A $13.7 million mechanical package at the center of campus

The challenge

Angelo State University Central Plant

A central plant is not a building you can take offline. Every classroom, lab and residence hall on campus sits downstream of it. The mains being replaced are sixteen inches — schedule-XH, half-inch wall, seamless A106 — which means every tie-in is a welded joint on pipe heavy enough that the section has to be flown into place rather than carried.

What we did

• Replaced the chilled-water mains in 16" schedule-XH seamless A106, with 16"×14" concentric weld reducers, 14" gear-operated butterfly valves, and short-radius weld ells in SA234 WPB.
• Rebuilt seven coil positions across the plant's air handlers and outside-air handlers — chilled water, hot water and preheat.
• Set the heavy sections with cranes up to 165 tons. Every pick ran under a written lift plan, with highway permits pulled where the route required them.
• Managed the subcontracted scopes under our own contract — a $616,000 insulation package plus controls and wiring — rather than handing the owner four separate companies to chase.
• Absorbed fourteen change orders. On a plant retrofit, what you find when you open it up is the job; the contract grew because the scope did.

Why it matters

Most contractors at this size subcontract the pipe, the coils, the insulation and the controls to four different companies and coordinate them by email. We self-perform the mechanical work and hold the rest under one contract, with our own superintendent living in San Angelo for the duration.