By design

The Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh needs more space for teen-agers in the area. So AEC Architects/ Engineers LLC, Oshkosh, is stepping in with a design for an 11,000-square-foot teen center addition to the facility. The addition will give at-risk teens their own space while offering administrative offices and a larger programming area for the organization. The estimated $1.75 million project, which also will add a 3,000-square-foot partial basement, should kick off in May, and completion is scheduled for late 2006. Bill Aubrey, a member of the Boys & Girls Club board, is acting as construction manager on the job. Bids for the project should hit the streets around the end of March.

Your honor

Callen Construction Inc., Muskego, won several awards at the Milwaukee/National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s Wisconsin Remodeler of the Year Awards. The company won Silver awards for Residential Kitchen $15,000-$30,000, Residential Kitchen Over $100,000, Universal Design, Residential Exterior Specialty and Residential Exterior Under $100,000. Callen also won a Bronze Award for Residential Interior Under $100,000. …

Scherrer Construction's leadership team includes (from left) Joe O'Neill, James E. Scherrer, Peter Scherrer and Kim Spear. Photo courtesy of Scherrer Construction Co. Inc.

The Metropolitan Builders Association of Greater Milwaukee announced the winners of its 13th annual Bruce Horner Memorial Scholarship Design Contest. Jon Bucholtz won a $1,000 scholarship for his first-place entry in 3-D Home Design. Kevin Lang won a $1,500 scholarship for placing first in One-Dimensional Home Design and second in 3-D Home Design. Tim Dahms won a $500 scholarship for placing second in One-Dimensional Home Design. … Bartelt Filo Design Build, Menomonee Falls, won two Regional Contractor of the Year awards from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. The company won in Entire House Over $1 million and Residential Interior Over $100,000. … Scherrer Construction Co. Inc., Burlington, won the 2005 General Contractor of the Year Award from the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin for the company’s bid ethics, payment practices, back charges, job-site supervision and safety policies and practices. … Berners-Schober Associates Inc., Green Bay, won a Special Recognition Award from the state of Wisconsin and Gov. Jim Doyle for the firm’s commitment to teamwork on the Camp Randall renovation project in Madison. … For the fifth time in a row, Wisconsin Energy Corp., Milwaukee, received a perfect 10 rating from GovernanceMetrics International, a corporate governance research and ratings agency. Wisconsin Energy is one of only six companies worldwide, and one of only three U.S. companies, to consistently received GMI’s highest rating. … The Wisconsin Builders Association recently honored several companies at the 2005 WBA Remodeling Awards banquet. Remodeling Center Inc., Pewaukee, won a Kitchen Over $40,000 Award. Bootz Builders Inc., Green Bay, won awards for Bathroom Over $20,000 and Specialty Project. Degnan Design Builders Inc., De Forest, won awards for Room Addition Under $60,000, Finished Basement, Whole House Remodel and Commercial. Skibba Builders, Wisconsin Rapids, won a Room Addition Over $60,000 Award, and Classic Homes by Kuba, Oshkosh, won a Special Judges Award. … Carlson Racine Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc., Racine, won the National Roofing Contractors Association Gold Circle Award for outstanding workmanship and the NRCA Gold Circle Award for safety solutions.

Brian Manthey

Peer Review

Can you hear me now?

Manthey keeps communications flowing at the Marquette

Brian Manthey can relate to the Marquette Interchange.

Maybe he sees a little of his life story reflected in the ups and downs of the old structure or the fresh twists and turns of the new interchange growing from the rubble in downtown Milwaukee.

And perhaps that’s why Manthey fits so well as the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s communications officer for the Marquette’s reconstruction.

When asked to leave his position as director of communications for the state Senate Democrats to work for the team behind the Marquette Interchange project, Manthey said he jumped at the opportunity.

“I had so many people I knew who worked in communications ask me, ‘Why do you want to be the most hated man in Milwaukee?’” he said. “But I thought, ‘If it’s done right, you won’t be.’ That’s why this position intrigued me.

“It has a high risk, but it also has a great reward if things go well. And even if construction does not go well, how you present that information to the public is critical because people are immensely impacted by this project.”

So far, Manthey is glad he signed on. The project is on or ahead of schedule, within budget and free of serious injuries. He credits the cooperation of all the organizations involved for the project’s success to date.

“This group is incredibly dedicated,” he said. “The contractors, the designers … everybody knows how high-profile and critical this project is, and how everybody’s
reputation in on the line.

“Everybody has got to do their job, not just because their paycheck depends on it, but because they all want this to be the crown jewel of their careers.”

