“We take all those lines of distribution, we drive them into our drawings, and we put them out to the public,”Johnston explains. “Then the public sometimes reaches out to us and purchases the products we specify.” As planning changes in 2012 opened the door for high-rise development—10-storey hotels and large condominium complexes—the company made a conscious pivot to compete for larger projects. It has since more than doubled in size, operating with between 100 and 120 people, including subcontractors. “The major growth, and the major segment of our revenue, is based on large construction,” Johnston notes. “Once you get to a certain size, you’ve got to feed the engine.You need a couple of large jobs and a whole bunch of small stuff to feed it.” CYCLES, STAKEHOLDERS, AND THE LONG VIEW Like the AC sine wave David references, the company’s workload cycles through peaks and troughs—waiting for new projects, straining to deliver at maximum capacity, then sliding down as jobs wrap up. “Right now, there’s one stagnant hotel, two hotels being planned, one that’s being built, and a couple of large condo complexes,” he says. “We’re at the tail end of several projects. Are we well positioned to take on a new project? Yes. Are they out there? Yes. It’s all about the numbers and the right fit and where we’re going.” To navigate that cycle, stakeholder management has become a central priority. “We’re being faced with increased red tape and bureaucratic challenges,” he explains. “Some developers are getting frustrated, and those challenges exist for us too, on multiple levels. Stakeholder management is still, and continues to be, the biggest challenge we deal with on a daily basis.” The company has built a disciplined framework around profit-sharing and reinvestment, balancing shareholder returns with the capital needed to trained on all the brands we support helps us offer a wider range of services and products, while being affordable at the same time.” Today, the company’s in-house engineering department is heavily involved in residential, commercial, and hospitality design. Even though it only installs around a quarter of the projects it designs, this design influence feeds the supply arm of the business and solidifies its role as a trusted technical authority. 34 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 12, ISSUE 12
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