OOur service team, always prepared for take-off: +: BY LAUREN STUECKLE AND KEVIN WILDER

Alaska Airlines signed their first contract with MacDonald-Miller in 1981, and since then, for 30 years and counting, they’ve been a loyal customer and trusted advocate. And between our two companies, we’ve forged relationships at every level. The service technicians who maintain Alaska’s equipment, Keith Black and Jimmy Hoettel – both trained and mentored by Jim Gralski – have greatly illustrated just how this type of partnership should work. They’ve taken ownership of the buildings with a goal of maintaining a comprehensive working knowledge of the entire portfolio. When Alaska Airlines called with a crisis on their hands, the team, led by Keith and Jimmy, responded with an unwavering commitment to the customer.

FACESIN THE

FIELD

4:30PM On Friday evening, June 28th, Dawnielle Hallstead in service coordination received a service call stating that there was a server room AC unit down at Alaska’s McGee Building. Dawnielle responded immediately with a call to Keith.

5:00PM Keith was onsite at McGee and Jimmy followed 30 minutes later.. Keith and Jimmy realized that they would need to provide a way to relieve some of the heat in the room. This would require SPTI support.

6:00PM Dawnielle reached out to Chris Hollingsworth for help. He responded with the same commitment as Jimmy and Keith despite it being an after-hours call. . Within two hours of the initial call, SPTI technicians Affy Lysyy and Alex Melnik arrived onsite. . Jimmy and Keith worked throughout the night troubleshooting, picking up parts and arranging temporary cooling. Affy and Alex worked to modify ductwork in order to allow more air flow as well as to relieve the heat.

None of these four technicians was on-call that weekend, yet each responded in the most responsive manner imaginable. The team communicated constantly with the

They’re dedicated to us, and to our country. : +: BY BRIANNA REICHELT

Over 14% of MacDonald-Miller employees have served our country, representing every branch, including the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. All of these veterans have played an integral part in protecting and serving our country. These veterans indeed deserve recognition; so this year every issue of Perspective will highlight a different “face in the field” to share a bit of that soldier’s story with you. In this issue we are saluting Rob Estes, so be sure to shake his hand if you ever cross his path.

:.CONTINUED ON P3 “FACES IN THE FIELD”

PAGE 1

CRISIS TIMELINE

customer, ceaselessly thinking on their feet and planning ahead to arrive at the best possible solutions.

This service call prompted a 24 hour/7 day a week monitoring schedule of this equipment. For the next 32 days, MacMiller maintained a

:.CONTINUED ON P6 “OUR SERVICE TEAM...”

VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3 | OCTOBER 2013

HIGHLIGHTS

P2 An energizing breakfast

P4 Up, up and hooray!

P5 Great solutions keep flowing

Over the last 2 years “We Make Buildings Work Better” has become our informal company motto, used frequently on MacDonald-Miller t-shirts or promotional items for customers. I believe that within those 5 words is the root of why I feel proud to be part of MacMiller – it’s really our mission statement in a condensed easy to open package!

This phrase captures the essence of why we have never wavered from our core capabilities of design/build and service of building systems. Those 5 words describe why we have always been committed to commissioning our own work, why we prefer to design and install building controls ourselves, and why we can guarantee that a system designed by MacMiller in a new building will perform as designed.

So what? Why does that make us special? The majority of contractors or engineers in our industry specialize in only a few of the following: construction, service, building controls, or system design. Rarely can one company take accountability for the whole of the buildings system performance. Some are even more specialized, focusing efforts only on Wet or Dry sides of the mechanical contracting business.

In short, if we subcontract the design of our work we have given up the accountability of that building’s operation. Surprisingly, most companies have done exactly this, especially in controls. We have not.

“We” is the real glue in our motto. We rely on each other and every department to make this motto true. A service technician has the backup of the entire company to help solve a problem. A building system that was designed or retrofitted by MacMiller a decade ago has the engineering data available to help answer the questions of today. “We” are not just focused on fixing or replacing or building something – we are able to advise and make our customers’ buildings work better overall. The buck stops with us at MacMiller.

That’s a culture, and a motto that makes MacMiller a better choice. It’s why our customers keep coming back.

And it’s why I like Mondays.

Gus Simonds President

Building Performance travels

to the Caribbean! Yes, that’s right.

MacDonald-Miller has been selected to

provide energy conservation services

to the Republic Bank of Trinidad and

Tobago. Greg Noel is leading this

program for MacMiller. Proof that

our energy services and programs

have no boundaries AND is good

business for the building owner.

Stay tuned, more buildings, states

and countries to follow.

An energizing breakfast: +: BY PERRY ENGLAND

Local CFO’s take advantage of cost saving measures and boost their bottom line

At the Washington Athletic Club on Sept. 18th, nearly 100 financial executives from local non-profits, healthcare organizations, universities, community colleges, and public entities gathered to hear about successful energy efficiency projects. The panelists included the CFOs of Compass Health, WAC, and Horizon House as well as the Senior Resource Conservation Manager from the City of Bellevue and the Sustainable Energy Coordinator from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. Each panelist expressed their satisfaction with the efforts of MacDonald-Miller’s employees and discussed how our programs are significantly benefiting their business. During the forum, the building owners on the panel illustrated how they are taking advantage of the innovative energy efficiency project development and financing programs developed with the leadership of MacMiller and our business partners. Keynote speaker Dow Constantine, King County Executive, kicked off the morning with highlights of various projects happening around the county, and he displayed great enthusiasm for undertaking cost saving measures in the future. This special breakfast was hosted by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, Key Bank, Innovate Washington and MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions.

NEWS FLASH!

energy efficiency

MAINTAIN

BENCHMARK

IMPROVE

AUDIT

SAVE

CONTINUED FROM COVER

US ARMY

PAGE 3

Rob Estes

ANTHONY WHITE, NAVY • BOB LYDEN, NAVY • BOB NEWMAN, MARINE CORPS • BRETT BUTLER, COAST GUARD • CASEY WILLIAMS • CLAYTON PARKER, NAVY • DAN BARNES, ARMY • DAN FREYLING, MARINE CORPS • DANIEL BRAYTON, NAVY • DARCY CHRISTENSEN, AIR FORCE • DAVE CASIAS, NAVY • DAVE GEHMAN, NAVY • DAVE HERR, AIR FORCE • DAVID BECKSTROM, NAVY • DOUG THOMPSON, NAVY • EDWARD MCQUOWN, MARINE CORPS • ERIC GILBERT, NAVY • FRANK WORSING, NAVY • GARY HUFF, COAST GUARD • GARY LARKIN, NAVY • GARY WALLACE, AIR FORCE • GUY FORSLING, MARINE CORPS • JAKE WOELKE, NAVY • JASON LOUGHEED, ARMY • JEREMY RICHMOND, NAVY • JIM RAABE, ARMY • JOE EARL, MARINE CORPS • KRIS ZUCCONI, ARMY • KYLE INGLE, NAVY • LARRY HARBISON, ARMY • LES KLOPP, AIR FORCE • LINDSEY ANDREWS, NAVY • LYLE SCHRAMM, NAVY • MARK PUZON, AIR FORCE

• MARK TESSANDORE, AIR FORCE • MATT BARNES, ARMY • MIKE KUNKEL, MARINE CORPS • MIKE MORCEAU, NAVY • MIKE PINCHIN, ARMY • PAUL DEINES, ARMY • R. JOEL PEARSON, MARINE CORPS • RANDY WRIGHT, ARMY • ROB ESTES, ARMY • SCOTT GIDEON, MARINE CORPS • SETH HENDERSON, ARMY • SHEIK HANIF, MARINE CORPS • SKIP SOUCY, AIR FORCE • STEVE HARGROVE, ARMY • STEVE NICHOLES, ARMY • TIM ANDERSON, NAVY • TOM ALBERS, ARMY • VIC ANDERSON, ARMY

FACES IN THE FIELD

veteransOUR

Ergonomics: Let’s use our bodies wisely: +: BY JIM WEST

Ergonomics is the science of designing and arranging things so people can use them easily and safely. Given the rigors of many MacDonald-Miller work environments, it’s essential to implement processes that address ergonomic issues.

It’s often difficult to recognize such issues, as some body movements appear to be innocuous yet are actually quite harmful – especially over the long haul of day-to-day repetition. By not creating an ergonomically sound work setting, we’ll witness increasing physical limitations of our workers, and shortening of careers.

Our workers are our most valuable assets, and they use their bodies – hands, arms, wrists, shoulders and backs – to make projects successful. So when addressing ergonomics, we must understand their limitations, and develop solutions to curtail the possibility of injury – both short and long term. For example, we know that overhead work, specifically with roto-hammers, drills and Hilti guns are a major concern, yet we must recognize that many other not-so-obvious body usage hazards are present. Lifting heavy gates on trucks in an improper manner… using pro-press guns in a way that puts unneeded stress on arms or wrists… these, and many more scenarios need to be reviewed.

Rob Estes’ sense of responsibility is recognized here at MacDonald-Miller, and it’s plain to see where he honed such a valuable quality. Rob joined the US Army in 1982, enlisting as a Private E1, working his way up to Sergeant E5. When he graduated the Army Aviator Course in 1987, he became a Warrant Officer WO1. His duty stations included: Fort Riley, Kansas, Fliegerhorst, Germany, Fort Rucker, Alabama, Tongducheon, Korea, Fort Ord, Califorina, Fort Eustis, Virginia, Fort Lewis, and Fort Hood Texas.

Rob didn’t fight in any of the wars, yet he admirably volunteered for Desert Storm. He started his enlisted career as a Helicopter Missile Systems Technician and was responsible for maintaining and repairing the Missile Firing Controls and Guidance Systems, as well as the other weapon systems on AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopters. When he graduated Flight School, he took on the role of Army Aviator where he was primarily an AH-1 Cobra Pilot, but was also qualified to fly UH-1 Huey and OH-58 Kiowa Helicopters. His final job was Repair Platoon Leader/Maintenance Test Pilot, responsible for a 30-man maintenance repair platoon. This group performed phase maintenance Helicopters at Fort Hood, and also provided recovery support for Helicopters that had malfunctioned or crashed. In 1994, Rob was honorably discharged from Active Duty, and placed on Inactive Reserves.

Rob’s diverse expertise was highly regarded by all his fellow soldiers, and his work ethic always set a great example. His military experience helped shape his skill-set, his ability to trouble-shoot, and his high attention to detail. His time in the armed forces also boosted his ability to interact with others – Rob notes that this experience truly helped him overcome a bit of shyness! For Rob, “joining the military at 17 was a huge step, but definitely the right choice.” And having Rob on the MacMiller team is definitely the right choice for us, as well.

R

Our ergonomic policy discusses, along with other approaches, the essential practice of stretching and flexing every day. We’ve hired Dr. Jill Jorgenson from Spinal Health Consultants to visit jobsites and get the stretch and flex program rolling, and she is available to consult on large job sites or for groups of workers most exposed to overuse injuries.

The more we’re educated how to properly manipulate our bodies, the more career longevity we will enjoy. It’s time to start protecting ourselves better, every day.

Westfield Southcenter Mall Renton, Washington

As always, our number one goal is safety and our

team came through with careful planning. I’d also like

to recognize our team; Daryl Anderson, Chris Ebbert,

Dustin Schmidt, Jason Zembrycki, Jason Fain, Tim

Anderson, Roman Wyszynski, Chuck Stanley and Clint

McCann who did the sheet metal on phase 1 for their

commitment to the plan and flexibility in scheduling

which can get pretty tricky when you’ve only got an

hour or two with the helicopter to execute the plan.

