Riggs Companies

Concrete┬ávalues┬áHard work, honesty and commitment are some of the core principles that have enabled the Riggs Companies to not only survive but prosper, Andrew Pelis learns from vice president Brian Davidson. Riggs Companies has quickly grown into one of the commercial concrete businesses in the Phoenix area of Arizona, with a set of virtues as true today as when the Riggs family first started out in 1993. The companiesÔÇÖ growth is tempered by the need to maintain quality with a ÔÇ£can-doÔÇØ attitude to ÔÇ£achieve and exceed even the most challenging schedules,ÔÇØ whether the project is commercial, industrial, institutional or in the public works sector. Brian Davidson, vice president of construction, oversees work in all three divisions of the business and has witnessed first-hand the companiesÔÇÖ carefully coordinated efforts to maintain their values. ÔÇ£Riggs Companies decided in early 2007 to wrap everything together and ensure that the same philosophy that got us where we are continues to take us where weÔÇÖre going, so nothing is lost in translation. ÔÇ£We operate three separate companies,ÔÇØ he continues. ÔÇ£Riggs Contracting is the flagship and is our commercial concrete division. Additionally, we have Riggs Engineering, which is local to Phoenix and provides underground wet utility service, while we launched Riggs Southeast a couple of years ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas.ÔÇØRiggs Contracting generates the lionÔÇÖs share of the companyÔÇÖs $120 million annual revenueÔÇöa figure that has markedly grown during DavidsonÔÇÖs time with the company. ÔÇ£In 2001 we were doing about $15 million on the concrete and had around 65 employees; today we have approximately 500 employees. The growth has been due to wanting to be the best at what we do. That attitude has enabled us to attract many new clients through word of mouth who learn that we are a competent contractor that does quality work and maintains and achieves on-schedule commitments.ÔÇØMost of the flagshipÔÇÖs revenue is derived from commercial general contractors and developers, and the company quickly established a specialty line of business, as Davidson explains. ÔÇ£Where we really got our start was in tilt-up structures like warehouse buildingsÔÇöhistorically a big business in Phoenix.ÔÇØ┬á While the economy has seen a slowdown in recent times, Riggs remains busy with a student housing project at Arizona State University, while other recent projects for the likes of IKEA, Target and Wal-Mart have given the company an excellent reputation within the retail sector.The launch of a Southeast company is an exciting and bold move for Riggs, developing a centralized location within the US. ÔÇ£One of the Riggs brothers currently lives in Arkansas, and after some research, we knew that we wanted to expand beyond Phoenix,ÔÇØ states Davidson. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre now centrally located in the US, so we can target Texas and south-central markets, along with the West Coast support out of the Phoenix corporate office. Being close to I-40 allows us to have a good launching point to work out of state, and weÔÇÖre looking to do a lot more travelling out of that office.ÔÇØ Not surprisingly, supply chain management is a perennial hot issue for Riggs Companies, and again, traditional values are used to select suppliers. ÔÇ£We hold our suppliers to the same level we hold ourselves; to work with us you have to be an honest, hard-working company that follows through with its commitments,ÔÇØ Davidson asserts. ÔÇ£As we become larger, we try as much as possible to manage by example rather than contracts. So if someone tells us a project will need to be completed by a specific date, we need to make sure that we get to that specific point without jeopardizing our relationship with our client, and we look to all our subcontractors and suppliers to fulfill that same commitment.ÔÇØ The company is looking to improve environmental and quality aspects and is currently training its staff to achieve LEED accreditation. This extends to suppliers too, as Davidson explains. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre working hand in hand with one of our ready-mix suppliers right now to offer some LEED-certified products not generally available in the market. One of our project engineers has been through the LEED program and now teaches it internally to get new employees and managers accredited. We want to be a cutting-edge subcontractor that can follow the trends and areas of importance that developers in the market feel have a bearing.ÔÇØ Countering the shortage of skilled labor, Riggs has looked to innovate, Davidson explains. ÔÇ£The construction industry has died somewhat with all the technological advances, and the true craftsman is no longer around. Consequently, we spend a good deal of time training and implementing new programs to get the workforce to understand what we do and how to do it properly, safely and efficiently. We also run apprenticeship programs and try to get out to local high schools to show students what opportunities there are within our business and industry in general, even if they donÔÇÖt have a college degree.ÔÇØSo what has given Riggs Companies such a competitive edge? Davidson believes there are a number of key factors. ÔÇ£We react quickly to markets because there are only five or six of us making key decisions on a day-to-day basis. We maintain client relationships at a greater level because we donÔÇÖt have to go through layers of bureaucracy for a final decision. As a client, if you contract with Riggs, you have regular interaction with our entire staff.ÔÇØ Ultimately, however, Davidson attributes RiggsÔÇÖ continued success to its people and philosophy. ÔÇ£We donÔÇÖt have a great turnover in key roles within the organization, and most people enjoy an active work environment where there is always plenty to do. ÔÇ£The construction industry has always had a ÔÇÿbigger, faster, betterÔÇÖ mentality,ÔÇØ he continues, ÔÇ£and we need to be able to do things faster with more quality, maintaining safety records, so all the while our field employees need to be trained, retrained and better trained to handle the speed at which the construction industry runs. We retain our ÔÇÿcan-doÔÇÖ attitude; none of us look at anything as ÔÇÿcanÔÇÖt be done,ÔÇÖ and we always think outside the box. We install an honest approach in our workforce, which is the grass roots of how we were founded, and we like to be able to look a client in the eye and tell him weÔÇÖre going to do something and then follow through with that promise. That way, when that organization has another project, they know with a level of confidence that if they hire us to do something, the job will be done on time, safely, with the quality they expect.ÔÇØ┬á