1999 Construction Industry Survey

S. D. Deacon Corp. of Washington

Though a relative newcomer to the Puget Sound area, the S. D. Deacon Corp. of Washington has carved a niche for itself in big-box retail construction, supermarkets, car dealerships and hotels.

This has happened in only eight years, but it reflects the fact that Deacon followed its clients here. Among them are such familiar names as Wal-Mart, Borders, Target, Mervins, Safeway and Fred Meyer.

"We've completed over $750 million in retail projects throughout the western U. S. since 1981," said Don Tuttle, Deacon's director of business development in the Bellevue office. "We were recently ranked ninth in the country for interiors, and 10th in shell (construction)."

Tuttle said big-box work is tapering off a bit, although Wal-Mart and Target are building stores. In fact, Deacon has just been awarded a contract for a Sam's Club project in the Auburn Supermall.

Partly as a result of softness in retail construction, Deacon is pursuing renovation projects and new markets. One of them is supermarkets; the company has renovated 25 Safeway stores, has built 10 Fred Meyer stores, and is talking with Haggens and Trader Joe's.

"The supermarket business is exploding in growth," Tuttle said. "We think it will continue to expand, because people need to eat."

People also need drugstores and veterinarians, so Deacon is building a new Long's in Federal Way, and a Pets Choice in Issaquah.

The latter represents a new approach to veterinary care, in which clinical teams are assembled to make the most use of their facilities. Already Pets Choice has 23 locations in Washington and Texas, and is expanding into Phoenix.

In the field of hotel and motel construction, Deacon is also a noticeable presence. The company has built 500 extended-stay rooms in the last 12 months, and expects that market to remain strong.

And auto dealerships present a huge opportunity for remodels, renovations or new buildings. Tuttle said the manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Volkswagen and others, are pushing their dealers to build brand identity by building standardized structures.

"All of them have gone out and hired architecture firms to design a standard package for their dealerships," Tuttle said. "All the manufacturers will work with dealers to renovate to a new look."

Although Deacon does not pursue much public work, it did just complete a new $25 million Squalicum High School in Bellingham.

"The fee ratios are small, and the work can be very difficult," Tuttle said. "And there are a lot of people in that niche. We feel we're better suited to private sector work."

Back to top.

Tabor Electric

Tabor Electric, as minority-owned contractor, has had to face two hurdles in recent months. The first was the state voters' approval of Initiative 200, which effectively ended set-asides for minority and women-owned businesses, and the second was the death of founder Langston Tabor.

Leighton Russell, who succeeded Tabor as chief operations manager after serving 12 years as a project manager, said the firm is working to fill a "gap in the market" caused by the passage of I-200. Tabor Electric has been successful so far, he said, by maintaining established relationships with majority contractors.

"There is a void there, but there's been interest shown in minority contractors to continue to work," Russell said.

Two of Tabor Electric's biggest current projects, Safeco Field and an affordable-housing rehab at the former Sand Point Naval Air Station, were landed by Langston Tabor. Russell said one phase of the 42-unit housing project will be starting soon, and the company has several other multifamily jobs throughout the city.

Most of Tabor Electric's work is in the city of Seattle, but Russell said one job in the pipeline may take them to San Jose, Calif., for a developer of spec housing. The firm is also pursuing work on the new football stadium in Seattle, and on the convention center expansion.

Reflecting the fact that these are boom times for construction, Tabor Electric plans to hire another five or six permanent electricians to its staff of 25.

"The next couple of years are going to be good," Russell said. "There is a lot of work going on. If firms like Tabor, and other minority firms, have access to those jobs and enter into that realm, it will be a prosperous time for everybody."

Back to top.

DPR Construction

Since opening an office here in 1995, DPR Construction, of Redwood City, Calif., has grown 20 percent to 25 percent each year. This year it may jump as much as 60 percent.

Arne Hall, of the Seattle office, said the company focuses on five core markets. They are microelectronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals office and lab space, corporate offices, healthcare and entertainment.

"The market has remained extremely strong, stronger at the beginning of this year compared to the beginning of last year, in terms of the number of projects we've been asked to propose on," said Hall. "Half of them would be backlogged to the year 2000.

Nationally, DPR does $1.4 billion worth of work annually, which makes it the 32nd biggest firm based on revenues. The Seattle office handled $70 million worth of work last year, and expects about $112 million this year.

A major healthcare project now under construction is Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, a $60 million job that will include seven projects over three years. And in Yakima, DPR has ongoing work with the Sisters of Providence, Providence Medical Center.

In the biotech market, Corixa Corp. has hired DPR for its $9.5 million buildout of the former Fred Hutchinson space on First Hill, and Dendreon has ordered a 45,000-square-foot lab renovation in the former Bristol Meyers Squibb building. That project includes a class 10-K clean manufacturing suite.

DPR has just completed a major project for an integrated-circuit manufacturer in DuPont. The project was a $30 million, 350,000-square-foot building. Also in the microelectronics realm, the company has built a 40,000-square-foot clean room renovation for Interpoint.

Back to top.

Lone Star Northwest

Construction activity in the Northwest peaks during the summer months, when the weather is dry and warm and the days are long. But for concrete and materials supplier Lone Star Northwest, the past few winter months have been as busy as summer, and the backlog is growing.

"It is unbelievable how many projects are coming up for bid," says Lone Star's sales manager Don Grimes.

Most of those projects are set to begin in March or later. But Lone Star will be busy until then; the company already is supplying King Street Center, the Experience Music Project, World Trade Center and Harbor Steps.

In addition, Lone Star is jointly supplying concrete for Safeco Field and the new exhibition hall and parking garage with Stoneway Concrete.

Grimes attributes this extraordinary level of activity to low interest rates and low vacancy rates in real estate. Consumer confidence and spending is high as well, to the point where many individuals are not saving, but sending their gains in the stock market or other investments.

Lone Star has six plants in the Puget Sound area, supplying residential as well as commercial projects.

"We also have a number of plants in the Portland area," Grimes said. "That economy is still reasonably strong, but it's slowing down from what it was for about three years running. We've been picking up the slack here."

Grimes said that Lone Star, which is owned by Taiheijo Cement of Tokyo, has been expanding its fleet of trucks and upgrading other equipment in order to handle a market that it expects to remain strong for a decade. The company is not planning to add new plant sites, however, because environmental constraints make that a very long process.

Reflecting the consolidation and vertical integration that characterized the concrete industry in the 1980s, Lone Star has diversified into several divisions. They sell cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, building materials and trucking services.

"Things are going to be good for a couple of years," Grimes said. "After that we're looking at transportation. Sound Transit will start within the next few months, and go for eight to 10 years.''

