by John Crowley | Jul 16, 2026 | Uncategorized
Inside SMACNA’s First Washington, D.C. Leadership Conference When Stan Kolbe, SMACNA’s Executive Director of Government and Political Affairs, stepped to the podium on the morning of May 7 to welcome a room full of contractors, chapter executives and labor allies to Washington, D.C., he opened with optimism. Mike Coleman, General President of SMART (left); Todd Hill, SMACNA President (center); Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) (right).“The political environment is still challenging,” Kolbe told the group, “but there are also reasons to be optimistic.”That measured confidence set the tone for the first-ever SMACNA Washington, D.C. Leadership Conference, a two-day immersion into the legislative realities shaping the sheet metal and HVAC contracting industry. Held May 7–8, the conference brought together SMACNA members, sitting members of Congress, agency officials, labor partners and policy experts for a look at the issues that keep contractors up at night: tariffs, pension security, workforce development, tax incentives, global trade and geopolitical conflicts.Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) (top left); Brendan Larkin, Chief Policy Staff for Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), sponsor of indoor air quality in a SMACNA-endorsed bill; Stan Kolbe, SMACNA’s Executive Director of Government and Political Affairs (top right); CA-based SMACNA members Gina Medel and Carmen Koo with Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) (bottom center); SMACNA members at the opening reception before the Washington Nationals Game vs. Minnesota Twins at Nats Park (bottom right).The conference also welcomed SMART General President Michael Coleman, whose presence underscored the depth of the labor-management partnership that is central to SMACNA’s advocacy strategy. LOBBYING 101: THE ART OF THE MEETINGBefore attendees set foot in congressional offices, SMACNA’s own team made sure they were ready. Seth Lennon, Director of Content Development and Media Relations Policy, and Denise Murphy McGraw, Special Assistant for Political and Government Affairs, kicked off the Thursday morning program with a session designed to demystify the lobbying process and arm members with the confidence to walk into a congressional office and be heard.“Nobody can tell the story of what our contractors do better than our contractors,” Murphy McGraw says, explaining why face-to-face advocacy is important. “That one-on-one experience with legislators and their staff — nothing compares to it.”Both Lennon and Murphy McGraw are veterans of Capitol Hill, and they were quick to share lessons from their time as congressional staffers. The most important: don’t underestimate a meeting with staff.“Never undersell the meeting with the staff person,” Murphy McGraw says. “You’ll get more of their time. You’re probably going to get somebody who’s really focused on these issues. And, if you do your job right, you get an advocate in the office who will then be able to go tell your story as well as you have.”They stressed that members’ stories can make big impacts. “You don’t need to be an expert on congressional rulemaking. Murphy McGraw explains. “Be an expert on yourself and on your business and convey what indoor air quality reform legislation would mean to your business and what it would mean to schools in your community.”Equally important, Lennon adds, is the power of being a voter. “Not only are you an advocate for our issues, but you’re also a constituent,” he says. PROCUREMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE & IAQThe conference’s first substantive policy session brought Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-8) and Brendan Larkin, Deputy Chief of Staff for Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY-20), to the table for a discussion on procurement reform, infrastructure investment and indoor air quality legislation.Beyer serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Joint Economic Committee. Tonko, through Larkin, has been a consistent ally and policy champion for school construction, energy efficiency grants for schools and environmental legislation, including introducing IAQ tax incentives for commercial buildings and related measures tied to IAQ standards in public buildings.A WORLD ECONOMY UNDER PRESSUREJohn G. Murphy, Senior Vice President and Head of International at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, delivered the mid-morning briefing. He is one of the authorities on international trade and tariff policy.The session, titled “Hot Wars and Trade Wars: How Conflict, Tariffs and Geopolitical Competition are Transforming the World Economy,” traced the cascading effects of U.S. tariff policy alongside the disruptions from the Iran War.On tariffs, Murphy laid out a complex, multi-wave landscape. The first wave, enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), had generated $166 billion in payments across 53 million import entries before being invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20, with refunds beginning April 20. A second wave — a 10% across-the-board tariff invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — was set to run 150 days starting Feb. 24, limited in scope to about one-third of U.S. imports. A third wave was being pursued under Section 301, targeting unfair trade practices, with the administration seeking what Murphy describes as “continuity” and “durability” in any resulting orders. And Section 232 tariffs — the ones SMACNA members know intimately — remained in force on steel and aluminum, with additional tariffs on autos already enacted and rumors swirling about possible new duties on power grid components and chemicals, with semiconductors and pharmaceuticals pending.The Federal Reserve affirmed that tariffs boosted core goods PCE by 3.1% in 2025. Consumer sentiment dropped sharply in April. U.S. manufacturing was under pressure on all fronts: profits down, jobs down and input prices up. The Tax Foundation concluded that the tariff regime was actively undermining the economic growth that the administration’s tax legislation was designed to produce.Then there was the Iran War — a conflict that began Feb. 28 with escalations sending commodity prices into sharp relief. Jet fuel was up 70%. Heating oil and Brent crude had risen more than 50%. Diesel was up 45%. Even iron ore had climbed 8%. The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was rippling far