromme said. “Weyerhaeuser already had the curricu-lum. They provided the pine tree saplings for all the stu-dents and the teachers. “Educational goals include providing information about our industry as a career path, removing negative stigmas about forestry and the environment, giving ex-amples of everyday products that come from trees, and simply being a good neighbor,” Fromme says. The initiative, called What Can a Tree Be?, took place at Ella Schorlemmer Elementary in Victoria on the stu-dents’ last day of school in 2015. Children were given the opportunity to see what products are made from trees and learn about sustainability. Staff from the three par-ticipating firms spoke about their jobs and answered questions at two assemblies—one for pre-K to second graders and another for third to fifth graders. “The students had plenty of items to see, touch, and feel,” Fromme says. “All of these household items were very familiar to them, but they had no idea of their

A 10-year-old who received a tree sapling. “I chose to keep my tree in a pot until it gets sorta big,” he says. “I water and use tea grounds for compost. It has grown a few inches since I planted it. I enjoy watching it grow.

Thank you for my tree.”

Cally Fromme, Zarsky Lumber, has some one-on-one time with a student.

Moses Kim, of Steve Klein Custom Builder, addresses the kids.

origin. Weyerhaeuser representatives provided good in-formation about forest sustainability both verbally and in the handouts that the teachers reviewed with the stu-dents prior to our visit. The kids were able to understand that it would not make sense for an industry that is to-tally dependent upon the future of the forests to behave in any manner other than one of responsibility, cultiva-tion, and care.” Fromme said she hopes to continue growing this – and other – programs in the future. “The builder and I would love to do a program with the students, 5th graders, where we walk them over to the neighborhood, show them a slab, bring them back in a few weeks to see the home framed and keep bring-ing them back through all the stages of construction just to let them see how a house is built and the various careers every step of the way,” she says. “I’m not through trying to reach these kids.” Zarsky Lumber Company, Inc. serves South Texas and the Gulf Coast region with ten locations offering lumber, doors, hardware and more. –cw

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All content and photos are placed free of charge.Email to: [email protected]

or call Cyndi at 210-308-5800


Myrna SalinasPresident

VKR Landscaping Inc.Mission, TX

Myrna Salinas grew up in humble conditions, but this dynamic young woman is now the owner

of three companies in South Texas. As a mother of three, she wants her children to learn from her example – you can do anything you want if you are will-ing to work for it.

Tell me about your childhood. I was born in Aledo, Ill. We moved to Winter Garden, Fla. and that is where I grew up.

In high school, did you take part in any sports or other activities? I was a High Flyer – it’s like being a cheerleader only more on the dance side.

Tell me about your parents. My parents, Rebecca and Francisco Salinas, were migrant workers who picked oranges. We lived in a trailer and they were gone by 5am and didn’t some home until 5pm. When I was 7 years old, I was doing the house cleaning, the laun-dry and cooking for me and my brothers. We didn’t have a large lifestyle, but they were a good example. They worked really hard. I am where I am today be-cause of their example.

What happened after high school? I got married, but my husband died when I was 19. I’ve never remarried. My mom moved to Texas right after that and she asked me to move here. I wanted to move to Texas to give my kids a better life. I was a single mom and I needed her help. After my dad retired, he also moved to Texas. He is 72 and he helps me man-age the crews, driving the tractor, etc.

What about your siblings? I have three brothers and one sister. My brother, Francisco Jr. is a forklift oper-ator and he lives in Florida. My sister, Thelma Alva is a housewife. My brother Rene owns a site company in Houston and my brother Luis helps me out.

How did you get into the construction industry? I’ve always worked in the construc-tion industry but the living expenses (in Florida) were so expensive. When I moved to Texas I applied to a landscap-ing company where I started as the office manager and became the owner’s right hand. I was doing estimating and project management. When he opened a nurs-ery, I was also the manager of that. When he went out of business, I de-cided to open my own company, VKR Landscaping Inc.

