 Master Concrete Ltd. specializes in tilt-wall projects that “tend to be large and fast,” Vice President James Myers says. With operations in Irving, Texas, Master Concrete Ltd. takes advantage of its state’s warm weather to use its preferred method of construction, tilt-wall. Master Concrete has extensive expertise in this and every other concrete construction method, says Vice President James Myers, which, in turn, benefits the company’s customers. “We like tilt-wall the best because those projects tend to be large and fast,” he says. “They are good for getting our name out there. However, we definitely work in other methods; we are capable of performing any type of concrete work. In fact, our firm is one of the most diverse in our market. We want to provide whatever our customers need.” The seven-year-old company is located in a market experiencing “explosive growth,” so it has the opportunity to help its customers construct a variety of projects. Recently, U.S. Business Review spoke to Myers about Master Concrete’s capabilities and how the contractor maintains many repeat customers.
U.S. Business Review: What projects are you working on now? Are there any that best demonstrate the company’s strengths?
James Myers: The Northern Crossing Business Park in northeast Fort Worth is a major project for us. We are constructing four tilt-wall buildings and the contract is worth $4 million, which is big for our company. We like this type of work, and we tend to focus on constructing tilt-wall warehouses. USBR: How does Master Concrete maintain quality in its operations?
JM: Our general superintendent visits the job sites once a week and works with the individual superintendents to ensure everything is going well and people are performing the way we expect. Our individual superintendents are in charge of training our people in the field. We try to keep the most experienced people that we can and grow from within. USBR: How does the company work with customers to ensure their needs are met?
JM: We start by marrying our people with their counterparts in the customer’s organization. This improves our level of communication and helps us to better understand their needs. Whenever there is an issue, we always consider their point of view and what action will meet their needs and goals for the project. Our business relies on repeat business, so it is important to know what our customers expect from us. In any year, at least 90 percent of our business is from repeat customers. USBR: How does the company add value to its operations?
JM: We try to be the most user-friendly concrete subcontractor in the market. We are capable of providing a complete scope of work, which keeps our quality high. We work as a team to do our job right the first time because we are not going to get repeat business from a client if we don’t keep issues from cropping up later. We also count on word-of-mouth advertising to attract new customers. USBR: How is the company dealing with the industry’s labor shortage?
JM: It definitely affects us, but most of our people have been with us for a while. We work hard to keep our base intact and supplement it as little as possible. We keep people around by ensuring we have a steady number of jobs. We want our people to have steady employment vs. the roller coaster of having a lot of work at one time and then no work later on. Many firms do that, but we don’t want to treat our people that way. USBR: What else sets your firm apart?
JM: We do a variety of work in a quality manner, which attracts customers. Many firms tend to only go after the big jobs – those are the most attractive to them. We would rather do the highest-quality work to attract the best customers. Once we are established with a customer, we will do their large and small work. Who you work for is important on a job and affects whether the work is hard or easy. USBR: What are the company’s plans for growth?
JM: We will accentuate what we’re doing and continue to work with our current customer base. It is important that we also continue to improve our quality. As long as we continue to improve what we do, we will be able to follow the growth rate of our customers. |
