WCS Construction.com

Fore A Good Cause

October 31, 2008
The Washington Business Journal's October 31-November 6, 2008 edition had the following to report about WCS Construction's Fore Kids Golf Tournament which was held September 29.

Who's Giving: Sponsor WCS Construction LLC of D.C. and participants in a golf tournament.
Who's Receiving: The Salvation Army
What's Being Given: $174,000 in Christmas gifts, school supplies, day care and after-school programs for more than 6,000 needy families, shelter and training for homeless women and children.
Background: About 200 golfers, including more than 50 pros, competed in the Fore Kids Golf Tournament, the third-largest annual fundraiser for the Salvation Army.
A Few Words From the Sponsor: "This year's Salvation Army golf outing was blessed with great weather, a great group of hosts and a wonderful contingent of avid supporters," says Fred DiPietro, vice president of estimating for WCS Construction, a unit of William C. Smith & Co. "I was struck with pride at the response that WCS Construction and our subcontractors were able to bring to the event. We will continue the good work this year with the goal of making next year's golf outing the event to attend and to increase the support for the Salvation Army and the kids."

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WCS Construction Hosts Japanese/Canadian Delegation

October 22, 2008
Japanese and Canadian government officials were part of a government-to-government 50 member delegation, hosted by American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), that meets annually to discuss building codes and ways to use wood in residential and commercial construction. The visit in October was organized through the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service to encourage the visiting nations to use more wood in their construction. The delegation was formed to introduce them to the way U.S. regulations promote the use of wood in residential and commercial construction. The group has been meeting for 18 years since U.S. and Japan negotiated a wood product agreement.
Washington, DC, contractor WCS Construction conducted a tour of a 4-story wood frame, 267-unit, luxury apartment complex the company is building in Vienna, VA. Jim Anglemyer, president of WCS Construction, expressed the significance of hosting this group, “the timing of sharing this major wood frame project with the Japanese Delegation could not have been better. With 40% of the project’s wood framing in place, and two buildings under-roof, the delegation was able to experience the production benefits of a well-run, major wood frame construction project and see the internal building structure, framing components and interfaces, hurricane/wind and shear force structural provisions, and building fire-separation details, as well as view the roughing in of plumbing, mechanical and electrical trades in a wood frame structure. Most importantly, the delegation was able to see the significant benefits of maximizing land usage density (90-units per acre on this site) with multi-story wood frame construction, which can be built for up to 30% less cost than conventional steel or concrete building construction, and with the added benefit of utilizing renewable resource products.”
Japan’s wood housing sector remains the second largest in the world, behind only the United States. This fact is particularly significant since the population of Japan is about 125 million - equal to about half the population of the U.S. As a result, Japan continues to be a major consumer of wood construction materials. The residential housing sector accounts for an estimated 85% of the wood use in Japan, and this percentage approaches 90% if wood used in all forms of construction is included. The U.S. Government has been working closely with the U.S. wood products industry to ensure full implementation of the 1990 Wood Products Agreement designed to open the Japanese wood market. Through regular consultations between the U.S. and Japanese governments and consistent U.S. industry pressure and technical exchanges, some progress has been made in the areas of standards, regulations, and certification. Obstacles to increased value-added exports due to tariffs and non-tariff barriers remain, however, and deny U.S. producers fair and open access to the Japanese market.
AF&PA participates in the annual Building Experts Committee (BEC) and Japan Agriculture Standards Technical Committee meetings. One goal is to maintain a dialogue with Japanese authorities with regard to building code fire performance ratings that continue to be unreasonably restrictive in several applications where wood has proven to be an optimal material. Wood frame assemblies are held to a much higher standard then competing steel assemblies. This leads to discrimination not only against U.S. wood products but all wood products in favor of competing materials such as steel.

