Cincinnati Ohio-based Cintech Construction, Inc. provides exceptional design-build general contractor services to clients in sectors ranging from medical and healthcare to corporate offices, retail, banking, restaurants, education, and many others. The company serves customers across the tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.
~
Cintech’s reputation for professionalism, quality, and on-time and within-budget project delivery earns respect from new clients and repeat business from existing customers. “We always keep our schedules,” says company President Roger B. Wade of the company, which predominantly works within a hundred-mile radius of Cincinnati. “In fact, we have always met our schedule since day one and never been late for the past thirty-four years.”
This is the result of impeccable project planning and solid management, as this company leaves nothing to chance. Cintech’s superintendents meet every week with owners and subcontractors, to look over the plans for the next two weeks in detail. This two-week schedule is then checked against the project’s master schedule, and subcontractors take part in coordination meetings.
“We make sure everyone is accountable,” states Wade. “We don’t say things like ‘Well, we intend to be there Monday or possibly Monday.’ We make strong commitments, and make sure we are there. And our subcontractors like working for us, because we meet our schedules, so they aren’t losing money by showing up, and we are not ready. So we have a really good subcontractor base that has evolved from that, and people like working for us. We really drive our schedules.”
Before starting Cintech – a combination of ‘Cincinnati’ and ‘technology’ – Wade spent two years in the Marine Corps, earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Ohio State University, and worked for various companies, developing skills in areas including design-build and estimating. Following the birth of his daughter, Wade gave his two weeks’ notice and started Cintech in 1984.
The fledgling company started by working on Section 8 housing and restoring old buildings and soon began taking on design-build projects. After a year and a half, Wade brought on Jim Pandzik, a registered architect who is today vice president of preconstruction and design-build services. The business attracted even more opportunities and expanded from a staff of three to twenty-six, including experienced superintendents, projects managers, assistant project managers, estimators, business development, and leadership.
Today, over three decades later, Cintech Construction’s proven track record speaks for itself. It has completed hundreds of projects valued at over $500 million without a single loss. Wade and his team complete often challenging works from $150,000 up to $20 million. “We just increased our bonding capacity to take on larger projects,” says the company’s Marketing Manager Ryan Wade. “Our bonding capacity is $35 million single limit and $60 million aggregate.”
The company has gained business from word-of-mouth referrals, reputation, Pandzik’s relationship with the architectural community, and repeat business from satisfied clients.
It has also made a significant marketing effort in the past year, including the launch of its new website in February – with all work done in-house under Ryan Wade – and rebranding. Additionally, the company is improving the business development department to meet demands of growing client base and to tap into new market sectors.
“We are trying to stimulate market activity,” says Wade. “We have always been really strong in estimating and developing, and we needed to develop our pipeline, so we have a constant flow of opportunities coming in. Once we get opportunities, we can nail it, because we are really good at presenting ourselves and telling our story.”
Cintech is committed to quality, safety, and timely delivery with every project. Among its many successes are the Kroger in Corryville, Ohio; Sibcy House at the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinnati, Ohio; and the Lebanon Public Library – Technology Center in Lebanon, Ohio.
Among its many corporate office works is headquarters of Cincinnati’s Metropolitan Sewer District, the city’s first LEED Gold-certified building. Cintech and architectural firm KZF Design, Inc. commissioned to construct the new 58,910-square-foot office building for the district’s wastewater engineering staff. Company Vice President Jeff Shelton served as project manager for the impressive structure, which scored 48 LEED points and ranks as the ninth-greenest building in the tri-state area.
“We have in-house LEED-certified personnel, and we are capable of doing LEED projects,” says Roger B. Wade. “When the customer can afford them, we can build them.”
This was a competitively-bid project, and Cintech was one of two companies called in to give a presentation, and from that presentation, it was awarded the contract. Construction took place over fourteen months.
The building boasts many innovative features, from a roof combination of plantings and solar panels to numerous windows that save energy by maximizing sunlight, and a great deal more. The City of Cincinnati was so pleased with Cintech they wanted to release its retainage early, which is extremely unusual within the industry.
Cintech regularly takes on projects for multinational corporations. One recent work saw the company involved in the year-long construction of two industrial structures for GE Aviation. The buildings are 62,000 square feet and 8,937 square feet.
The project – which started in winter –required hundreds of auger-cast piles driven forty feet deep to stabilize the building pad. Crews working on the project were faced with many other challenges, not the least of which was the complex maze of underground pipes, sanitary sewer lines, and water and gas lines in all directions. All the team had for reference were 60-year-old as-built drawings from when the original GE Aviation campus was built.
“We had over for three hundred piers in the boatyard and had to coordinate that with existing utilities running through the site, which was basically like a rat’s nest,” says Shelton. “And we only hit a line twice out of the 323 piers, I believe.”
Both buildings were outfitted with polished concrete floors to accommodate large engines and handle the weight of a sixteen-ton forklift. Adding to the complexity was the need for the ‘super flat’ floors to have no more than one-quarter of an inch deviation in slope within any twenty-five-square-foot section of the building space. The company was required to work within an extremely stringent safety program that exceeds OSHA requirements.
The company’s dedication to its many customers has not gone unnoticed. It was the winner of the Fast 55 in 2016 and received the award for its staggering 208 percent revenue growth in two years, arising from its acquisition of the Kroger account and its new hires to undertake more projects. Cintech was the winner of the Associated Builders and Contractors design-build project award, and it has also been recognized numerous times as in the top twenty-five regional contractors by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Among the company’s goals are continuing to hire top industry people including superintendents, managers, and estimators – and aiming for steady growth over the next five years, with an increase in revenue of ten percent yearly.
It has seen a wave of retail projects recently including automotive dealerships, restaurants, and grocery stores, but Cintech looks forward to expanding in several markets. These include assisted living, which is seeing a great deal of new construction as baby boomers reach retirement age; multi-family buildings including apartments, townhomes, condominiums, hotels; and industrial, distribution, and warehousing facilities.
Company President Wade says much of Cintech’s success comes from its people and the dedication of its many customers. “We love construction. It is quite the experience,” he says. “There aren’t many industries that are like construction in terms of that sense of reward you can get after having built a structure. The lifecycle of a project is several months to years. So when you see the finished product, the fully-realized vision built before you, that before was just a drawing on paper and before that was just someone’s idea or vision. And that it is now standing before you physically, and you know of all the conversations, the long hours, the hard work, and the extraordinary effort required to put into it, to put into making it something tangible and real, it’s a great experience.”
“These buildings for our clients aren’t just buildings. They are monuments and symbols which are representational of their idea or vision, so we understand that when we build for a client, we want their building to represent high standards of quality.”
