From Barns to Banks: Fairchild Fares Well

Reid and Nathan Fairchild started Fairchild Inc. in 1995 with only $362 in a checking account. By that year’s end, the firm made one $7,300 sale — a steel building that the customer chose to erect themselves.r

“We started out of my apartment in Fayetteville,” said Nathan Fairchild, who co-owns the company with his father, Reid.r

“My first paycheck was around $60. That’s all we could afford.”r

Fairchild Inc., now based in Bentonville, expects $3.5 million-$4 million in 2003 revenue. The founders took a relatively simple concept in construction and built it into their own niche — pre-engineered metal buildings with attractive architectural facades. That led, the duo said, to steady yet manageable growth that clipped at about $1.5 million from 1995 to 2000.r

This year, the Fairchilds said, they turned the corner by obtaining jobs for Bob Maloney Ford and Kent Rylee Chevrolet, both of Rogers. Their firm is also making its first foray into the tenant-lease business with their own 15,000-SF Westpark Square in Bentonville and another 8,000-SF project that’s already leased. Most of Fairchild’s lease clients are vendors to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.r

“Eighty percent of our stuff before about two years ago was all little building erection and then we had one or two general contracts,” Nathan Fairchild said. “Now we have more general contracts and [fewer of the other].r

According to the Metal Building Manufacturers Association, metal building sales decreased 28.8 percent nationally from $2.5 billion in 2000 to $1.78 billion by 2002. That meant 1.16 billion SF of new metal building construction in 2000 and only 970 million SF worth two years later.r

But Fairchild’s four employees keep landing local projects. They average 15 to 18 annually, with each year so far presenting larger opportunities.r

“Maybe we’ll do eight [million in revenue] next year,” Reid joked.r

Metal building distributors generally either sell package deals, leaving the customer to develop and erect, or they offer to erect the building but not take care of permitting, site development and the myriad of other details involved in completing a project said Reid Fairchild.r

But over time, the Fairchilds said, more customers asked them to take care of the entire project. Now the firm specializes in filling in the gaps.r

“Anybody can pick up a magazine and order a metal building, but we wanted to provide the service,” Reid Fairchild said.r

Fairchild, a general contractor and authorized builder of Rigid Building Systems of Houston, uses subcontractors to do the majority of its work.r

Other projects Fairchild has attracted in recent years include Arvest’s 36,000-SF branch on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville and the 7,000-SF horse stable at St. Valery Downs in Cave Springs and the 100,000-SF Willard and Pat Walker Pavillion at the University of Arkansas. It also has ongoing projects for Kent Dobbs Hyundai in Springdale as that dealership expands.r

The Fairchilds said they get a lot of repeat business from “word-of-mouth.”r

Bill Fairchild, Reid’s father, built houses in Oklahoma City before relocating to Northwest Arkansas in 1963. He continued as a residential builder here.r

Both Fairchilds worked at Latco Inc. for the Lincoln company’s commercial project division. During the mid-1990s, when Latco began to focus on its core poultry-house construction business, the Fairchilds said they decided to apply their knowledge in business for themselves. r