By Jill Nagy

The company’s recent move to new offices in Burnt Hills was a “game changer” for KB Engineering and Consulting, PLLC, after more than a decade working out of a home-based office, according to owner, Kurt M. Bedore, PE.

The firm  now occupies a suite of seven offices with a conference area and an executive office for Bedore. He estimated that he currently has about 50 projects underway.

They actually planned the move a year ago but the pandemic caused postponement of the official opening to this spring.

Bedore now expects his growing company to outgrow the space in another year or so. A physical therapy practice previously occupied the space. In fact, they were clients, with KB working on the renovation and expansion of the therapists’ new building.

Recently, the company has been “unbelievably busy” and Bedore would like to add a couple of more engineers to his present staff of four but, like so many other skilled workers, they are hard to find. He especially needs draftsmen skilled in using computer-assist design (CAD). He feels that he offers competitive salaries—$40-$60,000 to start for a junior engineer—and working conditions.

He sees a number of reasons for the increased business aside from the general uptick in the economy. People had projects “on hold” during the height of the pandemic but are now ready to get going.

With people spending more time at home, many private septic systems were overloaded and the owners now need emergency replacements.  At the same time, many of the new buildings constructed on the SUNY campuses during their tremendous growth period in the 1960s and 1970s are showing their age, he said. 

By Jill Nagy

Construction work in the area appears to be back on track, though labor issues are still a concern.

“We’re close to having work scheduled out for about a year,” Tom Albrecht of Hilltop Construction in Hudson Falls estimated. Similarly, Rob Holbrook of V&H Construction in Fort Edward, noted that his company is booking work for the first quarter of 2022. Both do projects throughout the Saratoga, Glens Falls and North Country area.

“If you are thinking about a project, you probably should act sooner rather than later,”  Holbrook advised.

Both also have similar complaints: a shortage of skilled workers looking for jobs and rising prices and long delays in obtaining materials, including appliances.

Albrecht said business is “fabulous” but there is a “very healthy” shortage of materials and escalating prices. Special order items can take four to 10 weeks to arrive. That delays normal timelines.

V&H, for example, is a dealer for Butler pre-engineered buildings, mainly steel storage and similar structures. Holbrook is experiencing long delays because steel is in short supply and he expects steel prices to increase by about 10 percent a month for the rest of the year.

Lumber prices have also been increasing but that trend seems to be leveling off, he said.

By Jill Nagy

“Landscaping can be both beautiful and good for the environment,” said Jesse Peters, a landscape designer and builder whose business, Jessecology, specializes in sustainable design using native plants raised in her own gardens and greenhouse in Ballston Spa.

“We focus on sustainability and habitat restoration,” she explained.

Peters, a Skidmore College graduate, has been doing landscaping for 15 years. She has seen an uptick in business with the pandemic and has a waiting list for the company’s services. She believes that people who are spending more time at home want to make their surroundings more beautiful and relaxing.  “They love the chemical-free option,” she added.

She has seen a growing demand for rain gardens, a fairly new approach to storm water management. A rain garden is planted with plants that don’t mind getting  wet. They hold on to storm water and allow it to slowly seep into the ground instead of running off.

“It’s one of our favorite types projects to work on,” she said.

In addition to the perennial flowers and bushes from her greenhouses and nursery, Peters can now include large trees in her projects thanks to an affiliation with Eric Parisi and Don-Mar Landscaping and Greenhouses in Ballston Lake. 

Parisi has been a landscaper for 30 years and his family has been in the business for 60 years. He has a tree nursery, but also buys native trees on the wholesale market. Trees include birches, hemlocks, maples and oaks.