In 2018, after operating from their former headquarters for nearly 50 years, The Builders Association of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania knew it was time to make a decision about the future of the facility. It had already undergone several renovations over the decades, and the organization needed to modernize.
After considering the idea of selling the existing property and purchasing a new building, the conversation turned to the option of tapping into the expertise of the organization’s membership to construct a new building.
“Eventually, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to keep our operation here in Vienna and build a new building,” said Kevin Reilly, executive vice president of The Builders. “We wanted a more modern facility that could be a showcase for the Association and the type of work that our members do.”
The desire to remain in Vienna was influenced by the township’s convenient, central location, relative to the Association’s membership, which spans Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania.
The new headquarters was designed by Axiom Architects, a collective of several distinguished architectural firms in the region.
“Axiom did an excellent job on the design and layout of the facility,” says Reilly. “The building works really well for what we need, and that’s a testament to the job that our Building and Grounds Committee did working with Axiom”.
Along with the day to day operations of the Association, the facility is utilized for a wide variety of meetings, contract negotiations, business training, and safety-related seminars.
“The selection of the general contractor was a very difficult process,” Reilly recalls. “Being a professional contractor’s association, we have a lot of very good, very qualified general contractors. Our Building and Grounds Committee evaluated the proposals we received from our members, and ultimately Desalvo Construction was selected.”
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2018, and from then on, the project was off and running with a near-flawless execution.
“Despite the timeline of when we started, and having to deal with the winter, we got the building completed ahead of schedule and under budget, and I attribute that to the professionalism of the contractors working on the project. In the Builders Association we like to say ‘if you have a project you want to build with the best, utilize members of the Association.’”
