News

WA Patriot Promotions

WA Patriot promoted Mikhail Balasyuk to Project Manager, Bogdan Tishchenko to Assistant Project Manager, and Zerah Florance and Neil Shaw to Senior Project Managers.

Mikhail interned with WA Patriot in the summer of 2015 until he permanently joined our team in 2016. He started as a project engineer and transitioned to Project Manager soon thereafter. He holds degrees in architecture and construction management from UW, and primarily leads design-build projects for our private clients.

Bogdan Tishchenko was promoted to Assistant Project Manager after serving as Project Engineer with WA Patriot since he was hired in 2017. Bogdan graduated from UW with a degree in Urban Planning & Design, and a Minor in Architecture. He supports our project teams with careful planning, estimating, and in the development of collaboration tools that visually show not tell what we intend to accomplish. Bogdan is also an accomplished photographer capturing the very best of the projects WA Patriot builds.

Zerah joined the WA Patriot team as Project Manager in 2009 and has led some of our most diverse design-build projects. She holds a degree in construction management from UW and a degree in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Zerah fosters the development of our project managers and provides guidance on design-build projects.

Neil joined WA Patriot in 2013, and primarily leads our public projects with State and Federal agencies. He holds a construction management degree from UW and serves as a mentor to our Project Engineer/Quality Control team. Neil’s an accomplished PM, Estimator, and trusted team leader.

Celebrating Safety Excellence

WA Patriot is proud to announce that we received another Safety Excellence award from the AGC of WA for our outstanding safety program in 2020. Many thanks to our project teams and to our Safety Engineer, Brandon Swaab, for their tireless efforts in making safety a priority at WA Patriot!

Expanding our Team

WA Patriot is pleased to announce the addition of several new team members this past year.

Dumitru Robu, graduate of UW’s Construction Management program, joined us full time as a Project Engineer to primarily support our private projects.

Lauren Lusk joined WA Patriot as Project Administrator / Administrative Assistant. She has a BA in Interior Design with a Minor in Construction Management. She provides administrative support to our estimating department, marketing, and project teams performing a variety of project-related tasks in addition to general office administrative tasks.

Keegan Bennett joined WA Patriot as a Quality Control Manager, where he has been supporting several projects with NAVFAC Northwest at multiple Naval Base Kitsap locations. He has a BS in Construction Management with a Minor in Business Admin from WSU.

Dayna Schicker joined our team as Assistant Controller responsible for month-end closing of financials, daily processing of cash receipts, posting of cash transactions, and review/administration of contracts. She has a Finance Degree from Portland State University, MBA from University of Portland, and is a CPA.

Ernesto Valdes joined our team as Payroll Administrator. He holds a BBA in Accounting with a Minor in Finance from Interamerican University of Puerto Rico.

Rob Floberg joined WA Patriot as Assistant Project Manager, where he supports our private clients by offering preconstruction and construction management assistance.

Phil Thornton, Project Manager, brings over 10 of industry experience, with the last 7 years in the management role. His primary focus is leading WA Patriot’s projects for The Boeing Company at their Auburn, Frederickson, Kent, and Tukwila campuses.

WA Patriot Celebrates Bronco Electric as our Subcontractor of the Year for 2020

WA Patriot officially celebrated Bronco Electric of Silverdale, WA as our Subcontractor of the Year for their unwavering support of our projects in 2020. They were a pleasure to work with, and their communication and quality of craftsmanship was outstanding. They were quick to respond, were always willing to go above and beyond to help our project teams, and performed their work with a great attitude and work ethic. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to a long, mutually rewarding relationship with their team.

WA Patriot Employees SERVE at Tacoma Rescue Mission

On Friday, March 12, WA Patriot employees participated in Tacoma Rescue Mission’s lunch service. They helped prepare and serve lunch for Friday’s service, and also prepped breakfast for Saturday. Our team is passionate about supporting Tacoma Rescue Mission (TRM) and we always enjoy serving together. To learn more about TRM and their mission to bring help to those who need it most, visit their website at www.trm.org.

