Oct 18, 2022

Harts Services

Tacoma-based Harts Services has developed Harts Academy, an in-house apprenticeship program that prepares trainees for careers in plumbing. The program includes eight weeks of comprehensive classroom education and immersive hands-on experience. Classroom sessions are followed by two to three years of supervised field training with licensed plumbers. “The average age of a plumber is 56,” said Rich Hart, co-owner of Harts Services. “Like all the skilled trades professions, plumbing is experiencing a chronic labor shortage. Everybody has ideas about how to address that shortage. Harts Academy is our solution. Ultimately, it’s our responsibility to recruit and develop the next generation of plumbers who will lead the industry into the future.”

Trico Companies

Wayland

Burlington-based Trico Companies hired Nick Wayland as a project engineer. Wayland has eight years of construction experience on projects ranging from commercial to residential, and was raised in a construction family. He holds an associate’s degree in construction management from Edmonds College in the Applied Science-Transfer Degree program. After graduating, Wayland became a combination building inspector for the new Sound Transit Link light rail system.

ABC of Western Washington

Leading Edge Scaffold of Woodinville is the newest member of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington. The company provides scaffolding, shoring, swing stages, mast climbers and elevators. Its corporate office is in Las Vegas.

Oct 11, 2022

ABC of Western Washington

Three companies recently joined the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington: TNT Building Community of Seattle; Tony's New Life Construction of Longview; and PS Contractors & Construction Management of Auburn. TNT says it's “building community by educating and teaching trades/skills and working on projects to stimulate community and sustainability for all people.” Tony's is a design and build firm working on both commercial and residential projects. PS is a full service general contractor and construction management firm with an accumulated 30 years of experience in construction, engineering and project management.

Skyline Construction

San Francisco-based Skyline Construction acquired Prevost Construction of San Diego. Skyline says this is a major step in expanding its operations, which include nine offices in California, Washington and Illinois. Prevost is known for building complex and technical life science facilities throughout the greater San Diego area, and that falls into Skyline's desire to scale this service to customers in all its markets. Skyline operates locally as Unimark Construction.

Harbor Freight Tools

California-based Harbor Freight Tools awarded $1.25 million in cash prizes to 20 teachers and their schools, with two of the five grand prize winners from southwest Washington. The grand prize winners of the Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence each received $100,000 and 15 others got $50,000 each. Local grand prize winners were Cory Torppa of Kalama High School and Bill Culver of Evergreen High School in Vancouver. Also, Mark Simmons of Springfield High School in Oregon was named a winner of $50,000. Doug Merrill of Wenatchee High School and Adam Wood of Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School were finalists in the competition.

Washington River Protection Solutions

Washington River Protection Solutions earned its sixth DOE Voluntary Protection Program Innovation Award for an innovative system used to make digging trenches safer and faster at the Hanford Site. WRPS deployed the system during a recent transfer line replacement project that required hand excavation around old equipment buried in a tank farm. The system used a conveyor belt to lift soil from trenches, decreasing the potential for injuries while increasing efficiency by over 50%. The hand-dug trenches were more than 7 feet deep and workers removed over 800 tons of soil.