Building upgrades fuel growth for ESI

Commercial construction is well off of its historic levels of the early 2000s, largely because of over-building, lack of commercial financing and the post-Great Recession sluggish economy.

Over the last several years, many commercial construction firms have struggled because of the falling numbers of projects โ€“ whether they deal with office, industrial, retail or other segments of the commercial real estate industry.

However, not all firms are hurting.

- Advertisement -

Brookfield-based Environmental Systems Inc. (ESI) saw demand for its services continue throughout the recession, largely because of the continued demand for increasing performance from existing commercial buildings.

โ€œOur fates havenโ€™t risen or fallen on the wave of new construction,โ€ said Paul Oswald, president of ESI. โ€œThree years ago (during the height of the commercial construction boom), our business was steady. Conversely, now that new construction has fallen to a standstill, our business has not fallen substantially.โ€

ESI specializes in the design, installation and support of heating, cooling and ventilation, automation, security and safety and energy management systems in commercial buildings. Many of the systems that ESI sells help its customers use less electricity and natural gas by using motion sensors and timers, which has helped the company continue sales even in a down economy.

- Advertisement -

โ€œWho doesnโ€™t want to talk about saving money on their operating costs?โ€ Oswald said.

Demand for ESIโ€™s services is rising because of a desire by commercial building owners to save on energy costs and increase security.

โ€œOur 2010 has been strong. Weโ€™re up about four or five percent from this point last year,โ€ Oswald said. โ€œIf we can hit our marks in our forecast weโ€™ll be very happy. Anything with (energy) efficiency is hot now, and thereโ€™s still a high interest in security. There needs to be a balance between sustainability, efficiency and intelligent systems, using applied technology to add value to our customersโ€™ business.โ€

- Advertisement -

Earlier this year, ESI moved into a new, 34,000-square-foot headquarters. The company also operates facilities in Chicago and Michiganโ€™s Upper Peninsula. In total, ESI has 65 employees. The company plans to hire two or three new sales engineers and at least one project manager and project engineer this year.

ESI begins most of its work with commercial clients with an audit of the buildingโ€™s operations, measuring and analyzing how much power is used in lighting, HVAC operations and related applications. The company also recalibrates those same systems to ensure they operate in the specified ranges they are designed to.

โ€œWeโ€™re fixing things that are broken, changing filters that havenโ€™t been changed,โ€ Oswald said. โ€œIt really does get that simple.โ€

However, ESIโ€™s capabilities allow it to offer much more sophisticated services to customers who want to maximize the efficiency of their existing buildings. The company uses off-the-shelf software to coordinate controls, motors, mechanical and electrical upgrades with motion sensors, thermostats and timers. Software systems are integrated into building operations servers, which can automatically control operations in commercial buildings, turning lights on when people walk into a room or at specific times, changing temperatures in certain parts of a building at different times and controlling access to different parts of buildings for specific persons.

โ€œThe platform we use is open,โ€ said Joe Fueling, director of sales and business development. โ€œAll of these devices speak different languages and donโ€™t naturally speak together. Our platform turns it all into English so the devices can speak to each other.โ€

โ€œThe technology isnโ€™t the issue โ€“ anyone can buy it anywhere,โ€ Oswald said. โ€œWe donโ€™t have the corner on the technology. But we do have the knowledge on how to use it.โ€

Sign up for the BizTimes email newsletter

Stay up-to-date on the people, companies and issues that impact business in Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin

What's New

BizPeople

Sponsored Content

Stay up-to-date with our free email newsletter

Keep up with the issues, companies and people that matter most to business in the Milwaukee metro area.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy.

No, thank you.
BizTimes Milwaukee

Holiday flash sale!

Limited time offer. New subscribers only.

Subscribe to BizTimes Milwaukee and save 40%

Holiday flash sale! Subscribe to BizTimes and save 40%!

Limited time offer. New subscribers only.