Langlas & Associates General Contractors

Langlas & Associates General Contractors (L&A) is a second-generation construction business with offices in Billings and Bozeman, Montana. Established in 1973, the company has been providing comprehensive construction services for projects throughout Montana and the surrounding states for 42 years.

Steve Langlas, president of L&A, embraces the legacy of quality, innovation and hard work passed down by his father, the company’s founder.

With 128 employees operating from two offices, L&A executes a range of commercial and institutional projects, adding value by performing a significant amount of labor in-house.

“We do a lot of schools, health care market, hospitality and retail work,” Steve explains. “We also build commercial-residential projects, such as apartments, condominiums and dormitories. Our geographic footprint includes Montana, as well as North Dakota and Wyoming.”

Building a sense of pride

The L&A team takes great pride in both project quality and the relationships the company has built with clients. The business abide by four dominating principles: honesty, integrity, pride in work and putting the needs of project owners first.

Preconstruction services play a major role in most projects. Steve’s team works alongside clients in order to provide comprehensive solutions that meet the requirements of a growing business or institution.

The company performs contracts through a range of delivery methods, including lump sum bid, general contractor/construction manager, construction manager and construction manager at-risk, design-build and cost-plus fee.

The seasoned team draws from decades of experience in the industry, standing by clients throughout planning, design, estimating, budgeting, scheduling and execution. L&A offers distinct value-engineering services, allowing clients to reallocate funds to more important projects and initiatives while still achieving project goals.

A diverse portfolio

Through several sectors of the commercial market, Steve and his team have been busy compiling resources to deliver strong finished projects. While the business self-performs some concrete work and some carpentry, most of the labor on each project comes from a network of reliable subcontractors.

“We work with nearly everyone in the region,” Steve notes. “We do have some contractors we work with more than others.”

Recent work includes the construction of a hospital in Big Sky, Montana. “This is a 45,000-square-foot full-service hospital,” Steve elaborates. “This medical center will service the greater Big Sky area. We are self-performing the concrete and steel framing and we have a lot of subs going on-site. We typically have anywhere between 50 and 100 tradesmen working on the project every day. One of the largest challenges for this project was transportation. There is a single highway going to Big Sky from Bozeman, and our tradesmen drive that every day, about an hour in each direction. There is not a lot of lodging or housing so our workers do a lot of carpooling. Road conditions can get dangerous in the wintertime.”

In late 2014, the business was just starting a dormitory project for Montana State University. “We build a lot of multifamily apartments, condos and hotels, so this project was not too far outside of our typical scope of work,” Steve clarifies. “This project is a bit more commercial than those. The building is all steel stud and structural steel. Again, we are performing the concrete and steel stud framing. The foundation work will be complete by Christmas, but the dormitory will not be done until April 2016. We had a short window for design and preconstruction. Right now, we are completing the foundation work, but architectural plans are only 85 percent complete.”

Other projects going on at the end of 2014 include hotels in North Dakota and Wyoming. The team is finishing up a 40,000-square-foot retail project in Billings, Montana and starting construction on a four-star hotel in downtown Bozeman, Montana. This is an unusual project, involving the reconstruction of an old armory building.

As a historic structure, the team has strict architectural guidelines to follow, with only certain modifications allowed to the existing structure in order to maintain a strong, rich and historically accurate aesthetic. The building is more than 100 years old and was originally designed by Fred Wilson, a well-known architect in the region.

Staying ahead of the competition

In the years since the peak of the economic downturn, Montana has seen slow and steady recovery. Although L&A’s volume decreased during the economic slowdown, the team was able to gain market share in numerous areas of the construction market, including hospitality, health care and educational buildings.

This has allowed the business to keep a steady stream of work and L&A has a growing backlog of projects coming down the pipeline. For 2015, the company is contracted to take on work in the hospitality sector, multifamily projects and schools throughout the region. Extensive traveling is required to maintain this growth.

The business maintains strong values, reflected in relationships with clients. “We have been in business for more than four decades,” Steve explains. “We negotiate 85 percent of our work with private developers and public entities. We strive to serve as an excellent partner on the front end of a project during preconstruction, as well as throughout execution.”

In the coming years, these values and strong ownership over projects will continue to work to the advantage of L&A. With diverse construction and management capabilities, the company has a lot to offer existing and potential clients. As the business moves forward into 2015, Langlas & Associates General Contractors continues to stand apart from competitors in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.