ABM Contractor of the Year: Brice Inc.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA: SPECIAL SECTION

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Only someone as astute and determined as helenka Brice would have dreamed, in 1961, of founding a construction dynasty amid the "big boys" operating across the state--big boys such as Morrison Knudson, H. C. Price, Peter Kiewit and other nationally recognized contractors. But helenka didn't simply dream about a construction company, she, her husband Luther and four sons (Al, Sam, Andy and Thorn) established Brice Inc. in Fairbanks, and began their nearly 50-year history in building Alaska.

helenka, herself, was a force to be reckoned with in Fairbanks and in the political halls of Juneau. When she died in 1992, the Alaska Legislature passed a resolution recognizing helenka for demanding "superior workmanship" and for her "attention to detail" in the company's projects and for visiting Brice's remotest projects. In the resolution, the Legislature also recognized her for having her own boat built, the helenka B., when she couldn't get transportation to a site. One of her requirements of all who wrote her name was to spell helenka without the capital H.

Sam Robert Brice, one of helenka's grandsons and president of Brice Inc., briefly recounted the family history: "They moved to Alaska in the late '50s from Florida, looking for new opportunity," he said. "The big corporations were taking over the small, mom-and-pop loggers and sawmills. After they were displaced, they came to Alaska planning to start a new logging and sawmill operation here."

Although the Brices were unable to secure any timber sales, their efforts did lead into land-clearing opportunities from Kiewit, MK and Burgess Construction, Sam Robert said.

"They got a big break during the pipeline (Trans-Alaska Pipeline System), and were awarded a lot of clearing work. Al and Sam (two of the Brice sons), operating as subcontractors to Burgess Construction, were on the first two dozers to break ground on the pipeline project, from Livengood to the Yukon River," Sam Robert said.

In the mid 1960s, the Brice company was looking for ways to grow the business, and "picked up a couple of rural airports--Selawik and Port Lions," he said. Those two airports launched Brice into their specialty.

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"Our niche is rural Alaska projects," he said. "Things that are logistically complex."

Brice prides itself on working with local hire. "We try to keep as much business in a village as possible, leave as much money in the local community as we can," Sam Robert said. "It's...