Kentucky native Kyle Ruby invented the BarrelMover 5000 to keep highway crews safe in work zones.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media
In its most recent report, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration estimates there were 96,626 crashes in work zones in 2015. On average, a work zone crash occurred once every 5.4 minutes. Seventy work zone crashes occurred every day that resulted in at least one injury and 12 work zone crashes happened every week that resulted in at least one fatality.
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Drill King International (DKI) aims to become a leading manufacturer of integrated drilling tools and innovative solutions.
By Bianca Herron, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media
DKI is a U.S. manufacturer specializing in high-performance drilling tools serving the oil and gas, civil and construction, geotechnical-geothermal, mining, tunneling, and water well in more than 80 countries.
The Texas-based company, founded in 2004, has decades of experience among its leadership. According to, Partner and Vice President of Business Development Shane Deerman, DKI has aggressively grown by recruiting “seasoned” industry veterans since its launch. Deerman along with several colleagues, each bring more than 20 years of industry experience and expertise.
“Our president, Larry Broseh, has over 35 years of industry experience, and our operations manager and engineering team has decades of industry experience as well,” he says. “So even though we’re a young company, we’ve pulled together a team that already knew the playbook of the industry.”
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MCR Development takes inspiration from the golden age of aviation as it converts the JFK Airport’s TWA Flight Center into a modern hotel.
By Tim O’Connor
When the TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport in New York opened in 1962 it was a modern and forward-thinking design. With its Jetsons-style Googie architecture and sunken lounge, the Eero Saarinen-designed building became an icon of mid-century aviation and was eventually granted landmark designation by the city and state. So there was a sense of loss when the terminal closed in 2001 following the end of Trans World Airlines.
A portion of the flight center was used to expand JetBlue’s terminal at the airport, but the signature gull-wing building remained unoccupied for years as local officials tried to find a new use that would honor the structure’s history. In 2015, MCR Development announced it would convert the TWA Flight Center into a lobby and retail space for a new hotel that would rise between the historic building and JetBlue terminal.
The TWA Hotel will embrace the flight center’s style to invoke the golden days of aviation, when flying was still an event and passengers had a sense of wonder about the whole experience. “When people talk about this building and reference this building you can see people’s eyes light up,” says Jason Garone, vice president of construction for MCR. “It’s an architectural marvel.”
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SiteAware offers general contractors and owners a better way to optimize on-site operations and track progress.
By Jim Harris, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media
Visualizing progress on a job site can be difficult for contractors, particularly during the early stages of a project. SiteAware is making it easier for general contractors, real estate developers and others to objectively keep track of their projects, meeting schedule and budget. The system can be used to monitor large and complex construction projects in multiple sectors including commercial, institutional, industrial and major residential developments.
The company offers its clients an end-to-end solution to their project monitoring and site management needs that includes cloud-based software as well as autonomous off-the-shelf drones, tablets, support, maintenance and training. “We believe our true value is in the data produced by regularly scanning the construction site,” Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Gil Mildworth says.
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EllisDon is putting the processes in place to build more net-zero energy buildings in Canada by constructing the first at Mohawk College.
By Janice Hoppe-Spiers
Mohawk College’s The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation will be Ontario’s first net-zero energy institutional building, producing as much or more energy as it consumes when it opens in 2018. “We applied for a government grant and one of the things we thought was important was to differentiate ourselves from other applications for that fund,” Chief Buildings and Facilities Officer Tony Cupido says. “In doing that, we recommended the building be a net-zero energy building.”
The Canada Green Building Council announced a Zero Carbon Building Framework that will become the standard for zero carbon buildings in Canada. The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation was selected as one of 16 national pilot programs to help demonstrate the council’s new Zero Carbon Building Standard and validation process.
“This project was funded by the Government of Canada’s $20 million grant, which does not happen often because they rarely get involved in the post-secondary education construction sector,” Cupido explains. “The $20 million investment is the single largest federal infrastructure funding in Mohawk’s 50-year history. A key requirement is to have all the work completed by April 2018 and that was a challenge for us, but we are certainly at or near our target.”
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Principal Brett Steinberg grew RSC Group into a major masonry firm in New York City.
By Alan Dorich
After only seven years in the construction industry, Brett Steinberg has accomplished more than some people do in their entire careers. At the young age of 25, the principal of RSC Group LLC says he owes it all to his philosophy of being persistent.
“When you enter this industry, you’re opening a door for what can be a great, lengthy career,” he says, noting that those entering the business will get back what they put into it. “It will be fruitful and prosperous, but it will also be stressful and tiresome some days.”
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Artistic Finishes introduces new products and rebrands itself.
By Kat Zeman, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media
Artistic Finishes might have the soul of a craftsman, but it also embraces modern technology and innovative ideas to stay on top of its game.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based company creates custom floor moldings and accessories for the flooring professional. Its product line includes a variety of moldings, vents, treads and risers. While some products are stained by machines, the majority are still hand-stained by artisans.
“You have to have an artisan eye for color,” says Bill Treiber, technical sales and education manager. “We have many individuals staining one stick at a time. That’s virtually unheard of but that’s how we do business.”
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Federal Brace develops brackets and other products based on the needs of its customers.
By Jim Harris, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media
Solving customer problems is deeply ingrained in Federal Brace’s DNA. “We were born out of providing solutions to customers who were unable to find solutions through normal means,” President Scott Toal says.
The company dates its origins back to the early 2000s when its parent company Short Run Pro, a custom metal fabricator, began offering support brackets for stone and granite countertops. “People were having trouble finding supports that would hold heavy countertop overhangs,” Toal says. “At the time, the conventional means of getting a suitable bracket made meant going to a manufacturer or fabricator, or going to a big box store and buying a bracket that would not have the aesthetic appearance or carrying capacity you’d want in a kitchen or bathroom.
“We started manufacturing brackets to custom specifications realizing over time there was a market for these solutions because no one else had a standardized product line,” he adds. “Consumers needed a bracket of some kind, but were limited in most instances to using brackets that weren’t aesthetically pleasing in a kitchen or didn’t have sufficient weight-bearing characteristics.”
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