When Bill Cumby Jr. and his father, Bill Sr., started
W.S. Cumby Inc. in 1981, they began it as a union general contracting and
project management company.
"In 1981, if you wanted to do our kind of work -
good-quality commercial work - you were a union contractor," said Cumby
Jr., 66, who took over as president in 1998.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, father and son
switched to a merit shop (non-union) business, repudiating their contracts with
the unions for carpenters and laborers.
These days, W.S. Cumby works mostly in the suburbs, its
portfolio heavy with polished libraries, dormitories, and student centers at
upscale educational institutions such as Princeton, Swarthmore and Haverford.
"There have been major strides in the merit-shop
world in terms of education, in terms of quality of the subs [subcontractors],
both the businesses and the trade people. So, it's a very different
world," Cumby Jr. said.
"The work ethic was getting to a point where we felt
the future was going to be in merit-shop construction."
Ever run into
troubles with the unions when working in the city?
We haven't done a lot of work in the city on a merit-shop
basis, so we haven't had a lot of problems. We did a $2.5 million to $3 million
project at 20th and Washington a few years ago. Our electricians had the tires
on their trucks slashed in spite of the fact that the trucks were not marked
and that they parked them in different locations, hoping to avoid a problem.
Needless to say, it was impossible to determine who had cut the tires. It was
easier to encourage subcontractors to work in the city when business was so
slow several years ago, but now that there is a lot of work around, they are
less interested in doing so.
There's been talk
about labor shortages. What are you seeing?
There are times when there are shortages, meaning,
"Hey, we have 10 drywall people, but we'd like to have 15," or
"We have six electricians, we really would like to have 10." People
are working 10-hour days instead of eight.
Is demand raising
wages?
For a while they were pretty stable because there was no
demand. I would bet wages have gone up at least 5 percent in the last year.
How do you handle
the shortages?
Because we're doing all the planning, we make sure we're
dealing with subcontractors who are going to allocate the [labor] resources,
that they'll only take on so much work.
In your business, it's all about your relationship with
subcontractors, right?
It really is important. We have a level of expectations
of performance, and quality, and cooperation with our clients. In exchange, we
treat them fairly, we pay them promptly.
Prompt payment seems to be key, especially because they
have to pay their people before you pay them.
Sometimes they get stretched. We're not a bank, don't get
me wrong, but we'll help them out making their payroll. We try and make sure
that the job is ready for them so when they get there, they can get in, do
their work, make money and go on.
Most of your
projects are private-sector. Ever do any public work?
Our people are really focused on client service and
that's not always the mentality that's brought to the public - open bid, low
bid - sector. We tried in the downturn. We bid a public job. We were aggressive
as we could be [in pricing competitively], and we weren't even close.
Did you ever talk
to the architect about it?
I said, "I have no idea how these guys do it."
He said, "I'll tell you how they do it." He's poking me in the chest.
"They make my life miserable. They don't pay attention to the plans."
You were
Swarthmore's mayor. Learn any lessons applicable to business?
As mayor, I found that I had to be much more patient and
listen. It made me understand that there are a variety of viewpoints that often
you wouldn't have thought of, but that actually have value once you start to
reflect on them.
Answers have been edited for space.
Source: Philly.com
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