Jamar Company News

Jamar marks one year with zero lost time injuries

November 16, 2010

Tuesday, Nov. 2, marked the 365 consecutive day that The Jamar Company worked without a lost-time injury. This milestone takes an enormous amount of project and pre-task planning, job specific safety orientations, daily safety meetings, and job site safety inspections to bring it all together. More importantly, this milestone would have never been possible without the daily commitment and belief by all Jamar employees that working injury free is not only achievable, but expected.

"This is a huge accomplishment and the Jamar employees should be proud to reach this milestone," said Greg Olek, Jamar safety manager. While there are many people and processes behind the scenes that help pave the way for Jamar's success, its field supervision and workers deserve special credit for their efforts.

Safety is and always will be Jamar No. 1 value.

"This milestone proves that the people in our organization share this value," Olek said.

"Every Jamar employee should take a lot of pride in this achievement. It is truly a remarkable accomplishment to work one year with zero lost-time injuries, especially in construction," said Mike McParlan, president of Jamar. "Congratulations and thank you to everyone in the Jamar organization who made this possible and who continue to make safety our No. 1 priority each and every day," McParlan said.

Jamar begins intense training

March 15, 2010

March 15, 2010 - The Jamar Company breaks new ground as the first and only construction company in Duluth, Minn., to begin intensive training in strategic sustainability planning with local nonprofit, Sustainable Twin Ports (STP). Jamar hopes to set precedence for sustainable practices within the construction sector.

STP is dedicated to further economic, environment and social sustainability through education, networking and action.

The predecessors from STP's original pilot training achieved outstanding results including reductions in water and energy use, cost savings through eco-efficiencies, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased revenue. Case studies are available on STP's website.

Both Jake Tornquist LEED AP and Krista Pascoe, from Jamar, will lead the efforts on Jamar's behalf.

"We'll work with the other organizations to network, share and gather information on sustainable practices," Pascoe said. "We'll then adapt those ideas to our current business practices."

On Oct. 14, Jamar will share its progress during a public forum sponsored by the City of Duluth.

"Jamar made this effort important because it's simply the right thing to do," Pascoe said. "Increasing sustainability awareness can work with LEAN concepts."

Jamar's goal is to raise awareness and ensure the company's current sustainability goals are being met as envisioned.

"How often do you find the opportunity to improve your community, your environment and your bottom line with one single strategy?" asked Tracy Meisterheim, education coordinator for STP. "We're seeing all three happen right here in Twin Ports through innovative sustainability training and collaborative networking."

Although formal training ends in October, Jamar hopes it is the beginning of a new way to operate its business with less waste, increased energy awareness and the eventual decrease of the company's carbon footprint.

Joining Jamar in this session are St. Luke's Hospital, Duluth Public Schools, members of Cooperative Credit Union, National Bank of Commerce and Fit City Duluth.

For more information on Sustainable Twin Ports and educational opportunities, visit sustainabletwinports.org.

Jamar celebrates 25 years with APi

February 01, 2010

Feb. 1, 2010 - Back on February 1, 1985, most of us might remember going to top movies such as Beverly Hills Cop or Back to the Future. On television we were entertained by The Cosby Show, Cheers and Cagney & Lacy. Sending a letter cost $.20, “New Coke” was hitting the shelves (only to be dumped less than three months later) and the the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes was published for the first time. At The Jamar Company, long-time staffers remember this date as the day Jamar became a part of the API Family.

Back then, there were only about a dozen or so office staff and approximately 50 craft field workers. Jamar Vice-President Roland Sward remembers that all communication was done by the US Postal Service, by telephone or two-way radio or with a face-to-face meeting. No fax machines, PDA's, internet or e-mail to speed business along. Estimating was done with a pencil and paper and calculated by hand, proposals and invoices were done on a typewriter and drafting was done with a pencil on a drawing board using only a t-square and a triangle.

Even though there are considerable differences between 1985 and today, some things have stayed the same: The commitment and loyalty of the employees that help keep Jamar the best in the industry and a great place to work. “People at The Jamar Company are a shining example of the high-performing, family culture that we strive to achieve with all of our businesses. The Jamar family built a tremendous foundation that we were fortunate to have the opportunity to build on. It's a great group of people who have come together to do great things,” says Russ Becker, APi Group, Inc. CEO and president.

