SteelMaster's three vice presidents-Anthony Bueno, left, Rob Poellnitz and Karen Willis

SteelMaster Buildings

Founded 1982

Business type Manufacturer of arched steel buildings

Based Virginia Beach

Website www.SteelMasterUSA.com

Revenue 5 percent increase in 2008, 6 percent increase in 2009, 30 percent increase in 2010

Employees Numbers not released to public

Whether it’s a luxury home in the Hamptons or a bulk-food warehouse in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, SteelMaster Buildings has sheltered its customers since 1982, and it continues to grow in the U.S. and abroad.

Founder Rhae Adams styled his products after the “Quonset huts” designed for the Navy during World War II.

SteelMaster’s distinctive metal buildings – with their arched structures and corrugated steel exteriors – have been used as garages, carports, airplane hangars, warehouses, government facilities, farm storage buildings, even an animal shelter in Austin, Texas.

Today SteelMaster is forging commercial opportunities overseas. The company hired a full-time international business manager in 2006.

The following year, SteelMaster enrolled in the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s VALET class, a highly selective, two-year exporting program.

International sales – in Taiwan, South Korea, Malta, Angola and other areas – now make up 20 percent of business, compared with less than 5 percent in 2006.

“It was the exception rather than the rule,” Vice President Rob Poellnitz said of SteelMaster’s prior exporting efforts. “About five years ago, we made that a focal part of our business.”

Poellnitz is one of three vice presidents that run SteelMaster’s corporate office in Virginia Beach.

The company’s management ranks have endured upheaval and tragedy in the last decade.

Adams is no longer active in the business, according to Michelle Wickum, marketing director. In the mid-2000s, he passed CEO duties to retired Landmark Communications executive Donald “Pat” Patterson, who guided the ailing company into a new era of promise. Patterson died in 2008.

He laid the foundation, however, for current growth, including a focus on new U.S. clients.

Poellnitz, along with vice presidents Anthony Bueno and Karen Willis, are expanding SteelMaster’s residential and “green” business.

This year, two of the company’s custom-designed homes appeared in The Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News.

It also completed its first two buildings certified as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design projects.

“SteelMaster Buildings,” Poellnitz said, “is poised for continued growth.”

- Teresa Talerico

Five Small Business Exporters Split $39,000 in Awards

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — SteelMaster Buildings, a company in Virginia Beach, Va., that designs and builds prefabricated steel buildings for a variety of industries, is the winner of an export video promotion contest co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration and VISA. SteelMaster received a $12,000 award, including cash and travel costs to participate in the awards ceremony, and a Department of Commerce Gold Key matching service. You can watch the winning video at www.sba.gov/blog.

“SteelMaster and other participants in this contest are great examples of how small businesses are exporting and driving economic growth and job creation all across the country,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said. As part of the President’s National Export Initiative, this contest promotes programs and resources for small businesses to help achieve the goal of doubling exports in five years and support two million jobs.”

In addition to SteelMaster, four other small business finalists received awards ranging up to $10,000: World Technology Corp. of New York, NY, $10,000; Air Tractor, Inc. of Olney, Texas, $8,000; VSD, LLC of Virginia Beach, Va., $6,000 and Daelia’s Food Company, Ltd. of Cincinnati, Ohio, $3,000. Awards included cash, an expenses-paid trip to participate in the awards event and $1,000 toward the purchase of a Commerce Department Gold Key matching service and/or various other trade related events.

The Commerce Department Gold Key matching service offers small business exporters customized foreign market and industry briefings; appointments with prospective trade partners in key industry sectors, help with travel and accommodations, interpreter services and much more.

The awards were presented by Dario Gomez, SBA Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade, at the National District Export Council Conference held at Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 5. Janet Zablock, who heads VISA Small Business, shared the stage with Gomez.

The Export Video Contest promoted the advantages of exporting and increase awareness of government assistance available to small business exporters. VISA, which co-sponsored the contest, provided the funding for the cash award to the winners.

The contest was open to small businesses that had completed at least one export transaction. Each participant submitted one educational video of three minutes or less, highlighting how they had ventured into and achieved success with exporting.

Videos were submitted in five categories: manufacturing, consumer products, professional services, technology and agribusiness. A panel of SBA judges selected a winner in each category. The five finalist videos were posted on SBA’s YouTube and made available to the public for voting from Oct. 1 – Oct. 28. Awards were granted based on the number of votes received.

For more information on the Export Video Contest and exporting opportunities for small businesses, visit www.sba.gov/oit.

Contact: David J. Hall (202) 205-6697
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
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SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

The Commonwealth of Virginia presents this award to recognize a Virginia business that has excelled in global trade. The award recipient will have increased its international profile while promoting the best interests of its employees and surrounding community, contributing to the economic health and quality of life of Virginians while positively representing the Commonwealth in the international arena.

Gala celebrates soon-to-open animal shelter

Less than a month from now, hundreds of Austin’s cats, dogs, iguanas, ferrets and bunnies will be living in spiffy new digs.

Next month, Town Lake Animal Center will transport hundreds of animals from the 50-year-old shelter on West Cesar Chavez Street to the new East Austin facility at 7201 Levander Loop. The new center will open on Nov. 12. And Friends of Town Lake Animal Center — a nonprofit that raises money for the shelter — is celebrating with a party.

The Green Gala will be held Saturday at the new shelter from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $75 each. The event will feature food, music by Hot Club of Cowtown and a silent auction. The event will raise money for veterinary equipment. For more information, go to http://friendsoftlac.com or email austingreengala@gmail.com.

The new shelter has been years in the making — and getting here hasn’t been easy. In the late 2000s, several animal advocacy groups battled furiously to rebuild the shelter at its current location, saying it was more convenient and the new site would deter adoptions. Ultimately, the City Council chose the Levander Loop land, which it already owned. They broke ground in May 2010.

“It’s accessible, and it’s a truly amazing site,” said Lori Galloway, co-chair of the gala committee.

The $12 million campus, funded by city bond money, is certainly an impressive sight.

The Quonset hut-style buildings feature high ceilings, big windows and lots of natural light. The dog kennels are built to reduce sound and have frosted glass to keep the animals from constantly seeing and barking at one another. The new shelter has about 40,000 square feet of indoor space, about 5,000 more than the current facility, said Mindy Vescovo, president of Friends of Town Lake Animal Center.

It has more office space, a veterinary suite and holding areas. A special air filtration system has been installed to prevent the spread of disease.

It also employs sustainable and green-building techniques such as solar panels and rainwater collection.

The new shelter will also increase capacity, Vescovo said. The current location holds 191 cats and 263 dogs. The new Austin Animal Center will be able to house a maximum of 283 cats and 278 dogs. It also has a bunny run, where rabbits can move around.

“In the old place, rabbits just exist in cages,” Vescovo said.

Finishing touches are still being put on the campus, which is shared with other city buildings, including offices for the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department. But supporters say they’re eager to unveil the new building.

In August, the SBA launched the Export Video Contest asking small businesses to submit their exporting stories through YouTube videos for a chance to win prizes and awards towards a future export event. The contest, presented in partnership with Visa and President Obama’s National Export Initiative, recognizes successful small business exporters and helps to circulate information about federal tools available to assist U.S. exporters into new markets to grow their companies.

SteelMaster Buildings’ winning video was submitted under the Agribusiness Category titled Building Beyond Our Borders highlighting the company’s growth in exporting over the past 5 years. The video recounts SteelMaster’s exporting story from the time the decision was made to expand exporting efforts through their current business success in international markets. In fact, SteelMaster has been able to expand their distributor network to over 50 countries and has doubled their exporting sales year over year for the past 5 years.

SteelMaster’s success in exporting began after reaching out to governmental resources including the SBA, Virginia Export Development Partnership (VEDP), Export-Import Bank, and U.S. Commercial Services.

SteelMaster Vice President Rob Poellnitz acknowledges these organizations for guiding the company through its foray into the global marketplace when the domestic market became saturated by competition and the U.S. dollar weakened. “Initially, we applied for a VEDP-sponsored grant that was available for companies that wanted to expand internationally,” says Poellnitz. “It really opened our eyes to what was out there, and we learned a lot from experiences shared by similarly positioned companies. It also helped us develop confidence.”

New and different station for stressed-out Malvern police

MALVERN, St Elizabeth – It looks like a large greenhouse or perhaps a warehouse. But police personnel in Malvern aren’t complaining.

Four years after Hurricane Dean devastated the historic police station and courthouse, the Malvern police are eagerly awaiting completion of a rectangular, prefabricated galvanised structure just adjacent.

Since Hurricane Dean, law officers in this quiet highlands town have operated from a small, cramped room once used for Petty Sessions Court.

“We are really glad for it (new structure) and looking forward to moving in,” District Constable Clifford Findlay, who has served the Malvern police for 27 years, told the Observer West on Monday.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Derrick Cochrane, who heads the Police Area Four comprising St Elizabeth, Manchester and Clarendon, told the Observer West that completion date was set for the end of September.

“I am told that it is 1,800 square feet in size which from the perspective of the police is larger than their previous space,” Cochrane said yesterday.

“It will be all inclusive and it will have living accommodation,” the Assistant Commissioner added.

“This comes as a great relief to the men and women serving in Malvern who have been greatly challenged for too long and have given yeoman service over all those years of discomfort and inconvenience,” Cochrane said.

Efforts yesterday to get word from the Ministry of National Security regarding the cost of the project failed. However, back in 2009 when the foundation for the pre-fabricated building was being built the project cost was estimated by ministry officials at $8.5 million.

Back in 2009, then chief of police in St Elizabeth, Superintendent Merrick Watson, championed the need for a “proper” police station for the Malvern police region.

Describing it as crucial, he said: “We are talking about a very large area between Santa Cruz and Junction, which, while it is not a high crime area has a lot of people residing there including many returning residents. They require the constant presence of the police as a deterrent. So clearly there has to be a police station, properly structured and staffed, up and running,” Watson said then.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that the new building will not be used for court sessions.

The upper floor of the old building was a primary centre for court sessions in St Elizabeth prior to Hurricane Dean.

It’s unclear what is to be done with the standing shell of the old building. It dates back 120 years.

One man who will never forget the night the Malvern police station and courthouse collapsed under the fury of Hurricane Dean is barber, Cleon Fagan. He was sleeping in his shop as Dean raged. He awoke to find himself buried from toe to chest under rubble, including bricks and large stones from the neighbouring upper floor which housed the courthouse. He managed to dig himself out with a piece of steel and escaped with severe bruising and cuts.

A dime a dozen? Not these companies, says Virginia SPQA

By Teresa Talerico

SBN editor

A new initiative that recognizes Virginia’s thriving small businesses has named two Hampton Roads companies among its “12 to Watch” for 2011. They are SteelMaster Buildings in Virginia Beach and Aromas Specialty Coffees & Gourmet Bakery in Newport News and Williamsburg.

The U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award Program for Virginia launched the initiative this year, honoring the inaugural 12 on Sept. 8 at the 29th Annual Virginia Forum for Excellence in Richmond.

The companies are “on the cusp of major growth,” Virginia SPQA Board Chair Jo Rohr said in a press statement. To qualify, they met rigorous standards from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. They will receive Criteria for Performance Excellence training, mentoring and scholarship participation in Virginia SPQA’s Discovery Program.

We asked the local winners – one a Peninsula coffeehouse, the other a Southside firm that manufactures, designs and supplies arched steel structures throughout the U.S. – what to watch for from their companies. Here’s what they said:

Rob Poellnitz

Vice President

SteelMaster Buildings

www.SteelMasterUSA.com

“We are seeing significant growth in our international markets and are currently working on some interesting projects in Haiti, Africa, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay. We have just completed our first two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified projects, an animal shelter in Austin, Texas, and a manufacturing facility in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

“We are also expanding into new markets with two different housing projects in New York, (which were recently) featured in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News.”

It’s high time for a chicken-coop makeover.

After all, one of the main stumbling blocks for incorporating chicken coops into urban landscape is that they usually don’t match the backyard décor. The rusty nails and splintery plywood frames, the dirty wire mesh walls and soiled dirt floor — none of it goes well with the teak loungers from Pottery Barn and copper birdbath from Smith & Hawken.

Thanks to a little Boulder operation called Urban Hens, that could soon change.

Urban Hens, a volunteer-based community project that’s partnered with the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research and Design (CYE) at the University of Colorado at Denver, has recently been building and donating hen houses to Boulder and Denver schools and community organizations with the aim of teaching children about environmental awareness and sustainable food systems. But these aren’t the shabby hen houses of old.

The ten-hen structures are a modern mix of metal and wood. A shiny, corrugated metal roof arches overhead, while attractive wooden slats keep the roomy interior shaded and ventilated. The coops, which would fit right in among a trendy patio setting, look like they were designed by a professional architect — which turns out is exactly the case.

“I think really one of our hurdles was this mental model people have for hen houses that they weren’t attractive and don’t fit into the urban setting,” says Wynn Martens, co-founder of Urban Hens, who decided to use chickens for teaching and community building after learning about climate-change and industrial-food problems at her job at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Division of Continuing Education & Professional Studies. “People assume they are messy and smelly and we really wanted to get over that speed bump.”

So Martens and her colleagues at CYE turned to Rob Pyatt, a CU-Boulder architecture instructor, who agreed to teach a community-outreach class last semester in which five architecture students would design and build coops for small urban backyards. They quickly found there was no blueprint for what they were trying to do.

“This is a new prototype model for backyards,” says Pyatt. “Most chicken coops are either poorly designed for that purpose, or they are more of a farm model.” So they came up with their own model, based loosely on the design of Quonset huts, prefabricated, bunker-like structures CU-Boulder and other area institutions used for student housing after World War II when building materials were scarce. Not only did that give the coop design historical context, but the arched structure was relatively cheap, light and easy to build. They incorporated tall roofs so people could easily stand inside, slatted walls for ventilation and sand floors for easy cleaning. To make sure it didn’t tip over in the wind or get attacked by predators or dogs, the fully enclosed structures were bolted to concrete slabs.

“It was all about making raising chickens as easy as possible, says Martens: “Urban hens wanted to set people up to succeed with urban hens.”

So far, it’s worked. Urban Hens recently intalled its first two coops, one at Shawnee Gardens assisted-living center in Boulder and one at as North Boulder cooperative residential community. They have grant funding for three more coops, one of which is planned to be built at Park Hill Elementary School in Denver, but they’re looking for more funding since they already have a list of fifteen-plus others organizations who want to sign on. Eventually, says Martens, Urban Hens hopes to design and sell chicken-coop kits around Boulder based on Pyatt and his students’ design, with proceeds allowing them to donate built coops to low-income neighborhoods and community organizations.

That way, lots of people can reap the benefits of urban hens — while looking downright snazzy in the process.

Urbavore’s Dilemma is an ongoing web series detailing city dwellers’ commitment to urban homesteading. From May through September, Westword writer Joel Warner will get his hands dirty, covering everything from backyard chickens to front-lawn gardens, from greenhouses to co-ops and food-sharing. Check out the full series here.

The Carport Makes a Comeback

By: Cynthia Anderson

Stylish homes with carports: The Cohen House on Siesta Key’s Bayou Louise is one. The Umbrella House on Lido Key — called “one of the most remarkable houses of the mid-20th century” by Architectural Digest — is another. Understated, elegant and historic, both properties feature carports at their best.

Both are also exceptions. In earlier incarnations, most carports were flat roofs with four posts — simple structures intended to shield cars from sun and rain, most of the time. Popular during the 1950s and ’60s, they began looking dated soon after attached garages became a staple of the American single-family home. In the current real estate market, carports often signal other — often undesirable — retro-isms: outmoded appliances, old plastic laminate counters, windows in need of replacement.

But attached garages have their own drawbacks. “I don’t particularly like the way the garage dominates the front of the house,” said homeowner Phillip Sharff, who, before moving last year from Boston to Lakewood Ranch, lived in a house with a detached garage at the end of the driveway. And many garage owners don’t like the odors from chemicals stored there.

Some contemporary designers and builders, especially those with green inclinations, are opting out of garages, training their sights once again on the humble carport.

“There are a lot of advantages to carports and detached garages,” said Steve Ellis, co-founder of MyGreenBuildings in Sarasota. “Builders are seeing the benefits, and so are home buyers.”

Those advantages fall into two categories: environmental and stylistic. The carport comeback applies the best of mid-century modern architecture — simplicity, grace, and responsiveness to the natural environment — to current ideals of conservation and sustainability. It is, in many respects, a logical marriage long in the making.

