The Lists

The A List

Who made the grade in 2004?

By Paul Snyder

The building market’s been good this year.

Ask anyone from a company on The A List, and they’ll say Wisconsin is growing, and the future looks promising. Perhaps they have good reason to say so, but the recurring sentiment from these companies may have been summed up best by Corey Brumbaugh, director of business development with Miron Construction Co. Inc., Neenah.

“The revenues are coming back to Wisconsin, which is very positive,” he said. “The industrial, health-care and educational markets here are all very strong right now, and the bid market is still very competitive.”

And yet, in the glow of all this homeland pride, this is the first A List that features volumes of work put in place both inside and outside Wisconsin in 2004. Beyond the immediate comparisons of how a company fared in and out of the state, it’s an interesting exercise to interpret the numbers.

M. A. Mortenson Company's wall-forming preparation of the Kilbourn Tunnel on the Marquette Interchange reconstruction in Milwaukee Photo courtesy of M. A. Mortenson Company

Some companies came from afar to tap into Wisconsin’s market, while some looked beyond the state’s borders for new opportunities.

And there are some, as always, content staying put in the comfort of their own back yards.

“Primarily, we’ve always wanted our employees to sleep at home at night,” said Jeff Tubbs, director of business development with J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., Madison. “We try to keep projects within a 70- to 80-mile radius from Madison or our Milwaukee office. We just find it’s better for production and morale if our workers can go home to their families at night.”

It doesn’t bode too badly for the com-pany, either. Having rooted itself in Madison and established more than a 100-year presence in the city, Findorff has been behind some of the city’s most distinctive landmarks, including Monona Terrace and the in-progress Overture Center for the Arts.

“Madison’s just a good place for construction,” Tubbs said. “Between the university, the government buildings, hospitals and insurance companies, there’s seldom going to be a time when those four markets are failing.

Miron Construction Co. Inc.'s Northcentral Technical College Health Sciences Center project in Wausau Photo courtesy of Miron Construction Co. Inc.

“We’re blessed to be a part of projects that change the face of the city.”

He was quick to add that it’s not all about the crown-jewel projects.

“A lot of people see our cranes and our projects, and if there’s a smaller project being planned, there might be a thought like, ‘Oh, Findorff wouldn’t be interested,’” Tubbs said. “We do far more work on medium-sized projects, but there is no project too small for our company. We want to keep all customers serviced and satisfied.”

Peggy Robson likes working close to home too. A principal for Madison’s Flad & Associates ($36.50 million in Wisconsin, $52.10 million outside Wisconsin), she pointed to the simple pleasures of designing around town.

“It’s fun to drive your family past work you’ve done — ‘Look what Mommy and Daddy did,’” she said.

But while Flad set up shop in Madison nearly 80 years ago, the firm has looked far beyond the state and country for ideas and opportunities. Flad has featured its designs on college campuses in Florida, Illinois, California and Alberta, Canada, to name a few.

M. A. Mortenson Company's Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin project in Milwaukee Photo courtesy of M. A. Mortenson Company

“It helps our employees gain so much more,” Robson said. “Architecture is so different out East and out West. They can bring these ideas, the knowledge and expertise home.

“And clients in Wisconsin are wonderful to work with in sharing these visions and goals. It’s a very collaborative state.”

But sometimes a company has to go out of state for more than ideas. Dave Riley, vice president of operations with Kenosha-based Riley Construction Co. Inc. ($68.75 million in Wisconsin, $29.75 million outside Wisconsin), said a move into the Illinois market enabled the company to stay healthy and grow.

“Illinois is constant work,” he said. “The Milwaukee market is still strong with municipal and health-care projects, but when southeastern Wisconsin got a little slower, we looked south. With the Chicago suburbs market, you just find continual westward development.

“You’re always competing against someone new in Illinois, too. In Wisconsin, contractors have to be good in a lot of areas, so you end up competing with a lot of the same people on the same projects. In Illinois, people pick their niches, and you never end up bumping up against the same groups.”

Still, Riley always keeps an eye on the market back home.

“Wisconsin has a lot of major projects going through at the moment,” he said. “It’s not what it was three or four years ago. This state has a very good outlook now.”

Riley Construction Co. Inc.'s All Saints Cardiovascular Healthcare Institute project in Racine Photo courtesy of Riley Construction Co. Inc.

M. A. Mortenson Company ($149 million in Wisconsin, $936 million outside Wisconsin) will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in Wisconsin in 2006, and officials with the nationwide company say its staying power rests in the close relationships it’s developed in the state.

“I believe we followed clients into Wisconsin,” said Alicia Dupies, director of business development with Mortenson. “As a result, we have many, many 20-year clients here. We very much see the value of the relationship between the owner, the architect and the contractor.”

Dupies said the constant need to keep Wisconsin’s laboratories, universities and health-care facilities technologically updated constitutes a large part of the company’s workload.

“We’re fortunate that it’s all happening at the same time,” she said.

And contractors, architects, engineers and subcontractors all took advantage of Wisconsin’s good fortunes. In 2004, the combined volume of work put in place and billings in state by A List members was nearly $2.52 billion. And, according to Tubbs, there’s a lot more where that came from.

“The construction industry is doing well right now,” he said. “I look at our numbers, and I look at our competitors’ numbers, and we’re all busy right now. It’s a good outlook for this year, for 2006 and for 2007.”