TNT Crust
St. Charles, Missouri
AWCI Member Contractor: TJ Wies Contracting Inc.
The following project was submitted to AWCI’s Excellence in Construction Quality Awards program in 2022 in the Other Prefabrication category.
In early 2020, TNT Crust LLC, a manufacturer and distributor of pizza crusts, purchased a building that was originally constructed in 2009 for Air Products and Chemicals, a manufacturer of industrial gases and related equipment. A little over 10 years later, the industrial space was renovated to accommodate TNT Crust’s food production and warehousing needs. The new site was 100,000 square feet on 12 acres, with additional room to support future growth.
The extensive renovation was delivered in just four months and included 4,000 square feet of cooler storage and another 4,800 square feet of freezer capacity. Modifications also included work to allow for three oven lines as well as the construction of new shipping and receiving docks. But in just a little over one month, thanks to prefabrication, TJ Wies Contracting finished their work on the building.
Due to material shortages and extended time frames, traditional methods of construction were not realistic for TNT Crust’s building addition. The main benefit of prefabrication in this instance was time. TJ Wies teams were able to fulfill the owner’s needs with prefabricated, prefinished cold-formed load-bearing panels, and keep their timeline for building and product line expansion on course. In the end, 200 hours were saved by using prefabrication versus traditional construction methods.
When the project was first brought to the Wies team, the owner had already ordered specialty freezers to keep up with demand for their increased product sales. The original proposed concrete tilt-up addition was not going to be feasible due to the bar joists and required steel being unavailable until late in the spring of 2022—an entire year later. Since the freezers were set to arrive in September 2021, this was not an option. During prefabrication install and construction, the Wies tradespeople then had to work around the owner’s specialty equipment during installation, as it was already set on the slab.
The value TJ Wies Contracting brought to TNT Crust was significant. TJ Wies able to circumvent material shortages and delays to keep their timeline on track, allowing them to expand production on one of their best-selling product lines, increasing profitability as soon as possible, only weeks after their specialty equipment was delivered. TJ Wies was able to quickly formulate a prefabrication proposal once approached and immediately proceeded upon proposal approval, finalizing numerous important details in only a two-week period. Installation was fluent, and the finished product matches the existing structure seamlessly.
Incorporated in 1994 by Timothy J. Wies, TJ Wies Contracting is an award-winning company serving the Midwest with offerings that include preconstruction services, project management, prefabrication, metal stud framing, acoustical ceilings and specialty ceiling and wall finishes. Visit tjwies.com to learn more about this AWCI member’s company and work.