Tell me about your companies. I started VKR Landscaping in 2013. I was bidding jobs everywhere. My first big job was a Walmart in Brownsville. The general contractor was Satterfield & Pon-tikes. Then I did a Walmart in McAllen and Wurzell Builders was the GC. I started doing Stripes convenience stores, funeral homes, Buffaloes. When I was doing the Walmart in McAllen, the superintendent offered me the job of final cleaning. I said: wow, easy money! So, I started VKR Post Construc-tion Cleaning. Depending on the size of the job, I have up to 15 girls working for me. Final cleaning is hard but it’s easy money. You just have to know how to do it and get the hang of it – and you have to have the right people to help you! There are 15 employees in the land-scaping business and I subcontract out the irrigation. Right now I’m doing a major hotel in McAllen – it is a high-end La Quinta. I’m working directly with the owner, Sunil Wadhwani.

How did you learn enough to own your own landscaping company? I taught myself everything I know. I taught myself how to read blueprints and how to measure and convert. I was always a hustler! I had a great mentor, Steven Brown, the owner of Eastco Building Services in New York. He was partners with the own-er of the landscaping company I went to work for when I moved here. He mentored me and still does – I can still call him and ask his advice.

What is about the construction indus-try that you like so much? I love it and I have always loved con-struction. I’ve always done it Construction is my bread and butter, it is my life, I would not change it for the world. Even though I’m a country girl, I’m also prissy! I like to get dressed up. You’d be surprised - when I see a job site, I al-ways turn around and go introduce my-self. They think I don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m wearing heels! But by taking the time to go and intro-duce myself, I have gotten a lot of work. If you give quality work, everywhere you go you get referrals.

I’ve gotten compliments from archi-tects. I’ve had construction managers come up to me on a job site and shake my hand and say they’ve been very im-pressed with both the landscaping and final cleaning and power washing park-ing lot – another service I offer. My company is a minority owned company with HUB certification. I will shortly be getting certified for AAA – government work.

So, you have VKR Landscaping, VKR Construction Cleaning and VKR Nota-ries and Services? Yes. I am a notary and I learned how to incorporate businesses and I try to help people who need advice any way I can. I can do trademarks. I’m hoping by next year I can open an office and start doing income taxes.

What does VKR stand for? My three kids, of course! My daugh-ter, Vanessa Garcia is 19 and a senior at high school. My daughter, Karina Garcia is 17 and a junior. My son is Ryan Bravo and he is 9 years old and a third grader. They all help in the businesses. Van-essa and Karina help with the administra-tive work, like invoicing. Vanessa is the vice president of VKR Landscaping. They both help out with physical work. Karina helps with invoicing, estimat-ing, paying the guys and working at VKR Construction Cleaning. My little boy helps me – he comes on the weekends and helps the guys plant grass and with whatever they need. I’m teaching them to be very inde-pendent.

As a single mother and the owner of three companies, is it hard to manage that work-life balance? To be honest, it is kind of hard. You can advise a child as much as you want, but they take their own steps. You have to be focused in life. You have to know what you want and don’t ever grow up so fast. Live it day by day, live your age be-cause once you hit 30, you will wish you were 15 again. Finish school and be inde-pendent, because life is a big kick in the butt! My daughter became pregnant and that was hard, but my grandson is the love of my life. He is a blessing. She has to work for it. I don’t babysit her little boy, she gets up and takes him to daycare and she still goes to school. I teach them to become an indepen-dent woman and be responsible for your actions. A lot of women don’t see that. If I can do it, any woman can. I have a good friend who owns a striping business in Houston. A woman can do everything if she puts her mind to it - I learned that from my mom. She said, “If I can do any-thing a man can do workwise, so can you.” My mom was better than some of these men. My mom would finish her

quota by noon, while the guys were still working until 3 and 4. My mom right now, she is a little dis-abled, but you don’t see her quit! When I was starting all of this, I came home and I hugged her and I cried - I didn’t think I could do it. She said no mat-ter how hard something is you never quit!

What do you and your family do to-gether outside of work? We spend a lot of family time togeth-er. We try to go to church every Sunday – we belong to Palm Valley Christian Church. I like to travel a lot. I’m the type of person who gets up in the morning and feels like going to Houston - so we just go. We’ve gone to the Bahamas and Flor-ida to Disney World and Legoland. We go to Houston to visit my brother and Cor-pus Christi and San Antonio. We travel as a family, stay the week-end and go shopping and check out the parks.

