Success Underfoot

For nearly 20 years. New Jersey-based contractor Ira Goldberg had run a successful decorative concrete business. He was well-known in the industry for his expertise and willingness to share with other contractors and had gained some high-profile jobs in New York City and Atlantic City casinos. Business was good, but Ira was busy and spending a lot of time on business administration - something that wasn't his forte. When his son. Brian, came on board with the company in 2002 and took over the business management duties, it allowed Ira to focus his efforts on the things he loves - the technical aspects of concrete, teaching others about decorative concrete and getting out in the field to get his hands dirty. The father-son partnership has taken Goldberg's business to the next level and allowed Beyond Concrete to expand its service offerings, its sales volume and what it can offer its customers.

Ira has worked with construction all his life, earning a college degree to teach industrial arts, owning a successful contracting business through the 1970s and into the 1980s, and in 1984 beginning his current business as a Bomanite licensee installing decorative concrete. Today Ira's company, Beyond Concrete, is a flooring solution provider for new or old concrete. His company specializes in offering customers alternatives to carpet, vinyl, wood, unit pavers and natural stone through decorative concrete and epoxy finishes.

His headquarters m Keyport, N.J., offers customers a design center and numerous indoor and outdoor samples of what Beyond Concrete is capable of performing. His sales team works proactively with customers and architects to get involved in a project at the design phase to ensure they're educated about decorative concrete processes and proper specifications. "We're also good at value engineering jobs, where an owner might tell us a project is a little over their budget but we work with them to bring the price down to their level," Ira says. "We can switch a project or technique, without cutting corners, to come in at the customer's budget."

Beyond Concrete's current success and future plans for growth didn't just happen, however. It was through hard work and internal changes that the company was able to develop its position in the industry.

Improving success

A few years ago, Ira was at a crossroads with his business. He was managing marketing, sales and accounting while continuing his work in the field and performing technical research. He had a partner who wanted to downsize the company while at the same time Ira's son Brian was encouraging him to expand, realizing the potential Ira had with name recognition and territory. Brian, who after stamping concrete at age 10 decided early on that the construction life was not for him, pursued a degree in computer science and engineering and got his "self-made MBA" working for large corporate firms and being involved in start-up software and computer companies in the 1990s. Ira wanted to see his business grow, but realizing he didn't have the business management expertise nor time to implement those tactics, asked Brian to come on board not doing construction, but focusing on business management. Brian accepted.

"We coined the phrase 'the 20-year start-up," recalls Brian Goldberg, Beyond Concrete's general manager. "Basically we had all the benefits of a company that had been around for 20 years - credit lines, experience, reputation, resources such as equipment and a field team - and yet I was injecting the energy and planning of a start-up company. This was a great situation because typically with a start-up you open the doors and you have nothing but passion."

Brian started implementing business management tactics right away. The first thing he did was write a 61-page employee manual so everyone in the company had rules to follow when it came to vacations and time off, 401(k)s, or other situations. Brian also reorganized the office and support staff, adding a full-time receptionist, three additional sales people, a production manager and warehouse staff. He also added an updated accounting system and found accountants who organize strategy meetings and plan ahead for the company's financial future.

Brian was able to analyze the business in ways Ira never had time to do. He created a daily roster computer program for scheduling that allows everyone to know on a daily basis what projects are going on, what workers are on those projects and each job workers are doing. It also acts as a project archive in case they need to go back several years and examine the details of a project.

Brian also looked closely at the way the company's markets were split. Ira had traditionally been doing about 70 percent residential jobs and 30 percent commercial jobs, with the dollar volume between those two split about 50/50. Brian looked at the numbers and the job histories and found that even though they had to wait longer for payment with commercial work, the crews were able to produce the commercial jobs quicker. "One commercial job might take four days and bring in as much money as 10 pool decks, but it will take three weeks to do those 10 pool decks," Ira says. "We pushed our sales people to get as many commercial, industrial or municipal jobs rather than residential. Now we've flipped our company the other way, although residential work is still a vital part of our business."

