The Conlan Company

Quality people, quality productThe Conlan CompanyÔÇÖs founder tells Keith Regan that the firmÔÇÖs growth came by focusing on the safety and happiness of the people who make the company tick. When the Conlan Company got its start in 1987, the construction firm focused on office and light industrial projects in the Atlanta region. Later it began to add medical facilities to its expertise. As it grew, it continued to focus on delivering quality projects each and every time out, says Gary Condron, the companyÔÇÖs founder and chief executive officer. The result of that focus on quality has been a loyal customer base that has greatly expanded ConlanÔÇÖs horizons over the past two decades-plus. Conlan, which now has an office in Jacksonville, Florida, in addition to its Marietta, Georgia, headquarters, has completed projects up and down the Eastern seaboard, from Miami in the south to Rome, New York, in the north. Customers are now trying to encourage Conlan to take on projects in the Houston market as well. The growth has helped make Conlan the second-largest non-developer builder of light industrial projects in the entire country, as measured by the industry standard Engineering News-Record. Some things that have contributed to the firmÔÇÖs success are part of a secret sauce Condron isnÔÇÖt willing to part with, but one key ingredient remains as true today as when the company was founded 21 years ago, he says. ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs all about the people you have both in the office and on the job site; thatÔÇÖs where the rubber meets the road,ÔÇØ he says. ÔÇ£You need quality people in the office to make the deal up front and get the project going, quality people to execute the plan on the project management side, and quality superintendents to carry the work out in the field.ÔÇØCondron proudly points to the companyÔÇÖs loyal employee base, with a large number of its employees boasting 10 years or more with the company. ÔÇ£The construction business can be a transient industry, with a lot of chasing the hot new opportunity. You donÔÇÖt usually see that kind of loyalty in the general contracting industry.ÔÇØ There is no magic formula to keeping employees from straying, just simple reciprocity. ÔÇ£We ask 100 percent of them, and we give 100 percent to them,ÔÇØ Condron declares. ÔÇ£If we enjoy success, they enjoy success. And they can see that our senior leadership is just as committed as we ask them to be. No one is asking people to work late and then going home themselves. When you ask people to go that extra mile, you have to be willing to do it yourself as well.ÔÇØThe companyÔÇÖs book of business also helps keep good employees on the payroll, with an emphasis on work for private developers or corporate customers, and no public-sector work, which can bring its own pressures. The companyÔÇÖs rise to the top of its industry niche is also appealing. ÔÇ£People know there are more opportunities being made for us and for them every day,ÔÇØ adds Condron. New employees are teamed with more experienced mentors but are also brought into the fold quickly. ÔÇ£There is a very steep learning curve here at Conlan,ÔÇØ Condron says. Earlier in his own career, Condron worked with construction goliath Brown & Root, where he learned the ropes at a more measured pace. Conlan takes a more aggressive approach, one that Condron compares to college athletics. ÔÇ£We donÔÇÖt red-shirt our new people. They come in and play right away, so we look for people with the desire to come and play right away. We give them all the resources they need to be successful, but we expect them to get involved on their own right out of the gate.ÔÇØKeeping people safe is another key element of the companyÔÇÖs approach to valuing employees. Conlan works with an outside consultant to develop programs, put supervisors through Occupational Safety and Health Administration-approved training, and provide weekly training on every job site for employees. Those safety programs help the bottom line, Condron points out, with fewer accidents translating to lower workersÔÇÖ compensation costs. The firmÔÇÖs experience modification rating, or EMRÔÇöa measure of how a firmÔÇÖs payroll and loss data measure up against industry standardsÔÇöis currently a strong .71, meaning it is paying a discount to industry standard premiums. An active safety committee constantly reviews training programs and examines ways to prevent even minor accidents, and most subcontractors are required to include an OSHA-trained supervisor in the personnel they send to a job site. ÔÇ£It goes back to the fact that all we really have to offer is our people, so we go to great lengths to take care of them,ÔÇØ the CEO says. ÔÇ£We insist that they be every bit as passionate about safety as we are. They need to be passionate about it from the moment they step on the job site.ÔÇØ┬á Conlan is far from immune from economic slowdowns, but Condron says the company will not make drastic changes to weather the current downturn, which he sees continuing for a while longer yet. ÔÇ£All areas are tough right now. ItÔÇÖs a very challenging environment. Because of our reputation and our tremendous client base, we have more than our fair share of opportunities still coming to us. But the sheer number of opportunities is certainly down,ÔÇØ Condron adds. ÔÇ£One thing weÔÇÖre not going to do is change our focus, either on our client base or our product base. WeÔÇÖve sized our company so that we can take some dips in the market and not have to lay people off, and we want to be ready because when things do turn around, weÔÇÖre going to be right in the thick of the next wave of expansion.ÔÇØ┬á