beyond the conflict zone. Todd Hill, Don Bacon, Stan Kolbe and Todd Byxbe (SMACPAC committee member and Vice President of Miller Engineering Co.) (left); contractors absorbing information at the SMACNA Washington, D.C. Leadership Conference (center); Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), one of the new voices for indoor air quality in Congress (right).Murphy also addressed the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which requires a joint decision by July 1 on whether to extend the agreement through 2042 or allow it to wind down by 2036. More than 13 million American jobs depend on trade with Canada and Mexico, Murphy notes, and manufacturers export more to those two countries than to their next 12 largest export markets combined. The Chamber’s objectives for the review: hold fast to tariff-free North American trade, secure compliance from all three parties and keep it a trilateral agreement.PENSIONS UPDATEThursday’s fireside chat covered how close America’s union pension system came to collapse, and what it took to pull it back.The panel was moderated by Jared Karbowsky, SMACNA’s Director of Legislative Affairs, and featured two knowledgeable voices in the multiemployer pension space: Mariah Becker, Director of Research and Education at the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), and Kendra Kosko Isaacson, now a Principal at Mindset and formerly the Senate’s top Pension and Tax Policy Expert for Senator Patty Murray and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.The conversation traced the years of dysfunction that preceded the American Rescue Plan Act’s pension rescue provisions — a story of enormous funds like Central States and the United Mine Workers’ plan teetering toward insolvency while Congress cycled through proposals that never quite came together.Becker put the stakes into human terms, saying, “People came to the Hill and made sure lawmakers understood these weren’t just statistics — these were real lives.”The panel walked through a legislative graveyard of failed fixes. The negotiations stretched on for years: “We were talking loans, partitions and 12,000 different ways of trying to fix this problem, and none of it was coming together,” Becker says.The turning point came after the 2020 elections delivered Senate control to Democrats, enabling a pivot to budget reconciliation and the inclusion of pension rescue in ARPA. The final provisions were negotiated in roughly six weeks. Critics of the rescue approach have argued that simply injecting federal dollars into fundamentally broken systems doesn’t address underlying problems — declining union membership, flawed funding rules and structurally unsustainable promises. Becker acknowledges those concerns directly, noting that while major structural reforms didn’t make it into the final bill, the rescue funds came with significant guardrails. “It doesn’t mean they are certain to be OK, but a lot of those plans have a good chance. They’re in much better shape than they were before.”ADVOCACY IN ACTIONFriday morning’s legislative labor overview, featuring SMACNA President Todd Hill and SMART’s Coleman, served as a status report and rallying call. Together, they reviewed the key issues. Kolbe’s remarks laid out the scope of SMACNA’s advocacy agenda, covering wins, ongoing fights and the infrastructure of the political operation itself.On the defensive side, Kolbe cited a notable series of victories: blocking efforts to remove municipal bond tax preferences, preserving state and local tax deductions for businesses, preventing new taxes on employee fringe benefits, and protecting key equipment expensing provisions and CHIPS plant credits. “We play aggressive defense,” Kolbe says. “That means keeping important laws and programs in place, not just passing new ones.”On offense, SMACNA has championed the Small Business Payment for Performance Act (H.R. 4615), which would address the persistent problem of delayed payments on contract change orders — a chronic pressure point for sheet metal contractors on complex projects. Bipartisan tax bills H.R. 8744 and H.R. 5862 are also on the active docket, both seeking to restore energy efficiency tax incentives, including the 179D deduction, that were left on the cutting room floor in last summer’s tax package.SMACNA’s work with the Treasury Department and Congress to secure economic price adjustment provisions for contracts bid before the current round of tariffs was announced was another front in the fight. On workforce, the association has continued to press Congress on apprenticeship funding, Davis-Bacon protections and project labor agreements, while collaborating with SMART on what Kolbe described as “debt-free workforce pipelines” — pathways into the trade that don’t saddle young workers with student loan burdens.Attendees received briefings from representatives of both parties’ congressional operations (left), Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) (right).SMACPAC, the association’s political action committee, had a record-breaking 2026 fundraising year, with 2026 projections even stronger if participation broadens. The recently launched SMAC Administrative Fund (SMAC AF) program, which supports political education and engagement activities, got off to a strong early start and is drawing increasing participation from associate and premier partners.THE HILL & THE PARTIESThe conference’s programming extended beyond expert panels to direct access to the political machinery shaping SMACNA’s operating environment. Attendees received briefings from representatives of both parties’ congressional operations, including political insights from the RNCC and an appearance by Roger Lau, Executive Director of the DNC. Industry champion and close friend of SMACNA, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE-2) addressed attendees on the state of defense and DOD procurement on Capitol Hill, and Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA-11), one of the new voices for indoor air quality (IAQ) in Congress, who serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, also spoke.A FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE ENGAGEMENTBy the time attendees made their way up to Capitol Hill for meetings with their own representatives and senators, they carried with them a clear-eyed understanding of the forces reshaping their industry, as well as a political environment demanding constant presence. They also had a practical framework for making their voices count.
