Contractors in Corridor expecting busy year

Corridor building projects are expected to keep contractors and building trades workers busy in the upcoming construction season.

“Things aren't great, but they're certainly better than what we've see for the last couple of years,” said Mark Gullickson, president of Ryan Companies US Inc., general contractor for the new federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids. “We have some projects starting in Des Moines involving some of our larger clients who have money, understand the markets and are more typically involved with capital projects.

“We have companies that do a project every 10 years and we have customers like Pioneer Hi-Bred that do 10 projects a year. We're seeing companies that have cash jumping back on the bandwagon because  can make an investment and they know that you have to keep moving.”

Federal and state funding in the wake of the floods of 2008 generated new construction projects like the Cedar Rapids Public Library, the Cedar Rapids Central Fire Station, renovation of the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, the Linn County Juvenile Justice Center, the Linn County Community Services/Options of Linn County building, the Cedar Rapids School District's Educational Leadership & Support Center and the United States Courthouse.

Crews also will be working on privately-funded construction projects such as the Destination Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center and the Physicians Clinic of Iowa Medical Mall.

At the southern end of the Corridor, construction crews are working on the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, the Carver-Hawkeye Arena expansion and renovation, and the University of Iowa College of Public Health building.

The Cedar Rapids Convention & Events Center also will create construction work along with remodeling of the Paramount Theatre, the former U.S. courthouse, the Veterans Memorial Building and conversion of the former public library into new offices for TrueNorth Companies.

Scott Smith, president of the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Building Trades Council, said the construction season should provide plenty of work for building trades workers.

“Depending on how many more projects roll out this spring and summer, it looks like a couple of pretty good years coming up,” Smith said.

Knutson Construction of Minneapolis, with a branch office in Iowa City, is the general contractor for Cedar Rapids School District's Educational Leadership & Support Center and the Carver-Hawkeye Arena expansion project.

Scott Sylvester, director of business development at Knutson, said the company is experiencing more requests for quotes on potential construction projects.

“There's a lot more quotes out there in the public sector and we hope it continues.” Sylvester said. “There's a lot more life to them than in previous years.

“Last year, there was a lot of noise in the winter and then everyone in the private sector closed their checkbooks. We're starting to get inquiries from people who are thinking about doing projects when the economy improves.”

Some companies that have delayed expansions are starting to test the waters, according to Richard Pankey, general manager of business development at Point Builders in Cedar Rapids.

“They're not being aggressive and it's nothing dramatic, but they've delayed their expansion plans through 2010 and 2011,” Pankey said. “I think companies have the money, but they're making sure they have the sales to justify an expansion.”

Tom Amosson, president and CEO of Rinderknecht Associates in Cedar Rapids, said flood recovery projects will be the main driver for Corridor construction for at least another year.

“We're busy with the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library project as well as Mercy's Destination Cancer Center,” Amosson said. “When the economy starts going up and companies get comfortable enough to expand their plants to meet demand, then we will start seeing some new commercial projects.”

Miron Construction of Wisconsin, with an office in Cedar Rapids, is the general contractor for the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, the Linn County Juvenile Justice Center and the Linn County Community Services/Options of Linn County building.

Jason Imhof, vice president of Miron and principal in charge of the contractor's Iowa operations, said the recession has contributed to a highly competitive bidding climate among contractors.

“It's as competitive now as I've ever seen it in the past 15 years,” Imhof said. “It's a great opportunity for a building owner because they can get a lot more for their dollar. There are local and regional contractors that were not able to pick up a project each month in 2009 and 2010 that have a lot of capacity to fill.”

Rinderknecht's Amosson said the tight competitive bidding is squeezing some subcontractors.

“You can be the low bidder on a job with a paper thin margin and find that one of your subcontractors has gone out of business because they're broke,” Amosson said. “We also have out-of-state contractors that have been awarded construction contracts and then they go back to the local subcontractors and tell them to cut their bid by 5 percent.

“When subcontractors are already going broke with what they've bid, how do they cut anymore and hope to stay in business?”