Back to top.

Absher Construction

Absher Construction, a fixture of the Northwest industry since its founding in Puyallup almost 60 years ago, now pursues projects from Bellingham to California.

Current work includes six assisted-living projects under construction, the Holly Park redevelopment in Seattle, and a new Pierce County jail. The $35 million jail is in the design stage; Absher will build it in a joint venture with Kitchell Construction of Phoenix. Holly Park, a $54 million project, is also a joint venture. Absher is sharing the job with Pacific Components.

"We try to have a balance between public and private work," Absher said.

Private projects include two office buildings for Touchstone Development and several assisted-living projects for Alternative Living Services of Brookfield, Wis.

Absher said the market looks very strong for at least the next couple of years, both for his company and the industry as a whole. Absher Construction is adding staff to the 250 currently employed, but, like other companies in a booming market, the company is finding that good workers are in high demand.

"I wouldn't call it a problem," Absher said. "It is an issue attracting quality labor, but we have been able to do it."

Back to top.

Sellen

Rick Redman, chairman of Sellen Construction in Seattle, is impressed by the sheer volume of work available.

"It's definitely busier than ever," he said. "Not only in terms of what people are doing now, but also in what's in the pipeline. There are lots of projects, and nobody can tackle everything. We have to very, very selective.

"Our work is predominated negotiated, so we have to make sure we are able to take care of our clients' needs when they need us there. It's a real balancing act going after new work and reining your marketing people in. You don't really have the depth you need in this market."

Even though it is selective, Sellen nonetheless has a long project list:

• Four Newport, an office project for Bentall;
  
• Swedish Hospital southeast addition;
  
• Fisher Plaza, a new facility for KOMO Broadcasting;
  
• Retrofits of several Microsoft buildings;
  
• The Newcastle clubhouse for Scott Oki; and
  
• Harrison Memorial Hospital in Silverdale.

Sellen, too, has found the labor market to be tight. Redman said it is more of an issue at the subcontractor level, because Sellen has had good relations with trade unions and has a strong following of craftsmen who have worked with the company for many years.

"The nucleus stays with us," Redman said. "They have a lot of job security with one organization, and we find work for them. But it's still tight. When you have a lot of large jobs at one time, you have to spread your nucleus around."

Redman expects this condition to continue at least through 2001, just based on jobs in the pipeline. Beyond that, there are major public projects that haven's even surfaced yet: the football stadium, library, city hall, courthouse, transportation.

"They are all big-ticket jobs, as large as the largest private developments," Redman said. "They will take up a lot of manpower."

Sellen usually does little public work, although it is handling some as a construction manager. The company typically has several large projects, many medium-sized ones and lots of small jobs and retrofits of hospitals.

Hospitals once made up as much as half of Sellen's work, although the boom in other sectors today has caused that percentage to shrink.

The major challenge facing the industry is simply to stay ahead of the boom. Redman said the sub market, particularly, is under pressure, and the key to healthy business is to honor established relationships.

"When you have to perform, and you have to rely on people where their workforce is getting stretched, you want the kind of relationship where you can pick up the phone and make sure your job is being manned properly," Redman said.

"We have several good contractors in this market and lots of good subs and suppliers," he added. "We want to make sure everybody comes out of this boom (in good shape)."

Back to top.

PCL Construction Services

PCL Construction Services is a 100 percent employee-owned firm with operations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Ted Cook, vice president of the Northwest region, said the division has been working mainly in the Seattle-to-Portland corridor recently, with less activity in Hawaii or Alaska.

The Hawaii economy is somewhat depressed. Cook said PCL is performing preconstruction services on a $300 million Outrigger Hotels redevelopment project in Waikiki, but that may not get out of the ground for another year or two. And most of the work in Alaska is publicly funded, which is a category the company is shying away from.

In the Seattle area, PCL is engaged in a lot of what Cook considers to be smaller projects. In fact, he said the market seems flatter than he expected, and the company is prepared to be busier.

Ongoing projects include:

• Twin 13-story condominium towers at First near Denny for T. Jones Inc., for $35 million, nearing completion;
  
• A $50 million Continental Bentall project on Westlake called Westlake Towers, which has broken ground but is now on hold pending refinancing;
  
• A WestCoast Hotels project in Portland;
  
• A Starwood hotel at Sea-Tac;
  
• Luxury suite at Safeco Field; and
  
• Finishing work at Harborview as a subcontractor to Sellen Construction.

"There aren't a lot of larger jobs being bid," Cook said. "The only large job now is the convention and trade center expansion, but there are only three generals bidding the job. It's a bit of a lull."

PCL is not currently adding staff, although five or six new people were hired about six months ago. The Seattle office has about 55 salaried employees, with about 200 hourly workers in the field.

"Six or seven months ago, we were scrounging for people," Cook said. "That's not the case now."

For the future, PCL plans to stick with its tried-and-true formula. Cook said the only difference is that now the company is pursuing less public work than it did in the past. The reason, he said, is that public jobs are more competitive and less profitable than private ones.

Back to top.

Hartford Contracting Inc.

Hartford Contracting Inc. has been working to help law enforcement agencies catch crooks and keep them locked up.

Its largest ongoing project is adding seismic upgrades to the state reformatory in Monroe, and its most interesting work is constructing the King County Sheriff's Department Shooting Range in Ravensdale in the southeast part of the county.

The six-building shooting range totals 9,000 square feet and is being built inside a 25-foot berm that will stop stray bullets. Its construction has increased the challenge.

"We are in the mud," said David Calixto, Hartford president. The work began last summer and should be done in March or April - depending on the weather.

The seismic upgrade at the Monroe Reformatory will be finished July 1. Hartford began doing seismic upgrades in 1994 as public awareness about the inevitability of "The Big One" increased.

Calixto expects to keep busy. "I think there are still a lot of buildings out there that need to be upgraded," he said. "I don't see it letting up anytime soon."

On the schedule for 1999 for Hartford is a $2.3 million job at McChord Air Force Base. It is an addition of 4,000 square feet and the renovation of approximately 12,000 square feet to a C-17 aircraft maintenance facility.

Back to top.

University Mechanical Contractors

For Ed Kommers, the highlight of 1998, was working on Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Symphony's new home that opened to rave reviews.

"It's a class project," said Kommers. "It was a successful public-private partnership that finished on time and on budget, and it was technically and acoustically an amazing project to work on. It was very unique and it worked."

Making the project's success more notable is that the budgeting began four to five years before completion, he added.