by John Crowley | Jul 16, 2026 | Uncategorized
How Contractors Are Rethinking Fabrication At a time when fabrication shops are being asked to do more with less, the 2026 SMACNA Fab Forum offered a clear snapshot of where the industry is heading. Jeff Elwell, Chief Technology Officer at E.M. Duggan, speaks on how to optimize shop processes and technology (left); Travis Voss, SMACNA’s Director of Innovative Technology and Fabrication, welcomes the SMACNA Fab Forum attendees (right).Held in Chicago, Illinois, and anchored by a tour of The Hill Group’s expansive campus, the sold-out event brought together contractors, technologists and industry leaders for two and a half days of practical learning focused on the systems behind stronger shops. From workflow and VDC to analytics, machine learning and materials management, the sessions reflected an industry looking hard at efficiency, visibility and the tools that make modern fabrication work.THE HILL GROUP TOURThe Hill Group, a third-generation, family-owned firm, has been in the construction industry for more than 80 years. With a full-service mechanical, plumbing and fire protection firm, they have completed over 100,000 construction projects. Tom Santos speaks about how to optimize the VDC process (top); SMACNA Fab Forum attendees networking and interacting during a tour of The Hill Group’s 104,000-square-foot prefabrication shop and 80,000-square-foot modular construction space (bottom left and right).Hill comprises five companies, each with its own office location across three states, and is headquartered in Franklin Park, Illinois. The company employs 1,200 people and has worked three million hours, fabricating 4 million pounds of ductwork.The tour of its 104,000-square-foot prefabrication shop and the 80,000-square-foot modular construction space emphasized on-site collaboration and problem-solving to improve project efficiency and safety. The company showcased its commitment to technology, innovation and industry best practices. As Harry Humyak, Hill’s Supply Chain Director, explains, “90% of what we do is just-in-time delivery, so we’re trying to coordinate deliveries with what is happening in the shop to what we’re delivering in the field because there is not a lot of room on jobsites in Chicagoland.”Adding a preconstruction team five years ago helped, according to Bob Hill, the company’s Preconstruction Manager. “This group houses the data and metrics where all the estimating for bigger jobs resides,” he says. After all, “the success or failure of a job comes down to how everyone communicates. How does BIM communicate with the shop? How does the field communicate with the shop?” explains Anthony Camasta, Hill Group’s Operations Manager. “And we use technology as a tool to get us there.” Metrics not only help improve estimating efficiency, but they also improve scheduling, Camasta adds. “If we know what we have in terms of work and how much time it takes us to do it, we now know what the throughput is going to be for the shop, and we can schedule more efficiently,” he says.HOW TO IMPROVE FUTURE OUTCOMES WITH VDC AND PREFABThomas Santos, Director of Maxim Consulting Group, Englewood, Colorado, led a presentation that showcased the pressures SMACNA contractors are facing, why virtual design and construction (VDC) and prefab are becoming operational necessities and how firms can move from ad hoc efforts to more standardized, scalable models. The current market is defined by labor shortages, coordination problems, compressed schedules, cost overruns, quality issues, technology adoption and supply chain disruptions.SMACNA members listen to opening remarks from The Hill Group at the association’s Fab Forum, including Operations Manager Anthony Camasta (top right).This means “ the old way of relying on field heroics and loose coordination is getting more expensive and less reliable,” Santos explains, adding that VDC optimization matters now because “operational excellence is essential for survival and growth.“The future belongs to companies that use process, training and feedback to turn complexity into repeatable execution,” he says.SMACNA contractors should start by building a process-driven system that exposes problems early, Santos recommends. He also emphasizes using a “human system” where people are trained and empowered to identify and solve issues, while keeping customer value at the center. The expected payoff is broad: better communication, less rework, more predictable delivery, lower costs and stronger profitability.Getting there means focusing on customer value, standardization, DFMI, clear roles and responsibilities, KPIs and feedback loops as the levers that make VDC and prefab work at scale. He points out that standard work can apply across the entire construction process — from mobilization and underground work to overhead rough-in and final trim.Santos says leaders need to create and communicate this vision, provide tools and resources and stay engaged enough to support teams and remove barriers. He also notes that “productivity is a measure of management effectiveness,” which shifts the conversation from blaming the field to improving the system. That is important for SMACNA contractors who are trying to build consistency across design, shop and field teams.Change is difficult, Santos admits. “Many organizations fail after year one