Alaska Construction Outlook by Rindi White

Economic Impact Report

Alaska Construction Spending Forecast

Contractors & Camo Hockey Tournament

Annual Report to Members

Fairbanks Bowl-A-Thon

Rural School Construction Roundup by Amy Newman

Falcon Alaska LLC by David A. James

Finishing Edge Concrete Construction by Rachael Kvapil

HUB International by Nancy Erickson

Cooper Landing Bypass by Jamey Bradbury

New Members

President’s Message by Brian Midyett

Executive Director’s Message by Alicia Amberg

Event Calendar

Business Development by Katherine Wood

Occupational Health & Safety by Skeet Black

Contractors & the Law by Michael C. Geraghty and Wiley G. Cason

Financial Services & Contractors by Mike Scott

HR Update by Stephanie Haydn Buchanan

Member News

In Memoriam

Advertisers Index

Jenith Ziegler
ChemTrack Alaska, Inc.

Pearl-Grace Pantaleone
Cornerstone General Contractors

Alicia Amberg
Associated General Contractors of Alaska

Christine A. White
R&M Consultants, Inc.

Heather Sottosanti
Big State Mechanical, LLC

Brian Midyett
STG Pacific, LLC

Rindi White
Editor

Monica Sterchi-Lowman
Art Director

Fulvia Lowe
Art Production

James K Brown
Graphic Designer

BUSINESS STAFF
Charles Bell
VP Sales & Marketing
907-257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com

Janis J. Plume
Senior Account Manager
907-257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com

Christine Merki
Senior Account Manager
907-257-2911 cmerki@akbizmag.com

The Alaska Contractor is published by Alaska Business Publishing Co. Inc. for the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. Contents of the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AGC of Alaska or Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Copyright 2023 by the Associated General Contractors of Alaska. For information about articles in this edition or for permission to reproduce any portion of it, contact Alaska Business Publishing Co.

nce again, the industry charged with building our country is left to wonder how to move forward as the federal government decides to change the rules on the fly.

In February, the US Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, released a new proposed rule to provide additional guidance on how to expand and implement the requirements of the Build America, Buy America Act, or BABAA, on federally assisted construction projects.

To be perfectly clear: AGC of Alaska supports the concept of buying and using as many domestic, made-in-America products as possible. We are proud Americans and support a thriving domestic building trade. But any program that sets out to mandate, well, anything, requires clear rules, clear guidelines, and clear definitions. This most recent rule released by the OMB fails on all those fronts.

Whither WOTUS?

hile the famous crystal ball dropped in New York City’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, dropped a surprise of its own when it released final rules for Waters of the United States (commonly referred to as “WOTUS”) in the final hours of 2022. Unlike the celebrated ball drop, the EPA’s announcement landed with a thud.

The response from local business advocacy groups was swift and harsh. The dramatic reaction stemmed partly because this was the third change made to WOTUS in just ten years. Worse, serious legal questions surrounding WOTUS are currently under review at the US Supreme Court. Their ruling on the famous Sackett case could require another significant revision and further regulatory changes. Government should not work this way.

Bridge Rehabilitation Projects Improve Safety for Vehicles and Pedestrians

onnecting Alaska’s communities by land requires a vast network of roadways regularly maintained for the safety of those who travel them. Managing the integrity of bridges that connect those roads takes careful planning among the entities that own them to prevent extended delays for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Over the past year, several state-owned bridges have undergone renovation, rehabilitation, or replacement, with several projects slated for the coming year and others in the planning stages. Leslie Daugherty, chief bridge engineer with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, or DOT&PF, says bridge evaluation and repairs occur regularly and are scheduled according to funding, labor, and traffic logistics.

rom Utqiaġvik to Adak and Metlakatla, Alaska relies on the construction industry for roads, public buildings, houses, and the infrastructure that makes them all work.

When all job categories are included—direct, indirect, and induced—the Alaska construction industry accounts for 39,400 jobs and about $3.3 billion in wages.

Alaska’s construction economy accounts for 9 percent of the jobs in the state and 10 percent of the economy, says McKinley Research Group, the research and consulting office that compiled the January 2023 Economic Benefits of Alaska’s Construction Industry and the 2023 Construction Spending Forecast for Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska and the Construction Industry Progress Fund, or CIPF. The spending forecast was presented at Construction Industry Progress Fund breakfasts in Anchorage and Fairbanks February 2 and 3.

onstruction spending in both the private and public sectors is generally expected to be higher in 2023 than it was in 2022. The following are summaries of estimated spending by industry in 2023 (compared to 2022), highlighting specific anticipated projects.

