J&S Austin office to host another blood drive

Just a reminder that the J&S Austin office is hosting a blood drive in our parking lot this Friday, August 9 from 12-3pm! The flier includes instructions on how to sign up for a time slot. We hope to see you there!

J&S Dallas office collects school supplies for DISD supply drive

J&S employees pictured: Beth Roberts, Delbert Bittinger and Justin Montgomery

Our Dallas office is donating schools supplies to the Dallas ISD start of school drive. Every year, the district provides children in need with backpacks full of school supplies. Great work, guys!

Summer Sips

Coffee-coffee-coffee – Mike Doucette

Bloody Mary when I'm not preggers! – Holly Barnett

My favorite non-alcoholic would be an Arnold Palmer. Half tea, half lemonade with a little mint added. Alcoholic would be a Captain Morgan Private Stock and Coke with twist of lime (Cuba Libre) or a Malibu (coconut rum) and pineapple juice. There is also vodka soda with a splash of orange juice…Oh there is also the John Dailey which is an Arnold Palmer with bourbon...tee hee…With crawfish, shrimp, crab and that kind of fare, it must be an ice cold beer. Dark beer but a beer. – Beth Roberts

H2O – George Morriss

Watermelon juice with vodka: 4 parts juice 1 part watermelon – Miriam DeLeon

Ace Pear Hard Cider! Go Paleooooooo! Oh yeah, and water. Good ol H2O! – Justin Montgomery

Vodka (tall) with club soda and lemon!!!! Snap! Or vodka with grapefruit juice!!! Or water – Renee Leaman

Monster and vodka or Baccardi and Diet Coke with a 5-Hour Energy chaser – Lance McLaughlin

Espresso Martini – Brent Doucette
1 oz Kahlua or generic Coffee Liquor
1 oz Baileys or Generic Irish Crème
1 oz Vanilla Vodka
2 shots espresso
Shaken well with Ice Pour and enjoy! Espresso keeps you going all day!
Tanqueray and tonic with lime – Beckie Horne

Keith Tomlinson:
Ketel One vodka, soda, and a twist of lime
Caipirinha
Crispin Browns Lane Cider, served on the rocks
Panty Ripper – dark rum, coconut rum, orange juice and pineapple juice

Starbucks Caramel Frappacino – Tracey McDermott

Sangria – Alex Canalini
Cheap red wine (this is key)
Vodka
Sprite
Various fruits (i.e. oranges, pineapple, cantaloupe, apples)
Lime
Sugar
Pour the wine into a big jar/pot, slice the various fruit, add vodka to taste, squeeze lime juice, squeeze orange juice, add sugar. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator. Add sprite before serving. Drink, feel great, sleep, repeat!
Blueberry/strawberry/banana/mango smoothie – Darrell Smith
Pretty simple…Tito’s and soda with a lime – Jason Stewart

Ice cold Corona in a sweaty bottle near dark. No salt or lime! – Greg Harrington

Margarita/rocks/no salt/splash of OJ – Rob Peterpaul

Mexican Martini – Andy Hood
2 oz tequila
1 1/2 oz Cointreau® orange liqueur
2 oz sweet and sour mix
1 oz lime juice
2 oz orange juice
1 splash Sprite® soda
2 olives
Pour all ingredients into a large cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a large cocktail/martini glass (8+ ounces) with a salt rim. Add two olives on a spear, and serve.

I’m a whiskey girl. This is great for summer; refreshing and delightful! – Geno Rodriguez
Lynchburg Lemonade (I call it Tennessee lemonade)
1 part Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7
1 part triple sec
1 part sour mix
4 parts lemon-lime soda
Combine and stir. Garnish with a lemon slice and cherry.

Company Announcements

The Barnett Family

Congratulations to Holly Barnett who delivered a healthy baby boy on Thursday, June 27. Ethan weighed 7 lbs 14 oz. Mommy and baby are doing great!

Renee Leaman and Ashley Goode
as leprechauns

 

Top 'o the morning! This March, we delivered pots of gold filled with delicious cookies to our clients in each region to express our appreciation. In an effort to maximize the St. Patrick's Day theme, Renee Leaman and Ashley Goode dressed as construction worker leprechauns when they delivered to Austin-area clients. It was huge hit!

