3 min read August 2023 – Invest: is joined by Karl Joeris, COO of Joeris General Contractors, to discuss the deep impact the firm has made in developing buildings that transform people and places in San Antonio communities. “Our role is to deliver great projects and promote our region,” he says.
What have been some of the impacts of Joeris General Contractors in San Antonio?
We’ve been in San Antonio for 56 years and over that time have delivered over a billion dollars of work in the city and Joeris has become part of the fabric of what makes San Antonio when it comes to commercial construction. We are involved in all the major industries and have strong relationships with our design team partners across Texas. We also maintain strong relationships with our clients, many of which are long-term clients and also a part of the culture fabric of San Antonio. We believe in giving back to the community. That goes for our employees as well, several of whom have been with the company for over 40 years. In spring 2023, we had our first annual charity golf tournament that benefited local nonprofits. Building and constructing facilities, it’s not just about the physical space that becomes churches, hospitals, and schools. It is about the people in those spaces. It’s where mothers deliver babies, and people go to gain an education. Our mission is to transform people and places.
How is preconstruction becoming more prominent in new projects?
Coming out of the pandemic with the supply chain issues that initially hit the industry, it forced us to transform how we collaborate and communicate with the architects and design team early on in the design process. The importance of preconstruction is such that we want to be on the team as early as possible. By joining the team early in design, we can provide cost analysis and ensure budgeting is done accurately so we can be heading down the right path as far as cost goes. We can also identify long lead items and initiate procurement packages for equipment such as electrical switch gears, chillers, and other large specialty equipment. It also allows us to have an open and honest dialogue right from the start with a schedule strategy on when to procure the equipment and break ground on the project four or five months after we’ve ordered it.
How is sustainability considered in each of your projects?
Sustainability is an important part of the building life cycle. We work hand in hand with designers and many of our staff are LEED accredited, we work with our teams on sustainability initiatives. Recently, we turned over the first net-zero office building in San Antonio which included rainwater collection, geothermal and solar energy, and reclaimed water. The building is over 100,000 square feet but only uses the energy of a medium-sized home. It ultimately depends on the owner and what they want to commit to when it comes to sustainability, we are well versed in how to deliver such a project. We also work with different waste companies that will segregate our trash and recyclables to make sure it does not end up in the landfill. All of our projects are now digital, so there’s less paper waste like there was years ago.
What is Joeris General Contractors’ role in ensuring the growth of the industry in San Antonio?
Our role is to deliver great projects and promote our region. We are actively involved with Greater:SATX, our local economic development group. We often receive calls from developers and potential clients outside our region about building in San Antonio, we are doing part to encourage this growth. When these businesses chose to build in San Antonio, we can help put them in contact with the right people, from county commissioners to city council. We also have the knowledge and understand the processes of navigating city permitting and inspections so these new businesses don’t have to worry about that. We also participate in many workforce development programs to help the growth of the construction industry. Partnering with programs like SA Worx, Ready to Work, ACE mentorship and other local college and high school level programs allows for a greater awareness among the community of the viability of careers in the construction industry. We have so many companies that want to come to San Antonio, we want to help bring them here. We want to make sure we have the workforce and the talent in San Antonio to build their new facilities and build around the community to support the overall growth of San Antonio.
What is your outlook for the next two to three years?
Our strategy will be to stay true to our mission of transforming people and places by staying true to our core values. That includes safety, something that is front of mind every day for us. There is also integrity, leadership and excellence in everything we do that we strive for. We will continue to foster our commitment as servant leaders between the community and clients. We have a solid value-based leadership program to develop our people as we continue to recruit top talent. Because our people are what differentiates us. Our core businesses will also stay true to what we do best, building in education, retail, and industrial markets.
We will focus more of our efforts on growing healthcare and higher education development while exploring more in the renewable energy markets. There is a close connection between healthcare and higher education. We will be starting a project that breaks ground in 2024 at Texas A&M San Antonio which has a strategic alliance with University Health for a new hospital that’s adjacent to campus. We will help build a new public health and education building as part of this expansion. We are also building the UT Health Brain Health Building which will be a research facility for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. We want to continue and grow with these strategic alliances moving forward. Additionally, the airport will be investing $1 billion in a new terminal and infrastructure work, which we are hopeful to be a part of and would represent our first foray into aviation. It’s all about exploring and diversifying to see what market sectors we want to work with in the future.
For more information, please visit:
