N o v e m b e r 1 6 , 2 0 1 2

GM Views 2

“Dave Says” 3

Anniversaries 4

Birthdays 4

Upcoming Jobs 4

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

The Empirehouse Communicator is published by Empirehouse, Inc., 5200 Quincy St., Mounds View, MN 55112. Phone 763-535-1150, fax 763-535-9151. For more information about this newsletter, or if you would like to contribute to its content, please contact Alana Sunness Griffith, at DD #763-412-4512.

Anniversary Congratulations! We’d like to acknowledge and thank Empirehouse employees who celebrated employment anniversaries.

October November Mary Faue 1983 Bob Faue 2005 Dave Johnson 1987 Seth Danielson 2009 Mark Schindele 1988 Lisa Nesteby 2004 Mitch Schindele 2005 James Hutera 2011

Upcoming Empirehouse Jobs

New and recent projects included the following contracts!

Project: Stewart Title Expansion Contractor: RJM Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: ASM-Eden Prairie Contractor: Howard Building Corp. PM: Jason Weld

Project: Humana Marketpoint Eden Prairie

Contractor: KA (Minneapolis Division) PM: Jason Weld

Project: Plus Relocation Services Contractor: RJM Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: HealthPartners Medical Office Bldg.

Contractor: KA (Minneapolis Division) PM: Jason Weld

Project: McKinstry Contractor: RJM Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: Atomic Playpen Contractor: RJM Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: Uline Hudson Distribution Center BP4

Contractor: KA (Midwest Division) PM: Jason Weld

Project: Phillips Residence Contractor: Streeter & Associates PM: James Bringle

Project: Cerron Properties Contractor: Cerron Properties PM: Dave Johnson

Project: UMMC Fairview West 2C Contractor: Mortenson Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: Venture - Exercise Room Contractor: Amcon Construction PM: Jason Weld

Project: Ryko Cenin Residence Contractor: Prime Contractor PM: James Bringle

COMMUNICATOR V o l u m e 1 1 , I s s u e 5

By Alana Griffith, Editor Yes, it’s time to pat yourself on the back. It’s time to realize how we as a team perform as true professionals and create products that are not only exceptional in our eyes, but also in the eyes and minds of architects and owners. We are experiencing the great TA-DA moment ! This month, we will witness two of our projects being awarded as outstanding architectural structures; the Lakewood Cemetery Garden Mausoleum and the Nelson Cultural Center at the American Swedish Institute. Not only will they receive awards at the upcoming AIA Honor Awards Ceremony, they also have become front cover features and articles in nationally acclaimed magazines. The November / December Architecture MN chronicles the Lakewood project, including history about the complex and the steps taken by HGA Architects through the design and construction of the work. Almost every page of the article

features Empirehouse’s work on the project. Page after page illustrates our windows, curtainwalls, skylights, doors and railings. In addition, Empirehouse was named in the magazine’s credit page for the work. Going a few pages further in the same magazine, the American Swedish Institute’s Nelson Cultural Center had five more pages of coverage and every photo in the article featured Empirehouse’s curtainwalls, windows and the glass skylink. The icing on the cake came about two weeks later when one of our favorite architect friends sent an email with a subject line stating “It’s not on the cover of the Rolling Stone (magazine), but it’s close.” Opening the email’s attachment, I found the Lakewood Mausoleum was also on the cover of the nationally published magazine ARCHITECT, complete

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W h a t ’ s N e w A t E m p i r e h o u s e ?W h a t ’ s N e w A t E m p i r e h o u s e ?W h a t ’ s N e w A t E m p i r e h o u s e ?

Glaziers Corner

“Yes,

Virginia,

there is a

Santa

Claus and

he wants

you

to save the

date.”

Empirehouse

Christmas

Celebration

Wednesday, Dec. 19

3:00 - 6:00pm

Details for the event

planning will follow

Got my picture “on the cover of the

Rolling Stone”

Get to Know Him!

Please join Empirehouse in welcoming Joe Veit as our newest team member. Joe started with us on September 17 taking on the Assistant Project Manager/CAD operator position. He attended North Dakota State University, where he received a B.S. in Environmental Design and a Masters in Architecture. Joe

comes to us with experience in Revit Architecture, AutoCAD, Google SketchUp and experience in the field working with construction documents. Outside of the work world Joe enjoys spending time with his family and two nephews (ages 3 and 5). He also enjoys Frisbee golf, and motorcycling.

The Empirehouse Team Birthdays The Empirehouse Team Birthdays October & November 2012 Pat Dold October 3 Bob Faue October 20 James Bringle October 28 Lisa Nesteby November 11

Please take time to inspect your harness and

lanyard. Then date the inspection tab located on

your harness and lanyard.

