As we settle upon June, the weather has warmed up and jobs have started popping up too.  Everyday, we are getting calls from plants asking for help.  As the summer progresses, we will see many more of these days.  

In La Porte, there has been work done at the Eastern Iowa Co-op for a new grain handling system.  Also, Ag construction has furnished some work in other grain bins.   Darrell has done a few house basements.  The city paving program hasn’t gone into design yet, but there will be one again this year.  Also, the pool referendum is up for a vote this month..

In Jesup, Hank has several projects on the books.  They are finishing up the paving at the school with Youngblut.  Bertch Cabinets will be starting their addition soon.  There is a sewer project, at least one paving project, and a couple of other things in the works. 

Traer has been picking up some paving work this year.  Starting this week, a project focused on patching and intersections gets started up.  By July, Vernon will be paving with Cunningham with several blocks to do.  He also has 2 large grain set-ups to finish near Gladbrook.  Jerry has been helping him on those.

Grundy Center has a paving project bid on Monday just down the road from his plant.    We are working to secure the concrete in the Grundy County Welcome Center at the intersection of #14 and #20, just 8 easy miles from the plant.  Jerry has some culverts to do with Grundy County already tied down.  He has been finishing up the Grundy Hospital.  I have just priced out a job to Henningson in Grundy that will start this summer.

Independence has a new Wal-Mart to do.  The footings have been done with the floor to be one of the last things completed.  At least 2 paving jobs have to be done and at least one more is in the planning stages.  Developers are already designing buildings for Enterprise Drive, next to the new Wal-Mart.  Al has been pouring basements on a regular basis.  He also has some paving left to do on the new hospital addition.  There has been some new work with bridge revetments.  Buchanan County has been trying these large bags that cover an entire slope from the bridge abutments down to below the stream’s edge.  These bags are then filled with a highly flowable mortar.  We’ve had a good experience working with Peterson Contractors and the county on this. 

Oelwein is having a banner year.  It started with an 8,000 cy ethanol plant with Fagen, only 8 miles from the plant.  Then, the sewer plant was bid. While being over-budget, they decided to go ahead with it, adding another 4,000 cy less than 1 mile from the plant.  Then, we just found out we had the grain handling system at the ethanol plant with Henningson, adding another 5,000 cy + to the total.  Now, the new library is out for bid.  The new streetscape for downtown Oelwein will be in an upcoming DOT letting.  Danny is making up for a few dry years all at once. When it rains, it pours. 

Readlyn has been quiet so far, with just a paving project this year.  The dirt work on that is progressing and paving should happen within the next 2-4 weeks.

Denver has been quiet also.  It seems like the area is running out of building lots.  Scott has been busy at times, but is working on finding more to do in his area. 

Waterloo has had some spurts of heavy activity.  Deere continues to remodel their downtown facility.  Prairie Construction with Ahrens has done a healthy portion of the floor work.  Deere is also planning a large paving project downtown.  It has been bid and came in over budget.  We think they will value-engineer it enough and still leave 80 to 90 per cent of the paving.  We have the Cedar Falls paving program with Rainbow this year, which will be starting very soon.  The new Lincoln school in Cedar Falls will give us some work with Larson Const.  We’ve done a few bridges this year so far, with good results.  Lakeview Landing has been a long, drawn-out project with Webb plugging away at it, right now finishing up some lightweight pours on the upper floor.  We’ve done several basements this year already, with more on the way. 

Each year, in the early spring, it seems like we worry about finding enough work.   The last 2 years have also tested us with out-of-the-ordinary cement powder increases and steel increases.  Along with that, we know we need to increase market share.  I also believe that developing customer relationships with concrete guys, developers, architects, and engineers is the best way to avoid those slowdowns when they come.