J.A. Wagner Construction Blog

Pictured left to right: Tom Gilligan, President of Butler Manufacturing™, Tony Harman, Project Manager for J.A. Wagner, Andy Harman, Project Manager for J.A. Wagner and Harry Yeatman, Vice President of Sales for Butler Manufacturing™.

J.A. Wagner Construction is pleased to announce that it has been named The #1 Volume Builder of the Year in the Midwest by Butler Manufacturing™ at Butler’s recent national sales meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. This designation is awarded to the authorized Butler Builder® dealer that sells the largest amount of Butler steel during the calendar year.

Butler Manufacturing's Low Profile Metal Over Metal Reroof System is the ideal reroof solution for low slope metal roofs. Panels are permanently seamed together with a full 360 degree Pittsburgh double lock seam to assure weather-tightness and long-term performance with minimal maintenance expense.

With the arrival of spring comes rain. It’s nature’s way of nourishing new growth. It’s also the way many manufacturers and commercial businesses discover new roof leaks.

J.A. Wagner has years of experience in new, replacement, and retrofit roofing options. One product line we routinely recommend for roof repair comes from Butler^® Manufacturing. Butler’s Reroof Systems are affordable options for replacing leaky roofs with long-term, weathertight solutions.

Butler's SunLite Strip daylighting system introduces up to three times the amount of light earlier and later in the day than translucent panels, and can reduce electrical lighting consumption by up to 70%.

Most commercial and industrial buildings are built with as few openings to the outside as possible. Yes, there are entrances, exits, and shipping dock doors; vents; and maybe a few windows in the office areas. But for a long time, the idea was to preserve both heat and privacy by severing inside operations from the outside world.

The problem? Blocking out all that natural, abundant, free sunshine wasn’t just an aesthetic fail in many ways, it was an economic one. Any company that pays a monthly electric bill for lighting that is used 24/7/365 will understand exactly where we’re headed here.

Global Link Distribution's new Elkhart, Indiana facility consolidated several operations under one roof—a solution that has enabled them to grow well into the future and has allowed them to strengthen their strong, diverse supply chain.

Global Link Distribution is a leading supplier of OEM products for the RV, manufactured housing, cargo trailer, fencing and cabinet shop industries. Founded in 2007, Global Link’s product offerings include locksets, fasteners, latches, drawer slides and cabinet hardware. They also perform research and development in their quest to provide the highest quality service to the growing RV industry.

Over the course of eight years, as Global Link had grown, they had leased multiple facilities to store their inventory. By 2015, they found that constant driving to multiple locations to fill orders and stock inventory was wearing out their employees as well as their company trucks. They needed a solution that would consolidate their operation under one roof—a solution that has enabled them to grow well into the future and has allowed them to strengthen their strong, diverse supply chain.

BEFORE: Working with Optronics, our design-build team determined that the new, larger building would require a thorough retrofit to fit Optronics' growing needs. The new facility, although bigger, was not fitted out exactly as Optronics needed.

J.A. Wagner Construction project managers, Andy Harman and Tony Harman, recently attended the Construction Leadership Network conference in Dallas, Texas.

J.A. Wagner Construction designed and built the new 32,300-square-foot facility over top of the existing building.

J.A. Wagner Construction designed and built the new 32,300-square-foot facility over top of the existing building in an effort to help B&B Molders remain completely operational during construction. 

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Most snow-related building losses typically occur at stepped elevations where blowing snow is carried from an upper roof down to a lower roof.

• Heavy and repeated snowstorms can create packed snow and ice conditions resulting in unusual and excessive snow loads of 50 p.s.f. or greater.
• Blowing and drifting snow can add to these loads
• Rain-on-snow can cause significant load increases
• These loads can be in excess of the design capacity of the building and can cause damage, collapse, or at worst, business interruption, injury and death.

J.A. Wagner is constructing several pre-engineered steel buildings for Welch Packaging as part of their $16 million plant and machinery investment.

By the end of January—if the weather cooperates—construction will be complete on several new buildings for Welch Packaging in Elkhart, Indiana. Design-build construction began in May on what will be a $16 million plant and machinery investment to expand Welch Packaging’s capabilities.

J.A. Wagner recently completed this 200,000-square-foot trailer manufacturing facility for Universal Trailer, located in Bristol, Indiana. Universal Trailer manufactures Featherlite, Haulmark and Wells Cargo trailers, among others.

A recent Consensus Construction Forecast from The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) projected that construction spending has risen in 2016 and that 2017 could show an additional 6.7% gain for commercial (non-residential) construction. This survey of the nation’s leading construction forecasters also suggests that some sectors will top that—for instance, commercial/industrial (7.5%) and office space (8.8%).

Many owners have put off the decision the build over the past few years as the economy was weakened and the November election was creating a lot of uncertainty. Now that the economy has rebounded, we have seen an increase in construction starts and are listening to owners and their rationale for moving forward.

Here are six reasons to consider new construction in the coming months: