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25 Feb

Posted at 08:42h in News, United Team

United Superintendent Andy Jones is hard at work delivering Symmetrix Composite Tooling’s new facility in Minden. Symmetrix creates composite molds used to manufacture products for alternative energy, marine, aerospace, transportation and architecture industries. As the design-build contractor, United Construction is providing in-house architecture and construction services for their new 36,000 SF metal building.

This ultimate makers space will be a machining resource for the including wind energy, aerospace, architecture, infrastructure, marine and transportation industries. Innovative designers from all over the United States can have this plant mill the composite patterns and molds they are creating.

We sat down with Andy Jones and Symmetrix Owner John Barnitt to learn more about the project:

 

United: Is John Barnitt a hands-on kind of owner who visits the site often and pays close attention to the details?

Andy: Absolutely. He is very helpful, and it has been a pleasure working with him.

United: Do innovations flow out of the 26-foot-wide rollup door that opens into the location of the bank of state-of-the-art 5-axis CNC machines?

Andy: They move projects out and over to the north door into a paint booth  The booth is currently not shown on construction documents. It will be a revision at some point. The other rollup doors will be used for bringing in raw materials and parts.

United: Is the building higher on one end to accommodate the viewer platform looking into the bay of 20 CNC machine?

Andy: I believe the overall height was determined for what will be manufactured and clearance needed for the CNC machine. With that, the height of building at the north and south end was determined by slope requirements to meet building codes.

United: John, do you see the Minden facility as bigger or better or different than the facilities in Rhode Island and North Carolina?

John: The Minden facility is actually based on the RI and NC tooling shops with the goal to make these as similar as possible.

United: Will other parts of the facility be more basic machines and equipment?

John: Yes, a smaller a 25 foot 5-Axis milling machine, fabrication area with welding, composite lamination areas and a 90 foot climate controlled spray booth.

United: CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control, which allows a user to dial in a machine to mill a product, but what does the 5-axis part allow a user to do?

John: This machine mills composite shapes in five directions. The word Axis refers to the direction of travel of the cutting head, in this case…

  • X-Axis=82 feet (East and west)
  • Y-Axis=22 feet (North and South)
  • Z-Axis= 10 feet of vertical travel
  • B-Axis= 360° of cutting head rotation
  • C-Axis= 270° of diagonal head rotation

Additionally, I’d like to draw attention to the CNC machine reinforcement in the floor and the recessed steel mounting plates.

Andy: The CNC machine rests on 68 embedded steel plates 31”x10”x ¾”. After leveling it will be bolted down to 545 anchor bolts, with 8 bolts per plate. The footprint of the machine is 33’ x 95’. The footing consisted of upper and lower #6 rebar and about 150 yards of concrete.

John sets the bar rather high for a really cool shop. Don’t try doing this at home.

27 Jan

Posted at 08:20h in News, United Team

United Construction CEO Michael Russell recently participated in a Q&A with the Northern Nevada Business Weekly (NNBW) about the trends in development that we are seeing locally. According to Michael, we are seeing an increased focus on sites that require complicated entitlements and grading.

Text below copied directly from the NNBW article:

Q&A with United Construction: Industrial development outlook

United Construction CEO Mike Russell recently discussed the future of the Northern Nevada industrial market with the NNBW and provided insight into development efforts and the strength of the market for 2021 and beyond. Below is an interview with Mike, slightly edited for clarity.

United Construction CEO Mike Russell believes investors will continue to view the industrial real estate sector as a safe haven for strong investment in Northern Nevada.

NNBW: What factors will impact the industrial market as we move through the year?

Russell: We will continue to have COVID impacts such as personnel health, material supply chain issues and potential project schedule delays. In the last several months we’ve started to see significant material cost escalations related to steel, lumber and sheathing in the industrial sector.

The increase in home building across the country, combined with steel and lumber mill capacities, has created high demand for dimension lumber, sheathing and steel-related construction products (rebar, steel piping, structural and miscellaneous steel, etc.).

This increased demand has created price volatility and escalations which have driven industrial construction costs 5 to 10 percent-plus higher just over the last few months. We’ll keep watch on these cost escalation trends to see if they hold at recent higher levels, or if they recede with future home building and industrial construction demand.

NNBW: Site availability in Greater Reno-Sparks is at a premium. How does limited availability of easily developed sites impact new projects?

Russell: I believe we’ll see a few trends. Over the years here in the Truckee Meadows, industrial development has typically gravitated to sites that have simple entitlements and somewhat flat topography.

One trend we’re seeing is development on sites that require more complicated entitlements and grading.

This trend will drive development delivery timelines longer and project costs higher. Industrial development will look east of Reno-Sparks in TRIC, Fernley and beyond to have more industrial land inventory and potentially less site acquisition and development costs.

We’ll still see industrial development at appropriately zoned infill sites throughout Reno-Sparks over the coming years, and developers will get creative at multiple property site assemblies to accommodate industrial development where possible.

NNBW: How will the ongoing pandemic and social distancing guidelines impact work operations across the county?

Russell: Unless the pandemic gets worse, we don’t anticipate much impact from what we’re already experiencing. We require daily health screening, masks, social distancing, health and safety practices per local and federal guidelines. COVID has already slightly impacted some of our project schedules and material deliveries since Q2 of 2020.

NNBW: Will 2021 be a good or bad year for the regional industrial market?

Russell: Industrial development has a strong future in Northern Nevada for the following reasons:

  • In our current COVID environment, industrial, food, e-commerce and last-mile demand is very strong since people are staying home and ordering goods and food online for local pick-up or delivery.
  • Northern Nevada is experiencing a major influx of businesses and people from around the country (a high portion from California), which will continue to diversify and strengthen our local economy. That in turn will require more industrial sector support.
  • While developers are feeling the impact of construction and land acquisition cost increases, exit cap rates are at all-time lows. Industrial lease rates also are/will be rising.
  • As has been the case for many years, investors view the industrial real estate sector as a safe haven for investment, which is truer today than ever since retail and office sectors are suffering higher risk.

13 Jan

Posted at 07:57h in News, Project Milestone, United Team

 

Digging the dirt today are Tina Iftiger, Chief Commercial Officer, and Darren Griffen, President/CEO of the Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority along with Dassault’s Michael Montgomery and United Superintendent Pete Brunner. The ceremony marked the beginning of the expansion of the Dassault Falcon building at Reno Tahoe International Airport. United Estimators Greg Park and Jami Evanson supported the project through preconstruction, while the United team leading the project through to completion consists of Pete Brunner, Project Managers Casey Gunther and Robert Felstead, and Project Administrator Glady Robinette.

Designed by United Design Manager David Eckes with assistance from local architect Fred Graham, the 11,000 sf, two-story addition will feature parts storage, locker rooms, records storage and a second-floor training/event room, avionics work room, engineering, conference room and quality assurance department. United’s in-house architects designed the expansion. Completion is set for late June.

Dassault is a French based aircraft manufacturer of business and corporate jets. The United design-build team also delivered the existing building used by Dassault. United delivered it in 1996 as an aircraft maintenance hangar for Reno Air.

08 Dec

Posted at 12:03h in News, United Team

Being named among the 20 under 40 allows Casey Gunther to urge disabled veterans to aim high when rebuilding their careers. “I am grateful the Reno Tahoe Young Professionals Network selected me as a 2020 recipient of this distinction,” says Casey, Operations Manager at United Construction Company. “It gives me a chance to tell my story and give hope to others who need to reboot for whatever reason.”

AIM HIGH

Casey first visited a Marine recruiting office at age 11 and enlisted at 17. “There is no greater honor than serving your country and leading people,” he explains. But an honorable medical discharge left Casey at a loss for his next move. “I turned wrenches to put food on the table for my family. I was working as the yard boy for a general contractor, but I knew that working as a laborer was further trashing my knees.” Never lacking courage, Casey walked into the vice president’s office and asked for career advice. Aim high, was the answer.