Many of the steps Brian was taking were leading up to a vision for increasing sales without stretching resources. An important part of that was rebrandmg the company and changing its trade name to Beyond Concrete. Since Ira began the company it was known as Bomanite of New Jersey, and as he added more territories, he added more words to his name. Ira and Brian felt Bomanite of New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and Eastern Pennsylvania was cumbersome and pmholed them "the stamping guys" without mentioning all the other services they offered. "Once we changed the name, we started getting calls from architects to remvite us in because they were curious about the services 'Beyond Concrete' offered," Ira says.

Facing challenges

Even with their company poised for strong growth, Ira and Brian still have to deal with many of the same challenges decorative concrete contractors all over the country are faced with. Beyond Concrete offers competitive pay in the industry, benefits, on-the-job training and year-round work, but finding employees who want to work hard and those who can be molded into leaders can be difficult. With decorative work, there's also another characteristic they need to find. "You have to look for workers who have attention to detail for decorative work," Ira says. "Every project we do is another piece of art, and our employees have to have that mindset. Not necessarily the art skills, but attention to detail."

Brian says he's found a way to weed out the people they want during interviews. "I ask people, and it might seem a little off the wall, but I ask them when painting a room whether they like to paint the wall or cut in the corners. If they tell me they like to cut in the corners, I know they have the attention to detail we need," he explains.

When it comes to competition, Beyond Concrete depends on its company history and expertise to get the jobs it wants. Brian and Ira also ensure they have all the proper licensing and educate their customers about what needs to be done to achieve a successful decorative project. Customer service is key in keeping customers happy and making sure they spread a positive word about Beyond Concrete. "People are so consumer oriented. They want $1.10 for every $1.00 they spend. We give them that. We also offer them the safety of our company's longevity, and the longevity of Bomanite and Lithocrete behind us," Ira says. "It's our customer service that really counts today and makes us better than the other guy."

In the commercial realm, Beyond Concrete tries to work with customers early in a project to ensure they know what to expect out of a decorative application. They also steer clear of projects that could give them headaches and ensure their contractors are in order before starting a project.

"We change a lot of our contracts, because 90 percent of the contracts we get today say 'paid when get paid/ and we don't like that clause because that means if the owner doesn't pay them, they don't pay us," Ira says. "We also change the retainage clause, usually to 30 days after the completion of our work, not the whole project. A lot of GCs don't want you to change anything, but we won't take the job if they don't let us. Because of our reputation and the niche we're in, they're a little more flexible with us; and they need it done by the right people so they let us change it. We're not asking for anything unfair."

Growth and the future

Not only has Ira's company changed since Brian joined the business, but Ira's management style has transformed, too. Ira says previously he wasn't a delegator. "I used to think nobody could do something better than me, and I'm going to do that job so get out of my way," Ira recalls. But with Ira focused on training his employees and working in the field, he's able to lend a hand and not just do a job but help his employees do their jobs better.

"I've made changes to give myself a better quality of life, become more laid back," Ira adds. "I've been able to focus on my sales and consulting and do my educational talks and not have to worry about the day-to-day issues of what's going on in the field."

With Ira and Brian concentrating their efforts on what each of them does best, Beyond Concrete has seen annual organic growth in the 10 to 15 percent range and hopes to push for 20 percent in 2008 now that the majority of their changes are in place. "We want to grow at a rate we can handle," Ira says. "If we say we're going to double our business next year, I don't know if we can handle that. Possibly, but it might fail because getting the field personnel is harder than getting the sale today."

Ira sees growth coming from several fronts. They recently opened a field office in Valley Forge, Pa., and have added new products such as polishing. Another new product is Lithocrete, which Beyond Concrete is licensed to install. "We're very excited about Lithocrete," Ira says. "I think Lithocrete is going to be our ticket to opening up doors to new architectural specs because every designer wants something new and different they can offer. I think the Lithocrete is going to help us do that."

"I see wonderful things for the future of the company," Ira continues. "I see these young people like Brian and our field manager John taking over ideas I've nurtured over the years and the technology I've developed and taking it 10 levels past where we are now."