Mike Reichert, SPTI Coordinator

Up, up and hooray!: +: BY STEVE AMANN

PHO

TOS C

OU

RTESY O

F TOM

BOO

TH

Westfield Group | OWNER Contract | $1,800,000

SPECIAL NOTES | We used a creative alternative solution that involved the replacement of individual equipment components with cost effective and efficient packaged HVAC units, saving the owner nearly one million dollars from their previous estimated concept.

the team stats

The photos you see here were part of a three-phase HVAC equipment replacement project for the Westfield Southcenter Mall. They illustrate the lifting of two 50-ton (8,000 lbs. each) rooftop air conditioning units onto the roof with a helicopter. The first phase, completed last year, utilized a crane to move equipment closer to the perimeter of the building. Similar to the second phase of work, the final phase next summer will also require a large helicopter, given that the equipment location will be too far for a crane to reach.

The scope of our work involved removing separate 1960’s vintage HVAC equipment components from several equipment penthouse rooms. This equipment was replaced with large rooftop units that contained all of the HVAC components in very efficient and compact packages. MacDonald-Miller subcontracted all of the general construction related work.

The helicopter utilized was the only one available in the Northwest large enough to accomplish the weight requirements – and it had to be flown in from Oregon. All of the rigging work occurred in less than an hour on an early weekday morning with no disruption to the mall operations. This was a demonstration of another significant project, well executed by the experienced and proven MacMiller field crews.

The Project Design-BuildDB

PAGE 5

Great solutions keep flowing: +: BY DAVE FILLO

The Redmond High School project is a great example of the capabilities of our Bend/Redmond, Oregon Office.

This project started as a 100,000 SF renovation of Redmond High School, which we won with a hard bid with Skanska for $500K. The owner was very impressed with our approach and workmanship in the initial phase of construction, and for that accolade, we owe many thanks to Steve Allen and Jason Byrd. As a result, we were given an opportunity to negotiate a $700K boiler replacement as a change order to the original contract. Working closely with the owner and engineers, we were able to value engineer the boiler scope into the budget and develop a manageable work plan to fit an extremely short construction schedule.

The Boiler Replacement portion of the Oregon High School job started in June 2013, and was assigned a tight finish date of September 13, 2013. The charge for MacDonald-Miller was to remove the old Cleaver Brooks Boilers

(40,000 lbs apiece) and demo out the mechanical equipment on the mezzanine. The major challenge was the inherent construction and layout of the school. It was built in the late 1960’s and most of the equipment/piping were the original materials – as evidenced by the piping system being grooved with a multitude of leaks. MacMiller not only achieved the goal of completing the boiler change out, but we also repaired many existing leaks throughout the building. During the final owners meeting MacMiller received very high praise on a job well done! All boiler projects have their challenges, and this one was no exception, however Jeff Tygart and his team (Jeff Nelson and Ed Manley) were able to execute our work plan on schedule, in budget, and without incident.

In May 2012, MacDonald-Miller was awarded a 1.8 million dollar St. Joseph Medical Center Utility Plant expansion project. The company was proud to be chosen for the job, as it entailed adding additional emergency electrical generating and increasing chiller water capacity for the 361 bed medical center.

We determined early on in the project that major design changes, as well as means and method modifications were required to accommodate the hospital’s chilled water system needs. It was necessary to shutdown the chilled water system to move the existing cooling towers out of the

location of the new generator plant structure. After construction, three new 1,000-ton whisper quiet BAC cooling towers would be installed on top of the generator building. The new towers would be connected to the existing condenser water pumps, and the existing towers would be decommissioned and recycled.

