Wisconsin Builder - The A List

INDUSTRY SUPPORTER

Gottlieb takes construction to the Capitol

“Infrastructure investment is always the easiest to put off when you have a budget problem, but it comes back to hurt you in the long run because that's a big part of growing the economy.”

Mark Gottlieb

By Chris Thompson

Mark Gottlieb doesn't have to go far for a reminder of his roots in construction.

He can see cranes towering over the Overture project in Madison from his new office in the state Capitol. He can hear a construction crew working on the 100 Wisconsin Avenue condo project right across the street.

But the Republican state representative from Port Washington doesn't really need such obvious reminders of construction now that industry issues have taken center stage both in the Legislature and across the state. This summer, the state budget hit construction everywhere from apprenticeship programs to transportation infrastructure investment.

And as mayor of Port Washington from 1997 until last year, when he made a run for the state Assembly, Gottlieb faced We Energies' Power the Future plans to build a power plant in his city.

"I have a healthy respect for the impact of construction on the economy, both in the jobs it creates and the end result to the infrastructure," Gottlieb said. "In 12 years in Port Washington city government, we rebuilt or renovated almost every city building we had."

Gottlieb's respect for construction comes from experience. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's in municipal and transportation engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He parlayed that education into work with Milwaukee's Bureau of Engineering and the city's construction and traffic engineering divisions as well as a role in Fox Point as commissioner of public works before landing in Port Washington as an alderman and then mayor.

Now Gottlieb said he's keeping his eye on a host of construction issues. He landed a seat on the Assembly's Committee on Transportation, and he said he watched transportation funding go through the wringer during budget debates.

Milestones

Tweet/Garot Mechanical Inc. is on a streak. The Green Bay mechanical contractor last month reached 500,000 consecutive safe man-hours without a lost-time incident, marking the fourth time since 1995 that the company has achieved the feat. The firm maintains a lost-time incident rate at 75 percent below the national construction rate...Creative Constructors LLC, Menomonee Falls, last month celebrated its fourth year in business...Fred Welch, co-founder of Welch Hanson Associates, a consulting engineering and land surveying firm, retired last month after 29 years with the Oconomowoc company. Welch and Norm Hanson founded the firm in 1974.

"I think we saw a proposal from the governor to redirect half the billings from the transportation fund, and I'm glad Joint Finance didn't allow it," Gottlieb said.

"Infrastructure investment is always the easiest to put off when you have a budget problem, but it comes back to hurt you in the long run because that's a big part of growing the economy."

He also took a seat on the Commit-tee on Energy and Utilities, returning him to, among other things, discussions of power-plant construction.

"I've been working on incentives to local governments for welcoming power generation," Gottlieb said. "In Port Washington, if there hadn't been a reasonable expectation that there would be some financial compensation, why would the community welcome that?"

He has also followed construction issues ranging from local government spending freezes — he said he hopes it's only temporary — to restoration of funding for the Youth Apprenticeship Program — he approves.

And when it comes to goals he's set to help construction, Gottlieb turns to an issue near the top of his list of annoyances: the state Department of Natural Resources' permitting process.

"I saw the rigorous and cumbersome permitting process the DNR has, and it's been a drag on our economy," he said. "Commercial and residential development is one area that has been doing pretty well. The DNR doesn't understand its effect on the economy, and that there are real costs associated with project delays. We very much need to streamline the permitting process."

On the move

Horizon Construction Group has expanded to Wausau, and it's tabbed Jim Jacobson, a three-term Mosinee mayor, to run the Wausau operations. The 19-year-old, Verona-based company has set up its new shop at 9001 Business Highway 51, and the Wausau number is 715-359-4566...Onyx Special Services Inc. combined its Fond du Lac and Milwaukee offices into one Germantown facility last month. The new office is on Donges Bay Road, and the Germantown phone number is 262-236-8130...Oscar J. Boldt Construction has opened a Wisconsin River Valley facility at 2901 Business Park Drive in Stevens Point. The 23,000-square-foot office is one of seven regional construction division offices nationwide...Spancrete Machinery Corp., Waukesha, has spread its wings to San Antonio welcoming Manco Structures Ltd. to the Spancrete family of independent producers...Majestic Construction Co. Inc. last month officially opened for business in Kenosha. The company, which specializes in the repair of residential and commercial properties damaged by fire, water, wind and hail, also has a new office in Gurnee, Ill. The Kenosha office phone number is 262-697-6000.

