Celebrating 100 Years: Getting Your Kicks on Route 66

August 18th, 2011

Today is the day we’ve been building up to for the past 100 days — the day we celebrate Berglund’s 100th anniversary. Thanks for reading over the past few months as we’ve shared Berglund’s history. And while our anniversary blogging is coming to an end , you can still find all the latest Berglund news on “Brick by Brick.”

Spotlight on Berglund’s Work: Restoration

Tailor Lofts Clock Tower

For Route 66 travelers, the former International Tailoring Co. building hadn’t been a notable sight on the journey for years. That’s all changed since Berglund restored the building’s stunning clock tower to its former glory.

The Mundie and Jensen-designed building sits on Jackson Boulevard – also known as eastbound Route 66 — in Chicago’s West Loop. Built in 1916, it housed garment industry operations for decades, but had fallen into disrepair in recent years. The clock tower was sheathed in unattractive corrugated metal in 1971 because the terra cotta was crumbling, and the building was nearly vacant when a developer bought it a few years ago to convert into condos.

The developer tapped Berglund to restore the clock tower and uncover its original beauty. Berglund restored the terra cotta façade, removed and replaced the building’s roof, repaired the non-functioning clock and lighting, and restored some of the tower’s windows while replacing those beyond repair. The tower now triumphantly crowns Tailor Lofts, a residential building with off-campus apartments for University of Illinois-Chicago students. As an added bonus, the restoration paved the way for Tailor Lofts’ inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Celebrating 100 Years: A Safe Haven

August 17th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Spotlight on Berglund’s Work: Construction

University of Chicago Children’s Hospital

Going to the hospital can be scary for kids and their parents. That’s why the upgraded Frankel Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit at the University of Chicago’s Wyler Children’s Hospital was designed to make families feel safe and give them options during their stay.

Berglund built out the 12,500-square-foot wing inside the footprint of the original intensive care unit, which dated back to 1963. The 13-bed unit features private rooms as well as two four-bed open areas so that children can stay with others if needed. All patient rooms and unit entrances are clearly visible from the central nurse and control station, and the remodeled wing now has a single reception area to make checking in simpler. Berglund also built out parent and education areas and a new entrance for the unit.

While the changes may not make it any more fun to be at the hospital, the new wing aims to make the stay a little easier for everyone involved.

Celebrating 100 Years: The Way We Were

August 16th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

The Way We Were: The Rise of Computers

Berglund’s founder would have been bewildered to find a computer on his desk a century ago, but today, you can’t walk a few feet without seeing one in Berglund’s offices. Computers have revolutionized the work flow of virtually every industry during the last few decades, and the construction industry is no different.

Berglund relies on several programs throughout the building process, including Viewpoint for cost forecasting and Microsoft® Project for scheduling. As we wrap up our series on construction history, here’s a look at three areas where computers have made contractors’ lives much easier:

Design – Since it debuted in the 1980s, computer-aided construction design has made traditional drafting nearly obsolete. Powerful new design programs go far beyond two-dimensional building plans, producing realistic three-dimensional models and taking building materials and their tolerances into account. This type of design, called building information modeling, is key to Berglund’s construction process, and allows us to predict how building components will hold up over time.

Estimating – As construction projects grow larger and more complex, coming up with an accurate bid price has become trickier as well. Labor, materials, bonding costs and taxes are just a few of the variables that go into an estimate, and these costs can fluctuate daily in today’s building environment. Fortunately, computer software has made it much easier to provide an accurate bid price for a project. Many programs can be tailored to a particular industry, such as health care construction; automatically build in set profit margins; and archive previous projects for quick side-by-side comparisons.

Project management – When you’re working on several large projects that demand the input of everyone from the project owner to the architect, staying on top of things is challenging. Project management software programs make it easier for contractors to manage to-do lists for multiple stakeholders, view upcoming project deadlines and compare initial project goals to actual performance.

Celebrating 100 Years: Worth 1,000 Words

August 15th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Worth 1,000 Words: Our Story in Pictures

Working in the construction industry takes skill, dedication… and balance. Fortunately, these Berglund laborers had it in spades as they worked on Northwestern University’s Crowe Hall.

Celebrating 100 Years: Secrets of Success

August 14th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Secrets of Success: Avoiding Growing Pains

You learn a lot of lessons on the way to turning 100. Throughout our 100th anniversary blog, we’re sharing the takeaways that have helped us make it through our first century – and might help your business do the same.

As we wrap up our Secrets of Success series, here’s our final piece of advice: Be strategic about your growth.

Fred Berglund started Berglund Maintenance Co. in 1911 as a masonry maintenance business with a handful of customers. One hundred years later, Berglund has evolved into a full-service construction and restoration firm with hundreds of employees, four offices in three states and more than $200 million in completed projects annually. How did we do that? By planning for growth carefully and not expanding for expansion’s sake.

