Team United and their plus-ones attended the Summit Awards hosted by NAIOP Northern Nevada this weekend. We had a lovely time supporting so many commercial real estate companies and professionals who have done incredible work within our industry in Northern Nevada. We were proud to be an event sponsor this year!
Thank you, NAIOP, for a wonderful event!
Back in February, we announced that United Construction was finalist for the 2022 Nevada Business Magazine (NBM) Awards under the “Battle Born” category. To honor all of the finalists and announce the winners, the NBM hosted an upscale business luncheon at the Peppermill yesterday afternoon. Along with Design Manager Keith Deutscher and Marketing Manager Alana Ridge representing United, Northern Nevada businesses from a wide variety of industries and years in service attended the event to celebrate each other.
Out of the many nominations, United was in the Top 3 under the “Battle Born” category, which recognizes companies that have been in business for more than 25 years. We are thrilled to be among the best this year in this category. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists!
Aristocrat Gaming, a global gaming content and technology company, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony at our planned logistics park in Henderson, Nevada. The company will be a tenant in one of the buildings, where they will manufacture slot machines and other gaming equipment.
Southern Nevada dignitaries, United Construction and their subcontractors, and hundreds of Aristocrat employees attended the event, excited to mark the beginning of the construction progress for their brand new building.
KLAS Channel 8 in Las Vegas covered the groundbreaking. The video clip that aired on TV can be found here.
We thank our Superintendent Kerry Brock for the logistical and on-site help and our Senior Project Manager Dane Horton for the planning support behind-the-scenes!
Students and staff at Swope Middle School are anticipating the completion of their brand new classroom building, as the site crews make notable progress witnessed by the Swope community.
“We are approaching new milestones that will help prepare us to welcome students and staff into their revamped learning space upon project completion,” said Casey Gunther, Operations Manager for United Construction. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and enthusiasm as we shape up the expansions and renovations at the school.”
In the new two-story classroom area, the on-site construction team is in the process of installing the new roof. Upon roof completion, the building will be dried-in. Crews have “one-sided” the drywall in several sections on the first floor and will continue this work on the second floor after roofing work is complete. After the building is dried-in, the team will be able to use a crane to install the new mechanical equipment onto the roof towards the end of this month. Additionally, all the metal stud framing is complete. Crews will continue to work on the rough-in of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and this process should be complete in the coming weeks.
Concurrent to the performance of the physical work on-site, United Construction is holding pre-installation meetings with key subcontractors to plan work on the existing classroom building. Their goal is to commence work that can be done before Washoe County School District releases for the summer, as well as the work that will need to be performed during summer break.
United Construction will continue to update neighbors with current construction information.
Photos by Ryland Sweigard
Our Operations Manager Casey Gunther and our Talent Acquisition Manager Susan Rowland recently participated in the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR) Boss Lift at the Nevada Air National Guard Base in Reno. The Boss Lift is a recognition event for employers (like United Construction) who support the United States National Guard and Reserve, and the event provided critical first-hand insight into why our support of employing Guard and Reserve members is essential to our national defense.
As a part of the program, Casey and Susan had the exciting opportunity to fly in a Military C-130 Aircraft and tour the Air National Guard Base. They also received a certificate to signify United Construction’s support of the Guard and Reserve.
We proudly employ members of our military and are strong supporters of our armed forces; as such, we are thrilled that Casey and Susan were able to participate in the Boss Lift event to commemorate our support.
United Construction is officially a Top Workplace in Nevada! We are thrilled to announce that our company is a winner of the 2022 Top Workplaces awards program. In order to qualify for this program, companies must distribute an in-depth, anonymous employee survey to thoroughly analyze staff engagement levels, company perception, leadership efficiency, and many more critical points that make an organization function well. The data is in – and we are so proud to be among the greatest places to work in the Silver State.
Congratulations to our wonderful employees that make United Construction the company that it is!
All this year’s winners can be found in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Sunday print edition (also found in the e-edition on their website) via a Las Vegas Business Press staff report.
As the season of spring officially begins, site crews continue to take advantage of the good weather by making great headway at Swope Middle School.
“It is exciting to see the swift progress happening at the school, and we only have greater milestones in store as we embrace spring,” said Casey Gunther, Operations Manager for United Construction. “Our site crews are continuing with framing, retrofitting, HVAC installation, and many other finishes within the new classroom building, which is getting closer and closer to completion.”
