Business Spotlight: Sharing the Firm

The leader of a two-decade-old engineering firm is setting his course toward retirement in the next few years, and his employees are helping him reach the goal.

An employee ownership transition plan is in motion at Miller Engineering LLC. The plan was launched in December 2023, says Travis Miller, president of the firm he founded in 2004. Since then, officials say 15 of the firm’s 18 other employees are slowly but surely purchasing the company from Miller. He said the employees now comprise roughly 25% of the firm’s ownership.

Initial projections were for the ownership transition to be completed within five years, which would put it on pace for late 2028.

“It’s going to probably be a little bit quicker than that. It’s going well for these guys in terms of getting me bought out,” he says with a laugh.

Previously, Miller was the firm’s sole owner, noting the company has invested approximately $20,000 on the employee ownership plan that entailed restructuring as an LLC from a professional corporation. While Miller says he investigated a formal employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, he determined that structure for the company wasn’t an ideal fit.

“Our ultimate plan is for me to sort of steer the company even after I’m bought out and for the company to be run by a small board of the employees,” he says. “When we started off, everyone had equal opportunity to buy in and purchase as much or as little as they wanted. Then we continue that every year.”

Lana Stephens, the director of operations, and Kyle Hiestand, engineering intern, are among the employee owners. Stephens says while there’s been many spreadsheets and meetings to learn the company’s ins and outs, she and Hiestand agree they’ve learned a lot.

“It just builds the team culture even better now that everybody’s a part of it,” Hiestand says.

Miller says the process has been challenging to teach his employees how to be owners, adding most had never even seen the financial documents of a company.

“There was a lot of time spent just educating people on what they’re looking at,” he says.

Growth pursuits
Miller initially founded the company as a solo venture after exiting construction business Carson-Mitchell Inc., where he worked as a project manager.

“I had also several entrepreneurs in my family, so I’ve kind of seen people jump out there. That made it a little bit less scary for me,” he says, noting his first employee started around a year later.

Since then, Miller says the company has provided structural engineering, forensic engineering and building enclosure consulting services on roughly 15,000 projects for hundreds of clients. Miller Engineering is now licensed in 28 states – a number company officials intend to keep growing.

“We’re getting licensed in new states all the time. Right now, we’re pursuing Minnesota,” he says, adding the licensing process typically takes up to two months. “We’re adding on average two or three states a year, and we go where the work is.”

Annual revenues have grown 233% in the past decade, company officials say, declining to disclose figures. Miller attributes the growth to hiring top talent and setting a high standard of client service.

“We’ve tried to focus on honing our client list to our best possible clients and trying to provide a level of service higher than our competitors, and it has worked out well for us,” he says.

The firm is five years into operations at its 8,700-square-foot headquarters at 3831 S. Timbercreek Ave., just in front of its former office in a multitenant building. The newer building is more than twice the size of the company’s former home, which Miller leases to Northern Summit Technology, but space is starting to fill, says Stephens.

“When we moved in, we actually left out four of the desks because we didn’t need them at the time,” she says, noting the firm has become more creative with use of workspaces to maximize space. “We had it originally for 14 and then moved up to 18 and we’re now at 23. Most of them are full.”

Collaborative connection
Miller’s goal to share responsibility with new forms of employee collaboration within the firm also extends to companies outside of it.

Bill Textor, president of Advanced Concrete Technology Inc., says he began working as a subcontractor with Miller when the latter was employed at Carson-Mitchell and has continued the professional connection throughout Miller’s two decades at the engineering firm. Among their collaborative projects are the Miller Engineering headquarters and the ongoing $13.5 million expansion in Strafford for John Deere Reman.

“There’s been several projects that are larger projects where he’ll call a team of subcontractors in, and he will approach the project with the subcontractors’ input,” Textor says of Miller, noting the process saves companies time and money.

Miller’s field experience also is an advantageous aspect of his approach to projects, Textor says, adding the firm founder’s work history includes concrete installation.

Textor says he annually takes third-year apprentices to Miller Engineering’s office, where Miller outlines the firm’s services. Additionally, he says Miller hires interns who gain experience while attending college by working over the summer for different trade partners, such as Advanced Concrete.

“So, we’ve had a number of employees that have come to work for us before they go to work for him at Miller Engineering,” Textor says. “That creates a bond between our employees and their office.”

Setting a strategy
Miller admits some of the ownership transition plan came from feeling some fatigue as a business owner, leading him to determine what would work best as an exit strategy.

“How do I start spreading out some of this responsibility that I’ve been shouldering for a long time so that I don’t crash, so that I don’t ultimately just decide not to come into work one day?” he says.

He talked with others who had transitioned to employee ownership and some who sold their business to an outside interest. The latter was not an appealing option, he says.

“All of these people here are my friends, and that may not be the best business model to work with all your friends, but nonetheless, that’s the situation we’re in here,” Miller says. “So, the idea of selling and then walking away would feel like I’m betraying my friends.”