Case Studies

It’s said that locks are only for honest people, but that might be more for the basic door. For the specialty wares furnished and installed by J.S. Archer Co. Inc. in Ashland, Virginia, keep more than burglars out. There are also the fires, explosions, floods, storms, vehicular crashes or whatever else that must be withstood. […]

The intent is to make the Thunder Valley Casino Resort as green as possible, and there are particular challenges for that in California’s Sacramento Valley, where, among other factors, an annual 70-plus days of temperatures in the 90s—including around a dozen in triple digits—necessitate round-the-clock air conditioning. That scorching period also happens to coincide with […]

History and architecture have always been inextricably linked. From ancient ruins to the most gravity-defying postmodern structures, our buildings tell stories, and like any world-changing book or glass-encased document, it’s our duty to preserve them. If the structure happens to be in or near St. Louis, Missouri, there’s a decent chance James G. Staat Tuckpointing […]

Patience is both a virtue and a sound business practice, especially in the residential HVAC and plumbing construction industry. Building solid customer relationships takes time and requires providing honest, prompt and professional service, time and time again. It doesn’t matter how small the job, every customer and every home matters. It is a tenet that […]

“Never start a home that you can’t afford to finish,” John Grubb told his brother Jerry in 1957, when the latter returned from the Korean War and decided to found Jerry’s Homes, a one-man development and homebuilding company. John was likely talking financials when he extended the advice, but Jerry didn’t solely see the company […]

Named after one of New Jersey’s foremost engineers, Rowan University in the southwest community of Glassboro might have felt it was under extra pressure a few years ago when paperwork issues threatened to delay construction of its new department of engineering. Seems another builder was challenging the winning bid from JHDS Structural Steel Fabricators, a […]

To most, the saying “giving 110 percent” is considered a positive one. For the folks at Texas Children’s Hospital, however, the idiom had taken on a slightly different meaning in the fall of 2013: The facility was consistently over capacity, and the impacts—on patients and physicians alike—were starting to take a toll. That November, leaders […]

A night at the movies calls for more amenities than in years past, and the same may hold true for breakfast the next morning at a restaurant. Today’s consumer can be more demanding, and for any company to be thriving tomorrow, it had better have its eyes on the future. Which is where Jim Cornwell […]

So how does one get into the profession of managing the physical facilities of a multinational? Nowadays, a university student so inclined might find specific courses on the subject. Then there are the old-school types like Jim Zuiderhoek, since November 2009 the director of global real estate and facilities services for Risk Management Solutions in […]

Originally built in 1912 and sited just blocks from the leafy hallows of Harvard Yard, the four-story Winthrop House stands as a jewel of the school’s turn-of-the-century expansion. In the building’s endless brick and the white-trimmed windows, Harvard’s federal-style aesthetic echoes like an architectural clarion call. So when Joe Umosella learned his company had won […]