During the Washoe County School District spring break, crews worked in both the new two-story classroom building and the existing school at the same time. In the new building, the team continued with rough-in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. They are substantially complete with the metal stud framing on the first floor, and the next focus will be the soffits and ceilings. On the second floor, the team insulated the exterior walls and began metal stud framing there as well.
Within the existing school, site crews are finishing the retrofit of the HVAC system. They cut a large hole in the gable at the front of the building to install new equipment in the attic. Additionally, they are insulating specific areas of the ceiling to increase the R-value, which is a figure that measures how well insulation resists conductive heat flow.
In the north courtyard, the team has installed the new sewer line that connects the new two-story classroom building to an existing sewer line. On the northwest side, crews also began the installation of piping for the new chiller.
United Construction will continue to update neighbors with current construction information.
Photos by Ryland Sweigard
Crews are making great progress at the project site of our industrial 664,000-square-foot inventory facility in North Las Vegas. Superintendent Colton Brock is celebrating the fact that the pad subgrade is about 90% completed, and only 40,000 yards of export remain. Additionally, crushing for Type-II is currently taking place onsite.
Additionally, swift progress is afoot at our logistics project in Henderson. Our work on this project will initially consist of two logistics buildings (of a four-building project). Building 1 will be 330,000 square feet, and Building 2 will be 265,000 square feet. Under-slab utilities for those first two buildings have recently been completed, and according to Superintendent Kerry Brock, crews are beginning the tie-ins for the sanitary, storm, and water systems. Up next, the team will start digging footings.
Below, the photo to the left features March progress at our North Las Vegas site, and the photo to the right highlights our Henderson project, also in March.
United Construction Welcomes Edward Morgan as New Chief Financial Officer
CFO Brad Breach to retire after serving 35 years with the Nevada-based design-builder
United Construction Company (UCC), a best-in-class general contractor and design-builder serving both Northern and Southern Nevada industrial and commercial markets, has named Edward “Ed” Morgan as their new Chief Financial Officer, beginning March 7, 2022. This announcement comes as UCC’s beloved CFO Brad Breach announces his retirement after 35 years of professional service to the company.
Morgan joins UCC with several decades of accounting, finance, analysis, reporting, and operations leadership experience in Colorado, Northern California, and the Truckee/Tahoe region, serving the majority of those roles for residential and commercial real estate development companies. Most recently, Morgan served as the Chief Operating Officer for Taylor Builders, one of the Sacramento region’s largest land developers. As COO at Taylor, he instituted policies, procedures, and controls to help a start-up business grow into a large development company through leading the human resources, administration, risk management, and finance teams to success. Before his career with Taylor Builders, Morgan was a Vice President and the Corporate Controller for Mountainside Partners and East West Partners-Tahoe, where he secured public financing and construction loans, managed accounting and project teams, prepared annual business plans and much more. In addition to an established accounting and auditing career in Colorado and holding a Master of Accountancy degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, Morgan is a finance veteran in the construction industry.
“Ed is a highly-experienced leader in construction, operations and finance, which makes him an excellently well-rounded and ideal choice for our next CFO,” said Michael Whittaker, President of United Construction. “As he begins his tenure with UCC, we are looking forward to seeing Ed leverage his expertise to ensure not only our solid financial management continues but also enhances our abilities in all aspects of our business.”
As CFO, Morgan will oversee the accounting and IT teams, company finances, employee benefits, contract and labor law, taxation and other financial and human resources-related roles for both United Construction and United Concrete Specialties. He will also spearhead organizational productivity initiatives, cost-control measures, risk management and strategic goals alongside Whittaker, Chief Executive Officer Michael Russell and Operations Manager Casey Gunther.
Breach has been the leader and guardian of UCC’s finances and accounting department with committed consistency and transparent accuracy, and he has provided invaluable advice to numerous customers, managers and employees since his arrival to the company in 1987. He has paved the way to a well-deserved retirement.
“Brad has hired the people, created the processes, implemented the software and established many of the routines that have ensured our success today,” said Russell. “Brad’s legacy will forever be a part of United Construction’s rich history, and he will truly be missed. As Brad supports Ed in his transition to CFO over the next few months, we are confident Ed will carry on our company’s mission, vision and traditions.”