Casey set out on a dual path of being a fulltime student and fulltime project administrator and then project engineer. He got started at TMCC through Veterans Upward Bound studying construction and then attended UNR. When he was laid off in 2009, like many of his colleagues, he was unable to find a construction job for 72 weeks, but stayed in school and “found ways to earn a living and take care of my family. I did mobile ranch butchering. I logged and sold firewood, and I cowboyed.” He also earned his civil engineering degree from UNR.

When Casey returned to construction, he expanded his expertise by working as superintendent, project manager, estimator and senior project manager. He developed his ability to lead large projects. He has built facilities as large as 663,000 sf range and up to $30 Million. Today, Casey oversees 35 project professionals at United Construction in Reno and California.

SERVANT LEADER

Casey is a servant leader. His main goal is to serve those who report to him. “It involves putting people ahead of power,” explains Casey.  When he asks his coworkers what he can do to help them, they excel as a team.

Leadership a strength that disabled veterans can bring to an organization, says Casey. “I had numerous opportunities to grow as a leader in the Marines.” Casey received multiple meritorious promotions, Marine of the Quarter awards for his unit, Marine of the Year candidate and runner up for the 1st Marine Division, the Meritorious Mast award, and Certificates of Commendation. As a Corporal, he held the billet of a Staff NCO and was directly charged with leadership of 90 Marines.

Construction has been a good second career for Casey. Like the military, it involves special projects with teams of talent coming together to master a challenge. “Veterans who appreciate the rapport that goes with working on a mission will feel at home in construction. I’ve had the pleasure of working with several veterans in construction, and they always impress me with how they encourage teamwork.”

Teamwork and Community service remain Casey’s guiding principles. In his hometown of Battle Mountain, he volunteers for rodeos, parades and more. He served as board member and chairman of the Battle Mountain Livestock Board. Casey lobbies on complicated land issues and knows the challenges of dealing with wildfire devastation. As a member of Disabled American Veterans, he has supported various veteran initiatives.

05 Nov

Posted at 16:18h in News

Northern Nevada Business Weekly has recognized our CEO, Michael Russell among the top ten local leaders. The distinction recognizes the gains he helped shape at United Construction during a year of challenges.

GROWING LEADERSHIP

United is well poised to meet the demands of our strong industrial construction market thanks to Russell’s and our Executive Team’s efforts to grow leadership. Since early 2019, Russell and UCC leaders have promoted internally and recruited wisely to place strong leaders in these key roles: President, Operations Manager, Field Operations Manager, Senior Project Manager and Operations Administrator. Retooling leadership has led to increased skill, technology and collaborative project delivery expertise.

COLLABORATING WITH CUSTOMERS

While UCC has a long history of delivering speculative industrial projects, Russell saw an opportunity to deliver more build-to-suit projects. He has mentored project leaders to aspire to exceptional customer service and works with leaders to identify the goals and challenges of those who will work in the facilities we design and build. Russell emphasizes team collaboration throughout UCC to enhance the rapport we have with customers, trade partners and consultants. We are achieving exceptional customer service for clients like ULINE, our largest build-to-suit ever. ULINE has exacting expectations for state-of-the-art facilities that meet high standards for operational excellence. The 900,000+ sf facility we are constructing in Lemmon Valley reflects their high standards.

STRENGTHENING PRECONSTRUCTION

The Executive Leadership and Russell also focused on strengthening the preconstruction team to better serve our customers’ needs. Our design and estimating team already has veteran leadership. We needed the horsepower  it takes to deliver three million square feet of industrial construction or more annually. UCC expanded its preconstruction team to include six estimators and four architects. Our teams can managed large, phased design-build project requiring multiple designers and estimators working in sync to meet aggressive schedule. These projects are designed and permitted in phases, and the preconstruction and project management teams are achieving earlier start dates and earlier move-in dates. E-commerce customers have aggressive needs now more than ever in our COVID Environment, and our team is well positioned to assist our customers now and into the future.

