Company paved its way to $30 million business
Before Bob Byrne had a wife and six children, and even before he had a college degree, he had a paving business. He and a friend started paving driveways and parking lots in west St. Louis County as a summer gig in 1976.
With $500 and no experience, Byrne and his partner started what became a $30 million business that employs about 75 people and branched off into other enterprises, including an asphalt plant and some real estate developments.
From the beginning, Byrne’s passion was more about running a business than paving roads. Perhaps that’s not surprising since he only learned to seal driveways by reading the directions that came on the barrels of sealer. But he learned to do it well as a function of making a good name for the business.
With that kind of history, it has been tough for Byrne to pull himself away from the business. Byrne has hired people to operate the various branches of the business and even drafted a business coach to help teach him how to step away and enjoy life outside the office.
How did you start the company?
It was my partner and I, he had $250 and I had $250 and we put it together and hired an advertising firm to design this professional flier for us and we had his brother incorporate us. …
We spent almost $400 on the flier. We had my mother’s station wagon and a rented trailer hitch and a rented trailer and we bought barrels of sealer. How did we learn to apply the sealer? We read the directions on the can. We did pretty good work. We didn’t dilute the material and followed the directions. We built references pretty quickly. I think we did $12,000 worth of sealing in 1976.
Now, how’d we learn how to pave? There was a guy in the paving business who we were giving some work to. He was kind enough to talk to me about questions on this or that. I finally told him we wanted to do our own asphalt work. He said to come out and pave this apartment complex. When I got out there, he handed me a broom and I just swept up behind him all day long and watched him pave. The next day, I went back to the office and said, "It doesn’t look that tough. Let’s just do it." We had more guts than we had brains.
How did you find yourself wanting to get into paving for a career?
I spent a year and half in sciences at St. Louis (University). I was going to be an orthodontist. … I spent the first year in college and went back to my father and after another summer in business and said, "I don’t know if I want to be an orthodontist."
He asked, "Are you sure?" I said, "No, I’m not sure but that’s the way I’m leaning."
He said, "If you’re not sure, just stick with sciences until you make up your mind."
And then, about a month later, I was sure. … It wasn’t the (science) classes. I liked business.
So at what point did construction work become more about business?
I don’t know that I liked laying asphalt. I like business better. I liked leverage. I liked the idea that I could make a bet, take some risk and if I won, I came out way ahead.
In paving, we had a good business when I graduated (college), although we were very small — less than $1 million (in revenue), but we had a lot of potential payday loan. I copied some of the larger guys as far as buying equipment.
And then it clicked. We got good at what we were doing. I was very motivated as a worker. At one point I was working 90 hours a week. I’d be here early, I’d run the business all day, sometimes I’d be in the field (paving). I’d come home and my mother would have a little food on the oven wrapped in foil. I’d eat dinner and I’d drink a Coke because I was exhausted and sit down and estimate (expenses for new jobs) and then wake up and do it again.
Has your company seen any business from the stimulus package?
No. I think we will. It’s still too early.
When they originally talked about stimulus, it was all about roads and bridges and I’m a big roads and bridges guy. It has really been a very small part (of the federal funds). … There’s no way the stimulus money is going to make up for the drop in demand for construction. It’s just not going to happen. … (Demand) has dropped 25 percent (for us from 2009). … Retail is a very big part of our business. There’s no retail work. There’s no industrial work. There’re projects out there people just can’t get money for. There’re things we’re bidding on that just don’t start.
We’ve been lucky enough to hit our sales goals through April. So we picked up a fair amount of work through April. We’re traveling farther to get it. Our margins are squeezed. It’s just a tough environment right now. … We haven’t seen (the stimulus money) yet. We’re hoping to see it starting pretty soon. We think it’ll be great for construction, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Why have you started pulling yourself out of the business?
I needed more energy for my family because I’d get home and I’d be spent. So (I hired a business coach and) he coached me and I hired (Brian Goggins, the company president). … I got out of the day-to-day (business operations).
When my coach first said, "We’ll have you pull away and make someone else president…" My first thought was, "What are you talking about? I started this business!"
But as I pulled away, there’s been separation and it’s clear my ego isn’t wrapped up in Byrne & Jones. … You don’t let go overnight. I did it with a guy who was willing to let me mentor him over a period of years. … And I gave him really strong, direct feedback. … (Once you pull back) you’re going to start to figure out you didn’t need to be involved there like you thought you did. And you didn’t need to go out and make the decision on the job, like you thought you did. But besides that, by getting out of their way, they’re stepping up and learning more and making better calls. It can be done; people have to open their eyes. … Now I’m not taking home with me every problem that comes up. It’s much more satisfying.
Filed under: management by Fred