LUNCO Corporation, one of northern New York’s premier construction firms, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2010. Over the last quarter century, LUNCO has been responsible for building everything from veterinary clinics and hotels to auto dealerships and office complexes. Some of LUNCO’s more high-profile projects include Car-Freshner Corporation’s headquarters in Watertown; Otis Technology’s manufacturing plant in Lyons Falls and the Carthage Savings & Loan. When asked about the success of the firm, Michael Lundy, president, said two things stand out―“We ask a lot of questions,” and, “I really care about our reputation.”
LUNCO’s reputation actually got its start in 1962 when Lundy’s father and mother, Erin and Sally, launched the business. originally named Erin Lundy Contractors and specializing in residential work. During the mid-1970s, the company took on commercial projects and a new name, Lundy Construction. After Michael Lundy received an engineering degree from SUNY Canton, he joined the family business, now incorporated as LUNCO Corporation, which is located in Jefferson County near the village of West Carthage.
“I came on board in ‘85 and we really took the business to a different level,” said Lundy. “We started doing more and more industrial work, which got us more involved with the Butler building franchise. Dad had done work with Butler in the ‘70s, but not anywhere near the level that we were heading for. Then in the late 1980s, we decided that we were going to do just design/build, where we would oversee complete turnkey design and construction.”
“We have the highest level of affiliation you can have with Butler,” said Lundy. “We actually own the Butler building franchise for Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.”
Butler Manufacturing offers a pre-engineered steel building system, which is the nation’s leading construction method for single-story buildings that comprise less 150,000-square feet. Between 75 and 90 percent of LUNCO’s projects use the Butler system
Before construction on any project begins, Lundy assembles a group of trusted professionals and asks the client plenty of questions. “We create a team approach where the architects and engineers are part of our team,” Lundy said. “We assemble the team specifically for each project. If it’s an industrial project, we’ll probably bring in someone who specializes in material handling. If it’s a medical project, we may bring in a consultant on the medical side of the business. We spend a lot of time with the owner and the people that work for the owner. We’ll spend a lot of time getting a handle on how they do things. We even help them install their equipment, right up to handing them the key to start manufacturing.”
As a result of painstaking research on building projects, Lundy becomes an expert on his clients’ line of work whether it be gun cleaning kits at Otis Technology, Little Trees air fresheners at Car-Freshner or kidney dialysis at Nephrology Associates of Watertown. Lundy said, “With our way of doing things, we often end up under budget, the jobs get completed ahead of schedule, and owners can move in earlier. That creates a good relationship.”
Lundy says LUNCO gets a lot of repeat business from clients thanks to the close relationships they build together. “When our clients are ready to expand, they often just pick up the phone and call us. We offer fair pricing and we treat the second and third job as carefully as we do the first.” said Lundy.
Because of Lundy’s commitment to quality and his team approach to building, he doesn’t build projects for municipalities, school districts or Fort Drum because, by law, public contracts must be awarded to the low bidder. “We saw the pitfalls of being involved with low-bid work,” he explained. “Typically you’ll find the project is awarded based solely on the low bid, with no consideration given to quality workmanship or good ideas.”
He also noted that, when projects are bid against a specified budget, the bids may come in much higher than expected. At that point, everyone has to start making cuts, and that’s not Lundy’s idea of a good way to do business. “It doesn’t create a good relationship. It can create an adversarial relationship between the architect, the owner and the contractor,” said Lundy. He added, laughing, “What’s odd is there’s nothing else in life you do based on a low bid. Can you imagine selecting your dentist based on the low bid?”
Lunco said, “We like dealing with private companies, whether it be a physician, the owner of a manufacturing company or the owner of a retail store. That’s really our niche. That’s what we’re good at. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been busy enough that we don’t need to stray from that philosophy.”
In an average year, LUNCO’s gross revenues range from $5-8 million through its projects. Lundy has created four other divisions to better serve his clients and develop new customers. They are CCI Building Services, Washington Summit Associates, Lundy Development and Northern Developers.
