Helm consistently ranks as one of the top 50 mechanical construction / facility services firms in the United States. Our skilled labor force annually performs over 1,800,000 workhours, while reaching an annual revenue over $300 million.

Helm provides construction, building maintenance, and engineering services for clients across the United States with office locations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Nebraska. In addition, Helm has over 160,000 square feet of fabrication floor space, allowing us to fabricate for both our own field work and outside customers. With comprehensive facility services offerings, Helm Group is a top tier partner for any Equalis Group member.

HELM. Building Excellence in The Heartland Since 1946.

From construction of the largest new hospitals in the Midwest to the smallest industrial processes, Helm Group focuses on safety, quality, productivity, and efficiency. Our project teams’ engineering, planning and construction innovation and our exemplary safety record allow us to excel while providing fair costs to our customers. Our commitment to leveraging state-of-the-art technology for the benefit of owners and project partners is unmatched.

Helm’s Mechanical Solutions Include :

• • Design, Engineering, Construction.
  • Facility Services
  • Automated Pipe, Duct, and Structural Steel Fabrication and Modularization.
  • Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and Building Information Modeling (BIM).
  • Plumbing Systems.
  • Hydronic, Process, Medical Gas, and Utility Piping Systems.
  • Chiller & Boiler Installation and Distribution.
  • Air Handling Equipment and Distribution.
  • Test and Balance of Air and Hydronic Systems.
  • Commissioning.
  • Building Automation Systems.
  • Service, Maintenance, and Facility Management.
  • Electrical.

Helm’s Defining Centers of Excellence 

• • Innovation & Early Adoption of The Finest Technology.
  • Enduring Commitment to Value Engineering & Lean Manufacturing.
  • Decades of Multi-Industry Experience Dating Back to 1969.
  • Highest Standards for Quality Craftsmanship.
  • Long-Tenured, Highly Talented Management Team.
  • 24/7 Service.

Service & Facility Management: Allow Us to Extend Our Value

Not only should Helm be your first choice to build your new building, but we can optimize your ownership and the operational costs of your buildings and campuses by providing an array of outstanding facility management and maintenance services. Helm offers services ranging from annual preventative maintenance for specific pieces of equipment to full-time turnkey on-site management of your operations and facilities. Our goal is to make your facility comfortable and cost-effective – and its operation worry-free.  Our staff is expert in operational energy efficiency and continuous monitoring. When it comes to general building automation planning, execution and ongoing monitoring, nobody beats Helm. Since 1969, we’ve been on the bleeding edge of technology in all our divisional operations and building automation is no exception. For detailed information on how Helm leverages technology in Building Automation and Controls. Your buildings are valuable assets that could be hitting your bottom line harder than necessary. Let us show you how Helm can optimize your facility’s operating systems – from securitization and alarm systems to heat, ventilating and cooling and all aspects of energy use. Many clients also rely on Helm to maintain the industrial systems we design and build.

Helm’s Facility Management & Maintenance Solutions Include:

• • General Building Maintenance.
  • Manufacturing Systems Maintenance.
  • Building Systems Operation & Maintenance.
  • Securitization.
  • Efficiency and Energy Analysis
  • Eddy Current Testing.
  • Backflow Inspection/Certification.
  • Fire/Smoke Damper Inspections.
  • Vibration Analysis.
  • Equipment Installation, Repair Maintenance: Chillers (Process and Environmental), Cooling Towers, Boilers (Steam and Hot water), Ventilation and Exhaust, Humidifiers, Dehumidification Units, Data Center Cooling Systems, Temperature Controls, Process Burners, Makeup Air Equipment, Pumps and Compressors, Pneumatics, DDC Systems.

Building Automation & Controls

How Helm Makes Building Automation Simple & Efficient

Helm’s Building Automation & Controls group provides expert engineering, installation and support for building automations systems including HVAC, camera, and card access as well as energy use monitoring. We have the diverse skills, expertise, and deep familiarity with cutting edge technology necessary to leverage and integrate IoT devices across many types of systems.

Simply put, we design collaborative building systems using best-in-class third party software/hardware solutions that result in customized, highly efficient management. For existing facilities, we integrate legacy control systems into a single user platform. For new facilities, we perform comprehensive control work.

Critical to our process is the design of customized graphic interfaces for accurate facility management of all the systems we create and install. At Helm, we provide ongoing monitoring for facilities throughout the Midwest. Our skilled technicians are easy to work with and capable of converting the most diverse and complicated systems into highly efficient new solutions that perform exceptionally well today and are ready for future updates and expansion.

Whether your needs are confined to a single property or are multi-site and complex, Helm is prepared to meet your building automation and control needs.

Our Defining Centers of Excellence:

• • Innovation & Early Adoption of The Most Powerful Technology.
  • Highest Standards for 24/7 High Quality Service.
  • Talented Building & Systems Engineering Team.
  • Decades of Experience Dating Back To 1969.