Crown jewel or not, it’s not a job Manthey could have foreseen taking when he was working at a campus radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1970s.

He said he dreamed of becoming a sportscaster since childhood and went to UW-Madison to earn a communications degree. While there, he got his feet wet broadcasting Badgers football, basketball and baseball games for a dorm radio station.

After graduating in 1979, he took a job selling tires and moonlighted as an overnight disc jockey for a small Madison radio station.

“That’s probably stretching it,” he said. “Really, I was just a person to baby-sit the automated music machine and do a 15-second weather update every half-hour. So while I’m thinking this is my big break into radio, all they wanted was someone they could trust to not get drunk and trash the room at night.”

Still, it was a start. Manthey worked his way up to become the play-by-play voice of Badgers basketball games for WIBA radio station in Madison and eventually landed at WTMJ radio in Milwaukee. He took over Badgers football games for WTMJ in 1991 and witnessed UW-Madison’s Big Ten Conference championship and Rose Bowl victory in 1993.

“1993 was just a magical year,” he said. “That was a team that bought into the game plan, had great leaders and took advantage of any breaks they got.”

Manthey left WTMJ in 1995 to try his hand at public relations. He said he enjoyed being on the other side of the press releases and spent several years as head of public relations for the Milwau-kee Admirals.

Then, in 1997, his career took a dramatic turn into politics when he made a run for the state Senate. After losing that race, he switched gears again, this time taking a job at Madison Gas and Electric during the peak of electric company deregulation talks.

After another stint with the Admirals, Manthey returned to politics in 2003 when he was invited by Jon Erpenbach, then the state Senate minority leader, to be the communications director for the Senate Democrats.

Soon after, he got the call from WisDOT’s Marquette Interchange team.

“In my opinion, I’ve had an oppor-tunity to work with two of the greatest teams in this state’s history — the 1993 Badgers and this Marquette Interchange team,” he said. “And that’s not an overstatement.”

- Joe Grundle

Dotted Line

Braun Corp., Madison, won a $1.34 million contract for fire alarm and life-safety infrastructure improvements at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division Psychiatric Hospital in Wauwatosa. … Butters-Fetting Co. Inc., Milwaukee, landed a $1.79 million contract to replace the HVAC controls at the Milwaukee GMF/VMF Postal Facility. … Super Excavators Inc., Menomonee Falls, secured a $1.08 mil-lion contract to replace a diversion structure and siphon sluice gate for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. … M.J. Construction Inc., Milwaukee, will construct a combined-sewer relay in Milwaukee after winning a $1.13 million contract for the job. … J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Milwaukee, won a $3.07 million contract to construct a parking structure in Kenosha. … C.D. Smith Construction Co., Fond du Lac, landed a $9.80 million general-work contract for a new student recreation and wellness center at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. B&P Mechanical Inc., Appleton, won a $1.62 million HVAC contract, and Thomas Electric Service Inc., Marshfield, won a $1.32 million electrical contract for the job. … Musson Brothers Inc., Rhinelan-der, landed a $5.35 million contract to construct storm-sewer and street improvements in Greenfield. … Michels Pipeline Construction Inc., New Berlin, won a $2.59 million contract to construct a combined-sewer lining and relay in Milwaukee. … Hoffman Construction Co., Black River Falls, landed a $2.24 million contract for road construction work in Douglas County. …

Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah, secured a $1.19 million general and electrical contract for an air pollution control project at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. August Winter & Sons Inc., Appleton, won a $2.45 million mechanical contract for the La Crosse job. August Winter also won a $2.23 million mechanical contract for an air pollution control project at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. … Creative Constructors LLC, Menomonee Falls, won a $1.17 million general, plumbing, HVAC and fire protection contract to build a multipurpose building at Southern Oaks Girls School in Union Grove. … Fluor Bros. Construction Co., Oshkosh, will construct a water-treatment plant in Johnson Creek after winning a $1.36 million contract for the job. … Ronet Construction Corp., Green Bay, took home a $1.06 million contract for utility and street construction work in New Holstein. … D.L. Gasser Construction, Baraboo, landed a $1.81 million contract for road construction work in Adams County. … Henshue Construction Inc., Madison, won a $2.17 million contract for interceptor, sewer, force-main and water-main work in Cambridge. … Ozaukee Excavating Inc., Grafton, landed a $2.15 million contract for street and utility construction in Grafton. … Vinton Construction Co., Manitowoc, will reconstruct utilities and streetscapes in Grafton after winning a $3.70 million contract for the job. … J.P. Cullen & Sons Inc., Janesville, secured a $3 million contract to expand a judicial center and renovate a government center in Elkhorn.