API's commitment to deliver dependable service to clients and general contractors made Jamar a natural fit. Jamar was the fifth company to join API, which officially became APi Group, Inc. in 1997, and included Anco Products, ICI and the original APi Construction and APi Distribution. Viking Automatic Sprinkler joined later that same year and the Group continues to grow under the oversight of Russ Becker and the vision and leadership of Mr. Lee Anderson, Sr. - owner and chairman.

From a business stand-point to be a part of APi Group, means strength and stability. Our current President, Mike McParlan says “I think we all take a lot of pride in being involved with a company that has been a part of our community for nearly 100 years. Without the strength and stability of a strong parent organization we wouldn't be the company we are today.”

To date, there are more than 35 independently managed companies reaching approximately 9,000 vibrant employees. With more than 150 locations, APi's success is based on one philosophy: Offer the finest custom-er-driven service by using common resources and shared experiences to build a safer environment.

Jamar is fortunate to be affiliated with APi Group and is proud to be associated with a parent company that provides a solid foundation for award-winning companies who are highly successful in their marketplace and are fully committed to our clients, people and environment.

For more information on the growth of APi Group over the years and its subsidiaries, visit our company profiles section.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Season Premier

September 25, 2009

Sept. 25, 2009 - On September 27, The Jamar Company will feature on the "ABC Extreme Makeover: Home Edition", an Emmy award-winning reality television program, for its hard work and dedication to provide a new home for the Huber Family of South Range, Wis.

ABC chose to use the extreme build as the two-hour season premiere at 6:00 p.m. CST on Sunday, Sept. 27.

The extreme makeover broke ground on August 3, with the door knock of a lifetime. The Huber Family was whisked away to Hawaii while more than 1,400 volunteers, including 35 Jamar employees, 200 businesses and an amazing commitment from the entire community worked hard to make the family�™s dream come true.

"You could just feel the positive energy in the air," said Jamar Project Estimator Tom Meals.

"I am a billing specialist, so it was my first time getting to see some of our craft workers doing what they do every day," said Jamar employee Emily Alms. "I gained a new appreciation for the skills they have."

The combined effort totaled more than 32,000 volunteer hours with 14,500 meals donated to keep the team moving.

Along with volunteer contribution, Jamar and ASDCO, a subsidiary of Jamar, donated an array of building materials including the metal siding and flashing, landscape materials and air distribution handlers and scaffolding.

Just seven days after the Huber Family left their dilapidated farmhouse, the extreme team revealed their new environmentally responsible home to the local firefighter and his family on August 10.

"What I thought was really cool about the build was that just because the house had to be completed in seven days, quality of workmanship was not put aside," Meals said. "It was as though everybody on-site genuinely cared and wanted the Huber Family to have an awesome, well-constructed house, and everyone put the extra effort into their work."

Local nonprofits have benefited from the increased community support. Memorial Blood Center reported 330 registered blood donors and Second Harvest collected 11,359 pounds of food for local food banks.

The Jamar Company appreciates all who volunteered to help with this great cause.

Real Safety

July 22, 2009

July 22, 2009 - In June, The Jamar Company again hit the milestone of one million man hours worked without a lost-time injury.

This achievement is no accident as it takes an enormous amount of project and task pre planning, new hire safety orientations, daily safety meetings and site inspections to bring it all together. Even with these tools in place, the attention of each field worker on the Jamar job sites is aware of his or her own safety practices along with dedicated site-safety professionals to make this achievement possible.

“One million man hours without a lost-time injury in the construction industry does not happen by being lucky,” said Jamar Safety Manager Greg Olek. “This accomplishment is a direct result of our employee's commitment to working every day with zero injuries.”

This is Jamar's second consecutive year to reach one million man hours without a lost-time injury.

For continued excellence in workplace safety and health, the Minnesota Safety Council awarded Jamar's third consecutive Governor Safety Award of Honor in May 2009. Jamar also earned the APi Group X-Cup Award for its achievements in risk management.

“Congratulations and thank you to everyone at Jamar who continue to make safety a top priority each day,” said Jamar Marketing Coordinator Krista Pascoe.

Jamar employees earn LEED accreditation

June 29, 2009

June 29, 2009 - Jamar Company's Brent Tonner and Chad Stolp have both earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professional credential.

