Hard work beats downturn

By Betty Wall

If everyone approached the economic  downturn as Alliance Construction & Design did when it began doing business in June 2009, maybe there wouldn’t be one.

Todd Parczick, president of the De Pere contracting business said that although there wasn’t much good economic news at the time, he and his business partner Tom Perock and Senior Vice President Mark VerHaagh built the company on a philosophy of hard work and perseverance.

“When we started this business, the bottom line was that we were not going to participate in the economic downfall,” he said. “There is too much traumatic news and the media pushes the economic depression. There is always an economy to deal with. So, you go out there; you work harder; maybe you work a little further away from home. You might take a little cut, but you go out and get your work done. Any work is good work, and you can’t be too proud to take a job. We were able to find plenty of work.”

As it celebrates its second anniversary, the company is prospering. The design/build general contractor has grown beyond its expectations and recently moved into a larger space at 1030 Orlando Drive on De Pere’s west side and now has 24 employees.

The company, which received the 2010 New Business of the Year Award from the De Pere Chamber of Commerce does commercial, residential, agricultural and remodeling projects and has developed a solid niche in building waste-to-energy power plants. It forms alliances with local tradesmen, industry and field experts. Alliance takes a turn-key approach to each project from conception to a fully functional structure.

Parczick said that from the outset, Alliance has worked with Oneida Seven Generations Corporation. Alliance is now in the final stages of design and permitting of the new plant for Oneida Energy, with construction to begin soon.

The first of its size Pyrolysis Gasification Plant in the U.S., the energy recovery facility is a joint development between the Oneida Tribe, county and local communities. The common effort will demonstrate the benefits of using waste as a fuel in an environmentally friendly manner. The plant disposes of waste by converting it to energy, rather than dumping or spreading it on landfills. The Pyrolysis-based waste-to-energy plant is structured to produce renewable electricity that would otherwise be produced in an electrical utility power plant burning fossil fuel.

Being a member of the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance, Alliance Construction & Design says it is the first company in the country to design and build a fully-enclosed gasification system converting more than 150 tons of waste per day into 5MW of electricity per hour. The amount of energy produced by this system is enough to power 3,000 to 4,000 households.

“We are the company that vetted and designed that plant,: Parczick said. “Now, we have multiple leads from all over the country and also overseas to satisfy the need for the technology. Once this plant is in, there will be a huge demand because it is financially viable, and it uses waste. The energy side of our business will definitely grow.”

He explained that the waste-to-energy system is build on existing technology. “We have put together old technology into a new way to make it very efficient and very safe to produce electrical energy rom waste,: he said. “It is not new or space-age technology.”

True to its name, he said Alliance has brought together an alliance of multiple vendors to complete the system. “It has been an accumulation of multiple technologies, put together and designed through interconnection with Alliance,” Parczick said. “We pride ourselves on using off-the-shelf things because by re-creating the wheel you end up spending way too much money and nothing ever happens.”

Alliance Construction & Design recently finished final final contracting for a similar waste-to-energy plant on the island of Aruba, and they are also working on one in Panama.

“We have a complete package; a turn-key plant,” he said. “we handle everything, from permitting all the way through the Power Purchase Agreement (This involves the selling of the energy, and it varies within regions). Engineering and consulting firms are very readily available in every state and country. We utilize them, and get help with the process. I believe that you can hold a lot more sand in your hand if your hand is open, than if you try to hold it tightly in your fist and keep it all to yourself. So, that’s our philosophy. I am OK with other people making money. we all need to prosper.”

Parczick said that the energy side of the business accounts for about 25-percent their work, and the other contracting areas are also strong and growing.

“Energy is just one aspect of our business,” he said. “We are also doing very well with general construction. Our people have been in the industry for decades. We have experience throughout our group and we have a lot of synergy with our outside customer base. We are benefitting from word-of-mouth.

“we have a lot of opportunity ahead of us,” Parczick said. “Our plans call for doubling the size of our business in the next few years in terms of sales volume and personnel.”