Building The Future Together

On Tuesday, November 7th, Hunzinger Construction Company held its annual Q3 awards recognition reception at Miller Park where Hunzinger had completed the Food & Beverage Reimagining Project for the 2017 season. The complete transformation of the food and beverage hospitality experience included an extensive renovation of the concourses and existing concession stands with construction and rebranding of new concession stands spanning all seating levels of the ballpark and leveraging the rich architectural history of Milwaukee.

In keeping with Hunzinger’s high standard for quality craftsmanship, the company established a company-wide Total Quality Management Program called Q3 (Q-Cubed). Q3 simply reinforces our mission statement of “Do the Right Thing” when dealing with employees, subcontractors/suppliers and clients. This effort encourages employees to continually examine how Hunzinger delivers services and empowers them to make recommendations that improve the way we work. Employees are also encouraged to bring new quality control initiatives forth for evaluation, consideration and implementation. Successes are celebrated and become a regular part of the project delivery system for all future projects.

As part of our Q3 initiative, we solicit nominations from our employees of clients, subcontractors, and fellow employees who have demonstrated an exemplary dedication to excellence and illustrated the qualities outlined in our Total Quality Management program. This year, we received over 70 nominations that are reviewed by our company owners and recipients are selected. Thirty one Hunzinger employees, 11 subcontractors and three owners were recognized with Q3 Awards.

Hunzinger Executive Vice President Kevin O’Toole was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening and kicked the program off with Q3 awards to Lucy Fox & Mitch Sperka of Hunzinger’s Accounting Department noting that their efforts and dedication are integral in our company’s success. Acknowledging that they find a way to collect time sheets, process payroll, process vendor/supplier invoicing, vendor setup while helping to keep the Project Manager’s organized! They are true assets to the Hunzinger team!

The next award went to Senior Project Manager Joe Hildebrand who was recognized as a true professional who can always be relied on for top organization of project administration and documentation.

Hunzinger’s continued work at Caterpillar, completing multiple machine foundation projects over the past 5 years, brought much deserved Q3 awards to Hunzinger Superintendent Todd Norgel and Larson Engineering’s Robert Schumacher. The Caterpillar foundation projects require great attention to detail in the design and layout to meet the owner’s strict tolerances and specifications for their machines. Bob works collaboratively to ensure the foundation design is accurate and the machines are properly laid out in the facility to account for existing conditions, work flow of the space and future expansion. Todd understands the scope, logistics, owner concerns and challenges, manpower that would be required for our significant self-perform work and then executes to a tee. He always kept quality, safety and schedule at the forefront as the owner quickly realized the value and professionalism Todd brought to the project team. Todd’s ability to execute his plan started with his vast concrete knowledge and experience, but also included his ability to quickly grasp complex designs.

O’Toole presented Q3 awards to Senior Project Manager Matt Hunzinger and Superintendent Scott Rengstorf. Both are working in Denver, CO on our Great-West Financial projects. Matt has worked tirelessly continuing to make the client happy and deliver quality projects. Over the past year, he has worked for some extended hours on night shift work, sacrificing for the good of the company and our growth in Denver. Scott relocated to Denver and lived out of a hotel for months, working mostly night shifts with an extremely challenging group of subcontractors, and was an integral part of making sure we were able to complete the project in a timely fashion. He too, sacrificed for the greater good and growth of the company.

The next Q3 award was presented to Emily Johnson who kept up a furious pace of responding to RFPs and hasn’t missed a submission date. Thanks to Emily’s work, the content of our marketing materials look more attractive and inviting which presents a higher quality product. She is a great team member. She even worked though her appendectomy recovery, doing some layout and design work at home so that submission dates weren’t missed.

Project Manager Ryan O’Toole and Superintendent Jack Hollman received Q3 awards for their Master Lock Headquarters renovation. They managed and completed a 120,000 SF within a very aggressive 14 week schedule and obtained the occupancy permit on March 24th, as originally planned. Those guys seemed to be working around the clock to complete the job. What a great extra effort!

