NATIONAL PIPELINE REHABILITATION AND TUNNELING INDUSTRIES CONTRACTOR SAK CONSTRUCTION OUTGROWS ITS HEADQUARTERS, TOPS $70 MILLION IN GROSS REVENUES IN 2010
ST. LOUIS (August 16, 2011)—SAK Construction, one of the fastest-growing privately held pipeline rehabilitation and tunneling contractors in the U.S., has relocated its national headquarters to larger, newly renovated facilities a few miles from its original headquarters in O’Fallon, Mo. The building, located at 864 Hoff Road in O’Fallon, was formerly an automotive components storage facility. SAK converted the existing structure’s cavernous 88,000-square-foot interior into efficient and attractive office, warehouse, equipment fabrication and repair areas. Among the functions of the new building will be to provide an interior space for the storage, maintenance and repair of the firm’s massive tunneling equipment. SAK, which has more than 250 employees and serves clients in 25 states across the nation, provides specialized, high demand services ranging from large diameter tunneling to the full spectrum of current trenchless or “no-dig” technologies, including CIPP (cured-in-place) pipeline rehabilitation.
Jerry Shaw, SAK president, says the expansion reflects the five-year-old firm’s success and rapid growth. “Despite the soft economy, our gross revenues shot up from $31 million in 2009 to more than $70 million in 2010, and we’re experiencing growth beyond that in 2011. We take pride in our success and believe that our new facilities will help us continue to grow while providing the service and technologies that our customers expect and deserve.” SAK’s most recent expansion was the March 2011 acquisition of Pipenology Inc., a Rocklin-Calif.-based contractor that grossed $10.5 million in 2010. By acquiring Pipenology, SAK expanded its Western U.S. presence, which already included work on major contracts in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

The strong national demand for pipeline rehabilitation is an outgrowth of America’s aging infrastructure. Collapsing, malfunctioning or inadequate water mains, sanitary sewers and storm sewers cause a variety of serious problems and threaten the water supply. To address these needs while minimizing above-ground disruption, SAK Construction provides the newest underground trenchless technologies for pipeline rehabilitation using SAK’s CIPP (cured-in-place pipe) system for sanitary and storm sewers. In addition, the growing population density in many urban areas has created increased demand for installation of new transmission pipelines to expand existing water, sewer and stormwater systems. To install new pipelines, SAK provides large diameter tunneling services from 48-inch diameter up to 32-foot arch shaped.
SAK Construction is led by Shaw and two other industry veterans–Tom Kalishman, chairman, and Robert Affholder, vice chairman. SAK clients include a variety of city, county and state agencies; industrial sectors; the federal government and municipalities; and water and sewer cooperatives coast-to-coast. Among current major projects are the $31.9 million, 3.5-mile Downtown Wastewater Tunnel for the City of Austin, Texas, and two contracts for the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District: The $9.178 million rehabilitation of Old Mill Creek Sewer and its connectors, and the $3.5 million “Infrastructure Repairs/Rehabilitation Fiscal Year 2011,” project which incorporates CIPP renovation to pipeline segments throughout the MSD service system. Additional current CIPP projects are underway for the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles, Calif.; the City of Fresno, Calif.; the City of Las Vegas, Nev.; and for the Water Works and Sanitary Sewer Board of the City of Montgomery, Ala.