A burning question with Scott Viola

Viola is a project manager for J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Madison.

What natural gift would you most like to possess?

"Essentially, I'd like to be able to find a way to grow money. I could have a green thumb to the point where I could grow money trees in my own back yard."

Milestones

Ruekert/Mielke will celebrate its 60th anniversary on May 6. Founded in 1946, the Waukesha-based firm provides a wide variety of engineering services. … The more than 250 employees at Bassett Mechanical, Kaukauna, worked more than 2.5 million consecutive hours without a lost-time injury. The accomplishment represents almost five years without a single lost-time injury. … County Materials Corp., Marathon, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The company, which offers a variety of decorative and load-bearing masonry units as well as many other services, was founded in Marathon in 1946 with one man, a truck and a block machine.

Hot spot

The village of Fredonia wants to grow. Between 2000 and 2003, the village completed a master plan that identified areas for potential growth. The village tagged one of those areas as a traditional neighborhood development, and that's where J.B.J. Companies Inc., Germantown, stepped in with its plan for Cobblestone Village. The development calls for a mix of duplexes, multifamily residences, elderly housing, commercial and three different types of single-family houses on an estimated 240-acre lot near highways 57 and A. Working with the Beaver Dam office of MSA Professional Services Inc., J.B.J. set a spring start for road and infrastructure work on the development and targeted fall for the first phase of building construction. The $95 million, four-phase development should take between seven and 10 years to reach completion. J.B.J. plans to release bid packages as the project progresses.

Voss

In memoriam

Harold E. Voss, Wauwatosa, died Feb. 1 of undisclosed causes. Voss, 95, founded Voss Hrdlicka Co. in 1947 with John Hrdlicka, and the company survives today as Pewaukee-based VJS Construction Services. … Steven Engelke, Grafton, died Feb. 19 after a heart attack. Engelke, 56, was the senior vice president of Aon Risk Services of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He worked for the firm for 15 years.

Open for business

Theodore Lipscomb opened the doors at urbanWEALTH LLC, Milwaukee, in January. The new company offers services in real estate development and consulting with a focus on community development, including urban infill, redevelopment, and restructuring and repositioning of obsolete properties. The company's phone number is 414-350-0609.

Off the clock

Kings of the hill

Kevin Lally, a project manager for Hunzinger Construction, tests out some skiing shades.

Jon Cechvala (left), a planner and field architect for Eppstein Uhen Architects, makes a clean dismount with his soon-to-be son-in-law Tyler Schultz.

Eric Rutowski and his son Max enjoy a night at Ausblick. Rutowski is the husband of Leanne Rutowski, a project coordinator for Eppstein Uhen. Photos courtesy of Hunzinger Construction Co.

Maybe Roger Meidenbauer should mind his own business.

The sales representative for Waukesha-based The Marek Group was so worried about his 8-year-old son’s first time on a chair lift that Meidenbauer forgot to think of himself. That’s the kind of misstep that can place a person headfirst in a pile of snow.

Justin skied away without incident; his father, well, not so much.

“I reached down to make sure he didn’t get his poles stuck, and I went, how do you say it, head over teakettle,” Meiden-bauer said. “I wasn’t injured, just embarrassed. There was definitely a funny look on his face when he turned around and saw me.”

But falling is just part of the fun when Hunzinger Construction Co., Brookfield, and Eppstein Uhen Architects Inc., Milwaukee, get together for their annual ski outing at Ausblick Ski Hill in Sussex. March 4 marked the seventh outing for the companies, and the 250 people who showed up proved it’s a popular event.

Jennifer Moreau, who fell twice, said the companies rent the entire hill for an evening and open it up to employees, their families and a variety of other
people. Moreau, Hunzinger’s marketing coordinator, said the idea first took form while Jim Hunzinger, Hunzinger’s executive vice president, and Dale Streitenberger, a principal with Eppstein Uhen, were skiing together years ago.

“They decided, ‘Let’s have a big company outing with families, vendors and subs,’” Moreau said. “And it snowballed from there.”

Streitenberger, whose firm helped Ausblick build a new chalet clubhouse about five years ago, said the companies have a long history of working together and share many of the same vendors and subs. And he pointed to a simple reason for the yearly event.

“We do it because it pulls people together,” he said.

And, despite the falls, it doesn’t seem to pull anyone apart.

“I think I didn’t break any bones,” Moreau said. “I didn’t hit a tree, and everybody was willing to give you tips.”

- Chris Thompson