Northern Developers was the original design/build/lease company created in the 1990s to meet the needs of clients who needed a building, but did not want to own the property. Lundy explained, “We would treat the building as if it was theirs. We would design and decorate it to their specifications. They just pay rent instead of a mortgage.”
“CCI was initially created really to take care of buildings that we own. We thought a good spin-off of that
would be taking care of buildings that we built for other people,” said Lundy. “Since then, we’ve really expanded on that. Now, every time we build a building, we do a maintenance agreement with CCI, so that after the project is completed, the client has peace of mind knowing that we’re backing up our work. If there’s a problem with the building, they just call us to care of it. In fact, we’re going a step beyond that now―doing annual inspections.”
Washington Summit Associates was created within the past five years to develop a 52-acre property on outer Washington Street in Watertown. “We saw a need in the medical community for better quality medical space. This gave us a great opportunity to design/build medical facilities and lease them to various practices,” said Lundy. The business leases to Samaritan Medical Center, a dialysis facility and several physicians. The company is currently constructing a fifth building for a medical tenant.
Lundy Development, managed by Lundy’s sister, Colleen, began as a spin-off from Washington Summit to manage the company’s tenants. “As we look at doing other design/build/lease opportunities, we’ll probably do them through Lundy Development as opposed to any of the other entities,” Lundy said. “We’re currently building a 10,000 square feet spec building in the Jefferson County Corporate Park to lease to a future industrial client.”
Lundy employs 30 people and works with two to three dozen carefully chosen subcontractors. Some of the subcontractors have been with him for well over a decade. “We’ve worked hard to create solid relationships with not only our clients, but also with our subcontractors and suppliers. Quite frankly we couldn’t have achieved such success without them,” Lundy said.
Lundy’s father retired from the business in 1993, but his mother still works for LUNCO. “Sometimes she’ll be here 70 hours a week and sometimes she’ll say, ‘I’m going with your dad for a week on vacation.’ She can kind of come and go as she pleases,” said Lundy, “and it works out well.”
Lundy is amazed at the changes he has seen in his business in the last quarter century. “Everything is computerized now,” he said. “The drawings are all computerized. We communicate with our guys in the field via email and Blackberry and, 20 years ago, that stuff just didn’t exist. We never dreamed our business would rise to this level of technology.
He thought for a minute, then said, “It’s kind of surprising how fast the time has gone. To look back and realize we’ve been doing this for 25 years―wow, it has gone by fast―and it’s still fun!”
Article written by Diane Rutherford
by Andrea Pedrick
Green seems to be the word of the day. You’ll find it printed on many products on many store shelves. It’s quickly becoming the most over-used word since Y2K, the shortcut term for the new millennium. But like Y2K, this is a significant time for our generation. The current economic conditions and the fall of big motor companies have homeowners and businesses alike looking at ways to cut energy costs and reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil. So, in these days of “green washing” - a term that is used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a product or service - who can you trust?
A family run hardware store in Alexandria Bay has held your trust for quality products and customer service since 1908. Now they can add to that reputation as a place people can turn to for environmentally friendly products and services that make a difference.
“We can start in the flooring department,” said Craig S. Garlock. “We offer sustainable woods such as bamboo, which is harvested every six years. And cork which requires no harvesting since it is bark taken off the tree. We also promote local woods such as oak and cherry and not woods grown in the rain forest.”
Craig and his cousin David C. Garlock are co-owners who oversee the day-to-day operation of the store, located at 15 Washington Street in the Bay. They also sell carpet that is made of recycled plastics. “It’s very durable,” said David. “And virtually stain free. It’s really soft and feels great. Carpet is synthetic anyway so this works really well.”
Would you accept a tree in exchange for buying new kitchen cabinets? Candlelight Cabinetry, located in Lockport, NY, will give you a tree to plant or plant one in your honor in a national forest, simply for purchasing their cabinetry. “They are environmentally aware as well as having a wonderful product,” said David. And for the kitchen, consider a recycled countertop made of glass or quartz.
