Builder of the Year

Cullen builds on history

By Jennifer Pfaff

J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc., Janesville and Brookfield

John Patrick Cullen was renowned for his work ethic, at one time riding a bicycle 50 miles from Janesville to Mount Horeb to inspect a job under construction.

The founder of J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc. — which now has offices in Janesville and Brookfield — began a tradition in 1892 that is still honored by the company today.

The general contracting firm is the only one in Wisconsin to have earned the ISO 9001 standard-of-quality certification, and it is only one of 10 general contractors nationwide to do so.

And with 11 decades of business under its belt, the company boasts a long list of completed projects, many of which are signature structures in the state’s landscape. J.P. Cullen’s construction successes include the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Bascom Hall in 1925, the UW-Madison’s Cancer Research Building in 1963, the Rock County Courthouse in Janesville in 1954, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection State Office Building in 1994 and the Risser Justice Center in Madison in 2001.

And that list continues to grow. More recently, J.P. Cullen created a joint venture with Fond du Lac-based C.D. Smith Construction to form Cullen-Smith LLC and act as the general contractor for the $110 million Camp Randall Stadium renovation at the UW-Madison. That project helped carry the football venue into the modern era by adding coaches’ offices that look out over the field, audience suites and other amenities.

Just ironing out traffic concerns on the site made a major improvement, said UW-Madison Athletic Director Barry Alvarez.

“It’s probably one of the best atmospheres in college ball,” said Alvarez, who served as the team’s head coach during the construction years.

The project stalled for a while after the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, but it got back in motion about two years later.

Once in full swing, Cullen-Smith scheduled each day’s work around the school’s athletic needs.

“They’d work all day and then have to button up so 80,000-plus people could come and enjoy the game,” Alvarez said. “Talk about guys really committed to their work, to doing the job well and around our schedule.”

There were problems that cropped up along the way, of course, but Cullen-Smith was quick and appropriate in responding to any issues, Alvarez said.

“Everyone is very satisfied with the work they did,” he said.

The renovations gave the Badgers a facility as strong as its athletic program, Alvarez said.

“We had the grand opening last year, and we had a reunion of former players,” he said. “We had 350 former players. To have it all in place and to see our former athletes and alumni come back and see the finished product was very emotional. I was very proud.”

Cullen currently is using its expertise and respect for history to rejuvenate another landmark structure: Milwaukee’s City Hall.

The $60 million contract has the com-pany restoring the exterior of the 108-year-old building in a project expected to wrap up in late 2008.

The work required on that job includes repairing the chipped and cracked terra-cotta sculptures and designs, upgrading the 1,900 windows and replacing the copper roofs on City Hall’s two spires. The project also calls for repairing the exterior sandstone and replacing hundreds of thousands of bricks.

It’s a job that puts Cullen back in the spotlight, and it’s one of the many jobs that led Wisconsin Builder to name Cullen the Builder of the Year.