Always Building
The first two words to appear on LMC Construction’s website are “Always Building.”
This phrase aptly describes how LMC has grown from a firm of four people in 2004 to its current size of 65 by acting on its “client first” business philosophy. LMC was just four years old when the Great Recession arrived, yet it continued to grow 100 percent year-after-year throughout that extended economic downturn.
In 2016, LMC was named one of Oregon’s 100 fastest-growing private companies by the Portland Business Journal. Today, the Tualatin, Oregon-based company provides general contracting and construction management services throughout Oregon and Washington.
Building Relationships
“From the beginning, we have put our clients’ aspirations ahead of our own in everything we do,” says Chris Duffin, President of LMC. “This leads to project success every single time. Of course, we also have to deliver on the promises we make. We have a good group of subcontractors and staff who understand this level of commitment and who execute on it.”
Scott Dekker, Director of Pre-construction Services, says LMC’s focus on doing whatever it takes to achieve clients’ goals starts at the top.
“When we were working on Phase II of the Laurel Parc project in the Bethany Village area of Portland,” he says, “Chris spent time on the site painting, pushing a broom and working with other members of our management team to complete final tasks. This was a complicated project with a tight schedule. It included senior housing, assisted living and memory-care facilities. It combined new construction, an addition to an existing facility and some interior renovations.”
“When I visited the job site two weeks before the completion date,” Duffin says, “I saw the client and he was really worried about everything coming together on time because he had the mayor and some other local leaders coming to the opening. We got it done.”
This can-do, will-do attitude has led to all LMC’s work coming from repeat clients or referrals. “We rarely hard-bid work,” Duffin says. This was the first project LMC did for Central Bethany Development. The firm has completed two more projects for this client and has several others upcoming.
Building on Specialized Expertise
Developing expertise in the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing has presented both challenges and opportunities for LMC. In the mid- to late-2000s, tough lending policies lengthened the amount of time it took for many developers to secure financing.
For example, Duffin says, the Sunrise Estates Apartments project in The Dalles, Oregon, was originally supposed to take 12 months to build. The schedule was substantially compressed when the closing that had been set for January didn’t occur until May. The construction end date couldn’t change.
“There are cliff events for affordable housing projects,” Duffin says, “so if they aren’t finished and occupied within a specific period they lose their tax credits. That can be devastating. We added staff, worked weekends and did what it took to complete this project on time. Even though it included both renovation and new construction, we were able to pull it off.” LMC continues to work with the developer of this property, Guardian Real Estate Services, based in Portland.
Duffin says LMC was fortunate to have focused on the affordable housing market from the start. “We were a young, fairly small company when the recession hit,” Duffin says. “It easily could have taken us out as it did a lot of other contractors. Affordable housing properties were the only kind being developed then. So, we were in the right place at the right time. We began by doing small rehabs, then grew into doing larger rehabs and new construction projects.”
Having a steady stream of projects also meant that LMC could recruit skilled labor. “A lot of general contractors were laying people off and we were able to hire outstanding staff,” Duffin says. “This gave us a springboard for when the recession subsided and development picked up. We were perfectly poised to take on new work—and we were ready for it.”
Overcoming Obstacles
At times, the importance some lenders place on contractors having specialized experience has been a stumbling block for LMC, which provides pre-construction services as its upfront investment for most of its projects.
“We like to know buildings inside and out long before the shovel hits the ground,” Duffin explains. “It’s not unusual for us to be involved many months—even several years—before construction starts. We had one project where we’d spent eight or nine months in pre-construction and it had a very small post-tension concrete podium structure. The lender said, ‘These guys don’t have any post-tension on their resume,’ and boom, the door was slammed. Our client had to find another contractor.”
This is when what Duffin calls a “catalyst project” can make all the difference. “We’ve had some projects that opened doors for us,” he says. “After we completed Laurel Parc Phase II, Central Bethany Development entrusted us with a project that was three times as large as any we had ever done: West Parc at Bethany. It had a lot of complicated post-tension concrete. We hadn’t done anything like this, but our job superintendent had, and we hired the right subcontractors to do the work. We assembled a strong team and executed flawlessly. Without having this kind of project on our resume, it would have been a lot harder to step up to larger, more complex projects.”
This anecdote also demonstrates the high value LMC’s leaders place on the contributions of subcontractors. “We work collaboratively with them and treat them with respect,” Duffin says. “They are an integral part of our teams. Without our subcontractors we can’t do anything.”
Promoting Creativity
LMC’s leadership also emphasizes the importance of promoting collaboration and creativity among employees.
“We have an open-door policy,” Duffin says. “Our staff feels very comfortable talking directly to anyone at any level and bouncing ideas off each other.”
The firm sponsors plenty of activities that foster teamwork. It assembles volunteer crews for Habitat for Humanity and REACH Paint & Repair-a-thon projects, and organizes clothing and gift drives. There are company running, soccer and polar plunge teams. Each fall, before the school year begins, LMC and its employees fill and donate about 200 backpacks with basic supplies for children in need.
Developing and nurturing a culture where people like to work together supports LMC’s client-centric business model because this positive energy naturally influences how employees tackle new challenges.
For example, when the developer for LaScala, a mixed-use commercial and residential development in Beaverton, Oregon, proposed an idea for adding a water feature, LMC’s job Superintendent, Tom Michie, did some research, finalized a design, bought the materials and built it.
“I had no prior experience designing and building water features,” Michie says, “[but] I saw this as an opportunity to teach myself something new. The owners were having some difficulty getting a satisfactory design from the landscape firm they’d contacted and the timeline for completing the water feature was beginning to put our overall project schedule in jeopardy. I had worked with this client on previous projects and helped them design some interior elements, so I felt comfortable proposing that I work on the water feature.”
“It turned out beautifully and the client loves it,” Duffin adds.
As LMC enters its 14th year, it’s clear that it truly is “always building”—its experience, expertise, client relationships, professional network and, most importantly, a talented, dedicated staff.