Garlock’s also stocks energy efficient appliances. These types of appliances will save you money in the long run because the high efficiency appliances use less water and less energy. Efficient appliances are proven to save energy dollars, while, at the same time, they increase comfort in the home. According to an Energy Star website, many local utilities will provide customers with financial incentives for purchasing qualified windows, doors, and skylights. Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009 provides modified tax credits to homeowners who take these extra energy efficiency steps.
“Bonneville windows feature taxcredit glass. You can save money off your taxes by simply installing these windows in your home,” explained Craig. “We have everything for the homeowner who is focused on cutting costs and wants to make a difference in the environment.” David added, “The Bonneville windows are sold in Northern Canada. Bonneville has the highest rating for wind. It’s a great window.”
Garlock’s certainly has the products on the shelves and the name brand quality. But customers may be surprised to know how far the cousins have gone to implement environmentally friendly aspects into their business. In other words, they are walking the walk and aren’t just “all” talk when it comes to their commitment to the environment. “People come into our new Design Center and make comments about our lighting. They ask ‘where did you get your lights?’ I’m amazed at this,” said Craig. He’s amazed because there are no conventional lights in the Design Center.
The addition to the old hardware store is instead lighted by 22 skylights. The sunlight is directed from the top of the flat roof through the truss area. A diffuser spreads the light out evenly throughout the new portion of the store. “The lighting is natural. It’s a much more relaxed atmosphere without the fluorescent lights on.
It just feels better,” said David. “We had a guy purchase the tubes here and put nine skylights in his house because of what he saw! It is also a nicer environment to work in.” Ninety percent of the time, the light in the store comes straight from the sun. But on days when there is little or no sun, sensors in the skylights power energy efficient light bulbs.
The Design Center is a new 5,000-square-foot addition to the existing hardware store. It opened in 2008 at a time when the cost for energy per kilowatt was also going up. You might think that adding 30 percent to the overall area of the store would bump up electricity costs, but instead the electricity bills were flat.
The cost effectiveness of these green technologies has the Garlocks thinking of more ways to save money. Future ideas include putting a windmill on the roof to harness the wind off the St. Lawrence River and using solar collectors for hot water.
“It’s always been our idea to use as little bit of energy as possible and use the sun and wind,” said David. “I think both Craig and I can say we’ve grown up outdoors and we feel it’s the right way for our community. It’s good economic business sense, but it’s also ethically the way we think the business should go.
“If it’s got glass in it, we probably have something to do with it.” - Linda Petrie, President and co-owner of Northern Glass
The last time I went to Dunkin’ Donuts on Washington Street in Watertown, I didn’t think twice about the windows on the building as I shouted my order into the speaker in the drive-through. But now I do. Every piece of glass was touched by someone from the Northern Glass Company on Route 37 in Watertown. Somebody cut it and somebody else installed it. And they’ve been playing that game in the North Country for the past 50 years.
Linda Petrie is the president and co-owner of the long standing company. She operates the family run business with her brother, Ian Hill. And the company really does embrace family! Aside from herself, her brother and her father, Petrie says two sets of brothers and several sets of cousins amount to half the staff!
First opened on Newell Street in Watertown, the company has operated continuously since 1949. Petrie’s father, John Hill, was the first Hill to work at Northern Glass - as the general manager in the late 60’s. When the corporation that owned the company decided to leave New York, the senior Hill bought it in 1975. He continued to operate the company until his retirement in the early 90’s. And that’s when Linda and Ian stepped in.
“I come in here at least an hour before the first person usually shows up. So I have my coffee and I can kind of look at my day before it really begins!” said Petrie.
Running the Gamut
Her day comes in all shapes and sizes. Northern Glass does wholesale, construction and retail sales. On the wholesale side, drivers have delivery runs three days a week in Lewis and Saint Lawrence Counties, strictly supplying material. Construction projects are often the most profitable for the company, but the bitter winter cold keeps the window of opportunity small.
“The North Country has a shorter construction season than most. You’ve got to get in when the weather is really good and cooperative. So once we get into late spring, we’re usually busy. Then it tapers off again in the winter. And that’s o.k. because we use the time to kind of regroup a little bit,” said Petrie. “That’s when we tackle the Honey-Do lists. Everyone has those, even businesses!”
