Anoka-Hennepin School District #11 (A-H) is one of the largest in Minnesota, encompassing 45 schools and close to 39,000 students (or about 5% of total public school enrollment in the state). For the past 27 years, Egan Company has been the district’s sole integrator of building automation systems.
Building automation allows owners to control nearly all aspects of a building that regulate energy usage, affecting everything from operational costs to carbon footprint. As new technological features have evolved, Egan has worked with A-H to bring each school facility to the next level of energy management sophistication, dating back to when the technology first surfaced in the early 1980s.
But 27 years is a very long time to be in business with a single contractor. How can this kind of relationship endure for so long?
“There has always been a need to manage HVAC systems efficiently,” said Roger Wood, Anoka-Hennepin Schools Maintenance Supervisor. “Egan collaborates with us to help create a healthy classroom environment for students and staff, while at the same time managing our HVAC systems to be very energy conscious.”
Over the years, Egan has become tremendously hands-on and knowledgeable of A-H’s overall needs, and that reflects in the way we do business. Years of service calls, updates, and maintenance requests have required Egan personnel to look at the big picture to keep A-H’s facilities running smoothly.
“Trust is the key to how we maintain business relationships,” said Tom Addabbo, Egan Company Account Manager. “We continuously show that we are invested in helping the customer achieve his/her goals, and that leads to deep-seated trust over time.”
Deep-seated trust is not fostered overnight, and it can be especially hard to maintain in a public school system, where decisions are committee-led and opinions are subject to change as new members are elected. But it certainly is possible to achieve, so long as both parties recognize each other’s own vested interest in succeeding, which sometimes means going beyond expectations.
It’s our responsibility to respond in a meaningful way when we get called upon to help.
– Tom Addabbo, Egan Company Account Manager
A few years ago, Rum River Elementary was experiencing issues with a converter valve sticking open (causing the building’s boilers to overheat). Gary Schultz, Egan Company Technician, received a call at about 4 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He was about to leave for a holiday dinner.
“Roger [Wood] called me and explained the situation,” said Schultz. “I could have gone home, but I felt it was not the type of problem you leave over a long weekend.”
Schultz pushed back his holiday plans and set out to Rum River Elementary to help fix the valve issue, which was eventually resolved later that night.
His actions that Thanksgiving represent one of many moments where Egan technicians have delivered on a personal commitment to ensuring success for our customers.
“[Egan has] provided us with a high level of expertise and customer service,” said Wood. “Whenever there is an issue Egan responds promptly with technicians who are very knowledgeable and respectful.”
Whether that means working unconventional hours or even addressing issues that weren’t necessarily Egan’s to fix, the goal is to ultimately save the customer costs in energy usage and hassle. For partnerships like this one, there’s much more to performing the service than merely meeting a budget – there’s character, loyalty, flexibility, and reliability. Any construction-related project can turn south quickly if trust isn’t valued, and though you can’t add “trust” on a pricing sheet, it’s as real as any other line item.
These awards affirm the great strides we’ve made to uphold safety at Egan, but there is much more work to do in order to reach our ultimate zero-injury goal. We must continue to empower all employees to voice their safety concerns and promote the imperative need for safety at every opportunity.
The Summit Brewing Company has seen popularity and demand skyrocket in recent years. Though they’re well-known for producing craft beer, they are by no means a small operation. The Summit headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., is the 28th largest brewery in the U.S., and it’s where Egan recently completed a revamp of electrical infrastructure for their newest expansion.
Egan has set the standard for other contractors to follow. By having Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) mandatory 100% of the time, it shows that everyone wants to see us return home safe to our families every day.
Egan Company first established a safety department in 1986. Having been founded in 1945, it may surprise some that Egan had gone over forty years without a dedicated safety program.
The construction industry’s safety expectations thankfully changed, and so too did Egan’s.
Egan’s] safety program goes above and beyond all programs I have seen in my 20 years on the job. When we work with other contractors, they often adopt our standards, making the job a safer environment for all.
Safety awareness is essential in construction, something Chuck Roberts, Egan Company Plumbing Foreman, learned quickly while on the Southdale Medical Office Building jobsite in Edina, Minn.
Egan has a full-time safety team that facilitates regular safety training for all employees. Training is provided through weekly jobsite toolbox talks, task specific training, and online courses offered for employees to gain safety knowledge and experience.
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Since the 1960s, Egan Company has provided operational support for buildings and their internal systems. Egan’s in-house 24/7/365 call center dispatches qualified trades personnel to service building infrastructures and controls.
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