Per the construction documents, MacMiller provided a 2 week chilled water shut down schedule to Andersen Construction for approval. However, Andersen Construction, MacMiller, and St. Joseph’s collectively determined that shutdown of the chilled water system would not be feasible at the facility. In response to this

realization, Superintendant Jack Baker and site foremen Matt Picket arrived at an alternative solution: install three rental cooling towers and condenser pumps. The General Contractor and Medical Center accepted the approach, and this temporary cooling tower solution was able to keep the chill water system running, allowing the hospital to continue servicing the community during the project. Proving the efficiency of that solution, the total loss of cooling at the Center was kept to less than 4 hours. This performance was another illustration of the MacMiller strength of expertly assessing a scenario, and crafting an innovative, logical solution.

St. Joseph Medical Center Tacoma, Washington

Installed MTU 2,000 KW generator and switch gear with space for 2 more generators as needed for the facility. Located above the generator are three 1,000 ton BAC cooling towers.

We schooled this job: +: BY SCOTT SINCLAIR AND JEFF TYGART

Photo by Dave Fillo

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) Building 900 – Boiler Efficiency Upgrades, Bremerton Modifications to the exhaust systems on the (3) main steam boilers for Bonneville Power Administration/NAVFAC NW

Westlake Center, Seattle Zara Estudio; a follow up to the many landlord upgrades and various TI works at Westlake, Dickinson Cameron Construction, Inc.

Willows 124 iCom America, Bellevue 68,000 SF, 2 floor TI including RTUs, Boiler & Controls, Unimark Construction

McKenzie Willamette Medical Center, Springfield, Oregon Install of McQuay WSC Centrifugal 500-ton Water Cooled Chiller

Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Comprehensive energy and water conservation program will deliver an estimated annual water savings of 1,314,000 gal/yr, estimated electrical savings of 931,326 kWH/yr, and an overall reduction of 728 metric carbon tons per year or an equivalent of 130 cars off the road. A 24.7% reduction in overall utility consumption!

RECENT MAJOR PROJECT

AWARDS

technician onsite, each working 12-hour shifts. Andy Stewart, Scott Gideon and Artur Chernyak joined Keith and Jimmy in an effort to support the tasks at hand. Often, those working the night shift would remain available for any questions during the day. And, coordination also jumped in and provided the customer with a weekly schedule regarding who would be onsite and when, while still juggling man-power for all of the other accounts we service.

Bruce Simonetti, Manager of Facilities Maintenance at Alaska Air, sent Kevin Wilder

a formal letter thanking the team for their hard work. He noted, “I want to thank you on behalf of the Alaska Airlines Facilities Maintenance department for the support you provided during the cooling outage at our data center. It certainly was a pleasure how your team responded so quickly to correct and oversee the cooling problem – all the way to the end.

It would not have been possible for Alaska Airlines to fly without the support of such a dedicated staff of HVAC technicians. You helped us avoid the potential loss of millions of dollars

in revenue. It’s comforting to know that our data center was so well cared for, and that your employees were willing to go above and beyond to support our airline.”

In 2012, Alaska Airlines experienced an outage at the McGee Building that wasn’t connected to any of MacMiller’s systems. During that outage, the company lost more than 4 million dollars in revenue in a span of 4 hours. This makes the entire service team’s heroic commitment to saving our customers millions of dollars even more apparent.

Our service team, always prepared for take-off CONTINUED FROM COVER

With greenhouse gas emissions continuing

to grow dramatically and office buildings

contributing nearly 35 percent of those

emissions nationwide, cities must do much

more to cut energy use. That situation was the inspiration for Seattle 2030 District, which was launched in 2010 and set ambitious goals, including a 50 percent reduction in total energy use in the downtown area by 2030 and an immediate 60 percent reduction below national averages in energy use of new buildings. Not only will the climate benefit, but tenant costs will also fall as landlords see the values of their buildings rise, says Brian Geller, executive director of the organization. Given comparable locations and amenities, adds Geller, “The buildings with the lowest energy and water use per square foot have the competitive edge.”