On that list is an array of tasks to tackle, ranging from installations of windows, curtain walls, aluminum entrances, skylights and private construction, including those that come with a personal touch.
“We recently did a project for a gentleman who was renovating a building and he really wanted to keep the historic look to it,” Petrie recalled. “So we replicated the wood window frames that had rotted. We glazed them and stained them and then insulated the units so they did what they should for modern purposes. But if you look at the windows, you would never guess they were replicated to look 100 years old.”
Down the road where Samaritan Medical Center is taking on a modern look, Northern Glass is also involved. They were awarded the glazing contract for the new patient pavilion at Samaritan Medical Center. Today’s energy-efficient windows come with glazing systems that incorporate multiple panes of glass, gas fillings, and high-tech, heat-sensitive coatings. Northern Glass is on top of the game both at the hospital and at Fort Drum, where they were just awarded a 2008 Construction Craftsmanship Award by the NNYBE (Northern New York Builders Exchange) for the additions and alterations at the Fort Drum Commissary.
Sunshine and Showers
With 25 full-time employees and 3 part-time workers, Northern Glass is able to accommodate a spectrum of projects, big and small, and stay on time with them. Not only do they install windows in buildings and homes, but they install vehicle windshields, too! If it’s glass, they deal with it.
And sometimes what they do isn’t intentional. The company installs shower enclosures and has since 2003. But it wasn’t in their original plans.
“It actually happened by accident!” Petrie said with a laugh. “We were asked to order a glass shower door for a homeowner. His contractor and he planned to install it themselves. When the shower door came in, the contractor decided he would rather have us put it in. So when we got done with that, we felt it was something that might be a good fit. But we really went about it slowly. We didn’t advertise a lot at first. So we got our feet wet (literally!) and we’ve been doing them ever since. That’s been a nice piece of our business.”
Petrie says the market for the shower enclosures is more in renovations than new construction. “I’m surprised at how many people are actually doing renovations. They’re staying in their homes and renovating them. That was a surprise to me. I thought they would sell more in the ‘new home’market, but they sell more in the renovation market and it’s huge,” Petrie said.
Another surprise? The four seasons sun rooms. Petrie says they started installing them last year and they’re taking off quite well. “It’s one of those things that you stumble upon and you don’t think it’s going to amount to anything, but it ends up being a nice addition!” Petrie said. “They’re a very nice option and we’re finding that people really want to invest in their homes. The sun rooms are a nice way to improve your home and give you additional living space. In the dead of winter, you can be sitting out there, looking at the snow, smiling because you can see the cold, but you certainly won’t feel it!”
Only the Best
No one inside the walls of Northern Glass goes into the field without proper training first. Petrie says her field people go through a state-certified apprenticeship program. They spend four weeks in the classroom learning skills that range from construction essentials and how to get along with co-workers to how to use the tools off their trade and the proper way to cut glass.
“It’s kind of fun to watch the guys that are new when they come in and learn to cut glass because they always think it’s so simple! And we usually have a number of gentlemen with band-aids on their fingers for the first half hour!” laughed Petrie.
But once the cuts are healed and the band-aids are shed, it’s full speed ahead with the family-run company. Northern Glass has been in Watertown for the past 50 years…and will be for the next 50 to come.
“Most of our employees have been working here for a long time. They don’t come and go, so we have a very seasoned workforce,” Petrie said proudly. “And the size of the project doesn’t matter. If someone wants a shower door in their home, we spend as much time making sure we get that right as we do on a project that has 100 windows. It’s all relative.”
So with that, who will install your glass today? Northern Glass is online at:
By J.D. Rossi
So many of us take it for granted - our garage door. We push the button to make it go up when we leave in the morning and push the button again when we come home at night. Our visors are usually dominated by the magic button. And part of our morning is saved because we don’t have to scrape ice or push snow off of the windshield.