The construction industry faces a major challenge in adapting to a workforce that includes women and minorities. Photo courtesy W. G. Clark

"What's special about that one is mechanically it's a very dense building on a dense site," he said. The lack of space meant workers had to schedule the technically difficult project so they would have enough room to maneuver.

"We consider ourselves the top of the line for medical facilities and labs," Kommers said.

The Harborview project is a far cry from Stafford Creek, an approximately $180 million state prison of 1,900 beds. It's UMC's largest ongoing project. With 200 acres around it, workers don't have to worry about finding space to store equipment.

Also last year, UMC worked on the new IMAX Theater and Butterfly Atrium at Seattle Center. It is building a parking garage at the center currently.

One not-so-glamorous but still-noteworthy project that UMC finished last year was the Birmingham Steel's West Seattle scrap yard roof. The roof measures 25,000 square feet and was constructed using heavy concrete foundations and 125-foot-long trusses.

"The work was all done without shutting down the business," Kommers said.

UMC also worked on a 42-boiler package at Hanford. The federal Department of Energy decommissioned a steam plant, and UMC replaced it with the new boilers at 28 different sites around the Eastern Washington nuclear reservation. That was done in nine months.

For 1999, UMC has on tap work on Swedish Hospital's new Southeast Tower in Seattle, a variety of projects for Boeing, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport parking garage expansion and the Overlake Hospital Medical and Office Building in Bellevue.

Kommers said he would like to be able to predict the future of the overall construction market but could address only his own business. "For us I see the market being steady," he said. "We are not planning for huge growth and likewise we are not anticipating a huge decline, either."

Back to top.

McCarthy

Don Severide, vice president of McCarthy, thinks the construction market will remain strong in 1999 for various reasons.

Biopharmaceutical research is one. Severide compared what's occurring with biotechnology in Seattle with the sprouting of computer chip plants in the Portland area where the Silicon Forest took root.

Biotech companies are moving to Seattle to be near the UW and the Hutchinson center, Severide said.

This biotech activity will be in addition to the already busy office, retail and high-rise residential markets in Seattle.

As an established company, McCarthy's activity will remain strong. McCarthy is able to keep pace by doing most of the work on projects itself, rather than relying on subcontractors.

McCarthy's list of 1998 projects is long and varied. In addition to high-profile works, such as the Bellevue Galleria, there are less visible ones such as the Near Island Research Facility for the borough of Kodiak, Alaska. It is designed for marine research.

The Space Needle project is one that is receiving attention because of its landmark status. McCarthy crews are finishing the new traffic turnaround and valet parking area. These will tie into a future intersection and Broad and John streets. The second phase is for creating a 2-story glass building at the base of the Space Needle.

Another not-so-high-profile project was the Foster Farms chicken processing plant in Kelso.

At University Village in Seattle, McCarthy has finished the Northwest Quadrant, a group of stores, and Molbak's first prototype nursery store outside its Woodinville headquarters.

Severide anticipates retail construction to stay steady. While most big box retailers already are in the Seattle-area market, owners of specialty boutiques now found in such places as Rodeo Drive are recognizing Seattle as a place they want to open shops. Gucci wants to return to Seattle, Severide said.

Suburban malls will be more fuel for the construction fire, needing renovations to keep up with new malls, he said.

McCarthy is the contractor for Bentall's 550,000-square-foot Millennium Corporate Park in Redmond. Work on the three-building first phase continues and the second phase - also three buildings - will begin this summer.

Severide expects office construction will continue humming along. "One thing we've found is that in the downtown core you can't find any contiguous space over 5,000 to 7,000 square feet."

Pent-up housing demand will drive high-rise residential construction, aided by the rebirth of downtown Seattle and empty-nesters returning to urban living.

McCarthy is working on Harbor Steps North, a 295-apartment, twin-tower project between First and Western avenues. It includes 35,000 square feet of class A office space, 25,000 square feet of retail and a public overlook.

Back to top.

Lease Crutcher Lewis

When Newton Tobias Lease started what would become Lease Crutcher Lewis, the concept of a company such as Microsoft was unfathomable, but 130 years later, Lease Crutcher Lewis is playing a key role in the software manufacturer's office development.

Microsoft's Troon Office Campus, a 430,000-square-foot office project in two 6-story buildings with below-grade parking for 1,600 vehicles, is Lease Crutcher Lewis' largest ongoing project. It is not the only one involving Microsoft, however.

Lease Crutcher Lewis is working jointly with Hines, a Houston-based developer, on Cedar Court, a 450,000-square-foot Redmond office project. Lease Crutcher Lewis is performing tenant improvements for Microsoft.

"Microsoft is so in the public eye and they're a very sophisticated client," said Theodore Sive, director of marketing for Lease Crutcher Lewis. "Achieving success with them is very satisfying."

Working on high-profile projects is common for Lease. At Pacific Place, the upscale urban mall that is at the heart of downtown Seattle's retail renaissance, Lease Crutcher Lewis worked in partnership with Sellen Construction.

Among the firm's current projects are renovations and additions at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle; Genie Industries' new phased manufacturing campus for 1,800 employees in Moses Lake; the first of three buildings at developer Koehler McFadyen's 401 Elliott West, a 300,000-square-foot office development in Seattle; construction and renovation of Washington Mutual branches; and Wright Runstad & Co.'s 450,000-square-foot Sunset North office campus in Bellevue and the 325,000-square-foot King Street Center in Seattle.

Another project, construction of a new middle school for Lakeside School in Seattle, is noteworthy for its status as a design-build project. The general contractor is working jointly with the Seattle architecture firm NBBJ.

Clients want single-source accountability to ensure schedules are met and budgets maintained, Sive explained. Furthermore, building design and construction methods are becoming more complex and require collaboration. "So a delivery method that encourages that is somewhat of a natural."

Sive anticipates the construction market will remain busy. Office construction will stay strong and be fortified by the building demands of high-tech companies.

"There's a huge amount of public work in the next 10 years," Sive said, referring to municipalities and counties, the new regional Sound Transit system, schools and ports.

Back to top.

Turner Construction

"The construction marketplace last year was incredibly strong," said Arthur K. Langlie, Turner's manager of business development. "I was answering at least one or two RFPs a week."

Demand for Turner's services included the new $430 million Seahawk's football stadium.

But football isn't the only game in town for Turner which is working on several large GC/CM projects for the University of Washington, including the nearly completed Oceanography and Fisheries buildings and the Suzzallo Library renovation, now on hold pending approval of funds.

New York-based Turner's local business mix is evenly split between public and private projects.