To achieve such ambitious goals, dozens of existing buildings in Seattle must undergo substantial retrofitting. That process requires significant capital investments, often costing $1 million or more for a single renovation. Since energy is a building’s highest operating cost after taxes, investing to cut energy and water use can bring attractive returns.

Unfortunately, the way the

industry structures capital budgets

and leases makes it difficult for

landowners to justify undertaking

the long-term investments.

For minor upgrades and maintenance, managers use conventional off-balance sheet financing so they needn’t dip into capital budgets. This approach involves repaying efficiency investments over time through energy savings, then reinvesting money year over year on the operations side. Tax, bond and grant programs from federal, state and local entities (such as Washington State’s Jobs Now), also provide funding sources, along with utility rebates and incentive programs.

One example is the Washington Athletic Club (WAC), which recently completed a $1 million project that cut energy use by 25 percent. To pay for it, WAC used low-interest, third-party financing that included money invested by

The Seattle Foundation. The money paid for a range of investments, including the upgrade of the club’s 40-year-old HVAC system. Under the arrangement, the WAC continues to pay its regular monthly utility bill. Savings from the reduced energy costs are then channeled through a third party to pay the interest on the loans.

MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions, which handled the WAC renovation, is using a similar financial arrangement to complete an $800,000 project at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel and another $450,000 upgrade to the Lake Union Building, a seven-story office complex developed in 1970. It’s also working with the Seattle Aquarium on a $1 million project that will increase the reliability of the life support systems for the marine life and also reduce energy use.

The road to greener commercial buildings isn’t easy…: +: EXCERPT FROM MARTIN WESTERMAN’S ARTICLE FOR SEATTLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

the teamBelltown Tower LLC | OWNER

Weber Thompson | ARCHITECTS

MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions MECHANICAL CONTRACTOR

Turner | GENERAL CONTRACTOR

Some developers and non-profits have taken advantage of tax-exempt bonds issued by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to finance their projects. The YMCA of King County used this approach to raise money to boost energy efficiency at six of its facilities around greater Seattle.

With creative financing, recognition of the bottom-line value of energy conservation and the entrepreneurial spirit that made the city ground zero for helping to develop LEED, Seattle will remain on the cutting edge as it continues to reduce its buildings’ impacts on the environment.

Read the full story here: http://seattlebusinessmag.com/article/road-greener-commercial-buildings-isn%E2%80%99t-easy

Seattle Aquarium

PAGE 7

35% GHG

Erin Schiedler | Weber Thompson

The Viktoria Seattle, WashingtonThe Viktoria Apartment project is a 25 story apartment tower located at 1915 2nd Ave in the heart of Seattle. The largest VRF project to date in Seattle, the project is quickly approaching the 1/20/14 completion date. MacMiller is self-performing the controls, refrigeration piping and sheet metal.

Due to the recent emergence of the VRF system in new construction projects, MacMiller field and office staff invested time researching and planning the installation prior to establishing a site presence. The preplanning was key to establishing efficient installation practices. With 249 apartment units we installed over 10 miles of brazed copper within this project.

VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 3 | OCTOBER 2013

P1 Service team, always prepared for takeoff

P1 Faces in the field

P2 An energizing breakfast

IN THIS ISSUE

PO Box 47983 Seattle, WA 98146

PRSRT FIRST-CLASS US POSTAGE

PA I DSEATTLE, WA PERMIT #1578

macmiller.com 1-800-962-5979

SEATTLE EVERETT BELLEVUE

TACOMA PORTLAND EUGENE

P3 Ergonomics: Let’s use our bodies wisely

P4 Up, up and hooray!

P5 Great solutions keep flowing

P5 We schooled this job

P6 Recent major project awards

P7 The road to greener commercial buildings…

H-3 Central Sterile Processing Remodel, Seattle WA

Photo by Dave Fillo