So how long has this fantastic invention been in existence? Surprisingly, since the late 1920’s. And Overhead Doors in Watertown has been on board the magic door phenomenon almost as long.
Jody Garrett has walked in and out of the doors of the business on Route 3 for as long as he can remember. Overhead Doors has been in the same location for the past 70 years. Garrett is a second generation owner and he’s proud of that.
The store was started in the late 30’s by Harold Guinan, a local Watertown resident. When Guinan reached retirement age, his bookkeeper bought the business and kept it going. Then in 1981, Garrett’s father bought the business from the bookkeeper. Garrett worked alongside his Pop, first as an installer and later as a salesman. Now he’s the owner of the successful second-generation veteran-owned family business and has been since 2003.
“This is a family run business. We have second and even third generation employees working for us. This translates to over 150 years of experience combined,” said Garrett. “Nobody else in our area has this type of expertise.”
It’s an expertise that has been practiced since the electric garage door was invented in 1926 by C.G. Johnson. Johnson invented the original garage door five years prior, but he invented the electric, automated garage doors to assist those who had trouble lifting what were then very heavy wooden doors. This was the beginning of the Overhead Door Corporation, which is one of the leading manufacturers and servicers of garage doors today.
“They used the same principle, except it was a great big heavy motor that probably weighed 100 pounds. There were no safety features. That thing could grind you into the ground! The on and off switch were toggle switches. You would manually switch the toggle to open and stop it to close it. There was no remote control,” explained Garrett.
Of course, there is now! And those seeking the door come from all of Jefferson County, parts of St. Lawrence County, Lewis County and northern Oswego County
“We are the oldest and we are ranked number one for garage doors because of pride and quality,: Garrett said. “Everybody else is an imitator, basically, of the original. That’s why Overhead Door sets the name for the industry. Customers come here because we’ve been here for so long. We’ve seen it all, done it all.”
For You and I
Getting into a warm, dry car is a luxury for many in the North Country. And the snow is the reason so many residents in the North Country own an electric garage door opener.
“The weather dictates, in this area, that you’re going to have to have a garage door. If you don’t have a garage door up here, you want one because you want your car out of the snow,” Garrett said. “It’s a convenience thing, too. You just push a button. When you get home, you don’t have to get out into the elements. You just go into your garage and you close the door. It locks, so you have the security of it. And it’s the first thing you want fixed when it breaks!”
Overhead Door also does maintenance on garage doors, no matter who the original installer is. But Garrett suggests that taking care of the doors yourself will keep them maintenance free and intact for years to come.
“If you maintain them regularly, with a little bit of oil on the rollers and a little more on the springs, they will last a long time. We’ve got doors out there that are 50 years old!” he said.
Maintaining the doors is a good idea, considering the rough economy affecting our nation. It’s not high on the list of things people want to consider replacing, despite the overall convenience.
“One of the first things that people stop buying when the economy suffers is garage door openers. It’s a luxury item. They have to have the door, but they’ll wait on the opener and work on getting it later,” Garrett said. “You don’t need to have the opener to get the door to work.”
Non-Residential Customers
Since the economy started to melt down, many businesses have felt the negative impact. But Garrett says that’s not true of his business. And, he says, he’s got Fort Drum to thank for that.
“Given what’s going on now in the economy, Fort Drum has been an big umbrella for us. We’ve had three record years in a row and we expect to set another record this year. Based on what’s going on locally, we’re very fortunate,” Garrett said. “Some of the Overhead Door stores are 60 percent off in other parts of the country.”
Sixty percent! That’s a tremendous drop-off in a business. But thanks to a huge national contract on Fort Drum and residential homes out on the edges, Overhead Doors is doing remarkably well.
“Right now the new construction housing is a national account with Overhead Door. So we’re providing all the labor and the doors for all the residential housing on Drum. Actus Lend Lease is building the houses and our account is with them,” Garrett said. “But Fort Drum can go up or down. It’s feast or famine with the base. Our local customers off base have always been our mainstay. Fort Drum is like another little city where sometimes you get the business and sometimes you don’t.”