because of frustration, impatience, mistrust and weak accountability, so change has to be paced with quick wins and coaching,” he explains.SMACNA Fab Forum attendees asking questions of speakers (top left); Darren Young, Director of Construction Technology at UMC (top right); Micah Rodman, CEO and Co-founder of Kojo (bottom left); and SMACNA Fab Forum attendees networking (bottom right).Winning means tying your efforts back to measurable results: higher on-time delivery, better safety and quality, better first-pass yield and a more scalable operation.STREAMLINE MATERIAL RECEIVING TO IMPROVE INVENTORY CONTROLMaterial receiving is not a clerical chore, but a control point that can shape inventory accuracy, job costs and day-to-day efficiency, explained Micah Rodman, CEO and Co-founder of Kojo, a technology company that provides a construction procurement platform aimed at digitizing and streamlining materials management for contractors.He argues that the biggest problems often start when deliveries are handled manually with paper tickets, verbal confirmations and delayed data entry that leave the office, warehouse and field working from different versions of the truth.SMACNA members on The Hill Group tour (left), Hill Group employees going over sheet metal purchasing performance on the tour (top right).Jim Hill, President of The Hill Group (bottom right)Rodman says one of the first fixes is to stop relying on disconnected receiving habits and instead create a process that records deliveries in real time. He points to simple but essential steps, such as snapping a photo at the jobsite, matching the delivery to the correct purchase order immediately and alerting the office as soon as materials arrive. In his view, that kind of workflow helps catch short shipments, backorders and damages before they turn into costly disputes.Receiving data must flow back into purchasing and accounting without delay, he adds. “When it doesn’t,” he explains, “buyers can’t close out purchase orders accurately, accounting risks paying for items that never arrived and warehouse teams may reorder materials that are already sitting on hand.” He also warns that projects suffer when missing materials are not flagged early enough to prevent schedule delays.SMACNA contractors should treat the warehouse as part of the material management system, not a separate island, Rodman emphasizes. Clear bin and shelf locations, inventory minimum alerts and consistent inventory tracking can reduce wasted time and help crews use what they already own instead of buying more. Returns should be easy to process, since unused materials sent back into inventory can improve both waste reduction and job costing accuracy, he says. Better process design can replace guesswork with visibility. Rodman encourages teams to build standard operating procedures, forecast demand using historical patterns and collaborate more closely with the field so materials spend less time in limbo. For him, the goal is not technology for its own sake, but a cleaner, faster receiving system that gives contractors a clearer picture of what they have, what they need and what each job is really costing.TIPS TO AVOID SHOP EQUIPMENT ISSUESWhen shops buy new equipment, the real problems usually appear after the purchase, when machines must connect, communicate and integrate with existing systems. Darren Young, Director of Construction Technology at UMC, told SMACNA Fab Forum attendees that key questions often go unasked until “the pain shows up after commissioning.” Equipment buying is a technology decision as much as a production one. “Everyone asks about cost, capabilities and throughput,” he says, but far fewer people ask “How does it connect? How does it communicate? How does it integrate How does it work?”There are common ways machines receive files — manual programming, USB, serial, Ethernet or Wi-Fi — and shops need to understand how that choice affects IT requirements, downtime and support, Young advises, adding that domain joining, antivirus policies, isolated networks and static IP addresses can all shape whether a machine is practical in a real shop environment.He then turned to CAD/CAM integration, explaining that many machines rely on G-code, but not all do. Young warns that specialty equipment may use proprietary or undocumented formats, and says post processors become essential when CAM software must translate design files into machine instructions. His advice: Ask for a programming guide, request sample files and be cautious when a vendor offers only vague guidance such as “use DXF files.”Look closely at machine features beyond the sales demo, Young advises. Test automation claims against real production behavior, including whether the system can run hands-off, load and unload materials automatically or require manual intervention that slows work and increases error risk. “Ask to see a full production run, not just a demo,” he says, especially if the machine is being shown with someone else’s data.Finally, Young urges shops to evaluate controllers, software lifespan, compliance issues and vendors. Buyers should ask whether parts, repairs, licensing and updates will still be available down the road and whether the equipment can integrate with broader production systems such as Stratus or M-Suite. As Young says, “Know what you’re buying and know who you’re buying it from.”
