Schlecht Construction has partnered with Bergerson Construction in a joint effort to stay afloat in the sinking economy.

The companies joined up to apply for contract work for the U.S. Coast Guard, which is flush with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding that has been doled out by Homeland Security to update and build new shoreline projects. After a year-long application process and waiting period, the partner contractors — Schlecht, with offices in Vancouver and Kelso, and Bergerson, based in Astoria, Ore., — recently won approval to be one of 16 companies that can bid on projects in eight states, including Washington, Oregon and California.

More than 200 applications were considered, said Larry Schlecht, president of Schlecht Construction.

“It took us eight months to put this proposal together,” he said.

The partnership sprang from a survival strategy devised to meet a list of bidder requirements. Eligible contractors, for example, had to be experienced in environmentally friendly marine work and had to be under the leadership of a service-disabled U.S. Veteran.

Bergerson specializes in marine-related work. Schlecht, 62, is a veteran of the Vietnam War.

“We saw this as an opportunity in an otherwise slow time for construction,” Schlecht said.

Schlecht served in Vietnam from late 1966 to late 1968. He was honorably discharged by the U.S. Marine Corps in 1971 after serving a tour that included a year-long stint as a helicopter gunner during the Tet Offensive.

“The Marine Corps taught me to be accountable,” Schlecht said.

Schlecht Construction has mainly focused on land-based commercial projects such as office, retail and industrial buildings since it was founded in 1968.

Company strengths

Schlecht said neither his company nor Bergerson would have received approval to bid alone on the Coast Guard projects. The list of potential projects could add up to between $7 million and $10 million in work over the next 10 weeks.

“Bergerson has worked on jetties and pile driving. They brought the marine components to the venture. The things we brought were the commercial applications,” Schlecht said.

Schlecht and Bergerson have already worked together on two Coast Guard projects, including a $4.2 million pier rehabilitation project in Astoria that is already finished. The team’s next venture is a $3.7 million docking facility at Neah Bay on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula.

“Between our two companies, we’ve been in Oakland, Petaluma, Santa Barbara, San Diego (Calif.) and Brookings, (Ore.) to look at and bid on projects,” Schlecht said.

Print this article