Three factors drive most petroleum-related construction spending: oil prices, exploration, and oil field development. In 2022, oil prices averaged about $100 per barrel, the highest average annual price in nearly a decade. Two large projects, Pikka (Santos) and Willow (ConocoPhillips), have potential to substantially increase construction activity in the coming years. Santos has begun surface facility work on site at Pikka, including gravel roads and pads. ConocoPhillips plans to begin road and other gravel infrastructure projects related to Willow in 2023.

laska runs on fuel, and Petro Star, Inc., or PSI, is a locally sourced provider of heating, jet, marine, and turbine fuels, along with numerous other petroleum-based products manufactured at one of the company’s two refineries.

PSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, or ASRC. Since its founding in 1984, PSI has expanded into a range of operations, developing a vertically integrated business that meets numerous customer needs.

“Our model is supplying a value-added product made from the state’s own crude supply for Alaska’s residential and commercial needs,” Senior Vice President Ryan Muspratt says, “It’s crude out of Alaska, it’s Alaskans doing all of the work, and the product is primarily distributed in the state of Alaska.”

hile the global COVID-19 crisis wreaked havoc on businesses all over the planet, it also created opportunities. For example, when AXYS, LLC and Wirtanen Custom Homes joined forces to create Palmer-based Falcon Alaska, a design-build contractor working in both commercial and residential construction, it provided the owners with new options.

“If the pandemic hadn’t happened, we probably wouldn’t have merged the two companies,” says co-owner Grant Hendrickson.

Although Falcon Alaska is a new name, the people involved and business operations have remained largely the same. Hendrickson and co-owner Steven Wirtanen have a long history together. Friends from a young age, Hendrickson worked for Wirtanen Custom Homes for more than ten years while it was still owned by Steven Wirtanen’s father. The younger Wirtanen and Hendrickson launched AXYS in 2013 to “chase the commercial market,” he says.

ver the past year Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska staff, Legislative Affairs Committee members, governing board, and lobbyist have worked diligently with our members to advocate for priority legislation and policies at the state and local level, working with elected officials to ensure contractors had a voice in decisions impacting the industry. AGC remains committed to delivering the industry’s message, loud and clear. To that end, AGC:

• Wrote letters in support of a fair and predictable process on projects such as Willow, Alaska LNG, the Pebble Project, and Ambler Road;
• Worked with other businesses and resource advocacy groups to clarify the process and implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act;
• Hosted US House of Representatives and Alaska Governor forums with other business and resource advocacy groups to provide information to our members in a busy election year;

long the shore of Lake Hood Seaplane Base in Anchorage, a new hangar operated by the Department of Interior’s Office of Aviation Services, or OAS, not only replaces a historic, outdated, and damaged hangar but also represents a new era in Alaska aviation.

Substantially completed in November of 2022, the OAS hangar means three Department of Interior agencies—US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management—are once again fully operational.

It took three years to fully complete the multi-phase project, which included historic preservation, demolition, contamination remediation, an unexpected redesign, supply chain issues, and winter construction.

A 40-Year Project Breaks Ground

ast summer, Jonathan Tymick got stuck behind a travel trailer with a flat tire on the Seward Highway near Cooper Landing. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, or DOT&PF, project manager watched as the trailer continued along the two-lane highway until the driver found a safe place to pull off.

“That gentleman drove about a mile and completely damaged his rim,” Tymick says. “That was kind of eye opening.”

The trailer driver’s misfortune is emblematic of the need for the Sterling Highway Milepost 45 to 60 Project, colloquially known as the Cooper Landing Bypass. Built in the ‘40s, the highway as it exists today does not meet current design standards: the corners are too sharp and, as the travel-trailer driver found, there are few to no shoulders to pull onto in case of emergency.

lose your eyes and picture a rain maker. It’s someone wise and strong, weathered by years of experience, who can single-handedly throw a lightning bolt at the sky and pierce the clouds. Suddenly the rain cascades down and your dry land is awash with water. The crops are growing; everyone is fed and happy.