Future projects include: a Marriott hotel on the Seattle waterfront, now in the preconstruction phase; 133,000 square feet of new space in the Lake Union area for the Cancer Care Alliance, a joint venture of UW, Fred Hutchinson and Children's Hospital; the World Trade Center North garage for the Port of Seattle; and a mechanical system upgrade at Puget Sound Hospital in Tacoma.

Langlie said the firm is looking at a few large jobs in Eastern Washington and is "intrigued" by activity at Washington State University.

Turner also may expand its Special Projects Division, which does tenant improvement work and smaller jobs, to take on projects on the Eastside and Southend.

Like most contractors, Langlie is concerned about the lack of skilled workers in the local market. "You can't get enough people for the work that is being done," he said, but the tight labor market "hasn't caused any major headaches yet" at Turner, which gets many of its workers by recruiting at colleges.

Langlie said another problem that could affect the local construction market is traffic. He said congestion is slowing the delivery of goods and that could impact some companies' decisions to move here, resulting in a loss of potential construction projects.

Langlie said he sees a slowing of the local market. "I think there is some softening now, especially in the commercial office sector in the past three months," he said.

Back to top.

Ferguson Construction

Ferguson Construction instigated a major change in the direction of the company earlier this year when it hired veterans Chris Raftery and Don Surina from Hoffman Construction. The move was done to broaden the spectrum of services offered by the company.

"The opportunities here to grow the business were too good to pass up," said Raftery, who spent the last four years at Hoffman before joining Ferguson as executive vice president. His credentials include 28 years of construction experience, a construction management degree and a masters in civil engineering.

"We never had anybody here with his expertise and background," said Jay Hall, vice president. "There are great things that can happen with Chris here."

Raftery said he wants to promote better ways of doing things out in the field. Just recently, Ferguson workers found that preassembling panelized walls offsite for a new Bellevue assisted-living facility is going to save time and money.

"There are exciting times ahead," Raftery said. "It's like being on the ground floor of a 50-year-old company."

Raftery and Surina, Ferguson's director of construction operations, will benefit from a strong construction market in their new positions.

"It's hard to believe it's going so strong," Raftery said about the construction industry. "What I find rewarding about the market we are in is it's just not a regional phenomenon, it's a national phenomenon."

Raftery said there hasn't been this much construction activity anywhere since the boom produced by the 1980 Olympics in Los Angeles. He said the work includes the whole spectrum of construction, from residential to retail to office and industrial.

Raftery said the market is strong because of pent-up demand from a lack of commercial development in the early-1990s and because of the overall economy, with its low interest rates. "Lots of people have money to do things they have been planning for a long time," he said.

Some of Ferguson's current projects include: Brighton Gardens II, a 108-room assisted-living facility in Bellevue for Marriott; a 500,000-square-foot cold-storage building in Sumner; a 64,000-square-foot retail center in Bend, Ore., for a Seattle client; and ongoing work for Costco and Home Depot.

In the coming year, the company plans to add about a half-dozen management positions to its current staff of 32 in the office and 200 in the field.

Raftery said he has only been at Ferguson since January, but has received six unsolicited resumes from construction workers across the country. He said the workers are looking to come to Seattle for its quality of life.

Back to top.

M.A. Mortenson

Rodger Benson, M.A. Mortenson's director of business development, said, "It was a great year for us, one of our best ever." And the picture gets brighter from there: Benson said 1999 will a record-setting year for the Seattle office of M.A. Mortenson and 2000 looks to be even better.

"We thought 1999 was going to be the end of the good times, now it looks like the good times will continue into 2000," Benson said.

Crews from PCL are building the 13-story, twin-tower Concord Condominiums on First Avenue for developer T. Jones Inc. Photo by Jon Savelle

Benson said the strong construction market is being fueled by the local economy and the software industry, especially on the Eastside where the market for suburban office buildings is healthy.

He did warn there are too many projects planned in the downtown Bellevue area. "I don't know where the tenants will come from," he said.

Some of the big projects Mortenson has lined up include: the 450-room, 29-story Elliott hotel planned for the convention center in Seattle by R.C. Hedreen Co.; renovating and adding to the Hilton at Sea-Tac; and ongoing project management of domestic field sites for Microsoft.

The Hilton job includes adding a new four-level guest wing and conference center behind the hotel, plus renovating the existing building. A new parking garage will be built under the conference center. The job will be built in three phases.

Jobs under construction include: UW/Cascadia campus in Bothell; a $10 million expansion and renovation of the Alaska Airlines Flight Training Center; the Seattle Police West Precinct; a three-building office park in Bothell totaling 45,000 square feet; and The Crystal in Burnaby, B.C., four towers of mixed-use space.

Mortenson's project mix is about 50 percent public and 50 percent private.

Mortenson, like other contractors, is not immune to the construction labor shortage. Benson said the availability of experienced staff could have an impact on how much work the company can go after next year. He said the company is having trouble finding field personnel because the union halls are empty.

"We're dying for good people. We need at least 10 staff tomorrow and can't find them."

Currently, the Bellevue office has about 85 staff and another 600 in the field. Benson said he would like to have 10 to 15 more people in the office by the end of the year.

To keep its clients happy, Mortenson in January instigated a staff incentive program where workers' pay is influenced by customer feedback on their performance. "Our business has almost become exclusively relationship based," he said. "Profitability is easy to measure, customer service isn't."

Another cutting-edge management tool Mortenson is using is web-based project information centers. The system works by creating websites for each project, allowing information to be shared quickly.

Mortenson is headquartered in Minneapolis.

Back to top.

Bayley Construction

Bayley Construction's revenue growth last year was more than it wanted, according to David Sween, who is responsible for marketing and business development for the firm's Northwest region. "At the beginning of the year, we would have been surprised we had that much growth."

Sween said the company's 1998 revenues pushed the level of service it could provide for its clients. "We turned work away because we were concerned about that," he said.

Sween's outlook for the local construction market is very bullish. "What ever we saw last year, it's faster and bigger this year," he said. "Anybody who's predicting a slowdown in the next two years is being conservative to a fault."

Sween said the construction market will remain strong for the next 20 years because of the migration of people into the Northwest and a shift in the base of the local economy. "Our local economy has become so much more diverse, that it won't suffer under the constraints of such a large company (as Boeing)," he said.

Sween said the local hot sectors are biotechnology and high-technology. He said high-tech growth is going to be small in comparison with the biotech industry's growth; everyone faces health issues while not everyone uses computers.

"The biotech industry will wash over us like a tidal wave," he predicted.

With all that current and projected growth, Bayley is still sticking to its guns when it comes to hiring new workers. Its strategy is to usually hire from construction management programs of major universities. The company grooms young employees so that they understand the construction process at all levels.