by John Crowley | Jul 14, 2026 | Uncategorized
RESIDENTIAL: The 12-month Build Design Aire, Inc. has been in the St. Louis, Missouri residential market since 1904. President Jacob Goldkamp represents the fourth generation of ownership, and his son, Otis, is currently employed at Design Aire as summer help through SMART Local 36. Design Aire started out serving single family homes but has adapted to changing market conditions over time. “We’ve always done some apartments and senior living,” says Goldkamp. “We still do single family homes, like we always have, but it takes a whole lot more land and space and time to get one family in, whereas with multifamily, you can get 250 families or people living in one spot.”Some years are busier than others, but even in a slow year, Design Aire provides the sheet metal work for at least 1,000 units in multifamily construction. Some of these are senior living and various government apartment projects, but in the last 10 years they’ve averaged about 1,500 new market rate apartment units per year. Typically, these projects are four to six stories high with 160 to 300 units per building.This summer, Design Aire is finishing a 259-unit, six-story apartment complex that exemplifies the multifamily projects they routinely take on. Anyone can live in these market-rate apartments, but because the location is about 1.5 miles from Washington University in St. Louis, the owner expects to attract students. “The owner builds these nationally, and they target universities,” Goldkamp says. “Due to the timeline, it is a very difficult project. They’re trying to turn that one over the summer, so they can get them leased out for school this fall.” Goldkamp has a longstanding relationship with the general contractor and bid the job in the summer of 2024. “We started it around eight months later, about the spring of 2025, and it’ll be complete this summer,” Goldkamp says. “This was a super condensed timeline to get 259 units built and installed in basically 12 months.” Because the owner specializes in these complexes, they provided the blueprints. Each unit has its own HVAC system in a separate mechanical room with a water heater on the floor. “Everybody will have total control over their own living space,” Goldkamp says. “We’ll hang an electric air handler above the water heater.” The apartment air handlers are 1½ to 3 tons each. “It’ll just do that apartment.” Design Aire will run insulated rigid duct work from the air handlers into the space above the ceiling, then branch off with flexible duct to the outlets. This job took 1,000 hours in the shop, plus 8,500 hours in the field. The apartments include a kitchen, a living area, a bathroom, a washer and dryer, and one or three bedrooms, so every apartment has kitchen exhaust, bathroom exhaust, dryer exhaust and HVAC exhaust. Outside air ducts bring continuous fresh air to each unit.Besides the challenges of installing 259 complete HVAC systems in a single building, Design Aire is responsible for features that single family homes usually don’t include, such as large trash chutes. The lowest floor of the complex is dedicated to retail spaces, which require zero-clearance grease duct stacks. “They’re going to have a restaurant and a bank, and there are retail spaces that other businesses will come and occupy,” Goldkamp says. “The finished retail HVAC systems were 5 tons each, but some retail spaces are white-box only, waiting for the future tenantsto finish.”The complex also has an entire floor dedicated to amenities. “On the sixth floor, there’s a workout room, a gathering room with a fancy fireplace and a live workspace with cubbies where students can do their studying,” Goldkamp says. “Those are all controlled by rooftop units that sit on top of the sixth floor.” The rooftop units range in size from 3 tons to a 22-ton unit with giant duct work in the space next to the pool. “The walls there are all glass, and then that walks out to a rooftop pool.” Between the 259 individual HVAC units for the apartments, the retail space and the common areas, Design Aire is installing 4,300 linear feet of galvanized steel ductwork for this project. They source various fittings and parts from supply houses but fabricate the rectangular duct in their shop. This project is bringing 8,500 work hours in the field, plus another 1,000 hours in the shop. Six professionals from Local 36 are handling the sheet metal aspects of the work, but finding enough skilled craftspersons to handle this work, plus Design Aire’s other projects, has been a challenge. “Our local understands,” Goldkamp says. “We’ve met with them, so they’re well aware.” Price increases have been another unexpected complication. “Early on it was steel prices,” Goldkamp says. “Lately, we’re getting hammered with price increases, mainly based on the price of gas.” Copper prices also impact Design Aire’s costs because of the need for copper refrigerant lines. The compressed schedule and changing prices are challenging for the general contractor and for everyone involved, but Goldkamp is used to the ups and downs of the multifamily construction market. “We’re able to get it done,” he says.