Kevin then called up members of the Miller Park Food & Beverage Renovations team including the Milwaukee Brewers, Ken Gaber of Delaware North, Scott Ramlow & Rebecca Rodriquez of Uihlein Wilson Ramlow Stein Architects, John Fleisner, Kirk Larson, & Chris Stranak of Uihlein Electric, Colin Dembowiak from JM Brennan, Brett Kroening of The Boelter Companies, Erv Stein & Beth Ann Bruss from Czarnecki Engineering and Senior Project Manager Scott Wendt, Assistant Project Manager Christina Sladky and Superintendent Pat Schoenike.

The Brewers team is constantly developing ideas and most notably, deploying strategies to continue to improve upon what is already one of the best fan experience in the major leagues and we are extremely grateful to have been a part of it since its conception with a relationship that goes back over 20-years.

Uihlein Wilson Ramlow Stein Architects are great partners and extremely easy to work with. We welcome their collaborative approach. Erv and Beth were tasked with the electrical design for the food and beverage project, which required them to coordinate the electrical requirements for not only the basic electrical components of typical construction project, but the electrical requirements for thousands of different pieces of kitchen equipment and delivered almost flawlessly. Everything they had designed and detailed was well communicated clearly and most importantly, coordinated properly with all of the corresponding trades/components.

The electrical scope of work required and army of skilled electricians to complete the complex food service equipment infrastructure on an extremely tight time frame and John, Kirk and Chris pulled it off. They were always willing to assist and do whatever it took. Similar to the electrical scope, the plumbing scope of work also required an army of plumbing tradespeople to provide all of the necessary infrastructure for not only the new food service equipment, but also the modifications and retrofits of the existing stands as needed to house all of the new and relocated kitchen equipment. Colin’s positive can-do attitude, ingenuity and honesty were a key attribute to the success of this project. Finally, we constructed and/or renovated 34 stands and 3 new bars in less than 6-months which included thousands of pieces of food service equipment with custom stainless cabinets and countertops and Boelter delivered as close to flawless as could be imagined. Brett’s drive and willingness to deliver a successful project are second to none and we applaud his level of care and passion to execute, thank you Brett.

Kevin O’Toole invited Nick Balistreri and his sister Margaret Harris up along with the Hunzinger team members from multiple Sendik’s projects Tim Van Dyn Hoven, Matt Horton, Brent Verhyen, Dan Von Rueden, Jim Callen, & Brad Caspari. Hunzinger’s relationship with Sendik’s began with a call from the Sendik’s development partner, Devo Properties, who wanted to talk about the challenges of building on the site of the old grain storage facility in West Milwaukee and a concern over what would be discovered below ground. We were able to develop a project approach and budget that fit into his particular concerns and developed the property which includes a new Sendik’s Grocery Store, a Goodwill store and an Applebee’s on the out lot. As a result of our process and project execution, Nick Balistreri engaged our teams on four additional projects involving renovations of existing properties all with extremely tight schedules. Each and every one of these new stores opened on time.

This new Sendik’s account has had many challenges like tight schedules, some unfamiliar subcontractors, and challenging sites. Our team of Project Managers and Superintendents have won over a client based on our process and what we do. A tremendous amount of effort was put out by all to get these jobs done on time and within budget. Client satisfaction will always be measured by the award of addition work from that client.

Hunzinger was proud to serve as the Construction Manager for Milwaukee Tool’s new 200,000 SF Corporate Office Building located in Brookfield. O’Toole recognized the ownership of Milwaukee Tool, singling out CFO Ty Staviski and Facility Manager Joe Fulip as fantastic to work noting that the Milwaukee Tool Owner’s team was a skilled and diverse group that brought an energy and level of cooperation that is not often experienced on a project that has such a significant day-to-day impact on existing operations & employees. Challenges were overcome with quick analysis and turnaround on necessary & desired design changes, coordination with end-users and juggling off-site employees. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with the Milwaukee Tool team.

Kevin presented awards to Jamie Lustig of Wellenstein & Sons our carpentry subcontractor on the project explaining that Jamie was a cut above. Wellenstein has always been a great and high performing subcontractor for us over the years, but Jamie put them into a higher strata on this one.

