Successful implementation of strategic growth has become a tradition for Harkins Builders. With each new office the Columbia, Maryland-based contractor has opened in recent years, new projects and a significant portion of market activity have soon followed.
Last year was no different. Harkins leaders credit newly opened offices in Richmond and Raleigh-Durham with helping fuel $725 million in domestic revenue. Harkins’ $625 million in regional revenue lifted it to No. 14 on ENR MidAtlantic’s top contractor rankings, up 68% from the $371.64 million in revenue the company reported in previous year The company notes that projects in the Mid-Atlantic region, managed from Columbia, Richmond and Easton, Pa., account for 85% of its work.
Targeting areas where multi-family housing is in high demand has allowed Harkins Builders to capitalize on its long-standing experience and reputation in this sector. For example, the Richmond office recently completed the first phase of Kindlewood, a 106-unit affordable housing project in Charlottesville that was designed to energy-efficient Passive House standards.
Ben Nichols, president and CEO of Harkins, notes that along with the Richmond area’s continued growth prospects, adding an office there to serve that market and the Tidewater area fills a geographic “hole” between Harkins locations in the Carolinas and their offices in the North.
Because the offices are about the same distance from each other, he says, “It sets up a situation where each office can hold its own and share resources.”
Nichols is also particularly proud of the recent efforts of the company’s government procurement team, which have resulted in several major new contracts for multiple federal agencies throughout the region.
“We’ve been working in this field for over three decades, but the last few years have been nothing short of fantastic,” says Nichols. “It’s been so much fun watching them grow.”
Omar Black, senior vice president, notes that Harkins’ strong reputation based on nearly 60 years of construction experience has helped the company establish itself early in these new markets. He notes the role the company’s preconstruction services have played in helping property owners adapt project budget strategies to post-pandemic market influences.
“Some of the projects [were] delayed or extended by months or even years,” he says. “Having the preconstruction team available throughout the project’s life cycle helped us maintain our touchpoints on trends and costs. This helped us separate ourselves from the competition.”
Brightview Hunt Valley, located in Cockeysville, Maryland, is a 178-unit senior living community. The seven-story building will feature two floors of structured parking within a concrete podium topped by five and a half floors of residential and service spaces.
Photo courtesy of Harkins Builders
Benefits of employee ownership
Another differentiator, Nichols says, has been wholly employee-owned since 2014.
“This helps drive our culture,” he explains. “All of our team owners are invested in the company and are pushing in the same direction at the same time to help solve challenges.”
Additionally, Nichols sees full employee ownership as “a great accountability tool for our leadership team to be transparent with what’s going on in the company both financially and operationally and strategically.”
Harkins has also fostered innovation among its employees through its Innovative Capital Reinvestment (ICR) program, initiated as part of the company’s most recent strategic plan. Comparing the program to the popular TV show “Shark Tank,” Nichols says ICR encourages employees to come up with ideas to improve processes and customer relationships, improve corporate culture, reduce project costs and create efficiencies.
“They are a good, thoughtful and reliable partner at all stages of construction.”
—Doug Dollenberg, president and CEO of Brightview Senior Living
ICR has invested nearly $200,000 in nine projects, including TeamBuilder, a web-based workforce planning application that the company says allows its operations staff to tailor staffing resources available to the needs of the project.
Harkins’ heavy investments in its people have benefited the company and its clients, according to Doug Dollenberg, president and CEO of Brightview Senior Living, an organization that has worked with Harkins for nearly half a century.
“They are a good, thoughtful and reliable partner at all stages of construction,” says Dollenberg. “In pre-construction, we rely on their advice and guidance, especially if there are ways to do things differently. In the construction stage, they are knowledgeable and reliable and get the job done on time, which is huge “.
And should a problem arise years ago, Dollenberg adds, Harkins is still there to help. “They figure out what’s right for the client and the partnership,” he says.
When completed, Phase II of the Perkins Homes project will bring more than 150 mixed-income rental units to East Baltimore.
Photo by Carlos Zuluaga, courtesy of Harkins Builders
Harkins Builders’ top Mid-Atlantic projects include:
Twin Rivers, Columbia, Maryland
Harkins helped long-term client Enterprise Community Development reach a major milestone of 1 million homes with this 153-unit, modern, sustainable mixed-income community. Twin Rivers offers a variety of amenities including a leasing office, management office, business center, fitness center, homework room, mail room, dog park, playground, and underground parking for residents.
The Ruby in Somerset, Baltimore
Named after famed jazz vocalist Ruby Glover, the mixed-income community is part of Baltimore’s Perkins Somerset Oldtown Transformation Plan. The structure of the 72-unit apartment building combines concrete and timber frame construction with a vibrant exterior design combining brick, fiber cement cladding and Nichiha lighting panels.
Naval Facilities Systems Engineering Command MidAtlantic, Norfolk, Virginia.
Harkins Builders is one of eight contractors selected for a five-year, $950 million contract to support major construction projects in the Hampton Roads area. This multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract is expected to include projects such as administrative offices, communications infrastructure, dormitories, industrial buildings, medical clinics, training centers and warehouses over a five-year period.
Tactics for tomorrow
Today’s robust Mid-Atlantic construction market appears to hold great promise for Harkins Builders to maintain its success.
“The opportunities are there,” says Black, adding that the main challenges are financial factors, such as interest rate levels and capital requirements from lending institutions for developers that have delayed the start some projects On the other side of the coin, he says, “there are many projects in the government world and a great need for affordable housing. We’re also looking to expand into higher education and lab work.”
Based on what he calls a “hypergrowth pattern,” Nichols says the company is focused on maintaining its strong revenue performance and continuing to train and develop people within the organization.
“We have the same challenges that every other contractor faces,” he says, from recruiting and retaining engineering and trade talent to adapting to post-pandemic supply chain realities.
“I feel like we’ve gotten a little bit of stability, to the point that now everyone knows what to plan,” he says. “While we know things are taking longer to get to us, we’re doing a better job as an industry at planning.”
Black adds that today’s environment has also increased the importance of partnerships with owners, design teams and subcontractors.
“We’re doing everything we can to create a culture where our younger employees can learn from our more experienced staff.”
—Ben Nichols, President and CEO, Harkins
“It’s being better communicators and showing that you’re doing your due diligence when you’re going into the trading partner market in terms of what you’re going to build your budget around,” he says. “We’ve also gotten better at finding ways to create budgets to meet the growing number of requirements for things like energy use and small business participation.”
These are just some of the topics being discussed as Harkins begins development of its next five-year strategic plan, which will take the company through the end of the decade. The broad effort is giving all 350 employees the opportunity to provide input on priorities and contribute ideas.
The process has already yielded valuable insights, Nichols says. He recalls participating in a small group discussion about Harkins’ middle management structure, a level where, in any organization, communication breakdowns often occur.
“It was a fun discussion trying to figure out how we can better organize the company to allow for maximum efficiency and be great communicators as an organization,” he says.
Other areas being explored include future geographic and sector expansion, applications of emerging workplace technology, and improving the quality of life for employees, both inside and outside the workplace.
“Construction has a high rate of burnout and suicide, and those stresses were more pronounced during the pandemic,” says Black, “We want to make sure we provide a great work environment that encourages a good work-life balance. family life and we provide employees with opportunities for professional growth that they will not find with our competitors”.
This includes fostering an environment of continuous learning, especially with so many experienced and long-serving employees reaching retirement age.
“We’re doing everything we can to create a culture where our younger employees take information from our more experienced staff,” says Nichols, “and we want those experienced employees to be constantly thinking about what they can teach someone every day.”