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Avera Station Wins AGC Award for New Construction

October 7, 2008
The Association of General Contractors (AGC) Washington Contractor Awards presentation were held Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at Washington, DC’s Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue. WCS Construction was the proud recipient of an award for Avera Station, the only residential project to receive a New Construction award. Receiving the award is WCS Construction’s Senior Project Manager Dave Kutchma whose talented team delivered the project substantially under budget and 2.5 months ahead of the 24-month construction schedule.
The $50M project included the construction of three connected, four-story wood frame buildings, all situated over a 2-story below grade, 188,000 SF, 400 space, cast-in-place concrete parking structure. With 250 total residences, the project has a gross area of 315,000 SF, including a 10,000 SF clubhouse. Avera Station represents a great success story in the partnership between the project Owner (Beazer Homes), general contractor and the trades.
On behalf of WCS Construction, we wish to acknowledge the work of Dave Kutchma and the Avera Station team of Ken Hammond, Mark Hammond, Ralph Hammond, Tim Wilkerson, Andre Dixon, Kari Poole, Michael Hammond, Dylan McCoy and Justin Jordan for their contributions to the success of the Project.

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WCS Construction sponsors the WDCEP's Annual Meeting & Development Showcase

October 2, 2008
The Annual Meeting & Development Showcase was held by the Washington DC Economic Partnership on Thursday, October 2, at noon at the Washington Convention Center. Sponsored by WCS Construction, the showcase and the luncheon allowed discussion of the economy and the promotion of business opportunities throughout the District of Columbia. This years' event saw a record registration for attendees and exhibitors who participated in the Development Showcase of new development projects in the District. The event went off without a hitch and provced an excellent opportunity to network and make WCS Construction's presence as a Washington, DC based general contractor more visible to developers and architects. We wish to thank Keith Sellars and the Economic Partnership team for creating such an excellent event, with this year surpassing the last. We also wish to thank those that stopped by our coffee bar and introduced themselves and let us do so in return. We look forward to working with you in the future!

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WCS Construction & Salvation Army FORE Kids Golf Tournament

September 29, 2008
The Salvation Army Fore Kids Golf Tournament took place Monday, September 29, 2008. Due to the high profile of this years' event the tournament was held at both the Westfields Golf Club, Clifton Virginia. Over 240 players, including professional golfers enjoyed the Fred Couples Signature Course and an awards dinner that followed in the late afternoon. The tournament is held each year and dedicated to improving the lives of children in our community, ensuring that our children will continue to receive the help they need.
The event raises money to support The Salvation Army's collection of materials to give to area children in need to prepare them for school, distributing toys during the Christmas season, providing day care, after school and evening character building programs and supporting the Salvation Army's Turning Point Center which houses and trains homeless mothers for two years so they and their children can have a better future.
This was WCS Construction’s second year sponsoring the event, with this years’ donation of over $100,000 dollars signifying our ongoing commitment to the community.

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Second Tower Crane Erected at the Reserve at Tyson's Corner

June 26, 2008
Due to the Reserve at Tyson's Corner's size a second tower crane was erected to aid in this project's already speedy construction.

Asheford Court Ribbon Cutting

March 12, 2008
On March 12, 2008, Southeast Washington, DC marked the sale of Asheford Court's first single family home, the Magnolia model. There was a good attendance for the ribbon cutting, which included a speech by William C. Smith Chairman and CEO Chris Smith, the Washington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, and Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry. WCS Construction, LLC is proud to be the general contractor on the project which includes 75 new single family homes in the Congress Heights neighborhood. The site work began in 2004, and included clearing of vegetation, hauling off contaminated soil, excavation of borrow and filling operations to prepare the site for the new residential housing. Construction of the $40 million project began late 2006. Asheford Court is in walking distance to Southern Avenue and Congress Heights Metro Stations, and to the new Shops at Park Village and Giant Food store.

The Reserve At Tyson's Corner

March 11, 2008
This Project includes the construction of eight connected, four story wood frame condominium buildings, containing 267 total units, all situated over a 2-story below grade, 180,000 SF cast-in-place concrete, 444 space, parking structure. The parking garage is capped with a 12" thick concrete podium slab which supports the wood frame residence buildings and three on structure courtyards. The condominium project contains 267 residences with a gross area of 322,514 square feet.

Rhodes Hill Square Condominiums begins

September 14, 2007
This 244,000 SF project contains 89 luxury condominiums with an average of 1,800 SF (ranging from 1,100 SF to 2,000 SF). The work includes construction of a four story wood-frame over concrete underground parking garage, and rooftop terraces. Condominiums will include high-end Viking appliances, high-end cabinets, granite counter tops, as well as granite vanity tops, granite tub surrounds, and granite floors in the master bedrooms. Rhodes Hill Square will be located in Arlington, VA near the Iwo Jima Memorial. Units start from $600,000 up to $1.2 million.

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