Recipe for Success
AKR Builders finds the perfect blend of customer satisfaction and family to keep growing
![Shane and Melissa Trent are the owners of AKR Builders, Inc.](storyassets/carolinas/feature_stories/F18_NC_GC_Recipe-for-Success/F18_NC_GC_Interior1_530x370.jpg)
Shane and Melissa Trent are the owners of AKR Builders, Inc.
![Dunkin’ Donuts is one of AKR Builders’ newest clients.](storyassets/carolinas/feature_stories/F18_NC_GC_Recipe-for-Success/F18_NC_GC_Interior2_530x370.jpg)
Dunkin’ Donuts is one of AKR Builders’ newest clients.
From humble beginnings often spring the greatest success stories.
Meet Shane Trent, owner and founder of the booming construction company AKR Builders, Inc. in Greensboro, North Carolina. Eighteen years ago, Trent decided to ring in the new millennium by creating his own general contracting business.
He had grown up helping his dad with his own home improvement company, hanging vinyl siding and taking on other projects as well as sales. But, after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve for eight years and starting a family with his wife, Melissa, Trent says the timing felt right to venture out on his own.
No help. No safety net.
At the start it was just him, his wife, their three children—Austin, Kyle and Rayne—and an idea to set up headquarters in the basement of their home.
“AKR is the initials of my kids’ names, and that’s how I came up with the company name,” Trent says with a laugh. “When I started, it was just me taking calls, running appointments and delegating the business to subcontractors that I had relationships with from the past. I was lucky that I was busy. I had enough business to keep them busy basically full time.”
To say Trent and AKR have long since outgrown the family basement is an understatement.
In its first year, AKR managed to earn about $150,000 in gross sales. Today, Trent has 19 employees, and his company has mushroomed into an $8.5 million-a-year juggernaut that has projects spanning nine states—North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia.
The latter three are new areas in 2018 and at its current rate of growth, Trent believes the company could double in size within five years.
Trent, however, is the first to say he had a lot of help in growing the company, specifically from Chris Grandy. Grandy has been a key part of the commercial side of the business. He joined AKR after having a longtime working relationship with Trent and the two had been so successful, they decided to pool their expertise and resources and focus on restaurant construction.
With Grandy’s connections and Trent’s backing, the dream of growing their commercial business quickly became a reality—and Grandy has been leading the division’s growth ever since.
Their relationship, along with their customer relationships, can’t be overstated.
“I think the key to consistent growth is customer satisfaction,” Trent says. “This is a referral-based business, and people want to do business with people who do good work and stand behind what they say and do. When you do that, word travels fast in this industry.”
Words to Live By
Marines live by the motto “Semper Fidelis,” a Latin term meaning always faithful or always loyal.
It’s no surprise Trent has carried that belief into civilian life and runs his company with similar passion.
“When I think about how to run a company, I think of a quote I heard from John Maxwell,” Trent says. “It’s, ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’ That is so true. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t show clients you care about the project, you have no value to them whatsoever. I think it is very important to show people you care. We’re a growing company, but we still make people feel like family.”
That includes his own staff. Yes, they hold the typical holiday parties and picnics, but Trent also takes his staff duck hunting, fishing, golfing and on other outings.
The work family that plays together, stays together.
Michelle Rivers joined AKR Builders as a controller a little over a year ago, leaving a large retail company for a better opportunity.
“I like the smaller family atmosphere here,” Rivers says.
“I had options with other companies, but one thing that influenced me after meeting Trent was that I felt I could make a difference here. I felt my thoughts and ideas would be looked at and valued, and they have.”
Restaurant Expertise
One of the company’s biggest clients is NPC International, which opens and operates Pizza Hut and Wendy’s franchises across the country.
When NPC needed to redesign its Wendy’s restaurants to give them a more modern, sleeker feel, the company tasked AKR Builders with building the first one in Greensboro.
It was an easy choice for Brian Pardue, NPC construction manager.
“Most contractors are only looking out for themselves and the bottom dollar,” Pardue says. “AKR looks out for our interest. They do a wonderful job not only in the field with scheduling and quality but through communication as well as proper paperwork.”
In fact, Pardue adds, the majority of AKR’s projects are completed on time and on budget. “AKR has become one of my go-to GCs, and they normally end up with close to half of my annual projects. They work great with not only our architects, but our vendors. Plus, they make my work life easy,” he says.
AKR Builders has completed more than 100 projects for NPC, Pardue says, ranging from a few thousand dollars in repairs to million-dollar new builds.
The work with NPC has elevated AKR’s status as an expert in the restaurant field. It’s not, however, the company’s sole area of expertise. AKR still does remodels and renovations for commercial retail stores as well as high-volume rollouts.
The Big Break
After leaving his dad’s company back in the early 1990s, Trent joined Archadeck and started getting into the design side of the building and construction industry. That sparked Trent to get his general contractors license, and when he left Archadeck for a better position with a lumber company, he found that former customers and clients were still contacting him for help and advice.
“It came to the point where I had to make a decision to either go out on my own or just work for the lumber company because I wasn’t being fair to them with my time,” Trent says. “My heart was in construction.”
The first few years were good, Trent says, but AKR’s first big break came in 2008, when most of the construction world took a downturn with the economy. His company flourished because it offered remodeling and construction of outdoor living spaces.
His work drew the attention of Lowe’s home improvement store, and he’s never looked back since.
“We were able to team with Lowe’s, and that took us to new levels,” Trent says. “But all of this success isn’t just because of me. You’re only as strong as the people you work with and the people on your team. We’re very lucky to have the staff we have. They all put the time in and take pride in what they do.”
![Dave Dondoneau](storyassets/contributors/DaveDondoneau.jpg)