Are you trying to build a legacy for your children? I’m hoping that my kids follow in my footsteps. I’m hoping my daughters fol-low what I do. If they don’t want to, I will respect their decision, but there’s a lot of money in the construction industry. –cw

A positive attitude and a belief in herself has led Myrna Salinas to the place she is today as a confident woman in the

construction industry. (Photographer: Nufo Salinas; makeup: Letty Villareal; hair: Mayre

Herenadez)

Season’s blessings

Corpus Christi Equipment Depot not

only celebrated Christmas in style, the employees also celebrated one of their own. The party was Dec. 18 at Fajitaville and during that time, George Galvan was honored for his 20 years of ser-vice to the compa-ny. –cw

George Galvan and his wife, HeatherEmployees kicked off the holiday season with a party at Fajitaville.


Construction EducationMany changes inconstruction education

Joe Horlen, Department Head,Department of Construction ScienceTexas A&M UniversityCollege Station, TX

In 2009, Construction News visited with Joe Horlen about construction educa-

tion at Texas A&M University. We talked to Mr. Horlen again this year to find out what changes have taken place since then.

What has changed in your department concerning student recruitment? The change has largely been the number of students recruited from high schools vs junior colleges. In 2009, our largest percentage were students com-ing into Texas A&M straight from high school (50 percent), with roughly 25 per-cent coming from junior college. That’s flip-flopped. Now, we have roughly 50 percent coming from junior college and 25-30 percent coming from high school. The number of students coming into our program due to a change in major has stayed about the same – 25 percent. That’s true of many majors – A&M overall is taking more students from ju-nior colleges. There has been a slight increase in the number of veterans coming in. We are quite veteran friendly. They make re-ally good students, but it’s not a signifi-cant total of the student body.

What has changed concerning scholar-ship availability and student numbers? The change there is we’ve increased the number of scholarships and the dol-lar amount. In 2009, we had 150 students receiving scholarships totaling about $250,000. Now, we have 250 students getting scholarships totaling more than $450,000. In 2009, we had roughly 600 stu-dents in our undergrad program – now we have somewhere around 1,050. We have grown fairly significantly.

What has driven that change? I attribute it to the word starting to get out about the Bachelor of Science in Construction Science degree being a good career path. It is similar to the con-struction management degree, which is what some schools call it. One of our biggest challenges was making students aware of this. Five years ago we hired a recruiter who is working with junior colleges and high schools. We are actually turning away a high-

er number of applicants now. The num-ber of applicants has really grown.

What are your recruitment goals? We still need to work on and contin-ue to improve our recruiting and getting the word out there and continue growing that way, but we’ve obviously turned the corner. It’s still a struggle. There is some-thing like 2,500 high schools in Texas, so you could work all day and never get to them all. We’ve starting making inroads there and we are seeing results. There is still lots of ground we could cover and there is still opportunity, especially to ex-pand the percentage of women in our program. Currently, we run to 10-15 per-cent women students in our department, at the college as a whole, it’s 50 percent. We would like to see our percentage of women increase over the next five years and that’s one of our plans that we are just now implementing. The percentage of women is still the same as when we were 600 students - we’d like to be double where we are in 5 years. I’m hopeful. The industry is very interested in women. We have experienced success in recruiting minority students, especially Hispanics, which now make up about 30 percent of our student body. We have worked hard with several high schools and junior colleges that have high populations of minorities. I am hopeful we can continue that trend as we work to expand our num-ber of women in the program.

What is causing the low numbers of women coming into the program? Historically, it has been a male domi-

nated industry and there’s still that per-ception out there. In all honesty, I think the industry is not a 40-hour work week and it’s not an 8-5 job for the most part. I think that im-pacts some segments of the population more than others. We have the impetus to make it known that it is a good professional ca-reer for many people.

What is the strategy for getting a vari-ety of people interested in this field as a career? The key is getting them interested in early high school and junior high school. For the most part, students who will be high school seniors apply in the sum-mer before their senior year to college. They already have a good idea of where they want to go and what they want to do. That even applies to some juniors. So you better get to them when they are fresh-men and sophomores. We are even trying to get into some junior high schools.

You still require students to take a one-semester internship, right? Yes, and the number of interns has grown, as well. The number of compa-nies hiring our interns has increased to about 500, up from roughly 300 in 2009. There are about 175 companies that take our interns on a consistent basis.