Austin Region
The J&S Austin office hosted a blood drive on June 13 in the office parking lot. Donors included J&S employees, as well as employees from other businesses in the complex. We exceeded our goal of 11 donors with 14 people showing up and giving blood. Way to go!

The Austin JOC has added three new team members recently, Amy Bricker our new assistant PM, Alex Canalini our new PM, and the return of Allen Hughling to our fulltime staff as superintendent.

Amy has taken on the monumental task of assisting three project managers with submittal processing, HUB and MWBE solicitation and tracking, procurement, MA tracking and keeping three project managers in line. In her short time here she has been instrumental on cleaning up the Heads Up contact list for the Austin Region.

Alex has taken over managing the UT Department of Housing and Food Services and City of Austin clients.

Coach Hood teaching tee-ball

Allen is overseeing all projects in the Killeen area—including City of Killeen, Central Texas College, Copperas Cove ISD and Killeen ISD

Our traveling superintendent, George Morris, is finally back home after almost 2 years on the road. He is working at Bastrop State Park.

Tim Odermann is assisting us with managing all the projects in the Killeen area—he is doing a great job with keeping Central Texas College pleased—we are about to be awarded another $1.2 million at CTC. 

Newly minted J&S Austin Regional Manager Andy Hood spends his free time in the spring coaching little kids tee-ball. It really doesn’t get much more adorable than this.

Pedro Mata getting his citizenship

Dallas Region

Pedro Mata, a superintendent in our Dallas office, received his US citizenship on Feb. 14, 2013. Pedro came to the United States in January 2000 from Monterey, Mexico, and he’s worked with J&S for nearly three years. The citizenship process took six years to complete – congratulations on such a major accomplishment!

Our Dallas office sponsored the annual golf classic hosted on April 26, 2013 by the Regional Hispanic Contractors Association that serves the DFW area. Funds collected at this tournament contributed to the renovation of the RHCA facility, which will allow the organization to better serve Hispanic contractors.

Jason Gillepsie with the Garcia family in their new home

Every year during spring break, J&S Dallas project manager Jason Gillespie packs his family up and heads down to the Texas Valley for a Mission 2 Mission project to build a home for a family in need. This year was no different. In the company of their church group and two of our subcontractors, Jason and his family razed a new home for the Garcia family in Donna, Texas. Erica Garcia is a widowed mother of five children who lost her husband last year in a traffic accident. She was living with her children in a trailer house where they had to position the furniture to cover holes in the floor, the kitchen that was not suitable for cooking and all five children were sharing two rooms. The trailer did not have a utility room, so the family strapped a washing machine to the outside of the trailer to keep it from falling over. In just 10 days, Jason and crew built a brand new three-bedroom, one-bath, 860-SF home for the family on the lot where they currently lived. The house was complete with new cabinets, ceiling fans in every room, and a utility room with a new washer and dryer. Two of our Dallas subcontractors, Innovation Mechanical and Exodus Construction, donated materials and manpower, and our Dallas office donated a company truck, fuel…and Jason!

Houston/Galveston Regions

Warren Stripling, Gabriella Williams and Lisa Blonshine

J&S donated $1,000 to the New Caney ISD Education Foundation. The money donated to the foundation this year allowed the biology class of Gabriella Williams to develop window gardens for a science project.

Superintendents Wayne Gerondale and George Morriss have been hard at work on Galveston-area projects. In December, they completed renovations for TPWD on two historic houses that were a part of the original Stewart Ranch. At the end of June, Wayne and George completed two new park ranger residences that were 18 feet above ground and 1,600SF each. They will also soon complete the first prototype ICF restroom for TPWD. The prototype was designed through collaboration of Gordon Bohmfalk from TPWD, Debra Dockery Architect and J&S. This sample restroom will be used in all TPWD parks from now on.

George Morriss has also been hard at work on the Sea Rim State Park project. Our team there has completed the new park ranger residence house that is 1,600SF and about 19 feet off the ground, allowing for a view of most of the park. The team recently completed the construction of a 650-foot wooden boardwalk going from the parking lot over the sand dunes down to the beach, as well as a new maintenance building.

