When a startup company does really well, it can double, triple and quadruple its sales in just a few years, and it’s impressive. But if you look closely, a 200-percent expansion, say, can come from less than $1 million in new sales.
When a company is at the top already, however, growing by leaps and bounds takes a lot more work. Which is why Gilbane Inc., the second-largest company on Providence Business News’ Top Private Companies list this year, and in 2005 and 2006 as well, stands out among its peers.
Gilbane Inc., which includes Gilbane Development Co. and Gilbane Building Co., grew its revenue by 29 percent over the last two years, from $2.53 billion to $2.85 billion to $3.27 billion.
On the Fastest Growing Companies list, that only wins it the No. 29 spot. Yet consider this: To grow by that much, Gilbane had to generate nearly $740 million in new revenue.
The closest anyone else came to that kind of dollar-value growth last year was Dimeo Construction Co., which more than doubled its revenue, adding $235.5 million, or about one-third of what Gilbane added to its topline in 2006.
Among private companies willing to disclose their revenue for this ranking, only six, including Gilbane, even topped the $1 billion mark.
How does Gilbane keep doing this even in a slowing economy? Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Gilbane Jr. says that actually, the company has more opportunities than it can take advantage of.
“We are in a good economy for construction, both locally and nationally,” said Gilbane, who also chairs the R.I. Economic Policy Council. “Our best years have always come when the economy has been down, and we are riding that wave right now.”
One factor in Gilbane’s success may be its 130-year legacy as a family-owned business – Gilbane is part of the fourth generation – and the recognition factor.
The company was founded in 1873 by William Gilbane and his brother Thomas as a family-run carpentry and general contracting shop in Providence, and it has grown from there into a national powerhouse.
Gilbane credits the company’s ability to survive through the decades, including the Great Depression and two world wars, to the Gilbane’s ability to attract and retain good, reliable employees who deliver high-quality work and service.
“People don’t build every day,” he said. “It is a big investment, and they want a reliable company they can trust to minimize their risks. This is a service industry, and references are critical to our business. We rely on people to tell other people we can be trusted and we do a good job.”
Keeping good, reliable employees on its payroll involves investing in the work force, and Gilbane does. The company’s 2,000 employees are required to take at least 30 hours of training each year at Gilbane University, an in-house professional development program.
The curriculum is built around the 40-question client and architect feedback surveys Gilbane collects after each project. The surveys tell Gilbane how it is doing with everything from providing estimates and convenient scheduling to satisfaction rates, honesty and integrity. The company has six surveys done per project, on every project, Choquette said.
“Our highest survey score is on honesty and integrity, an area often questioned in [the construction] industry,” Gilbane said.
The company has also spun off business segments related to its business, such as its CAT-Response team, which assesses damages following disasters for insurance companies, independent adjusters and the legal community.
These services now generate 8 to 10 percent of Gilbane’s revenue, though the majority continues to come from construction and development. The company has offices in 36 states and does only 20 percent of its business in New England, with the rest of the work scattered across the United States.
Gilbane may branch off to other services related to its core business in the future, depending on customer needs, Choquette said.
Locally, Gilbane Building Co.’s most high-profile projects in recent years have included managing the construction of an addition to Newport Hospital, the building of Brown University’s new five-story Life Sciences Building in Providence and the construction of the University of Rhode Island’s Thomas M. Ryan Center & Bradford Boss Arena in Kingston – the largest project undertaken by the university in its 110-year history.
Gilbane also managed construction of the Bruce Sundlun Terminal at T.F. Green Airport, a 323,000-square-foot project that included a two-level, 19-gate jetway concourse, airfield and landside site work and a two-level roadway.
And in Smithfield, Gilbane Building Co. is erecting a $200 million office building for Fidelity Investments that will be the largest office building in Rhode Island.
Gilbane Development Co.’s local projects have included the transformation of an 81-acre peninsula in Wickford previously used for military housing into a 103-lot neighborhood community with a seacoast village feel called Wickford Point, and currently, the renovations to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence.