Fabrication, Manufacturing & Assembly

As The Old Adage Says, “Measure Twice, Cut Once.”

The concept of accuracy being of ultimate importance has come sharply into focus in the modern world of HVAC design, manufacturing, and installation. Helm is committed to the earliest practical adoption of technology in every one of our divisions and HVAC/Mechanical manufacturing is no exception. With 160,000 square feet of fabrication, modularization and assembly shop space, the future of advanced HVAC manufacturing is alive and well at Helm today. While high-level Building Information Modeling (BIM) and advanced manufacturing techniques are talked about by many contracting companies, few can fully execute because it requires a dauntingly high level of capitalization and commitment to infrastructure, software and talent development.

The technological hub of Helm’s Rockford Fab Shop are two state of the art pieces of advanced manufacturing automation: our top-shelf Bescutter Fiber Laser Cutter and Iowa Precision Coil Line Duct Former.

Because its beam is more readily absorbed and not reflected, fiber laser cutters cut copper, brass, and aluminum better, more efficiently and more safely than CO2. And fiber laser operating costs are lower thanks to more modest electrical consumption. Fiber laser cutting is used in many industries where low tolerances are the name of the game – including in medical center operating rooms all over the world. We are proud to bring the precision, repeatability, speed, and automation of today’s most accurate contactless cutting to our customers’ projects.

Helm’s sheet metal shop is centered around a Duct Former Coil Line with 5 coil feeds and liner capability. The coil line manufacture duct to SMACNA-quality standards with repeatable precision.

Our Hydraulic Plate Roller is another key automation hub in Helm’s advanced manufacturing system that feeds, sequences and forms nearly all duct sizes and shapes from pre-programmed data entries. Our hydraulic machinery forms and joins full-wrapper duct quickly, accurately, and less expensively than less-advanced, less-automated equipment. Helm’s plate rolling equipment is fully integrated via automated tooling and software by our design engineers for seamless, incredibly accurate and dependable data transfer.

In Helm’s pipe fabrication shops, Helm uses Tigerstop equipment to automate the pipe cutting process and large pipe is cut on a Watts cutter using the latest plasma technology.  In addition to the fabrication of any piping material, we build complex steel structures for our projects and outside customers.  One noted example of our structural steel capabilities was the manufacture of the structure for the famed Daniel Inouye Telescope in our Freeport, Illinois shop. The world’s largest solar telescope was then dis-assembled and shipped to Maui for final installation.

All assemblies are tracked in Stratus, our quality control and process management system. Helm’s 12 weld booths, stand-alone bioprocessing equipment, orbital weld shop and expert pipe support assembly provide cutting edge resources to our field work.

Modularization planning begins at the earliest stages of each Helm project in conceptual design meetings. In close collaboration with project partners, we identify the most efficient solutions for each project. Coupled with our state-of-the-art automated tooling and software packages (some of which were beta-tested at Helm), the Helm Project Team utilizes BIM to extract and leverage information for use in the planning and delivery of the offsite prefabrication modules as well as all other logistics planning for site deliveries and installation.  Prefabrication eliminates waste onsite and provides “just in time” delivery of prefabricated assemblies. That further enhances site safety and efficiency, reduces waste and generates higher quality. The real benefits of prefabrication all come together in pipe and duct systems that are all but fully assembled at our Fab Shops, then shipped for lightning-fast, accurate assembly at our job sites.

Our Advanced Manufacturing Solutions Include:

• • State-of-The-Art Automated Fiber Laser Cutting Equipment.
  • ASME “PP” Stamp.
  • “R” Stamp Certification by the National Board.
  • State-of-The-Art Automated Pinch Rolling Plate Steel Manufacturing.
  • Leading Edge Design & Manufacturing Software and BIM Integration.
  • 160,000 Square Feet of Fabrication Facilities.
  • BPE (Bioprocessing Equipment Shop).
  • Full Duct Shop Capabilities including Duct Line.
  • Metal fabrication for industrial exhaust systems.
  • Architectural metal capabilities.

Our Defining Centers of Excellence:

• • Innovation & Early Adoption Of The Finest Technology.
  • Enduring Commitment to Building Information Modeling.
  • Highest Standards for Quality Control & Craftsmanship.
  • 24/7 Service.
  • Long-Tenured, Talented Management Team.
  • Decades of facility services and construction Experience Dating Back To 1969.

Safety

Safety: Helm’s Best-In-Class Performance Is No Accident

Experienced clients and partners who visit Helm’s job sites for the first time often remark that while many companies in the construction industry talk about safety being a top priority, on Helm projects, it is demonstrably a very high priority, indeed. Our commitment to safety is difficult if not impossible to miss.

You can just feel it – and we have the track record to prove it.  At the heart of our outstanding safety record is the belief that good health and safety are the inevitable outcomes of a well-trained workforce operating under exceptional, deeply dedicated, and caring supervision.

