In 2008, approximately 50 employees of Kennedy Contractors Inc. were faced with unemployment as the company decided to close its doors at the beginning of the recession, but then, Columbia-based Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. entered the picture.
Established in 1972 by Billy Sapp, the company, which had branches in Columbia and Kansas City, bought Kennedy Contractors for an undisclosed amount and hired its employees, says ESS Branch Manager David Roling.
“Not only did we save a company, we took that initial set of employees and assets and have grown it each and every year,” Roling says. He declined to disclose exact revenue figures but said local 2011 revenues were roughly doubled from 2008, when they were nearly $10 million.
ESS, known for its work in mass excavation, utilities, sanitary and storm sewer and concrete pavement, started its Springfield branch in a double-wide trailer at 5350 E. State Hwy. AA, building a $1.5 million, 7,000-square-foot office there in 2011.
The company operates under an employee stock ownership plan that gives its 100 local employees a stake in the business.
“It’s really probably the single best method of transferring ownership from one owner to subsequent owners, (with) subsequent owners being the employees who help to build the business, develop the business and ultimately make it successful,” Roling says.
The company’s project roster includes the Mercy Orthopedic Hospital on Highway 65, Mercy’s new hospital in Joplin, the widening of Highway 65 and 11 contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Fort Leonard Wood.
While those are some of the company’s larger jobs, Roling says the ESS team will work on jobs of all sizes.
“We’ll do a $30,000 job and a $6 million job,” he adds.
A commitment to Springfield and the southwest Missouri also has helped the company secure its local foothold in the Ozarks.
“I believe it’s very important that if you’re in business in a geographic area in a community, that that becomes your marketplace.
“And in that marketplace, it’s very important to contribute to the success of that community and the economic development platform,” says Roling, whose personal efforts include serving as an advisory board member for the Missouri State University’s construction management program.
Roling says that relationship is important to the company.
“We sponsor their completion and try to mentor them, and this year, I hired our sixth employee out of their program,” he says.
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