Subcontractors, Trades & Craft Labor

CCDI students and alumni participating in hands-on learning activities at North Tech High School during Saturday Academy in Florissant, Missouri.

Building Futures Together: CCDI Alumni Lead the Way at Saturday Academy

CCDI’s Saturday Academy at North Tech High School brought together over 65 students, alumni, and industry partners for a hands-on learning day. Alumni now working with Clayco subcontractors returned to mentor the next generation—demonstrating how the CCDI community continues to build lasting change across our trades and communities.

A group of eight people in business attire and construction gear participate in a groundbreaking ceremony at a construction site. They are holding shovels and tossing dirt, standing in front of construction equipment. Behind them hangs a large banner that reads: “ALBION | west end, GROUNDBREAKING, September 18, 2025. The Art & Science of Building. CLAYCO + LJC.” The banner also shows a rendering of a tall modern glass building.

Breaking Ground in the West End

Groundbreaking of Albion West End in St. Louis—a 30-story residential tower built with pride, community, and purpose by Clayco, LJC, and Albion Residential.

Building Beyond: A Real Path Forward in the Trades

Malik Johnson didn’t set out to become a pipe fitter. He was just trying to keep his family afloat. His mom was sick, they were facing hard times, and he needed steady work. He started with concrete labor. Then COVID hit, and the work dried up. He delivered food. He did odd jobs. And when the chance came to join an apprenticeship through Clayco’s Construction Career Development Initiative (CCDI), he took it.

When Everything Changed — Clayco’s Crucible at Granite City

When I started Clayco in 1984—the company went from 3 employees to about 30 people on the payroll by 1986 we were doing $10 million in annual revenue—the company still felt fragile, hungry, and unpredictable. I had sold my interest in Machine Maintenance Equipment in 1983, struck out alone, and here we were: a young team, undercapitalized, but full of grit and resolve.

Building the Future at the Kali Hotel: A Masterclass in Integrated Delivery

At Clayco, when we talk about the art and science of building, we mean more than just construction—we mean using the power of people, teams, and ideas to invent better ways to build. Our work on the Kali Hotel at Hollywood Park is a perfect example of what’s possible when we bring together the right people, the right processes, and the right technology from day one.

Tipping the Scales on Carbon: Concrete Strategies Building Smarter

At Clayco, we know the art and science of building is always evolving. We believe there’s always better way to build, you just have to challenge yourself to figure it out. That mindset doesn’t stop at the skyline—it runs all the way down to the concrete we stand on. In our latest field test, our teams at Clayco and Concrete Strategies set out to answer a simple but important question: Can we reimagine the materials we use every day without slowing down the work?

Innovative Projects with Subcontractor Weaver Steel

Weaver Steel in Saint Peters, Missouri, is one of Clayco’s subcontractors and embodies the dedication it takes to transform public spaces into hubs for human connection.

Labor Day: A Reflection on Its Roots and Reason

Labor Day offers a moment to pause and recognize the dedication and contributions of the generations of American workers who have built our country and continue to shape its future.

Paving the Way for Innovation with Kolb Grading

Together, our Clayco and Kolb Grading teams clear the way for expansive projects to come to life!

Skilled Trades Day: Honoring the Backbone and Future of Industries

Skilled Trades Day is the perfect moment to acknowledge the importance of the long list of craftspeople who are the backbone of sectors like construction — the carpenters, electricians, technicians, welders, masons, plumbers, painters, and more.

Effective Collaboration with Vision Electric

When our Clayco team finds a company that mirrors our mission and determination, we fortify that partnership by pooling resources on as many projects as possible. Vision Electric & Systems is one of Clayco’s excellent subcontractors that we have had the pleasure of working on several developments with. Subcontractors play a pivotal role by bringing multifaceted advantages and expertise across construction efforts.

November’s Subcontractor of the Month: Wies Drywall

Leading to serve others is something that Clayco and Wies Drywall have in common. That is why our partnership has been so successful across an array of national projects! Wies Drywall is an experienced construction specialist and commercial drywall contractor that has been serving its clients since 1971. Its main priority is to build walls and take care of people – just like Clayco! We work well together to solve problems creatively and turn ideas into innovation.

September's Subcontractor of the Month: KONE

The most remarkable projects are developed through strategic partnerships that achieve exceptional results. Clayco prides itself on partnering with the best in business to embody the Art & Science of Building, and KONE is a great example of how our extended team of subcontractors helps us accomplish that. KONE is a proven global technology leader in the elevator and escalator industry. The company provides elevators, escalators, automatic building doors, and solutions for maintenance and modernization and aims to improve the flow of urban life. Clayco and KONE are devoted to safety, diversity, strong company cultures, and expertise that brings the most powerful projects to life.