Wal-Mart is another large contract for Overhead Doors. The Arsenal Street Wal-Mart will soon sport a new identity as a Supercenter and Overhead is involved with that.
And local farmers also add to the mix. “We talk to the farmers about what the price of milk is doing. If the price of milk is good, we know the farmers are going to fix their doors or they’re going to buy new ones,” said Garrett.
For any type of customer, albeit a contractor, Fort Drum or an individual, Garrett says he uses a new software called ‘Door View’ to help the consumer choose the right door. Bring him a photo of your house or business and the software does the rest.
“A lot of people just can’t decide. With Door View, we can put our doors in your house with different colors and window configurations so we can see exactly what the new doors are going to look like.” Garrett said.
Aside from the software, Garrett says his second and third generation installers also keep customers coming back. With top-notch service and what he calls unbeatable pricing, Garrett says Overhead Doors is the obvious leader in the business.
“We have the product people want to buy,” he said. “With our volume, we’re the largest per capita distributor in the nation, so we can buy to get big discounts. We take those discounts and give a portion back to the customers so that our pricing is good. And that keeps them coming to us.”
Mountain Community Homes is Family Partnership
An army survives on its stomach, as the adage goes, but an Army family requires a suitable home within which to support the needs of its soldiers. The on-going construction of homes within the Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes development is big business. During the initial project development period, Actus Lend Lease, LLC. (Actus), designer-builder for Mountain Community Homes, acquired 2,272 pre-existing residences, or legacy homes, and is constructing 845 new Energy Star residences in four distinct communities: Adirondack Creek, Crescent Woods, Monument Ridge and Rhicard Hills. Read more
Pride in community service motivated numerous employees of Actus Lend Lease, LLC, (Actus), designer-builder for Ft. Drum Mountain Community Homes to assist Thousand Islands Area Habitat for Humanity in the construction of two homes built in the Watertown area. The homes, valued at more than $200,000 each, were designed by GYMO Architecture, Engineering and Land Surveying P.C., Watertown, and constructed solely by Actus employees involved in the massive residential communities currently being build on Ft. Drum. Read more
“I think what’s important to me as a mission for this corporation is that we’re building a company that’s multi-generational,” said Robert J. Reddick, president, Con Tech Building Systems, Inc. “It’s going to have some staying power to survive in the changing market without making any traumatic changes.” Read more
Milestones in North Country History: The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority
“Gateway to the Thousand Islands” - that’s how the Thousand Islands International Bridge system connecting Collins Landing, New York, with Ivy Lea, Ontario, Canada, has been described. 2008 marks its 70th year of service to international motorists. Seven decades have passed since U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King officially opened the bridge on August 18, 1938. The christening ceremony attracted more than 25,000 northern New York and southern Ontario neighbors, forever establishing the symbolism of a budding and fruitful relationship. Read more
I vividly recall the day that, as an energetic live-in-the-moment 16 year old, I learned there’s “a little” more to building something then just hammering a few nails and stepping back to admire your work.
My father, who by necessity during his early years had learned the building trades of plumbing, electrical contracting, carpentry, and masonry through the “do them or they don’t get done” classes of the time, found himself in need of assistance while in the process of adding an addition onto our home. Being the oldest boy in the household, I was enlisted as his assistant and, somewhat less then enthusiastically, I agreed to help with “his” building project. I started my first day at 7 a.m. wearing my carpenter jeans, a nail apron, and sporting a worn but meaningful looking claw hammer, expecting a piece of cake job. “A couple of hours, we’d have the walls up and the roof on.” “Heck”, I thought, “with my help the place would be completed by mid-afternoon and I’d be on my way. I’d surely be using the new kitchen by supper time.” Oh, the naivety of youth! Read more
Kyle Barton, New Century Electric
Kyle Barton has an electric personality. Actually, electricity is what he does for a living. He’s the president and owner of the home-based New Century Electric Company Incorporated at 520 State Street in Clayton.
New Century specializes in residential, commercial and industrial electrical services and provides “quality and on-time performance at a reasonable cost.” Read more