Do those internships turn into jobs for the students after graduation? Yes. In 2009, about 50 percent of our graduates went to work full time for the companies they interned with. That’s jumped to about 2/3. Out of the roughly 85 percent who get a job offer from the com-pany they interned with, 2/3 take the job. That’s the word we try to get out to these companies - if you want to hire our grads, you better hire our interns. That’s the best route to getting our students and then keeping them. We still have 100 percent of our grad-uates finding full time employment as soon as they graduate – that has not changed.

What kind of salaries do these gradu-ates find? Last year the average starting salary was around $60,000. It’s continually improved. There was a period right after our interview in 2009 where the salaries kind of slowed down, but it improved. It’s still one of the high-est starting salaries for undergraduates on campus.

What is one of the biggest changes in your department? From what I’ve seen and heard, the change we’ve seen has been the fact that most students in our program used to come from a construction background, for example, their families were in the con-struction business. That’s no longer true. Some are, but the vast majority is looking for a good career and they found out about working in the construction field. It’s a little different type of student, that doesn’t have that background, but they are very bright and capable and with the internship and summer jobs they can get caught up very quickly.

What is the future for students think-ing about going into your program? The good news is the industry is dong well. We are having a job fair this week (early February) and we estimate we will have 170 companies there, which is the largest department job fair at Texas A&M. Demand is high right now, even with the downturn in the oil and gas industry. Typically, about 10 percent of our gradu-ates go into the oil and gas sector. The other markets in Texas are doing well as it relates to hiring our graduates. The Austin market has grown a lot for us. Of the four major cities, typically the largest number of graduates go to Hous-ton, then Dallas/Ft. Worth, then San An-tonio, then Austin. Now there seems to be a three-way tie for second place be-tween DFW, San Antonio and Austin. It may all be equal by this spring! –cw

Women inConstruction

NEXT MONTH

April 2016


Association CalendarContent submitted by Associations to Construction News

ABC- Coastal BendAssociated Builders & Contractors

Mar 2: First Wednesday Mixer, 5:30-7:30pm, Location TBD, Sponsor Pro-Vigil. Mar 11-12: 3rd annual Burnin’ Meat BBQ Cook-off, San Patricio County Fair Grounds. Mar 23: General Membership Luncheon, 11:30am-1pm, Solomon P. Ortiz Center. For more information on these events, contact Venessa Spencer at (361) 289-5311.

AGC- South TexasAssociated General Contractors

Mar 9-12: Annual AGC of America Con-vention, San Antonio

AIA - LRGVAmerican Institute of Architects

Mar 25: Scholarship and Fundraising Golf Tournament, Shary Municipal Golf Course, Mission

NAWIC - Corpus ChristiNat’l Assn. of Women in Construction

WICWeek eventsMar 6: Hard Hat Walk, 9am at S. TX Art MuseumMar 10: Dress for Success Clothing Dona-tion,11:30 a.m., 4639 Corona Dr.MEETING NOTICEMar 15: National Association of Women in Construction Dinner Business Meeting, public welcome, The BBQ Man Restau-rant, 5:30 pm networking, 6pm meeting, Program-TBA, $20. Contact Vickie Thompson 361-299-6278 or 361-438-0593, to get more information or check out nawic.org or nawiccorpuschristi.org

SCTMCSafety Council Texas Mid-Coast

March 7-9: HM 245 HAZWOPER First Re-sponder Operations Level. Register at https://web-ded.uta.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&Course=oshhom

Your company up front and in the spotlight

continued from Page 1 — Time for a move

continued from Page 1 — Up and coming

continued from Page 1 — America’s largest cross coming to Corpus Christi

“We’ve always tried to keep things simple in our office,” he says. “This has a real functional feel to it.” One new addition is a conference room, which they didn’t have in the old building. It’s big enough to hold subcon-tractor meetings, board meetings and provides a spot for teleconferencing with the folks at the company’s San Antonio location. “We added a real live break room,” Mickunas said. “Our break room before was a little corner of a room that was an office.” Offices are now laid out in a logical way so that those who need access to each other are situated close. The com-pany’s bookkeepers, who used to be crowded in one office, now each have their own and are adjacent to each other.