WUSM Cancer Center Precast Erection Topping-Out Ceremony

We are approaching the finish line at Washington University’s School of Medicine/Barnes-Jewish Hospital Siteman Cancer Center! Concrete Strategies recently held the project’s precast erection topping-out ceremony & dinner to honor the hard work and dedication of our on-site crews.

Congrats Barclay Gebel - 35 Years at Clayco!

Yesterday we celebrated Barclay Gebel’s 35th year at Clayco! This is an incredible milestone, and Barclay has come a long way since joining the company with his purple ponytail. He grew up around construction and began working on his first tilt-up project at 16 while attending high school. The hard hat that he still wears today is the same one issued to him in 1988!

National Design/Build Services

National Design Build Services (NDBS) was founded in 2007 in my home state of Missouri and has since become a leader in the HVAC Mechanical Services industry. Clayco highly values companies that share our values of community commitment and best-in-class products and deliveries – which is why NBDS has served as a subcontractor on more than 40 of our projects! NDBS has worked with us on SCAD developments, Blue Engine Plant Expansion, Gestamp Production Facility, Jet Aviation, Volkswagen, and, most recently, the McCormick Distribution Center in Baltimore. The company focuses on energy efficiency and develops the best possible solutions for each project, which is one of the reasons our Clayco team collaborates so well with theirs as we work to transform the environments around us. NBDS designs are environmentally conscious and also limit the cost impact to building owners for the life-cycle of the facility.

Clayco Recognizes Construction Inclusion Week

Within Our Walls Construction Inclusion Week is the perfect time to acknowledge Clayco’s commitment to building awareness around the need to improve diversity and inclusion in the construction industry. Our team has committed to these initiatives through Clayco Rising and beyond, aiming to create meaningful change from the ground up and build equitable opportunities and relationships through our partners, minority youth mentorships, charitable foundation, community engagement, and so much more.

Taylor Excavating & Wrecking Inc.

Taylor Excavating is a family-run business that has served Chicago and its surrounding suburbs since 2002. Its team is highly specialized in heavy equipment and works hard to provide clients with safe and cost-effective demolition and excavation services.

Shambaugh & Son

Clayco enjoys working with Shambaugh & Son as our subcontractor on Crossroads 55 and the Cubes at Country Club Hills. Shambaugh specializes in a range of construction engineering for industrial, food processing, commercial, institutional, healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biofuel projects. Shambaugh & Son collaborated with Clayco on CrossRoads 55, a 1 million-square-foot speculative warehouse for Venture One and USAA in Channahon, Illinois. The building was completed in under six months despite delays with municipality processes and weather issues – which is a testament to our strong partnerships with determined developers.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Labor Day is marked as the unofficial end of summer and a day to pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. It’s a holiday celebrating the ongoing strength of our country’s labor movement and the committed individuals who lead it. Generations of American workers built our country and started to clear the pathway toward progress and innovation for our society and world. Today, take a moment and show support for the incredible people who continue to build our nation’s future and positively impact our communities.

ABCO Electrical Construction & Design, LLC

It was great to collaborate with ABCO Electrical Construction & Design LLC as a subcontractor for Clayco. The company has serviced the Chicagoland area for more than 15 years and provides full-service electrical contracting from design and engineering to the complete installation of electrical systems. They specialize in various residential, commercial, and industrial projects and partnered with Clayco on our Central Steel & Wire and The Cubes at Country Club Hills projects. Central Steel & Wire is an 894,300-square-foot industrial warehouse and distribution center in University Park, Illinois. It includes 38,000 square feet of total office space and the warehouse consists of 100 ft x 30 ft internal column bases and twenty 20-ton bridge cranes. Clayco worked as the design-builder for the center and has constructed over a half-dozen facilities in the University Park area overall.

Scurto Cement Construction Limited

Scurto Cement Construction ltd has been an incredible subcontractor for us at Clayco on a variety of our projects. Collaborating with us and laying the cement for Crossroads 55 and now Central Steel & Wire has proven why their company has been a leader in quality craftsmanship since 1973. Scurto has produced cutting-edge technology for over 45 years and pours over 500,000 square feet of concrete each day. The company’s President, David Scurto, primarily services states in the Midwest, like Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana along with a few more in the New England states. The organization partners with businesses to provide the value and services that they deserve. Scurto’s knowledge of concrete mix designs and innovative technologies ensures that they consistently provide high-quality services.

Todd Weaver — Mechanical Solutions

Todd Weaver is the CEO of Mechanical Solutions Inc., which is an outstanding Minority Business Enterprise headquartered out of St. Louis, Missouri. With a specialization in design/build, engineering, BIM Coordination, installation, and HVAC service, Mechanical Solutions has consistently delivered outstanding results for its clients since its founding in 2006. Throughout its 15-year history, Mechanical Solutions has been an innovator in the HVAC services industry. In 2013, Todd decided to take his company in a new direction, and the business model was changed from a plan & spec contractor to a full-service design-build mechanical contractor in order to keep up with the demand for MBE firms and compete in the wider industry.

