Oakridge ?Educates? the Building Market

Oakridge Builders Inc. hopes to finalize plans for a 77,000-SF, $6 million Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Fayetteville within the next month. r

The general contractor will also soon start the $8 million Plaza at Highlands Gate, a 107,000-SF senior cooperative housing project targeting upscale tenants in Bella Vista.r

Hotels and housing might pay the bills this winter, but Oakridge Vice President Sam Hollis said a string of public school projects has helped keep the Springdale firm’s annual revenues in the $17 million-$22 million range for the last decade.r

A core competency in building schools grew out of fulfilling about 10 contracts for the University of Arkansas since Oakridge’s 1991 inception, he said. The contractor also recently finished work on the $4.7 million Shewmaker Center for Workforce Technology, a 44,000-SF facility at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Rogers.r

Hollis said Oakridge has so much experience building schools that its good cost management and success stories spread from district to district and enable Oakridge to win about 50 percent of its business through hard bids.r

Other school or public projects that Oakridge, a division of Flintco Construction Cos. in Tulsa, has done or has ongoing include:r

– Its largest project to date, the 276,000-SF Rogers High School, carried a $23 million construction cost.r

– Ongoing construction at Lowell’s new Concord Street Elementary School. Rogers School District commissioned the 121,000-SF project that is projected to have construction costs of $7.7 million.r

– The Springdale Aquatic Center, which Hollis said presented special challenges since it contains 22,000 SF of surface water. The $3.7 million project, which includes four pools and an intricate drainage and filtering system, took a year to build.r

David Caldwell, business manager for the Rogers School District, said he was pleased two years ago with Oakridge’s performance on RHS.r

“Oakridge seemed to follow through in a very timely manner,” Caldwell said. “They got us in our building on time, and the quality was excellent.”r

One of the firm’s early UA projects was the $6 million expansion of Mullins Library. Hollis said the firm’s success, however, has come from a combination of factors and not just campuses.r

The quality and tenure of Oakridge employees helps speed production, and in construction time is money.r

“We’ve been able to train and keep our employees long-term,” Hollis said. “This helps us be cost-effective on self-performed work.”r

Oakridge Builders employs 40 hourly and 10 salaried construction and administrative employees. Hollis said the firm tries to buy the bulk of its materials through local sources, and about 95 percent of those come from area suppliers.r

He said Oakridge also relies heavily on the 2,000 subcontractors it has on file. About 15-20 of those do a high volume of Oakridge’s business.r

Flintco has seven offices in six states and ranks 81st for commercial building in the nation. Hollis said having out-of-state ownership has obviously not hindered Oakridge’s ability to compete locally.r

“We’ve been here long enough to establish our own presence,” Hollis said. “I don’t feel there’s been any real challenges reporting to Tulsa. Each office is considered an individual profit-making center.”r

Hollis, an Oakridge employee for 10 years, said he’s amazed at the firm’s quick progress.r

“With the extreme growth in Northwest Arkansas, obviously our volume has increased,” Hollis said. “Usually construction goes through cycles, very busy to a slow cycle. But in Northwest Arkansas there has yet to be a downturn as seen in other states.” r