Community Builders in Seattle
Coast Salish Constructors meets the needs of Native Americans and the construction industry
Coast Salish Constructors (Coast Salish) is a Tribal Employment Rights Ordinance (TERO) certified and Native American-owned Small Business general and electrical contractor serving commercial and residential projects through Washington state. They are also a training organization, focused on teaching the electrical trade to the Native American community in the state.
TERO requires that all employers engaged in business on reservations give preference to qualified Native Americans in all aspects of employment, contracting and all other business or economic development activities. Its primary purpose is to “enforce tribal law in order to ensure that Indian/Native people gain their rightful share to employment, training, contracting, subcontracting and all other economic opportunities on or near their reservation.”
Founded in 2015 and located in the Roy, Washington, area, Coast Salish provides all phases of commercial and residential general contracting. The company has performed work for diverse clients, including educational, hotel, multifamily residential, retail, restaurants, education, medical and mixed use. The firm has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Coast Salish has a long history of working with the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. To date, they have either trained or worked for members of the Quinault, Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup and Snoqualmie Tribal Nations. Their first founder, Marlin Fryberg Jr., is a well-respected elder of the Tulalip tribe. His son, Michael Fryberg, now serves as Coast Salish’s President.
David Sweet, Coast Salish’s Vice President of Operations, explains, “Our goal is to serve the Native American population and its businesses. We can do anything on a site, from the ground up, including drywalling to painting to electrical to welding and fabricating, and we think of ourselves as a one-stop shop for our clients.”
On-the-Job Electrical Training
While Coast Salish is a full-service firm, it also has a comprehensive training program for the Native American populations of the Pacific Northwest aimed at educating the next generation of electricians. But Coast Salish didn’t start with a training program. Instead, the training program was created to fulfill the needs of both the Native American population and the broader construction industry.
“We realized that we could make a positive impact on the community and fill a need within the general contracting industry,” says David. He explains that many trades, but especially electricians, are hyperspecialized. “We couldn’t find guys who could do everything. We could find a guy who could run wires and another who could do panels. But for small businesses like us, that model doesn’t work. And, the guys who are cross-trained typically are taken by larger companies, meaning the less experienced guys don’t have a chance.”
So, David and his partners came up with an idea. “We knew that people needed jobs, and we needed cross-trained electricians for our jobs. Because we have a great relationship with the local tribes, we decided to start a training program where our graduates would be able to do anything and everything on-site. This would not only help the tribal communities, but also our business.” Coast Salish offers a holistic training program. “Our approach involves both classroom and on-the-job training,” David says. “But I put more stock in the guys who learn with their hands, so we’re heavily invested in getting the guys on a work site and going from there.”
The firm’s electrical work involves lighting and lighting controls, building automation and fire alarms, smoke control systems, access control, backup power systems, uninterruptible power supply, generation, solar access control, security systems, intercom systems, CCTV/surveillance audio/video, and network solutions.
Outside of electrical work, trainees learn the basics of electrical engineering and health and safety. “The health and safety issue is very important to us,” David adds. “When you work with electricity, you must understand how it functions, how it works. And that’s more important to us than studying the rulebook. You have to be thoughtful and come up with common-sense safety solutions.”
To date, the firm has trained dozens of electricians and has a long waiting list. This is a great sign for David. “People want to work. They want to find meaning, and they want to make money. Our goal is to help them learn a trade and overcome challenges while building our relationships with the Native American Nations. I think that’s why we have such a long waiting list, and we are hoping to offer more seats soon.”
Low Voltage Pioneer
David Sweet has been in the general contracting and electrical trades for over 30 years. After growing up in San Francisco and spending time in Texas, he moved to Washington in 1985. The same year, he started working in low voltage and building automation.
“I was on the cutting edge of automation and ‘smart homes’ in the mid to late ‘80s,” says David. “We started with home theaters and satellite systems. We would make themes for the homes where the lights, acoustics and theater systems would dim or brighten based on what you were doing. For example, if you’re coming home from a date, you could set your home to the romance theme. Or if you’re cleaning, you could turn the lights up so you can see all the scuffmarks. We could engineer your home to do pretty much anything, before it became popular.”
David then brought his home automation experience to security. “We design security systems that can control lights and noises to ensure that a bad guy doesn’t get in,” says David. “Obviously, our first goal is to keep the threat out of the store or home. But if something bad does happen and the threat enters, we can keep it in place with strobes and lights that will be incapacitating. It’ll take out hearing with certain noises and sight with strobe lights. Then, the security personnel or police can disable the threat. And, the video cameras are high quality, so you have the proper evidence of the crime. It’s a win-win.”
David’s experience in low-voltage, electrical and security allowed Coast Salish to be the first low-voltage TERO contractor. “We are the first TERO contractor to do low-voltage electrical. Basically, what that means is that we can use a low current to trip different relays and add functionalities to any electrical system. Whether that’s a dimmer for a single light or an entire security system, we can do it.”
With David’s extensive experience, Coast Salish is well equipped to work on any security or automation project. “Schools and educational institutions are one of our high-interest areas,” he adds. “Say there’s a bad guy at a school. Not only can we lock down the entire school, including classrooms, but we can also track the bad guy through the school with our cameras. And, while we’re tracking the bad guy, we can contact parents via text message with updates.”
He explains that once the threat is neutralized, classrooms can be opened individually to allow for a safe evacuation. And while the evacuation is underway, the parents of the children in those classrooms are notified via text message with information on where to pick their students up.
“Our low-voltage solutions can be as smart and integrated as you’d like,” says David, who mentions that Coast Salish is gaining prominencey in this space. “Our goal is to be of service to our clients. And if we can improve the security and safety of a population, even better.”
Big Projects
Since 2015, Coast Salish has worked on nearly 40 residential and commercial projects. The most prominent is the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Owned by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the 16-month project included installing the structured cabling for the gaming systems and CCTV and Access control conduits.
“The cable project was very interesting,” David says. “The cables connect the games to a central hub where the machines connect to the gambling servers. Our electricians did the core of the structure, and we did the tenant improvement (TI) cabling for the gaming floors. It’s amazing to see how casinos work from an electrical and systems side.”
Coast Salish is currently involved in other significant area projects. These include tenant improvements at the Great Wall Shopping Mall in Kent, Washington; fabricating a grand staircase and TI contracting of the first, second and ninth floors at the Hotel Interurban and Airmark Apartments in Tukwila, Washington; and land clearing for a mega-mansion in rural Washington. They also do remodeling and capital improvements and list some big-box stores as their clients.
“We may be small, but we can do anything that more significant contractors can do,” David says. “We can even do home remodels and jack homes off their foundations.”
In the future, Coast Salish plans on expanding its service offerings and training programs. “There are only good things ahead for our business and the Native American community. And we’ll be here to enjoy it all.”