Case Studies

Every morning between 3:30 and 4:00, while the homes of his neighbors lie still and dark, Jon Archer is getting ready to work. Long before the sun or the competition is up, he’s checking email, having his first cup of coffee, reviewing proposals. As one of the principals for Crew Builders, a San Diego-based commercial […]

As Heath Howe spoke with Blueprint earlier this year, one could hear thunder in the background. Seems that from his office in the northern Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Argyle, Texas, there was one of those frequent storms commencing that Howe’s employer, Bonded Lightning Protection Systems, may regard as free advertising. “There’s another reminder as to […]

Each year, some 12 million tourists visit Niagara Falls to learn about its history, hitch a ride on the Maid of the Mist boat tour and take in the breathtaking scenery. In fact, after New York City, Niagara Falls is the second most visited place in New York state. However, none of these tourists get […]

Adam Hergenrother remembers the exact moment he decided he’d never settle for a life of mediocrity. He was 15—overweight, failing classes, giving into peer pressure to experiment with alcohol and soft drugs. And then one day he just came home and broke down. Enough was enough, he decided. “I just knew I wasn’t going to […]

Baldwin, Louisiana, a tiny town in the southern part of the state, is small in both size and population. It measures just 3.2 square miles and is home to just over 2,000 residents. But key industries, including carbon black processing—a little known but important chemical powder—and sugar mills, anchor businesses like SAS Construction Inc., a […]

When Chris Knollmeyer drives around Boston and the surrounding towns, he can point to buildings he’s helped build or maintain. There’s the iconic Custom House in Boston’s financial district, historic condos in Boston’s Back Bay, Betty Power Public Library in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, the roof on Harvard University’s Gund Hall. After a lifetime in […]

Even the most ambitious company has got to know its limits, especially when overmatched by industry giants. It might prove better to specialize in a couple of areas rather than spreading the corporate capability too thin. Upon careful review, BlueNRGY Group Limited opted to do just that this past spring, finally phasing out the more […]

Time was when the potential of solar panels wasn’t widely recognized by conventional builders. It took a young generation to see the light, and among them was Richard Bergman, who, during the late 1970s, would become one of the solar energy pioneers in the Buffalo, New York, area. “I was the first green-certified builder in […]

Under the best of conditions, a painstakingly long and expensive process—on average, 10 years and $2.6 billion—awaits any prescription drug seeking to achieve regulatory approval. There are the research and discovery phases, the preclinical testing, the initial application to the Food and Drug Administration, several rounds of clinical testing, final new drug application and follow-up […]

As Jon Wesley “Wes” Treder scrolls through the many applications for the San Luis Obispo International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ (IBEW LU639) five-year apprenticeship program, he can’t help but notice a serious lack of hands-on experience. “There are kids coming through who don’t know how to use a tape measure, or understand what a sixteenth […]