by John Crowley | Jul 14, 2026 | Uncategorized
INDUSTRIAL: Lee Mechanical’s 250,000-Pound Sheet Metal Answer to the Data Center Boom The data center market doesn’t wait. Facilities feeding the infrastructure behind America’s explosive demand for computing power operate on relentless timelines, and when one of Lee Mechanical’s long-standing clients needed a major mechanical expansion at its southeastern Wisconsin facility, the Franklin-based contractor was ready“This has been a client of ours for quite a while,” says Ken Ahler, President of Lee Mechanical. That established trust mattered on a project of this scale and sensitivity. This was a 200,000-square-foot mechanical infrastructure expansion within an existing one-million-square-foot facility that was completed over roughly 10 months in 2024 for a company that sits upstream in the data center supply chain, providing products and systems that feed directly into the data centers being built across the country. [Per the client’s requirements, the facility and its operator remain unnamed.] The ScopeLee Mechanical was brought in as the design/build contractor working directly for the client, handling mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, controls, startup and commissioning, as well as general conditions management across the expansion. At the center of the project was a new chiller plant built to support 16 custom air handling units that modulate temperatures for 80 server test racks — systems where precise environmental control is a requirement.The chiller installation alone illustrated the scale of what the team was up against. Getting 52,000-pound chillers into position inside an existing facility isn’t a standard logistics problem. Lee’s team engineered a custom-fabricated equipment dolly specifically designed for the task. This mechanical infrastructure expansion project involved 52,000-pound chillers. Lee Mechanical custom-fabricated an equipment dolly to use to get each of them into place.By the time the job was complete, Lee’s team had installed approximately 250,000 pounds of sheet metal and logged 48,000 total work hours over the course of the project. More than 35 skilled tradespeople were on the job at peak, including sheet metal workers, steamfitters, plumbers, HVAC control technicians, sprinkler fitters and service technicians.“That’s a large project,” Ahler says when asked how 250,000 pounds of sheet metal compares to a typical industrial job in the region. Air Over LiquidWhat made this particular project distinctive within the data center world was its heavy reliance on air-cooled systems and, correspondingly, the sheer volume of sheet metal involved.Ahler is candid that the technology landscape is already shifting beneath the industry’s feet. “The data center market is shifting more to liquid-cooled technology,” he says. “At the time this project was done, air-cooled technology was still the predominant approach, but now we’re seeing a shift toward more piping-heavy projects.”For sheet metal contractors, that evolution is worth watching. Projects like this one where the cooling architecture drives a massive ductwork and air handling scope are becoming less common as liquid cooling gains ground. That makes this particular build something of a high-water mark for air-cooled data center infrastructure work.Working in Someone Else’s HouseThe technical scope was matched by a logistical one. The expansion took place inside a fully occupied, actively operating production facility, which meant every phase of the work had to be choreographed around the client’s own employees, schedules and daily operations.“Navigating major construction like this in anoccupied building poses challenges,” Ahler says. “Whether that’s coordinating shutdowns or managing employee traffic within the building, it required constant communication.”Lee’s project manager and on-site foreman held weekly planning meetings with the client; projecting two to three weeks ahead to identify which areas of the building required access; arrange for staff to be temporarily relocated; and ensure that egress throughout the facility to restrooms, cafeterias and work areas was never compromised.But the coordination went beyond schedules. It required a shift in jobsite culture. “We had to communicate to our team to keep in mind that we’re working in someone else’s house right now,” Ahler says. “We wanted to make sure they knew we weren’t just passing through. This meant reminding everyone to clean up after themselves and be professional. We’re guests.” A Market Reshaping Southeast WisconsinFor Lee Mechanical, the data center supply chain sector is a market that has meaningfully changed the company’s trajectory. Ahler says the segment has driven roughly 30% revenue growth over the past two years.“This particular market has definitely impacted us,” he says. “Something we’ve seen in the past two years — jumps in revenue and in size — impacted by this industry.”It’s a trend that shows no signs of slowing in Wisconsin. Microsoft began building data center infrastructure in the state three years ago, with projections that construction activity will continue through at least 2033. Multiple additional data center sites are currently under development across the region, and contractors with the workforce, relationships and technical depth to serve that market are well-positioned — provided they can adapt as the technology evolves.
