What Do Food, Safety, and Awards All Have in Common? A Night of Celebration!

It’s always an exciting time when you celebrate with others the different accomplishments of a project. On March 16, that’s exactly what we did. Associated Builders and Contractors hosted their annual Excellence in Construction Awards Banquet. During this time, they recognize outstanding merit shop construction projects from 2022. They also recognize the companies that are working to build a better, stronger safety culture. At this banquet, our teammates celebrated together as they walked away with three different awards.

National Excellence In Construction Awards

The National Excellence in Construction (EIC) awards honor and celebrate the best of the best in merit shop construction. Judges look at everything from complexity to attractiveness to safety and much more. This year, we received two different EIC awards.

The first EIC award we won was the Eagle award for the Specialty Contractor Electrical: More than $10 Million category. Eagle awards are the highest-level awards, and we’re proud to take them home. “This award truly shows our dedication to the Interstates way. We deliver for our clients at a level of excellence, all while providing opportunities for our people to deliver and implement their creative ideas,” commented Dave Los, Vice President of Operations.

On this project, we helped provide the facility with temp power, power distribution, wireless network, lighting, fire alarm security systems, and more. The project required a lot of collaboration between the client, Tyson, the General Contractor, Big-D Construction, and Interstates to share ideas and develop a solid design plan. Part of the project occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to extra precautions on site. We also worked closely with them to meet the requirements of Eagle Mountain, UT’s Dark Sky Initiative. Through all of this, Tyson came out with a new facility and a great project.

Our second award was also with Tyson. This time for their bacon facility in Omaha, NE. For this project in the Specialty Contractor Electrical: Industrial Less than $2 Million category, we took home the Pyramid award. It was also great to see this project win as it placed in the ABC Nebraska/South Dakota Chapter awards in 2022.

At the bacon facility, we had to quickly jump in and help after they experienced a critical switchgear failure. In just 13 days, we were able to provide temp power, replace the switchgear, and start up the plant. This project was a bit unique as the size of the plant required four different generators to keep the product from spoiling. Even with weather challenges from a hurricane and the tight schedule, our team’s vendor relationships and camaraderie really led to the project’s success. Angelo Emmanuel, Foreman on this project, shared, “I’m thankful to be part of a great group who are willing to step up and get the job done.”

See a complete list of winners on ABC's website.

National Safety Excellence Pinnacle Award

Also, during the evening, we received the National Safety Excellence Pinnacle Award. The Pinnacle award is the highest honor for safety to ABC member companies. Dave Crumrine, President at Interstates, gave credit to the rigorous ABC STEP program and the culture at Interstates as a reason for the award. “ABC’s STEP program has been an invaluable way to benchmark ourselves and our results. Winning the Pinnacle award is not assumed. Our people work hard each year to create improvements and experiments that allow us to earn Pinnacle and keep moving forward. Safety has become a big part of our Family core value and is truly cultural. We have momentum through our people and culture! Our field leadership works very hard to meet the bar that is continuously rising….and they are truly getting it done! ” 

To qualify for this award, companies must be part of ABC’s STEP safety management program and achieve Diamond, Platinum, or Gold level. They are then judged on factors like lost workday case rates, process and program innovations, and other areas. This is not an easy achievement, and we are proud to be one of the few to receive it.

See a complete list of winners on ABC's website.

Our entire team had a great time celebrating together. Congrats to all the companies who were honored that evening.