ARCHITECTURAL: Credit Unions Make For High-interest Projects

While visitors to CommunityAmerica Credit Union branches are focused on their finances, when Todd McLellan of Standard Sheet Metal (SSM) stops by, he focuses on something else — the buildings’ sleek metal-clad white entryways with crisp lines and sharp corners. 

That’s because McLellan, a senior project manager at SSM, and his team were responsible for several of the branches’ architectural details. SSM has been designing, making and installing sheet metal for industrial and custom projects in and around Kansas City, Missouri, for over 40 years. But the SMACNA member's expansion into architectural projects like CommunityAmerica Credit Unions is a more recent development, according to Roger A. Reed, the company’s marketing director. 

“While the company’s initial focus was on fabricated components, we made the shift early on to include architectural work as well,” Reed says. “In the last 20-plus years or so, we've really made a push toward more architectural work.”

Reed credited company Vice President Shawn Mann for SSM’s expansion into architectural projects. 

“He was really aggressive at bidding on architectural work,” Reed says. 

For much of its history, SSM mostly handled what Reed calls “small, one-off” projects in its 5,000-square-foot sheet metal shop. “We had a press brake and a shear, some hand tools and that was about it,” he says. 

Today, however, SSM is a much different — and much bigger — operation. It has a 40,000-square-foot shop with equipment such as a 10,000-watt fiber optic laser cutter that can easily slice through 1.25-inch steel plates. The shop also has a laser welder, punch press and a multi-axis routing table. About 40 employees, members of SMART Local 2, work in its sheet metal shop. Another 35 or so do field installation. Annual revenue is around $20 million. 

Unlike many SMACNA members, SSM has never focused on HVAC work, preferring to fabricate items like elbows and square-to-rounds for other area contractors without large sheet metal shops. 

“Our shop has the capability to do a wide variety of components,” Reed says. He estimates that 60% of the company’s revenue is architectural sheet metal with the remainder being custom fabrication work. 

Expanding into architectural work has paid off with SSM winning several CommunityAmerica Credit Union projects from general contractor A.L. Huber Construction of Overland Park, Kansas.

McLellan says they’re a great partner on the credit union projects.

“They understand our capabilities,” he says. “We're upfront with them on our timelines so they can incorporate that into their schedule.”

Credit union project contracts range from $100,000 to $300,000, depending on whether its new construction or renovation of an existing building. CommunityAmerica Credit Union buildings have three basic styles, McLellan says, but they’re modified to fit the site or structure. 

“They’re not all cookie-cutter,” he says. “But it’s still that iconic white entryway — the white ACM (aluminum composite material) panel. That look is still there.”

The “look” McLellan refers to is designed by local architects GastingerWalker&. Like A.L. Huber, they’re also great to work with, he says. 

“The architect's very involved, and we work with them upfront on details,” McLellan says. “As we work with them, they are incorporating our advice — whether it's flashing details or waterproofing. That collaboration makes them relatively smooth projects for us.” 

Reed says he’s proud of the work SSM does on these projects, even though they’re not as high-profile as some others, such as historic restorations or downtown skyscrapers, might be.  

“Part of what we do is what I call ‘the architecture of the every day,’” he says. “We're doing fire stations, schools, public buildings and banks. So these are the buildings that all of us visit regularly. And so it’s kind of nice and exciting to see that kind of stuff. It's great to do a museum or some other iconic structures around town, but these are buildings that our families visit and use every day, and we are proud of that.”