Paragon Environmental Construction Inc.

Full-service environmental construction, from earth work to geotechnical drilling, cleanup, restoration and much more, is just a phone call away with Paragon Environmental Construction Inc. (PEC). Based in Brewerton, N.Y., PEC is the single-source solution for all things environmental.

“We’re a multidimensional firm,” explains Peter Paragon, founder and owner of PEC. “Our complimentary services speak for themselves because our private, municipal, engineering, architect, consultant and developer clients know it’s just one phone call and we’re on the ground.”

First on the ground

Paragon says his company has the ability to deliver any environmental job from concept to completion, giving PEC a competitive edge and saving the firm’s clients time and money. “From just an idea, say someone needs to drill a site to see if its impacted, or to see how to build from a geotechnical perspective, we can do it in-house with our own drill rigs and then we can come in and do the dirt work,” he details. “This past winter, we formed Paragon Masonry LLC, a full service masonry, concrete and restoration company to add to our capabilities.”

“Developers want a contractor that’s going to get on the ground as quickly as possible,” adds Paragon. “Once they have the permits they want to get started because as in any business, time is money.”

Paragon founded the namesake company in 1999 as a one-man band. “I started PEC in August 1999 with only one pickup truck and now we have 90 people on board,” he shares. “But it’s not just me, it’s the great people I have working for me that truly make the company a success.”

Today, PEC serves the entire Northeast, including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as Pennsylvania and even Virginia and eastern Ohio. “We offer a diverse set of environmental solutions and a wide range of remedial and site development services for private and public clients, including engineers, architects, consultants, developers, utility companies and government groups,” details Paragon.

The whole 9 yards

Not only does PEC deliver multifaceted environmental contracting, the company also self-performs all of its work, from concrete to site work; the whole 9 yards. “We perform more than 500 projects annually,” reveals Paragon. “It’s important to do it right because they all involved a third party and you’re only as good as your last job.”

At the Agrana Fruit Factory in Baldwinsville, N.Y., PEC completed 15-acres of site work for the major processing plant. “This facility is one of eight plants in the U.S. that processes fruit for the yogurt industry,” says Paragon. “80 percent of all yogurts throughout the country contain Agrana fruit.”

From a processing plant to a polluted lake, PEC’s is about as diverse as environmental contractors come. “We’re working at Onondaga Lake outside of Syracuse, N.Y., the most polluted lake in the U.S.,” shares Paragon. “There’s a major ongoing cleanup effort worth hundreds of millions. We’re performing a large drilling contract to put in monitoring wells around the waste beds to detect pollutant levels.”

In Rome, N.Y., PEC has been a major subcontractor for Michael’s, a big-name, Wisconsin-based power company. “This $2.5 million substation expansion is for National Grid,” notes Paragon. “We went in and put in new H-piles and footer foundations where the high voltage lines come in. We basically rebuilt the entire substation, complete all of the earth and foundation work in conjunction with outages arranged by Michaels.”

Even in a sluggish, post-recession economy, Paragon says the outlook for PEC is promising. “We just finished a 7-Eleven this spring and there’s a few more Sunoco’s in the works as well,” he reveals. “There are a lot of projects going on.”

But Paragon says it would be a different story for PEC if the company wasn’t so wide ranging. “Through the recession, the diversification of what we do and how we do it has allowed us to be successful,” he assures.

Paragon says the addition of the masonry branch of PEC has bolstered the company’s success in less than a year and there is also potential in growing paving services. “We’re interested in all facets of construction, if there’s a way to diversify that makes sense for us, we’ll do it,” he remarks.

August 2014 marks 15 years since Paragon formed PEC out of a single truck and a simple principle has carried the company through: “At the end of the day, if the client is happy, we’re happy,” says Paragon.

Paragon Environmental Construction Inc. is building on 15 solid years of on-the-ground-first, speedy service on any environmental challenge.