Tonner is professional engineer with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota State University and has been in the industry for more than 16 years.

Stolp earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2001. He has worked at Jamar as a project estimator for seven years.

The Jamar Company currently has five LEED Accredited Professionals.

LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. LEED Accredited Professionals have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles and the LEED Rating System.

The Green Building Certification Institute, established with the support of the U.S. Green Building Council, handles exam development and delivery of the credentialing program.

Since 1913, the Jamar Company has been a leader in a wide array of specialty construction services and is recognized for innovation and quality in the commercial and industrial construction, maintenance and service fields. Jamar has offices in Duluth, Minn.; Marquette, Mich.; and Green Bay, Wis.

Jamar Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of APi Group Inc.

Jamar employee becomes a LEED professional

June 04, 2009

Hired as a project engineer, the Jamar Co.’s Jake Tornquist has earned the LEED Accredited Professional credential.

Tornquist is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

LEED Professional Accreditation distinguishes building professionals with the knowledge and skills to successfully steward the LEED certification process. LEED Accredited Professionals have demonstrated a thorough understanding of green building practices and principles and the LEED Rating System.

The Green Building Certification Institute, established with the support of the U.S. Green Building Council, handles exam development and delivery of the credentialing program.

Since 1913, the Jamar Co. has been a leader in a wide array of specialty construction services and is recognized for innovation and quality in the commercial and industrial construction, maintenance and service fields. Jamar has offices in Duluth, Minn.; Marquette, Mich.; and Green Bay, Wis.

Jamar installing latest technology at Presque Isle plant

August 15, 2005

The Jamar Company is currently working under a 7.3 million dollar contract involving the installation of the first full scale test of the Electric Power Research Institute's patented Toxecon™ process to significantly reduce mercury emissions from coal fired power plants. This contract is associated with the "Toxecon™ Project" being installed at WE Energies coal fired 620 megawatt Presque Isle Power Plant generating facility in Marquette, Michigan.



The Toxecon™ Project is a 24.8 million dollar grant to WE Energies from the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) and is being conducted under the DOE's clean coal power initiative. The project's estimated 50 million dollar investment encompasses retrofitting three of the existing nine units at Presque Isle Power Plant with new technology. The project combines the injection of powder activated carbon (PAC) in the flue gas up-stream of an new baghouse to reduce mercury emissions to achieve the following goals:

• Increase collection efficiency of particulate matter, especially during upset conditions.


• Determine feasibility of 70 - 90% mercury removal.


• Demonstrate mercury continuous emissions monitoring, CEMs, as a reliable mercury measuring system.


• Successfully integrate the entire system so that all subsystems are operating at peak performance.


• Determine viability of sorbent injection for SO2 and NOx control.


• Recover at least 90% of mercury captured in the ash.


• Minimize waste disposal with a target of 100% utilization.

The "Superstructure Contract" portion of this project that Jamar is involved in consists of the installation of 712 tons of supply & return ductwork and 365 tons of duct support steel that ties in the new Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control, Inc. baghouse to the existing No. 7, 8 & 9 boilers. Other related equipment in Jamar’s package includes three Fläktwoods ID Booster; the complete fan enclosure building including structural steel; siding; roofing and door louvers and vents; three diverter dampers (which are tied into the existing ductwork and divert the flue gases from going directly into the stack through the new pollution control equipment); one field erected fly ash silo; one Powder Activated Carbon (PAC) silo; one Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEM) building; air compressor skid; several large guillotine dampers; all the interconnecting piping, tubing and instruments.



Currently Jamar is at about 50% completion of the project that is running slightly ahead of schedule and within budget. This is attributable to an excellent onsite project management team led by Ken Pentecost and an above average crew of skilled trades people. The schedule expectation is to begin operation in fall of 2005.

Jamar is working on St. Mary's Duluth Clinic expansion

August 05, 2005

The Jamar Company is currently working on St. Mary's Duluth Clinic new 250,000 square foot cancer center. This expansion project is a registered LEED project and is considering pursuit of SILVER certification.

M.A. Mortenson of Minneapolis, MN is the construction manager for this facility which has a total construction budget of $51 million of which $12 million represents work secured by the Jamar Commercial Mechanical Division and $1.8 million in work secured by the Jamar Architectural Division.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, was created to define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement; promoting integrated, whole-building design practices; recognizing environmental leadership in the building industry and raising consumer awareness of green building benefits.