Our Indiana office, which we opened in 1996, was our first major expansion outside of our home base in Chicago. We spent years building relationships with local project owners and subcontractors before we made the move to Chesterton, Ind. As a result, we’ve earned the local industry’s trust and landed high-profile local jobs with organizations such as Valparaiso University and The Methodist Hospitals.

We also know to seize a good opportunity when we see one. Berglund opened an Ohio office in 2007 after restoring the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse and recognizing the opportunities for similar work in the area. As we look forward to our future, we may continue that expansion – but only after we do our homework.

Celebrating 100 Years: Berglund 101 Wrap-Up

August 13th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Berglund 101: The Final Answer

As part of the fun in our 100th anniversary blog, we’ve been quizzing readers on Berglund’s history – and handing out Starbucks cards to those who know their Berglund facts. Now, we’ve come to the end of our guessing game, and it’s time to reveal the final answer.

For our final challenge, we asked: How many people does Berglund currently employ?

The answer: 350.

We hope you’ve enjoyed playing along with us during the last three months. Hopefully you’ve learned a new tidbit or two about our company – and scored some free coffee to boot!

Celebrating 100 Years: In Their Own Words

August 12th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

In Their Own Words: Roselle Public Library

“We appreciate the quality of the personnel you have assigned to this project. The work was done with courtesy and consideration of the staff and the public who use the library. It was remarkable that we only needed to close for 11 days during the whole time period. … I would not hesitate to recommend the Berglund company to anyone looking for an excellent general contractor.”

–Dianne Lueder, executive director, Roselle Public Library. Berglund built an addition to the library and remodeled existing space.

Celebrating 100 Years: From Start to Finish

August 11th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Spotlight on Berglund’s Work: Construction

First Presbyterian Church of Deerfield

When First Presbyterian Church of Deerfield wanted to expand, the church turned to a construction firm it could partner with from start to finish. Berglund provided preconstruction services to the Deerfield, Ill., church before constructing its new fellowship hall and relic chapel, which helped to keep the project on schedule and on budget.

The $5 million addition, which took 10 months to complete, includes two stories and a basement and features a balcony on the second floor. The project won the 2008 Craftsmanship Award for Excellence in Masonry Design Execution from the Illinois Indiana Masonry Council.

Celebrating 100 Years: Well-Equipped for Any Emergency

August 10th, 2011

What does it take to reach 100? As part of our 100th anniversary celebration, we’re posting a piece of Berglund’s history on our blog each day for 100 days. Check in each day to learn new tidbits about our company, win prizes based on your Berglund knowledge, and, most of all, to help us celebrate.

Spotlight on Berglund’s Work: Construction

Weiss Memorial Hospital

While its setting overlooking Lake Michigan is beautiful, the employees at Weiss Memorial Hospital are focused instead on the serious work happening inside. Fortunately, hospital employees are well-equipped to handle the emergencies that come their way, thanks to the emergency room and intensive care addition Berglund constructed for Weiss.

Berglund spent 15 months building the 46,000-square-foot, $12 million addition, which features emergency room facilities, an intake area, an intensive care unit and private physician offices. New amenities include a state-of-the-art trauma room, a fast-track emergency room area for non-urgent patients with a dedicated physician, and a decontamination room for chemical and biohazard emergencies. Berglund used a renaissance stone façade throughout the structure, and matched the façade of the hospital’s older building to maintain a consistent feel. The project took home the Illinois-Indiana Masonry Council’s Silver Award for Best of Healthcare.

A Year of Safety

August 9th, 2011

Berglund has been racking up safety training milestones right and left this year. We’ve had 125 foremen, superintendents and managers complete the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s 30-hour training program. Eighty Berglund employees are now trained in CPR, and 80 are trained in bloodborne pathogen safety. Forty of our workers have received training in OSHA’s new crane signaling standards. Fifteen workers have received training on Hydro Mobile scaffolding, and 110 are trained in the city of Chicago’s scaffold ordinance chapter. All that safety training has contributed to our biggest safety milestone to date – a year without a lost-time accident.

As of today, Berglund has achieved 367 days without recording a lost-time accident. That’s no small feat, considering how many of our employees regularly work on skyscrapers dozens of stories in the air and on other complex and potentially dangerous projects. We’ve worked hard to create a safety culture movement at Berglund, and our lost-time record is just one of the signs it’s working. During the last year, our experience modification rating has also improved by nearly 10 percent, going to .74 from .82. The industry average is .99.

We believe that keeping our workers safe not only makes us a better company, but also means fewer distractions and greater success for our projects and their owners. And though we’re proud of our safety record, we know that we need to work harder than ever to maintain that record. Our goal is to continue performing at the highest level and keep operating incident-free, because at Berglund, safety never takes a vacation.