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| 7/28/2010 10:27:00 AM | Business Spotlight - JCDM
Diversified business model proves successful for JCDM
| | Joplin Construction Design and Management | Owner: Steve A. Smith
Founded: 1991
Address: 610 Wall Street
Phone: (417) 781-4288
Web site: www.jcdm.com
Employees: 15
Services/Products: Full-service design-build contractor specializing in churches and commercial construction
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by Doug Graham - Reporter
Kristen Cristy, president of Reeves Tire and Automotive, said Joplin Construction Design and Management stood out from the pack when she solicited bids to rebuild her business after a fire.
"They just made it seem like they were truly there to walk us through each step," Cristy said. "One of the reasons we chose them was we felt very comfortable with them."
Cristy said she's enjoyed being able to work with the same company on both the design and the construction of the new building.
"We just kind of put a bunch of different things together as far as what we wanted," Cristy said. "They'll go back and redraw it until it reaches your needs. You're actually working with the people doing the construction as well as the design. The design-build seemed to work out real well."
Steve Smith, owner and president of JCDM, said the design-build business model was part of his vision for the company from its beginning in 1991.
"Several contractors offer it, but we actually have in-house design," Smith said. "We're a Missouri licensed architectural corporation - we have an architect on staff, and we can build."
Rather than employ a large, multipurpose crew, JCDM has 15 full-time employees spread across its design and construction operations. Architect Michael Stephens heads up the design, and then JCDM's project superintendents oversee teams of subcontractors during the construction process. Smith said this approach provides high-quality, cost-effective products because the subcontractors must compete with each other for each part of the project.
"Plumbing, mechanical, electrical, framing - all of those crews out there, most of them are subcontractors," Smith said. "They bid against other subcontractors for that division. It's kind of like the specialists that doctors are now. They're not general practitioners."
Smith said he places a lot of trust in his project superintendents - and he has to, because they are often spread out across the country.
"Currently we're working in Philadelphia," Smith said. "We've got two contracts up in New York, and one out in California. We've doing a contract today down in Allen, Texas. So we spread out."
Many contractors have reached out to far-flung places to find jobs just to survive the construction crash brought on by the recession, but Smith said JCDM was already on that path well before the recession hit.
"In some of my first years, I was down in Kabul and West Plains; Bentonville, Ark.," Smith said. "Not real far out, but out. We ended up down in Birmingham, Ala., and just kept going from there."
JCDM has also found plenty of projects to build locally. Smith said he is most proud of Forest Park Baptist Church, and has also built a 300,000-square-foot warehouse in Crossroads Industrial Park.
Churches are a specialty for JCDM, which has its own church-building division.
"Our JCDM Church Builders team has done over 400 churches to date in over 30 states," Smith said.
Smith said JCDM just hired four new employees in June - a rarity right now in the struggling construction industry.
"We just stay state-of-the-art with the technology and the construction process," Smith said. "We're doing a church up in Lee's Summit that's going to be the first LEED-certified church in the state of Missouri. You've got to have everything just a little better than most to get that certification."
Smith said that he would like to see JCDM continue its growth, but never become too big to take care of its clients.
"I don't want to be a huge contractor by any means," Smith said. "We just want to be a small, innovative contractor that can take on the biggest job of all jobs or the small ones. We've got a team player that can do any part of it that's necessary."
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