 

WA Patriot Hosts Blood Drive

On Friday October 16, WA Patriot hosted a blood drive for Cascade Regional Blood Services. Our drive did exceptionally well, with 13 participants and 13 units collected – 100% of our goal! We are happy to say that those 13 units of blood, once processed, produced 39 blood products for local hospitals. I want to thank all who participated from the WA Patriot team, and also to thank the Cascade Regional Blood Services group for their commitment to helping our community. For information on how you can donate, you can go to www.crbs.net to find a mobile close to you. NOTE: They are also at Albertsons Gig Harbor North every Monday from 12-6:30 pm.

Way to go TEAM WA PATRIOT!

WA Patriot Safety Stand-Down 2020

WA Patriot held our annual 2020 Stand-Down in September in conjunction with the annual OSHA Safety Stand-Down. This yearly event encourages taking a break to focus on fall hazards and emphasizes fall protection. During WA Patriot’s safety week, our corporate Safety Engineer, Brandon Swaab, visited each project site to discuss the importance of safety and, specifically, fall protection. Each jobsite participated in a discussion regarding site-specific fall hazards and fall protection. The importance of a stand-down is to put an emphasis on the specific hazards that require more attention than others. Having stand-downs shines a light on the hazard at hand and reminds the crew that we must remain diligent at working safely.

WA Patriot’s number one priority and commitment is making sure that everyone goes home safe. #StandDown4Safety

COVID-19 and WA Patriot’s Response

WA Patriot’s leadership team is closely monitoring daily developments of the COVID-19 crisis and are following the guidance from federal, state and local officials to ensure we are doing our part to help alleviate the harsh impact of this virus. Through it all, we remain committed to the health and wellness of our employees, and to the health of our community, which is at the heart of WA Patriot’s culture.

  • We put or people first and we are implementing news ways of being safe in the current conditions.
  • We are taking precautions to ensure we don’t put any of our people in harm’s way.
  • We are serving our community in ways we feel we can be of best service.
  • Early in March, WA Patriot staff was on hand to help Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH Food Bank unload a delivery of goods at their facility on Burnham Drive.
  • Later in March, WA Patriot’s President, Mickey Traugutt, picked up a pallet of goods from the Emergency Food Network in Lakewood and delivered it to the FISH food bank in Gig Harbor.
  • WA Patriot donated our corporate supply of N95 masks to Harrison Hospital in Bremerton.
  • WA Patriot’s VP Mac Stanton and his wife Megan gathered masks from family and friends in the community and delivered these much needed supplies to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

Ever mindful that we are all in this together, WA Patriot will be diligent in our efforts to perform our work and serve our community responsibly. Please consider helping those in your community who need it now more than ever; reach out and find out how you can help.

WA Patriot Welcomes New Team Members

WA Patriot is happy to announce the addition of new key team members.

Brandon Swaab, Safety Engineer, is responsible for supporting, managing, and updating the company safety policies and jobsite safety procedures. Brandon graduated from Central Washington University with a Bachelor’s degree in Safety and Health Management.

Bryan Brockman, Quality Control Manager, comes to WA Patriot with a background in quality control on large industrial construction projects. He is an animal lover and volunteers his time at animal shelters, among his many other hobbies.

Kristin Bonney, Project Engineer, has been in the construction industry since 2010, and ran her own residential construction business before coming to WA Patriot. Kristin also has a home-based baking business, where she creates edible works of art for her clients’ birthdays, weddings, showers, parties and more.

WA Patriot is excited about the passion each of these individuals bring to our team.

Serving our Community: Tacoma Rescue Mission

On December 17, WA Patriot volunteers showed their support for the Tacoma Rescue Mission by helping prepare meals and serve lunch to many homeless and low income people in the community. Prep work included peeling two bushels of apples and 50 pounds of potatoes, stocking supplies, dicing vegetables and other miscellaneous tasks. WA Patriot is passionate about supporting the Mission in their devotion to provide life-changing services to the hurting and homeless in Tacoma and Pierce County. Their accomplishments this past year included 304,556 meals served at a rate of approximately 834 meals per day. To learn more about Tacoma Rescue Mission and what they do, or to volunteer, please visit them at http://www.trm.org.