Dave Says …

By Dave Johnson

Here we are! Another year winding down, and what I thought was going to be a rather quiet fall has turned into a rather busy one for our field crews. Thanks to our Estimating department we have taken on a lot of heavy glass

wall projects this year and they have been both exciting and challenging at the same time. Unfortunately our fabrication department is not as involved with these projects as they would be with our other types of projects, and they have been off a lot more this year than usual. As we looked at ways to improve our productivity, we realized how much more record keeping and paper work was needed from our field crews. Since this is an important part of our process, we re-evaluated what we expected from our crews. As you all know by now, Trent Johnson initiated a plan to help alleviate some of these communication and information recording problems. We have made some changes and will continue to try different strategies to make things run a little smoother for everyone. We still need everyone’s cooperation to make this work. Most of all, we still need input or ideas from you to help us continue to grow and become the top glazing contractor in this area. With hunting season in full swing and the Holidays coming up, we will be working shorter weeks as we wrap up this year. Please be sure to let us know if you are planning to take extra time off this year. Be sure to enjoy the coming Holiday season and time spent with family and friends. The work we do can be challenging at times as we are constantly being pushed to do our work more efficiently. So, take the extra days off enjoy them the best you can.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families! Dave

ViewsViews - Monthly comments from the General Manager , James Bringle Technology and Communication Today’s world is full of gadgets to help us communicate and interact better. We have smart phones, smart pads, smart boards and 3D modeling software. We see all these devices being used on the jobsite, in the shop and, of course, in the office. We can’t get away without one of these devices in our life working to communicate and interact with others. Empirehouse is not alone navigating through all these improvements to communicate and interact

more efficiently. In the last four to five years, this technology “forced” us to work differently. It elevated us to a higher level compared to many of our competitors. But we also knew that we needed to move forward if we wanted to continue having a leg up on our competition. Recently it was brought to our attention that we may have over-complicated the process of communication. By asking everyone to use this technology and communicate to one person for one thing, another person for something else, and another person to oversee what the other is doing, we discovered all this communication was getting very confusing and we actually were losing productivity. While the technology is a great tool, we still need to manage how it’s being used, who’s using it, is the person qualified to use it, or do we really want that person doing that task? It can become a huge spider web of information which doesn’t always get to the right person, or somebody is burdened with too much data! To better organize, we recently made a very significant change in how we communicate in the field to our shop and office, and how the shop and office communicates with the field. In the past, we asked Dave Johnson to handle all of this plus visit every jobsite, make service calls, schedule deliveries, schedule personnel, and handle all safety issues. Then we asked every installer to communicate to the P.M.’s, shop, HR, purchasing, and of course Dave. This trail of communication became impossible to manage. We decided to move Trent Johnson into the position of Project Superintendent. He is now the communicator for our field to the office and shop, and will track job progress and manage each project in the field. We have given Trent a portable computer, scanner, copy machine and of course a smart phone. With these changed responsibilities, we have already experienced better communication and field management of our projects. This is not only a huge improvement for communication but also for our productivity, The last five years have been tough years, but we have momentum and we are seeing improvement each year. We will continue to update our technology and manage our time better. We have already received great suggestions from our team on how we can perform better. We are also adding new people that understand how to use this technology so we can be more efficient and improve our bottom line. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy time with your family. Remember, Christmas is only a month away! Thanks,

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE FOR 2012 AND 2013

As a special benefit to all our full time administrative and office staff, Empirehouse has changed our holiday policy and has added 2 additional days off to our calendar.

Paid Time Off for 2012 Thanksgiving: NEW! November 22 - 23, 2012 – Closed Christmas: NEW! December 24 - 25, 2012 – Closed

Paid Time Off for 2013 New Year’s Day: January 1, 2013 - Closed Memorial Day: May 27, 2013 - Closed Independence Day: July 4, 2013 - Closed Labor Day: September 2, 2013 - Closed Thanksgiving: November 28 - 29, 2013 - Closed Christmas: December 24 - 25, 2013 - Closed Employees must work the day immediately before holiday or PTO to earn holiday time off. Employees must also have 30 days of prior full time employment to receive the specific days off with paid status.

with a 10-page spread about the project, including again, photos which included our work on every single page! Not only was Empirehouse listed in the credits for the materials, they even listed our website address. Keeping in mind that Empirehouse is not a paying advertiser with either of these publications, it certainly was a testimony to the fine quality and outstanding service that we provide to the designers and contractors. So, team, feel great about the projects we design, bid, fabricate and install. We may not make the cover of the Rolling Stone, but it’s a close second.

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The John M. Griffith Memorial Award

Nominations are now open!

Your ballot for the JMG Memorial Award is included with this Empirehouse Communicator. All ballots are due no later than November 30, 2012.. This is your chance to select a coworker who is an extraordinary example of an Empirehouse team member. If you have any questions, call Alana at 763.412.4512. (shown in picture is Mark Waggoner, 2011 JMG Award winner)

IMPORTANT MESSAGES FROM THE H.R. DEPARTMENT During the last week of November, Pat Dold and James Hutera will need to meet with all in-house employees and fabricators individually to review benefits and PTO availability for 2013. This will be a short (10 minutes or less) meeting. No schedule will be set and we will try to fit this easily into everyone’s work week.

…”on the cover ARCHITECT magazine”