But I’m not really talking about Zeus and rain. I’m talking about that company leader who brings in all the business. There’s usually one in every organization. It’s that storied person who knows everyone, who seals all the deals, whose name is enough to open doors. Perhaps you are that person. Life is good, right? The projects are rolling in! Your company’s future is bright, and any time it gets a bit dry, you don’t have to worry. Just bring out the rain maker. Why would you possibly want to change anything?

oncrete is as much a part of Alaska’s environment as trees, waterways, mountains, and wildlife found throughout the state. Alaskans travel on concrete roads, across bridges, walk on concrete sidewalks, visit or live in buildings with concrete foundations, and much more. Chuck McHenry, managing member of Finishing Edge Concrete Construction, LLC, says his company takes pride in building much of the infrastructure that Alaskans enjoy today will enjoy far into the future.

The company was founded in 1995 by Craig Morrison and Norscot Investments, Inc. in Washington state, under the name Finishing Edge Curb & Sidewalk, LLC. Other owners were also brought in over time.

ental health is a significant topic of concern in the construction field right now, and for good reason. A 2020 study by the Construction Industry Rehab Plan, or CIRP, found that 83% of all construction workers have experienced some form of moderate to severe mental health issue.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, construction has the second highest suicide rate of all industries, with 45.3 suicides per 100,000 workers reported through the National Violent Death Reporting System, effective in thirty-two states, in 2016. That’s almost four times greater than the national average and five times greater than all other construction fatalities combined.

ess than twelve seconds. That’s about how long it takes for password cracking software, which can be purchased online for less than $50, to crack a password fewer than fifteen characters long.

A better approach, says Teresa Rule, president and CEO of RNT Professional Services, LLC, is to use a passphrase, making sure to change it every month. A twenty-two-character passphrase takes about forty-two days to crack, Rule says.

RNT Professional Services is a cybersecurity and data privacy firm with more than twenty-five years in the field. Based in Norman, Oklahoma, RNT has an office in Anchorage and three other locations. It works around the world, conducting cybersecurity audits and assessments for businesses of all types and sizes. Rule started the company with her husband, Randy Rule—both are retired Marines. It’s a theme for the company; Rule says of the eighty-six people RNT employs, seventy-two are veterans.

n the United States, as many as one in five employees (some 30 million individuals) are currently subject to some form of “non-compete” agreement with their employer. Although the details can vary widely, such agreements typically restrict an employee from working for or starting a competing business for certain period, or within a certain area, following the end of their employment.

At a conceptual level, agreements to not compete are distinct from non-solicitation agreements, which prevent an employee from soliciting their employer’s clients to another business. They’re also distinct from confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements, which generally prohibit an employee from misusing (i.e. stealing) an employer’s confidential or proprietary data. All three types of agreements are often combined into a single document.

cale is important to HUB International Limited. Ranked as the world’s fifth-largest insurance broker, HUB’s more than 16,000 employees and 530 offices across North America attest to that fact—including five offices throughout Alaska.

Created in 1998 when eleven Canadian brokers merged, the company entered the US market a year later with Chicago as its corporate headquarters and has continued to evolve as spokes in a wheel.

Steve Wagner is the executive vice president of HUB’s Alaska operations, encompassing offices in Anchorage, Palmer, Fairbanks, Soldotna and, most recently, Juneau. Based out of HUB’s Northwest Region in Bothell, Washington, Wagner is a routine visitor to HUB’s five locations.

e are in a nationwide generational shift. For every business owner diligently preparing a succession plan, there is another one who decides, “I want to sell everything and retire.”

The idea of being next in line to own and operate an established business might seem abstract now, but it’s becoming a realistic opportunity for a new wave of dedicated and talented employees across all industries.

Learn how you can prepare and what it could take to capitalize on the opportunity to own your own business.

chool districts and construction crews across rural Alaska will be busy this year working on a variety of projects to renovate, repair, and in some cases replace school buildings. The projects, funded at least partially through the Alaska Department of Early Education and Development, or DEED, ensure students and teachers have a building that’s both safe and conducive to learning.

ngagement, loyalty, development, retention—these are all words that describe a healthy, vibrant workforce.

In an industry in which the workforce is deployed to locations around the state—and with the latest trend toward remote work—it is more challenging than ever to create an engaged and loyal team, yet it is imperative to do so.

aul Kovach, of Spenard Builders Supply, passed away unexpectedly on December 12, 2022, at the age of 60. Paul is survived by his wife of almost 38 years, Hollie; children Joshua (Denise), Kelli (Josh), and Kyle (Cheyanne); grandsons Elliott and Griffin; siblings Raymond, Audrey, and Russell; and many nieces and nephews. Paul was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Pauline, and his brothers, Robert and Philip.