by John Crowley | Jul 14, 2026 | Uncategorized
HVAC: Mapping the Work In many fabrication shops, the hardest part of improvement is seeing the work clearly. Jonathan Marsh’s case for AI started there. “If a process is vague, undocumented or trapped in someone’s head, the shop pays for it in rework, waiting and friction,” says the CEO of Steel Toe Consulting and a technology strategist who specializes in helping construction companies integrate and implement modern technology and workflows to enhance their operations. At SMACNA’s Fab Forum that took place in April in Chicago, he framed process mapping as a practical way to recover time and reduce wasted capacity, arguing that clear, standardized systems can improve throughput and profitability.AI can help smooth this process, he says. Instead of waiting for a perfect document or a dedicated process writer, teams can capture work as it happens and let AI help shape raw material into something usable. “That means,” he explains, “a supervisor, operator or frontline worker can contribute with little training, turning screenshots, phone videos, notes and existing documents into first drafts much faster than traditional documentation methods.”Start With Real WorkMarsh’s chronological approach begins with observation. Before AI can organize anything, the shop must show it what actually happens on the floor. He suggests a simple capture flow that starts with collecting the work in motion, whether through screen recordings, click trails, videos or notes, and treating those as the raw ingredients for later cleanup.The next step is normalization. AI can help turn a rough transcript or a pile of observations into a consistent structure by adding step formatting, naming conventions, role labels and safety notes. In other words, the tool is imposing order on the shop, so that a messy process becomes readable and repeatableMarsh identifies screen-based systems as especially useful for digital workflows, since they can automatically generate step-by-step standard operating procedures (SOPs) from software activity. For teams that need training and version control, he points to platforms that combine process documentation with onboarding and approval workflows.General-purpose large language models can be flexible options for fast drafting and formatting. “That flexibility matters when a team already has its own templates or wants to build a process from transcripts, notes or scratch,” he explains. “It’s not that one tool fits every shop, but that a tool matches the kind of work being documented.”Build the TeamMarsh argues that good process work depends on the right people, not just the right software.AI implementation works best when two roles are present: an innovation lead and a delivery lead. One person sees patterns, adapts quickly and pushes ideas forward; the other keeps the work sequenced, grounded and consistent.He ties that to personality and working style. The process improvement fails when it is either too theoretical or too rigid. “A strong team balances creativity with execution so the result is both practical and scalable,” he says.Process or ProcedureThere is a difference between process and procedure in AI adoption.A process describes the bigger flow of work: what happens, in what order and how one stage connects to the next. A procedure, by contrast, gets down to the exact steps, rules and checks needed when the task must be done the same way every time.Since not every job needs the same level of control, Marsh suggests using process language for larger workflows, such as project life cycles or shop flow,and procedure language for tightly controlled tasks like machine operation, fixed-station assembly or quality checks. “The wrong level of detail can make a system either too loose to be useful or too rigid to survive contact with reality,” he shares. From Video to SOPTo do this right, use a simple implementation method, Marsh suggests. First, identify the process or procedure and define its key areas. Next, film the work as it exists today, then review the video with people who understand the operation and create a descriptive transcript.From there, AI can turn that transcript into a draft SOP or process document, which should then be reviewed, approved and stored for reuse. He emphasizes that the final system should be searchable, versioned and organized so teams can return to it later instead of rebuilding knowledge from scratch.In the end, it’s “not about replacing human judgment,” he says. “It’s more about making expertise visible, reusable and easier to teach.”