Estimating is closer to project manage-ment. There’s a dedicated room for the file server, as well as a dedicated janitor clos-et. “It’s amazing all the things we take for granted but we never had,” Mickunas laughs. The staff pulled together for a Satur-day move on Jan. 9. “It’s making us a lot more efficient and helping us respond better to our cus-tomers’ needs and wants,” Mickunas said. D. Wilson Construction Co. provides commercial and industrial construction in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. The company’s work consists of 70 percent school districts and local universities and colleges and 30 percent private customers. –cw

Garcia says the quality of the firm’s work has given them an up-and-coming reputation. The company was awarded a citation award at the 2015 American In-stitute of Architects Lower Rio Grande Valley Chapter Design Awards for its work on the Cavazos Sports Center. “As a company we have been very fortunate to earn some extremely im-pressive clients,” Garcia said. “Our work has started to develop a reputation for quality, and the prospects for the future look extremely bright. As company prin-cipal, I try to create an atmosphere that is

positive, optimistic, and uplifting for our employees, consultants, clients and other colleagues. I am very proud of how far we've come in such a short time and I am thrilled at the outlook for where we are going!” Sam Garcia Architect LLC provides pro-fessional architectural design services for private, public, and institutional clients on a wide variety of projects throughout south Texas. Primary areas of work are medical, general commercial, multifamliy, master planning and urban redevelopment. –cw

Edward Lee McCameron, 79, of Harlingen died on Feb. 16, 2016 at his residence. McCameron was born on Oct. 31, 1936 in

Wright City, TX. to Troy and Pauline "Lyles" McCam-eron. He graduated from Pettus High School and at-tended Kilgore College. He worked in the oil fields of Texas and later worked construction in California, Nevada, Louisiana, as well as Texas. He was the own-er of Mac's Insulation Company in Harlingen. He is preceded in death by his wife of 52 years, Gaye Lynn "Looker" McCameron; his parents; broth-er Sherman Don McCameron; and two of his chil-dren: son Billy and daughter Janie. He is survived by his two sons, Edward "Chug" McCameron Jr. of Camp Wood, TX, Kenny (Cheli) McCameron of Harlingen, TX; two grandchildren, Dillon and Christian McCam-eron, both of Harlingen; his brother Charles (Joyce) McCameron of Beeville, his sister Dorothy (Bill) Fowler of Corpus Christi; and numerous nieces and neph-ews. Funeral services were Feb. 20.

Edward Lee McCameron

$150,000. PSI Engineering has done a site study to determine if the soil is strong enough to support the Corpus Christi Cross. “The number one reason we are do-ing this is because we want to bring sal-vation, forgiveness and restoration home through the cross,” Isom says. “We’ve lost our moral compass and we need to get back to Christ.” Anyone interested in helping with this project can find more details at http://corpuschristicross.com. “We are operating in the realm of faith,” Isom said. –cw

Right: A drilling crew takes core samples, nearly 30 feet deep, to determine if the soil is sound enough to support the Corpus Christi Cross. The cross will be in excess of 210 feet and will be erected along Interstate 37 near

the Carbon Plant Road exit in Northwest Corpus Christi.

When our readers pick up Con-struction News, there are a few articles and sections about

which they often ask, “How do they de-cide who is profiled in this article?” and “How can I be featured in one of these?” In this article, we’ll answer those questions regarding two of our primary features, our Front Page GC and Spotlight articles.Front Page GC Every month, we feature a general contractor’s recent project on the front page. The size and scope of the project range from small tenant finish out or ren-ovations to large ground up construction. If you are a general contractor with an office located within our coverage area for that city and its surrounding counties, you are eligible to have one of your projects featured on the front page of that paper. The project should be one that has been completed within the last year and is located within our local pa-per’s coverage area. We will need any information about the build that you can share including but not limited to the project duration, square footage, approximate cost, design team and subcontractors on the job, and details about the build and building pro-cess. We will also need a few photos, ex-terior and interior. Can your company be featured in this article multiple times? Yes, but when you are featured as our Front Page GC, you must wait five years from the publi-cation date of that article to have another

