United Team

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.

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.”

Here at United Construction, we are proud to celebrate the women who lift up our company every day, bringing us to new heights and reaching key milestones and successes. Happy Women in Construction Week (Sunday, March 6 – Saturday, March 12) to all the wonderful women who serve in the construction industry!

Our celebratory video that we recorded for AGC Nevada can be found via this link.

Featured from left to right:

  • Carrie Dyer, Project Engineer
  • Ariel Mooney, Administrative Assistant
  • Sandy Penny, Accounting Supervisor
  • Farhat Sameena, Architectural Designer
  • Justine Lotz, Accounts Payable Clerk
  • Gladiss Hernandez, Accounts Payable Clerk
  • Sarah Schmidt, Executive Administrator
  • Jami Fornelli, Estimator
  • Susan Rowland, Talent Acquisition Manager
  • Yajaira Medina, Project Administrator
  • Audrey Mackey, Operations Administrator
  • Alana Ridge, Marketing and Communications Manager

 

(Not videoed: Glady Robinette – Project Administrator, Catherine Bernauer – Project Administrator)

Despite supply chain issues affecting our industry, construction in Nevada continues onward efficiently and with confidence, as builders and developers help our state grow. Our CEO Michael Russell was recently a part of Nevada Business Magazine’s Builder & Developer Roundtable with other Silver State construction/development leaders to discuss the reality of these matters and how the industry continues to overcome these obstacles.

Dive into Michael’s words of wisdom as well as insight from the other expert panelists in Nevada Business Magazine’s Industry Focus article, which highlights the conversation at the recent roundtable.

We are honored to be one of three finalists under the “Battle Born” category at this year’s Nevada Business Awards! The Battle Born award recognizes companies that have been in business for more than 25 years, and we are thrilled to be in the Top 3 considered for this honor.

Thank you, Nevada Business Magazine! The team at United Construction looks forward to attending the awards luncheon in May.

A full list of the finalists, and more information about this awards program, can be viewed HERE.

While the weather stays in the high 40s and low 50s here in Reno, we Northern Nevadans know better than to expect it to stay that way the rest of the winter season. To gear up for another impending cold front, let’s reveal another cold weather construction tip from Superintendent Nick Crawford.

According to Nick, a more extraordinary solution for extreme weather issues is to lime treat soil/base to keep it from getting too wet. He decided to look into this option on a previous industrial project he worked on. He found a company to do cement treatment to the soil and found that the price point for this treatment was well worth the result, as it saved the project in the long run. In the end, Nick and his team treated more than 1 million square feet of building slab. The pad was now, as he says, “bulletproof!”

Superintendent Nick Crawford is back with another cold weather construction tip – the first one of 2022. According to Nick, “Protecting soils from freezing can be a challenge. While using concrete blankets can help, it’s not a foolproof solution. Instead, try using hydronic ground heaters to warm up the soil.”

Another solution Nick has used is temporarily tenting slab pours and panel pours. This way, he is able to apply heat within the tent to get temperatures where they need to be in order to place concrete or bond breaker on the slab.
Stay tuned for more winter construction tips from us throughout the season!

We are thrilled to announce that United Construction is officially a TOP 3 Construction Firm in Northern Nevada! This recognition comes from the Northern Nevada Business Weekly’s 2021 Best in Business awards, an annual awards program that recognizes the companies and local business leaders that have had a vital impact in the regional business community.

Early last month, our supporters and followers like you voted us into the Top 10 list of best construction firms – now, your strong support has let us go even further, bumping us into the Top 3. Once again, we thank you all for being our champion and believing in what we do as a best-in-class design-builder!

Our award, along with the many other companies that achieved this honor in their respective categories, can be found HERE.

Up here in our HQ city of Reno, we not only celebrated a true “White Christmas” with the snowy conditions on Christmas Day – we also welcomed more than two feet of snow in some parts of town over the weekend! As such, now is the perfect time to discuss some of our tips for cold weather construction.

Holding about 25 years of experience, Superintendent Nick Crawford has some expert pieces of advice for navigating construction projects during inclement weather, such as snowstorms, that we will be sharing with you periodically during the winter. Here is his first tip:

“Knowing the weather patterns for your specific jobsite – including having a game plan for protecting the site by making sure you have positive drainage on the site – is a must. Snow can be easy to deal with, as it can be plowed and removed from the site, but if left to melt before removal, it poses risks to work already in place. You could end up with melted snow saturating soil that is already over the optimum moisture content. The best solution? 9 times out of 10, plowing the snow is the way to go!”

Stay tuned for more cold weather construction tips from United Construction throughout the season!