ike a mineral pulled from the soil, it took a little time and dedicated effort to bring out the value of Patrick Mechanical, but the Fairbanks-based company now carries the deep shine epitomized by the diamond in its logo.

Fairbanks-based PMI specializes in large mechanical system installations. The company was started by Mike Patrick in 1993. Current president Constantinos “Dino” Nafpliotis says Patrick was known for personal generosity to employees. He built a company based on training and retaining great tradespeople. Nafpliotis himself started with the company as an apprentice pipefitter almost twenty years ago. He is now president of Aleut Mechanical, PMI’s holding company, as well as subsidiaries Patrick Constructors and Patrick Mechanical.

Clients with multi-million-dollar contracts didn’t bang down the doors right away. The company nearly closed in 1996. But after a fire on March 20 of that year destroyed a large portion of Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge just outside Denali National Park, lodge owner Princess Cruises announced it needed contractors to help rebuild. The lobby, dining room, 170 out of 280 guest rooms, and the gift shop were destroyed. But tourists and cruise ship passengers extending their holiday with a park visit already had rooms booked. Princess Cruises set a bold goal: open as scheduled May 14.

A Patrick Mechanical crew headed to Denali and set to work. With the ambitious schedule, the lodge opened on target just 55 days after the fire. Repairing the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge was the job that moved the company forward, and Princess Cruises became a recurring client. Building and maintaining utilidors became a mainstay for the company, with the University of Alaska system and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital as major clients.

Nafpliotis says Mike Patrick’s legacy endures. Although the founder retired fourteen years ago, “He’s still getting us jobs with the name Patrick. We gotta do the work, but the diamond—people are comfortable with it,” Nafpliotis says. The diamond, which rests behind the “PMI” initials on the company logo, remains central in its new logo, which changed after Aleut purchased the company in 2011. The logo now also features a spear—the same spear used in parent company Aleut Mechanical’s logo—below the diamond.

PMI now employs forty-three employees, many of whom started as apprentices like Nafpliotis and moved up over long careers. “We’re trying to get to 100,” he says.

The foundational commitment to quality work continues to pay off. Tanana Chiefs Conference Facilities Senior Project Manager Timothy Troppmann says PMI’s team “earned their place on our projects through performance, reliability, and professionalism. Over time, they’ve become our preferred contractor.” He adds, “I would say that PMI has had one of the strongest teams of tradesmen in the region.”

Nafpliotis says, “It’s an expectation of our management team that whatever the client needs, we deliver. Right now, that includes ongoing emergency work such as Typhoon [Halong] repairs for the Department of Transportation (DOT), Northwest freeze-ups for DOT and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (in partnership with GHEMM Company), as well as emergency freeze repairs in Adak out in the Aleutians. These are all projects where we basically get a phone call: ‘Hey, can you guys get on a plane tomorrow?’”

Phillip Begley, general manager of Aurora Energy, LLC, recalled a complicated project at the company’s 27.5-megawatt, coal-fired Chena Power Plant in Fairbanks. It needed “two condenser caps for a 2,000-tube, 20-foot-long unit. Nobody even knew the weight; the records were gone… We’re rigging from a ceiling that’s already carrying a turbine on the floor loading, so you can imagine, [it was a] very delicate situation. Then we find asbestos gaskets—[that] stops everything. A total mess, frankly. They handled it beautifully. They worked with us, brought in the right trades, made sure everything was safe—[that was] top priority. ”

Under Aleut’s leadership, the company continues to grow. The Alaska Native regional corporation’s top leadership team works with subsidiary and holding company presidents to develop long-term plans, Nafpliotis says. PMI hopes to build or buy an Anchorage shop within two years.

Maximizing shareholder dividends through growth is important, Nafpliotis said, but “just as importantly, that growth has been intentional—built on strong relationships and consistently delivering for our clients. We’re also getting involved earlier in projects through design-assist and design-build approaches, helping reduce risk and improve outcomes before construction even begins.”

AGC training has helped Nafpliotis in his senior leadership role. He says he especially appreciated the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) training, which helped him go from, “You’ve got to get to ‘Level Two’ by such and such time and what does that mean?” to being able to implement the evolving email and physical security required for government contracts. AGC training also helped PMI correctly implement new mandatory sick leave pay requirements for its employees.

AGC presentations also keep the board informed about upcoming large projects, he says. With plans to expand, the company takes advantage of networking with clients, contractors, and vendors. “I try to go to everything I can now,” says Nafpliotis.

PMI wants to be on the North Slope and in Juneau by 2033. In the meantime, they’ll keep doing what they’re doing. According to Begley, that is: “They come in, they look at what you need, and they deliver—every time.”