GETTING PROJECTS ON THE FAST TRACK

By collaborating with an experienced team, Russell continues to be UCC’s accelerator for getting projects on their optimum trajectory for success. He leverages his depth of development experience to advise build-to-suit customers on strategies that enhance their long-term operations. As one of the executive leaders at United, he promotes positive stakeholder involvement by fostering relationships, facilitating communication and collaboration, keeping stakeholders active in decision-making, dealing fairly with all stakeholders, mentoring teams and facilitating teamwork.

05 Jun

Posted at 14:51h in News

United Construction Company has named Casey Gunther its new Operations Manager.

“Casey is the ideal leader to handle day-to-day operations,” says United President Mike Whittaker. “He has excelled as a project leader at United, developed many strong client relationships and has served as a mentor and role model over the past couple of years. Casey has been dedicated to continual improvement throughout his 16-year career. He fully embraces United’s best practices, so we are fortunate to have him guiding our teams.”

Following his service in the US Marine Corps, Casey completed a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from University of Nevada, Reno. He began his construction career in the field, and worked his way up to leading large projects featuring Construction Management At Risk (CMAR) and Design-Build delivery.

“I welcome the opportunity to share my enthusiasm for operations company wide,” says Casey. “I’ve had great opportunities in my career to learn the latest technologies and best practices from talented leaders. In my new position, I will enjoy helping United’s project leaders excel.”

17 Mar

Posted at 12:18h in News

United Construction Company is taking the following measures to do our part to stem the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus:

  • Employees at the Nevada and California offices are working remotely from home, beginning tomorrow.
  • Team meetings with customers and consultants will continue to be virtual as they have been recently.
  • Projects in Nevada and of California will continue as scheduled unless we have been directed by the local jurisdiction to curtail activities and as long as they meet the United community health standards. Currently projects in Hayward, Pleasanton and Richmond have all work stopped until further notice. All other projects are continuing as planned.

 

“Our senior leaders are focused on the wellness of all impacted by our work,” says Craig Willcut, United Construction Company’s Vice Chair. “We are going to continue to monitor the situation closely. Thanks to our given technology, we will maintain excellent communication among our teams and customers.”

11 Mar

Posted at 08:44h in News

United Construction Company recently appointed Mike Whittaker as its new President.

“With his leadership, we are poised to maintain our momentum as a leading general contractor in Nevada and California,” says Craig Willcut, United president for 20 years. Willcut will remain a leadership resource as a United Construction Board Member and Vice Chair.

In his 27-year career, Whittaker has led complex construction projects and teams in Nevada and California. In 2019 he rejoined the United team, where he had previously launched his career as a project leader after graduating from California State University Chico. “Mike has expertise in the broad range of projects we deliver, but more importantly, he embodies our commitment to building relationships and collaborating with our clients to add value to their projects,” adds Willcut.

As President Mike will guide and support the more than 60 project professionals and field leaders delivering projects through offices in Nevada and California.

 

07 Aug

Posted at 11:47h in News, Project Milestone

Reno-based manufacturing company announces groundbreaking of new 51,050 sf facility.

Reno, Nev. August 7, 2019 – United Construction is partnering with LUX dynamics, a Reno-based manufacturer of high bay lighting fixtures, to design and build their new manufacturing facility. The building will be located within blocks of the existing LUX dynamics corporate headquarters to further their exponential growth.

LUX dynamics was founded in 2008 by inventor, John McCarty, after he identified an opportunity to improve the design of industrial lighting fixtures so they would stay cooler, and in turn, last longer.  Their designs for high quality, longer-lasting products garner high demand nationwide among government agencies, NASA, industrial facilities, gymnasiums and even aquatic centers.

While LUX dynamics’ luminaires are frequently used in local facilities, the biggest driver of recent growth comes from government contracts for use throughout the United States. Their products are 100% made in America and engineered to reduce replacement costs – a winning combination that has LUX dynamics building for a bright future.