"We focus on bringing younger people in," Sween said. "Rather than pick the flower, we look for the seed."

Some of Bayley's bigger projects include a $58 million mall for Mills Corp. in the city of Orange, Calif.; the $20 million Law School building at Seattle University; three projects for Nordstrom; the Cinerama renovation for Vulcan Northwest; and a 30,000-square-foot clubhouse for the Plateau Golf and Country Club near Redmond. The company also has begun preconstruction services for Disney Downtown, a mixed-use retail/entertainment complex in the parking lot of Disneyland. Construction costs are estimated between $50 million and $75 million.

The firm's business mix is about 85 percent private and 15 percent public. Sween said the company strives to keep a mix for diversification.

Much of Bayley's past growth has come through Nordstrom. The company has built 93 major projects for the upscale retailer, half of which were new stores. When Nordstrom expanded into Southern California in the mid-1980s, Bayley decided to open an office in Santa Anna.

Bayley's decision to open a California office also was influenced by a northern migration of many Southern California contractors. That left a big potential market that could be developed once the California economy rebounded.

Bayley now gets 60 percent of its volume from California, 30 percent from the Northwest and 10 percent from jobs throughout the West.

Sween said the Nordstrom projects became a blessing and a curse: the experience helped Bayley graduate on to bigger projects, but it also moved the firm out of town.

The company is now shifting back into the Northwest, reconnecting with Northwest clients and architects.

"We couldn't have handled (their) projects if we didn't go out of town to gain the expertise needed to do the job," Sween said. "It's like never having been here before. It's an interesting paradox."

Sween said the company has no plans to open any other offices, but that could change if a client took them into a new market. "We've never focused on markets, we've focused on clients."

Back to top.

McKinstry Co.

The local construction market "is absolutely on fire," said David Allen, executive vice president of marketing and business development at McKinstry. "Seattle has arrived as a regional center. There's lots going on here."

Allen said those projects include schools, stadiums, convention centers, port expansions, a cruise ship terminal and Sound Transit's rail system.

"This region has a great sense of balance in business demographics," Allen said, referring to high-tech, tourism, education, biotech, military, Boeing and general population growth.

Work is booming at McKinstry, the area's largest mechanical contractor, too. Upcoming projects include the Safeco corporate headquarters campus, Fisher Plaza (KOMO-TV studios), Genie Industries' manufacturing plant in Moses Lake, the One Convention Place office tower, Experience Music Project, Microsoft's Pinehurst development and Amazon.com's new headquarters.

Most of McKinstry's projects are now private negotiated jobs. Allen said the company has gone from 40 percent negotiated 10 years ago to 90 percent negotiated today. He said negotiated work is more team oriented, less adversarial and keeps customers coming back.

"We have positioned ourselves to sell value and improve delivery," he said.

"Our biggest growth areas are service, small work and facilities management," Allen said. Those three contribute $15 million to sales and Allen sees that number increasing to $30 million over the next five years.

Facilities management makes up about 2 percent of the company's total sales now, but has a bright future at McKinstry. "The mechanical systems are such a huge driving force in the facility's ability to function succesfully for the owner."

Allen is getting pressure to expand facilities management on a national level. "We're nearing the critical point where McKinstry's success in the Northwest may take it national. We are preparing planning stages to implement facilities management on a national level. It would hugely increase the bottom line."

McKinstry has developed a national network of mechanical contractors in facilities management that will help put its national business model in place. Allen expects some sort of model to be developed within 15 months.

Allen has no plans to go national with mechanical contracting because today's business is client-driven and the markets are not transferable. "It would be extremely distracting for us. Very few mechanical, electrical firms can go national."

Allen said a number of out-of-state mechanical contractors have tried to enter the local market, most without success. He said they fail due to a lack of client relationships and connections with the subcontractor community. They also fail because they can't provide value and lack long-standing employees.

Other growth areas for McKinstry are in software, biotech, biomedical and technology manufacturing. Allen said the company now has five jobs with Internet providers. "A year ago, you didn't even know what they were," he said.

Technological advances are creating another opportunity: buildings that are just 15 to 20 years old have become technologically obsolete and need upgraded mechanical and communication systems.

An industry change that Allen is welcoming is a move from hard bids to alternative bids. He said the hard bid system is broken and doesn't work. The change in bidding means contractors will have to present themselves in different ways and price projects differently. "Contractors are going to have to change how they acquire work," he said.

Allen said part of the company's success has been its workers. "We've really worked on being a preferred place to work. We want to be successful at getting people to want to work here."

To address that issue, McKinstry last year started a "preferred place to work initiative" that includes making employees feel they are part of the business and have a role in its success.

"I can see the difference already," Allen said. "We can tell the customers are getting a better delivery."

Back to top.

Boss Construction

Boss Construction of Bellingham is looking forward to a good year.

"We expect to find a lot of jobs of the type we like to bid on," said Tim Hart, president. The company normally does a large variety jobs such as schools, bridges, dams and sewage treatment plants.

"But we tend to go after unusual jobs, something that has more creativity," Hart said. In fact, the company worked on two jobs in 1998 that were featured in Engineering News-Record for being the first of their kind in the world.

One potential job for 1999 is for the city of Seattle which will require them to drill an 11-foot-wide hole 94 feet deep, next to a dam on the Cedar River.

"We were quite low on the job, but we feel confident that our bid numbers are good," Hart said. The city will award the job soon.

"We are capable of doing $20 million in work per year, but being able to find the kinds of work we want will be the key to our being able to meet those goals," Hart said.

The Bellingham market is very competitive, with several contractors of the same size. Even in other areas of the state, Boss expects to find one or more Bellingham contractors bidding on the same job.

Back to top.

Romex Construction

Learline Romex, the president of a women and minority business enterprise painting company based in Tacoma, expects to see a downturn in her business this year.

"With I-200, I think our work will drop," she said. She is busy marketing her company to other contractors, sending out letters of introduction and approaching trade group members.

Previously, she did a lot of work for housing agencies and other public works projects. The largest job for the company to date was $57,000 for the state of Washington.

"We only have three employees, but we may have to lay some off," she said. "We have some other steady clients in the community and we hope to increase business with them."

Back to top.

Infrastructures Inc.

Infrastructures officials hope to do about the same level of work, if not slightly more in the coming year.

"We broadened the scope of work several years ago and that paid off," said Vern Petersen, president of the company. "We used to just put roofs on industrial buildings and warehouses."

Now the company does wood framing, primarily in the western part of the state. With six employees in the office and 52 currently in the field, Petersen plans to hire another estimator this year.

Back to top.

Synergy Construction

From changing a streetscape to altering a skyline, some construction professionals revel in making a tangible mark in the world.

