GC Builds Upon Relationships

With high-profile projects like Heritage High School in Rogers, the Bentonville Ice Rink & Splash Pad, and the Shewmaker Center for Global Business Development under their belts, executives at Flintco Constructive Solutions are proud of their work.

What they’re even more proud of are the relationships they’ve built in the community, including relationships in the education sector – the public school systems, NWACC and the University of Arkansas.

Troy Musson, director of business development in the Springdale office, said it’s those relationships that have contributed to company’s success in Northwest Arkansas.

This year, Flintco will start working on plans to build the highly-anticipated 80,000-SF football operations facility on the University of Arkansas campus.

While strict confidentiality agreements prohibit him from divulging any details about the facility, it’s clear that Musson is excited about Flintco’s involvement.

The company’s first project in Northwest Arkansas was the Razorback Football Stadium expansion in 1951.

Next year, Flintco will celebrate 20 years of having a permanent office in Northwest Arkansas.

Flintco, a private family owned company founded in 1908, is headquartered in Tulsa with eight offices across the southwest. The Springdale office had 82 employees in 2010 and generated $218 million in revenue.

 

Building on Reputation

Musson credits the company’s reputation for it’s continual list of projects, even through the economic downturn and real estate slump.

“We have a long history of successfully delivering complex projects for some demanding clients,” he said. “We’re financially solid and have a long history of outstanding jobsite performance, and for today’s marketplace those are key factors for anyone selecting a contractor.”

Musson said 80 percent of the company’s work is negotiated work – opposed to hard bid work – with the majority of it coming from repeat clients.

“We were fortunate that when the economy started heading south, we had a healthy backlog of large projects that’s carried us a long way,” he said. “And we’re very thankful for repeat clients.

A lot of our clients realize that the lowest bid is not always the best value.”

The company did experience some effects of the downturn. Revenue dropped from $287 million in 2009 to $218 million in 2010.

Musson said the revenue drop was less about the economic decline and more due to the fact that the company had several large projects coming to an end.

In the last two years, Flintco is responsible for some of the area’s most notable projects, including the Cherokee Casino Hotel in West Siloam Springs and the Legacy Village Green Houses in Bentonville.

This year, in addition to the football center, the company will break ground on a hotel project in downtown Bentonville, another project about which Musson is allowed to divulge very little.

But the fact that the company has projects lined up, particularly hotel projects which all but disappeared in the height of the recession, is a sign of hope that the construction industry is on its way to recovery. 

 

2011 Outlook

Musson doesn’t predict the construction industry will bounce back right away, but expects a slow and steady recovery beginning in 2012.

The American Institute of Architects Architectural Billings Index, he said, is the industry’s best indication of what’s going to happen in the future.

The ABI has been up the last two months, at its highest levels since 2007, a cautiously hopeful sign that work is picking up.

The December 2010 ABI rose two points to 54.2 from 52 the previous month, and was up nearly 11 points from 43.4 for December 2009.

An ABI score of more than 50 indicates an increase in billings, and therefore an increase in demand for design services needed for construction. A score of less than 50 shows a decline in demand.

Musson said he’s anxiously waiting to see the January numbers to see if the upward trend is going to continue.

Flintco officials are more positive about the state of the construction industry in Northwest Arkansas.

“We’re seeing more opportunities today than we have in some time,” said Brent Farmer, director of operations in Flintco’s Springdale office.  “I see us continuing to grow our operations here.”

 

Accolades

Flintco has earned numerous awards for its construction work and sustainability efforts, including excellence in construction awards for the Cherokee Casino, the Legacy Village Green Houses in Bentonville, Heritage High School in Rogers, the University of Arkansas Fowler House and the University of Arkansas Duncan Avenue Apartments.

The apartments received three Green Globes for meeting Green Building Initiative sustainability requirements.

The Lion’s Den Student Housing and Dining Facility at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith was built with sustainable design elements such as LED lighting fixtures, recyclable materials, construction waste recycling, a bicycle pavilion and a high-efficiency mechanical system.

The project is expected to earn LEED Silver certification.

Flintco has also implemented sustainable programs in its offices, including internal programs for recycling and education on efficiency and sustainability policies within the construction industry.

The company has also received recognition for its safety standards.

Flintco has been honored five times in the last ten years by the Association of General Contractors of America as one of the top three safety programs in the nation. 

For the past nine years, the company has received the annual platinum award, the highest achievement possible, in the Associated Builders and Contractors national Safety Training and Evaluation Process program.

“We have an EMR [Experience Modification Rate, an insurance industry rating] that’s better than half of the industry standards,” Musson said. “Safety is number one with our company.”

Also important to the company is being involved on a local level. 

“Part of the company’s culture is we encourage employees to be involved in the community,” Musson said.

While Flintco is one of the largest construction companies in the nation, it strives to be a community oriented company in Northwest Arkansas.

“We have a very strong corporate resource, but on a local level we’re able to give attention to the customer,” Musson said.

“We make decisions on a local level and they’re supported by our corporate office.”