J&S sponsored the Turning POINT 16th Annual Drum Fishing Tournament on April 6 this year. This event provides an opportunity for handicapped people to go fishing; there were 186 handicapped participants this year. Volunteers, like J&S, provided fishing rods, bait, drinks, food and their time. Our business development manager, Greg Harrington (pictured), has volunteered at this event since 1998.

Drawing of Twin Pines North

Senior Living/Commercial Divisions

The senior living division is finishing up work on Twin Pines North Nursing Home in Victoria. This is currently the largest project we have in progress at 61,0000SF with a price tag of $9.1MM.

Our commercial division recently was awarded a project to construct a new $2.3MM gymnasium for Pawnee ISD. Congrats on the win! 

The senior living division recently was awarded three Texas General Land Office projects totaling nearly $6MM. These projects involve additional work to the three Veterans Affairs nursing homes we completed earlier this year. Keep up the good work!

Our senior living division is also working with a new skilled nursing operator named Ensign Group. We have one project completed, one starting soon and we’re negotiating a contract on a third. Hopefully there are many more to come!

Site in the Spotlight

University of Texas at San Antonio JPL Food Court Renovation

Jamail & Smith Construction has served as a JOC at the University of Texas at San Antonio for nearly two years. As the spring 2013 semester was coming to a close, the University called on us to renovate the JPL food court, which involved a partial demolition, abatement, new HVAC installations and the installation of LED lighting, among other activities.

The renovation was completed during spring finals time, as well as new student orientation. These events required our team to take extra care in reducing disturbances and ensuring a highly secure work site. The Jamail & Smith team worked nights and weekends to complete the project as scheduled without disrupting finals or orientation.

Our team was ready and able to conform the project schedule to meet the University’s unique educational needs. The project entailed the demolition of the pizza eatery and the installation of a new Papa Johns Pizzeria with new ovens, cabinets, countertops and flooring. Our team removed all cabinets and countertops at the sushi bar and smoothie bars and installed new ones. We removed all drywall and ceiling in order to demo the HVAC, and once the new HVAC was in place, we installed new walls and ceilings. The Jamail & Smith team also added new LED lighting throughout the food court and adjusted all fire protection sprinkler systems to meet NFPA 13 standards. This project was completed on time, under budget and to the complete satisfaction of UTSA.

The Scoop

Parkland Hospital 7 West Apheresis Treatment and Med Secure Renovation

Jamail & Smith Construction has a history of providing superior construction services to Parkland Health and Hospital System. The 7 West Apheresis Treatment and Med Secure Unit project gave us the opportunity to renovate a wing of the hospital that had been unused for a period of time. The larger section of the wing required med secure functionality to confine and accommodate needs of the unit and its future patients. Converting the space’s function and designation from the existing standard - single and multi-patient rooms - to a med secure environment required special attention to anti-ligature hardware, finishes and applications. The kitchen space was remodeled into a patient treatment room and experimental laboratories were converted to conference rooms, a staff break area, office space and a new restroom.

Working in an environment where the construction site is part of an operational, round-the-clock medical facility that cannot afford any interruptions presented many challenges, including plumbing and med gas shut downs. Due to accessibility issues to occupied patient rooms, our team had to be flexible in working with undefined schedules and at times worked 24-hour shifts to meet the client’s needs.

The project was a success finishing on time, within budget and to the complete satisfaction of the client. Additionally, our commitment to the utilization of HUB subcontractors far surpassed Parkland’s 30% requirement.

Employee Profile

Beckie Horne
Austin Regional Account Administrator

For eight years, Beckie Horne has diligently provided accounting administration support for the JOC and commercial divisions in the Austin office. She was here when the office was located in Oak Hill - not many of our employees can say that!

Beckie has worked in the construction industry for nearly 15 years and has loved every minute of it. There is always something new and exciting on the horizon to keep things interesting. She also loves the people she works with - especially the accounting staff! - because they provide the support and camaraderie needed to make even the roughest days easier.

