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Corrales Firm Expands With Federal 'Stimulus' Projects |
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Written by Jeff Radford
Corrales Comment
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
A business located in Corrales’ commercial area, Saigan Construction,
recently landed two contracts with the federal government through
Congress’ Economic Recovery Act.
Contractor Tim Fogarty said the federal government’s stimulus program
has allowed him to hire ten employees so far and jobs with his firm may
rise to 25. He now employs 17, and needs to hire four more right away.
“The stimulus package for me has been great,” Fogarty said in an
interview with program officials. Before Saigan Construction got the
Recovery Act contracts, “Basically it was just me and the secretary and
two other people. Now I have more office personnel and I’m getting
ready to hire another one.”
The two contracts were to repair and improve water operations at the Dexter National Fish Hatchery and Technology Center.
Saigan is a Native American-owned firm. Fogarty, a member of the
Cheyenne River Sioux nation, earned a degree in industrial technology
from the University of North Dakota. Then he worked in heavy
construction for several years before opening his own firm.
He recalled those early days getting started in the business world. “I
asked somebody if they’d help me write a business plan, and he said,
‘Well, if you’re not smart enough to write a business plan, you’re not
smart enough to be in business.’
“So I wrote my own plan, took out a $150,000 Small Business
Administration loan and got started. I paid the loan back in a year and
a half.”
The Recovery Act contract he won had him replace 47 pond valves at the fish hatchery and rebuild the pond liner.
Work on one project was completed in January and the other by mid-March.
A previous Recovery Act project Saigan undertook was at Canon Air Force
Base in Clovis involving water, sewer, electrical and natural gas
installations. Fogarty said that was a $2.8 million project that will
be finished in July. His firm also installed a $686,000 waste water
treatment project for the Indian Health Service at Nambe Pueblo.
He was asked how the Recovery Act contracts had helped his firm. “We
had been doing about $3 million a year for the last three to four
years, and we will double that in the next six months,” he replied.
Fogarty’s business office is in the commercial property that formerly
housed Nancy Wils’ Southwest Real Estate firm, just north of Mercado de
Maya.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 infuses $787 billion into the economy to head off another “Great Depression.”
Fogarty said he knows several other contractors who have projects going
thanks to the stimulus package, some also on military bases. “And
now I see other Recovery Act projects coming out channeled through
state agencies,” he explained. “There are a lot of projects out there
that have this ARRA money.
“All over the country there are hundreds of jobs coming out now. But it’s taking a lot longer than they ever imagined.”
The reason, he suggested, is that with federal contracts, extra hoops
need to be jumped such as safety plans and environmental plans for each
job. “I was awarded the Canon Air Force Base job in August, and I did
not start work until late January 2010, just because of the paperwork
and approvals for all your materials.
“But I can tell you, government employees right now are swamped” trying
to keep up with the paperwork for stimulus package projects.
“I see projects coming out every day that are ARRA projects.
“I’ve got my hands full right now, but if more projects like these come out, I will go after them,” Fogarty said.
He said he moved to Corrales eight years ago and started Saigan Construction in 2005.
“I started from scratch, and I’ve built it up to what will hopefully be a six- to seven-million-dollar-a-year company.”
His projects now are mostly with federal, municipal and tribal governments. |