For Synergy Construction President Pam Stewart, however, seeing people use the building is more rewarding than the building itself.

Synergy works primarily for non-profit organizations, such as the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, Low Income Housing Institute, the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program and Common Ground.

Recent projects include the $2.8 million Compass Center for homeless women in Seattle's Cascade neighborhood, an abused women's shelter for Consejo Counseling and Referral Service and a $4 million renovation of the historic, 86-year-old Jensen Block apartments near South Lake Union. That project earned a Historical Award of Merit from the Washington State Historical Society.

In April, the firm will begin work on a $1.6 million renovation of the Spruce Apartments in Seattle's Central District. The five-story brick building, developed by the Archdiocesan Housing Authority, will offer low-income housing.

Also coming up is a renovation of the Harvey Apartments for the Central Area Development Association.

"The reward for working for nonprofits is seeing the people use the projects we build," Stewart said. "That makes our work very enjoyable."

Stewart described the current market as "very, very good," which she links to the firm's strong client relationships.

"Most of our clients are repeat clients," she said. "We try very hard to produce a superior product for as little markup as possible. Nonprofits need to stretch their dollars as far as they can, and we help them to do that."

Business wasn't always booming, however.

Stewart said nine years ago when the company first formed, the market was highly competitive and profits margins were low. Synergy worked exclusively on public projects at that time, and built its client base from there.

The tough times didn't last long. Synergy now has a solid foothold within its nonprofit niche, and has a good backlog of projects.

If its workload gets too light, Stewart said the company will diversify, although she doesn't expect that will happen any time soon, if at all.

Synergy primarily works in the Puget Sound region, although some staff live in Eastern Washington working on projects there.

Back to top.

W.G. Clark

1999 revenues: $65 million
Largest current project: The Seasons, a 226-unit apartment building in downtown Bellevue

W.G. Clark of Seattle is riding high on the region's economic success. In the last two years, the general contractor has moved up from building $5 million to $10 million retirement homes and assisted-living centers to $20 million apartment complexes.

For concrete suppliers the winter months have been as busy as summer.

"There's no question: the market is great right now," Clark said. "If we had the staff we'd do twice the work we are doing."

Best of all, he said, all the fun can be had in King County. The company usually augments its project list with jobs in Central Washington, Oregon and even California. Now, enough work is available to keep crews busy here. About 90 percent of the company's current business is in King County.

Seattle projects include an approximately $7 million renovation of Pioneer Square's Frye Apartments, set for completion in late summer; and a renovation of the Corona Hotel and Terry-Denny Building, expected to be finished late this year.

In Bellevue, the company is building a $22 million apartment complex called "The Seasons," which is about two-thirds complete, and expects to soon begin work on a similar-sized project in the same neighborhood.

Though much of the firm's new work has come from apartment complexes, that doesn't mean W.G. Clark is becoming strictly an apartment builder.

This spring, for instance, crews will begin work on an $8 million assisted-living center in Spokane for Leisure Care of Bellevue.

Clark plans to maintain a solid presence in the retail, warehouse and office construction industries while maintaining a stronghold on the apartment market.

"Whenever we philosophize within the company about our future plans, we generally agree to build apartments until the market dries up," Clark said. "We have a strong niche, and believe you should take advantage of the niche you're a leader in."

As for the longevity of the region's booming market, Clark said he doesn't see any downturns in the distance, and plans to enjoy it while it lasts.

Back to top.

Pilchuck Constructors

While many local construction companies are running to keep up with the region's robust economy, Pilchuck Constructors of Kent is moving a bit slower this year.

Business Development Director Paul Koshiyama said problems in the aerospace, pulp and paper, and metals industries have impacted the company's work load, causing a slight decline in business volumes compared to previous years.

"We usually see blips here and there," Koshiyama said, "but this year work for [those industries] has generally been down."

Pilchuck offers ultra-high purity piping system installations, equipment setting, tank repairs and associated construction services. Their clients are primarily owners of heavy industrial, food processing, power generation, chemical, pulp and paper, industrial gases and petrochemical plants. The company also serves high technology and biotechnology plants.

Pilchuck expects the successful biotech and high-tech industry to replace business lost in other sectors.

"The high-tech industry isn't exploding now, not at the level it was five years ago when everyone was building a new plant," Koshiyama said. "But we expect it to pick up."

Meanwhile, Pilchuck Constructors plans to keep busy with biotech projects, which are bountiful, he said.

The company's typical project size ranges from $5,000 to $6 million. Crews worked on the University of Washington's Fluke Hall, as well as projects for Ballard High School in Seattle.

Pilchuck Constructors also contracts with numerous governmental entities including the United States Navy, Army and Air Force. The company credits its expansive client base to its orbital welding/process piping expertise.

Business may be slow now, but Pilchuck is preparing for busier days, expected to come soon.

"We'll be adding some people," Koshiyama said. "We hire the best and the brightest, usually they are well rounded with expertise in a variety of areas such as heavy industrial, high-tech and biotech - although we hire people with expertise in specific areas, too."

Back to top.

GLY Construction

GLY Construction President Roger Anderson says his company is unique for several reasons.

First, the 32-year-old company continues to do 100 percent negotiated work, including preconstruction services for its clients. About 75 percent of GLY's projects are for repeat clients.

"We usually work for clients for whom we've built more than three buildings in the past," Anderson said. "That's our niche, in that those clients absorb most of our capacity in this rising market."

A good, long-term rapport with its clients has brought GLY more than a steady stream of projects. Anderson said he's able to get an insider's view of the marketplace from clients, allowing the company to plan ahead.

"Since we are close to our clients, we're well aware of their plans for the next two years," he said. "We're definitely sensing a slow down."

Several clients are putting off projects set to begin this year. That indicates space isn't leasing as quickly as it was a year ago, Anderson said.

However, a slowdown isn't the same as a stop, Anderson said. He remains pleased with the current volume of work, which averages between $4 million and $9 million per project, while preparing for a possible slump.

"We are studying the possibility of doing multi-family projects and tenant-improvement projects to diversify our work," Anderson said.

The company may also expand its geographic work-area as well. Currently, GLY does business primarily within a 100-mile radius of Bellevue; but the softening market may push crews into lesser-known territory.

Branching out means increased competition - a factor GLY hasn't had to deal with in past years.

"We haven't had to significantly compete for jobs for 1998 or 1999," Anderson said. "If we jump into new markets, we will. We'll be the new kids on the block."

Nevertheless, Anderson said the company will continue to thrive.