by John Crowley | Jul 14, 2026 | Uncategorized
ARCHITECTURAL: 173 Feet Up, 130 Years In There are restoration projects, and then there are missions. The renewal of McGraw Tower at Cornell University fell squarely into the second category.Standing 173 feet above the Ithaca, New York campus, McGraw Tower has marked time since its completion in 1891. The clock tower, originally built as part of Cornell’s historic library complex, is one of the university’s most recognized landmarks. Its roof, replaced in 1932 with a lead-coated copper chevron pattern, had become as much a part of the building’s identity as the bells it houses. But after more than 130 years of exposure and decades of patches that slowed but never stopped persistent leaks, the roof had reached the end of its service life.The design team approved a full replacement, and its members hired Heather & Little to do the work, says Marc Jamieson, Vice President of Sales and Estimating at Heather & Little Limited, the Toronto-area architectural sheet metal firm that got the consulting work, followed by the renovation and construction.A Rare Material, A Rarer Skill SetHeather & Little hadn’t come to the project cold. The firm had been consulted early before the job went to bid when the design team was still working through material decisions and wasn’t yet fluent in what working with sheet lead actually requires.“They weren’t all that familiar with working with sheet lead,” Jamieson says. “So, we helped them come up with some design parameters.”The McGraw Tower has a distinctive chevron pattern made of sheet lead. That early consultation laid the groundwork for the decision that would define the project. Rather than replicating the original lead-coated copper, the design team chose sheet lead, a material with deep roots in historic preservation work and one that Heather & Little says it knows better than almost anyone in North America.Lead’s virtues for a project like this are well documented. It is resistant to corrosion, maintaining structural integrity across extreme temperatures, heavy snow loads and decades of freeze-thaw cycles. It develops a natural patina over time that suits historic structures aesthetically. It is fire-resistant. And, critically for McGraw Tower, it is soft enough to conform precisely to irregular substrates, which would prove essential given the tower’s geometry.But sheet lead is also, as Jamieson puts it plainly, “an unusual material to work with these days.” In the United States, health and safety concerns have made it increasingly rare on active job sites. In Canada, Heather & Little and a small number of peers still use it regularly with rigorous safety protocols, including periodic blood testing for workers handling it, built into standard practice. That institutional knowledge is precisely what Cornell’s design team needed and couldn’t source domestically.Built by Hand, Panel by PanelHeather & Little came on as a subcontractor to general contractor Welliver, and their scope was comprehensive: supply and install the full 6-pound sheet lead roofing system, replicating the tower’s distinctive chevron batten-seam design; install lead panels, battens, stainless steel fasteners, copper cleats, synthetic and fabric underlayments, welded connections, and all associated flashing components; and extend the work to the tower’s custom lead spire cap and eave assemblies — each fabricated to heritage specifications with seamless transitions and watertight joints.What made the execution genuinely unusual, even by restoration standards, was where the fabrication happened, which was not in a shop, but on site.“Most of it is fabricated in the field,” Jamieson says. “Lead is very soft, and it’s meant to conform very precisely to the substrate. It can’t bridge a gap the way regular sheet metal might. It must match exactly.”That means if one chevron panel sits at a slightly different angle than the one beside it — a near-certainty on a 130-year-old structure — each piece must be custom-formed to account for it. There is nothing production-oriented about the process. It is slow, deliberate and tactile work, shaped by the building itself rather than by shop drawings alone.The firm also produced detailed shop drawings, full-scale mock-ups of proposed roofing assemblies and thorough documentation of existing conditions before a single panel was installed — a process that allowed the design team to evaluate appearance, detailing and constructibility before committing to the final approach.The Logistics of Working Far From HomeExecuting this kind of work 500 miles from the firm’s home base added another layer of complexity. Heather & Little’s crew couldn’t pull additional materials from the shop on short notice, couldn’t easily send in support staff and had to operate with the self-sufficiency of a remote expedition.“Because of the distance and the fact that we were working remotely, we didn’t have access to the shop even if we could have,” Jamieson says. “You can’t just call up and order a couple of pieces of flashing.”The crew traveled from the Toronto area to Ithaca and worked on location for the duration of the project — a lengthy one, given the nature of the material and the precision required. The result, by all accounts, was worth the effort.“We’ve been in touch with the architect recently,” Jamieson says, “and they were very pleased with the end result.”What This Kind of Work RequiresMcGraw Tower isn’t an anomaly in Heather & Little’s portfolio. The firm has completed similarly demanding heritage metalwork on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and other landmark structures across North America. Working in materials and methods that most of the industry has long since set aside keeps the company competitive in this space.The McGraw Tower “is an iconic, important part of the campus,” Jamieson says of the tower’s chevron roof. “You couldn’t just replace it with something else. It had to be like materials and like design.”Heather & Little made sure it was.