project featured on our front page. This is to ensure the opportunity for general contractors of all sizes and markets to ap-pear on the front page.Spotlight Another monthly feature in our pa-per is a profile of the head of a company that we call Spotlight. This article is an in-depth interview with the person who serves at the very top of a company as its owner, president, principal or CEO. The company can be a general contractor, subcontractor, supplier, architecture or engineering firm, equipment dealer or service provider of any size or specialty. To qualify for a Spotlight article, the featured person’s company must have an office located within the coverage area for the paper in which he or she would appear. The Spotlight can only run in the city in which this person is based. We only do a Spotlight once per individual and per company. The Spotlight focuses on the individ-ual, not the company. The profile covers the interviewee’s background, career, family, community involvement, hobbies and interests, and other personal details. The interview is presented in a question and answer format along with a photo of the person being featured.

If you feel you qualify for one of these articles and would like to be featured in a future Front Page GC or Spotlight, please contact your South Texas editor, Cyndi Wright, at [email protected] or 210-308-5800, ext. 148. –mh

Corpus Christi CAN do!


On Feb. 5, members of the Terracon Pharr office showed their support for Women’s Heart Health Awareness by wearing red. –cw

It’s a red thingSubmitted to Construction News

Julia SmithStaff EngineerPSICorpus Christi

Industry FOLKS

It seems that Julia Smith was des-tined to be an engineer since she

was a little girl. “My mom says I have been telling her that since I was little,” Smith says. “I always liked to build things.” Now Smith is a geotechnical engi-neer with PSI in Corpus Christi. She is originally from El Paso and graduated from the University of Tex-as El Paso in 2001 with a degree in civil engineering. Shortly afterwards, she and her husband, Kurt, a chemical engineer who now works for Flint Hills, moved to Chicago, Ill., where they lived from 2001 until 2014. They decided to move back to Texas to be closer to her family. At PSI, Smith is a staff engineer in the Construction Services and Geo-technical departments. She says one of the most interesting projects she has been involved with lately is a huge cross a local church is planning to build. The cross will be 210-ft high and will take some special foundation work to keep it stable. “It was really different,” Smith says. “It’s not really a building. We had to design for this huge cross so it is go-ing to take a different foundation sys-tem. We did a report to let them know what they will need to do to make it work.” Becoming an engineer in a tradi-tionally male-dominated field was

hard work, Smith says. “When I first started (in school), there were a lot of tears,” she says. Her advice to a young woman who wants to pursue a career in engi-neering is to go for it, never give up, get a mentor and good friends in the industry. Her mentors included her college advisor and a few women in the industry. “They never let me quit,” she said. “When I would say “they don’t want to listen to a woman” they all just kept telling me don’t give up!” She has also found a sisterhood with the Corpus Christi chapter of Na-tional Women in Construction (NA-WIC). She had belonged to the NAWIC chapter in Chicago since 2002. “It has helped me interact with a lot of women in the industry,” she says. “It’s a great support system.” When not working, the couple likes to explore Corpus Christi with their two-year-old daughter, Sophia. “We like to be outside a lot,” she said. “We love to go to the beach. That is the greatest thing about being here.” –cw

On Jan. 30, The Corpus Christi #4 Chapter of NAWIC sponsored its Block Kids competition at Garcia Elementary with 50 children competing. Winners, L-R: 1st Place, Reece Perez, Holy Family School; 2nd Place,Chelsea Titler, Holy Family School; 3rd Place, Celeste Garza, Garcia

Elementary; 4th Place, Christopher Morin, Garcia Elementary; and NAWIC’s Darlene Lee Omana, Block Kids chairman. Contractors Building Supply in Corpus Christi donated the

hard hats. –cw

Rocking the blocksSubmitted to Construction News

On Feb. 6, six teams competed in the first Corpus Christi CANstruc-tion, hosted by the Corpus Christi

Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The event to help fight hunger was held at La Palmera Mall and a total of 16,395 cans of food were used to build the structures – all of which was do-nated to The Food Bank of Corpus Christi. "We're hoping it becomes a staple every year," says organizer Michael York, Urban Engineering. Five teams won awards in the com-petition. Congrats! –cw

