Founded by Dan Hanlon in 1976 under the principles of hard work and dedication to doing a good job, Allen Keith Construction Co. has been continuing to expand and grow its business.
Lonnie Hanlon, Dan’s son, took over as CEO in early 2010, but he has worked at the restoration company since he was a little boy only 10 years old.
“I started out sweeping the floors of the warehouse,” Hanlon says.
He’s now putting all his experience, knowledge and the company’s good name into continuing to grow the 48-employee restoration company.
Smart Business spoke with Hanlon about how he looks to keep growing Allen Keith Construction Co.
What are the keys to being successful?
Basically, it’s just about working hard. If things aren’t going right and you want to be successful, you’ve got to get in here and you’ve got to put time in. It’s about getting out and seeing people and getting involved. You have to make sure you keep an eye on everything, whether it’s a specific construction project or the overall financials of the company. It’s going out and seeing our customers and talking to them and making sure we are doing a good job. You have to also know the trends of your industry. Knowing when your busy season is and being prepared for it is important.
How do you grow your company?
There’s so many different ways to grow. It’s helpful finding niche businesses that relate to ours. Finding a niche is important because it’s tough out there. It’s a tough economy. It’s hard to find places to grow. If you’re the only one that offers something, you can control the market for that and charge whatever you want. By getting into that same business it can cut down costs and turnaround time and allow you to provide better customer service.
We are expanding into southwest Florida. We saw a market in Florida where construction is completely different than construction up here. They move a lot slower, and things are not as professional as they should be. We thought if we could bring the professionalism of Allen Keith and the quality of work down to southwest Florida, then there would be a huge opportunity for our business to grow.
You’ve got to be resourceful in this kind of economic climate. I think 80 or 90 percent of why businesses fail off the bat or when they are trying to grow in new areas is because they have too much overhead. One of the most important things my dad has taught me was to keep your overhead low. We have a 36,000-square-foot facility [in Canton] and we didn’t go down [to Florida] and just go all in and build a huge place. We are starting small and are going to work our way up.