While Beckie has many fond and funny memories of working at J&S, one event in particular sticks out in her mind. One time when the girls were outside smoking, Greg Smith came out and asked Liz...[edited]...and they laughed about it all day!

Beckie moved to Texas from Aurora, IL, when she was 14 and has lived in Austin for 10 years, but she says she'll always be a Yankee at heart. When she isn't at work, Beckie enjoys doing just about anything - especially sleeping! She is a cat-lover who likes to foster kittens for Austin Pets Alive! but had to stop because she kept adopting them. She currently has five adorable cats. Here at J&S, we love Beckie for her hard work, great sense of humor and huge heart. she's really one of a kind!

Site in the Spotlight

Francesca's Collections Corporate Office

Francesca’s Collections corporate office was completed October 2012 in Houston.  The goal was to transform a 220K-sq-ft warehouse into office space to house the Francesca’s corporate headquarters.  The J&S project team delivered an outstanding, modern 100K-sq-ft office space that genuinely represented our client’s upscale and classy style. 

The plans called for a 90-day substantial completion, a diamond-polished stained floor and did not initially include any finishes for the project.  The J&S project team, architect and owner met on a weekly basis to review any design issues and to select all the finishes as the project progressed, which was a big challenge. 

As deliberation for the finishes were made throughout the project and on the field, our team rose to the occasion, and overcame design obstacles and more than 40 change orders due to the decision-making process for the finishes. A project of this complexity and size is challenging in itself, not considering the time constraint, but was substantially executed within the 90 days. 

The office included an open floor plan with state-of-the-art features from the private offices to conference room, to the lavish restrooms and employee break room.  A unique touch that added even more flavor was the clean, hard-wearing and low-maintenance diamond polished and stained concrete floor. 

Congratulations on delivering yet another J&S quality product; a true display of how our project team shines through their hard work.

Company Announcements

Congratulations to Steven Van Eman from our Dallas office on his marriage to Whitney Rae on October 27. Here's to a lifetime of happiness!

Our commercial division was recently awarded three contracts for Texas State Veterans Home projects located in Floresville, Bonham, and Big Spring. Combined the project value is just over $5MM and includes nurse station upgrades, bathroom remodels, vestibule addition, roofing, dining remodels, special system upgrades, and mechanical updates. Great job on winning the bids!

J&S was a sponsor of the Houston Independent School District Foundation 2012 Golf Tournament held on October 17 at Wildcat Golf Course. The golfers pictured were J&S's own Ed McKenzie and Rob Peterpaul with guests Victor Fleming, Bob Kuhn, Marcus Swayzer, Israel Wong and Scott Fendrick and some unknown ringer who stepped up at the last minute with a 4 handicap. Lisa Blonshine was present in the background with beer support for our other handicapped challenged players.

Our Galveston office was recently selected by the Port of Galveston to do an exterior wall restoration, roof replacement, window replacement, and related renovation work to the cruise ship terminal one garage and walkway bridge. The Galveston region also won a bid at Galveston College for the renovation of two single-story buildings and to do site improvements on the VTTC Campus. Congratulations on the winning bids!

There were also successful bids on the JOC side of J&S. Our Austin office was chosen as one of four contractors for the City of Austin JOC program, and our Dallas office was selected as one of the contractors for the City of Dallas JOC. Congrats to both offices! Keep up the hard work!

Halloween 2012 marked the beginning of our special J&S holiday celebrations. In an effort to give gifts and thanks that really stand out to our clients, we decided to buck tradition and ditch the Christmas cards. We have designated two holidays per year as J&S holidays with the first one being Halloween. All the offices participated by delivering Halloween cans of popcorn to their clients. Renee Leaman and Genoveva Rodriguez were the deliverers for the Austin office, and they decided to really get into character! Stay tuned for pictures from our St. Patrick's Day deliveries!

J&S sponsored a team for the United Way
Golf Tournament on Oct. 6 in San Antonio. The tournament was hosted by Visionary Properties (Visionworks), which is one of our clients. The team of four included Mark Lane, the director of our retail division.