GLY is busy with Quadrant's East Campus IV project in Federal Way, TRF Pacific's Woodinville Town Center and the Overlake Hospital tower and medical center. It also has projects in the pipelines for Spieker Properties and Microsoft.

Last year, GLY launched an active recruitment campaign to expand its employee base. Anderson said that while the company is always looking for good construction professionals, it won't hold a similar recruitment blitz this year.

Back to top.

T.W. Clark

T.W. Clark of Spokane may be only a year old, but it's staffed with seasoned professionals that its owners say boosts the company into a high-class league of its own.

"We were a little different than most construction companies when we first came on," said Clayton Linnell, part owner of the firm. "We knew how big we wanted to be, and built a very professional image."

Linnell said the "big deal" about T.W. Clark is its hands-on approach. Experienced crews and project managers oversee the work, so projects aren't shuffled down to "kids just out of school."

Most T.W. Clark employees have an average of 15 to 20 years of experience, including the office staff.

"That means we bring expertise to each project," Linnell said. "We set it up from the beginning to do it right, professionally. We are not a company that hires and fires people."

The company's projects range between $500,000 and $6 million. Crews currently are working on a work-release facility in Kennewick for the Department of Corrections, tenant improvements at the Spokane Valley Mall, two grocery store renovations, and a 30,000-square-foot, mixed-use retail building in Spokane.

T.W. Clark generally works in Eastern Washington, although the company has done projects in Western Washington, Northern Idaho and Western Montana.

Linnell said he's in the process of hiring new staff. The company started out with just him, majority owner Tom Clark, and a few field superintendents. Now it's ready to beef up its crews.

"We're not going to explode," Linnell said. "We'll stay in the $10 to 20 million a year range, but we are ready to add more experienced people."

While Western Washington's healthy market is no secret, Eastern Washington is moving at a steady pace. Last year was mediocre, Linnell said, but he expects the construction industry to pick up in 1999.

As for local competition, Linnell said it's tough, but manageable.

"Competition is steep, but we've got a good name and some big clients," Linnell said. "We've been up for short list-type projects, and turned up on lists when older companies in the area didn't. We take pride in that."

Back to top.

Lugo Construction

After 21 years in the construction industry, Lugo Construction of Tacoma has fine-tuned its business philosophy.

President Adrian Lugo said that after some soul searching, the company finally defined its mission: to serve each other, customers and the community.

"We have quite a different approach when it comes to our specialty," Lugo said. "A lot people in this business say `I'm a remodel guy' or `I'm an assisted-living guy,' but Lugo is truly a service company. We just happen to build buildings."

Lugo Construction doesn't have a niche, it concentrates on a certain kind of client, rather than a specific job type. Lugo said the company has a prototype for who it wants to serve, which he calls his "perfect client."

The "perfect client" is knowledgeable, trustworthy and willing to pay, he said. Perfect clients are the ones the company strives to get and keep by being accommodating and producing good work, he added.

"For that client, I will change a doorknob or build a high rise," he said. "Our key [employees] are multi-talented so we can take care of any need - assisted living, commercial, medical, even industrial. Our success is a result of sticking with specific clients."

Secure clients also may help cushion the fall in case of an economic downturn.

"We've worked toward a client base that is recession-resistant," Lugo said. "When times are bad, they will still want to contract with a good company and will come to us because we do good work. It's not about the `low price' it's about the right price."

Churches often fit Lugo's perfect-client status. Like developers, they want maximum quality on a limited budget, but are willing to pay for good work rather than opt immediately for the lowest bidder.

Lugo Construction commits to a price even before project plans are done, and works with the client to craft a building that fits their budget. Lugo said that method eliminates any costly surprises.

The company is currently working on St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic Church in Renton, and recently finished the United Methodist Church in Bear Creek. Other recent projects include a $1.75 religious building for Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, and the Tactical Skills Training Building in Kent for the state Criminal Justice Training Commission.

Projects generally average between $3 million and 5 million.

As well as serving clients, support within the company is key. Every year each employee sets new goals, then everyone helps each other achieve those objectives.

The firm also donates a percentage of its income to Lugo Charities, which, among other purposes, helps ambitious students finance college.

"I'm very committed to education," Lugo said. "Ten percent of what we make goes to the community, and my employees often donate more."

The passage of Initiative 200 has further fueled Lugo's commitment to promoting diversity in education, and the work force.

Lugo's company "graduated" from minority status in 1991, so I-200 didn't directly affect the company.

"What it did do, is make me more aware of the issue," he said. "We have a policy to hire 28 percent minorities and women. We're at 26 percent right now."

Lugo also encourages his subcontractors to hire minorities and is urging construction organizations, such as the Associated Builders and Contractors, to support efforts that bolster minorities and women in the construction industry.

Back to top.

Construction Machinery Inc.

This Anchorage-based construction equipment company, a subsidiary of CIRI (Cook Inlet Region Inc.), has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years and today has 14 branches and 360 employees in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada.

This year the company plans to add three more branches: in the Everett area and in Medford and Eugene, Ore.

In 1997, the company made a big entrance into the Seattle market with the purchase of the Ingersoll-Rand distributorship. A state-of-the-art facility in Kent opened last November.

With such heavyweight lines as Ingersoll-Rand and Blaw Knox asphalt pavers, the company is poised to take advantage of the billions of dollars in highway funds coming to the region in the next several years, according to sales manager Gary Swift.

"The industry is going through a lot of consolidation, particularly at the rental end," said Swift, noting the growing presence of such mega companies as United Rentals, now the largest construction equipment rental firm in the world.

Still a major worry for machinery distributors, says Swift, is the "gray market" of underpriced construction equipment arriving from Asia.

Another continuing problem is the slow permitting process as exemplified by the stalled third runway project at Sea-Tac Airport.

Infrastructure work for new housing should continue strong in the Puget Sound region, Swift believes, despite Boeing layoffs.

Swift says Construction Machinery Inc. will be increasing its workforce this year.

Back to top.

Totem Equipment

Earlier this year Totem Equipment opened its fourth branch in Eugene, Ore. even though the pulp business is plagued by over-supply and log exports are down due to Asia's economic problems, says President Jim Rutherford.

"But there's still a lot of business down there," he said, adding that he expects the timber market to rebound in a year or two.

Logging equipment used to be 60 percent of Totem Equipment's business. But now construction equipment leads the way at 50 percent, followed by logging at 40 percent and mining at 10 percent.

"There's so much underground utility work," said Rutherford. "A lot of homes are still being built."

Totem Equipment is predicting a lot of highway work this year and next, especially rehab projects, which should increase sales of the company's Hamm rollers and compactors.

