Night sets
in around the new Bill Sheffield railroad terminal at the Ted Stevens Anchorage
International Airport. Unit Company completed construction of the terminal in
2003.
All Photos by ©Chris Arend.
Unit Company, ABM’s Pick for
Contractor of the Year
Its secret is to combine commitment with quality, and a proven ability to
perform.
By Gary L. Martin
A recipe for success in any
business is difficult to find, especially in the construction industry.
Competition among contractors is about as fierce as a couple of hungry grizzly
bears vying for 10 pounds of prime rib.
Unit Company, named the 2003
Construction Company of the Year by Alaska Business Monthly, has found its
elusive formula for success. It has, over the years, combined commitment with a
superior quality of work while enjoying a reputation for fulfilling its
responsibilities to the customer.
That has worked for the
organization since 1977, when Derald Schoon, the company’s founder, first opened
his doors for business in Anchorage.
Now
there are three partners: the president Bill Puckett (seated), Derald Schoon
(right), vice president and chief estimator; and Mike Fall (left),
vice president of field operations.
Fall, who has lived in Alaska for
most of his life, became a partner in 1993. He said that Unit Company really
came into its own in the late ’70s when it started building for Larry Carr,
founder of the grocery chain, and Barny Gottstein, a titan in Alaska’s
warehousing industry.
“Carr and Gottstein formed the
largest grocery chain and the largest warehousing operation possibly in the
entire state,” said Fall. “And, Unit Company was fortunate enough to build an
alliance with them to do a lot of their construction; each of the companies grew
and matured together.”
The term “construction business”
has a broad connotation, anything from repairing streets and building homes to
constructing commercial buildings and putting up oil rigs. As for Unit Company,
Fall said that they do not specializes in residential home-building but will
consider projects like a large residential retirement facility or an extensive
apartment complex with 200 or more units.
The company’s primary target
markets are both large-scale public and private ventures, such as commercial,
industrial and retail facilities. They have worked for major corporations,
school districts, health care organizations and various local, state and federal
government agencies.
“When you do private work,” Fall
said, “you work one-on-one with the owner. For example, if Larry Carr needs a
grocery store, there might not be a set of plans or even a complete concept of
the overall project.
“But, since we’re a contractor,
and we know how to build stuff, and the owner has a basic idea of what he wants,
we have to work together. So, we‘ll bring in an architect, and the three of us
will form a partnership and hammer out an agreement to accomplish what that he
wants.”
Fall says, on the other hand, when
dealing with public projects, the process is a lot different. He said if a
school or government agency wants a new building, they have an architect produce
a complete set of documents, including all the drawings and specifications.
Then the job is put out for
competitive public bids, and because it is taxpayers’ money paying for the work,
once a bid is accepted and a contract signed, there is very little wiggle room
to make changes for either side, without causing major difficulties for both the
owner or builder.
Since the mid-’80s, Unit Company
has completed about two dozen major projects and numerous smaller ones. A few of
its capital enterprises include Phase IV of the Dimond Center, a
328,000-square-foot addition to the mall; Alaska Airlines’ air cargo building, a
70,000-square-foot cargo warehouse; Skyview High School; a major addition to
Providence Hospital; Russian Jack Elementary School; and the 180,000 square-foot
Pace Warehouse.
Alaska Airlines has been one of
Unit’s top customers since 1995, and according to Cliff Argue, vice president,
properties and facilities, Unit Company has done a great job.
“Their quality of work has always
been top notch,” he said. “We have always been very pleased with the work.
“Another key thing about Unit
Company is how responsive they have been to our needs. As an example, when there
is a tight deadline, the job is done on time. And if there’s a problem, they are
up front about it and are pro-active about addressing the issues.
“We’ve enjoyed a good working
relationship for a long time, and we look forward to the future.”
Some of the current projects
include various facilities to be used in the missile defense program at Fort
Greely, the Denali replacement elementary school, the Alaska Railroad terminal
project at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and the Chugiak High
School renovation.
According to Fall, the next few
years look good for the construction industry as a whole, and Unit Company in
particular. Unit company’s gross revenues have been going up since 2000. In
2001, the year ended at $35.8 million, and a year later it jumped up to $43.1
million.
“Our revenue was in the mid-30s
(million) last year,” said Schoon. “Of course, we hope to do better this year.
In this business it’s up and down, from year to year. You never really know what
the year will bring, but you always hope for more.”
Unit’s goal is to continue to
maintain a good balance between private and public projects. “This is done,”
according to Fall, “because the two entities (public and private) are usually on
opposite cycles.
“When the economy is rolling along
in great shape there is a lot of work out there, and interest rates are up,
public institutions will usually put out more work than private. But, when the
interest rates go down and money is cheap (inexpensive loans), the private
market comes back. If you keep yourself well situated in both entities, you
should be able to get your share of the work.”
Fall went on to say that when he
sees competitors specializing in only one market, they usually end up suffering.
Because as the economy changes and the chosen market begins to slide, those
companies that specialize begin to lose opportunities for work.
“Our roots are in private and
design-build work,” he said. We’ve taken some of those approaches and applied
them to whatever we do. Our mission is once you get a job, get it done as fast
as you can. That probably comes from our beginnings with Carrs because when you
are working for a private store owner, that owner is spending money the whole
time we are building. He doesn’t make a dime until you finish that store and the
cash registers open up. That’s the same with a hospital addition, airline
addition or any business.”
Fall also emphasized the
important role that their subcontractors have in the company’s success. He
credits the quality of their work saying that Unit Company has been able to
develop and maintain strong working relationships with good subs, on which the
company’s reputation depends.
“We take care of our subs,” he
said. “When they are doing well, we treat them well, and if they start to
falter, we prop them up. We don’t beat them with a club or try to pull their
legs from under them. Because again, it isn’t in our best interest to take
someone out of the picture. It’s in our best interest to shore them up whether
it’s resources, focus or personnel. Whatever the problem is, and everyone has
problems in this business, we try very hard to help them out. And in the long
run, it’s paid off for both our subcontractor and Unit Company.”
Fall points out that another
secret to their success is the company’s ability to obtain repeat business and
get new work through word-of-mouth. They have maintained long-term relationships
with such major organizations as Carr/Gottstein, Alaska Airlines and Providence
Hospital. He said that a lot of Unit’s competition would like to get their foot
in the door but cannot because Unit Company has been able to do a good job for
its customers and retains an excellent reputation in the industry.
“The key to this business,” Fall
said, “is to recognize the fact that there is no set of documents that is
perfect, there is no construction process that’s perfect, and yet we are trying
to come up with an end result that is perfect. In reality, we must remember that
we can’t have it all perfect, so obviously all we can do is use our experience,
our background, industry standards, and then put them all together to come up
with the best results possible.”
Unit
Company was one of several companies to work on the Healy Clean Coal Plant,
located near Denali National Park. Unit was responsible for the concrete work,
which was completed in 1997.
