Subcontractors finish the job: it's all about teamwork.

• Author: Anderson, Tom
• Position: CONSTRUCTION

While the Alaska commercial and residential construction season is often dependent on a mix of factors like location and weather, the most critical element to completion of a project remains the availability and competence of subcontractors.

From heating and plumbing systems to window and door installation, the collaboration of specialty service providers is crucial to any project's success. Absent the teamwork and cooperation of subcontractors, Alaska's building industry would have little momentum and projects may lack running water, a roof, or a garage in which to park equipment.

Let the Game Begin

Any resident of Southcentral Alaska, from the Kenai Peninsula to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, is sure to have been entertained in the last twenty years at Anchorage's Sullivan Arena by the thunder of a hockey game, the jubilance of Disney characters on ice, or perhaps the mischief of a holiday ice skating party with their children.

Collin Szymanski at Mantech Mechanical deserves credit for the polished, glossy sheet of ice that the UAA forward, tuxedo wearing mouse, or snowsuit garbed kid glided on.

Szymanski is a third generation Alaskan, born in Anchorage in 1948 and raised in Fairview community. After graduating from East High School he started in the construction industry helping build the Parks Highway, working later as an apprentice plumber and pipefitter on the North Slope and in Anchorage as the oil boom surfaced. He became a journeyman in the trade by the early 1970s, overseeing mechanical applications including plumbing and heating installation, with crews in construction camps from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

In 1982 he formed Mantech Mechanical, specializing in commercial and industrial piping systems. Mantech's methodical and deliberate evolution has been one of success because of dedicated management and employees, notes Szymanski.

Most recently Mantech's team has been working on the installation of a new CO2 refrigerated ice system for the Sullivan Arena's ice sheet. "We installed the first ice rink at the Sullivan in the 1980s, and this replacement we re installing now will be the second CO2 refrigerated ice rink ever built in the United States," says Szymanski. "The first was our installation at Harry J. McDonald Memorial Center in Eagle River last year." Szymanski explains there is a national phase-out of Freon rinks, leaving two natural refrigerants to choose from: ammonia and CO2. Mantech worked with a design team hired by the Municipality of Anchorage to install the new rink at the Sullivan.

Mantech is a statewide subcontractor with recent projects at rural sites like St. Mary's School, Deadhorse, and Galena. On the North Slope the company was a subcontractor to install a new ventilation system for exhaust, a car wash with water reclamation system, and a compressed air system, all for Brice Equipment. The company was contracted to install plumbing and a ventilation/exhaust system for a new helicopter hangar supporting services on Oooguruk Island.

Mantech was a first-responder after the 2013 Galena flood, retained by FEMA and insurance contractors to install new sanitary and heating systems for the community. Szymanski's team is in Galena this year replacing a new water treatment system destroyed by fire.

On the Kenai Peninsula in Soldotna, Mantech is a major subcontractor for the Central Peninsula Hospital's new four-story treatment center, overseeing medical gas piping system, plumbing, and heating commercial installations.

Bill O'Brien, the mechanical superintendent over the project, says the effort began in July 2014 and should be completed by March of 2016. The new facility will have oncology and procedural rooms and Mantech is providing all...