HOME PAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS, Print Editions, Newsletter PRODUCTS READ THE PETROLEUM NEWS ARCHIVE! ADVERTISING INFORMATION EVENTS PETROLEUM NEWS BAKKEN MINING NEWS

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
February 2008

Vol. 13, No. 6 Week of February 10, 2008

PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: Alaska Dreams Inc., specialists in design, construction of fabric-covered buildings

The quickest, easiest, most cost-effective way to get a top-notch industrial building: ‘If you can dream it, we can build it,’ says Alaska Dreams’ Meini Huser

Paula Easley

Q. When was Alaska Dreams founded, who founded it, and what was its original name?

A. The company was incorporated in 1994 but existed about 10 years prior to that. It was founded by Meinrad Huser and originally was named Alaska Dreams.

Q. Where is Alaska Dreams located?

A. Our office and shop are located in Fairbanks, Alaska, at 2081 Van Horn Road. From there we oversee projects throughout Alaska, the Lower 48 and several international locations.

Q. Who heads up your company and who is on its senior management team?

A. Meini Huser is president and CEO, and Anna Huser is vice president and CFO.

Q. What services does the company offer?

A. We offer the design, sale and construction of fabric covered steel buildings or tension membrane structures. Our products have by far overcome the “tent” description. They are fully engineered, high-tech structures that are economical building solutions, from simple garages to the most modern warehouse, airplane hangar, equipment shop, dry dock cover or custom designed wall or roof covers.

Alaska Dreams also offers a building lease program or short-term rental structures for single events to complex construction or temporary fabrication facilities. Rental options can extend construction seasons or accomplish shorter term projects, where a capital investment isn’t cost effective. Our rental “fleet” ranges from 10-foot by 12-foot field camp sleeper tents to large, clear span mega structures.

Our company is also a factory authorized dealer-builder for VP Varco Pruden pre-engineered steel buildings. We offer a complete line of pre-engineered steel building solutions with a high-quality product from this proven manufacturer. A high-tech design program enables us to provide potential buyers with almost instant pricing information and also preliminary design info and structural drawings.

Q. Who are the company’s main clients?

A. They are major companies such as Alyeska Pipeline, BP, ConocoPhillips, Pioneer Natural Resources, Anadarko, Alaska Railroad, State of Alaska and the U.S. Air Force. We also serve many smaller operations.

Q. How many employees does Alaska Dreams have?

A. Alaska Dreams has between 15 and 20 employees, depending on season and project size. Since we serve the entire state and projects can be of short duration, our crews travel a lot. They are often the first ones on a project providing shelter or housing to following crews and contractors. Because we’re on site before major infrastructure is in place, our crews usually find themselves roughing it to get the job done.

Q. Describe your essential equipment in general terms.

A. Our essential “equipment” is our buildings, either for sale or lease. With the support of our main manufacturer and supplier, Cover-All Building Systems, we have constantly improved the product, with specially designed and developed solutions that work in Alaska’s unique environment.

Our biggest asset is the know-how we have accrued and more than 1.5 million square feet of buildings we’ve built, moved or redesigned just in Alaska. We have our own special tools, our own methods of working with the materials, and of course some unique how-to tricks. Many of our methods and tools are adopted and used by installers around the world. A recent trend is to have our structures fully permitted and designed as a permanent building — insulated, heated and made into the most viable building solution — without having to compromise on quality.

Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations and/or locations?

A. Yes, late this fall we laid the foundation for our new state of the art “green built” manufacturing facility. This facility will improve our capabilities and also greatly expand our product line. It will be in production by the first half of July 2008.

Q. Is the company changing any of its services?

A. Alaska Dreams is looking to extend the custom and specialty manufacturing division. We’ll have our own building line, 100 percent designed and manufactured in Fairbanks. A big part of our expansion is the new fabric division, custom covers, replacement roofs, walls or whatever needs to be covered.

Q. What is your company’s main strength, i.e., its edge over the competition?

A. We’re always willing to try something new, and we’re often ahead of the times. Who would have thought we could get a “tent” structure fully permitted and approved within the Municipality of Anchorage! We deal only with superior products, mixed with expertise, competitive pricing, innovative thinking and customer service. This makes us a leader in our market niche. We handle complete turnkey projects from ground breaking to completion.

Q. What new markets, clients and/or projects did your company attract in the last year?

A. We erected two fabric covered industrial buildings on Oooguruk Island for Pioneer Resources. FEX at Point Simpson is another new customer, where we erected two buildings. One was a helicopter hangar, which we moved around during the winter as the project locations changed.

Q. What is the most challenging job the company has undertaken?

A. Recently Alaska Dreams erected a fabric covered structure at King Cove for the Aleutians East Borough hovercraft project. It was challenging due to its location and world-class windstorms. The challenge was to keep on schedule despite bad weather and the logistics of getting job materials and manpower from Fairbanks to King Cove. The crew had some new experiences and handled them with great persistence and determination!

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?

A. Finding skilled laborers willing to work responsibly. Since we work many remote site jobs and are away from home for extended periods, it’s tough to keep crew members motivated after the initial taste of adventure fades. The challenge is that we work with materials unfamiliar to most workers, so we’re constantly training our people.

Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?

A. The main challenge will be absorbing the greatly increasing costs of doing business — also the weak dollar and growing economic pressures will make our customers think twice where to spend their dollars.

Q. What do you see as future trends or opportunities for your company from, say, political events or long-term weather fluctuations?

A. Due to the nature of our products and innovative thinking of Meini Huser, Alaska Dreams will remain competitive in the industrial building market. For us the pressures facing the construction industry are challenges and great opportunities. We already have a green building product 100 percent recyclable and reusable many times over. Our materials are environmentally safe and approved.

Q. What is the average length of time employee’s work for the company? Are you hiring for any positions?

A. So far it’s about two to three years. Many of our employees like to work on an as-needed basis and some work as technical consultants all over the world. We are always accepting applications so we have a pool to select from as projects demand. It usually takes up to a year to get a worker fully trained on the different nature of our buildings.

Q. What is your company’s safety record?

A. We’ve had only one minor lost-time incident in 13 years. We plan to have none in the next 13 since we constantly improve our safety program.

Q. Does Alaska Dreams have a Web site?

A. It will be up and running soon, with good photographs of our buildings, lots of technical info and much other helpful information. www.alaskadreamsinc.com.






Petroleum News - Phone: 1-907 522-9469 - Fax: 1-907 522-9583
[email protected] --- http://www.petroleumnews.com ---
S U B S C R I B E

Copyright Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA)©2013 All rights reserved. The content of this article and web site may not be copied, replaced, distributed, published, displayed or transferred in any form or by any means except with the prior written permission of Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA). Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law subject to criminal and civil penalties.