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Foundation Supportworks Hosts Training for More than Sixty-Five
Foundation Supportworks hosted Sales, Installation and New Dealer Training in Omaha, NE during the week of May 10, 2010 and over 65 owners, managers, sales representatives and installers received training about the various foundation solutions offered by Foundation Supportworks. Dealers from West Virginia, Georgia, Colorado, Delaware, Washington, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Connecticut, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon and Ontario were in attendance and provided insight about the foundation problems in their region of the country. The training educated dealers on ways to effectively market, sell and install helical foundation systems, push pier systems, wall stabilization systems, and crawlspace support systems.
Owners and Managers Prepare to Lead their Teams to Success!
Twenty-one owners and managers from fifteen Foundation Supportworks dealer offices attended Management Training in Omaha last week. 
Attendees discussed topics such as leading vs. managing, recruiting talented individuals to come work for you, hiring tough, orienting new hires, retaining top talent, handling employees with attitude and/or performance problems, writing effective performance appraisals, rewarding and recognizing effectively, keeping your eye on key performance indicators in each department, and much more. Rather than traditional learning techniques such as lecture, participants also held many small group discussions, observed demonstrations and used a variety of hands-on activities to solidify the concepts and apply them to real-world examples.
“Great training! I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who thinks they are a good manager/leader. This will provide you with so much more info and arm you to become a great leader,” said Bob Cherry of Foundation Supportworks of New Jersey.
Foundation Supportworks Continues Growth with New Hire, Randy Dikeman, as Territory Manager
Foundation Supportworks, Inc. (FSI) is pleased to announce the hiring of Randy Dikeman. Randy joins FSI as a Territory Manager with a focus on dealer recruitment, field training, and technical support.
Randy has over 36 years of extensive hands-on residential and commercial construction experience and has been involved with the deep foundations industry since 1987. Randy brings a unique level of understanding to the position having owned his own foundation repair company from 1990 to 2001.
From 2001 to 2008 Randy fulfilled the role of National Project Manager for Product and Application Support for Atlas Systems and Chance Civil Construction. While with these organizations, he was a contributor in the development of comprehensive training manuals as well as other technical documents. Randy has trained foundation contractors in the classroom and in the field for over 20 years. Randy has also provided technical support for customers throughout the United States in the application, installation and load testing of helical piles, anchors and push piers in a wide variety of soil conditions. He also has extensive experience with equipment and specialty applications.
Most recently, Randy has been a field consultant for various industry manufacturers including a role in sales and business development for a distributor of Maclean-Dixie helical products.
“I am impressed with FSI’s overall operation and especially, the depth of focus in their customer support system. In this highly competitive arena of manufacturers, it is refreshing to see a company driven by the old-fashioned values of customer service that defined small business in this country for generations. The broad program of training they offer is, in my opinion, unsurpassed in the industry. I look forward to working with FSI’s staff and hopefully, I can add another layer of value to their organization.”
Foundation Supportworks Expands Facility to Accommodate Growth
Foundation Supportworks (FSI) has experienced exponential growth since 2008 and recently began construction of a 7,100 square foot addition to their office building located in Omaha, NE. The new addition will be connected to their existing 10,000 square foot office building and will make room for FSI’s ever-growing staff along with a state-of-the-art training facility. In addition to creating 22 new offices for FSI employees, the new office space will also include an interactive training center that will be able to accommodate more than 100 individuals. Amanda Harrington, Director of Training and Development for FSI, says, “With nearly 15 events on our 2010 training schedule and even more events scheduled for 2011, the new training center will provide a great learning environment for our dealers. The multimedia technology incorporated throughout the training center will allow training participants to learn in a variety of ways, ensuring the best opportunity to solidify learning concepts and incorporate them when they get back to the ‘real world’.”
The new addition is located next door to FSI’s 27,000 square foot warehouse and distribution center where finished product is stored and orders are shipped to dealers throughout North America. President and co-founder, Greg Thrasher, says, “Foundation Supportworks has been blessed with a talented staff and a committed customer base which has allowed us to invest in the future of the company. Our mission is to be the best in our industry and to “wow” our customers every step of the way. We accomplish that mission by providing our customers with the resources they need to be successful, and part of that mission will be lived out with this addition.” 
Initial construction of the addition began on March 22nd and the project should be completed by the end of August.
Annual Owner’s Meeting Brings Sun, Fun and Lots of Good Conversation
Owners across the Foundation Supportworks dealer network recently attended the 2010 Owner’s Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. We had a record turnout at this year’s event, with more than 60 dealer offices represented and well over 150 attendees. Wow!
It’s not very often that a group of owners are able to get together, share successes, get advice about common challenges, learn about new tools available, and strengthen the connection they feel to one another. One can really feel the power of a network at these events.
Foundation Supportworks presented on topics such as the commitment necessary to become involved commercial sales and marketing, management training topics, new helical products and their capacities, ICC progress, soil nails, new presentation tools for home inspectors, and more.
The Owner’s Meeting gave attendees some much welcomed sunshine, some great laughs, and most importantly, lots of good insight on how to reach new levels of success within their business!
Foundation Supportworks Trains More Than 50 in Atlanta
Foundation Supportworks took residential sales training on the road in February, training more than 50 owners, managers and sales specialists on product information and sales techniques. 
