Making Waves
Dissen & Juhn Company helped turn Harbor East Marina into a world-class destination
Gilbert Dissen already had an established career in marine construction when he founded the Dissen & Juhn Company in 1973 with partner Martin Juhn. Dissen, a civil engineer by training, had gained experience in marine construction while serving in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the Navy, Dissen was hired by the marine division of a large general contractor. After almost 20 years of managing a wide variety of marine projects, he left for Marine Resources Inc., where he met Juhn.
When they founded Dissen & Juhn Company, the business was based in western New York. Early on, the location presented a problem: Because of the extreme cold, New York didn’t have a 12-month construction season. In order to work year-round, in 1977 Dissen & Juhn Company established a satellite office in Stevensville, Maryland, where the company is still located today.
Over the last 45 years, Dissen & Juhn Company has grown steadily and slowly migrated its business south, eventually closing the New York office. When Gilbert Dissen and Martin Juhn decided to retire, Dissen’s son Gilbert W. Dissen (Gil) joined his brother Mark Dissen in the family business.
Today, Dissen & Juhn Company is owned by Gil, President, and Mark, Vice President. As a full-service marine and foundation contractor, Dissen & Juhn Company performs public sector and commercial work, specializing in marina development projects.
Small Company, Big Scope
Gil Dissen describes Dissen & Juhn Company as “a small company with big company capabilities.” He uses an analogy of a three-legged stool to describe the firm’s strength: With Gil heading up business development, Mark managing field operations and their engineering manager Ray McMaster, P.E., a licensed professional engineer with 39 years of experience leading technical solutions, Dissen & Juhn Company has an experienced and capable leadership team. Both Gil and Mark are also hands-on when it comes to projects.
“This triumvirate of business acumen, field construction and solid engineering make for a good base for winning work,” Gil says.
The company welcomes new, innovative approaches to projects. Dissen & Juhn Company excels in bringing technical solutions that stand the test of time to the customer and marketplace.
“There are companies out there that have a tendency to simply replicate what’s been done before,” Gil says. “But what’s been done before isn’t necessarily the best approach.”
For instance, as Gil explains, boats are bigger than they were 45 years ago. They’re wider, and they sit deeper in the water. These elements come into play when designing optimal solutions, and the Dissen & Juhn team takes them into consideration in their work. Sometimes that means longer piles and larger slips. “Just because you’ve used 30-foot piles in years past, that doesn’t mean it’s the right length moving forward,” Gil says.
The real strength of Dissen & Juhn Company is its well-honed staff. Gil is particularly proud of the company’s highly trained team of construction professionals, including project foremen, heavy equipment operators, carpenters, pile drivers and engineers—many with decades of experience.
“One of the things that makes us very successful in the marketplace is our accumulated experience,” Gil says. “We have a lot of skills and capabilities unique for a company our size.”
That experience, dedication and longevity can be traced back the company’s founders. Though Gilbert Dissen is retired, even at 86 years old he still participates in bidding work.
Dissen & Juhn Company boasts an impressive resume, having completed work for various federal, state and local governmental agencies, commercial marinas and yacht clubs, real estate development and utility companies, and other commercial entities with facilities on or near the waterfront. But one of its most high-profile projects came in 2016, when Dissen & Juhn Company was awarded the bid for the nearly $9 million Harbor East Marina project.
Built For Baltimore
The Harbor East Marina, located in the heart of downtown Baltimore, is just steps from one of the city’s most popular neighborhoods, bustling with hotels, shops and restaurants. But the deteriorated marina was in desperate need of an upgrade to meet the current needs of the Inner Harbor neighborhood.
As one of only a handful of companies invited to bid the design-build project, the Dissen & Juhn team put their knowledge, expertise and skills together to turn the dilapidated marina into a premier yachting destination.
Dissen & Juhn Company was tasked with building a brand new floating marina, including installing all new docks, utility systems, pile driving and dredging. The work was divided into two phases, completed over the course of two winters, so that it wouldn’t interfere with the boating season. The job was not without its challenges.
As Gil points out, “Building a marina has its own unique complexities.” The Dissen & Juhn team worked outside, on the open water, in below-freezing temperatures and stiff winds. But as experts in the field, the team is not only accustomed to these conditions, they thrive in them.
The result of their work was a world-class marina, which officially opened in 2018, boasting 184 slips, with 700 feet of alongside dockage for larger boats. Dissen & Juhn Company also constructed several platforms within the floating docks to allow for events and gatherings, positioning Harbor East Marina as a leader in the destination marina marketplace.
The work that Dissen & Juhn Company completed on Harbor East Marina has also garnered accolades. The company received a 2018 Excellence in Construction Award from the Associated Builders & Contractors, Chesapeake Shores Chapter.
“It was a very good project for us,” Gil says. “It was a large project that helped cement our name in the commercial marina industry.”
The project was also meaningful to the Dissen & Juhn team because they helped transform the local community. Ever since the company relocated to Stevensville, Maryland, in 1977, it’s been a Maryland-based business. “We love the local marketplace,” Gil says. “We understand the market here. We hire locally, live locally and our clients are local. It’s a great place to own and operate a marina construction business.”
While the awards and accolades are nice, for the Dissen & Juhn team, the best recognition, by far, has been seeing the Harbor East Marina complete its first boating season as it begins its new chapter as a world-class yachting destination in Baltimore.