Construction for the new facility is scheduled to start immediately, with a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, August 16. (Click here for event details.)

As the Design-Build contractor, United Construction is providing in-house architectural design and construction management for the new 51,050 square-foot, tilt-up facility. The building will feature 28’ clear-height ceilings and a 5,724 square-foot mezzanine that offers flexible expansion options.

Michael Russell, CEO of United Construction shared, “We are honored that LUX dynamics selected us to build their new facility. There is something symbolic about building for an expanding, Reno-based company that nationally represents quality and ingenuity cultivated in our own backyard. Our industrial projects proudly feature LUX dynamics fixtures, similar to the ones that are illuminating NASA. They are manufactured down the street from our office – and that is incredible.”

With completion of the new facility, LUX dynamics will have capacity to expand their team of 48 to upwards of 100 employees. McCarty has great success attracting talent based on word-of-mouth. The culture at LUX dynamics has been carefully germinated around people’s genius; not their appearance.

McCarty is grateful for the support he has received from the northern Nevada community and would like to acknowledge Doug Erwin and Nancy McCormick with the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN). Also, as a long-time member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Reno Tahoe, McCarty appreciates the support he’s received from them over the years.

He credits Christopher Mann of Community Ventures for being instrumental in finding and procuring the perfect site for the future of LUX dynamics.

Additionally, he would like to thank the team at Umpqua Bank.  McCarty claims, “Nick Butler, Nathan Wilkerson and Kevin Tappan have been especially helpful in getting this project off the ground.  They have proven to live up to their mantra of being The World’s Greatest Bank.”

LUX dynamics will continue administrative and R&D operations in their corporate headquarters located at 1350 Capital Blvd in Reno. For more company information, visit www.luxdynamics.com.

 

Direct media and event questions to:

Rachel Yelley, Marketing & Communications Manager

United Construction

ryelley@unitedconstruction.com

(775) 389-1739

 

14 May

Posted at 16:18h in News

RENO, Nev. — Northern Nevada’s construction community showcased its best work of the past year at the annual PINNACLE Awards, sponsored by the Nevada Chapter AGC.

The Projects In Northern Nevada Achieving Construction Leadership Excellence, or PINNACLE Awards program, was established in 1999 to honor the “Best of the Best” in Northern Nevada construction projects; recognizing construction leadership, excellence and community spirit.

Independent judges from the Utah AGC Chapter, measured entries based on safety, craftsmanship, challenges met, client relations, innovation and “green” building practices. Projects must have been completed during the 2017 calendar year.

General Engineering Construction and Building Construction projects vie separately for the PINNACLE Award in two divisions: under and over $5 million. Specialty Contractors vie for the PINNACLE in the over and under $500,000 $500,000 category.

United Construction received an award for Building Contractors under $5 million: Meeting the Challenge of a Difficult Job for the University Studies Abroad Consortium Annex.

Foot and auto traffic congestion. Unforeseen soil issues. Spikes in material prices. Such were the challenges, and more, overcome by United Construction in building the three-story, 11,631-square-foot office structure in the core of the University of Nevada, Reno’s main thoroughfare.

Situated on the west side of North Virginia Street across from Nightingale Concert Hall, the University Studies Abroad Consortium Annex presented United with changing land elevations that required exterior design adjustments, notably increasing the top floor by three inches to compensate.

Additionally, the site featured heavy clay soil that required mass excavation and the addition of a retaining wall with soil nailing and helical piers. United worked closely with geotechnical consultants to ensure that the retaining wall supported the soil of adjacent properties as well.

Then came a significant escalation in the price of materials, in some cases by 30 percent. One of the building’s interior finishes was to be a wood composite, and the cost swelled by more than $30,000. United worked closely with USAC the architect, Van Woert Bigotti, to find an alternative cedar product at a more reasonable price but with a similar visual impact.

Their teamwork shows in a the iconic stature of the final product which was completed in August 2017 at a cost of $3.8 million.