Reeve-Knight

Source: Construction Digital

Date :5/8/2008 6:46:04 AM

As a commercial and industrial construction company, Reeve-Knight has been spared much of the turmoil that is occurring in the residential construction industry. Exec learns more

Written by Megan Santosus and Produced by Amber Sweeney

Since Bob Reeve and Joe Knight founded Reeve-Knight Construction in 1991, the Roseville, CA-based general contractor and construction management company has enjoyed positive growth every year. That such a growth rate continues even now is a testament to the company’s reputation for quality and partnership, according to John Grey, Reeve-Knight’s vice president of operations. “We strive to build strong relationships with our clients and subcontractors,” he says.

While commercial retail construction is the backbone of Reeve-Knight’s business, the company is involved in a variety of projects ranging from education and office/medical to churches and industrial plants. The size of projects in which Reeve-Knight engages also varies, ranging from small projects to ventures costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We are flexible in terms of the industry, size and scope of the projects we work on,” Grey says. “That really gives us an advantage.” Another advantage that Reeve-Knight has over competitors is its reach. The company is licensed to do business in 17 states, something that is a differentiator among those clients that have projects across multiple borders.

As a commercial and industrial construction company, Reeve-Knight has been spared much of the turmoil that is occurring in the residential construction industry. Still, Grey says that business today is slower than a few years ago, as some of the big box retailers Reeve-Knight works with—such as Kohl’s, Target and Lowe’s—are more cautious with their building plans. “They are not as aggressive,” Grey says of Reeve-Knight’s retail clients, “but they are still building.”

And Reeve-Knight is working hard to ensure it lands those projects that are given the green light. One of the company’s strengths, Grey says, is the skill, expertise and professionalism of the estimators, project managers and superintendents who work at the company. “The people who work here contribute to 90 percent of our success,” he says. The professionals who work in the field are often the first point of contact with the company; and then as a project gets underway, superintendents are the day-to-day face of the company.

Skill

“Our people have a high-level of skill, ranging from the estimators at the pre-construction phase to project managers and superintendents during construction,” Grey says. As befits a core asset, Reeve-Knight offers employees training and certifications and encourages those who are interested to further their formal education.

Reeve-Knight maintains a lean workforce of about 100 employees by subcontracting out most of the construction work (though it has a small group of carpenters and painters on staff). The company maintains a database that lists thousands of subcontractors. “We work with most of our subcontractors on a regular basis,” says Grey. Indeed, one of the company’s goals is to forge long-lasting relationships with qualified subcontractors.

Strong relationships pay off in both the pre-construction and construction phases of a project. During pre-construction, estimators and project managers work closely with subcontractors on all the variables involved in a construction project such as scheduling, costing, permitting and the like. During construction, project managers and superintendents maintain close contact with subcontractors to keep the project on schedule and the budget in line.

Solid name

Over the years, many clients have hired Reeve-Knight as a result of word-of-mouth recommendations, and the company is in the enviable position of having most of its clients come to it, rather than the other way around. According to Grey, about 75 percent of Reeve-Knight’s projects are negotiated – meaning that contracts are not put out to bid but are negotiated between Reeve-Knight and clients.

The close working relationship with subcontractors comes into play with negotiated deals, Grey says, because all aspects of a project’s budget are shared with clients. “It’s really an open-book process in which we show them the bidding from our subcontractors,” Grey says. Reeve-Knight leverages the relationships it has built with subcontractors to collaboratively devise contracts that satisfy its clients’ budgetary needs.

The collaboration with clients continues during construction thanks to Prolog, a construction project management software system from Meridian Systems. Clients can access information about their projects via Prolog and they can be granted rights to modify documents such as requests for information. Clients can have access to contracts and meeting minutes as well.

In addition to Prolog, Reeve-Knight has equipped its project managers and superintendents with wireless laptops, allowing them to set up shop at project sites even before electricity arrives. Personnel also have cell phones with digital cameras so they can send visual updates from remote sites as well. In addition to mobile technology, Reeve-Knight uses BidTech software from BidTech for construction estimating and Forefront from Dexter & Chaney for accounting.

Larger projects

Since its founding, Reeve-Knight has grown to rank number sixth among Sacramento, CA-area general contractors in terms of dollar volume of projects. And while the private sector is experiencing something of a building boom, Reeve-Knight is keen to make up for a slowing retail construction market by expanding its reach into larger projects.

A couple of years ago, the company hired a new chief estimator who had experience working on large projects. Since then, the company has tapped that expertise to increase the average project size from $5-10 million up to $15-20 million. “One of the new niches for us is larger-sized projects,” Grey says.

Yet Reeve-Knight has no plans to abandon the small projects that it handles for the likes of clients like Starbucks, Grey says. In today’s volatile construction industry, it pays to be as diversified as possible. Reeve-Knight aims to continue to be diversified in terms of the industries it serves and the size of projects it constructs.

“There are a lot of general contractors out there,” Grey says. “We try to be a cut above.”