A building Upstate Companies recently completed in Walton.(Submitted photo)

By Sophia Root

Commerce Chenango

MOUNT UPTON – This week, Commerce Chenango would like to highlight Upstate Companies I LLC, a commercial construction enterprise, based in Mount Upton, NY, that is interested in people, communities, and infrastructure.

The enterprise has about one hundred employees, all of whom Upstate Companies I appreciate. According to Project Manager/Estimator Laura Pegg: “Our biggest resource is definitely our people. They work hard and do a lot for us, so we try to keep them working all year round”. 

Founded in June of 2012, Upstate Companies I contains three different divisions: an electrical division, a civil division, and a construction division. Typically, the three divisions work separately. However, Pegg shared that one of the enterprises’ current projects, Vestal Fire Station #4 in Johnson City, sees all three divisions working together for the first time in company history.

Under the supervision of President Brian Zaczek, the enterprise has grown their project portfolio significantly. Upstate Companies I started out doing projects that were less than one million dollars, but now six- or seven-million-dollar projects are standard for them. 

However, things aren’t always so smooth in the construction industry. Upstate Companies I has had to adapt over the past couple of years to meet the challenges with supplies. Where there is growth there is evidence of a lesson learned. According to Pegg, electrical gear is a year out due to supply delays, and Upstate Companies I consistently orders the needed supplies in advance when they predict there may be issues getting materials in a timely manner.

Pegg claimed that Upstate Companies I had their first high profile projects with another local business, the Raymond Corporation.

Upstate Companies did construction on an addition to the Raymond location in Syracuse and built the second story on the location in Greene. Upstate Companies started their collaboration with Raymond about six years ago, and Pegg attributes the growth of the enterprise to the exposure they got from the Raymond projects.

Upstate Companies finds a particular advantage to being in Chenango County. They appreciate that they can travel the state easily, are close to home, and are centrally located between Binghamton, Syracuse, and Albany. As a result, they find it easy to participate in local communities.

For example, Upstate Companies engages their employees by participating in the Parade of Lights in Norwich, St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Sidney and Norwich. They also frequently volunteer their equipment for  Touch a Truck  programs, where companies bring equipment like excavators or tractors to an open space and the community is invited to see how they operate up close.

One of Pegg’s fondest memories of a local project was after Upstate Companies completed the health clinic at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. The zoo invited the families of the construction workers who contributed to the project in to tour the facility, and even let them touch a giraffe.

As far as current projects are concerned, Upstate Companies has a couple concurrent ones. Along with the Vestal Fire Department #4, they are currently finishing Silverman Hall at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. It is a training facility used by students and staff, and it will be completed in a few months. Upstate Companies also recently finished the Culinary and Event Center at SUNY Broome, which is a historical building. Pegg said that was a unique and exciting challenge as they had to rehabilitate it to maintain the significance.

Upstate Companies shared a recent success of theirs, a ten-million-dollar project they are making progress on at the Whitney Point Central School District. They secured this opportunity as they do all their projects, through a bidding process. As the Estimator, Pegg is the one who puts the bids for these projects together. She stated: “When I got the call that we won the bid for Whitney Point, it made my week”. Upstate Companies is hoping to complete this massive project by the end of next summer.

To learn more about Upstate Companies or to see photos of past projects, visit their website at  https://www.upstate-cos.com/  and their Facebook page at Upstate Companies I LLC. To apply to work there, check them out on  Indeed.com, a job application website.