Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/353300
"J&S General Contracting is a fi rst- generation construction company, and they started from scratch," says Tom Scalzo, area sales manager for Fabco Caterpillar. "They not only sur- vived during the economic downturn, but they actually grew during that time. Most of the time, it's too risky to create success, but J&S General Contracting shows they're a company that has succeeded and has grown since then." Company relations Forming solid connections with sup- pliers has been benefi cial for the pair. "They're another critical part of your business, and I think we benefi t from having good relationships with suppliers," Thiel says. "They know the business, so establishing those relationships is key. I wish we had known that starting out." These relationships have been especially useful when they've considered buying a new piece of equipment. "If we spend $200,000 on a dozer, and it runs us out of busi- ness, the vendor has no business," Mueller says. "So, they need to make sure they sell us good equipment that we need." New heights Going above and beyond is just part of Mueller and Thiel's way of life. They donate their time, money and materials to help groups and organizations in their area. "Our community is important," Mueller says. "If you don't provide for it, who will?" They'll even fl y clients in their plane to get an aerial view of a project or take local farmers to pick up an equipment part. "They are the most honest people I've ever met," says Roger Breault, maintenance manager at Osceola Medical Center. "They're defi nitely worthy of industry rec- ognition." Not only do Thiel and Mueller build lasting relationships with their clients, but they also encour- age their employees – many of who have been with the company for a decade – to do the same. Each employee has a personal- ized business card they share with customers, and they wear logo apparel that includes their names while on the jobsite. During the employee interview process, each candidate takes a questionnaire to make sure they are the best fi t for the position. "The key is our people," Thiel says. "We look for good, down-to- earth people." Another aspect that sets them apart is their tech-savvy business model. Each of their foreman have an iPad, so they can take photos and send them to Thiel to show what each has done that day. The company also has GPS installed on the equipment and daily log sheets where employees track their hours and projects they're working on. "Pretty much everything they do is above and beyond," says Chris Wilcox, sales rep for Hedberg Ag- gregates. "Other contractors see them as good competition, and they don't like going up against them when bidding." EquipmentWorld.com | August 2014 39 3 secrets to success 1 2 3 Diversify. J&S expanded their radius from 30 to 60 miles dur- ing the recession, but tightened that radius when the recovery began. To diversify, J&S added different revenue streams such as playground installations and retail sales for do-it-yourselfers. One base job. Dan Thiel says the company strives to have one large scale project each year to serve as their anchor job. They handle a variety of large state, county and munici- pal projects, as well as projects such as the hospital and nurs- ing home. Retail. They now offer retail sales of materials, such as screening dirt to sell to custom- ers. "We've tried to broaden our base of where we can get rev- enue from," Dan Thiel says. "In the future, this will be a bigger part of our revenue stream. We want to be able to provide ma- terials for everyone that wants to enjoy the satisfaction of doing their own projects as well." "We can load their trucks and give them anything from edging and fabric to rock and mulches so they can do their own project," Steve Mueller adds. J&S General Contracting excavated the site to dig the pool and build up the backyard. Their concrete crew did all of the fl atwork concrete around the pool and created the patio/fi re pit area. The land- scaping crew installed the retaining walls, decora- tive rock, mulch, edging, plantings and lawn.