Rutherford anticipates that construction of Sound Transit's light rail line will create a strong demand for heavy equipment, particularly Totem Equipment's Hitachi excavators and Terex trucks.

The "gray market" in Asian equipment and slow permitting for construction projects are two negatives facing equipment dealers today, says Rutherford.

Rutherford acknowledges the increased desire among contractors to rent rather than buy equipment, but says Totem's policy of renting equipment only as an incentive to buy will continue.

Back to top.

Smith Tractor & Equipment

Sales at Smith Tractor & Equipment have been slow so far this year, most likely because of the unusually wet weather, says President Scott Highland.

But Highland also senses an economic slowdown in Washington state as a result of Asia's problems and Boeing job cutbacks. He is projecting a 10 percent decline in sales at the company's seven Washington stores.

Highland also says there will be a slowdown in Alaska in a year or two because of low oil prices and their effect on the state's Permanent Fund, which finances a significant portion of Alaska's construction.

Business has been good at Smith Tractor the past several years because of the Puget Sound region's booming housing market and the popularity of Smith's John Deere equipment line, which accounts for about 75 percent of company sales.

Another popular item for Smith Tractor is the line of Bobcat skid steer loaders and mini-excavators. On March 18, the company will hold an open house at its Bobcat-only facility at 8445 S. 218th St. in Kent.

Highland said Smith Tractor is undertaking a major new initiative to tailor equipment to individual contractors needs rather than market segments. Equipment is also more sophisticated and training is becoming a bigger responsibility, says Highland.

Smith Tractor has 180 to 200 employees and nine branches at Tacoma, Kent, Mount Vernon, Montesano, Chehalis, Yakima, Wenatchee, Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Back to top.

Wade Perrow Construction

From its Gig Harbor office, Wade Perrow Construction is building projects all over the country.

A design/build sports complex for the Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Knox, Ky., and a National Guard golf course and maintenance facility north of Detroit, also for the Corps, are under way.

According to president Dan McKinney, the firm specializes in design/build projects, mostly for government clients. And McKinney believes the market for design/build is going to steadily grow in the public sector as well as the private.

"There's a mindset change," he said. "What owners give up in design/build is some of the freedom and luxury of saying `change this, change that.' They lose a little bit of their control."

But what they gain is predictability about costs. "When you involve the contractor at the very beginning in design/build, you have that input from the start.

"You can call it partnering, or you can call it team work," he said. "It's still people working together to get something done."

Right now, WPC's markets are split about 50/50, public and private. The company still does negotiated and hard bid work in both the public and private sectors. But the firm is working on developing more design/build business in the private sector as well as for the government.

Revenues have remained fairly consistent at $24 million for the past several years, by design.

"We did some strategic planning back then about what we wanted to do as individuals and what we wanted to do as a company," said McKinney. "We wanted to do what was enjoyable for us and leave the hard bid mentality behind."

"We aren't volume driven," said McKinney. "We made a choice. We saw others taking on more and more and more volume, and they weren't making any more money."

Concentrating on design/build initially means narrowing the number and type of owners the firm works with. "That's one of the reasons for going outside the state," he said. "The Corps of Engineers is a pretty consistent owner to work for while going outside of the geographic area."

Locally, the firm has also worked with the Navy and the Corps of Engineers on multiple award contracts.

Also, the principals wanted to stay close to project management themselves.

"Higher volume creates a machine," he said. "You have to feed it."

The firm builds schools, but only complex, specialized jobs that tend to drive out the competition, he said.

WPC takes pride in the unusual construction projects it has completed. One example is a maintenance facility near the dam on high-altitude Ross Lake. Completed during the short season of 1996, the facility is built on flotation devices that allow it to move up and down with the level of the lake.

The firm has surprised itself, according to McKinney, by getting into high-end resort work, and that involves heavy timber construction and rich detailing. WPC has completed projects for Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop and also built Moccasin Lake Ranch, a private residence also near Winthrop.

"We would have never said we would do golf course clubhouses," he said. "We ended up doing a lot of them."

Other projects include a remodel of Alliance Church on Fox Island and a health center at Fort Lewis. Post offices are now being built in Burlington, Enumclaw and Allenton.

As for now, "I've felt a slight flattening (in the construction market)," said McKinney. "There aren't as many huge jobs to build, and the big companies are coming down and building smaller projects. So even though there is a lot of work, the fees aren't coming down. And there just doesn't seem to be quite as much to bid on."

McKinney looks forward to an increase in the number of office remodel projects, because much of the office space currently in use was built in the 1980s and will need upgrading soon to meet new needs for space planning and technology.

Back to top.

Holaday-Parks

Holaday-Parks has been a team member on a list of projects that reads like a who's who of recent Seattle buildings: Benaroya Hall, Pacific Place, World Trade Center, and remodels of the Space Needle, Smith Tower, Union Station and Zymogenetics. President Dave Parks attributes the prominence of the firm to a recent trend towards design/build, especially when it comes to mechanical systems.

With offices in Seattle and in Fairbanks, Holaday-Parks' business covers the Northwest. The firm was founded 100 years ago as a little sheet metal shop in Tacoma, constructing small ventilators and sheet iron heaters for prospectors in the Klondike. Fabrication is still an important part of the business, and Holaday-Parks has a 25,000-square-foot fabrication shop.

The firm began offering design/build services in 1977 and has added engineers to the staff each year since, for a current engineering staff of 20. Doubling of the firm's design/build work two years ago resulted in an increase in revenues, from $28 million to $50 million.

"One of our fortes is our willingness to work within the team," said Parks. "Usually the owner brings on the architect, then, in many cases, we are selected before the general contractor."

"Owners are finding that (design/build) is a very viable process," said Parks. "I think we've all seen the building schedules condense as things have gotten tighter. Time is a big factor."

He also sees a trend away from adversarial relationships. "You don't have an excuse when you're designing it and building it."

At Pacific Place, for instance, the large atrium ringed by multiple tenants presented special problems. To supply airconditioning to all tenants, the firm designed a variable air volume system for each retail unit. Then, after the shell was finished, subsystems had to be customized for tenants. Because of size of the skylight, it must be washed with cool air from the inside to prevent condensation and "rain" in the large interior space.

Adding airconditioning to historic buildings has become a specialty at Holaday-Parks. For renovation of the Smith Tower, the design involves running hydronic fan coils the length of the building and around the perimeter.

Parks finds that his customers are indicating a small slowdown in the private sector. "Some buildings need to be absorbed," he said. "The market is taking a short rest.

"We will continue to grow the design/build department," said Parks. However, qualified engineers are harder than ever to find. "We will need to emphasize tenant improvements as well as service and maintenance," he said.

Back to top.