METRO Forecasts Opportunity for Small Businesses in 2010

Nearly 300 contractors and sub-contractors swarmed to the George R. Brown Convention Center last week, and the resulting buzz was enough to lift many a spirit made heavy by the economy.  The four-hour workshop offered a forecast of METRO light-rail construction opportunities including public utilities, roadway, landscaping, trucking, excavation, paving and street reconstruction work for 2010. 

Kevin Calvin, owner of the Project Manager Group, was busy taking notes and asking questions in a breakout session facilitated by Houston Rapid Transit (HRT), the joint venture overseeing all aspects of construction on the mass transit plan known as METRO Solutions. 

“It is like a life-line,” said Calvin, whose three-year-old firm has 17 employees.  “It’s the only money out there.  The private sector is dry, so we all need to network to break through on projects like this,” he explained, while reviewing the qualifications necessary for doing business with the rail expansion SBE Initiative. 

The METRO light-rail expansion represents more than $300 million in opportunities for SBE contractors.  Ongoing METRO workshops support businesses with everything from bid packaging to pre-qualification and certified payrolls.

While many of the businesses represented were of a technical nature, others were all about keeping things simple, and green.  Xavier Leal, whose XLent Services include landscaping and irrigation, said he was keeping his fingers crossed as he bid on an SBE job.  “We had a lot of work following Ike and that was good, but it didn’t last long enough.  I need contract work to keep my company and six employees going,” Leal noted as he spoke with Karen Becerra, program advisor for the SBE Initiative.  

Karl Lassberg , whose Heights-based Texas ReExcavation (TRex) company is subcontracting work through HRT,  affirmed Calvin’s observations.  “We love these jobs,” he said as he checked in with participants during breaks and followed up on a lead with his laptop.  “We use the Web for research and promotion and did some networking through a September METRO workshop.”  Lassberg’s company specializes in non-destructive vacuum excavation used to locate utilities and has already found work on the East End Corridor.

Wendell Rychlik, meanwhile, had just called Lassberg about a job.  Rychlik’s firm, W.T. Byler Co., specializes in heavy civil and railroad construction.  Rychlik said his firm is looking to contract with HRT on some of the larger portions of the light-rail construction underway and in the planning stages and pointed out the benefits of attending events like this.

“Networking is critical to achieving goals.  You have to know whom you are working with.  Karl Lassberg and I are both members of the Association of Builders and Contractors (ABC-Houston), but networking here helped us hook up in doing business together,” he added.

“The project was a huge success from our perspective,” said David Couch, managing director of METRO Solutions.  “We are looking forward to working with many of these companies now and over the next few years as we roll out the rails across Houston.”

To find out more about the Rail Means Business program visit log www.railmeansbusiness.com or email info@railmeansbusiness.com

###

Editors Note:

Photographs of the event and participants are available by request to mm53@ridemetro.org