Structural Ingenuity:LJA Engineering Inc. with El Mirador

Jurors Favorite and People’s Favorite:LNV Inc. with Beet World Hunger

Best Use of Labels:Urban Engineering

with R2-D2 Can2

Best Meal – Date Night:Freese & Nichols Inc. with CH2M

Honorable Mention: Naismith Engineering Inc. with Cupid Heart

HDR Engineering with #FoodTank


Full speed ahead into new era

As Construction News continues to cover the construction industry in Texas in our five printed newspa-

pers, the company is also launching some exciting new opportunities in digital, so-cial media and other projects. With the addition to the staff of Les-lye Hernandez, marketing director, and Dana Calonge, account manager, Con-struction News is well equipped to launch into this new era of digital mobility. “Reesa and I are very excited that Leslye and Dana have joined our Con-struction News family,” says Buddy Doeb-bler, publisher and owner. “So much will happen this year with our papers, social media reach and new digital products. Having the two of them out in front lead-ing the charge will assure we will go to the next level.”

Leslye [email protected] Leslye grew up outside of Washing-ton D.C., in Fairfax, VA., where her father was a pilot for the Air Force and her mother worked at the Pentagon. Because of the military connection, Leslye spent her childhood moving from school to school. “I was never in the same school for more than a year,” she says. “It forced me to reinvent myself on a regular basis to make new friends. Thus, I’m in market-ing!” Leslye has worked with and around construction for many years, which led to her moving into marketing. “I became familiar with construction many years ago when I was responsible for building out hundreds of stores at Op-ryland and the Opryland Hotel in Nash-ville as the merchandising director,” she explains. In 1992, she was recruited by Play By

Play, a large international toy company, located in San Antonio and fulfilled a long-time goal. “I was absolutely ecstatic because it was in San Antonio,” she said. “I had vis-ited and fallen in love with San Antonio and said if I ever had an opportunity to live there, I would like to settle there. I have been all over the world and San An-tonio has not disappointed!” After leaving Play By Play, Leslye opened her own ad agency, Odyssey Graphix. “I had the pleasure of marketing a wide variety of firms from restaurants to construction and published several mag-azines,” she says. “I have always been drawn to the construction industry due to the wonderful folks involved in the business. “Having read Construction News for years, and its coverage of the people,

companies and projects, I was thrilled to be invited to join the team,” Leslye says. “As the digital age has evolved, publish-ers are moving to digital delivery of con-tent and I look forward to participating in that growth for Construction News as we expand our social media footprint, add digital delivery of our papers and launch an e-newsletter mid-year.” She is married to Juan Hernandez and has two daughters and a son. She started at Construction News in October 2015.

Dana [email protected] You could say that Dana has been in the construction arena in San Antonio for her entire career – starting with Alterman Electrical Contractors as a vocational ed-ucation student while still in her senior year at Alamo Heights High School.

L-R: Dana Calonge and Leslye Hernandez are well familiar with the construction industry in Texas. Drop them a line or give a call to 210-308-5800 to find out how they can help you

and your business.

Dana also grew up in an Air Force family. Her father worked at the Penta-gon and the family was stationed there just prior to moving to San Antonio and Kelly Air Force Base when Dana was a ju-nior in high school. After graduation, Dana stayed on with Alterman for 30 years, moving from her original position as a receptionist to the position she retired from as senior project manager. While attending UTSA, she met and married her husband, Dick, and the two were married in 1985 and have one son. After retiring from Alterman, Dana says she spent about one-and-a-half years accomplishing a lot around the house, getting to have breakfast with her son again, and ultimately deciding it was time to have conversations with adult people and not her dog. At that point, she joined Vision Construction as the company’s business development direc-tor and stayed for about three years. A chance meeting between Leslye and Dana, who had known each other through the San Antonio NAWIC Chapter, at Alterman’s annual Christmas party led to a lunch date. Leslye’s enthusiasm for the direction Construction News is taking got Dana’s attention. “I met Buddy when I was on my very first project for Alterman,” Dana said. “When he and Reesa started the San An-tonio paper in 1998, I thought it was a great idea because it gave so many peo-ple and companies a chance to be seen. “With more than 30 years in the con-struction industry, I want to use my ex-tensive experience and network base in Texas to help grow Construction News in all five of our markets.” –cw

Documents

South Texas Construction News March 2016