Giving back

A gang of industry workers and companies donated time and materials to bring the Survive Alive House in Germantown to completion. Members of the Operative Plasterers Local 599's areas 138 and 845 joined Badgerland Supply Inc., Hartland; Senergy of Wisconsin LLP, Milwaukee; NES Rental, Brookfield; and Winghart Inc., Mequon, to make the fire-education facility a reality. "On behalf of all the volunteers on this project, we feel proud to have been a part of this building that will give so much to Germantown and surrounding communities," said Michael Winghart, who provided the project management.

Dotted Line

Your Honor

Langer Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc., Heltman Inc. and Venture Electrical Contractors are tops in The Bentley Company's books. The Milwaukee-based contractor recently named the three subs Subcontractor of the Year. In honoring the firms, Bentley’s Robert Stelter said, "Each of these companies has provided outstanding workmanship and proven that their dedication and focus is the same as Bentley's founding philosophies of trust, honesty, integrity and responsibility."...Buettner & Associates Inc., Fox Point, landed the Award of Excellence at the Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference in Chicago for its work on the Garden Room in Shorewood. The company planted a 1,900-square-foot rooftop garden over a rehabilitated retail store. The design overcame structural loading challenges and the need to anchor fencing and other features to the roof...The Master Builders Association of Wisconsin last month made higher education a little more affordable for six students whose parents work at association member companies. The association gave $1,000 scholarships to: Paul Harder and Kristin Jacobs, whose fathers work at Beyer Construction, New Berlin; Beth Schneider and Tiffany Krueger, who have connections to Berghammer Construction Corp., Milwaukee; Andy Sujecki, whose father works at Roman Electric Co., Milwaukee; and Angela Shepard, whose father works for Boldt Construction, Appleton ...Eric Cutting, a 23-year-old construction worker for J. Becker Construction, Edgerton, propelled a gob of chewing tobacco spit more than 23 feet to capture the tobacco-spitting championship at Edgerton's Tobacco Heritage Days...Crispell-Snyder Inc., Lake Geneva, earned a 2002 Clean Water Partner award from the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency for work on Mt. Pleasant's Pike River improvement project.

Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah, won a $3.5 million contract to build a 60,000-square-foot headquarters structure for the Door County Highway Department in Sturgeon Bay and an $11 million contract to head up remodeling and addition work on the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Fine Arts Center...James Cape & Sons Co., Racine, netted an $8.2 million project to rebuild a runway and portions of taxiways at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee and a $4.8 million contract for improvement work at Morey Airport in Middleton...American Sewer Services Inc., Hartford, and M.J. Construction Inc., Milwaukee, won bids of $1 million and $330,000, respectively, for sewer and water main projects in the Milwaukee area...KBS Construction Inc., McFarland; J.F. Ahern Co., Fond du Lac; and Pieper Electric Inc., Milwaukee, won three bids, totaling $24.9 million, for a wastewater treatment plant addition in Madison...Gene Johnson Construction Co. Inc., Frederic, landed a $1.2 million award to build a new fire station in Amery...Sonag Co. Inc., Milwaukee, won a $1.1 million bid to replace the alert facility doors at the Air National Guard's Truax Field in Madison...Payne & Dolan Inc., Waukesha, won a $2.4 million bid for asphalt paving in Waukesha County and a $1.8 million bid for street reconstruction work in Greenfield and Greendale...Advance Construction Inc., Green Bay, contracted with the Suamico Sanitary District No. 1 for $1.6 million worth of utility improvements to the Whisper Ridge Subdivision...The Wisconsin Laborers' District Council selected J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Madison, to construct the $4.6 million Wisconsin Laborers' Apprenticeship Training Center in Burke, and the city of Waukesha tabbed Findorff to construct a $13.4 million Wau-kesha Metro Transit Transfer Terminal and parking ramp...Feaker & Sons Co. Inc., De Pere, netted a $1 million contract to handle utility and street construction work in Oconto Falls...Super Excavators Inc., Menomonee Falls, will handle $6.3 million worth of paving, utility and storm water work in Mukwon-ago...Ryan Contracting, Bloomer, will work the Wausau West Industrial Park expansion project after winning the job with a $1.9 million bid...A-1 Excavating Inc., Bloomer, won a $1.4 million contract for utility and street construction work in Weston and a $1.1 million contract for street and utility work in Winona, Minn....Joe Daniels Construction Co., Madison, won a $1 million contract to reconstruct portions of Vilas Avenue and Charter and Orchard streets in Madison... Zenith Tech Inc., Waukesha, will handle the $1.1 million improvement project for Kilbourn Park in Milwaukee.

Best of the Web

Check out www.mkedcd.org, the Web site for the Milwaukee Department of City Development, which handles business/real estate development, planning, permitting and public housing for the city. The site offers just a gang of information in a simple-to-use, lightweight manner without the fluff that can complicate a Web site. It lays out super-detailed maps of downtown Milwaukee with summaries of all current city projects. The front page contains every link you need, so you don't waste time searching for RFPs, development planning information and permits.

