SEDALCO Construction Services

Versatility a Vital Tool

By Jennifer Hiller

Regional and project versatility is the mantra at SEDALCO Construction Services LP.

The mid-sized firm based in the competitive Metroplex has managed steady growth and reached $70 million a year in contracts awarded by working in a variety of venues and pursuing projects in other states.

The company ranked 93 on Texas Construction's list of the state's top contractors.

SEDALCO was organized in 1983 by Bill W. Young and SEABORG Inc., a California real estate and investment company with real estate holdings in Fort Worth and Dallas.

The company was originally created to provide construction management services to owners and developers in the Southwest. In 1985 the company was restructured to direct its major emphasis toward full-service general contracting.

Young purchased SEABORG's interest in 1990. Tom Kader joined SEDALCO in 1992 and served as a project manager and operations manager before being promoted to president in 1999. Kader acquired controlling interest in SEDALCO in 2002 and the firm was converted to a limited partnership.

Kader said the company focuses on four things: safety; costs; quality control; and coordinating, controlling and scheduling the project.

SEDALCO's business philosophy has been to avoid specialization and work in a wide swath of the construction market: transportation, health, government, retail, industrial, religious and education. Based in Fort Worth, the company offers regional general contracting, construction management and design-build services.

"We work in so many different venues and all over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana," Kader said. "Many of our competitors focus on one geographic market and one kind of customer. We are more versatile regionally."

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That versatility has helped the company thrive as the construction market has changed. Between 65 and 70 percent of SEDALCO's work is in the public market, but three years ago, it was doing 70 percent of its work in the private sector.

"We really don't have a core business," said Russ Garrison, the firm's director of institutional construction services. "It allows us to stay in touch with all markets and make adjustments."

Bob Kriz, chief estimator and director of preconstruction, said SEDALCO has gone after specialty projects such as air-traffic control towers as far away as Virginia and Pennsylvania. "We will pursue anything in Texas or the contiguous states if it's a client that we want to work with," Kriz said.

"That's why we do so much training," Kader said. "Our employees have to be a little bit broader and deeper."

The firm has seen a lot of work in the K-12 market in the last few years and does not expect a slowdown in that sector anytime soon. In addition to doing renovation and expansion work at 11 Dallas ISD campuses as part of the first phase of the district's $1.37 billion bond program, SEDALCO broke ground in 2004 on a new high school for Cleveland ISD.

The company will pursue more DISD projects and hopes to win contracts for some of the planned campus construction. But SEDALCO is also going after more military and health-care projects in 2005, Kader said. In Granberry, SEDALCO is completing the design phase of a $7 million Hood County Justice Facility that will combine administrative offices, courts and a jail.

SEDALCO participates in the Construction Education Foundation of North Texas and has been recognized as a Gold Medallion Training Contractor since the inception of the QUOIN-sponsored program. The company provides continuing education and training opportunities to employees and includes subcontractors and suppliers in its improvement programs, Kader said.

"I think our company has always taken a leadership role in education," Kader said. "We always dedicate funds in our annual budget for education."

Client loyalty also has become a tradition with the company. More than 70 percent of the work SEDALCO does is for repeat customers, he added.

The company completed a $25 million bond program for Cleveland ISD in 2002. Voters in the district approved another bond in 2003, and SEDALCO is scheduled to complete the district's new $22 million high school this year.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Shreveport recently nominated SEDALCO as Contractor of the Year for the U.S. Southern Command for a $5 million air-traffic control tower completed in 2004. The firm hopes that the success of that smaller project will help bring to fruition its proposal for a new $30 million dorm facility on the base.

While SEDALCO has always tracked safety, it recently switched from using a spreadsheet-based program to one that tracks projects in real time. The program calculates where there is the highest potential for accidents. Kader said it has helped the firm solve leadership issues and improve safety even though there isn't always a solid dollar value attached.

"Safety is kind of like religion," Kader said. "Some of the things you can't put an absolute dollar value on. You have faith that you're doing the right thing."