The Weidt Group has performed the building modeling, incorporating several energy saving solutions as part of Jamar’s value engineering process, helping this project to earn the LEED classification. Energy saving solutions include; working with water reduction and efficiency; chemical free water treatment system; installing high efficiency variable frequency drive motors; increased boiler and chiller efficiencies; CO2 monitoring and control of outside air.

Jamar has just completed 18 months of MEP pre construction as part of its design/assist mechanical scope. AutoCAD and QuickPen 3D software were used for the MEP coordination drawings. Currently, Jamar crews are working on plumbing, HVAC piping and ductwork, roofing, siding and waterproofing systems. Completion is scheduled for March 2006 with 34,000 of 97,000 estimated man-hours worked to date.
Mechanical system highlights include:

• Two 200 HP low pressure steam boilers with fuel oil back-up.


• 820 ton variable primary cooling loop with one Trane centrifugal chiller and one induced draft, cross flow cooling tower both utilizing variable frequency drives.


• Dolphin chemical free water treatment system for HVAC condenser water.


• Variable air volume air distribution system utilizing five custom double wall air handlers with over 200,000 CFM in all.


• Medical gas system including oxygen, medical air and vacuum.


• 20,000 linear feet of snow melt tubing.


• Medical chillers with emergency backup for three MRIs, two CRTs and two linear accelerators.


• Johnson Controls direct digital control/energy management system including lighting controls.

Architectural system highlights include:

• 35,000 sqft. below grade foundation waterproofing.


• 8000 sqft. hot applied terrace waterproofing including a high grade terrace paver system.


• 9000 sqft. in traffic coatings.


• 786,000 sqft. ballasted and fully adhered EPDM systems.


• 3000 sqft. high performance architectural louvers.


• 2500 sqft. aluminum plate column, soffit and skywalk panels.


• 10,000 sqft. field assembled metal wall panel systems.


• 2100 sqft. field assembled soffit panel systems.

The Architectural Division has been tasked with providing all the necessary AutoCAD coordination drawings and computerized estimating for the various components.

It was a major undertaking blasting the ledge work to accommodate underground installation of the HVAC cooling water pipe by Jamar and the electrical conduit by APi Electric.

A number of APi Group companies are working together to deliver the overall mechanical work scope:

• Viking Automatic Sprinkler will install a wet/dry sprinkler system complete with six (6) double-interlock pre-action systems and a 200-HP fire pump.


• APi Supply/ASDCO is supplying man-lifts and temporary heat.


• APi Electric will perform electrical and low voltage work.


• Lejune Steel is providing building structural steel.

Jamar completes annual outage at Great River's Elk River plany

July 15, 2005

Jamar Company recently completed the annual outage at Great River Energy's Elk River, MN facility as part of an ongoing one year maintenance contract negotiated with Great River Energy in the last quarter of 2004.

Great River Energy is Minnesota's second largest electric wholesale supplier. It is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale electric service to 28 distribution co-ops. It's2,500-megawatt generation system includes coal, refuse-derived fuel, natural gas and oil plants, as well as wind generation.

Every day,the Elk River Station converts 2.5 million pounds of garbage into enough electricity for about 30,000 homes, making it a leader in using waste-to-energy technology. Click here to learn more about Great River Energy.

The Elk River Station reduces the amount of waste entering landfills in Minnesota by more than 300,000 tons per year. In addition, using refuse as a fuel rather than placing it in a landfill eliminates the methane that is generated when the waste is buried (methane is a highly active greenhouse gas). Also, waste-to-energy facilities like the Elk River Station conserve natural resources such as oil, coal and natural gas.


This particular outage consisted of alternating shutdowns on each of three boilers as well as a nine day complete plant shutdown. Jamar's work scope covered all mill systems from the refuse receiving building to the boilers to the ash handling system. Craftsmen employed included boilermakers, pipe fitters, millwrights, carpenters, laborers, iron workers and insulators. Project manpower peaked in excess of 200 men with 45,000 total man-hours expended over the course of the eight week project.

Jamar did a total rebuild of the grate drive which is located at the bottom of the boiler and slowly turns, moving hot ashes to the hopper.

The outage was completed on time, on budget and to the complete satisfaction of Jamar's new customer, Great River Energy.