The team behind Centric Projects—Courtney Kounkel, Steve Swanson and Richard Wetzel—gave up jobs with some of Kansas City’s largest construction firms to create a company that injects new ideas into one of the most traditional industries around.

Despite the shaky economy, the partners believed there was an opportunity in the market for a firm like theirs—one that uses new methods and new technologies, one without a lot of overhead or a complicated internal hierarchy.

“We’re a commercial construction company, but I would say we are nimble, flexible and agile in an industry that is staggeringly conservative and kind of lumberingly slow,” Wetzel said. “This is an industry that is very slow to embrace change. We’ve been doing the same thing for the last 5,000 years: put a brick on top of a brick.”

Clients are finding value in Centric’s approach. Last year, the firm executed a $5 million expansion and renovation at The Roasterie, which added a café and an event space. Centric also was the contractor for the $3.5 million renovation of Haas & Wilkerson’s offices in Fairway.

Trader Joe’s, Alamo Drafthouse, Armstrong Teasdale, H&R Block, Corinth Shops—they’ve all chosen Centric to oversee construction projects. The company is also working on a major renovation of The Whole Person’s headquarters in midtown Kansas City, Mo.

“The economy had changed so much, and several projects were much smaller,” Kounkel said. “The companies we worked for, although really great companies, had kind of forgotten how to do small projects.”

Many of the firm’s projects have been relatively small in scope so far, but the partners aren’t limiting themselves to a size or a particular industry.

“We don’t go after small projects,” Kounkel said. “We go after what’s out there. What’s been out there the last two and a half years has been fairly small projects. But as the market’s growing and as we’re growing, our project size is growing.” Last year, Centric generated about $32 million in revenue, up from $1.5 million just three years ago. Employment has climbed to 32 people with 14 of them joining Centric in the past year alone.

Centric is still relatively small compared to the industry’s local heavyweights, but those firms all started small, too, before growing into some of the metro area’s best-known companies.

“We’re trying to be that next generation,” Swanson said.

‘You Guys Have Some Guts’

Centric’s revenue growth is even more impressive when you realize the business took off from a “standing start.” Kounkel, Swanson and Wetzel each had great reputations with their previous employers. They left those jobs without any projects lined up, though. Their first several months were devoted to finding new clients.

“We were beating every bush that was out there,” Wetzel said.

They landed work fairly quickly, but a construction project can take months to move forward. Luckily, they had savings in reserve and were ready for a slow first year.

They made another important decision in Centric’s early days. When the trio started looking for a bank, an attorney and other partners, Centric chose small businesses that, while they might not have experience
with construction firms, would be able to devote more time to working with the new company, Kounkel said.

There was one exception, though. Their bonding company—one of the largest in the United States—took Centric as a client even though it practically never accepts a startup.

“I think that, when we left, we were a novelty,” Swanson said. “I think a lot of people said, ‘Hmm, you guys have some guts. I’m ready to help.’”

This Looks Like a Job for Supermanager

There are three big ways that Centric Projects is different from most of its competitors, its founders said.

The first is the role of the super-manager. At most construction firms, two people oversee a project: an office guy and a field guy, Swanson said. Office Guy keeps track of the documents while Field Guy is actually on the site, interacting with workers and clients.

Centric combined those responsibilities in one position—the supermanager, who can spend most of his or her time at the jobsite, but still handles plans, schedules and other paperwork.

This system not only costs less, it also provides more direct accountability, the partners said.

The trick has been finding employees who have multidisciplinary backgrounds and can juggle all of the job’s responsibilities—a hiring dilemma that many businesses face, Kounkel said. “When we find them, it works great.”

The supermanagers are able to do their jobs because of Centric’s other competitive difference: The firm invests a lot of money in mobile technology. Centric spends more in the short term, but avoids the cost of maintaining a large IT infrastructure.

“Instead of having server closets and racks and all kinds of legacy software systems and hardware systems here, any of our people, including us, can be out at a Starbucks and do their job, as long as they have an Internet connection,” Wetzel said.

And the third difference? They don’t believe in cubicles. Or titles, really.

At Centric’s offices, most of the team works in a large, open room filled with desks pushed against one another, creating the illusion that everyone is seated around one long table. The open-office layout makes it much easier to collaborate. That practice dates all the way back to Centric’s first month of operation, when it was just Kounkel, Swanson and Wetzel sitting around a single table.

The founders divide their workload according to each one’s specialties. Wetzel handles administration and marketing while Swanson oversees project estimates and the other preparatory work. Kounkel manages operations. But they don’t have any titles other than “partner.”

“We’re doing the same thing we did before,” Swanson said. “We’re just doing it here.”

Batteries and Bonuses

If Centric Projects is laidback about other parts of its business, the company maintains a hard line on spending. That’s partly due to the industry in which it operates. Construction is a variable-cost industry, after all.

“It’s funny because, as fun as we can be in the open-office atmosphere and everything, we are fanatical about watching our money,” Wetzel said.

The three partners laugh about some of their debates. One weekend, they got into a brainstorming session about the best place to buy batteries. And they ask employees to fuel up the company trucks in Missouri, where gas costs less. Focusing on their finances, though, has provided them breathing room if Centric ever has a difficult season.

That’s the single biggest piece of advice the Centric partners would offer: Know your finances, backwards and forwards, and don’t spend money unless there is a real need.

“It always scares me when somebody has a logo and a business card before they know what their revenue needs to be,” Wetzel said.

The money saved on batteries and other expenses means there’s more to invest in Centric Projects’ workforce. The company offers solid benefits and pays bonuses randomly throughout the year. In fact, all three partners will drive out to a jobsite and deliver the bonus in person because they enjoy rewarding workers.

“It’s the best three or four days of the year when we do that,” Wetzel said.

There’s a practical reason for the goodwill. Centric needs the best talent possible, and it’s competing against larger construction companies for workers. While the job market favors employers right now, that might not always be the case. Good benefits help build employee loyalty.

Know When to Ignore the Plan

Construction tends to be a very local business, Wetzel said. They won’t rule out the possibility of expanding to another market if a client asks, but Centric Projects’ roots are in Kansas City. Swanson and

Kounkel both grew up here, and Wetzel has lived here so long that he has an active network of contacts.

About 50 percent of Centric’s business is from repeat customers, a good rate for a business that’s only 3 years old. While the company is aggressive about going after work, Centric doesn’t buy booths at trade shows or do much other traditional marketing. Instead, the company puts its time and attention into supporting the city’s civic and philanthropic communities.

“When a project comes up, people just know us, and they want to call us,” Wetzel said.

Planning is important, the partners said. When they started Centric, they had given a lot of thought about how the business would work.

But they also knew when to ignore their plan and seize opportunities that pop up. The original business plan didn’t have a single word about supermanagers, for example.

“Bigger companies tend to have their SOP—their standard operating procedure,” Wetzel said. “If such and such a situation happens, you turn to Chapter 42, and that’s how you react to it. By being more flexible and nimble, we want to do what’s right for that client and that owner on that day.”