Rozell Industries in New York adds jobs, equipment as it plans for future

Now, Tiarra Guidon and Jen Whalen, both scions of the firm’s founding family, have taken majority ownership of Rozell North, a sister company.

Rosell Forman Tom Normile talks Tuesday with Rozell Vice President Tiarra Guidon, as the construction company’s newest crane is used to replace ductwork.

“I used to work here summers, just in the office and mowing the lawns,” said Guidon, who is also a vice president of Rozell Industries. “My dad (Brian Rozell) would take me on a field trip every once in a while. I just thought the industry was really fascinating.”

Guidon followed that fascination to a degree in engineering, working full-time while taking night classes, she said.

Whalen’s father is Mike Rozell, who with his father, Peter, and brothers Brian and Peter, launched the company that is Rozell Industries today.

The business and its sister companies offer building, fabrication, project design and planning and other services to a range of customers, with a focus on the region’s paper mills, according to Mike Rozell.

“My goal is to have these guys (Guidon and Whalen) running all of the companies in five years,” Mike Rozell said, adding that Whalen is now working on her master’s degree in business administration.

After Guidon completed her engineering degree, she took a job with a local engineering firm. But she found she missed the construction side of the industry.

Crane Operator John Feiden demonstrates the controls of the new Tadano 450-ton crane recently purchased by Rozell Industries. The crane is the largest of its kind in the region.

“When projects start, they go through an engineering phase where you create a set of drawings,” she explained. “We’re on the other end of the set of drawings here … you get to see things being built from the ground up.”

Rozell North is in the process of becoming certified by the state as a Women-Owned Business Enterprise. That would allow the company to satisfy certain requirements placed on primary contractors selected to build public works projects statewide, as the state pushes to have a certain percentage of the work on such projects performed by minority- or women-owned businesses.

“I have a customer right now, a potential customer, that is bidding (as the primary contractor) on a job,” she said. “I’ve never heard of them; they’ve never heard of us.

“They heard that we were seeking our certification, got our name, and I’m bidding to them now, and I probably wouldn’t have had that.”

Guidon and Whalen are working to build a clientele base for Rozell North, even as Rozell Industries continues to grow.

The company recently purchased a new Tadano all-terrain crane capable of lifting up to 450 tons. It’s a $3 million investment, Mike Rozell said, and it gives the company the largest all-terrain crane in the North Country and Capital Region.

The construction industry itself has improved markedly in recent years, as the economy emerged from the Great Recession, according to Mike Rozell.

“For two or three years, it was rough,” he said. “We always did OK, but we didn’t spend any money; we didn’t expand. We just rode it out.

“We noticed an upturn again about two-and-a-half to three years ago.”

The diversity of Rozell Industries’ services has allowed the company to offer fairly steady employment over the decades, Rozell said. That’s a facet Guidon and Whalen hope to carry over to Rozell North, as the business grows.

“We try to diversify, so if one part of the industry is slow, hopefully another side is picking up,” Guidon said. “We try to keep everybody busy all year round.”

While Rozell Industries is in a nearly perpetual state of hiring, Guidon said Rozell North won’t start staffing up until it builds its client base.

• SCOTT DONNELLY [email protected]