J&S hosted a reception on October 22 to support the Houston Community College 2012 bond referendum, as well as a reception on October 25 to support the 2012 Houston ISD bond referendum. Both bonds were passed in the election.

Prairie View A&M University

Jamail & Smith Construction has been working as a JOC for Prairie View A&M for three years through our BuyBoard contract. Just like any JOC program, we do a variety of renovation and repair projects with a few significant projects thrown in the mix. In 2012, our Houston office did some pretty interesting work for PVAMU, including constructing a new state-of-the-art goat laboratory.

Goat Laboratory
We provided metal cabinetry with epoxy countertops, new flooring, ceilings, electrical work and plumbing for the new goat laboratory at Prairie View A&M University. The lab will be used for experiments on goats and goat embryos. This facility features state-of-the-art equipment and maintains more than 1000 acres of goat farm land for these experiments.

Carden Waller Roof
We were selected to work on the Carden Waller roofing project, which entailed removing the existing foam roof and providing a modified bitumen roofing system. We installed new parapet walls and changed out the exterior windows in the high roof. The main challenge for this project was working in an occupied facility, but our team is highly experienced with such circumstances and worked with the client determine an appropriate and efficient work schedule that allowed us to complete the project within 60 days.

Agricultural Research Building Plumbing
J&S completed a large plumbing project in the agricultural research building. We removed all existing gas and air lines in the crawl space under the building, provided all new piping and pipe supports, and created a 27,000-sq-ft mud slab in the crawl space. The challenge with this project was cramped working conditions; our team had only 3-5 feet of standing space, but we were able to overcome this issue and finish the project to the complete satisfaction of PVAMU.

New Year's Resolutions

My resolution is to be a better proofreeder. - Stuart Stutzman, Marketing Assistant

Mine is to survive this year! - Darrell Smith, PE, Vice President - Healthcare Division

My 2013 resolution is to pick up my hobbies/things I enjoy doing again. - Genoveva Rodriguez, Proposal Writer

I resolve to get my radio controlled helicopters back out to the flying field, fuel them up practice until I finally learn to fly upside-down, do loops and rolls and the other tricks they’re capable of doing! So far, I’ve only learned how to LAND upside-down, which is pretty hard on the equipment. - Gene Rigby, Estimator

Make my health and family my priority and stop being so OCD about the small stuff! - Carol Voges, Administrative Assistant

Get back under 200 pounds. - Tim Odermann, Project Manager

Get back to the gym 3 to 5 times per week!!! - Jeff Clark, PMP, Project Manager

My goals for next year are to give more time where it matters, make more phone calls to family and friends, send more written letters, laugh too much, start my charity series of poker games back up, take more random classes, get a bunch of vitality points by being healthy & fit, and my last goal is to have as many “WOW” moments as possible personally & professionally. - Kim Holmes, Risk Management Consultant

Run 20 miles a week. - Andy Hood, Project Manager

Finish grad school!! - Ashley Goode, Marketing Coordinator

Employee Profile

Tim Odermann, Project Manager

Tim Odermann had an exceptional 2012 here at Jamail & Smith Construction, and we're proud to feature him in our employee profile. He has worked with us as a project manager and hard bid estimator since May 2011, and he's had some major project accomplishments. Tim's main project management focus is on Arlington ISD JOC, Chase Bank and Discount Tire projects.

Tim enjoys working here at J&S because we serve a variety of clients in both the public and private sectors. He believes that our flexibility in the type of work we do for each client really sets us apart from the competition. In addition to the work he does at J&S, Tim enjoys the people he works with on a daily basis. His funniest experience yet was the time someone from the Houston office turned on the heat in the Dallas office in the middle of July before they left to go back to Houston. Needless to say, everyone in the office was sweating before they realized the heat was on.

Tim was born in Montana, grew up in Dayton, Texas, and currently lives with his family in Corinth. He served four years in the US Air Force and would recommend any young person join the military to help pay for their education - Tim had 90% of his college education paid for because of his military service. Additionally, he learned some important life skills and job training that he uses every day in his career and personal life. When Tim's not at work, he spends most of his time taking care of this three daughters and occasionally squeezing in a round of golf.