PayneCrest

David Payne is an electrical engineer and the CEO of PayneCrest, an award-winning electrical contractor company that handles highly complex electrical and communications projects for commercial and industrial customers nationwide. David acquired PayneCrest around the same time that I started Clayco and has successfully grown his company to what it is today, weathering many of the storms in the industry over the past 35 years. He was even named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014. Like Clayco, PayneCrest has strong ties to the St. Louis community while continuing to grow its presence nationally. We have worked with PayneCrest on important projects like the Washington University School of Medicine Mid Campus Center, and more recently we worked together on Pfizer’s Research and Development Facility. Their expertise in electrical service distribution has helped us build stronger foundations for our buildings and delivered some outstanding results. They take on projects that span industries and consistently help solve challenges with their engineering capabilities.

Midwest Testing

Rich Laughlin is the current President of Midwest Testing, a full-service geotechnical, environmental, and materials engineering consulting firm that provides a wide variety of services, including field exploration, laboratory testing, engineering analysis, and construction observation. Headquartered in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, Midwest Testing was founded in 1985. Ever since, it has provided creative solutions for its clients while also offering the best and most accurate testing services possible. Midwest Testing’s state-of-the-art lab maintains the highest standard of testing for oil, concrete, asphalt and other materials used in the construction industry.

Cooper Steel

Gary Cooper is the CEO and Chairman of the Board at Cooper Steel in Nashville, TN. Cooper Steel is a national leader in steel fabrication and erection and one of Clayco’s most valued subcontractors. Clayco and Cooper Steel have worked on projects together such as the Volkswagen Battery Plant and The Cubes in Alabama.

Stock & Associates

George Stock is a civil engineer and the president of the firm Stock & Associates, based in St. Louis. He is also a great friend, citizen, and family man. We started our careers around the same time and have helped each other hone our crafts. In total, we have worked on over 1000 projects together all across the country.

Titan Electric

For over 12 years, Titan Electric has been a strong partner for many of Clayco’s projects in the Chicago market. Successfully performing design-build electrical work, they’ve helped us quickly complete complicated projects such as the Zurich North American Headquarters parking garage, Cook County Hospital, Berner Foods in Cherry Valley, IL, Project Tarpon (Amazon traditional non-sort), and Crossroads building “A” in Channahon, IL, among many others. Titan Electric consistently works to find cost-effective ways to adhere to budget constraints on projects, all while delivering top quality work, with the utmost attention paid to safety. Led by Vice President Derek Olenek, the communication, planning, coordination, and overall leadership have led to projects being finished on time and achieving excellence in terms of client satisfaction. Olenek is always the first to say “How can I help?” or “What can I do?” when a hurdle presents itself in the midst of a project. Titan Electric is a partner that I never have to worry about on a project team. They help lead the way and get it done, time and again.

ICON Mechanical

ICON is a full-service design-build mechanical firm that has on-site pre-fabrication ability. ICON has been working with Clayco since 2004 when we first partnered together on the design-build of the Cortex One facility. From the beginning, ICON has been a solid and capable partner. They have been an advocate for the advancement in technology and creative thinking that Clayco brings to the table, helping to improve the project delivery process and overall end-product for our clients. They are always eager to help us with our most difficult assignments. ICON was recently instrumental in helping us implement our new approach to prefabrication and modularization. This method was successfully applied to our Pfizer project in Chesterfield, MO, where they built all of the pre-fabricated core walls that lead to millions of dollars saved and a tremendous improvement to the overall schedule. The President of ICON, Mike Bieg, said: “The collaboration between all of the partners involved is what made this project a big success. By communicating with our partners during the process, we were able to adjust traditional decisions to minimize risk while ensuring we were not only completing the work on time but also ahead of schedule.”

Michael Kennedy Jr. — The UP Companies

Mike Kennedy is the founder and president of The UP Companies—which provides full-service Electrical, Carpentry, and Laborer Services. Over 25% of their 300-person field workforce is comprised of minority workers and they provide services mainly in Southern IL, St. Louis, MO, Kansas City, MO, while also traveling for select projects around the country with Clayco. Michael is an outstanding role model. He advocates for providing opportunities for minorities in the construction industry and beyond. Kennedy himself works to provide these opportunities and serves on the board of the Association of General Contractors MO, BJC Christian Hospital, YPO Gateway Chapter, and Urban Land Institute. I consider my responsibility as a mentor to Michael very important, and the learning has gone both ways. Kennedy grew up in the construction industry, learning from his father who founded KAI Design & Build, before graduating from Hampton University’s business school and entering the company himself. In 2011 he founded The UP Companies, creating a new business model that brought together a collection of subcontracting companies that integrates vertically and creates a unique collaborative advantage to contractors. Sharing overhead, eliminating cost, but offering a high-quality, high-service experience for General Contractors.