Beau Sanders of Graef USA worked extremely well with the entire team to ensure timely responses to multiple design and scope changes. Beau’s prompt, reasoned and realistic solutions to structural design challenges were instrumental in maintaining the fast-track project schedule

Assistant Project Manager Anton Rice was a rookie ‘new hire’ who we welcomed to the project approximately 2 months after start of work. Anton immersed himself in the plans and specifications and he quickly became an integral part of the construction team. Anton was Wayne’s right-hand-man and they worked extremely well together. Anton played a significant role in our team being able to meet all targeted occupancy dates for 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st floors and he has a bright future in our industry.

Superintendent Wayne Kuske had a ‘can do’ attitude from the day that he was selected to be part of the presentation team as we pursued this signature project. Wayne maintained that attitude throughout our 18-month project to ensure that all of the moving pieces came together as envisioned by the Owner & the architect. Wayne is most deserving of this award and we congratulate him on his dedication to the success of this project.

Next, Kevin O’Toole presented Q3 awards to Senior Project Manager Matt Horton, Superintendent Dan Von Rueden, Hunzinger Foreman Andy Wessel along with Ryan Rogalla of Ace Iron & Steel for the Summerfest – Miller Lite Stage Area Redevelopment & Gateway Plaza Projects. Kevin acknowledged knowing a whole lot about these projects as he served as Project Executive for both, noting that these two projects faced numerous challenges including very short schedules, design modifications and waiting on City approvals for the Lakefront Gateway project. The projects were further complicated by having to have multiple separate contracts and budgets that needed tracking because of different funding sources. By all accounts he projects were huge successes, getting done on time, far surpassing all the inclusion goals, high quality of craftsmanship and bringing the projects in under budget and returning money back to the owner.

Ryan Rogalla of Ace Iron & Steel really came through on this project. There were many structural changes associated with this project and Ryan had edited shop drawings back to Hunzinger in absolute record time. He was extremely responsive towards emails, phone calls and was always at the job meetings. The shop drawings were always accurate and very easy to comprehend, which is hard to find these days. His scheduling and delivery was always spot-on as structural components were a driving force for this project.

The final awards of the night were reserved for members of the Uline – I6 Distribution Center construction team. The Uline I6 Distribution Center Project stands as a testimony to determination and persistence. This project consisted of major site development to support up to four similar structures as the distribution center and the actual building that was completed was an 800,000 sf distribution center with an attached 80,000 sf two story office and logistics center. Upon completion, the Owner has complimented the team on a facility that is the most cost effective one that they have undertaken and was completed in the shortest amount of time. Congratulations to the Hunzinger team: Tim Van Dyn Hoven, David Tengler, Dave Hunt, Mike Grieb, Tim Verheyen, Will Wright, Casey Trucksa, Alex Raver, Ken Skowronski, Michael Jahns, and Donnie Bogle-Boesiger.

Ryan Inc. was our earthwork contractor that took on the mass grading operation at ULINE turning an existing farm field into the new ULINE site complete with two new ponds, an 800,000 sf building pad, parking lots, roads, and more berms than a golf course. With a tight schedule and starting in a wet spring, they knew that every day was critical. Ryan came to the table proposing to work five 12 hour days during the week and an 8 hour day on Saturday, all on straight time. Overall, they moved over 1 million cubic yards of soils and had us putting in footings within 2 months. Congratulations to Eric Worple, Jay Ellis, Mark Walton, & Mike Vieux of Ryan Inc.

Townsend Construction was our site utility contractor and Dan Townsend & Eric Shinkus received Q3 awards because they were able to keep to the tight schedule and installed roughly 6.8 miles of underground utilities. Their commitment to quality and safe construction practices were evident and they even impressed our Safety Director Kevin Sandkuhler. They also had to work hand in hand with Ryan at the same time that the mass grading operation was underway. The teamwork that these two companies demonstrated made it seemed like they were working for the same company and made our lives much easier.

Uline is one of the larger projects Hunzinger Construction has completed in our history. Uline I 6 quality and cleanliness requirements were like none seen before. The sheer size and complexity of the project made this job a logistics challenge. Imagine scheduling the roofer while steel is being set…. Just in different quadrants of the building. Site condition, numerous subcontractors, numerous owner subcontractors all kept the team on their toes. Uline I 6 has some of the best quality concrete floors that I have seen. The level of quality was not by chance and through the efforts of our field and office staff, Uline and HCCo can be proud!