In celebration of our 100-year anniversary, we've been going through the family albums (so to speak).
P1 Group’s founding company, A.D. Jacobson, began in 1919 and survived a lot during times of war, peace and even disaster. We found some of their remarkable stories in a promotional brochure published in 1954.
By P1 associate average tenure, Warehouse Driver Jeremy Heim is a short timer - he's only been here about 1.5 years. But Jeremy has already found a good fit with P1 Group’s Wichita team and enjoys the work. His responsibilities include taking care of everything coming and going from the warehouse, including managing all aspects of tool requests/check-outs/repairs for construction or service.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
May 1 is National Skilled Trades Day, so what better time to celebrate our own men and women in the trades.
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.
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.
When a vendor working with Paola USD 368 discovered sludge and other performance issues with the high school’s 30-year-old hydronic piping system, he thought P1’s Performance Solutions group might be just the team for the job.
As a prestigious partner with the Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB), P1 Group already had a relationship with Paola superintendent Matt Meeks. P1 Group connected with Matt during KASB BOLD, an educational program for new superintendents for which P1 Group provided training in our Lenexa Training Facility.
Photos 1 and 3 courtesy of Park MGM Las Vegas
You can’t go to Vegas without an extensive array of specialty restaurants and bars at every turn and P1 Group’s Las Vegas office is a major player in their construction and remodel.
Pictured above (from left): Lorrie Belcher, Gloria Keating, Donna Belcher, Bruce Belcher, Meghan Scott, Todd Mihalchik, Sonja Raye, Mitch Campbell.
On February 28 at Maceli’s in Lawrence, Kan., the Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH) Health Foundation bestowed one of their highest awards upon P1 Group.
The P1 Group Lawrence office is a big part of our history and our future. But the office space at the 220,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility was due for an upgrade.
When P1 Group’s Lawrence office relocated to the current building 13 years ago, it was spacious, but in need of a major remodel to be functional for our needs.Offices were built in what was once warehouse space, new carpet was installed and fresh paint went on the walls.
We’re proud of the P1 Group Training Facility at our Lenexa headquarters for good reason. It is both unique to P1 Group and useful to our professional community.
Our Training Facility is a resource that goes beyond keeping our own service technicians relevant and knowledgeable. It also provides educational opportunities to industry colleagues and partners.
P1 Group’s Kindred Biosciences Production Expansion project was born from customer relationship building and a solid example of P1 teamwork across many trades and services.
KindredBio, a pet biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, took over an older pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Elmwood, KS, and will soon manufacture drugs there for companion animals like cats, dogs and horses.