“Carports are environmentally friendly, and they’re inexpensive,” said architect Todd Sweet of TOTeMS Inc. in Sarasota. “Especially when you have a smaller home, a carport adds less mass. It can keep the scale down.”

TOTeMS recently designed a carport for a homeowner who did not wish to alter the design of his 1940s home, but who wanted a place to park his sports car (see cover.) “It was a really good choice,” said Sweet.

Custom green builder Josh Wynne, of Sarasota’s Josh Wynne Construction, recently built the highest-scoring LEED-Platinum new home in the United States. Only 5 percent of his homes have attached garages, while the rest have carports, detached garages or no garage at all. Wynne’s reasons are part aesthetics, part cost — “Do we really want to spend $40,000 or $50,000 to build something that’s just designed to hold a vehicle?” — and part ecology.

“There’s definitely the potential for noxious gases to build up” in a garage, said Wynne. “It is a concern. Conventional garages almost never have adequate ventilation.”

The indoor pollution hazards of attached garages are not inconsiderable. A study published by Environmental Research in 2007 showed that attached garages frequently contain elevated concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can migrate into the residence. Unsurprisingly, gasoline-related VOCs, including the known carcinogen benzene, were found at the highest levels, and most of the fuel-related aromatics in the house resulted from garage sources.

People with existing attached garages can take measures to make them greener. Solar-powered fans improve ventilation, and solar-powered batteries can run appliances, such as mowers and clippers. Insulation is key, too: Install it not just in shared walls, but generously throughout the garage and attic space. As for chemicals that inevitably wind up in the garage, substitute non-VOC paints and bio-based solvents and paint strippers — and recycle used automotive fluids.

People who want to add an environmentally friendly carport to an existing property have several options, from pared-back to posh. SteelMaster Building Systems in Virginia Beach, Va., makes affordable, pre-engineered metal carports. The units are designed to withstand hurricane-force winds and can be assembled in a weekend.

Sankyo Tateyama Aluminum Inc. manufactures several models of sleek aluminum-framed carports. The KDR series is also built to withstand high winds and comes in blue, brown or clear polycarbonate. The elegant, two-car M.Shade includes 12 solar panels. It’s pricey — $40,000 without installation — but can be used to provide most of the power needs of the adjacent home or to re-charge a hybrid vehicle.

Carports also offer much from an architectural perspective. As design elements, they are light rather than heavy, and therefore more versatile than garages. An unfortunate reality, according to Wynne, is that for cost reasons, garages typically form a front-and-center focal point — and often a visually displeasing one.

“The goal from a design perspective should be for the garage not to be a substantial portion of the front elevation of the home,” he said. “The front should have character and integrity, and it should be welcoming. Let’s face it. Most garages are ugly. I don’t care how many nooks and gables you have, it’s still a garage.”

New carports can easily be built to comply with wind codes and zoning laws, Wynne said, and aesthetically they’ve come a long way from ’50s-style four-posters. “We never want to go backward in design. We never want to go backward in our quality of construction,” Wynne said. “The carport has evolved the same as housing has evolved.”

Carports also have functional advantages: Remove the automobiles, and you have a covered outdoor soiree space. Locate one next to a pool deck, and you’ve got a shaded, extended area for patio furniture. “Garages have largely become closets. Generally, if a home has a two-car garage, you’ll find one car in it and the rest is storage space,” said Wynne. “Carports are more adaptable. They’re extensions of the house.”

Even so, many homeowners wouldn’t give up the convenience or protection of a garage. Sharff isn’t getting rid of his anytime soon. “It serves its purpose,” he said. “It does keep the cars shielded from the sun, and it’s secure. And where else would we keep all that stuff? I call it my ‘Florida basement.’”

In the end, perhaps, it comes down to a matter of taste. Retired architect Tim Seibert, whose many Sarasota designs include the Siesta Key Beach Pavilion and the John D. MacDonald House, parks in a carport “because I can’t stand waiting for the garage door to open.” His wife, on the other hand, parks in the garage, Seibert said.

“She’s a very neat person, wouldn’t dream of leaving her car outside. She always keeps it the garage. A very elegant garage.”