Karl Mellor
Coalville, UT (USA)
Role(s):
VP/SVP/Dept Head
Confidential
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Startup
Location:
North Salt Lake
Industry:
Design
Year Founded:
2007
Number Employees:
10-50 people
Business Stage:
Growth (profitable)
Entity Type:
"S" Corporation
Description:
The company I work for is a five year old company that specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of custom architectural features in commercial buildings. For example, if you have ever walked into the lobby of a hospital, museum or law office, and noticed a really eye catching wall or ceiling with interesting textures, shapes and materials, that's the kind of stuff we do. I joined the company just 3 months ago. This company's incredible potential was my primary motivation for joining them.
At present, they are a small company, but the potential is there for them to increase their annual revenues by ten-fold, without increasing overhead. They own all their equipment and have room to grow in their current facilities. The equipment and facilities are currently running at one tenth of their production possibility. The main thing the company has been lacking is structure and organization. Document control, job costing, procedures and protocols have been essentially nonexistent. The owners explanation is that up until now, they have had such huge margins, that they just haven't been concerned about running a tight ship. However, they now want to jump to the next level and begin taking on larger projects.
Up until now, the average job size has been around $20,000. However, in the past 12 months, they have landed larger projects ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million. The only difference between the smaller jobs and the larger jobs is the volume of material. The materials used and installation methods employed are fairly consistent, so the opportunity for errors is minimized. They have been heavily focused on their margins, and as long as they come out close to their projections in the end, they figure they've done all right. However, I've seen ample opportunities increase profits just by employing some basic project management processes. In addition to improving productivity and profitability, it will also reduce the company's exposure to risk and liability by creating a more safe and secure workplace.
My 25 years of work experience includes taking small companies at the exact same stage as my present company, and multiplying their annual revenue over a relatively short period of time without a significant increase in overhead. This company is poised to do just that. They have a steady flow of work coming through the door, in spite of the fact that they have done little, if any, real marketing of their products and services. I see a great opportunity here and would like to explore the possibility of buying the company outright from the present owner. I am presently the Operations Manager and I'm in charge of all production and operations. Basically that means I'm in charge of every aspect of the business except design, which is the present owner's real interest.