Mechanical contractor S.I. Goldman Company combines decades of trust with modern fabrication to serve Florida’s growth
In Lake Nona, Florida, stands an impressive ten-story hospital, comprising more than 500,000 square feet of steel, concrete, and increasingly complex mechanical systems – a building that is vital to the lives of surrounding inhabitants. And S.I. Goldman Company (SIG) is the mechanical contractor bringing the hospital’s HVAC, plumbing, and medical gas systems to life.
“We were brought on relatively early in the process, working through budgeting while documents were being finalized,” begins President, Roy Burkett, who joins us to reveal more about the company and its works. “The AdventHealth Lake Nona building has been a fantastic project for us.” A portion of this will be turned over in November, with the balance following in March or April next year. This milestone captures both the scale SIG operates at, and the trust that major healthcare clients place in the firm – a trust that has been built over decades.
As a renowned commercial and industrial mechanical contractor, SIG delivers new construction, renovation, and retrofit work across Central Florida, with offices in Longwood, just outside Orlando; Merritt Island on the Space Coast; and Gainesville, home to the University of Florida. The company’s core markets are healthcare and education, while its presence in the industrial sector has increased significantly: a diversification that has broadened its footprint without diluting its quality and focus.
Nowhere is that quality and focus more visible than in the company’s recently renovated fabrication shop, and SIG Fabrication Manager, Tyler Brooks, has been spearheading the effort which is almost a year in the making. “As technology has changed, we saw the need to make some changes to enhance productivity and efficiency,” explains Roy. Central to the upgrade is a new pipe profiler – a CNC machine that streamlines the company’s piping fabrication considerably. “This new technology allows our design team, led by Jason Clifton, to download directly from our Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) software straight to the new profiler. It’s automated cutting and it’s much quicker than a manual process.”
What makes the renovation extraordinary is that it was carried out without disrupting day-to-day operations. “We’re renovating while maintaining operations, which has made it a little tricky,” admits Roy. “However, Tyler and his team have remained fully functional throughout.” He says the team expects to complete the project within the next month or two, positioning the shop to support faster turnaround on the increasingly complex, schedule-compressed projects that define modern construction.
Investing in people and processes
SIG’s investment in equipment is matched by an equally thorough investment in people and process – most notably, in safety. The firm was recently recognized for its safety excellence, and Roy is eager to explain why. “We believe in people first and we want everyone to go home the same way they arrived at the beginning of the workday. All field personnel go through multiple safety trainings that are integral to the work, including OSHA 10, OSHA 30 for all supervisors, fall protection, aerial work platform, confined space, CPR and First Aid, and other training.” The company also employs a full-time safety director and safety manager, while running monthly ‘First Light Safety Stand Downs’ – an initiative that involves management visiting a project site at the start of the day to talk directly with crews. Weekly site safety audits and a GPS-based fleet management system, which also tracks driver behavior, also make up a program built on consistency and diligence.
SIG is also heavily invested in apprenticeship training. The company partners with a local organization for plumbing apprenticeship training and handles welding and pipefitting training internally. “All programs are four years in duration and require full commitment from everyone,” adds Roy. “We have found that this training is critical to the development of people entering the trades, and we want to invest in people that are willing to invest in themselves and make SIG their home.”
In many ways, this people first culture is an extension of the company’s broader identity. Even though SIG is part of a larger, publicly held organization, Roy is adamant that SIG runs as a family-business at the operating level. “Our leadership team, Dustin Prill (VP Operations), Manny Toro (VP Estimating), Jacquie Brooks (HR Director) and Doug Heinisch (Controller) comprise roughly 100 years of combined experience with the company,” he underlines, with several field supervisors and department heads having been with the company for more than 40 years. Such longevity fuels an informal but deeply embedded culture of mentorship. “A great deal of mentorship is given at SIG, and our more experienced people are quick to take others under their wing,” he continues. With projects sometimes running up to two years, the company makes a deliberate effort to bring its workforce together for various company events several times per year.
These events include arcade days, bowling outings, pool tournaments and the annual holiday celebration luncheon, all to sustain relationships across dispersed job sites.
Furthermore, Roy is candid about the pressures facing the wider industry. A well-documented labor shortage persists, yet he remains encouraged by rising interest from younger people – even those at the middle and high school level. Technologically, the shift toward virtual design and construction continues to reshape how projects are coordinated and prefabricated; a trend Roy describes as being accelerated by tighter schedules and labor constraints. “Prefabrication has always been important, but it’s becoming even more so,” he states. Meanwhile, AI remains an open question. “We’re still trying to figure out what AI means for construction,” Roy adds. “There are some easy wins on the administrative side, but we’re still working out what it means going forward.”
The contractor’s near-term ambitions reflect Central Florida’s booming aerospace sector, with ongoing work demanded by the East Coast space race. The company is also delivering a new facility for a defense contractor and has just begun work on a new central energy plant for a local utility, due to ramp up in January. With a healthy backlog heading into 2027, the focus now is on finalizing the fabrication facility and securing further work to sustain momentum. “As Central Florida continues to grow, the need for skilled labor is great. I’d like to see the trades regarded more as a viable profession and be viewed as the life changing career that it can be,” concludes Roy, hoping to attract people who see a genuine career in the work SIG does. Although growth, safety, and technology will always be integral, for Roy, restoring pride in the trades is equally important to the company’s next chapter.
