Times are Changing

Specialty contractors see technology, green building as keys to future

By Joe Florkowski

California’s building landscape is changing and specialty contractors are finding they will need to change with it.

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For example, Brea-based PBC Cos. Inc. is a concrete contractor that works with a number of diverse clients. But the company is finding that as California’s housing market slows, foundation contractors are trying to get more concrete projects to supplement the housing downturn.

While PBC has enough diverse projects to avoid the increased competition, there are other things the company is looking out for, says Peter McNabb, president/CEO.

General contractors and architects are incorporating more advanced building programs such as building information modeling into California construction, McNabb says.

Concrete contractors will have to learn these programs to keep up with the caliber of work expected by architects and general contractors, adds McNabb, who recently attended a BIM conference.

“I believe there is a need for the level of sophistication in the industry to increase to catch up with architects and general contractors,” McNabb says.

California specialty contractors are also seeing the project values rise for public projects.

Brian Jordan, executive vice president with San Diego-based Helix Electric Inc., says that the electrical contract value for some public projects now exceeds $20 million.

While Helix is large enough to handle big projects, smaller specialty contractors may not be able to afford it, he says.

Public agencies used to split up such projects and farm out individual portions, but they are changing that practice, Jordan says.

“Public agencies are expecting a more consistent quality,” Jordan says. “It’s quicker for them than if they broke (the project) up.”

On the private side, Helix has found that as the market for downtown condo projects has cooled, large multi-family/hospitality projects are now hot, Jordan says. Rather than the vertical high-rise condos, these new hospitality projects are more likely to be short and squat than tall and long, he says.

Anaheim-based KHS&S Contractors is also seeing projects get bigger, especially in the hospitality and gaming fields. KHS&S works in a variety of different fields, including interiors, exterior panels and rock and water work.

But as projects change and grow larger, it become tougher to find quality people, says John Platon, senior vice president with KHS&S.

“We’re in a continual training process,” Platon says. “With the way projects are changing you have to continue training.”

Labor development was the one issue that all three specialty contractors interviewed agreed hasn’t changed; they still can’t find enough qualified people.

“Our biggest challenge is manpower,” says Jordan with Helix Electric. Because of the difficulty in finding qualified electricians, Helix will run short on projects, he says.

“We would rather run thin and work the overtime than compromise our quality,” Jordan says.

Looking ahead into the future, specialty contractors believe that green building will continue to affect the way they do business.

“The owners are very much into green building,” Jordan says. “Owners are more willing to look at that.”

Green building has influenced some of the projects that KHS&S has installed, Platon says. For instance, a recent project at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo used pre-fabricated load-bearing panels with longer lasting metal studs, instead of wooden studs, Platon says.

Green building will be heavily influenced by public agencies who seek a minimum of green even if it costs more, he says.

“It’s not cheap by any means, but in the long run it pencils out,” Platon says. The concrete industry will begin to see a shift toward using more composites when building, says McNabb with PBC. More flyash will be used within concrete to reduce the environmental effects, he says.

These changes may be currently costly, but are being driven by the marketplace and so PBC is trying to lead the pack rather than follow, he says.

“We’re taking a real aggressive approach to green building,” McNabb says.

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