Owner/partners Steve Monsanto, project manager; Ron Barrett, president; and Paula Thompson, operations manager
2014 Dynamic Dozen No. 9: Build LLC
Brian Hom
Posted online
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all business,” says Ron Barrett, president of Build LLC. “Our company’s mission is to deliver our clients unparalleled professional services and cost-saving efficiencies throughout the entire construction process.”
Barrett and his team bring a broad skill set, spanning decades of experience in the construction industry, including a 16-year career at Springfield-based Killian Construction Co. During his work on nationwide projects ranging from parking garages to casinos to PGA golf courses, Barrett discovered a lot of things he wanted to do – and a lot that he doesn’t.
“When we left Killian, it was like ‘Let’s go and find our clients, and let’s build what they want,’” Barrett says. “Instead of chasing projects, researching postings on the Internet, going all over the country to find business – which we are capable of doing – we were fortunate enough to find those clients who wanted to work with a company like Build.”
Build was in on the ground floor of the current student-housing boom with its inclusion in 2012’s Deep Elm project. Since then, Barrett’s company has continued its involvement in student housing, including the Beacon Suites apartments on Kimbrough Avenue.
“It’s finding folks that fit the project,” Barrett says of the firm’s vision. “When I build this Andy’s store in Red Rock, Texas, I don’t need a $10 million a year firm to do my electrical. I’ll take an electrician who understands the job, who’s qualified and has two guys that can run the whole project.”
With nearly $30 million in loft, apartment and multifamily housing projects currently underway, and an additional $70 million on-deck in the next 12 to 24 months, Barrett says this year and next will represent “a pretty big spike for us.”
While Build is still small compared to the likes of Killian, it has seen staff more than triple since launching in 2009, including a 100 percent increase over the past three years to a total of 16. Barrett says such rapid growth is as scary as it is exciting, but he draws confidence in the fact that his business partners – Senior Project Manager Steve Monsanto and Operations Manager Paula Thompson – share the same four time-zone expertise. Adapting lessons learned from the growing pains of Killian as it went from a $30 million a year subcontractor to a $300 million annual company, he says the trio clearly recognize the need for managed growth via good policies, techniques and business practices.
Barrett maintains a close first-name basis with key players in each project via weekly one-on-one talks, client dinners and other high-touch practices he claims executives in larger general contracting firms don’t have time for.
“I work my business as if I am working my business. If you just want to sit back and put your heels up, there will be fallout from that,” he says.
And while he recognizes it’s almost cliche for a leader to credit their staff for a the success of a business, he believes the dedication of his people deserves to be recognized – maybe a little more than most.
“We live this every day,” Barrett says. “Everyone in my company is committed to the process. We want to keep our company small, so every person that works for us is a rock star.
“If they aren’t, then they don’t fit.”[[In-content Ad]]
