P1 Group happens to share our 100th birthday with an integral component of our industry: the hard hat. One of the earliest pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE), the hard hat paved the way for the safety innovations companies like P1 Group pursue every day.

Where did the hard hat come from? The very ­first hard hat was inspired by the helmets worn by WWI soldiers, which protected them from the hail of bullets.

One of those soldiers was Lt. Edward Wheatley Bullard. Impressed by the effectiveness of the helmets, he invented the ­first commercially available industrial hard hat, called the Hard Boiled Hat®, initially designed for miners who were subjected to falling rock or tools dropped by workers higher up.

The friend you didn't know you had: WFF President Joan Putthoff; Vice President Niki Montgomery; Director of Development Connie Mann

Ryan was emotional with gratitude when he called Working Families’ Friend (WFF) to say “thank you.” Ryan was a successful carpenter. He had always been able to provide for himself and his family. But when a tragic accident claimed his leg, life got complicated. Multiple medical bills and an expensive prosthetic leg were making things worse. When physical challenges cut his job hours and he was on the brink of losing his insurance, Ryan knew he couldn’t do this by himself.

Pictured, LEFT: Tom Axtell/MCAKC; Kollin Knox, P1 Group; Chuck Tarpley, Local 8  RIGHT: David Mallicoat, Garmin; John Ogden, P1 Group; Kelly Rauckman, Garmin; Jason Quattlebaum, P1 Group  CENTER: Images from the Garmin warehouse during construction

Every two years, the Mechanical Contractors Association of Kansas City recognizes Outstanding Mechanical Installations from the Metro. This year, P1 Group and Garmin earned the OMI award for their new warehouse facility – building 5 in the “plumbing over $2 million” category.

Before P1 Group Plumbing Service Manager Dave Rollo was lured into the illustrious world of plumbing, he wanted to fly jets. When he finished high school, he headed off to college to become a jet pilot, but after a year of college, his long distance relationship took a toll and he chose marriage over flying.

Cats and dogs alike at the brand new $7.5 million Lawrence Humane Society facility are enjoying nicer, larger spaces thanks to the building’s modern additions and renovations.

The new building not only houses space for the animals, there are multiple meet-and-greet spaces for their human friends to visit with them and hopefully take them to a forever home.

Teamwork and Pre-planning instrumental in meeting tight deadlines

The National Weather Service, Central Region Headquarters, is the NWS Training Center and also houses several National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offices. Training is one of the main functions of this facility, but they also provide weather forecasting, severe weather alerts, and climate monitoring. With so much at stake, having up-to-date mechanical systems is crucial.

When the HVAC systems in the building were on the brink of going out of warranty and would no longer be up to standards to house a government tenant, building owner Cushman and Wakfield had to do something fast to keep the building "government-tenant" compliant.

Out of all the associates at P1 Group, only one earns the Ace Award.

This award is for that individual who is: self-motivated and forward thinking; hard-working and focused; always striving to make our organization better; showing ongoing initiative and dedication; and exemplifying our company culture of 100 percent effort/0 excuses.

 At Your Service

Pictured above, left to right: Geoff Conatser / Lenexa; Repairing condenser water leak on cooling tower; Justin Koerner / Lawrence/Topeka;Taking Amp Readings on a 25 Ton AAON rooftop unit during preventative maintenance; Gary Jones / Lenexa; Looking for R134A refrigerant leak on a Leibert data room cooling unit; Kenny Hines / St. Joseph; Installing 3-ton split system

For many P1 customers, our service technicians are the face of P1. They are the people taking care of service calls and preventive maintenance, out on the front lines with our customers every day.

“I didn’t know P1 Group did that!”

Being a single-source Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing (MEP) provider is P1 Group’s critical differentiator. It’s what sets us apart from competition and gives us the edge in providing enhanced capabilities and more benefits to our customers.

MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION
Pipe, plumbing, sheet metal, controls

The rugged terrain of Wyoming is where Derby, Kansas, native Eric Williams finds himself these days. Eric has now been a Wyoming resident for five years, and it all started when he joined P1 Group as an HVAC technician.

Join us in welcoming the P1 Group summer interns! They come from a variety of backgrounds with diverse educational interests and we look forward to having them around our offices and jobsites. This year's interns represent Ottowa University, Kansas State University, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, Washburn University, Tabor College and others.

We can't wait to see what they learn - and what they can teach us.

When teamwork happens the way it is supposed to, it can produce incredible things. This was demonstrated by the large team that pulled together for the multi-phase HVAC improvement project at Cleveland University. Not only did the customer get a top-notch product, the project illustrates the benefits of working with a single-source provider.

Through an innovative approach to this ammonia energy project, P1 Group’s Industrial Ammonia Refrigeration team beat rebate projections and ultimately earned Hunt Midwest rebates of more than $120,000 based on annual electrical savings of more than 920,000 kWh for the SubTropolis underground business complex in Kansas City.

SubTropolis is the largest underground business complex in the world, created through the mining of a 270-million-year-old limestone deposit. In the mining process, limestone is removed by the room and pillar method, leaving 25-foot square pillars that are on 65-foot centers and 40 feet apart.

Congratulations to Gloria Keating for earning the CFO of the Year honor from the Kansas City Business Journal. Only a select group of winners is chosen, representing the best and brightest in finance across the Kansas City Metro.

By the 8th grade, P1 Group CFO Gloria Keating knew exactly what she wanted to do. She even recalls writing an 8th grade graduation paper declaring she planned to be an accountant.

P1 Group is always looking for ways to support the communities in which we live and work, and the bi-annual Corporate Sponsorship competition allows us to do it for the charities nearest and dearest to our associates’ hearts.

Congratulations to Scheduler/Dispatcher Marvin Reese (pictured above, left) from our Lawrence office and Building Technologies Foreman Chad Andrew from our Lenexa office on winning the Spring Corporate Sponsorships.

May 1 is National Skilled Trades Day, so what better time to celebrate our own men and women in the trades.

Labor Shortage

There’s a lot of information out there regarding the serious shortage of skilled laborers. Between Baby Boomers retiring and far fewer young people pursuing skilled labor careers, the pipeline is thin.

Companies like Catalent Pharma Solutions hold consumer health in their hands – the development and delivery of the drugs they make are critical to saving lives. They face strenuous government regulations and strict operating procedures, so having facility equipment fail is serious and can lead to disastrous loss of product and profit.

Thanks to the above-and-beyond diligence of the P1 Group Facility Maintenance Operations (FMO) team at Catalent, there were no fails and it was “business as usual”, even throughout the brutal winter.

Pictured, above: Massive cooling towers and chillers getting ready for installation.

What you don’t usually see when you visit a hospital are the massive mechanical systems behind the scenes that keep the environment precisely regulated, operations running smoothly, and patients and personnel safe.

Every year, P1 Group hosts a March Madness bracket challenge designed to build a bit of competitive fun around the office and support great causes that are meaningful to our associates.

P1 Group is in full-swing with its 100-year celebration, and Senior Estimator Joe Camren has been around for more than half of it.

One of P1 Group’s longest-tenured employees, Joe started as a plumber apprentice in the field in 1966 (with founding company A.D. Jacobson) and is still going strong as a senior estimator at corporate headquarters today. In a recent Q&A, he shared his observations about his work, his company, and what really makes a person successful.