Helm’s commitment to safety doesn’t end with our emphasis on the health of our employees.  Our Enterprise Safety Program focuses on protecting the community, our customers, and our contractor partners – from whom we demand the same emphasis on safe practices we do our own team. Simply put, we believe it is our responsibility to drive health and safety on all our projects. No matter how simple and seemingly non-threatening the task, our safety processes are consistently rigorous.

“We employ some of the highest profile trades performing some of the highest-risk tasks in the industry. We learned decades ago that we needed to plan each activity as if we were working inside a 40-foot-deep cofferdam with a rising river – or manipulating 48-inch steel pipe high in the air. When we plan our easiest activities as if they are most difficult, it gives us an unmatched and unwavering mindset safety mindset,”  said Brian Helm, Helm Group CEO.

“What really stands out to our customers is the company’s commitment to our employees’ health and safety,” said Shawn Meier, Corporate Safety Director. “That is the number one most important thing to us. We have an EMR of half the industry average. Find me another firm with our depth and breadth of services that can match that.”

Helm’s Company-Wide Commitment to Safety Includes:

• • Procedural Systemization.
  • Deeply Experienced Safety Leadership.
  • Safety Roots That Run Deep in Each Division’s Culture.
  • An Abiding Desire That Everyone “Goes Home Safe”.
  • Industry-Leading EMR.
  • State-of-The-Art Communications & Technology.
  • Flawless Crisis Management (Even When It’s Another Contractor’s Crisis).

Technology

Early Technology Adoption: The Key to Helm’s Reputation for Accuracy and Excellence

Helm’s early technology adoption has always been focused on productivity improvements. We find that when we’re able to give the field the same real-time information that our project management staff have access to, we improve not only the efficiency on a project, but the quality and safety as well. Much of our productivity enhancement using technology comes from having easy access to the building model. In addition, our paper-less system and digitization of all project information allow us to always work off the latest information and speed the flow of data between members of the project team. Our ERP system can easily be accessed by the field, our RFIs and submittals are all in electronic form and easily accessed from a tablet, and our building model is not only available to view, but also mark up and change right at the fabrication shop or project site. When our systems are digitized, productivity tracking and improvement become easier and a standard operating procedure.

We like to say that we are not only leading edge with our technology, but also bleeding edge. We are regularly asked to be a beta tester of a new technology offering and were early collaborators on some of the most industry-changing technology that is not commonplace today. We believe in early involvement of emerging technology because it gives us a jump start on industry adoption, but it is also a great tool in recruiting new talent into the company. Recent high school grads, college grads, and trade apprentices work here because we aren’t afraid to experiment. When we see the impact that a recent high school grad has made in programing a new product for us, we realize we have something special and different.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the core element of Helm’s renowned Project Management System. It drives nearly all construction preplanning and execution activities. BIM actively engages our entire corporate team. As early adopters and drivers of BIM, our familiarity with and commitment to our custom-developed planning process is a primary reason why Helm can be counted on to deliver accuracy and excellence time and again.

At Helm, we have been using parametric 3D modeling technology to detail our projects since 1999 and we have developed unmatched expertise in the discipline. Currently, with more than 30 in-house BIM/VDC Technicians, we employ a carefully selected combination of best-in-class software technologies to maximize workflow efficiency, accountability and to help us meet both specific and general project goals.

The primary goal of the BIM approach at Helm is to jointly develop a fully coordinated, fully constructible integrated virtual model of the project long before construction begins. In creating the model, we focus on the most efficient layout of equipment, component routing, component supports, sleeves and penetrations. We thereby avoid potentially costly cross-trade interferences in the field.

We also look for opportunities to share resources with other contractors for mutual benefit. Through the use of prefabricated hangers, Trimble Laser Guided Total Station Units and prefabricated piping and duct spools and module assemblies, the BIM process allows us to unload our trucks directly into the installed hangers at predetermined installation locations. This advanced practice maximizes efficiencies and minimizes material handling, packaging, and overage waste. It reduces on-site labor and maximizes productivity and safety.

In other recent developments, Helm has begun exploring how Augmented Reality (AR) can enhance operations and processes in the construction industry with an eye toward bringing even more advances in efficiency to our clients’ critical projects. By employing Hololens, we anticipate AR being used in at least 3 distinct applications: project visualization, imaging, and Visualization during construction and by enhancing service and maintenance post-construction, and with facility services.

You can rest assured that at Helm our quest for increasing accuracy and efficiency through technology will never end.

Current Software & Applications:

• • Full Autodesk AEC Suite.
  • Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM 360).
  • Trimble Robotic Total Stations.
  • Faro Focus S70 Laser Scanner.
  • Bluebeam Revu and Studio Sessions.
  • Industry standard file sharing.
  • Microsoft Office 365.
  • All industry standard remote conference options.
  • Hololens 1 and 2 with HoloLive 3D.
  • Visual Live for iPad.
  • StructionSite photo documentation.
  • DADO Intelligent File Search.
  • GTP Stratus, eVolveMEP, and VicTools for BIM to Fabrication.