Off the Clock

A perfect day for golf

They can smile nice for a picture, and they can swing decent golf clubs. This foursome of, from left, Dan Miske, Petrie & Stocking SC, Milwaukee; Jeff Lippert, Lippert Tile Co., Menomonee Falls; Dave Babel, Clifton Gunderson, Milwaukee; and Kevin Henrichs, Lippert Tile, scored an 11-under-par scramble in the annual ASA golf outing.

There's nothing quite like skipping a day of work to swing a golf club on a beautiful July afternoon.

And it just gets better if you start the day off with brats and burgers, enjoy complimentary beverages on the course, get the adrenaline flowing with a try for $10,000 on the par-3 hole-in-one contest and wrap it all up with a chicken and steak dinner and raffle.

That's how the day went for the 105 contractors who gathered for the American Subcontractors Association of Greater Milwaukee's 18th annual golf outing on July 29. That turnout gave ASA reason to smile as the association set an all-time attendance high for its event.

It was a diverse group of subcontractors from southeastern Wisconsin that showed up at Ironwood Golf Course in Sussex, and that diversity showed in the assortment of scores on the course.

"I think we have a broad range of golfing talent among our contractors, from outstanding to, um...spirited," said Don Croysdale, ASA executive director.

Following a scramble format, with foursomes playing their best ball for an overall team score, the group of Rich Sniatynski and John Andreoli, from Mautz Paints, Milwaukee, and Fred Kunz and Pat Jaeger, Programmed Painting Service Inc., Milwaukee, nailed the low score of the day at 14-under-par.

Of course, there also had to be a high score, and that dubious honor went to the foursome from Hurtado SC, Milwaukee: Ken Voss, Diane Wolf, Richard Anderson and Elizabeth Roat.

"The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak, I guess," Voss said.

By Design

Potter Lawson is going green for its design of the Wisconsin National Guard's U.S. Property and Fiscal Office. The Madison architectural firm's work on the structure at Volk Field near Camp Douglas features sustainable design elements and follows environmental and energy guidelines set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The $11 million, 85,288-square-foot office and warehouse project will offer interior light shelves, clerestory windows, an east-west orientation and daylight and occupancy sensors throughout the building. The job goes out to bid on Sept. 9, with construction scheduled for a November start and a summer 2005 completion.

The North Avenue Community Development Corp., Milwau-kee, is considering construction of a three-story, 41,000-square-foot commercial and residential building on West North Avenue in Milwaukee...Renaissance Development Group, Mequon, and Northtrack Construction, Mequon, are kicking around plans for a 15-unit, 32,350-square-foot condominium development in Thiensville...Home Depot and engineer Kapur & Associates Inc., Glendale, are inching closer to building a 102,000-square-foot building supply store on Highway 45 and Paradise Drive in West Bend...The Burlington Area School District, general contractor Scherrer Construction Co. Inc., Burlington, and architect Stelling & Associates Architects Ltd., Burlington, are discussing a November referendum to fund $2.8 million in athletic facilities for Burlington High School...Ogden Development Co., Milwaukee, is set to move on The Townhomes at Mill Reserve, a 120-unit condominium development on St. Paul Avenue in Waukesha...Rogers Memorial Hospital has tabbed Zimmerman Design Group, Wauwatosa, for design work and to start a fund-raising campaign for a planned $3 million, 15,000-square-foot addition to the hospital in Summit...With Wauwatosa City Council approval in hand, Laureate Group, Waukesha, and architect William Wenzler & Associates Inc., Milwaukee, will move forward with plans for Hart Park Square, a 134-unit assisted- and independent-living facility on 3.4 acres on River Park-way...Prestige Realty Inc., Green Bay, is the proposed developer to convert the former Fox Valley Greyhound Park to a hotel, convention center and indoor water park complex in Kaukauna...The Stubenrauch Architects Inc., Sheboy-gan, and the city of Onalaska are considering construction of a $2 million municipal pool in Van Ripper Park...The University of Wisconsin-Menomonie and SDS Architects Inc., Eau Claire, are eyeing a new $12.3 million residence hall for the Dunn County campus...Architect Durrant, Hartland, project manager Hurtado Consulting LLC, Milwaukee, and owner Blackhawk Technical College, Janesville, are closing in on a $17.5 million plan to build and renovate buildings on the college's Monroe and Janesville campuses...The Redmond Co., Waukesha, is considering development of Fields at Valley Wood, a 132-lot subdivision on Weyer Road in Pewaukee.