FSI dealers from Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Canada attended the two-day workshop. The training included mostly new additions to the FSI dealer network and topics covered included helical piers, push piers, wall stabilization systems, crawl space stabilization systems, marketing and sales. What did the participants have to say about the experience? “Perfect!” “First class products and first class company!” “I’m so proud to be associated with FSI. The products, marketing approach and sales tools are unlike anything else available. Wow!”
Former Owners of Drive Rite Piering Systems Join the Foundation Supportworks Dealer Network
Ben Bayless and Craig Williams, owners of Alabama Foundation Specialists and former owners of Drive Rite Piering Systems, have joined the Foundation Supportworks dealer network along with several other former Drive Rite dealers.
With offices in Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama Foundation Specialists has been Alabama’s leader in foundation stabilization for over 10 years. Regarding their recent transition, Ben Bayless said, “In addition to owning my own manufacturing company, I’ve worked with and installed products from three other helical pier manufacturers over the years. I thought I’d seen it all until I saw what was going on at Foundation Supportworks. Their products, training, and especially their marketing and sales support are like nothing else in the industry. After personally visiting their facility in Omaha, NE, Craig and I decided that we needed to become an FSI dealer. Our company has experienced steady growth over the past several years, and I’m confident that joining Foundation Supportworks will help us take Alabama Foundation Specialists to new heights.”
Along with the addition of Alabama Foundation Specialists, several other Drive Rite dealers have come on board and helped solidify FSI’s presence in the Southeast. Mike Wegman, Business Development Manager for FSI, said, “The new dealers that have transitioned to Foundation Supportworks have been most impressed with the sophisticated marketing programs that FSI offers. In addition to the products, our new customers are especially excited to hit the streets with more leads and better sales tools than they’ve ever had before”.
These new dealers help to further position Foundation Supportworks as a leader in the foundation stabilization industry as they bring their knowledge, experience and solid reputations to our network.
Foundation Supportworks Dealers End Year with Flurry of Engineering Presentations
November and December were busy months for the FSI engineers and dealers with webinars and presentations. Dealers and FSI staff coordinated the offering of four webinar presentations that allowed dealers to either travel to engineer, architect or general contractor offices, or host these groups at their dealer facilities. Dealers that participated in the webinars included: Complete Basement Systems, Thrasher Basement Systems, Foundation Repair of Western Colorado, MidAmerica Basement Systems, Innovative Foundation Supportworks , and Perma-Seal Foundation Repair and Connecticut Basement Systems.
In addition to webinars, dealers also organized several other presentations.
- On November 6, 2009, Josh Wennmacher of MidAmerica Basement Systems organized for Jeff Kortan, PE to present to a large engineering firm in Rock Island, IL. The presentation was also broadcast to satellite offices in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri where representatives from Perma-Seal Foundation Repair, Midwest Basement Systems, Foundation Supportworks of Wisconsin, and Woods Basement Systems were also in attendance to provide lunch and answer questions.
- On November 20, 2009, Ken Abud and Mark Foldenauer of Ayers Foundation Supportworks organized for Jeff Kortan, PE and Kyle Olson, PE to present to a large A/E firm in Grand Rapids, MI.
- On December 9, 2009, Jamie Budiac of Foundation Supportworks of Wisconsin organized for Jeff Kortan, PE to present to a large general contractor in Appleton, WI with in-house A/E capabilities.
- On December 16, 2009, Michael Morrow of Kansas Basement and Foundation Repair organized for Jeff Kortan, PE and Don Deardorff, PE to present to the Wichita Chapter of SEAKM (Structural Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri).
FSI Engineers from left to right: Don Deardorff, Kyle Olson, Jeff Kortan
The webinars and presentations focused on educating the audience about helical foundation systems, push pier systems, wall anchor systems, and supplemental crawl-space support systems. Presentations on helical foundation systems included helical terminology, advantages and disadvantages of round and square shaft helical piers and tiebacks, typical applications, calculation and verification of helical pile capacity, load tests per ASTM standards, and the International Code Council Evaluation Service, Inc. (ICC-ES) Acceptance Criteria 358.
Larry Janesky Publishes His Newest Book, “The Highest Calling”
Larry Janesky, Co-Founder of Foundation Supportworks, is an authority on creating and growing businesses for the benefit of business owners, employees and customers. Larry is a highly successful author of five books, acclaimed speaker, inventor with 24 patents, business leader with 27 years of real world accountability and success, and has big plans for the future.
His latest highly anticipated book, “The Highest Calling,” an inspirational novel about business and life, struggle and success, can be ordered now at TheHighestCallingBook.com. The book is more than an inspirational book. For those that seek, it is a powerful entrepreneurial education; one that will improve lives and make a difference in businesses around the world.
Larry’s vision and leadership is part of what makes Foundation Supportworks a leader in the foundation stabilization industry. Foundation Supportworks offers a complete line of foundation products including helical pile, helical anchor, and push pier systems that support residential and commercial buildings, stabilize foundation and retaining walls, support tower foundations and many other deep foundation applications.
Foundation Supportworks Published for Second Time in NAHI Forum Magazine
The NAHI Forum, a quarterly publication from the National Association of Home Inspectors, published a second consecutive article from Foundation Supportworks called “Identifying Conditions for Structural Concerns.” This article focused on the symptoms, causes and options for repair for cracked, bowing and leaning foundation walls. Jeff Kortan, P.E., Director of Engineering for Foundation Supportworks, authored the article aimed to educate home inspectors on properly diagnosing failing foundation walls.